Virtual Training(Week #9, Blog #2)

In my last blog (Week #9, Blog #1) I talked about virtual high schools. Now I would like to talk about virtual training. Should companies conduct training virtually? Well in my opinion it depends on the topic.

If the topic is using software then maybe yes. There are great programs like Sam that can train people to use certain programs. Also a big company that is creating material is VTC. Their website is http://www.vtc.com/. They offer both videos and cd material to walk one through software concepts. If the topic is something non-computer based then it may be hard to conduct training.

If for instance, a company is changing production adding a new process to that production. Then you may want offer face-to-face interaction about why and how to complete this process. This would also give employees time to ask questions so production will not go down.

Virtual High School(Week #9, Blog #1)

I responded to someone's Wiki about Virtual high schools. Recently after I graduated my school district, Lexington 1, implemented a few courses virtual. These courses included:
Algebra 1
English 1
English 3
American Government
EconomicsPhysical Education 1

I believe that if I was going through high-school now I would pick to take a few of these. However based on my learning style and because math is my worse subject I would take Algebra in the traditional classroom setting. The main question that I have for my school district is I see how the curriculum for the Physical Education is setup.

Overall I believe virtual high school courses are great but should not be all virtual. Students need interaction physically.

When buying software(Week #8, Blog #2)

In Chapter 24, our book mentions on pages 204-206, five big things to consider when buying programs like Camtasia.

• Acquisition
• Development
• Implementation
• Support
• Maintenance

I will agree with our book and saying this are important elements. Especially the last two. If a product is constantly failing and no support team can be called then it will delay the schedule. In return the training may not be done properly or could cause a team to not be trusted again when asked to do training.

Experience with Camtasia (Week #8, Blog #1)

Last week in class we started using Camtasia. I have worked with Camtasia before but not to an advanced level. I'm looking forward to learing how to create transition slides because I have only used Camtasia to record PowerPoint lectures for a class. Also I'm looking forward to the other features like creating menus for your presentation.

I have discovered that Camtasia has a quiz feature built into the program. This would be a good idea for the Challenge exercise to make sure our learners are understanding the material. The quiz feature would also be a good idea when conducting other types of training.

Finally, I like that Camtasia allows you to save the presentation as a Flash, Windows Media Player, or podcast format. TechSmith was very smart creating this feature because now you can save to different formats to broaden your audience.

CDS/Planning of the project(Week #7, Blog #2)

This past week in class we completed the CDS. I enjoyed planning out the due dates as a class. This way the whole class knows when everything is due. It also gave us a chance to express our views of when things are due instead of the professor assigning dates.

The CDS also has helped us plan out who is doing what. This way it serves as a contract and a group member can't say they didn't know they were assigned a certain tasks.

The Production Cycle (Week #7, Blog #1)

The production cycle (Figure 22.1 in our text) can be used to help with the development of your project. The cycle includes five areas: preproduction, production, postproduction and quality review, and delivery or implementation.

The cycle stresses regardless of your role you are affected through some phase(s) of this production cycle. Being aware of team member roles, participating fully, and lending your expertise at the team level will help improve your project's quality, effectiveness, and viablity of your project.

This is a great cycle to use. I'm going to suggest that our group implement it in our multimedia project. The figure breaks down the web and video part so regardless of your role, you clearly understand what your function is during the preproduction, production, postproduction and quality review, and delivery or implementation phases.

Social Events (Week #6, Blog #2)

Events like the TSTM meet and greet is a great way to network. Every teacher and/or professor states it is all about networking. Meaning it is who you know that gets you a job or interview.

I'm a believe in this 100%. For an example my cousin is a Youth Pastor at a big church. Recently their IT person has left. Now they are interviewing for the position and I have gotten called in for a interview. This goes back to "networking."

Events like Career Day, Alumni Day, and the meet and greet are ways to network. If students do not network then they are going to have a hard time finding jobs once they graduate from college.

Delivery Strategies(Week #6, Blog #1)

Here are some learning strategies we talked about during class:
—-Lecture and…linear presentation, recitation, interaction, discussion, demonstration
—-Guided learning
—-Open exploration
—-Brainstorming
—-Games
—-Role playing
—-Simulation
—-Performance support

When conducting training I believe that one should try to use some of these. For instance guided learning. You could give them an exercise and product a video walking the trainee through on how to complete the exercise.

Games are a create way as well. You could create a jeopardy game to review concepts. Which strategies you use doesn't matter but one should try to use two to three when designing multimedia based training.