Analyzing Scope Creep

It All Seems Well 

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned a project I had undertaken at my school( click here for a synopsis) . Last year we did not meet AYP so the pressure was on to ensure that students were receiving the help needed. I started a blended learning class in January which was specifically aimed at improving writing and some aspects of reading. I had seven weeks until the state test and so I knew I had my work cut out. We were using the Pearson course management system which had an interactive writing coach, preexisting grammar material and the ability for teachers to create and upload their own material. Each student had to be added individually to the CMS. This was a long process as students had to search through the district database and then added manually. Since the students were pulled from different classes, it took a long time. By the second week, it we had worked out all the kinks and the students had settled in. We had worked out some of the initial problems with the CMS and the two additional teachers had played around with the CMS enough to be able to use it and help the teachers. All seemed well until…

Scope Creep

A “ common source of change is the natural tendency of the client, as well project team members, to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses, a phenomenon known as scope screep” (Portny et al, 2008, p. 346). Three weeks into my blended learning class, I started notice that some my students had their grade level changed from 10^th to 11th. I enquired and was told that these students had enough credits to be juniors. While they still needed the English II credit, they would be taking the English III test. Since they had their status changed, they could no longer stay in my class and to go to a different teacher. I was then given a new ‘batch’ of students, which meant I had to start all over with these students. I was told that this change needed to happen quickly and smoothly as there was very little time left; “Project managers must expect change and be prepared to deal with it. Fighting change is not appropriate” (Portny et al, 2008, p.346). They had to be added to the CMS and had to go through the orientation. They went through the same cycle of resistance as the other students. In each class, I had two groups of students, one that was advanced as they’d been with me for three weeks and another that was full of novices. It made teaching difficult as I had to constantly stop and help the new students. The original group of students was getting frustrated as they felt that they were being held up. I eventually decided to pair the students so that my accustomed students could help the new students. This worked out much better.

Better ways to manage the change

“Avoiding scope creep is not possible. However, monitoring it, controlling it, and thereby reducing some of the pain is possible –if the project manager follows a few guidelines” (Portny et al, 2008, p.347)

“Include a change control system in every project plan” (Portny et al, 2008, p.347). When I initially introduced the idea of the blended learning class to the administration, I should have asked about any changes that would were likely to occur at the beginning of the 2^nd semester. Status changes are not unusual around that time and so that could have been easily forecasted. I could have come up with a contingency plan form the beginning. The other lab had two teachers. We could have used one of the teachers to take the new students and introduce them to the CMS and help them to get through orientation.

In my previous post I had mentioned that I did not know how successful this project had been. We received our results last week. We needed 87% to make AYP; our results indicated we reached 91% overall. The administration also runs data per teacher. 97% of my students passed the state test. While this project was by no means perfect, it helped in many ways. The lessons learnt in those seven weeks will me prepare for the class next year.

Reference

Portny et al (2008). Project management. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

I was slightly baffled by this week’s assignment as budget is usually never discussed in any instructional design model and had never really come up in any of the previous classes I had taken, so this was definitely a challenge.

Resource 1

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

I really like this website as I have used Don Clark’s other resources before for other instructional design classes and have found his advice to be very useful. What is particularly good about this website is that it gives a very clear guideline to estimating development hours. This is a real help to anyone creating any type of instruction. I was amazed at how many hours of work it can take to create an hour long simulation. Although I have been teaching for a long time and I am halfway through my instructional design course, I have never really understood how to estimate the design/ development time for an hour’s instruction.  Now I feel that I can give a true estimate.

The other useful information here is the cost of developing training. I have no real idea about how much instructional designers, technical writers, technical developers etc. charge so the estimates here actually really help if I had to provide someone with a quote.

Don Clark’s website then goes on to provide estimates on eLearning courses; this is where my interest peaked. I’m interested in creating e-learning courses for the future and this website has a plethora of information about the different types of e-learning and the development time for each one.  

There are some very cool tools such as the excel cost estimator available on this website.

Resource 2

The second resource that I really like is this:

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall123/gordon123.html

I like this one because it is about creating online courses. It uses a web based program created by West Dominion University to estimate the cost of the courses. Since more and more institutions are offering online courses, the demand for instructional designers is increasing. Some institutions hire full time instructional designers, while others hire contractors. Either way, it is important to know the time and effort an instructional designer will spend on creating these courses.  It goes through the different phases a university will go through to create the courses and how they can estimate the cost and effort.  The web based program is available for download here http://preweb.clt.odu.edu/price/

Resource 3

http://www.learncentrix.com/estimating-instructional-design

This is another good source of information for general instructional design use; it is not specific to any project and so the advice can be applied to anything. The site shows visually where the instructional designer will spend the most amount of time in the ADDIE process and typically that will be in the development stage. It also differentiates between the novice and the expert instructional designer and takes that into account when estimating development hours. A novice is more likely to take longer to develop a course than an expert designer.  The other interesting aspect of this is that it takes into account learner mastery of skills; the more difficult the content, the more development time.  The other resources do not really take into account these variables and so this is what makes this website so special, important and definitely worth checking out.

References

Gordon, S., He, W., & Abdous, M. (n.d.). Using a Web-based System to Estimate the Cost of Online Course Production.  The University of West Georgia. Retrieved May 31, 2012, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall123/gordon123.html

Clark, D. (n.d.). Estimating Costs and Time in Instructional Design. Colocation | Broadband Wireless | Dedicated Servers | Web Design & Development | DSL | Web Hosting | Infinity Internet. Retrieved May 31, 2012, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

Munson, D. (n.d.). Estimating Instructional Design and Development Time | LearnCentrix. LearnCentrix | a place where e-Learning practitioners share, exchange, and network. Retrieved May 31, 2012, from http://www.learncentrix.com/estimating-instructional-design

Effective Communication

In project management and instructional design, communication is very important. In the work place there are many forms of formal and informal communication (Portny et al, 2008). Any form of communication should be clear, concise and focused (Stolovitch, 2012). This week we looked at a message that was conveyed as an email, a voicemail and as a face to face conversation.

How did your interpretation of the message change from one modality to the next?

Email

Judging from the number of grammatical errors in this email, it seems that it was really rushed. Some people may not read too much into it and others might wonder why Jane had to rush the email; was it because she was feeling the pressure of the impending deadline and so she panicked and lost command of the English language, or is this just typical of Jane?

The email does follow the guidelines of diplomacy as mentioned by Stolovitch (2012) as it starts with “ I know you have been busy and possibly in that all day meeting” (Laureate, 2012). Since team members and stakeholders in an organization are always busy, it is important to keep any form of communication clear, concise and focused (Stolovitch, 2012). The first sentence is both diplomatic and states a clear purpose (Stolovitch, 2012) “I really need ETA on the missing report” (Laureate, 2012). There is also an important element of accountability in the email; “because your report contains data I need to finish my report I might miss my own deadline if I don’t get your report soon”. There is a sense of urgency in this sentence which I believe is conveyed and is clear.  The email then finishes with two forms of responses but it is not concise in when the response should be given by. This type of ambiguity diminishes the sense of urgency at the beginning of the email and might lead mark to believe that it is okay to send it when he wants to.

Voicemail

The same message was delivered through voicemail.  Although the message sounded informal, the intonation added a sense of urgency. Audio communication is difficult as the person can hear your voice but cannot see the physical cues. Jane stresses the right words in this message but since the message is a voicemail, it can easily over- looked, deleted or not taken as a priority. Jane should have added that she would follow up on this call to ensure he had received the message.

Face to face

I found this to be the worst of the messages. A conversation over the cubicle can also be easily forgotten in a busy organization. Stakeholders have many conversations with many people and so a conversation like this may not necessarily become a priority. Although Jane’s expression changed when she spoke about the report, her intonation did not convey the same sense of urgency.

What factors influenced how you perceived the message?

This week’s resources were very useful in determining the effectiveness of each message. I prefer written communication as it always documented. Emails have to be deleted consciously. It is also very easy to move contents to a calendar or a to- do list and set reminders.  There are times when written communication can be misinterpreted; in that situation it is better to have a face to face meeting and then send an email with the details of the meeting (Achong & Budrovich, 2012). Voicemails should also always have a follow up.  I know from my own experience that I very rarely follow up on voicemails.

Which form of communication best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message?

I preferred the email. Although the content of each message was the same, I think the email conveyed the intent better. It is a written record of the problem and the proposed solution (Stolovitch, 2012). The other two forms seemed too informal and could be easily forgotten in a busy organization.  There will be times, however, when it is more appropriate to use a face to face conversation over email and there will be times when project managers may leave voicemail for team members. As long as there is a follow up and everything is documented, it should not be a problem.

What are the implications of what you learned from this exercise for communicating effectively with members of a project team?

Communication is essential in a working environment; formal and informal communication “are useful, meaningful ways to share and collect important project information” (Portny et al, 2008, p.357). It is important to tailor communication to the needs of the stakeholder. There may be stakeholders who do not like mass email messages and would prefer a meeting. The project manager should then document this meeting and send a copy to the stakeholder (Achong & Budrovich, 2012).  Communication should be clear, concise and focused (Stolovitch, 2012).

References 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012). Communicating with Stakeholders [DVD]. In Project Management . Baltimore, MD: Stolovitch, H

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012 Project Management Concerns: Communication Strategies and Organizational Culture [DVD]. In Project Management . Baltimore, MD: Stolovitch, H

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012). Practitioner Voices: Strategies for Working with Stakeholders [DVD]. In Project Management . Baltimore, MD: Achong, T & Budrovich, B

Portny et al (2008). Project management. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

Learning from a Project “ Post-mortem”

Background

Our school had not met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as deemed necessary by no child left behind last year and this year there has been a lot of pressure on everyone to find ways of engaging students and improving instruction. Many of the students that came to me this year had failed on last year’s state test; spoke English as an additional language and special educational needs. My students were very diverse and it was very difficult to cater to the needs of everyone. Many of the students were frustrated and for this reason were absent or truant from class. Students were also becoming disruptive in class.

Conceive Phase

In order to engage the students and meet the need, I decided to try a blended learning approach. I was already halfway through my Master’s program with Walden. I had some experience with the districts LMS and a new interactive program the district had purchased which was very much like an LMS.

Define Stage

I created a plan for the administrators so that they could see what I would cover in the 7 weeks leading to the state test. My plan was detailed enough to show which activities would cover which objectives

Recruiting Project Champions

In order to ensure that I received the relevant support and resources the following project champions were recruited: Principal, Assistant Principal of Instruction, Department Specialist, and District Specialist. Project Champions take “necessary actions to help ensure a project is successfully completed (Portny et al, 2008, p.15). It is important to include as many people or groups of people as project champions as may affect the project. The project champions loved the idea; however, they wanted to place students only those students who were in danger of failing the state test. They started pulling out low performing students from other classes, and placing them in the blended learning program. My plan was just one teacher running a blended learning class. They changed this to three teachers running 2 classes (1 teacher in 1 lab, 2 teachers in another)

Start Stage

I explained to the two additional teachers what their role would be. They were given the lesson plans and trained how to use the interactive program and the different features. Since the students had been pulled out from different classes, it was essential that grades and issues about student conduct and participation were communicated to the teachers of the students, Assistant Principals, counselors and the parents. As far as I knew all the procedures were in place.

The Perform Stage

The students came to the new classrooms. What we had not anticipated was the resistance we would face at first. Students felt they had been moved to these classes because they were stupid; however, once the students settled down, they loved it as they realized they were able to control the pace of the learning and also seek help from a plethora of topics if and when they needed it. This boosted the confidence of many of the students and made them feel more prepared for the state test. One of the major problems we ran into is the use of the discussion forum. In my English this year, I couldn’t seem to engage students in a discussion. The students were responding very well to all the other activities and so the next step was the discussion. I created the discussion questions ready for students to post; however, when the student tried to respond they could not. The district had blocked the discussion board. This was an essential part of the goal of the blended learning class and one of the main reasons I had embarked on this project.  The project manager’s role is to “fix problems on the arise” (Portny et al, 2008, p. 80). Unfortunately since the districts’ instructional technology department had not been consulted or recruited as projected champions, they were not on board with the project and so our problem with the discussion board was not resolved. Additionally, since the students had been drawn from different classes, communication was a big issue. Getting the grades to the teachers on time, communicating failures and conduct or issues to parents was also problematic.  There were some problems with the company’s software as well as the computers that were being used. The English department computer labs do not have up new computers and so they are prone to crashing.

The Close Phase

In this stage of the project, the project manager would usually “hold a post project evaluation to recognize project achievements and discuss lessons learned that can be applied to the next project” ( Porny, 2008, p.80). The blended learning class came to an end in early March. The students were engaged throughout the process and there were less disciplinary problems. The results from the state test have not yet come in; however, administrators saw the benefits with the blended learning class and writing samples showed a steady improvement in certain areas. For this reason the administration would like a year long blended learning class for Sophomore English next year. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed before the project can be repeated next year.

Some of these include-

-          Recruiting the district’s instructional technology team project champions would benefit

-          Asking project champions for better resources so that there are less technical problems

-          Getting the discussion board problem acknowledged through the district’s technology department.

References

 Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

 Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Project Management