Collaborative Training Environment

Reflect on the following real-world example for designing a collaborative training environment:

A new automated staff information system was recently purchased by a major corporation and needs to be implemented in six regional offices. Unfortunately, the staff is located throughout all the different offices and cannot meet at the same time or in the same location. As an instructional designer for the corporation, you have been charged with implementing a training workshop for these offices. As part of the training, you were advised how imperative it is that the staff members share information, in the form of screen captures and documents, and participate in ongoing collaboration.

According to Beldarrain (2006) “Technology is responsible for distorting the concept of distance between learner and instructor, and enabling learners to access education at any time and from any place” (p. 139). Rising technologies offer opportunities for instructor-student in addition to student-student real-time and/or time-delayed collaboration. Beldarrain (2010) indicated that blogs, wikis, and podcasts are identified as web tools that promote interaction and collaboration connecting members of a group. Consequently, wikis is identified as a potential benefit in distance learning. According to Campbell (2010) “A critical benefit for distance students is that wikis offer convenience by allowing students to work asynchronously from different locations” (p. 84).

As an instructional designer, I will utilize the wikis to provide an outstanding collaborative environment which can permit individuals within the six regional offices that are separated by diverse locations and/or time zones to upload, edit, and distribute information in the form of documents and links to screen captures. One of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to perform training is by screen captures through the use of Jing ((http://www.jingproject.com) or Trailfire ((http://www.trailfire.com). Griffin (2010) stated that both provide a URL for the screencast that can be shared via e-mail or instant message or on a webpage. Therefore, I will provide each individual with and URL address. I will also use CamStudio to record audio to make AVI files in order to distribute to the staff. This will provide them with vital information needed for training. I feel that this will assure me that each individual, high and low, has the value of effectiveness that is necessary to implement an impression for enhancement.

Reference
Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2),139–153.
Campbell, K., & Ellingson, D. (2010). Cooperative learning at a distance: An experiment with wikis. American Journal of Business Education, 3(4), 83-89.

Griffis, P. (2009). Building pathfinders with free screen capture tools. Information Technology & Libraries, 28(4), 189-190.

http://camstudio.org