Online training tools

One thing I have become very appreciative of in my career is the prevalence of online resources for almost every program imaginable. Today, as I am working on my module, I realized that I did not know if Prezi could do animations or not. Instead of trying to figure this out on my own, I simply googled the question and came upon a youtube channel dedication to teaching people how to use different aspects of the program called Prezi School. The video walked me through exactly how to add animations to my presentation, which took all of about 3 minutes, versus me trying to figure it out on my own which would have taken much longer. In this way, I believe that having the skills to create these kinds of training videos is hugely important, because it allows you to make the learning process much easier for your learner. Additionally, these types of videos provide access to things that they wouldn't normally have access to- such as how to use a complicated program that was typically only taught in a class. This becomes so helpful when you're working with programs that have frequent updates- it allows you to pick and choose what you learn based on your own needs. 

Give Em the Pickle

I wanted to use a post to talk about the session that I teach through the JMU Training and Development Office called Give Em the Pickle. First off, this was a huge step for me- I've always wanted to lead one of these training sessions and last year was the first time I was able to do it. The content was pretty much already created, however, I got to make it my own by tailoring some of the slides and content based on my experiences. The topic is customer service, which is generally pretty applicable to most people at JMU since we all work with many different client bases. The T&D Office does a great job working with you to make sure you're comfortable as a volunteer facilitator, and even will create content for you if you need them to. This session is something purchased from a company, so I did not have the full liberty to completely change everything, but I was able to make some tweaks so that I was more comfortable with the session. What I love about facilitating training sessions is the opportunity to think on your feet and lead a group through a certain idea. Thankfully, I have a lot of experience with customer service and a lot of examples to share, however, I do find that it is still intimidating to stand in front of a group of strangers and talk through a concept. I am teaching this session again in a few weeks and need to practice so that I feel more comfortable with the content!

Reflection on HRD at work

I wanted to spend a little time thinking about the way that my view of work has changed since being in this program. I started at my job in November of 2011 and began the AHRD program in the spring of 2013. Since that time I have taken classes on instructional design, learning theories, consulting, and a handful of others and I have learned three main things that I can apply to my current job:

1. How applicable instructional design is for almost any job- I create a fair amount of training sessions/documents in my job, but the principles that I've learned will stay with me no matter what field I ended up in. Being able to create something that is visually appealing as well as effective at conveying information is important and will benefit me in work but also as I continue to present at conferences and put together presentations for work. Based on most conferences I've been to, most people do not consider instructional design when they are putting together their presentations.

2. Basing your work in theory makes it 100% stronger- I had never thought about theory before in relation to my work, but now I can't think of anything else when I am approaching ways to teach others. Being able to think about why something works, and the mental processes and methods that align with that reasoning has helped me to create better programs.

3. Consulting principles can be applied to almost anything- Since I've been in my job, I've been on two program reviews for JMU and have been so thankful for the consulting class I've taken in AHRD. Being able to conduct a performance analysis and create an intervention, or even just make suggestions based on what makes the most sense to fill the gap within the program is much more helpful than going in to these things without any knowledge of the process

I am very thankful for this program and what it has taught me so far.

Dual Coding

Dual coding relies on the idea that people perceive things visually and verbally. Almost everything we do/interact with stimulates us visually as well as verbally, and therefore both channels should be engaged when learning new information. There is a lot of information being conveyed through this module, and one way to prevent having too high of a cognitive load is to move some of the information to being processed verbally. As I start to build this module, I am thinking about what is actually being shown on the screen vs. what will be spoken verbally through the screencast. Here is an example:

A slide with information about communication strategies will be displayed with the following text:

Chapter Communications:

Listserv

Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

JMUAA Emails

JMUAA Social Media

While these are on the screen, the learner will hear my voice saying the following text:

"There are many different strategies for communicating with your chapter. First there is your chapter listserv, which is comprised of a list of alumni who have indicted that they live within a 30 mile radius of your city. You can also use your social media channels to send out information about upcoming events, and share stories from other JMU sources. For example, the Alumni Association often posts stories about noteworthy alumni on their pages- you can share those with your constituents as well. In addition to your emails and social media, our office an provide nicely formatted emails, as well as courtesy posts via our social media about your events and programs."

This dual coding will convey more information and ensure that the learner is not overwhelmed. 

Content Content Content

Intro: Welcome to being an alumni chapter leader! We appreciate your support and commitment to spreading the JMU love across the country. Your time and energy not only helps alumni stay connected to their alma mater, but also helps bring in much needed donations to the university every year- and for that we could not be more thankful.

At the end of the training module, the learner will be able to:
1. Describe the purpose and goals of the JMUAA overall, as well as their specific chapter. 
2. Identify which role aligns most appropriately with their skills, or demonstrate a full understanding of their already determined role.
3. Apply the goals and mission of the JMUAA to their events and programs.
4. Formulate a plan to fulfill the expectations for their chapter as laid out in the module. 

Overview:

1. Mission, vision, values of the JMU Alumni Association
-Included in this would be how the chapters fit in to those things
2. The role of the Assistant Director for Alumni Chapters & resources provided
3. Overview of the different areas of chapter maintenance
-Administration, Communication, Events
4. The expectations of the chapters

1. The Mission, Vision, and Values of the JMUAA

• Example: when hosting an event through your chapter- does it meet the mission of the JMUAA? Are there events that tie in directly to the vision and values? 

2. The role of the Assistant Director & resources provided

• The Assistant Director is a liaison between you (volunteer) and the university/JMU Office of Alumni Relations. Their role is to assist with:
• Recruitment
• Training
• Event planning
• Chapter management
• Team development
• The resources provided by the Office of Alumni Relations are:
• Event registration pages
• Can accept $ if needed
• Payment for events
• i.e. the office can handle paying for things ahead of time such as tickets with the plan that the chapter will sell the tickets and make up the funds
• Event marketing assistance
• Emails from the JMU Alumni Association to alumni in your area, FB & Twitter posts from general JMUAA accounts
• Financial assistance when appropriate- speak with the AD for Chapters for more information
• Training opportunities
• Conference calls, online resources, annual Madison Alumni Conference

3. Overview of the different areas of chapter maintenance

• Administration
• Forming your team, leading your team
• Keeping track of team members, getting registered through our online systems
• Budget & chapter bank account
• Contacts at JMU
• Communication
• Chapter gmail accounts
• Listservs
• Social Media
• Communication guidelines
• Events
• Event planning
• Ideas that work, planning for your area
• Event request timeline
• Event request form

4. The expectations of the Chapters

• Uphold the mission/vision/values of the JMUAA
• Present a positive image of the university
• No foul language, no negativity, no political endorsements, etc.
• When in doubt- ask your JMU contact!
• Plan and execute meaningful events for your constituents
• Engage in fundraising
• Leadership giving at 100%
• Participate in the chapter challenge
• Have fun!

User Interface & Usability

I know this is a silly picture, but this is how I feel sometimes about using some online programs. Based on my learner analysis, I need to be very aware of how easy this module is to use because as I stated previously, the learners all have full time jobs that they are committed to, and some have families. Most of them are very busy and need something quick and easy to use. At the same time, these learners are all highly educated and their abilities should not be undermined. I know I have already planned out the information for the module, but I'd really like to focus on chunking the information so that it does not become overwhelming. This will help ensure that the cognitive load is not overbearing. Thankfully, this information is not intrinsically very dense... but the extrinsic load is something that I can be sure to do correctly as to maximize the amount of information transferred to the learner. 

Tips to keep volunteers coming

Illona Bray, J.D., in her article talks about her tips for keeping volunteers coming back. They are as follows:

1. Tap Into Volunteers' Motives

2. Tell Volunteers What You Expect

3. Make Volunteering Convenient

4. Make Volunteering Fun

5. Show Appreciation

I try to remember these anytime I am creating any type of program or event for my volunteers. Of these 5, I believe that my program does a really good job with 4 of them. My volunteers are motivated by their positive experience at JMU during undergrad, their desire to see the University grow, and their interest in staying connect to what's currently happening on campus. I have outlined the expectations I have for Chapter Leaders in their training documents but am working on this project to improve what those things are as well. Volunteers get to plan fun events, such as baseball games, picnics, and happy hours. Lastly, I give out awards and gifts to the chapters every year at the annual Madison Alumni Conference. The part that is not done super well by my program is making volunteering convenient. The reason I have not done a great job with this part is because 1. I work for a University that requires paperwork, redtape, and lots of hoops that need to be jumped through before something can happen and 2. Because there is only one of me for 80+ volunteers, there have to be some things that the volunteers take on alleviate the amount of work it would require for me to make it convenient for everyone.  For example, I require a document filled out every time a chapter leader needs money to come out of their chapter account. I've had complaints that this document is not convenient to use, but it is the exact form our auditors need to see every year, and there is necessary for all of those account allocations. Rather than simply submitting the receipt to me, chapter leaders must also fill out the form so that I know why the funds are coming out and I know who they are going to. The other option would be for me to then get the receipt, and email back and forth with the volunteer about what the funds are for, who they go to, etc., which can take days. Not only does this save time, but it also saves energy. In that way, I don't believe that volunteer roles can always be convenient, because there are things that have to be done in order to keep the volunteers moving forward. 

Lack of formal training

I run in to this issue quite a bit in my current role with JMU. I have inherited volunteers from 2 different people- either because they were passed on to me when I took my job or because they have switched to having me as their primary contact. What has happened is that many of these volunteers were never formally trained, or at least did have any training with me, and procedures that I expect are not being followed. One thing that needs to happen within the program is a once a year regroup on all of the policies and procedures and the importance of these things. This could have happened at our annual alumni conference, but this weekend has become more about improving the volunteer overall rather than focusing on specific aspects of volunteering (i.e. the roles in the chapter program). 

I am thinking about also putting together a job aid for volunteers... perhaps a quick guide to the things that seem to be forgotten the most. I think this would help overall and provide the leaders with the resources they need (at a more convenient speed than waiting for me to respond to their emails). 

Design reflection

I started to actually create my product today, and it was a lot harder than I had originally thought. The legwork is all there- I have gone through Kemps Model and figured out all the different components of my product but I am still feeling stuck in terms of design. It's like writers blocks but on the instructional design side. What I feel like I need is to create a really basic version of what I want, and then tweak is to be more visually more appealing. I'd like to use photographs where appropriate, and I won't know which photographs to put with the different information until I have laid it all out. I think that way I can move and adjust images as needed. 

To help, I did some searching about designer's block and found a great article: http://gomedia.us/zine/insights/graphic-design/10-tips-avoid-designers-block/. I think a lot of these things definitely help me to see more clearly, especially the ones that involve taking a step back. Typically, when it comes to creating something like this, when I step away for 24 hours and come back, I have a whole new take on how it should look, feel, etc., and can tackle a lot more and be much more productive. 

Online resources

I recently stumbled upon a really great online resource for volunteer managers called 501 Commons. They provide resources to non-profit organizations and have a section specifically for orientation and training for volunteers. They show different examples of training resources that other organizations have used and highlight different successes these organizations have found with these resources. This is the kind of stuff that I like to bookmark and look back at when I am "stuck" or need some inspiration. I also find that within the realm of higher education, other schools are open to sharing their insights in to what has worked and what hasn't. For example- I frequently touch base with the Alumni Relations staff at Villanova because their alumni base is similar to the one at JMU and they are extremely helpful when it comes to sharing resources and ideas. One of my programs for alumni giving is based on a Villanova program, and we schedule a call every year to discuss what worked for us and what didn't. In this way, the field of training and development seems very open, which is one thing I look forward to once I am more deeply involved in it. 

Designing the message

I have some limitations when it comes to designing the message. Most everything I create for the JMU Alumni Association will need to be branded with their logos and colors that fit with the overall JMU brand. I can however, bring a lot of specific photos in from many of the events and programs that I have done in the past that will make it unique. When it comes to actually designing how the content will be displayed, I will most likely start very simple, with text and images and add in narration that helps explain the information in a more robust way. Through this method, I will be able to easily cover the information while also not overwhelming the learner with too much on the screen. Additionally, by chunking the information, I will be able to both allow the learner to pace themselves and choose the information that is most relevant to the role that they play within the chapter. 

Instructional Strategy and Delivery

As I discussed in an earlier post, the learners in this situation come from an array of locations, are mostly within the 25-35 age range, and all have a college degree. That being said, the strategy for delivering this module is based on the high amount of self-efficacy that the learners have and therefore is self-directed. One thing that I also have to acknowledge as the instructor in this situation is that the learners are volunteers and we do not require them to go through a specific training course to be in their roles. They also have other resources at their disposal for understanding the information such as previous leaders and current leaders on their team that can bring them up to speed. All that being said, this module is a resource and not a requirement due to the nature of the program and therefore will work best as a self-paced module.

Editting vs. Ease

So one issue I have faced recently with my project is the plan for being able to easily edit the information within the module. Ideally, the module is narrated and walks through the different components of chapter management, but as things change the module needs to be very easy for someone to update, considering that I will not always be in this position and would like to leave it so that it can continue to be used and updated as necessary. That being said I think I can take The different parts of the module and record them in chunks so that A. the information is chunked and therefore easier for the learner to comprehend, and B. so that anyone can go back in and rerecord if needed and it will be a smaller amount. 

I am leaning towards putting the content in a program like powerpoint or prezi so that it's visually exciting and can include photos, and then using a screen casting software to narrate. This I think will allow for maximum edit-ability and will still be fun for the learners to watch. I have seen some very visually exciting Prezi's recently, so I am leaning towards that software.