{"id":185,"date":"2018-02-08T16:13:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T21:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/?p=185"},"modified":"2018-02-08T16:13:56","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T21:13:56","slug":"lrnt-524-activity-2-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/lrnt-524-activity-2-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"LRNT 524 &#8211; Activity 2 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For this activity, we were asked to build a case using the case framework. Below is a draft of the framework. All comments and suggestions welcome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I. Title <\/strong>\u2013 used to introduce the reader to what this case is a case of.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keywords: e-learning, digital learning environments (DLE), learning\/training reinforcement, learning\/training reinforcement and virtual\/online, microlearning, content reinforcement<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Working title options: <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Designing learning reinforcement material for a remote leadership development program <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Effectively reinforce key learning concepts at a distance<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>II. Quote\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">positions your case within a broader human experience. Could be a quote taken from a range of sources (i.e., historical figure, common knowledge, participant in the case, etc.)<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Change might not be fast and it isn&#8217;t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.\u201d \u00a0&#8211; Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. \u2013 Will Durant (paraphrasing Aristotle)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>III. Introduction<\/strong> \u2013 several paragraphs that help the reader to understand why the case under study is important and has significance to the organization in which the case is situated. The introduction also explains the underlying issues inherent in the case and shares any required background information.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why the case is important<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The learning solutions division of Info-Tech Research Group is focused on delivering learning solutions for member organizations in two areas: functional content for Information Technology departments (e.g. cybersecurity risk assessment, hardware asset management, helpdesk optimization) and leadership content (i.e. entry-level, mid-level, and executive-level). In order to fulfill our mandate of building the competencies (i.e. knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes) of our member base, we must not only deliver world-class content, we must ensure it becomes knowledge and translates into lasting behavioral change. In order to ensure retention and drive behavioral change, we must help our members reinforce core concepts after the initial learning event. <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our leadership development programs all involve a week-long on-site component where learners are exposed to, and practice, core concepts through lecture, dialogue with instructors and peers, and targeted activities. After the experience is over, only those learners who have signed on for additional coaching are engaged in any learning reinforcement, and even then it is targeted to their development plan rather than broad concept reinforcement. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The reinforcement of learning is critical to learning retention and application. <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a particularly important activity in light of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ebbinghaus\u2019 <\/span><b>forgetting curve<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> which hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time when there is no attempt to retain it. A typical graph of the forgetting curve purports to show that humans tend to halve their memory of newly learned knowledge in a matter of days or weeks unless they consciously review the learned material. (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/psychclassics.yorku.ca\/Ebbinghaus\/index.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">http:\/\/psychclassics.yorku.ca\/Ebbinghaus\/index.htm<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> ). From his discovery regarding the &#8220;forgetting curve&#8221;, Ebbinghaus came up with the effects of &#8220;overlearning&#8221;. Essentially, if you practiced something more than what is usually necessary to memorize it, you would have effectively achieved overlearning. Overlearning ensures that information is more impervious to being lost or forgotten, and the forgetting curve for this overlearned material is shallower. (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/users.ipfw.edu\/abbott\/120\/Ebbinghaus.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">http:\/\/users.ipfw.edu\/abbott\/120\/Ebbinghaus.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> )<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aligns with principles of adult learning<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Member companies will see behavior changes in their attending employees <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Member companies will realize measurable improvements in productivity and\/or profitability<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Findings are generalizable to anyone interesting in online\/virtual (or distance) learning reinforcement for any type of training<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why it is significant to the organization<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Opportunity for significant revenue generation in a profitable market segment (driving both repeat and new business through demonstrated value)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ability to help members improve leadership in their organizations &#8211; thereby helping them to increase employee engagement, increase organizational commitment (i.e. increase employee retention \/ reduce turnover), and aid in talent attraction<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Potential to build upon this model and offer fully virtual\/distance leadership development in the future (which would likley have a much better ROI than the on-site delivery model, even virtual participants paid a lower price)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">RISK: If the reinforcements are poorly designed or delivered, we risk alienating (or at least boring or disengaging) members we have worked hard to build a trusted partnership with. In the absence of a robust and well-conceived offering, the risk may be too great to justify launch. In other words, nothing may be better than something ill-conceived or ill-designed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Underlying issues<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Resource Constraints<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One complicating issue is that the current content development team in the Learning Solutions division is fully utilized with work associated with on-site delivery and the proposed task is labour-intensive, as learning reinforcement must be composed of examples, background information, and insights not previously shared in order to engage the learner, drive deeper understanding, and motivate behavior change. In other words, this undertaking requires net new content builds that can only use existing content as a foundation. In order to justify task reprioritization for the current content development team and\/or the borrowing or hire of additional human resources, secondary research will need to support the importance of reinforcement material moving beyond a restatement of previously delivered content.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We need to establish a time estimate for each learning module. If we estimate the time to develop to be 1 week per 1 hour of content and we assume reinforcement is given the same time as delivery per module, then we need to complete roughly 32 hours worth of reinforcement content per leadership product. If we were to focus solely on the two core products this calendar year, that translates into 64 weeks worth of labour.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Time constraints<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No set time constraints, though we would like to have a project plan by the end of FY2017\/2018 which is July 31, 2018.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Required background information<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Content contained in the leadership solutions modules are constantly evolving in response to changing political, economic, social, environmental, and legal (PESTL) conditions; as well as primary and secondary research which unearths new insights. Time-to-completion estimates and timelines should take this into account &#8211; particularly when undertaking medium to long-range planning.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>IV. Case Narrative\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">shares the story of the case and the evidence. \u00a0This section is descriptive and forms the bulk of the case. \u00a0It could include charts, pictures, graphics, statistics, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who: Our learners are all leaders, most of whom are time-constrained. To capture their attention and time, the value of the reinforcement must be clear<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What: Learning reinforcements must be clear, engaging, connected to core concepts (but not repeated), etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When: Learning reinforcements will be scheduled for bi-weekly or monthly distribution for 6 months following the in-person session. However, all content will remain accessible to the participant for a period of 1 year from their last enrolment in an ITRG leadership program (i.e. on-site program and\/or coaching).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Where: reinforcement material will be delivered online through the ITA portal (later the Integrated Learning Experience Platform)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why: As ITRG has decided to offer leadership development as part of its product and service line, it is critical that learning reinforcement be offered to ensure learning retention and behavioral change &#8211; two of the stated benefits of program participation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How: Learners will use either computers or mobile devices to access the learning reinforcement content, which will be housed on ITA until the more robust ILEP is launched.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>V. Discussion\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">analyzes the case narrative and helps the reader to understand the learning environment innovation from either a new or renewed perspective<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is an innovation for ITRG, rather than the learning industry. As such, ITRG will benefit from robust research on both online delivery and learning retention. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The challenge will be find the right amount of content for each reinforcement chunk &#8211; enough to help engrain the learning without overburdening participants. If the latter happens, we could get drop off. (Note: we must consider cognitive load during design)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>VI. Questions\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">prompts for the readers to consider or questions for the readers to answer for the case writer to help move the case forward or further develop the situation described in the case<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How can we reduce cognitive load on learners?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How can we track usage and engage uninterested or disinterested learners?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How much reinforcement content should be provided? Over what time horizon?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What content should be delivered in what way?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How will we measure success? How will participants\/learners measure success? How will decision makers (i.e. purchasers &#8211; often the participant\u2019s boss) measure success?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What can we measure the effectiveness of learning reinforcements?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For this activity, we were asked to build a case using the case framework. Below is a draft of the framework. All comments and suggestions welcome. I. Title \u2013 used to introduce the reader to what this case is a case of. Keywords: e-learning, digital learning environments (DLE), learning\/training reinforcement, learning\/training reinforcement and virtual\/online, microlearning, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/lrnt-524-activity-2-part-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;LRNT 524 &#8211; Activity 2 Part 2&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0029\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}