Management
DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT
"Management involves controlling Instructional Technology through planning, organizing, coordinating, and supervising" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 49). The domain of management includes four subdomains of theory and practice: Project Management, Resource Management, Delivery System Management, andInformation Management. Within each of these subdomains there is a common set of tasks to be accomplished: organization must be assured, personnel hired and supervised, funds planned and accounted for, facilities developed and maintained, and short- and long-term goals established. A manager is a leader who motivates, directs, coaches, supports, monitors performance, delegates, and communicates (AECT Standards).
"Management involves controlling Instructional Technology through planning, organizing, coordinating, and supervising" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 49). The domain of management includes four subdomains of theory and practice: Project Management, Resource Management, Delivery System Management, andInformation Management. Within each of these subdomains there is a common set of tasks to be accomplished: organization must be assured, personnel hired and supervised, funds planned and accounted for, facilities developed and maintained, and short- and long-term goals established. A manager is a leader who motivates, directs, coaches, supports, monitors performance, delegates, and communicates (AECT Standards).
REFLECTION
Prior to beginning the ITMA program, I had some experience with planning, organizing, and coordinating. I am currently the program manager for my office's online content development program. When I stepped into this role about two years ago, there was not a framework in place to manage the online content development program, which made it difficult. It was not clear to me where the process started, who was involved in the process and what their responsibilities were, what was involved in the process, and where the process ended.
There was one particular instance with a troublesome e-learning course on the subject of health & safety. The course had been reviewed by at least three individuals and it was later approved and uploaded into the LMS. During final acceptance testing, the client that I was producing the course for had additional changes that he wanted made.
As a result, I had to remove the course from the LMS catalog to make additional changes that were once again reviewed, approved, and uploaded once more to the LMS. During the final acceptance testing, the client noticed something else he wanted to change with the course, and the cycle repeated itself until it was approved by the client at the last final acceptance testing. As a result of making so many changes to the course post-production, it resulted in a schedule delay and the cost of the course name in over its budget.
I also managed a training facility prior to the ITMA program. The training facility has four centrally training rooms in one building and an additional room located in the basement of an adjacent building. As the manager, I performed management activities such as organizing, coordinating, and supervising projects.
I managed the schedule for the training facility using an online scheduling system. Employees submitted the required information for reserving a room, such as the name of the training, dates of the training, description of the training, the requested room layout, how many participants, and audio/video needs. Once receiving the reservation request, I had to identify which of the training rooms best met the request’s needs and if the training facility rooms were available on the dates requested. Occasionally, I would run into a challenge where the four main training rooms were completely booked and a customer needed a training room at the last minute. In these instances, I could usually accommodate the customer in the training room in the adjacent building, as I often left that room unoccupied for these “emergency” type of situations.
On the night before or the day of the training, I had to arrange the tables and chairs in the room to the layout specified and place flipchart pads with markers at each corner of the room. I also had to make sure the other instructional technology in the room, such as laptop, projector, and conference phone worked properly in addition to making sure the course instructor was comfortable using these instructional technologies in the classroom. I established a best-practice of making sure instructors were familiar with the instructional technologies in each classroom prior to the course starting as a result of a challenging situation that happened with an instructor. The instructor left the classroom soon after it had started because he did not know how transfer a file from his USB flash-drive to the training facilities computer and needed help. As a result of the best-practice, this scenario has not repeated itself.
I have also had the opportunity to supervise an upgrade project to one of the outdated rooms in the training facility. I was given a budget from my supervisor and had to devise an upgrade plan consisting of technology purchases and installation and well as infrastructure remodeling. I requested two co-workers to be a part of the upgrade team that I was charged with leading and outlined everything that needed to be accomplished by our team. The team was up against a challenge since we had a very short deadline due to funds expiring. In order to make sure the team was successful, I delegated responsibilities to each of the team members and together we assimilated an upgrade action plan that would later go on to be executed.
As a outcome of the ITMA program, I now know as an instructional technologist that planning, organizing, coordinating, and supervising is critical to achieving on-schedule results, staying within the budget, and correct content. Recently, I identified an issue with the online content development process, as I noticed that distance-based courses the office was developing were taking very long to produce. I decided to solve the issue by establishing a management framework so that the online content development process could become more organized and controlled.
First, I conducted a "mini" Lean Six Sigma Kaizen event. Kaizen events are used in business to continually improve processes by eliminating waste and combining activities. I identified all of the steps and people involved in the online content development process. Then, I created a flowchart so that I could visually see the process. Creating the flowchart was difficult since there were so many steps in the process, but I used an online tool called LucidCharts.com which helped me keep all of the text, boxes, arrows, and lines orderly.
Next, I looked to see which steps could be possibly eliminated if they did not add value to the process. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be effectively eliminated, but I did identify steps that could be combined. Through this process, I was able to reduce the number of steps by 15% and revised the process flowchart.
Later, I created a handout for clients interested in converting their classroom training into online training that would be distributed in my initial intake meeting with them. In this handout, I provided an overview of the online content development program, the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved, and the estimated timeframe to complete each of the steps in the process. The handout also makes it very clear that both the client and I can make as many changes as needed during the development phase of the eLearning, but once it is loaded into the LMS there should not be any content changes. This was added to ensure there would not be any "waste" occurring in the same context as the earlier health & safety course.
My current approach to management is very similar to my previous approach, as I am very familiar with management given that I previously attended a business college. I continue to be organized and am effective with coordination efforts and supervising projects and information. However, where I have grown in the management task is identifying resources. Previously, I only investigated one or two resources before selecting them. ITMA has taught me to investigate and assess many different resources before selecting one to include in the instruction. Since implementing the new management of the online content development process program, all of the e-learning courses I have designed and developed have been delivered on-schedule and on-budget.
Prior to beginning the ITMA program, I had some experience with planning, organizing, and coordinating. I am currently the program manager for my office's online content development program. When I stepped into this role about two years ago, there was not a framework in place to manage the online content development program, which made it difficult. It was not clear to me where the process started, who was involved in the process and what their responsibilities were, what was involved in the process, and where the process ended.
There was one particular instance with a troublesome e-learning course on the subject of health & safety. The course had been reviewed by at least three individuals and it was later approved and uploaded into the LMS. During final acceptance testing, the client that I was producing the course for had additional changes that he wanted made.
As a result, I had to remove the course from the LMS catalog to make additional changes that were once again reviewed, approved, and uploaded once more to the LMS. During the final acceptance testing, the client noticed something else he wanted to change with the course, and the cycle repeated itself until it was approved by the client at the last final acceptance testing. As a result of making so many changes to the course post-production, it resulted in a schedule delay and the cost of the course name in over its budget.
I also managed a training facility prior to the ITMA program. The training facility has four centrally training rooms in one building and an additional room located in the basement of an adjacent building. As the manager, I performed management activities such as organizing, coordinating, and supervising projects.
I managed the schedule for the training facility using an online scheduling system. Employees submitted the required information for reserving a room, such as the name of the training, dates of the training, description of the training, the requested room layout, how many participants, and audio/video needs. Once receiving the reservation request, I had to identify which of the training rooms best met the request’s needs and if the training facility rooms were available on the dates requested. Occasionally, I would run into a challenge where the four main training rooms were completely booked and a customer needed a training room at the last minute. In these instances, I could usually accommodate the customer in the training room in the adjacent building, as I often left that room unoccupied for these “emergency” type of situations.
On the night before or the day of the training, I had to arrange the tables and chairs in the room to the layout specified and place flipchart pads with markers at each corner of the room. I also had to make sure the other instructional technology in the room, such as laptop, projector, and conference phone worked properly in addition to making sure the course instructor was comfortable using these instructional technologies in the classroom. I established a best-practice of making sure instructors were familiar with the instructional technologies in each classroom prior to the course starting as a result of a challenging situation that happened with an instructor. The instructor left the classroom soon after it had started because he did not know how transfer a file from his USB flash-drive to the training facilities computer and needed help. As a result of the best-practice, this scenario has not repeated itself.
I have also had the opportunity to supervise an upgrade project to one of the outdated rooms in the training facility. I was given a budget from my supervisor and had to devise an upgrade plan consisting of technology purchases and installation and well as infrastructure remodeling. I requested two co-workers to be a part of the upgrade team that I was charged with leading and outlined everything that needed to be accomplished by our team. The team was up against a challenge since we had a very short deadline due to funds expiring. In order to make sure the team was successful, I delegated responsibilities to each of the team members and together we assimilated an upgrade action plan that would later go on to be executed.
As a outcome of the ITMA program, I now know as an instructional technologist that planning, organizing, coordinating, and supervising is critical to achieving on-schedule results, staying within the budget, and correct content. Recently, I identified an issue with the online content development process, as I noticed that distance-based courses the office was developing were taking very long to produce. I decided to solve the issue by establishing a management framework so that the online content development process could become more organized and controlled.
First, I conducted a "mini" Lean Six Sigma Kaizen event. Kaizen events are used in business to continually improve processes by eliminating waste and combining activities. I identified all of the steps and people involved in the online content development process. Then, I created a flowchart so that I could visually see the process. Creating the flowchart was difficult since there were so many steps in the process, but I used an online tool called LucidCharts.com which helped me keep all of the text, boxes, arrows, and lines orderly.
Next, I looked to see which steps could be possibly eliminated if they did not add value to the process. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be effectively eliminated, but I did identify steps that could be combined. Through this process, I was able to reduce the number of steps by 15% and revised the process flowchart.
Later, I created a handout for clients interested in converting their classroom training into online training that would be distributed in my initial intake meeting with them. In this handout, I provided an overview of the online content development program, the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved, and the estimated timeframe to complete each of the steps in the process. The handout also makes it very clear that both the client and I can make as many changes as needed during the development phase of the eLearning, but once it is loaded into the LMS there should not be any content changes. This was added to ensure there would not be any "waste" occurring in the same context as the earlier health & safety course.
My current approach to management is very similar to my previous approach, as I am very familiar with management given that I previously attended a business college. I continue to be organized and am effective with coordination efforts and supervising projects and information. However, where I have grown in the management task is identifying resources. Previously, I only investigated one or two resources before selecting them. ITMA has taught me to investigate and assess many different resources before selecting one to include in the instruction. Since implementing the new management of the online content development process program, all of the e-learning courses I have designed and developed have been delivered on-schedule and on-budget.
ARTIFACTS
4.1 Project Management
"Project management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling instructional design and development projects" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 50). Project managers negotiate, budget, install information monitoring systems, and evaluate progress and improvement (AECT Standards).
Project Proposal
A project proposal is in of the first steps in project management. In this artifact, I proposed to design and develop a project on how to successfully create a blended learning environment and classroom website for educators. I outlined the objectives, materials and media selections, and justified the reason behind the proposal. This artifact is actually one of the first proposals I have ever written and did not require much revision.
Project Log
This artifact is a perfect example of monitoring and controlling instructional design and development projects. I created this time log for the Project & Report course and it shows how much time I exhausted on each task associated with the project. This was the first time that I had ever logged the hours I put into a project. It validates the point that instructional design is a science and requires time (amongst other items) to create quality instructional products.
4.2 Resource Management
"Resource management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling resource support systems and services" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). This includes documentation of cost effectiveness and justification of effectiveness or efficiency for learning as well as the resources of personnel, budget, supplies, time, facilities, and instructional resources (AECT Standards).
Blended Learning
The instructional product was developed as a website that allows for high-level of learner control, high-levels of interactivity, and the marriage of text, graphics, videos, and animations. This project required many different instructional resources (print text, online journals, YouTube Videos, Telegami, etc.) and I had to manage both them and my personal time investment of 160 hours to successfully create this educational product.
Instructional Design - Analysis
This artifact demonstrates my ability to plan, monitor and control resource support systems and services by identifying and applying goal sub-steps to larger steps, and finally establishing the resources needed and sequencing of the steps in order to create a thoughtful plan.
Reviewing Resources in Audio
This artifact illustrates the different fidelity qualities in digital audio depending on the file format the learner saves the audio in. A manager needs to know the resources available to him or her and select the best one depending on the needs of the project. Audio projects that are made for the web can be saved into MP3 for their good quality and small file size, but a project for a multi-platinum recording artists are best saved in a higher quality format and at a larger file size.
4.3 Delivery System Management
"Delivery system management involves planning, monitoring and controlling 'the method by which distribution of instructional materials is organized' . . . [It is] a combination of medium and method of usage that is employed to present instructional information to a learner" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). This includes attention to hardware and software requirements, technical support for the users and developers, and process issues such as guidelines for designers, instructors, and ECIT support personnel (AECT Standards).
Impediments Preventing Use of the Web to Address Your Needs
This artifact was one of the first assignments I completed in the ITMA program. It discusses how the Web, as a delivery management system, can create impediments for learners. Instructional technologists who are designing courses for the Web should take into consideration these access to services, physical requirements, and equipment from both the designer and student perspectives.
Considerations for Leaders in Distance Education
This artifact discusses the top considerations in distance learning from perspectives of the institution, faculty, and students. While creating this artifact, I learned there is a lot of preparation that goes into a successful distance learning program from readiness, to hardware and software, and training. It is important all of the concerns outlined in this artifact be addressed before starting the design of a distance learning program at any educational level.
4.4 Information Management
"Information management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling the storage, transfer, or processing of information in order to provide resources for learning" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). Information is available in many formats and candidates must be able to access and utilize a variety of information sources for their professional benefit and the benefit of their future learners (AECT Standards).
Web Capabilities in Education
In this artifact, I researched the Web and identified over 15 resources, including information databases which store, transfer, and process information in order to provide a resource for learning. A favorite resource of mine is NASA Education as it allows for educators to download lesson plans and activities for the classroom.
Addressing Information Management Needs
This artifact identifies several resources to help learners process, store, and manage information for learning. Several of the tools I've identified in the artifact are tools I use on a daily basis such as Google Drive and DropBox
4.1 Project Management
"Project management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling instructional design and development projects" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 50). Project managers negotiate, budget, install information monitoring systems, and evaluate progress and improvement (AECT Standards).
Project Proposal
A project proposal is in of the first steps in project management. In this artifact, I proposed to design and develop a project on how to successfully create a blended learning environment and classroom website for educators. I outlined the objectives, materials and media selections, and justified the reason behind the proposal. This artifact is actually one of the first proposals I have ever written and did not require much revision.
Project Log
This artifact is a perfect example of monitoring and controlling instructional design and development projects. I created this time log for the Project & Report course and it shows how much time I exhausted on each task associated with the project. This was the first time that I had ever logged the hours I put into a project. It validates the point that instructional design is a science and requires time (amongst other items) to create quality instructional products.
4.2 Resource Management
"Resource management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling resource support systems and services" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). This includes documentation of cost effectiveness and justification of effectiveness or efficiency for learning as well as the resources of personnel, budget, supplies, time, facilities, and instructional resources (AECT Standards).
Blended Learning
The instructional product was developed as a website that allows for high-level of learner control, high-levels of interactivity, and the marriage of text, graphics, videos, and animations. This project required many different instructional resources (print text, online journals, YouTube Videos, Telegami, etc.) and I had to manage both them and my personal time investment of 160 hours to successfully create this educational product.
Instructional Design - Analysis
This artifact demonstrates my ability to plan, monitor and control resource support systems and services by identifying and applying goal sub-steps to larger steps, and finally establishing the resources needed and sequencing of the steps in order to create a thoughtful plan.
Reviewing Resources in Audio
This artifact illustrates the different fidelity qualities in digital audio depending on the file format the learner saves the audio in. A manager needs to know the resources available to him or her and select the best one depending on the needs of the project. Audio projects that are made for the web can be saved into MP3 for their good quality and small file size, but a project for a multi-platinum recording artists are best saved in a higher quality format and at a larger file size.
4.3 Delivery System Management
"Delivery system management involves planning, monitoring and controlling 'the method by which distribution of instructional materials is organized' . . . [It is] a combination of medium and method of usage that is employed to present instructional information to a learner" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). This includes attention to hardware and software requirements, technical support for the users and developers, and process issues such as guidelines for designers, instructors, and ECIT support personnel (AECT Standards).
Impediments Preventing Use of the Web to Address Your Needs
This artifact was one of the first assignments I completed in the ITMA program. It discusses how the Web, as a delivery management system, can create impediments for learners. Instructional technologists who are designing courses for the Web should take into consideration these access to services, physical requirements, and equipment from both the designer and student perspectives.
Considerations for Leaders in Distance Education
This artifact discusses the top considerations in distance learning from perspectives of the institution, faculty, and students. While creating this artifact, I learned there is a lot of preparation that goes into a successful distance learning program from readiness, to hardware and software, and training. It is important all of the concerns outlined in this artifact be addressed before starting the design of a distance learning program at any educational level.
4.4 Information Management
"Information management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling the storage, transfer, or processing of information in order to provide resources for learning" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). Information is available in many formats and candidates must be able to access and utilize a variety of information sources for their professional benefit and the benefit of their future learners (AECT Standards).
Web Capabilities in Education
In this artifact, I researched the Web and identified over 15 resources, including information databases which store, transfer, and process information in order to provide a resource for learning. A favorite resource of mine is NASA Education as it allows for educators to download lesson plans and activities for the classroom.
Addressing Information Management Needs
This artifact identifies several resources to help learners process, store, and manage information for learning. Several of the tools I've identified in the artifact are tools I use on a daily basis such as Google Drive and DropBox