Browsing by Subject "Instructional Design"
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Item An analysis of the evaluation practices of employer-sponsored training in the financial services industry(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Gomez, Angela KayInstructional evaluation is essential for assessing the effectiveness of learning events. In today's economy, corporations are under great pressure to reduce expenses, and training budgets often feel the effects. The closure of in-house training programs, combined with the reduction of training budgets, could be seen as evidence of training professionals' inability to prove their worth in terms of organizational benefit. To solidify their value to an organization, training departments must assess the effectiveness of their programs and provide evidence that they are supporting the organization's goals. The purpose of this study was to determine how employer-sponsored training is evaluated in the financial services industry by firms affiliated with DALBAR, Inc., using Kirkpatrick's four-level evaluation model as a framework. The total population for this study consisted of all financial services organizations providing education and training. The target population was limited to the financial services organizations that subscribe to the services provided by DALBAR, Inc. Affiliation with DALBAR was considered an indicator of interest in raising standards of excellence within the financial services industry. Therefore, DALBAR affiliation was believed to represent organizations whose training personnel had current knowledge of industry practices and thereby would report higher usage of evaluation than the total population of other entities. Data was collected using a modified survey instrument. Patterns, trends, models and methods of training evaluation among these financial services organizations were examined. Finally, barriers to implementation of training evaluation were identified and explored. Recommendations for practice include increasing training department staff members' knowledge of evaluation theories and techniques, as well striving to make training evaluation a priority for the organization as a whole. Among the recommendations for future research is the execution of a qualitative study to be conducted through in-depth interviews with selected respondents to explore in greater detail the relationships between organizational characteristics and the implementation of higher levels of evaluation.Item Experience, Adoption, and Technology: Exploring the Phenomenological Experiences of Faculty Involved in Online Teaching at One School of Public Health(2012-07-16) Kidd, Terry T.This phenomenological study explored the experiences of public health faculty, who developed and taught online courses, at one particular school of public health from 2006 to 2009. The goal was to explore and document the experiences of faculty involved with this phenomenon. A criterion sample was used to identify and select participants. Five public health faculty participated in the study. Data were analyzed in two ways. Written narratives, observational field notes, and artifact data were analyzed using the inducted grounded analysis technique. Interview data were analyzed using the phenomenological data analysis method, Stevic-Colazzi Keen Method. Findings revealed that the experiences of public health faculty, who develop and teach online courses were similar to those in other subjects and were described as difficult, daunting, painful, and time consuming, leaving the public health faculty feeling frustrated and exhausted. While negative feelings described the experience pertaining to the development of online courses, the experience in the teaching phase was seen as positive, enjoyable, joyful, refreshing, and fun. These experiences were found to be contingent upon instructional and organizational support, availability and quality of resources and faculty development and training. Three overarching themes emerged from the study in relation to the experience. These themes included the rhetoric of fear, transformation, and support. The rhetoric of fear described the participants? sense of being afraid or apprehensive toward developing and teaching online courses. Transformation described the transition participants made as they emerged as online instructors. Support described the structures needed to engage in the activities of developing and teaching online courses. The study also revealed five types of barriers to developing and teaching online courses at this particular school of public health. These barriers included psychological, organizational, technical, instructional, and time barriers. Benefits for developing and teaching online courses were identified. They included availability for students, access and penetration into global markets, instructional innovation, design innovation, and new methods of instructional delivery. This study provides data that can be used by institutions and faculty as they design and implement social, political, and technical infrastructures to support the activities of online teaching.Item Impacts of a Quality Matters? Workshop on Faculty Who Design, Develop, and Deliver Online Courses: A Mixed Methods Study(2014-05-30) Mercer, Rene E.Quality Matters? is recognized world wide as a highly reputable method for quality assurance in online learning. While much research is available regarding Quality Matters as a tool for quality assurance, very little research exists on Quality Matters professional development and effective methods for instructional designers who support faculty as they design courses to meet QM standards. The present mixed-methods study was conducted using two phases. Phase 1 explored cognitive and affective outcomes of the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) workshop with faculty in one large university who design, develop, and deliver online courses. Cognitive outcomes included knowledge of best practice in online course design and were measured using a criterion-based assessment. Affective outcomes were measured using self-report and included faculty perception of online course quality and willingness to use the QM Rubric to redesign an online course. Phase 2 explored the extent to which faculty improved the quality of their online course after workshop participation and lived experiences of redesigning an online course to meet QM standards. Courses were peer-reviewed and faculty members were interviewed before and after redesign. Faculty members had the option of collaborating with an instructional designer and Quality Matters expert during course redesign. Results for participants, N=25, indicated that APPQMR statistically significantly improved knowledge of best practices in online course design but did not improve perception of online course quality or increase willingness to use the QM rubric to redesign an existing online course. Three out of five case studies completed the course revision process and dramatically improved the quality of their online courses by over 70%. The largest improvements occurred in Course Overview and Introduction, Learning Objectives, and Learner Support. The smallest improvements occurred in Assessment and Measurement and Accessibility suggesting that faculty need further opportunities to learn how to apply the concept of alignment within an authentic setting. Faculty were initially overwhelmed by the amount of work implied by the initial course review, but overall reported a positive professional growth experience. Based on these findings a model for additional professional development is proposed and guidelines for effective collaboration are proposed.