About IST 511: Writing Workshop

From the CSUMB Course Descriptions: The Writing Workshop "Provides individualized workshops and tutoring to incoming graduate students in preparation for writing intensive graduate studies. Covering writing strategies, academic writing skills, APA style and technologies used in writing. Designed to be taken with, or before, other graduate level courses."
Portfolio

My work

During this workshop, I continued to refine the instructional design project I began last year. I have a long way to go to finish the project -- the end of the road is a long way out -- but these are two assignments I completed this semester: 
  • Individual Instructional Design Proposal: This paper describes an instructional design project developed for IST 522 as part of the MIST (Master of Science in Instructional Science and Technology) program at CSUMB (California State University, Monterey Bay). Using principles described in The Systematic Design of Instruction (Dick & Carey, 2009), the project attempts to solve the following instructional design problem: Provide system administrators, in corporate information technology (IT) departments, with the instruction they need to set up and begin using a complex systems management software product, which is referred to in this paper as SMSP.
  • Desert or Dessert: When to use single or double consonants: A three-minute video explaining a simple rule of grammar. This video was designed to demonstrate video skills and instructional design principles.

Articles related to my instructional design proposal 

The following articles are related to my instructional design proposal: 

  • The effectiveness of online task support vs. instructor-led training. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, 17(3), 27-46. Ji-Ye, M. & Brown, B. (2005). This article describes a study designed to compare the effectiveness of online support systems, such as wizards, with training that is provided by instructors. The study tests four hypotheses using the consumer software application, Microsoft Access, and a series of online task-support and instructor-led training sessions. The most significant finding of the study, for the purposes of this instructional design project, is that instructor-led training is not more effective than online task-support systems. In fact, online task-support systems are shown to be more effective than instructor-led training for higher-level tasks. This is particularly evident with wizards, which the study shows can be used effectively to provide training and to deliver “just-in-time” information when users are performing tasks.
  • Technological advancements in methods of training with reference to online training: Impact and issues for organizations. Researchers World, 3(3), 87-95. Maxwell, A. (2012). In this article, the author begins by acknowledging the growth of computer-based training programs and the important impact they are having on the training industry. She then goes on to describe some of those impacts, including the shift from pedagogical approaches, which center on the subject matter, to andragogical approaches, which center on the problem and use self-directed learning methodologies. Finally, the author weighs the costs and benefits of online training and provides recommendations for standards and further research.
  • A review and critique of research on training and organizational-level outcomes. Human Resource Management Review, 17(3), 251-273. Tharenou, P., Saks, A., & Moore, C. (2007). This well-researched paper provides a view into the organizational and human resource aspects of training. The authors begin by reviewing studies that examine how training impacts performance and financial outcomes in organizations, and how the human element, such as employee attitudes, factors in to the equation. The authors conclude with a call for more research into organizational-level outcomes to determine which training methods and content are most beneficial to organizations.

Lessons learned

As the sun sets on this semester, it's time to reflect on lessons learned. This course helped get me up to speed with the APA (American Psychology Association) guidelines and formats for scholarly writing, which is important because the MIST program requires that writing assignments be submitted in APA format. The following sites provide details on the APA guidelines: