Metacognitive

TSTM 544 during the summer is an extremely fast paced course. Material is covered without delay, and projects begin almost immediately. To say that the last few weeks have been easy would be a lie. This course really does challenge you. There is more theory involved than previous courses.
Assessment and analysis is where the process begins. One must think of how people are going about their daily work, how you can improve their skills, how you can save the company money in the long run, etc. There are just some of the questions that must be asked.
A through needs assessment is critical to the Multimedia Instructional Design Process. One must analyze what is currently available, what is wanted out of the project and any possible issues. With a front end analysis, one is figuring out how to tie everything together, how to gain answers to the questions above that will give a company "result-driven solutions".
Using a course design specification document, one can complete the design phase of the process.
When it comes to the development stage, the ability to use SCORM (Searchable Content Objects Reference Model) can generally enhance an e-learning environment. Even with the variety of objectivity and constructivist theories, there generally will be some median that everyone can agree upon.
Implementation of the above activities, even after testing, will provide everyone with the information and details as to the training's worthiness and effectiveness. Properly planned programs will follow agreements made between the parties.
Finally, a proper evaluation period will follow on the heels of the implementation, with plenty of review of the strategic and tactical aspects. Using the proper tools and terminology, one can demonstrate the effectiveness (hopefully) of one's program.

Blog Posting #8

Recording a video for instructional purposes is not as easy as it sounds. I spent the better part of an hour trying to perfect my video, ad lib. This was a very poor idea on my part, as I ended up messing up more often than not. Finally, I decided to make an actual script or at least write down the main ideas I wanted to get across in my video. Not only did this speed up my video, giving me more time to elaborate, but I cut down on the number of speech errors dramatically. I have a perfect 3 minute video, that is easily viewable by others, and gives a decent explanation for adding a picture into Kompozer. While many of us could probably figure it out in a matter of minutes, I can imagine that having a video demonstration for a beginner web page designer would relieve some of the stress associated with trying to "keep up" and "understand the content being discussed. Hopefully everyone's videos turned out OK, as we covered a lot of topics in class...

Blog Posting #7

Camstudio has proven to be a very interesting, useful tool when it comes to on-screen video creation. While the interface lacks features that pay-for software caries, this piece of software can quickly, and easily create on-screen videos with accompanying audio if desired. It is rather odd that the microphone is turned off by default when recording. The screen size is also set at default to capture something the size of a matchbox. This is easily remedied by changing the default capture size under one of the top menus. It's worthy making note that USB headphone/microphone combinations will not function under Virtual PC, as there is no "USB pass-through" support for Windows VirtualPC environments.

In general, I tend to enjoy exploring a piece of software before consulting books, websites, Google, etc. It gives me a good idea how user intuitive it is, and I will probably decided how much I (dis)like it within the first few minutes of use.

Blog Posting #6

In Reference to the article posted on Blackboard "Simulation Shows What It's Like to Be Boss".

This article posted some interesting ideas that tend to not be evaluated in most workplaces. While the CEO of the company overseas many tasks, he misses out on a lot of the more important ones that people below him take care of. He Might get a briefing of sorts, but it certainly wouldn't be like actual meetings. Placing Mr. Tabloski in a role of a top executive corporation give him a chance to see a different point of view. An experiment was conducted, running a fictitious company for one day, using projections to be sought out for 3 years. With boardroom conferences, meetings, etc, the NetApp company (run by Mr. Tabloski) gives managers a better understanding and trains them appropriately for the company.

Blog Posting #5

It certainly isn't unheard of to have TSTM majors that play video games, so many of us are familiar with the terminology associated with the subject. However, this online learning/collaboration environment created using WolfDen did prove one excellent point. One's personality type did not correlate directly one's avatar choice. Someone could draw a conclusion that students want to create an ideal image of themselves, instead of their true selves. But then again, being able to decide what is best for you should be something that you control, not outside forces. Being able to express yourself through your avatar dictates your attitude and thought process for that day, or at that specific moment in time. Possibly, it could reveal your perception or thoughts on the matters being presented that day.

Blog Posting #4

It's amazing to read over some of the research I've done for the use of Wiki's in an e-learning environment. It is certainly a very newage idea to collaborate on a project in this environment. To be a true success, people must work together. while Wikis allow people to type out their thoughts on a subject, its generally an accepted practice to document your sources. Collaborators on the project are open to edit and change material as needed. IN a classroom environment, people actually wanted to perfect the Wiki as their name was on the work and visible by everyone.
There's an interesting presentation located at this link.

Blog Posting #3

Project Teams will play a major roll in the overall process. Job roles will be defines, responsibilities will be assigned, and people will be associated with their tasks for the project to be completed. So in short: List the team roles, List the project tasks, and Assign roles/responsibilities. With roles and responsibilities clearly defined, the likelihood for conflict and confusion is reduced dramatically. Instead of having people 100% focused on one task at hand, breaking up the tasks and dividing up the subject helps. Take for example a design team. With a large group of people, one can assign a few small portion of the project to the team, letting them work at it as needed, while they complete their other tasks.

After reading this link, having the right environment, time necessary for completion, task/team selection and a variety of other variables are necessary to have a successful group.