CEdO599 - Final project

We are finally nearing the end of this journey.  It is time to take everything we learned and apply it to a real world problem.  I have had several ideas over the course of this program, and by combining them I think I have come up with a great idea for a project. In CEdO525 we talked about using real world problems to engage the class.  Have them create the stories and lessons that will explain the core concepts.  This will help them remember by making the lessons applicable, and it will tap into the creativity of a group so the teacher does not need to come up with all of the examples.  Secondly, in CEdO535, we talked about methods of facilitating online learning, and we also touched on the topic of social networking.  By combining these two ideas I have come up with an idea for a project.

As I have mentioned before, my company is preparing to rollout a new software system that will be used by almost all employees.  This rollout will require re-training a majority of the company.  To help this I am planning on using both of these ideas.  I would start finding a group of early adopters for the software.  These should be people who are excited about the change, because as we learned in CEdO565, it is best to begin with people who are eager for change, and have them help convince others.  I would then give these early adopters the software necessary for them to create short tutorial videos that demonstrate the most common uses of the new software.  This will allow them to show how the software is used to do the things that their departments do most often.  Instead of sitting in class learning about a list of features, the end users can see the software doing the things that they care about most.  Once the early adopters have created these videos, we would have them publish it to a social networking site.  Other people in their department can subscribe to the these lists, and will be able to see the videos as they are created.  Then they can search for older videos or comment on the videos that they find most useful.  It would be the best way to have people create and use the content that matters to them the most.

The biggest issue I see with this is that my company is still months away from beginning the rollout of the software.  I will not have access to the program itself for several months, so it will be a while before we can  begin the process of creating the videos.  For my project I would like to use this same methodology, but use another more common software package, like Google Docs for instance.  The first part of the  project will be having some people create videos that demonstrate the basic uses of Google Docs.  Then I will find a social networking program and have the users post their videos, as well as view and comment on the videos of others.    Finally I will have the users comment on their experience and suggest ways to improve the project.  I can then incorporate those ideas as we get ready for the full rollout.

I am very excited to get started on this project, and will post updates about how it is going.