Beyond Conversion…

When converting classroom-based training to successful and affordable online instruction, it becomes necessary to examine all the reasons why a particular live course is so successful. Usually, these reasons include peer-to-peer collaboration, facilitator support, a well-designed participant guide and an effective balance of discussion and activity. This is the case with an existing learning program designed by one of our clients. The course—delivered in the classroom and supported by online material—is targeted at first responders and community leaders who may one day face a chemical or radiological release in their neighborhoods. Information Experts, Inc. was awarded the opportunity of converting the widely-popular and well-liked course to an entirely self-paced, Web-Based Training (WBT) program. Maintaining the course’s popularity and effectiveness while offering self-paced online-driven delivery requires far more than simple conversion of existing instructional content. The Information Experts team prepared for complete reinvention.

Reinvention Defined…

Reinventing a course is a different and more complex process than converting content or changing delivery methods. Reinvention requires dismantling the existing classroom-based material into small pieces and examining each piece carefully. The goal is to rearrange, replace and reassemble the small pieces into a dynamic, innovative and intelligent new format—making the most of the available technology, improvising and adapting for the constraints and preparing learners for a chemical or radiological release in their communities.

Getting Started…

Beyond the standard extraction of instructional and enabling objectives, the Information Experts team carefully documented circumstances responsible for the classroom-based course’s effectiveness. Through review of past surveys and client discussion, the team ascertained that the following were major contributors to learner success:

• Facilitation by an Air Plume Readiness expert
• Peer-to-Peer collaboration
• Realistic scenarios with believable characters
• Hands-on practice with remediation and review
• A repository of research material and supporting documentation

Ideally, the reinvented online self-paced course would also offer these things. However, the team also identified several challenges. These included:

• No audio narration
• No animation or video
• A limited budget
• Limited custom art and illustration
• No LMS integration to support tracking and reporting

There is, of course, always a bright side. And the Information Experts team had much at its disposal when working towards course reinvention, including:

• A rich array of existing instructional content
• Subject Matter Experts available as needed
• Experienced and accomplished instructional design professionals
• Talented and creative media specialists
• Programmers well-versed in the latest development tools, languages and techniques

The team knew what to teach and how it is effectively taught in-real-time. It knew and understood the limitations placed upon it, aligned its strengths and began working together early on as a cohesive group to reinvent a course that would continue to serve the first responders and community leaders who bear the burden of making the tough decisions necessary in responding to a chemical or radiological release.

Setting the Stage…

The team realized that the functions of the classroom facilitator and first responder peers had to be performed by an array of diverse characters sharing a typical town in the midst of two challenging events—a chemical release (Course A), and a radiological release (Course B). Some of this was already crafted and described in the existing classroom-based instructional material. However, it was all textual. Without visual emphasis, communication and interaction, learners would quickly grow disinterested in a WBT environment. For the online instruction to be successful, the Information Experts team needed to bring this stage to life.

A virtual, perpetual workplace was created. Characters were added to the existing scripts and defined in more detail. Artists gave them visual representation. Instructional designers gave them voices. And programmers gave learners the ability to interact with them. Through ongoing collaboration among the Information Experts team and its customer, the backbone of this important online learning program began to take shape.

A Community of Voices…

Retention can be significantly higher with on-the-job learning than with other forms of instruction. In setting the stage, the Information Experts team creates an on-the-job experience—complete with co-workers, a knowledgeable and more-experienced boss and a host of others. This community of voices serves as a chorus of facilitators—delivering instructional content through e-mails, phone calls, radio broadcasts and omniscient advice. A reporter announces the release of hazardous material into the air. Maria, the learner’s virtual boss, calls participants by name and communicates the urgent need for an Action Plan. Grady, a fictitious plume model expert, illustrates how even a small change in wind speed and direction will drastically alter an air plume’s shape and path. James, the virtual Mayoral assistant, pleads for a press release. And ultimately, a well-deserved note of gratitude is passed to the learner from community leadership. These voices and communication methods do more than just enhance the online experience. They draw learners into a familiar world with a new, immediate danger—and they prepare them for managing real-life incidents with a real-life community of voices.

Looking Over a Thousand Shoulders…

A unique challenge with Air Plume Readiness content involved interactivity. Objectives involved map interpretation, employment of message mapping techniques, consideration of possible outcomes and creation of Action Plan responses. Throughout all activities, there was no one correct answer—only degrees of appropriate and inappropriate choices. Electronic, asynchronous assessment, then, became a difficult challenge given program constraints.

Programmers have been tracking words in learners’ responses for years now; this is nothing new. It has serious limitations as an assessment strategy, however. When learners are asked to type a paragraph responding to a specific Action Plan question, tracking words may overlook meaning that can only be determined through evaluation of the whole paragraph. The Information Experts team’s programmers and instructional designers worked together to create an effective assessment solution.

The newly reinvented online learning program presents periodic challenges to the learner. For example, the learner must employ message mapping techniques to answer a press question about how schools are affected by a chemical release. Applying recently-acquired knowledge, the learner answers the question by typing in a text box. After submitting this response, the learner then answers a series of 3 to 5 yes-or-no questions. For example:

• “Can you read your response at a comfortable pace within 9 seconds?”
• “Does your response identify the affected schools by name?”
• “Have you used technical jargon in your response?”
• “Did you carefully review the Air Plume maps before forming your response?”

After the learner answers all of the yes-or-no questions, they submit their answers to receive a dynamically-generated evaluation statement—with positive feedback and constructive guidance as needed. In most cases there are more than a dozen possible statements depending upon each learner’s own self-assessment. The result is the reinforcement of best practices, as opposed to rote memorization of a correct response. In the classroom, a facilitator looks over the shoulder of a learner and offers advice about one response. The online learning program looks over a thousand shoulders, offering advice about a thousand responses. It coaches learners to evaluate their own work and to follow guidelines that may one day keep their communities safe from harm.

Knowledge within Reach…

The material that our client created to support the classroom-based delivery of the original course included a repository of additional reading and research related to the instructional content. Learners could browse the repository at their leisure and read about modeling software, radiation, chemical air plumes and more. The Information Experts team viewed the repository as a benefit of the existing course and successfully created similar support for those accessing the self-paced online course, without facilitator support.

A knowledge repository was created with two distinct sections: an Important Documents area—with one or more files critical to activities within a specific section, and another all-inclusive area with a list of files and links organized by topic—much like the existing repository. The Important Documents area populates one-by-one, as files are shared by virtual colleagues or offered by Maria, Grady, James and so on. Sources within the all-inclusive area are identified as recommended reading at key locations throughout the online learning program. Learners are given the opportunity to explore to varying degrees of depth and complexity—accommodating varying degrees of available time and levels of interest among first responders and community leaders alike.

A Goal that Impacts Everyone…

As our client prepares to launch the recently reinvented courses, first responders and community leaders will soon be given exposure to frightening, challenging, unpredictable and realistic scenarios impacting the health and safety of their fellow citizens. They will also be given access to the guidelines, information, research and simulated collaboration necessary to manage a chemical or radiological release. The overarching goal of the reinvented courses is one that ultimately impacts everyone reading this article. That goal is to instill the confidence, focus, map-interpretation skills and decision-making abilities that every first responder and community leader should possess. And by creating an online learning program that every first responder and community leader can access, Information Experts has delivered a life-saving resource that will enhance public safety and benefit communities across the nation.

Dave Derr is Vice President of Instructional Design at Information Experts.