Creating Online Workshops that Work

1. Creating Online Workshops that Work Getting Started: A Framework for Designing Online Training

2. Welcome My name is Joan and I will be your guide for this workshop. As a grad student at George Mason University, I’ve been immersed in studies related to the design of effective online learning. In this workshop, I’ll summarize the guidelines which have become accepted “best practices” in the field to help you get started creating content for T/TAC Online.

3. Training Anytime & Anyplace T/TAC Online will greatly expand the reach of T/TAC services. • If someone is dealing with a situation today, they don’t need to wait for the next workshop. You can refer them to T/TAC Online and the information will be “delivered” right to their desktop.

4. Objectives After completing this training, you should be able to: • Feel comfortable about getting started developing content for delivery through T/TAC Online • Use Exploration techniques to understand content and audience • Use Enactment techniques to select and implement appropriate learning strategies • Use Evaluation techniques to get feedback • Revise content based on feedback

5. Are you Ready to go Online? This is a powerful tool, but if you’ve never created online training before, it can be a bit intimidating. • Fortunately, pioneers in the field have been actively testing techniques for the past decade. • In this workshop, we’ll share their recommendations with you.

6. Good News! All Good Training is Created about the Same Way

7. Good Training is Good Training A common theme throughout all published literature is that good face-to-face training has the same characteristics as good online training. • So, if you’re been delivering face-to-face workshops or other training, you already know much of what it takes to create quality online learning materials.

8. Grounded Design Another way of saying this is that good training is grounded by learning theories and research. • The framework we’ll use in our discussion is based on empirical research. • You’ll see many similarities to developing face-to-face training and how you can adapt them to the online environment.

9. Let’s Get Started We’ll structure our discussion using components of the…

10. Integrative Learning Design Framework for Online Learning (ILDF for Online Learning) Source: Dabbagh, N. & Bannan-Ritland, B. (in press) Online learning: Concepts, Strategies, and Application. NY: Prentice Hall, Merrill Education

11. ILDF for Online Learning The ILDF for Online Learning divides the development process into Three Steps: • Step One: Exploration • Step Two: Enactment • Step Three: Evaluation In the following sections, we will highlight some techniques from each of these three steps which you may find useful for developing your online content. Source: Dabbagh, N. & Bannan-Ritland, B. (in press) Online learning: Concepts, Strategies, and Application. NY: Prentice Hall, Merrill Education

12. Step One: Exploration • Reflect on your experience • Create an audience profile • Identify your content type • Understand your learning goals

13. Step One: ExplorationReflect on your Experience Your own experience working with students is a valuable part of the exploration process. • The ILDF for Online Learning considers your beliefs, knowledge and practical experience to be just as important as published perspectives to the online instruction development process. • Many of the same techniques you use in face-to-face teaching can be modified to work online.

14. Step One: ExplorationCreate an Audience Profile An effective technique to develop online materials is to create a profile or persona of a typical audience member. • Your profile will be a composite of the characteristics of many individuals you know. • Make it detailed. Give your persona a name. • When creating your content, imagine that you are talking to this person.

15. Step One: ExplorationIdentify your Content Type A workshop may contain all one type of content or a combination of many types: • Do you have lists of facts? • Are you demonstrating a step-by-step process? • Are you explaining concepts to be used to solve problems?

16. Step One: ExplorationUnderstand your Learning Goals Workshops can also have one or many different types of goals: • Inform Goals – Communicate Information • Procedural Goals – Demonstrate Steps • Principle Goals – Solve Complex Problems

17. Step One: ExplorationReview Let’s review the Exploration step: • Reflect on your experience • Create an audience profile • Identify your content type • Understand your learning goals Do these activities seem familiar to those you use in preparing face-to-face workshops?

18. Activity #1Reflect on Your Experience • Select a workshop topic you would like to put into T/TAC Online. • Reflect on how you would organize this topic for a face-to-face presentation. • Make two columns in your notebook. • In the left column make an outline of how you would develop this topic for a face-to-face workshop. • In the right column, make notes about how this would work in the online environment.

19. Activity #2Create a Persona • Think about a teacher who has attended your workshops on the selected topic. • Make a list of things you know about them. • How old are they? What type of work do they do? Where do they live? How many children do they have? What motivates them? What do they do for recreation? Continue to develop their character, until you can visualize them and feel you know them. • Give your persona a name.

20. Activity #3Link Content Type to Learning Goals • Select a workshop topic you would like to put into T/TAC Online. • Make three columns in your notebook. • In the left column list the content in your workshop. • In the middle column identify the content type. • In the right column note the learning goal you associate with this content.

21. Step Two: Enactment As we said at the start of the lesson, you can’t go wrong if you ground your design in proven theories and research. • In the Enactment step, you’ll use the conclusions drawn from your experience about your audience, content and goals to select and apply proven learning strategies.

22. Step Two: EnactmentLearning Theories You can choose from a broad range of learning theories. At one end are theories to teach rote facts. At the other are theories to teach complex problem solving. • Presenting Information – Teaching Facts • Creating Information –Teaching Problem Solving

23. Step Two: Enactment - Presenting InformationBehaviorist Theories Behaviorist theories focus on presentation of information. They provide techniques to help learners • Recall facts • Define concepts • Apply explanations • Respond automatically

24. Step Two: Enactment - Presenting InformationStrategies for Presenting Information Strategies that help learners recall information include: • Repetition • Analogies • Mnemonics • Images Techniques such as repetition have been popular in computer-based training for many years.

25. Step Two: Enactment – Creating InformationCreating Information Constructivist theories are based on the premise that learning is an active process. They provide techniques to help learners • Construct their own knowledge (opinions, skills) through experiences and interactions • Transfer what they have learned in one context to another • Solve ill-structured problems

26. Step Two: Enactment – Creating InformationStrategies for Creating Information • Case Studies • Guided Reflection • Worked Examples • Multiple Perspectives • Rehearsal • Chunking and Linking • Scaffolding Strategies that help learners create knowledge include:

27. Think about This Since cognitive strategies focus on interaction and experience, is it possible to apply them online?

28. Yes! The ability to interact with people and information from around the world is what makes the Internet so popular.

29. Step Two: EnactmentReview Let’s review the Enactment step: • Good design is based on theory and research • You can select teaching strategies based whether you are • Presenting Information - Teaching Facts • Creating Information – Teaching Problem Solving Good news: you’ll use the same type of strategies online as you do in the face-to-face environment.

30. Activity #4:Exploring Learning Theories • Visit the links on the next page to explore learning theories. • Using your worksheet from Activity #3 in the Exploration section, identify a learning strategy which would be effective for the content.

31. Links go here

32. Step Three: Evaluation Revise “On-the-Fly” • When you present a face-to-face workshop, you are continually revising your presentation based on audience feedback. Revise through Formative Evaluation • In the online environment, feedback from the audience comes much later, if at all. But you can still make changes “on-the-fly” using a technique called formative evaluation.

33. Step Three: EvaluationFormative Evaluation Since you won’t be able to respond to signs from your audience to revise “on-the-fly”, you will want to get feedback before the training goes online. Ask for feedback from: • Your colleagues – this is called an “expert review” • Non-professional educators

34. Want feedback from your Online Audience? Just Ask! Include your email address along with a question for specific or general feedback.

35. Step Three: EvaluationIncorporating Feedback Whether the feedback comes during the development phase or after the training has gone live, it’s much easier to revise online content than printed materials.

36. Step Three: EvaluationReview Let’s review the Evaluation step: • You can use formative evaluation to gather feedback on your training from colleagues, friends and your online audience • Based on this feedback, you can revise your online training materials at any time Just as you modify your workshop presentations based on new information or audience reactions, you can modify your online content as often as you would like.

37. Activity #4:Creating an Evaluation Checklist • Select a workshop topic you would like to develop for T/TAC Online. • Make a list of questions you would like to know about the workshop such as • Length • Relevance of Content • Sequencing, Repetition • Clarity

38. Want to Know More? View the Workshop: “Removing the Teacher without Losing the Student” for tips on learning strategies in the online environment.

39. Also… Read books on online learning development: • Dabbagh, N. & Bannan-Ritland, B. (2004) Online learning: Concepts, Strategies, and Application. NY: Prentice Hall, Merrill Education • Clark, R. & Mayer, R. (2003) e-Learning and the Science of Instruction. NY: John Wiley & Sons. Visit the links to internet sites about learning theories and strategies on the next page

40. Insert page with URLs here

41. Thank you for your attention. I hope you will find this information helpful in creating content for T/TAC Online Training. I would appreciate your feedback on your learning experience. You can contact me at: jscheppk@gmu.edu

42. Wondering how this Workshop was Created?

43. Slides were created in MS PowerPoint… Open PowerPoint, then reset the page size… • From the File Menu, Select Page Setup and set the Page Size to: 5.5” w x 3.75” h • Create Presentation • Save file in PowerPoint Presentation format • Resave file in JPEG format • Select to save “Every Slide” in the Document in JPEG format

44. …then entered into T/TAC Online Select “Create a Webshop” in T/TAC Online • Enter the profile information then choose “Select Template” • Select the “One-Graphic Template” • Enter a title for the page • Browse to input path to slide • Enter appropriate text for Caption, Alt Tag & Source • To enable screen readers to read your text, copy it from each slide in PowerPoint and paste it into the “Text Box” at the bottom of the page

45. Techniques used in this Workshop • Create a dialogue with your audience • Speak in the first person • Use an agent who speaks in conversational style (me) • Provide visual cues to keep audience on track • Chunk information into sections • Separate each section with page listing topics • List topic at top of each page • Provide opportunities for reflection and interaction • Ask questions • Provide activities which relate to the context in which audience will use the information