History of
RegionalCommissions
in Georgia
Team 15/5's
A 15/5 is a short progress report. Taking about fifteen minutes to write and five minutes to read it keeps everyone up to date on the weekly going's on with the project. These reports will be written both for team progress and for individual progress. Check out the team members' pages for their individual 15/5 reports.
Second 15/5
January 26, 2016
This week we began on our needs assessment. As we have previously learned, needs assessment will
determine whether the development of training will solve a problem. Our client, Carl Vinson Institute of
Government, was contacted by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to propose a training
course for the 12 regional commissions in Georgia. The request is the result of a 2015 Georgia
Department of Audits and Accounts performance audit which communicated programmatic and
operational issues that must be resolved for these entities to achieve their purpose. The audit rated the
regional commissions using a Balanced Scorecard with the following indicators – Financial, Customer,
Learning and Growth, and Internal Business Process. The scale used was 1 through 4 with 1 being the
highest ranking. In the 2015 audit 50% of the regional commissions scored a 3 or 4 on each of the
indicators. These rankings indicated challenges exist in providing services.
The Design Divas are developing the first module of this training program which will establish the
framework in which the rest of the training will be developed. This module will go back to the evolution
of regional commissions including their roles and responsibilities. We want to remind them where they
came from and why. What is the good they should be doing? Where is their money coming from? They
need to be good stewards of that money. Finally, what laws dictate their creation?
Georgia laws govern the creation and operation of these regional commissions. These laws will provide
the content for the training. We began the research for these laws this week and sent our preliminary
findings to the client for confirmation that we have addressed the most important areas. Once we have
our needs assessment and scope document approved, we can proceed with storyboarding.
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First 15/5
January 18, 2016
Today we had our first team meeting. We assigned roles as follows - Tracy Arner, Project Manager, Lead Instuctional Designer, Cheri Tenhouse, Lead Graphic Artist and Programmer, Lana Garner, Lead Evaluator, Megan Bracewell, Researcher, Tracy Arner, Website, Nora Cloonan, Audio Recordings, Nora Cloonan.
The title of our project is History of Georgia's Regional Commissions. Our Project Description is as follows -The Carl Vinson Institute of Government is creating a new curriculum to address development, engagement, and responsibilities for board members of the 12 Regional Commissions in the State of Georgia. The new curriculum will include three delivery methods. The first method will involve creating a series of tutorials concerning fundamental concepts related to the history and operation of Georgia’s Regional Commissions. Our project will introduce the learner to the history of Regional Commissions.
The current order of our project design will be research and storyboarding for client approval. The next step will be the graphic and technical design in Storyline. We decided to wait for the audio recording until after the complete design so we can ensure consistent audio quality. Once the content is created in Storyline, learner assessments will be created. Finally, we will perform alpha and beta tests to finalize the e-learning content.
We all agreed to post our individual 15/5s. As the Project Manager, Tracy will post the Team 15/5s.
Nora gave the team an overview of how to work with Wix website editor.
We are excited about working together again and think Nora will be a great addition to the team.
Third 15/5
February 1, 2016
We sent our research for the Storyline content to the subject matter expert, Chrissy Marlowe at Carl Vinson Institute of Government, for review and approval this week. Chrissy, approved the content and suggested we add information regarding the services regional commissions offer to local governments. We also submitted our needs assessment draft to Dr. Clinton for his review and approval. After class on January 27, we had a team meeting to determine our upcoming priorities and assign responsibilities. These are as follows –
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Everyone is to record their time on the Google sheet that Megan created.We decided we would record all aspects of the project including time to create and update our website.
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Cheri Tenhouse is our story board lead. Now that the content has been approved by the client, Cheri will begin the initial story board for group comment.
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We clarified there is an updated version of the template we will use to create the tutorial and advised everyone to ensure they chose the correct version.
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We discussed the upcoming February 10 assignment relating to task analysis and learning objectives. Tracy will draft this document for team comment.
I think we are off to a good start. Everyone understands their roles and upcoming deadlines.
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Fourth 15/5
February 9, 2016
This week we met with Dr. Clinton regarding our Needs Assessment. Overall, we did well. However, we neglected to correctly frame our problem statement. As we have previously learned, the problem statement should be stated in terms of what is causing the problem rather than seeing the learners as the issue. We rewrote the problem statement to the following – The State of Georgia is not adequately training Regional Commission Council members to perform their responsibilities in accordance with the history and laws which instituted them.
In addition, we began our task analysis and curriculum map assignment. Dr. Clinton advised us regarding the deliverables for this assignment. We refined our instructional goal to state – The members of the Regional Commission Councils in Georgia will be able to summarize the history of how Regional Commissions were formed and the laws that govern their actions. We created our learning objectives for each of our five lessons.
The learning objectives are as follows, the learners will be able to -
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Summarize the Evolution of the Regional Commissions,
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Identify the twelve regional commissions in Georgia,
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Recite the required members of each regional commission council and their terms of office,
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Recount the basic powers of the Regional Commission and their role in providing oversight and assistance to local government, and
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Recall the primary funding mechanisms for Regional Commissions.
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Fifth 15/5
February 16, 2016
This week Dr. Clinton gave us feedback on our task analysis. Overall we did well. However, he challenged us to rethink the ordering of our lessons as well as present our curriculum map in a more formalized manner with the instructional goal included. This caused us to rethink how the instructional content will flow.
Our team also met to discuss how we would move forward on our next assignment for March 2. We plan to allocate the tasks among the team members as follows:
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User Profile, Tracy
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Treatment, Megan/Tracy
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Design Model and Instructional Model, Nora
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Hardware/software specs, Cheri
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Screen design, Lana
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Evaluation Plan, Megan
We have been working on our timeline as well. We are using the ADDIE instructional model. February and March are dedicated to the analyze and design phases. Development, evaluation and implementation will take place in April.
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Sixth 15/5
February 23, 2016
This week our team has focused on our upcoming assignment due March 2. We made some important decisions regarding our instructional model. We chose Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. Since the “History of Regional Commissions” content is primarily based on law, we feel the presentation in multiple formats will assist the learner in assimilating content into their mental schemas.
We were also able to get client approval for our Needs Assessment and Scope document this week. In addition, we finalized our font decision and received approval for that as well. We chose Cambria for the title font and Calibri in the paragraph text. This choice was recommended by Dr. Orey in our design class last semester.
Now that we have our client approval to proceed, we will begin the storyboard process this week. In addition, we will focus on our evaluation plan.
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Seventh 15/5
March 1, 2016
This week focused on our evaluation plan and storyboarding.
Our evaluation plan will include alpha and beta testing. We plan to engage peers in our EDIT 6210 class in the alpha testing. We will focus on usability and design. We will use a Likert scale of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree. We will also collect evaluator demographic data.
For our Beta test, we will use Carl Vinson Institute of Government staff. We will conduct a pre-test and post-test to determine the effectiveness of the training. We will also use a Likert scale of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree. Again, we will collect user demographics. Testing will occur in April.
We also began storyboarding this week. We used the information from our 3/2 planning document to inform this process. We have chosen to use a guide and various interactive assessments throughout the tutorial.
We are discussing when to engage our expert for review. We know we need to get their feedback early on but also need a significant amount of development completed before they will have a prototype to review. We will most likely consult the expert in the Alpha stage.
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Eighth 15/5
March 8, 2016
This week we completed the storyboarding and are moving forward with the module development. We found that the storyboards serve as a good map for the work to follow. We have one team member preparing the Articulate slides and one working on the audio. We plan to save the audio until the end to allow for the best sound consistency.
Our team also discussed the tone of the module this week. We want to present an engaging character as the module guide. The content is a history of the evolution of Regional Commissions and their roles and responsibilities. The purpose of this training is to equip Council members in understanding the purpose of these commissions and the laws under which they operate. This is in response to significant audit findings related to approximately one-half of the entities. We want to capture the user’s attention with engaging interactive content. We believe our design will deliver this kind of experience.
We also received feedback from Dr. Clinton on our design plan. Overall we did really well. We have one area we need to address – the treatment. We will strengthen the support for why we chose to create an e-learning module rather than deliver face-to-face and why we chose the Articulate software. We will modify the content appropriately.
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Ninth 15/5
March 15, 2016
This was spring break week. However, we were still hard at work. Using Dr. Clinton’s feedback, we restated our Treatment Rationale. The reason we are creating an e-learning module is the content is informational and lends itself to online delivery. The Carl Vinson Institute of Government is creating a series of training modules some of which will be delivered face-to-face and others can be delivered asynchronously. The Institute of Government has limited faculty available for classroom training and desires to present suitable content online. We are using Articulate to develop the training because Carl Vinson Institute of Government has chosen that software as their e-learning tool. In addition, they will make the content available to learners via the online Articulate feature.
We also had to rethink a couple of our storyboard slides once development was under way. It was not clear what we were trying to convey about the advisors during the forming of the regional commissions. We updated a couple of the slides and then proceeded with development.
Finally, we prepared our slides for the class presentation this week. When you look back at all the work we did, it was rather impressive. We think we will have a creative, engaging finished project.
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Tenth 15/5
March 22, 2016
This week we presented our project overview to the first year students. It is great to be at this place in our journey. We have learned so much in these past two years. It is evident by how well everyone on the team understands our roles. Our project is really coming along. Lana, our lead programmer and graphic artist, has put together some creative slides. We gave our client a sneak peek this week. They thought it was amazing! Cheri put together the storyboards which is really facilitating the efficient creation of the module. Nora is getting ready to begin the audio and has even bought a new microphone for sound quality.
Megan has designed the evaluation plan. We are excited about our testers. The alpha testers will be two Carl Vinson Institute of Government faculty and one alumni from the UGA IDD program. Our beta testers will come from several actual regional commissions. We will also have a tester from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. We should get some really good feedback from these groups.
It is interesting to see the overlap between the classes this semester. We are learning a lot about the structure of objective questions which will be useful in the assessments for this class. We also have evaluation plans required for each class as well. I feel we continue to go deeper in our understanding of design principles, instructional theories, and assessments. Looking forward to the final presentation of our projects in April.
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Eleventh 15/5
March 29, 2016
This week the team has been focused on comp exams. Everyone is getting prepared for this milestone in our program. When looking back over the last two years, it is remarkable the knowledge and skills we have acquired. I know this program will impact my work professionally. We are learning not only about designing effective learning but also the importance of the structure of the assessments. I have realized we have some work to do in the program I manage on the assessment questions we use. I am glad to say we have a good grasp on instructional congruency though. We strive to align our learning objectives with instruction and assessments. Our group work in this class has been focused on instructional alignment as well.
Nora began her work on recording the audio this week. We had previously designed our storyboards which Lana is using to create the slides and Nora is using to record the audio. We realized our flow in one of the lessons was not quite right. In fact, we felt the slides were not in the right order. So, once again we revisited the storyboards to evaluate the content presented, slide graphics, details and script. We considered if we were meeting our learning objectives. This demonstrates the truly iterative process of design and development.
Our group is working well together to create the finished product. We are looking forward to sharing the tutorial with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government team.
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Twelfth 15/5
April 5, 2016
Now that our comprehensive exams are behind us, we can finish up the project. Nora has completed all of the audio except for three slides that Lana will adjust for some last minute changes. We plan to send the project to our Alpha testers by either 4/5 or 4/6. We will send the prototype to our Beta testers by 4/11 or 4/12. I sent an alert to these two groups this week so they will be ready to test as soon as we send the link.
Monday we will meet with Ron Wincek to get some expert design advice about our project to date. We are looking forward to talking with Ron and learning from his expertise.
We are also working on creating the final documents for installation and next steps for the project. As the evaluation data begins to come in, we will write the report. We have put together a framework so we can fill in each part as the information is available.
Thirteenth 15/5
April 11, 2016
This has been a busy week for the project. We had a very insightful meeting with Ron Wincek, an instructional design subject matter expert. Ron discussed how his firm meets ADA requirements. We realized our project needed some additional attention in this area. We split up the work as follows, Tracy created alt text in a Word document screen by screen for Lana to insert since she is our programmer. Nora recorded additional audio for screens that previously just had text. In addition she created a script we can save under Resources.
We also began receiving feedback from our Alpha testers regarding navigation issues and assessment feedback. We will correct these items for our final product. We are ready to send the revised prototype to our Beta testers. This group is comprised primarily of regional commission executive directors. We are evaluating the effectiveness of the module with this group.
We feel we have learned the importance of establishing roles in the design process. If each team member can focus on a particular aspect of the project, then it is more likely that the final product will meet usability and effectiveness requirements. The application in real world scenarios should be that the design process will become more streamlined and focused. Otherwise, if one person is trying to fulfill all the roles, it will seem like an endless cycle of testing and updates.
We are looking forward to this week’s desk crit to see other class member’s projects and get feedback on ours.
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Fourteenth 15/5
April 18, 2016
We are nearing the end. This past week we sent the prototype to our Beta testers and our Expert Reviewers. In this stage of testing, we are working to determine the effectiveness of the module as well as the accuracy of the content. We received one expert review back and one Beta tester review. We sent out reminders to the remaining evaluators and asked that they return their feedback no later than 4/19/16.
Last week’s desk crit was very informative in seeing how each team has designed their product. It's obvious we each have different styles and all are informed enough to offer suggestions for improvement. We seem to be the furthest along with ADA compliance. Others will have to incorporate audio or script components. I liked the clean look of one of the designs and the great voice over for the other. One team even managed to incorporate the magnify feature of Storyline which was very effective for their topic.
This week will be for making final edits once we receive the remaining feedback. We also are completing the final documentation – evaluation report, installation and user documentation, project extension proposal, and project activity log analysis.
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Fifteenth 15/5
April 25, 2016
Well, we have made it to the end. This class has really demonstrated how much we have learned in the IDD program. In addition, it points out the importance of working as a group. Our team really understood their individual roles, communicated, and worked well together. In the end, we created an engaging, well-designed project that is sure to be a useful tool for learning the History of Regional Commissions.
We did learn a few things this time around. Design with ADA compliance in mind early on. Seek expert advice early and throughout the project so the design can accommodate suggested changes. Leave enough time for testing. You will get better feedback. Choose the right evaluators. In our Beta testing group, we had some very experienced Executive Directors for Regional Commissions that already knew a lot about the history of the organizations. Next time we would choose those who might be less informed to better indicate effective learning.
Looking forward to seeing everyone’s presentation this week. Also looking forward to one last round of classes!