COL Steps

Writing Effectively for Multilateral Organisations

1 . Needs Analysis

Market research on the demand and need for an online course should be the starting point. The resulting report should contextualise the project, outlining its benefits or disadvantages and potential obstacles.

Demand for online courses: Does real demand exist? Will online delivery be cost-effective? Is it the best option currently available?

Course credit and equivalence: How will course credits be transferred for certification? What about the equivalence of the course with face-to-face programmes? Is it necessary to get certification from an accreditation body?

1. Needs Analysis

The project team researched the demand and need for an eLearning course to contextualize the project, outlining its benefits or disadvantages and potential obstacles. COL undertook a detailed analysis of the needs of the partnering organization in investing in developing the writing power of its multilateral workforce. This was done through interviewing training managers who have a comprehensive and in depth understanding of the corporate strategies for human resources development, the language competencies of employees and the outcomes of training intervention.

After many discussions with colleagues at headquarters and regional offices and interviews with a cross section of potential learners, we agreed to a competency and constructivist based, non-credit bearing, customized and tutor-mediated e-learning format. The idea was to replicate the instructional design intentions of a professional development workshop more than an accredited course.

2. Learner Profile

This will help you understand who your potential learners are, and how you can best fulfill their learning needs.

Hardware/software: do learners need to purchase special hardware or software to access the course? Most computers now ship with a web browser. If learners have to download a special plug-in from the Internet to view a particular course component, it is better to provide them with a CD-ROM of that component to save costly Internet access time. This consideration not only includes access to technology but acceptance of technology as well.

Internet access/bandwidth: how accessible is the Internet for the learners, and what bandwidth or connectivity (e.g. dial-up modem, DSL, cable) is available? Low bandwidth availability has significant design and pedagogic implications. You can't prepare learning materials based on graphics, animation, sound or video because of the time and costs involved for learners to adequately view or download the materials.

C osts: who will bear the cost of needed computers and Internet access? Although normally this falls to the student, the costs may be prohibitive. Is it possible for your organisation to arrange for subsidised learning, in partnership with industry or government? Can you facilitate educational loans? Is it possible for you to create learning resource centres, with computers and Internet facilities, for group learning and access?

2. Learner Profile

Understanding learners' study environment, technology access and discovering how to best fulfill their learning needs emerged from the needs analysis exercise. The learners' comfort level in learning through technology and motivation to learn were among the considerations that were explored. COL gathered learner profiles through extensive interviews with HR personnel, and potential learners and baseline data collection through pre-learning survey. How diverse and mixed are the potential learners? How can diversity be met and how can gaps be bridged in terms of knowledge, competencies and skills?

In the end, the course development team adopted a modular approach to cater for the different needs of a wide range of professional and administrative staff for report writing and general correspondence, all of whom were involved in writing at work (e.g., report writing, correspondence, and records). These application modules were created as an extension of the compulsory foundation module on effective communication principles.

Neither COL nor any of its partners have an LMS in place. Nor was either party interested in imposing the hidden curriculum of technology on the course. We therefore looked at the lowest common denominator of technology to provide a reliable and practical backbone to support and enable:

• the transfer of learning materials
• the connection between tutors and learners
• the connection between COL, learners and tutors
• the connection between COL and partnering organizations

We found it best to use technologies that learners are already familiar with in their day to day work.

3. Organisational Profile

Your organisation must be prepared to undertake an online learning project.

Expertise and infrastructure: do you have the in-house expertise to design, develop and deliver an online programme? Do you have the infrastructure to support online courses, or will upgrading be needed? Can you affordably outsource expertise (content and technology) and infrastructure from elsewhere?

Faculty development: How prepared are your trainers to handle additional online courses? Will faculty be compensated for any extra effort, and in what way? What training facilities are available for teachers to upgrade their teaching skills for the online learning environment?

3. Organisational Profile

COL learns with its partnering organizations throughout the development and delivery process. We walk our talk and put best practice into action.

What COL and partners share are:

1. Commitment to liberate learning through engaging technology appropriately and wisely;

2. Commitment to collaborate and seek progressive and workable solutions together;

3. An appreciation for the diverse needs and conditions of learners working in an multilateral context.

4. Blue Print

In addition to the needs analysis, learner and organisational profiles, the blueprint for the course should contain:

Pedagogical features: Online teaching and learning must meet the requirements of the subject and the needs of the target learner group. Online learning can be a supplement to face-to-face instruction, equally mixed with face-to-face instruction, or the main delivery method, instead of face-to-face instruction. The last category is the most challenging for educators and instructional designers. When designing online learning, it is best to consider the best practices of all learning theories (behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism). The WWW provides opportunities to use all these.

Media mix: An appropriate media mix for the course, taking into account the suitability of a given media to a particular subject (such as using 3-D models for an architectural drawing), will increase the effectiveness of student learning and contribute to the successful achievement of course objectives. Media delivery options must be decided during course content planning, so that the appropriate media creation tools can be used for content development.

Interaction: Interaction is a major contributing factor to successful learning experiences. Table 1 lists different possible learning technology combinations, based on three basic interaction modes (Moore, 1989) and on four methods of computer-mediated communication (Paulsen, 1997).

Assessment: Assessment and evaluation of learner performance is crucial. Although online examination brings a number of authenticity, security and certification issues, evaluation models should take the WWW's constructivist (student-centred) approach into account. The WWW can facilitate many evaluation systems - from computer-based (web-based) objective testing to tutor-evaluated, long answer tests or assignments - but is capable of supporting much more than the traditional, three-hour paper and pencil test. Online course developers now use alternative assessment tools such as evidence-based tests (where learners submit projects online), learning diary submission, and participation in discussion forums or peer-based evaluation.

Learner responsibilities: The nature of online learning requires learners to be very self-motivated. The role of the instructor is to challenge learner curiosity and help learners achieve personal learning goals. Online learning should therefore be designed according to adult learning principles, in which learners have as much responsibility as their teachers, if not more. Learners need to be informed of their role and responsibility prior to starting the course. A period of orientation may be needed, as most online learners are initially novices of the medium.

Development strategy: At this point in the design and development of online learning, most institutions and instructors have to decide if the course will be developed using a suite of individually available web tools, or an integrated course delivery software package.

In general, web-based applications such as email, discussion groups and chat software are not designed for educational purposes. Using them in isolation or developing an integrated educational system around them may not be effective in terms of cost, time or learning outcomes. Integrated systems for online learning are needed because the generic web environment does not provide:

a standard way to organise course materials

prior evidence of the environment's instructional effectiveness

 tools to support basic instructional activities such as course design, organisation of groups spaces and personal spaces, grading, and easy integration of multiple media files

models to support learning strategies that involve collaborative learning, knowledge building and multiple representations of ideas and knowledge structures (Harasim, 1999).

Commercially available, integrated application software packages include facilities for every aspect of designing an online learning programme.

Learner tools are available to learners when they log on to the system:

Course tools: for content presentation, displaying industry-standard, interactive web pages to learners. The pages have links for navigation, and contain all course texts, graphics and multimedia learning materials

Collaboration tools: for synchronous and asynchronous activities like email for one-to-one communication, discussion boards for conferencing, chat for real time clarification of doubts, whiteboards for lecture presentation and group work, or a virtual "drop box" for sharing programmes and applications

Support tools: include personal learner profiles, a facility to upload files to the system (e.g. for submitting assignments), personal library, search facilities, study skills guidance, bookmark facilities (to remember where you stopped in the last session) and calendars.

Developer tools for the website administrator and the instructor. These seem initially more complex, but are easy to use after a short training or demonstration period:

Administrator tools: allow course software to be installed on a server, provides resource monitoring and website management facilities. Assigns user identification, passwords and usage rights to learners. Some systems also handle online registration and fee payment

Designer tools: online teaching tools for the instructor. Includes facilities to prepare course plans, upload files (course content) and announcements, design assessment tools (such as quizzes) and a calendar of activities. The instructor can also design the appearance of individual web pages through choice of background colour, text font and type of images or graphics.

Learning management tools are features to track student progress and log-ins to the website. Instructors can monitor the progress of individual learners and provide personalised feedback. Complete statistics on website use can be generated for reviewing or evaluating policies and practices. Interactive user guides and "Help" facilities for troubleshooting and systems operation are also common in almost all software packages, for both learner and developer tools.

4. Blue Print

Steps 1-3 involve the preliminary investigations needed to gain a better knowledge of the organization and its training requirements and capabilities. The blueprint takes the training programme development to the first step of action. With the blueprint, the designers draw up a rough outline of what that training might look like, including features spelled out in sections 4.1 to 4.6. It is the client's first real peek into what the final product will look like.

4.1 Pedagogical features : There was constant reference and dialogue on the following issues:

• What are the learning objectives and outcomes?
• What are the learners' needs?
• How best to achieve the outcomes?
• How to retain and apply learning?
• How can we optimize authentic problems and situations for learners?

4.2 Media mix : We looked at print, CD Rom and a combination of both. These were considered in light of accessibility, affordability, reliability and learner friendliness.

4.3 Interaction : We placed great emphasis on interaction: i.e. leaner interaction with materials, leaner interaction with a personal coach and learner interaction with support. According to Moore (Moore, 1993), Rowntree (Rowntree, 1994) and Holmberg (Holmberg, 1989), education at a distance is enhanced when interaction and dialogue are encouraged.

The psychological and communication gap that can develop between tutor and learner in a distance education course is not an inevitable consequence of physical separation. This psychological and communication gap, which Moore calls the transactional distance, can be overcome by a course structure that encourages learner autonomy, and encouragement of interaction. Interaction in this instance consists of two main types:

• Participants will interact with the course materials themselves, entering into an internal dialogue with the tutorial in text-based format.
• Participants will interact with their tutor, entering into an ongoing and largely participant-driven dialogue.

4.4 Assessment : The assessment was designed with two main goals: 1) success in completion, 2) success in learning. Each assignment of the course was designed to encourage learners to improve upon their efforts. Learners were therefore allowed multiple (three in total) submissions of the same assignment, each subsequent submission improving upon the last one based on feedback from the tutor. Throughout this process, learners were able to apply knowledge, to reinforce learning through reconsidering and revising one's work, and to build confidence by seeing real improvement through successive submissions.

Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs) are the key tool for engaging tutor and the learner in a dialogue mode to exchange views, raise questions, find answers, consolidate knowledge, change bad habits, and build strengths.

4.5 Learner responsibilities : COL briefs learners of their responsibilities, reminds, motivates them and seeks to develop their skills. It is important for learners to be aware of their freedom and independence as well as the virtual help desk they could access when such needs arise.

4.6 evelopment Strategy : We determined that eLearning can be effectively and efficiently delivered with conventional ICTs that are common to most multilateral organizations, such as basic word processing programs, web browsers, and email programs. Requiring further technical capabilities that the organization might not already be equipped with can easily lead to cost overruns and multiple problems of acceptance, implementation, and operation. Although some clients may be initially impressed by the “bells and whistles of technology”, our initial meetings involve clearing the air about what's possible within a limited scope of time and resources. We also emphasized the importance of creating a level learning field for cross border adult workplace learning.

Learner tools : Emails, CDs, Word, CD player and the Internet.

Course tools : Printed work book, CD Rom.

Collaboration Tools: Emails, Word.

Support tools : Coach, Course coordinator, personalized library, search facilities, study guide, bookmark.

Developer tools: Dreamweaver, Flash, Word.

Administrator tools: CIS, ACEware ( Both are LRMS software)

Designer tool : Excel, Word

Learning management tools : Monthly progress report templates, Excel, CIS and ACEware.

5. Institutional Preparation

Any project-related hardware or software should be installed and tested. All involved faculty and staff should be trained in the systems and equipment, and should be familiarised with the pedagogical techniques.

5. Institutional Preparation

COL piloted the materials, trained the tutors, briefed the learners and engaged all players in one-on-one or group email exchanges.

6. Learning materials development

Implementing course development and design standards maintain consistency, especially if many people or partner organisations are involved. Since course development is time consuming, it is worth securing permission to use or adapt existing material where appropriate to launch the course more quickly.

6. Learning Materials Development

Since this course is highly customised, the general content is about 30% and organization specific 70%.

The generosity of UNHCR in sharing the original course design with other UN and multilateral organizations is a great example of collegiality and reducing repetition and waste. This has enabled subsequent versioning to happen faster. As well, COL conducts a pilot delivery for each course that becomes part of the evaluation process. Feedback based on the pilot is fed back to the developers who implement any final changes.

7. Evaluation

Once course materials are uploaded to the online learning environment, there should be a field trial of the learning materials and usability testing of the website, possibly through an initial pilot project. No online course should be launched without thorough evaluation. Consider:

Learning effectiveness: how does the online course compare with face-to-face or other distance delivery methods?

Cost-effectiveness: take into account the high initial set-up cost, and any ongoing costs such as upgrading of equipment or software.

Learning environment: how do learners negotiate the online environment?

Accreditation: the issues/problems in accreditation of online learning.

Evaluation: how do you improve the evaluation process?

7. Evaluation

Materials, learning support and course administration are subject to continuous renewal both at course end and at 2-3 year interval to gauge currency of content, and the effectiveness of the course over a period of time.

Evaluation is based on the four main channels of information about the course:

• an end of course evaluation questionnaire;
• a specially commissioned programme review;
• monitoring of TMAs by a course advisor;
• regular, organized discussions with tutors. Sometimes these discussions would focus on particular elements of the course that are open for critique and review.

8. Promotion

The course must be promoted both online and offline to its target learners, with plenty of lead-time for course registration. Ongoing promotion will encourage the level of enrolment needed to make the programme financially viable

8. Promotion

The launch of the recruitment campaign begins two months prior to course start. This will ensure sufficient time is allocated to planning, counseling, materials production and dispatch and refreshing the learner support system.

9. Maintenance and Updating

Online programmes require constant updating and maintenance to be effective. Learners need prompt feedback to address concerns and technical problems. Course instructors or specialised personnel should be trained to constantly monitor and maintain the website.

9. Maintenance and Updating

Through regular contacts ( distance and face to face) between Learning Managers at COL and at multilateral organizations, and annual contract renewal, maintenance and updating issues on materials, resources, support, learning performance and outcomes are re-visited and reviewed.