Project Reflection

May 1, 2021

Reflection

This week’s post is a reflection on the instructional design (ID) project that I have been working on with my team for the past semester. In this post, I will describe three strategies that we used, present the biggest challenge we faced, and highlight the “Uh-Oh” and “Ah-Ha” moments. Prior to reading this blog, I would also recommend reviewing my previous blogs Strategies for Analysis and Reflecting on Design, which summarize the first two phases of my team’s project work with our client.

Instructional Plan Idaho Food Bank Dry Goods.pdf

Instructional Plan

Before I share three strategies, I would like to share our final client deliverable which was the Instructional Plan (IP).

The IP is a blueprint, or lesson plan, for the actual training. This was my first formal instructional plan and I learned that it should be useful and not over complicated. Our project was not overly complex, therefor we were able to create a simple IP. We used a bulleted format with succinct statements and didn’t overcomplicate the practices or demonstrations. According to the OPWL Instructors (2020), one of the common mistakes with an IP is that the practice exercises aren’t realistic to the workplace performance. To ensure we would not make this error, we determined both the demonstrations and practices would be done at the job site using the actual tools and materials. This required agreement from the client that they could provide the resources and support for this effort, which they did. Creating an IP can be intimidating, but it is important to not over complicate the document.

For more on IPs I recommend reviewing the blog The Blueprint.

Three Strategies

Our team implemented many techniques and strategies to ensure our success over the past semester. Below are three of the strategies we used and I would recommend for others.

Create a Team Charter

Early on in the project, our team developed a team charter. In this document we established the strategies and guidelines that our team would follow to ensure success. By creating this charter, each team member knew what their role and responsibilities were from week to week. This also enabled us to identify everyone’s strengths so that we could utilizes everyone’s skills on the projects. Another benefit of the team charter is outlining the plan for communication. Because we did this early, I believe one of our team’s strengths was our ability to communicate. We determined how we would communicate, when we would communicate, and the expectation to respond. We also established a schedule for weekly client meetings that had structured agendas so we all knew what topics were being discussed ahead of time. We also did this for our internal weekly team meetings. Overall, the team charter strengthened our team.

(Photo by Belle Co from Pexels)

Stay within Scope

It is very important that you stay within the project scope to prevent you from wasting time and money, and ensure you are creating the correct deliverables. In my experience with other ID projects, this is a very common problem that can result is costly errors. To prevent project scope creep on this project, we regularly referred to our previous documents to confirm we had not gone out of scope. We also communicated with the client on a regular basis to ensure we were still in alignment. It is important to identify scope creep early and redirect your efforts before you get to far in the project.

(Photo by Bùi Nam Phong from Pexels)

Test it Out

Before you finalize your deliverables, you should try to test them out to identify any missing information before implementation. Our team had the client test out the IP and job aids to determine if there were any missing steps. Based on the clients feedback we could make the necessary changes before they were implemented, which can save time and money. In our situation, our client gave very positive feedback and did not have any changes. This try-out also gave our client an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the deliverables that have been developed and how they should be used.

(Photo by Anne H from Pexels)

Challenge

As I mentioned previously, scope creep is a common problem with many projects. For us, I think this was one of the biggest challenges because we had a small project with a narrow scope that was actually part of a much bigger effort. However, we had a great partnership with our client and we were able to redirect every time we began to extend too far. In the end, keeping within scope ensured we were delivering the best product for our client.

Photo by Ann H from Pexels

Uh-Oh

We didn’t have too many major “Uh-Oh” moments but we did have one with our performance assessment instrument (PAI). After submitting our first draft of our PAI and receiving feedback, we realized our assessment measures had too much room for the assessor to interpret what they were measuring. So, our team regrouped and specified the measures. With this done any assessor that was administering the assessment would know exactly if the learner was performing a task to mastery or not. This was an easy fix, but could have caused bigger problems after implementation.

Photo by Pexels--2286921 from Pixabay

Ah-Ha

My biggest “Ah-Ha” moment was when I realized how much I really enjoy ID work and how much a good partnership with your client can improve the project. Not only did I have a great team, but we had a great client who was involved and supportive. This made the entire project very enjoyable. Overall, this project was a success for both our team and our client. To check out all our work, you can click here to visit a Google Drive folder to view the final client deliverables.

References

OPWL 537 Course Instructors (2020). Instructional Design Course Handbook. Boise, ID: Boise State department of Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning.

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