Strategies to Manage Scope Creep

              Over the past six months, I have been fortunate to have been tasked with managing a very large complex curriculum project that includes a total overhaul of scoring and classification schemas, assessment delivery, student score reporting and updates to teacher resources and professional developmnet. One of the biggest challenges has been obtaining alignment between all stakeholders internally and externally.  Additionally, there is a committee of academics involved in the inputs to the design of the curriculum and assessment. 

                Because the curriculum and delivery methodology is “new” there continues to be additional scope creep on all fronts and which is causing competing priorities and project schedule risks.  All of these stakeholders continue to have “one more good idea” that they like to incorporate into the project. The good news is there is a formal change control process in place and agreed to by both parties.  The bad news is costing and completing a revised cost estimate takes weeks and hours of effort to get it signed and approved.  We have a fast track for VP approval and that too often encounters delays.

               This project is still in progress and upon reflection of the past six month there are several things that I can do and approve upon to better prevent scope creep, reduce churn and enhance communications. 

• More frequent high level  communication updates to high level management internally and externally in both written and face to face sync up meetings.
• Create a project review board that batches up changes to be looked at their entirety (Portny et al.,2008).
• Translate the changes requested into a scope impact document to that all involved can understand the costs and impacts prior to submitting them to the change control board (Portny et al., 2008).

-Michelle Cosner

Resources

Portny, E., Mantel,J., Meredith, R., Shafer, M., Sutton M., & Kramer, E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Cool Project Management Resources

The majority of the projects that I have worked on have been focused on breakthrough new product launches and demand collaboration.  Previous models for cost estimating are limited and I have encountered many uncertainties along the way and found things truly do take longer than every expected.

Having a clear visual that outlines the project schedules and resource allocations is very helpful in project management and communications.  In my search this week I found an awesome software tool called www.smartdraw.com. This tool is very easy to use and has auto formatting and templates to select from. This allows you to quickly create very professional looking visuals and communication documents. Take 3 minutes and play their video tour at the link below:

http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/pert-chart-software.htm?id=42937&gclid=COyI9Yn48rMCFcuZ4Aod5HIA0w

Another cool tool I found is podio.  https://company.podio.com.

 This project management tool is web-delivered, free and provide a really innovative collaboration platform. It provides file sharing, social media activity streams. It works with dropbox, evernote, and other leading apps. This would be a awesome tool for work breakdown charts, communications for project and connecting to all project members effectively through their mobile device and shared project platform. Check out the link and overview of podio below:

https://company.podio.com/project-management-software?gclid=CLGT7JP68rMCFUQw4AodIzcAVw


Thanks,
Michelle

Communicating Effectively

         This week we have been learning when, how and what type of communications work best to manage a project and coordinate all stakeholders involved.  This blog assignment to compare a message that was delivered in email, vmail and face-to-face was quite fun and I found only the vmail to be an effective method to communicate the message. Let me share with you my interpretations of the three modalities and why I felt the vmail message expressed the true meaning the best. 

The email message asking a colleague to send over a report by the end of the day had a negative tone. For example, using the word “but” is a push verses a pull technique and creates resistance from the person you are asking.  Also the email uses “don’t” get your report. Using don’t instead of positive ask also causes the recipient to negatively respond.  Emails are a dime a dozen  and I find if it is important and you need something right away it is ALWAYS best to pick up the phone or arrange a meeting.  The vmail I found to be the most effective of the three modalities. The vmail  was able to convey the message the best and it had tonal variety, clearly explained the importance of the report and in a way that the recipient could empathize with.  The face-to-face clip lacked a sincerity and authenticity of the actor and appeared to be she just stopped by instead of scheduling a meeting with her colleague. The smile at the end was fake and I felt if I was on the other side of her ask that I would be pressured, and she knew I was busy. The vmail enables the person to play message when they have a moment to truly listen and properly respond.

         This activity implies that there are different times and reasons to use each type of communication.  If something is time sensitive it is often best to reach out by phone or schedule a meeting right away.   If it is a simple request and not complicated, an email may be the right approach. If the request is larger in scope and sensitive in nature, a scheduled face-to-face session would most likely work better.   Going forward my lessons learned from this assignment are to always keep in mind the reason for your communication, when is a response needed and how critical is the answer to your communication in meeting the project schedule and deliverables. With this thinking in mind, I will be able to select the right communication modality and approach.

-Michelle Cosner

References

The Art of Effective Communication. [Video podcast]. Retrieved  from

http://mym.cdn.laureatemedia.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6145/03/mm/aoc/index.html

Cherell's Instructional Design Blog: Learning from a Project “Post-mortem” A post-mor...

Cherell's Instructional Design Blog: Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”


A post-mor...: Learning from a Project “Post-mortem” A post-mortem is great when another project is ongoing to gain a concept or idea about wha...

What was the biggest challenge of your project? Did everyone do their share?
-Michelle

A Multi-Year, Multi-Million Cost Estimate Post Mortem Review

A couple of weeks ago, I completed a behemoth $56 million dollar cost estimate that involved capturing costs from this year through 2020.  The client wanted us to include in our estimate costs that would be “incremental” to the existing annual budget as a result of the increase in scope that they had specified. The objectives of this cost estimate was to provide a resource that could be used for planning and budgeting, would enable the organization to manage its investment portfolio, allocate and or obtain additional funding as needed to fund the project or determine if they needed to reduce scope. The project was a success and the estimate and accompanying resources were very well received by the client. However, I must say I was very relieved when the client was pleased as the visibility of this project extended from my level up to the Presidents of both organizations. 

               There were several processes that made this project go smoothly in spite of its size and complexity.  The first was a joint planning session for the project by our leadership team and the client.  Both organizations had program, finance and senior management at the table which was critical. We agreed upon the strategy, timeline, cost template and deliverables that would accompany the cost template.  This planning session enabled everyone to walk away with a common understanding. Additionally, we had weekly touch base calls to vet any additional questions, clarify additional inputs, and obtain sign off on our assumptions that we were using for the project (Greer, 2010).  Following this planning session, I coordinated a large internal kick-off session with all key managers and the worker-bees from each area that would be providing costs. This internal kick-off helped set the stage of why the estimate was important and how it could help secure their jobs through 2020. The carrot of confirming additional work and job security was one that motivated many to be timely in their deliverables needed for the estimate. We had several artifacts such as a project timeline with milestone charts, cost templates, definitions, FAQ’s and assumption documents that were distributed at the kickoff meeting.  Our team of four that worked on coordinating the project has a good chemistry and trust of each other which helped during the crunch time and brought the project to the finish line.  Lastly, leadership was key. I had my Senior VP attend the kick-off session and demonstrate his support of the project and emphasize the importance of it.   When we delivered the cost estimate we followed the delivery by a four hour face to face meeting to walk senior leadership through estimate and answer questions that they had.  The face to face final meeting provided the opportunity to confirm what we delivered met their needs and expectations and answer questions and review the resources so everyone had common understanding of the breadth and scope of what we delivered.

               An area that was most challenging was the aggressive timeline of the project. The project kick-off was June 15 and final cost estimate was due to the client on September 30^th.   From June through early July the majority of the team was maxed out with deliverables for the operational part of the project then July 4^th hit.  In earnest between summer schedules and other workloads many unfortunately did not deliver their inputs until September which caused an additional burden on my finance colleague and my team members working on the estimate.   We had to work several weekends and nights because others did not adhere to the project schedule.  Because our organization is a matrix structure  is was challenging to get those who missed the deadline to deliver as I have no authority over them and I had to continue to chase until they provided what was needed which took way too much effort on my part. This window was selected for the project as it was suppose to be our quieter time but this was not the case.  In the future I would of utilized a better work break down process and reporting of tasks, built more time in the schedule to review the inputs received from each area and time for it iterations.  Another challenge was each area had to provide their estimate back to me in a very complicated excel template that was hard to navigate and input. We were tied to this template as that was what was agreed upon but when we went to actually input information found it time-intensive to use.  For future estimates the feedback was we need to create a new template to capture costs and make it easier and faster to use. 

               Upon reflection of this project it was deemed truely a success. For the future and next go around I need to be more supportive of my internal stakeholders, add more time to the project schedule and make the tasks easier and less burdensome for everyone involved.

-Michelle Cosner

References

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

Distance Learning Reflections

                  Technology use transcends across geographic borders, religions, and cultures and has an uncanny ability to unite people around the world.  To stay competitive in the marketplace, many businesses are building project teams with members from different countries and time zones, which enables them to operate 24x7.   These workers need to collaborate by using cutting-edge technologies.  With the growth of businesses setting up shop in locations around the world, companies will demand that training programs be implemented in an online environment as this modality typically provides the best return on investment. 

Norms are what most people think and do. With technology being ubiquitous in our daily lives, we have entered a new age in where distance education is growing in acceptance in the higher education and business setting (Siemens, 2012).  K12 settings have not on large scale adopted distance education, which I believe is attributed to the power of the teacher unions and lack of understanding by local school boards.  As the iPad, iPhone and other technology devices become prevalent in the K12 environment, I believe the K12 landscape will change greatly over the next 5-10 years, and the new norm will be blended learning with some instruction direct and others facilitated via the web. In 10-20 years, the majority of the world will participate in some type of distance education experience.

                  The power of distance education is amazing and for me personally has enabled me to complete courses and is assisting me to reach my goal of attaining my Masters.  Without, the flexibility of distance learning courses it would be an impossibility for me achieve this goal due to my family and work obligations. 

As an instructional designer and proponent of distance education, I have found that people are uneasy with the unknown.  Everyone who I know has taken an online case felt that it was beneficial and not as hard as they thought it would be.  When we were assigned to conduct an independent review of one of the open courses, I was blown away by the depth, variety and quality of free online courses out there.  This is something that was on my list to do but didn’t make the time to take free course until this recent assignment.  All of us have our own hobbies and areas of interest. I will continue to suggest to others that they explore the wealth of free online courses out there as a way to test drive and become familiar with what online courses have to offer.  This approach may help the skeptics dip their toe in the water of an online class with just the minimal investment of their own time.

                  As part of our discussion assignment this week we interviewed friends and colleagues to ask them to share out their thoughts and perceptions about distance education.  All of the people I interviewed expressed to be successful in an online setting that they would need a great communicator as an instructor, would need the ability to ask and get answered questions in a timely way and would want an engaging and supportive environment.   Best instructional design practices address the concerns my interviewees had as the designer would include a plan (syllabus) for the course with clearly defined learning objectives, instructors would understand the lesson plans from end to end and instructors would be adept and knowledgeable of the technology platform (Simonson et al., 2012).   Through my Walden Masters program, I am learning best practices and gaining the necessary knowledge, which will enable me to be a proactive force and advocate for online learning.

-Michelle

References

Siemens, G.. (2012).  Future of distance education [video]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1373693_1%26url%3D

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Converting training modules from F2F to Distance Learning Environment

To improve the quality of trainer to trainee communications one must focus on standardization of communications such as the course syllabus, interaction, frequency and facilitation of communication exchanges, and train the trainer workshops. These are all key aspects that effect and can improve quality.  Additionally, these are key elements that are instrumental in course evaluation and assessment (Simonson et al, 2012).  This guide provides suggestions and ten steps to follow as you transfer training modules from a face to face to blended learning model.

Here is my link to my best practices guide that includes tips and ten steps for success. Guide to convert F2F training modules to distance learning

Cool Tools for an Interactive Art Museum Virtual Tour

             A high school teacher located in the west coast is interested in finding a way to use technology to enable his students to virtually tour art museums in New York, connect with museum curators virtually and allow students to post and share critiques to a class website.  As described in the Interactive Art Museum Tour solution challenge, there are three critical requirements , which I then used as the foundation for my research and identification of two possible solutions.  The primary three requirements are:

1)     Ability for students to see and tour art exhibits over the web

2)     Ability for students to interact with museum curators

3)     Ability for a group critique of two pieces of artwork

Before you select a technology platform and resource, you need to identify the requirements and determine the learning outcomes and understand the learners characteristics (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).  With these important concepts in mind, I researched and discovered two very exciting innovative technology tools that met the requirements outlined above and will also enable the teacher to achieve their desired learning outcomes.  The two technology solutions I recommend that the teacher implement are Google Art Project and Google Hangout. 

The Google Art Project is technology tool that solves the requirement of interactive web access to over 100 museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery in DC and museums across the world (Google Art Project, 2012).  Many schools and teachers have had a great experience using this tool and FAQ’s posted on the site share the success stories.   There are three school districts that had very successful experience swith Google Art Project that I like to highlight. Students from East Aurora, West Aurora, Indian Prairie and Oswego schools districts helped launch Aurora University STEM partnership.  “Students from Aurora University’s after-school programs participate in exhibits at the invitation-only launch of the Google Art Project on Tuesday morning at the Art Institute of Chicago. The project will give students an up-close look at pieces from the world’s most famous art museums in their classrooms (Sturges, 2012).

Another success story is described in the blog that shares why Rudin Museum recently joined the Google Art Project and how held the museum held a workshop for many educators.  Stafne, who is the Rudin Director of Education touted the praises for this innovative use of technology that provides access and brings works of art to students across the globe (Stafne, 2012).

The Google Art Project enables students from any location connected to the Internet to interactively explore exhibits and art from collections around the world.   Teachers can create their own “virtual” gallery of artwork and share it with their students.  Students have the ability to view the art and have a robust set of activities that connected to the specific art pieces and to modern real-world situations (How to use GoogleArtProject, 2012). It is imperative that instructors take the time to plan and organize the learning experience when in engaged in teaching at a distance (Simonson et al. 2012).  The Google Art Project does just that. This resource organizes the art work by artist, collection and exhibit, connects learners and instructors and provides the ability to share feedback using social media tools such as twitter, Facebook and Google+. 

Embedded in the Google Art Project is a menu of engaging and interactive icons that students can use to share comments, posts and exchange information through Google+, twitter, Facebook and other social media tools.  In the Google Art Project the first sharing tool found under Google+ and is called Google hangouts.  A Google hangout allows a teacher to connect with his or her students, chat face to face, and more importantly to host a virtual meeting. (Google hangouts, 2011) Teachers can schedule and invite a museum curators to a Google hangout and students could exchange and communicate with them.  Additionally, the Google hangout online tool allows participants to post an image/video and comments. This platform would work seamlessly as an interactive approach to post two pieces of art and students to provide a group critique.  The Google hangout has a limit of 9 per live session which the teacher could group their students.  Another option if the teacher desired one large group critique is to utilize the standard link from Google Art Project to a FaceBook page, or Wiki for students to make comments to art works.  All these options would work well and provide flexibility to meet the overarching requirements and are free to the student and instructor.  

The Google Art Project is a fantastic platform to bring art to life, provide access, and connect students to authentic learning opportunities.

-Michelle Cosner

References

Google Art Project by Google. (April, 2012)  Art Project how to use this site.  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVpqTd2ndYY&feature=player_embedded

How to use Google Hangout Session. (July 2011) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5kdr7N6nPg

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance:    

             Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson

Stanfe, M. (May 2012). Google art project for educators. Retrieved from http://education.rma2.org/the-google-art-project-for-educators

Sturgess, J. (2012, April 8). Au stem academy helps launch google art project. Beacon News. Retrieved from http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/11697261-417/aus-stem-academy-helps-launch-google-art-project.html

Technology Entrepreneurship Online Course Review

           Over the past few days, I have participated in a truly amazing and informative Technology Entrepreneurship course hosted complimentary of Stanford University.   Entrepreneurship is something that has always interested me and this course provided a fantastic window into the culture and uniqueness of the Silicon Valley and why it fosters so many successful startups. 

As highlighted in our course text learning objectives must be clearly communicated.  Distance learning course environment must address learners’ characteristics and needs (Simonson, Smaldino, Albrigth & Zvaeck, 2012).  The course thoughtfully planned and organized its course assets and instructional activities.  Each module communicated what the learner needed to do if you were taking the course at distance or a full-time Stanford student.    The course materials were delivered via a Prezi presentation with just the right amount of content and real world examples.  The instructor had a video feed with his lecture throughout each module, which for me who is a visual and auditory learner worked extremely well.  It was clear the storyboard of the course had been well crafted with keen eye to how to engage the distance learner.   Each module was 15-20 minutes in length and chunked to the ideal length and depth of content that worked well for the distance learner.  Each module highlighted one or more companies, experts or recent books which provided course resources at depth that brought their experiences to life and the learner felt like they were at a booth in Starbucks talking live with one of these entrepreneurial heroes.  You could not get any more authentic or current and its list of suggested readings follows the best practice captured in this week’s course readings (Simonson, et al., 2012).

This course followed many of the best practices and recommendations for online instruction. For example, it utilized subject matter experts video clips, and excerpts from best selling books, and theories on entrepreneurship.  One video in particular that I found extremely interesting was the video excerpt of Steve Jobs giving his commencement speech at Stanford. Jobs spoke about how dropping out of college enabled him to take classes that he was interested in such as calligraphy.  Jobs went on to share how this course and learning about sans and sans serif text and the beauty of calligraphy was at the forefront in his design of the Macintosh. He voiced without this course Apple may not of been what it is today. Lastly, each course modules had a very nice flow and build and recap summary module to and reflection to conclude the class, which demonstrated the use of ADDIE model.

Each module posed insightful questions that made the learner ponder the high level learning objectives.  Very innovative activities were woven into each module and the instructor differentiated instruction with clear directions if you were distance learner.   For example, one of the activities was group discussion and analysis reviewing insights and perspectives on the 15 worst startups.  He also did this for the 15 best startups.  This activity engaged all learners and provided learners the ability to socially engage and provide their personal opinions in fun and powerful way.   It was clear that the instructor had utilized subject matter experts suggests of types of activities that would be best to teach the content and coupled this with real-world business examples which brought the lesson home.

In summary, this course would be a great one for any entrepreneur thinking of starting his or her own technology company.  You can learn a lot from companies that either fail or succeed. This course provides a wealth of entrepreneur concepts and strategies to life and best part yet all for free!

References

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Technology Entrepreneurship Online Course from Stanford University retrieved from:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF6C0319C607DEDC1&feature=plcp

Interactive Art Museum Tours made easy - Google Art Project and Google hangout

Art Museum Interactive Tour Solution Challenge

A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums. The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the art work on display. Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art. As a novice of distance learning and distance learning technologies, the teacher turned to the school district’s instructional designer for assistance. In the role of the instructional designer, what distance learning technologies would you suggest the teacher use to provide the best learning experience for her students?

Solution Approach and Tools

 

In the Scenario 2 Interactive Art Museum Tour solution challenge there are three critical requirements that I used as the foundation for my research and identification of two solutions. The key three requirements that were mentioned in this scenario are:

• Ability for students to see and tour art exhibits over the web
• Ability for students to Interact with museum curators
• Ability for a group critique of two pieces of artwork

Before you select a technology platform and resource you need to identify the requirements and determine the learning outcomes. (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., 2012) With these important concepts in mind, I researched and discovered two very exciting innovative technology tools that meet the requirements outlined above and will also enable the teacher to achieve their desired learning outcomes.  The two tools I like to share with you as a solution are the Google Art Project and Google Hangout. 

The Google Art Project, is technology tool that solves the requirement of interactive web access to over 100 museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery in DC and museums across the world. (GoogleArtProject, 2012).  Many schools and teachers have had a great experiences using this tool and FAQ’s posted on the site share the success stories. This online resource enables students from any location connected to the Internet interactively explore exhibits and art from collections from around the world.   Teachers can create their own “virtual” gallery of artwork and share it with their students.  Students have the ability to view the art and have a robust set of activities that connected to the specific art pieces and to modern real-world situations. (How to use GoogleArtProject, 2012) As mentioned in our course text it is imperative that “instructors take the time to plan and organize the learning experience when in engaged in teaching at a distance.” (Simonson, et al., 2012).  The Google Art Project does just that. This resource organizes the art work by artist, collection and exhibit, connects learners and instructors and provides the ability to share feedback using social media tools such as twitter, facebook and Google+. 

Embedded in the Google Art Project is a menu of icons that students can use to share comments, posts and exchange information through Google+, twitter, facebook and other social media tools.  In the Google Art Project the first sharing tool found under Google+ and is called Google hangouts.  A Google hangout provides the ability for a teacher to connect with her students, chat face to face and more importantly a platform to host a virtual meeting. (GoogleHangouts, 2011) The teacher could schedule and invite a museum curator to a Google hangout and students could exchange and communicate with them.  Additionally the Google hangout online tool allows participants to post an image/video and comments. This platform would work seamlessly as an interactive approach to post two pieces of art and students to provide a group critique.  The Google hangout has a limit of 9 per live session which the teacher could group their students.  Another option if the teacher desired one large group critique is to utilize the standard link from Google Art Project to a FaceBook page for students to make comments a work of art.  Both options would work well and provide flexibility to meet the overarching requirements and are free to the student and instructor. 

School Testimonials




In Conclusion

The Google Art Project is a fantastic platform to bring art to life and connect to authentic learning opportunities and exchange of information for students of all ages.

-Michelle Cosner

Resources

Google Art Project by Google. (n.d.) Retrieved from www.GoogleArtProject.com

Art Project how to use this site. (April, 2012) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVpqTd2ndYY&feature=player_embedded

How to use Google Hangout Session. (July 2011) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5kdr7N6nPg

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance:

Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/11697261-417/aus-stem-academy-helps-launch-google-art-project.html

http://www.teachhub.com/google-art-project

Michelle's Mind-Map Defining Distance Learning

Distance Learning a reflection of the past, present and future

As I create this blog post for our course, I pause for a minute to inventory the platform and technology that I am currently utilizing. On my lap is my MacBook which is running the web off a wireless home network, the Walden internet delivered library is at my fingertips with one click, Google Scholar, wordle for my mind-map, my homework assignment delivered by a learning management system is running in one window, word with spell-check in another window, my i-Pod is playing my favorite study playlist. Each day on average 300 new i-Phone applications are released, new versions of operating systems, patches, and enhancements are deployed. Rewind ten years and do you agree that much of this list above did not exist?

Endless technology enhancements and the web 2.0 are changing teaching and learning paradigm from information based to one of social learning without barriers and students creating their own new knowledge from others knowledge. The way in which students collaborate and create learning by using technology and social media platforms are two key factors that will drive innovation and change in distance learning solutions.

For the past 15 years, I have been focused on selling, marketing and managing curriculum programs for K-12. I have witnessed the tidal wave of technology inundating schools and changing for the better the way that students learn and teachers teach. On the teacher side, I have observed many teachers who are resistant to change and use of technology in their classrooms.

From our course readings and discussions this week my personal definition of distance learning has evolved and morphed into something much bigger then I had previously thought. I discovered many new combinations and approaches to distance learning and that there is no one secret sauce or method that works best. All definitions and applications are fair game and lend themselves as providing solutions to match different types of learners’ needs, environments and learning objectives. The concept of a broad learning group and learning community as being linked through learners, resources and instruction resonated with me as definition that is widen enough to incorporate the breadth of distance learning approaches and resources. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012)

Two prominent benefits of distance learning are the financial savings and scalability that it provides. “It would be almost unthinkable to perform strategic business functions an other way. This represents transformational, not just incremental change.” (Moller, Foshay and Huett, 2008) In today’s economic crisis, training and teaching must continue and distance learning provides a new approach that is sensitive to the budget constraints facing businesses and schools. (Rapid e-learning)

Tonight if I win the lottery, I would use my new financial resources to educate the world by implementing an international innovative distance learning solution that is free, accessible to all students and provides a platform to unite and engage all learners and learning communities. This is my vision and hope for distance learning.
-Michelle Cosner

 Resources

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75. 

Retrieved from Rapid elearning: http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/why-e-learning-is-so-effective/

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Distance Learning

Distance learning is changing the instructional paradigm.  This blog is for my distance learning class and I am looking forward to learning how technology and new modes of instruction are changing the education and training landscape.

-Michelle