Session X (30 May - 05 June)

I was able to sign-on my three testers for pilot testing and have just about finished putting together the prototype. The group I spoke with may produce some additional testers. Is this one of things that it's the more the better? I imagine so, but generating volumes of data for ETEC 644 here in the home stretch seems ill advised. I also incorporated some of the changes offered by Dr Baek and our classmates at PDC, which adds grist to the mill here in the final days of the course.

My next task is to throw together some worksheets for the testers to fill with their opinions and reactions to the product. My plan is to have them back from the testers so I can assemble the paper and PowerPoint over the weekend.

Session IX (23-29 May)

Potentially Critical error:

I dropped the ball pretty bad on my prototype testing. Because I was traveling on business all last week and this week is shortened by the holiday, I still haven't locked on my three testers yet. I won't be back in the office until Wednesday and my preferred testers work the evening shift so Wednesday night will be my next opportunity to recruit. I lost a lot of time by not lining up these guys before I left for Vegas.

My storyboard and prototyping are moving along pretty well. I think I have my color scheme, templates, and navigation nailed down (although I am second guessing my color choices) and just have to author the content of the section I'm going to use for testing.

Session VIII (16-22 May)

IRB is a done!

I spent a lot of time this week working on the layout, navigation, and appearance of my electronic prototype. I thought it was pretty cool for powerpoint. I used most of the kiosk features and put the navigation buttons on the slide master.

You can check it out at: http://5laffs.googlepages.com/NavigationTemplate.ppt

Interestingly, my first pilot tester, my eleven year-old son, had some good comments about the appearance of the buttons so changes are already planned.

Session VII (9-15 May)

IRB692 training complete!

Some of it was even interesting...

Other than that it's been a pretty light week on 644.
I put a good deal of energy into my other two classes; only six hours left to do for ETEC 692.
It also looks like I will be able to delay my trip in June so I should be able to show-up to brief my progress in week 11! (Of course I feel like including it in this post is just begging Murphy's law!)

Vegas next week! Strictly business though.

Session VI (2-8 May)

Tough week!

I've struggled with a sort of backward approach to the lit review this week. When I have a point that I want to make but haven't found that article or peice of research that states it, I end up going off looking for more articles, even though I should have been wrapping-up the lit review.

I also found some frustration in the fact that I spent the better part of a month scouring the stacks and reading literature for all three main areas of my review, but the week 5 course presentation added the option of focusing on one of the main areas.

At least I don't have the stomach flu!

Session V (25 Apr - 1 May)

This week I learned that my ability to locate and retreive articles is way out of proportion to my ability to read them. I'm still plowing my way through a stack of material that I've collected over the last few weeks.

I have found that the text book's advice regarding "grading" articles based on thier applicability to the topic is very useful. Now, when I go back through the stacks if there is a "5" on the article, I know it's off topic and there may only be one or two highlighted items in it.

I also found that my research tends to drift between lanes: I'll be plugging away on my Master's Project and come accross an article that applies to my job rather than my college work. I end up "wasting" time by concentrating on my job. I suppose that's good news for the taxpayers who pay my salary, but it isn't getting me any closer to a good literature review!

I've also made a 3" binder divided into sections that coorespond to the bullets in Lit Review Outline. I'ts kind of an unscientific way of seeing which section needs more filling. I'm trying to print everything, because I'm not comfortable reading everything in Acrobat Reader.

Session IV (18-24 April)

Special Report from Denver International Airport.

I spent this week at a Training and Readiness Standards conference in Quantico, VA. We revised and update the content standard for the training that we conduct at our school in Twentynine Palms as well as our sister schools in Gulfport, MI and Ft Sill, OK.

Quantico is home to Marine Corps University and the General A.M. Gray Research Center which is the "Library of the Marine Corps." I took advantage of this opportunity to use the Gray Center by locating and copying government reports, journal articles, and theses/dissertations regarding military training. Their index of theses and dissertations proved particularly useful since it contains not only the student products from Marine Corps University but also those from other military universities such as the Naval Post Graduate School up in Monterey. (These proved particularly useful since they offer the Master's in Education.

A couple classmates asked about SCORM. To me SCORM is like car insurance; I know I have to have it, but don't really understand it completely. Sadly, I was unable to take the class this term since I'm already taking 12 units. What I know about SCORM is that it is mandated by the Department of Defense for all Interactive Multimedia Instruction. If DoD is paying a contractor or other vendor to develop courseware for use online the statement of work must specify that the deliverable be compliant with the current version of SCORM. As I understand it, this ensures that a given learning object will work on any number of platforms and learning management systems. For our purposes, SCORM is a relatively pain-free requirement because we have chosen an authorware package that has SCORM built-in. We chose Articulate, but it is very similar to Camtasia; you just chose the SCORM radio button before you finalize or export your movie and you're done. The requirement to use SCORM combined with the ease of creating PowerPoints makes Articulate an obvious authorware choice for my project.

Session III

Project Topic:

Improving military training through constructivism and the web: WebQuests

Literature Review Outline

I. The status of military instruction and the need for constructivism.

a. Foundations in behaviorism: literature regarding the doctrinal practices in military training. Where it works well and where it fails.
b. Opportunites for applying constructivism: literature regarding relativism and androgogy; how learners develop a deeper, more internalized understanding.
c. Latency in military training: literature that illustrates the painfully slow pace of ID in the military and how it often fails to keep pace with changes in policy and equipment.

II. WebQuests

a. Information on the Web: literature regarding knowledge management and informal learning.
b. WebQuests and te web: literature addressing the web's ability to deliver current information.
c. WebQuests and Androgogy: Literature regarding WebQuests and adult learners.
d. Digital Natives: Literature regarding how the next generation of trainees differ from thier predecessors

III. Instructional Design Process

a. ADDIE: Documenting the Systems Approach to training; the military's version ADDIE.
b. Design and development to meet the military's accepted standard and create an LMS friendly product: literature regarding SCORM and military.
c. Summative evaluation: literature regarding the military's struggles with survey instruments and ways to decrease non-responses.

Session II

I. This week I spent a good deal of time working on collecting/requesting/reading articles for my literature review. I also took the blog tour today and left a post for a classmate. The fact that Monday is drawing to a close and nobody has made a Week II post leads me to believe that I do not possess a comprehensive understanding of the syllabus. My confusion is compounded by the fact that the Week Two folder in Course Documents remains empty.

So, if today (Monday, 09 April) is the last day of Week I, and the blog posts that we did last week in class covered us for Week I, then the Week II blog post isn't due until 4:59pm on Tuesday, 17 April? If that's true, then when is the preliminary thesis due?

Bring you patience tomorrow night... I've got a lot of questions!

Session I

I. Topic: For my Master's Project I plan to create a web-based resource that will teach Marines how to develop and use WebQuests to offer their subordinates learning opportunities that leverage constructivist principles and up-to-date web content.

In the military we are very good at teaching the young Marines anything that they can get good at through drill and repetition. Our efforts in the affected domain are less expert. For example the individual Marine's ability to state that the Corps has a zero tolerance policy regarding sexual harassment doesn't necessarily mean that the Marine has the egalitarian attitude that the policy is intended to promote.

II. Progress. In ETEC 623 I developed a survey questionnaire to gauge potential user's experience and satisfaction with WebQuests.

I also have a mental picture of some of the design, but I try not to focus too much on development since I really haven't conducted a proper analysis.