Instructional Goals & Objectives

1. Learners will be able to reserve equipment, identify equipment and to be able to manage an interactive videoconference
   
   
2. To be able to reserve Aderhold room 631
3. To be able to identify defintion of videoconfernce and what it is used for
4. Learner will demonstrate how to conduct a videoconference

Instructional Content Analysis

Learner Analysis

• Faculty, Staff and Students of the University of Georgia College of Educaiton requesting to use videoconferencing to communicate with a remote site. There is no age or education level limit.
• Motivation level needs to be high.
• Familiarity with computer and web use needs to be a medium or average level.
• The time it will take to go through the training is about an hour.

Summary of the Lesson

Learners will be able to setup, operate and administer the video conference equipment to connect to a remote site. To be familiar with the process of reserving the IP Video Conferencing Room in Aderhold Room 631 from the College of Education (COE) OIT (Office of Information Technologies). Be familiar with the video conferencing room by identifying all equipment, their location in the room, and their purpose. Be familiar with the features and capabilities of the Polycom VS4000 video conferencing equipment. To be able to set up the video conferencing room to make a connection with a remote site and have a successful and interactive video conference. Be able to connect to a remote site. Be able to configue presets for their camera views. Be able to adminster a successful video conference

My Project Prototype link

Instructional/Learning Strategies (Instructional Model)

The instructional strategy I am using to create the videoconference program is Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

I also tried to use Lave's situated Learning that is based on two principles:

1. Engage the learners in solving real-world problems
2. Activate existing knowledge as a foundation for new knowledge
3. Demonstrate new knowledge to the learner
4. Guide learners as they apply the new knowledge
5. Ensure that the new knowledge is integrated into the learner's world.

Below is a typical Instructional Design Model for interactive learning systems that I will use to implement the situated learning strategy.

ANALYSIS

• Conducting Needs Assessment
• Preparing Learner Assessment
• Specifying Content & Objectives
• Selecting Authoring System
• Selecting Delivery System
• Planning Design Project
• Planning Evaluation Strategies

DESIGN

• Creating Interface Requirements
• Specifying Performance Support
• Screen Design
• Flowcharting
• Prototyping
• Formatting Screens
• Conducting FOrmative Reviews

PRODUCTION

• Authoring Interactions
• Creating Graphics
• Preparing Adjunct Materials
• Conducting Preproduction
• Conducting Production
• Conducting Postproduction
• Integrating Optical Media & Code
• Usability Testing
• Mastering Optical Media

EVALUATION

• Documenting Project
• Testing ILS
• Validating ILS
• Conducting Impact Evaluation

Sample Screen Shot

Sample Screen Shot of IP Video Conferencing Product

Flow Chart

FLOW CHART OF VIDEO CONFERENCING (VC) TRAINING

Rational of computer- and web-based formats as an appropriate instructional medium

Before choosing to develop this project I contacted Dr. Orey who is a regular user of the videoconferencing room. Although he does not use it for classroom purposes, he usually conducts meetings and collaborations with other professors from different countires. Dr. Orey suggested that he was not sure if it was needed to create a videoconferencing web-based training program, he would just need a checklist of what needs to be turned on and how to use the equipment.

So I thought more about his suggestion but then I realized that it will be beneficial to have a web-based program for instructors that wish to use videoconfernecing as a supplmental medium of instruction for their classrooms. Also I found out that many K-12 teachers are already using videoconferencing for their classrooms and many content providers are creating better VC programs intended for educational classrooms.

From reading the first chapters of "Multimedia for Learning" I learned that creating a computer and web-based format is necessary when the below cases are true:

• Cost of instruction by other methods is high (for example, military training)
• Safety is a concern (Chemistry labs)
• Material is hard to teach by other methods (graphing in calculus)
• Extensive individual learner practice is needed (foreign language grammer and vocabulary)
• Learner motivation is typically lacking (ancient world history)
• Logistic difficulties exist in traditional instruction (science experiments that take a long time to complete)
• Intended learners have special needs (visual or auditory disabilities that can be alleviated by multimedia allowing a choice between auditory and visual channels).

Although none of these situations guarantees that a computer or WWW will guarantee them as successfull.  High quality and creative instructional design coupled with careful evaluation and revision are also necessary.

Curriculum integration recommendations

Videoconferencing is intended to be integrated into a course's curriculum. It is not intended to be a stand alone type of course, rather it acts as a supplementary activity that can last for one day or a few weeks of the semester. The training program I developed contains all the necessary information in how to teach and facilitate a videoconfernce with either subject matter experts (SMEs), professional content providers from NASA or a museum, or just conducting a virtual classroom with students who are not able to travel for face-face sessions.

The teacher needs to go through all the models and become familiar with the challenges and opportunities of videocononferencing and decide if it is the ideal solution to help make her classroom more motivating and capable of teaching the learning outcomes in the best possible way. Afterall it is not the vehicle of instruction but the way the instruction is taught that matters most.

Once you’ve decided on how you plan to present your information, the next step is to organize it into a time line or "rundown" This outline is an estimate of how the program time will be spent, allotting specific blocks of time for specific segments. It’s important to create a time line that’s realistic. Don’t try to cram too many different elements into a show, and be prepared to fill in extra material if a segment takes less time than planned. Careful planning will help you make optimal use of precious air time, but remember, this is LIVE TV. Flexibility will save the day when the unexpected happens.

Sample rundown of a videoconference:

Please view Module 4 of the videoconferencing program for more information on how to integrate videoconferencing into your course curriculum: http://www.coe.uga.edu/twt/videoconferencing/module4/index.html

Cost estimation of personnel, temporal and other resources used

NOTE: This budget is hypothetical because this project is being conducted as a service learning activity within the context of a graduate course (EDIT 6200 – Learning Environments) taught within the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at The University of Georgia. 

Accessbility Requirements

This project is 508 compliant and SCORM conformant. I made sure all images contain ALT tags that describe the image to someone as if I am describing it to someone on the phone. Even images that are meant for design purposes contain NULL tags so that accessiblity software and validators ignores them.

Please click here to read more about my SCORM conformant content and how it was implemented.

I used an HTML and CSS validator to validate all my pages and fixed many of the errors that were found. The website is designed for an 800X600 resolution to make sure all monitors can view the content without having to scroll horizontally.

I placed links to download plug-ings whenever they are being used in the program. I also informed the user of the length of video clips in the program.

In my learning assessment exercises, I made sure to write down the content of each captivate question slide to make it 508 compliant. These captivate slides also have their own manifest maker files for users to use within their SCORM conformant learning management systems like WebCT Vista or Moodle.

• ASP database development for CMPS for Dr. Choi and Dr. Lee. Part of the CBeL group.

• Macromedia Captivate Workshop for the IDD Program, the workshop introduction for Dr. Orey's class can be found here.

Click here to view my Project Formative and Summative Evaluation Instrument

Beta & Alpha Tests

Profile of Reviewers: 4 Students of the EDIT6210 Course, 3 Graduate Assistants at the OIT Teaching With Technology Team, 2 Professors from EPIT.

Assessment Criteria: Good navigation, appropriate content, sequenced content, learning exercises match the learning objectives, the program is engaging, and the graphics are useful.

Procedures: I e-mailed the above reviewers and asked they review the program and complete the evaluation instrument I developed.

Results: I only recieved two completed surveys :(. But I did recieve a lot of feedback during the showcase dress-rehearsal and while meeting with professors and classmates during unscheduled class times. Some of the recommendations included spelling mistakes, reduction of amount of content, making the user aware of video durations, giving the user links to download plug-ins, etc.../

Click here to view the results from my evaluation tool that was e-mailed to me:
Survey Results 1 & Survey Result 2

Recommendations for Revisions: Reduce content covered in the program, get an experienced video camera person to shoot the video, make the learning exercises more related to the learning outcomes.

 

Saif Altalib
saltalib@uga.edu
231 Aderhold Hall