Month: August 2019

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Unit 3 – Activity 2: Reflection

What an amazing learning experience to work through a real business problem that resulted in prototyping a digital learning solution.  As I reflect back on the last eight weeks of my academic journey within LRNT527, I am thankful for the immersive experience of working through the design thinking process.  Having the opportunity and support to elevate my understanding through the various stages of design thinking: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test in context of a real instructional design project I’m working on, New Employee On-boarding Program, has brought an additional layer of considerations and human connectedness that were brushed over, muted and at times lacking from the basic model I follow within ADDIE.

The opportunities to really connect with end users and hear, observe and empathize that will be impacted by what I chose to design and implement was immensely enriching and further clarifying especially as it came to issues and solutions that were not even a considered by our learning an development team.

The transition from the empathy interviews to really concertizing, synthesizing and confirming what is we are trying to solve was revolutionary.  Trying out techniques like the Point of View (POV) and How Might We (HMV) to re-frame the challenge in to actionable statements was rewarding and really enabled us to shift to ideating and populating limitless and boundless ideas.

Lastly to be able to create and begin building a digital learning resource in the prototype phase to help make it things come to reality was encouraging, as ideas began to come to fruition for the new employee on-boarding program and acclimation, socialization phase.

As I reflect back on the rigor and accelerated timelines, I was proud to have accomplished what I had within the 8 weeks.  It took good planning and persistence at times with colleagues in the workplace to execute all the one on one interviews, as well as the design thinking workshops, however it was achieved, with a result of some great ideas, participation, and early adaption and buy in, along with a collective sense of ownership to a successful new employee on-boarding experience.

In addition here are some additional reflections based on feedback from my instructor and peers that were also considered, valued and truly appreciated.

What was the most surprising thing that you learned by participating in the design thinking process and designing and developing your digital learning resource?

How easy it is to get trapped in the mindset as an instructional designer and expert in the field of adult education, that you know the answers and the solutions.  It may seem to be quicker to be exclusive within your learning and development team to deliver on learning solutions, however the POWER of having not just subject matter experts, but end users and those in the extreme pockets to participate and engage in the process is so revealing to what we have not or could not have considered in isolation on our own.  To really demonstrate empathy, empowers a level of willingness to share and be vulnerable to be expressive from our end users.  It is such a critical part to moving on to design and developing the digital learning resource.

What suggestions and improvements did you receive? Did you get any feedback that you did not expect? What feedback needs further investigation? 

      •  Further consideration around what specifically happens after 90 days as the cohort graduates and moves on. How can the SLACK discussions and resources and all the richness be accessible and perhaps further leveraged for future cohorts or even shared among cohorts that are starting in the same quarter but different times.
      • What if there is a lack of participation during the pre on-boarding phase. What kind of expectations are created and expected of the new hires, who actually have not yet started officially and may also be winding down with their previous employer.  How would other peers in the cohort perceive that?
      • Giving individuals more choice to either post their introduction via video or in written format, enabling those that may be less digitally savvy or reserved to have alternative options to posting their introduction.

What are the next steps you would like to take to build upon your digital learning resource?

I will be making changes based on the feedback received, as well as continue to build out further what day one, week one and future activities and posts would be on SLACK as it relates to ACCLIMATE – SOCIALIZATION.  From there I will start to look the other 2 elements of ACCLIMATE, which are administration and organizational philosophy and use of the DLR Slack.

How you might utilize the design thinking process for the design and creation of digital learning resources in the future, or for other tasks that you may encounter within your instructional context.

I intend to overlay Design Thinking with the use of the ADDIE Model.  Currently when we are in the Analysis, Design. Development, Implementation and Evaluation phases for instructional design, we leverage subject matter experts at certain times.  However, I will start to embed tasks from design thinking and incorporate it within the ADDIE model to ensure we are also engaging end users into our design and development.  Engaging in various types of activities to lean in to empathy, define, ideate, prototype and test offered up by Standford D.School.

 

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Unit 2 – Activity 3: Developing a Design Plan

Design Plan

Design Challenge

To design a formalized and comprehensive new employee on-boarding program that makes employees feel welcomed, included, and aware of our expectations and their responsibilities.

In designing the new employee on-boarding program I’ll be focusing on 3 essential elements within the program; acclimate, guide and develop. For the purpose of this design challenge I will narrow the scope down to the element of acclimate, with a further foci on only one of the three components within acclimate, which will be socialization.  The other two components that will not be discussed in this assignment, but will be congruently worked on are administration and organizational philosophy.

Description

On-boarding starts when the offer letter is signed, not on the new hires first day.  If you wait until the employee’s first day, you miss the opportunity to build on the excitement generated during recruitment process, in turn stalling the new hire’s enthusiasm and their acclimation to the organization.

The purpose of Slack as a digital learning resource for acclimation – socialization is to provide an online communication tool to promote a sense of connectedness, inclusion, awareness and psychological safety for a new employee transitioning into their new role, new team and new organization.  Helping new hires move through their employee life cycle of pre on-boarding and on-boarding and offering them opportunities engage early on with the learning team, HR business advisers, their manager and immediate colleagues, other new hires, as well as other members of the organization reduces the anxieties that come with starting a new job. Slack will provide a chance to communicate and share with through group and private messaging information and questions, as we build out the learning community for the new hires who are starting their new hire journey together.

Learning Goals

Using Slack as a digital learning resource to acclimate new hires during their employee life cycle of pre on-boarding and on-boarding will result in new employees being able to:

  • Get familiar with using Slack as a primary enterprise online communication tool
    • Embedded within HRIS & LMS
    • Desktop & mobile application accessible
  • Connect with learning team, HR business partners and manager
  • Watch welcome message from immediate team members and executive team
  • Build new connections with new hires starting on the same hire date and cohort session
  • Become familiar with expectations of day one and 3-day orientation session
  • Identify key contacts and networks during on-boarding phase
  • Learn and sign up for upcoming company and social events
  • Ask questions before you even start and during your on-boarding phase
  • Influence and share your opinions, ideas and thoughts to elevate new employee on-boarding experience
  • Engage in learning discussion forums
  • Stay informed on all your required learning requirements as part of your new employee learning journey

 Intended Audience

As Slack will be an enterprise solution for ALL employees within the organization, my focus will drill down to a Slack channel that will be created specifically for new hires.  Therefore it is important to note that new hires could possibly be invited and be part of other Slack channels from their team, manager, projects and enterprise.

For my design challenge I will specifically narrow it down in suggesting that there will be a specific Slack channel created for each new hire group.  We offer 10 new hire intakes per year, so there would be 10 new hire Slack channels set up and new hires will be invited appropriately in to their specific new employee on-boarding cohort Slack channel.

With new hires as the intended audience, there will be one learning & development team member facilitating this closed channel.  The facilitator from the learning team will be responsible for managing, maintaining and supporting new hires in this channel for 90 days, at which time the channel will be archived.  The facilitator will also be responsible to reach out to other members of the learning community to support answer to unfamiliar questions and/or invite them as a guest.

Rationale

As part of the new employee on-boarding program, acclimation – socialization becomes a critical, essential and significant focus in helping new employees feel a sense of belonging, safety, connection and support as they transition in to their new role, new team and new organization. From when they accept the role to their first days and months on the job, you want to ensure their excitement and engagement doesn’t fall flat. Having a digital learning resource, such as Slack, will enable stronger acclimation, collaboration and communication during pre on-boarding and on-boarding with those that are going through a similar journey as them.  Cultivating a culture of connection and feeling a sense of belong is vital.

Tool

The digital learning resource tool that will be used for this design challenge is Slack.  The reason for moving ahead with Slack is that during the empathy, define and ideate phases there was several ideas and many will be pro-typed and tested, however focusing on the acclimation – socialization portion of this design challenge and the use of a digital learning resource there was a unified and collective voice hoping for some sort of social collaboration tool where new hires could join, connect and learn as community, in turn suggesting it would help and improve their new employee on-boarding experience.  To find a tool that can help make connections even before starting and arriving on their first day, to just being able to ask questions during the pre-on-boarding and on-boarding phase, and receive and access information related to their new employee on-boarding and learning, as well as connect with people who may be going through a similar experience would be very useful and extremely helpful in their acclimation – socialization.

Interesting enough the organization was retiring the use of Hip-chat as the new employee on-boarding projected initiated.  The IT team at that point were exploring Yammer, Slack and Microsoft Teams as some of options.  With lots of analysis, not to mention our HRIS and LMS having Slack integrated already as the social collaboration tool within software application, Slack has been decided as the enterprise solution.  With a launch date of September 2019, I have the opportunity to leverage Slack as a digital learning resource and tool, integrate and design it as part of the new employee on-boarding program.

As we will be going with Slack as an enterprise solution, I will be leveraging several capabilities offered through Slack such as creating a private channel for each new hire cohort, having specific topic-centered discussions, reaching out to the whole group or just individuals directly when needed, using audit and video call features, desktop sharing, polls, file sharing and even inviting guests.

Assessment & Evaluation Plan

The success of this digital learning resource will be assessed and evaluated through several types of methods.  The active participation and usage within the private channel set up will be a great indicator of possible levels of engagement, even challenges with logging in as a new user and new application for some.  There will be opportunities to also see who is participating in the formal discussion chats as part of pre, during and post course work and assignments.  For instance during the 3-day orientation workshop, which is hosted as a blended classroom training, will have some required pre-work discussion on our compliance and mandatory training.  Another example under acclimation – socialization could be sharing an introduction of yourself on Slack.  We will also amend to our new employee survey that is sent after week one and 45 days and 3 months on the job and in that survey we’ll incorporate sections on acclimation – socialization, administration and organizational philosophy to gather qualitative and quantitative data.  There will also be opportunities to engage in conversations with new hires and get insights through polls, as well as interviews and ongoing feedback.  We will also review exit survey data and employee engagement surveys for indicators and comments suggesting good or bad ratings related to new employee on-boarding.

Learning Theories & Instructional Design Principles Used

Learning Theories

Slack will encourage learning interactions with new hires by having them engage in asking questions, responding and sharing information, as well as participating in discussions.  Those interactions can occur between one or more new hires, between the new hire and the learning & development team member (facilitator / teacher), as well as with the new hire and the content shared in the channel.  The Social Constructivism Theory suggests that “active engagement by the learners is critically important, and that multiple perspectives and sustained dialogue lead to effective learning” (Anderson, 2016, p.38).  As Slack will be a formal and informal platform for new employee on-boarding, being leveraged as part of pre-post discussions from a classroom or virtual learning event, as well as a tool for informal collaboration and discussions to take place between new hires, content and instructor there will be a reliance on new hires to embrace this tool to help in their on-boarding experience, supporting their acclimation into their new role, new team and new organization.  “The instructor becomes a facilitator and a guide in learners’ interactions with varied resources to resolve problems and gain personal understanding.  Heutagogy Theory thus emphasizes self-direction and focuses on the development of efficacy in utilizing the online tools and information available” (Anderson, 2016, p.42). Finally, leaning on Connectivism Theory, as one of the primary outcomes of the new employee on-boarding program design revolving around acclimation is socialization.  This theory suggests “learning environments are created and used by learners to access, process, filter, recommend and apply information with the aid of machines, peers and experts with the learning network.  In the process, learning expands based on the power of the network to create and personalize knowledge, connections and artifacts of those within it” (Anderson, 2016, p.43).

Instructional Design Principles

There will be various instructional design principles leveraged and incorporated in to the design of the formalized new employee on-boarding program and the 3 elements; acclimate, guide and develop.  Within the element of acclimation and its 3 components of socialization, administration and organizational philosophy I can confidently suggest learning outcomes will be developed based on Blooms Taxonomy, ensuring the classifications are satisfied at the appropriate cognitive and affective domain.

As Slack will be integrated in to the new employee on-boarding program and leveraged as a tool not only for socialization, but also for administration and organizational philosophy, the courses and learning solutions designed for this blended learning program will have within the DACUM chart and Lesson Plan, where, when, why and how Slack will be leveraged as part of the learning outcomes during the formalized portions.

Lastly as there are several moving parts to this program, that will eventually be leveraging more than one digital learning resource other than Slack such as our LMS called Ulti-Pro Learning, Panopto, LinkedIn Learnings, e-Learnings, Videos, webinars, to name just a few, I will be using the SECTIONS model as a framework for making effective decisions about the choice and use of media for teaching and learning.

 Instructions for Use

Once a new hire accepts their offer and we have received a signed copy of their acceptance letter, we will have them added as an active employee in to our HRIS, which would also include access (single sign on) to our LMS.  They will be certain user restrictions and access to our HRIS, as they have not officially started, but once they start on day one, they will be granted full access as a new user.  During the pre on-boarding phase, new hires will receive an invitation to log in to the HRIS portal, which will give them access to the LMS.  They will use their user name provided, employee number, company email address and temporary password.  Once logged on they will have limited access to their profile, new hire letter, welcome video and LMS.  They will also at this time be asked to accept the Slack invitation sent for their appropriate private Slack Channel.  The user will also be provided a one page internally customized standard operating procedures (SOP) document, as well as generic tools and resources offered by Slack for getting new users started.  At two weeks prior to their official start date as a new hire cohort, a L&D team member, I will be engaging with them through group a discussion, followed by a few other connection points before they arrive for their first day on the job.

Plan for Use

The use of Slack as a digital learning resource will be to support the acclimation of new hires during the new employee on-boarding program and phase of their journey.  The use of Slack will be for internal use only by new hires for a period of 90 days.  New hires can interact with one another, with the content and the facilitator.  There will be formal learning and informal learning taking place in this Slack Channel as part of the new employee’s on-boarding process.  It will be a closed group, however the instructor can invite guests to the channel if and where deemed appropriate or as part of the learning.  The use of this Slack Channel is to help new hires in their new employee on-boarding experience by making them feel welcomed, included, and aware of our expectations and their responsibilities.

 References

Anderson, T. (2016). Theories for learning with emerging technologies. In G. Veletsianos (Ed.), Emergence and innovation in digital learning: Foundations and applications (pp. 35 – 50). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.

Bates, A. W. (2015). Chapters 2 In Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning. Vancouver BC: Tony Bates Associates Ltd.

Bates, A. W. (2015). Chapters 8 In Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning. Vancouver BC: Tony Bates Associates Ltd.