Scenario: A company wants to increase the level of communication and collaboration among employees while they work remote from their home offices. By learning how to use the collaboration features of Microsoft Office 365, the company will be able to solve their collaboration problem, improve productivity, and meet their identified Key Performance Indicators. This is done via eLearning, VTL, synchronous learning with course modules uploaded into an LMS. The choice of an eLearning format aligns with the practice of instructional design because it’s developed with the ADDIE instructional model, and it encompasses Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction. ​Additionally, the choice aligns to the evaluative and data collection perspective as it will follow Levels 2, 3 and 4 of Kirkpatrick’s models for Evaluation. ​Level 2: A pre-survey helps to establish a baseline assessing what participants already know about MSO365. ​Level 3: Observing employees transferring knowledge in their job, and leadership conducting performance reviews on the skills presented will help identify potential gaps in learning and feedback for revising the training course. ​Level 4: Measures how the training course contributes to the success of the company. Is there an increase in collaboration, communication and workplace productivity that directly impact the company’s return on investment?

Theory Application: Andragogy: The participants are tech savvy adult employees working remotely for a large business. They are familiar with Microsoft desktop applications so they should easily be able to generalize what they already know to work on products online, in the cloud. This course will engage each participant in the learning process as they are able to build upon their own experiences, to make real world/work connections with the new content, which directly meets their “What’s In It For Me” (WIIFM) need. Knowing that adult learners acquire new information and build upon existing knowledge more effectively if they are encouraged to explore activities on their own and decide ​which aspects of the information they want to take away from the learning experience, the course will be designed with independent learning activities, ​followed up with collaborative sharing and discussions and supported by a Q & A form that will be put in place if learners need to ask questions. ​

Transformational Learning Theory: I've learned in the Transformational Learning Theory the importance of pointing out to participants what they “don’t know” to make them curious about the course and content. ​The Pre-Course survey will ask participants if they already know how to share and communicate virtually within applications. A ”not yet” response will help to build curiosity and will also establish their personal relevance for WIIFM at the beginning of the course. ​The Challenge by Choice application and product choice board learning experience will enable participants who are already comfortable with an application to choose to either ​complete the activity in their comfort zone or branch out to try something new.​ This element of the coursework will benefit participants professionally, enabling them to participate in a specific task that targets specific technical skills which are directly related to real world situations in their field of work. ​

Experiential Learning Theory: I've learned in the Experiential Learning Theory that learning is a result from doing something. Therefore, each of the tasks in the Collaborate in the Cloud course will be carefully designed as hands-on Active Experimentation, followed by Reflect Observation where participants engage with and reflect on their experiences.

Formative and Summative assessments have been incorporated into each module. Module 1a: Formative: Course Pre-Survey: What do you already know about MSO365 Applications? & Discussion Board Post Summative: Knowledge Check: Select MSO 365 applications from a M/C question. Module 1b:Formative: Creation of Folder in OneDrive “Collaborate in the Cloud” Summative: N/A Module 2: Formative: Creation of Digital Product and Demonstration of Share feature. Summative: Self-Check: Acknowledging completion of Tasks Module 3a: Formative: Recorded Teams Collaboration Meeting Practice with Rubric Summative: Qualitative Discussion Rubric to Evaluate the quality communication and collaboration Module 3bFormative: Recorded Teams Collaboration Meeting Evaluated with Rubric Summative: Course Post Survey & Workplace Observations

Mindset To Learn © 2021 by Johanna Musser is licensed under CC BY 4.0