Scenario: A training manager has been frustrated with the quality of communication among trainees in his face-to-face training sessions and wants to try something new. With his supervisor’s permission, the trainer plans to convert all current training modules to a blended learning format, which would provide trainees and trainers the opportunity to interact with each other and learn the material in both a face-to-face and online environment. In addition, he is considering putting all of his training materials on a server so that the trainees have access to resources and assignments at all times.
• When converting a course to an online/distance learning experience planning is a huge concern and focus? According to Dr. Piskurich (2010) planning will take a major of the time when making a distance education course. The trainer will have to look at the very important items such as time, budget, objective parameters and course objectives (Piskurich, 2010). Another suggestion for the trainer would be to give surveys. The surveys would be an excellent tool to determine the technology level of the class and the learning abilities of the members in the class. Since learners have different abilities as well as different degrees of technology skills, this step would be extremely valuable. The trainer could make simple surveys using several websites. Such websites as Survey Monkey, Free online surveys, etc. From the results the trainer could then determine the best delivery method for the discussions. The technology survey would also give the trainer data to work with on regards to making the material available on a server, the learner’s abilities, and not making the technology a hurdle that the learners must fight to overcome. Since the trainer wants to place the information on a server, servers will have to be researched as well. Services such as Free Webspace, or even a list of free web services. Another suggestion for the trainer would be to use any of the CMS and LMS that are online. This will allow the trainer to track and keep better records of the efforts from the trainees. There are a variety of free CMS, LMS available. Here is a list that are available 15 desks, Ectolearn, Lecture Share, School Rack, rCampus, Moodle, Edmodo, and edu2.0.
• What aspects of his original training program could be enhanced in the distance learning format? The original program can be enhanced with distance learning by making the program have more activities. Since the biggest problem that the trainer is seeing is communication, the trainer could use discussion boards, blogs, instant messaging, and multimedia. The trainer also stated that they wanted to place their course files online so they can be accessed at any time. By placing the files online, the trainees could access them before the face-to-face setting making the course time more valuable. The better prepared the trainees are before they come into the face-to-face setting, the better the discussions in class could be, as well as the information from the trainer would not be totally new.
• How will his role, as trainer, change in a distance learning environment? In the distance learning environment the trainer’s role would change from an instructor to a facilitator. If the trainer decides to use discussion boards, blogs, etc he will need to follow the rule of thumb for discussions. The rule of thumb for discussion is 1:4 (Simonson, 2009) when interacting or replying to the online discussions. Keeping to this ratio will allow the trainees to learn from each other and the discussions will become more valuable. In the distance environment setting the trainer would be more of a supervisor of the discussions. The trainer would look over the discussions and make sure that there is correct dialogue being given and correcting information that was incorrect (Simonson, 2009).
• What steps should the trainer take to encourage the trainees to communicate online? To encourage the trainees to communicate online, the trainer could make the first discussion a getting to know you discussion. This would be more open and allow the trainees to share something about them. The trainer should have the same requirements for this discussion, so the trainees could get used to the format and expected style. Another idea would be for the trainer to be the first one to post in that discussion. This would give the trainees a piece of information about the trainer that they might not have gotten from the face-to-face course.
Sources:
Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Facilitating Online Learning. [Online]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson
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