Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

by Brendon Hatcher -
Number of replies: 6

Hi

I am implementing Moodle for internal staff training, testing and compliance management.
I am training/testing new hires, as well as existing staff.

The staff will be taught and tested on their use of a range of information management software developed by the company.

The information management software is under constant development, with changes to the user interface, the workflows and the available features.

I will create a main course for Software A comprehensively covering the user interface, workflows and features.
All existing staff will be trained and tested using this course.
All new hires will be trained and tested using the course, for as long as it remains current.

When the staff take the course, and pass the quizzes, they will receive a certificate or badge.

When a significant change to Software A occurs, I will create a mini course covering just the changes, and all existing staff will take the course.
This will probably involve watching a 1-minute animation of the software change, reading a paragraph, and answering a short quiz on the change.

At this point, the main course for Software A is now out of date.  It either shows/describes the old interface or workflow, or doesn't cover the new feature.

Training happens on an ongoing, ad hoc basis, so I can't use semesters, start dates or anything like that to create "editions" of the course.

For the next new hire, I would like to only take them through the main course for Software A, rather than the existing (out of date course) plus a potentially endless string of incremental change management mini courses.

If I update the main course, I have limited ability to change the quizzes, because the previous students have already been graded.

I could clone the main course and then:

  1. Retire the original main course
  2. Remove the gradings from the clone
  3. Adjust the content and quiz of the clone

However, when I then want to address staff compliance, their grades are spread across a set of retired courses for Software A.

And, or course, Software A is just one of the items taught and tested, so there will be possibly 30 courses with multiple retired copies!

I have tried to think about keeping a single copy of the course for Software A, and somehow retiring the quizzes within them, to make way for updated quizzes.  However, when I try to think about the grade book and the automating assigning of badges and certificates, my brain melts.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Brendon





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In reply to Brendon Hatcher

Re: Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

Moving to Teaching with Moodle forum...

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In reply to Brendon Hatcher

Re: Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

by Matt Bury -
Picture of Plugin developers

Hi Brendon,

Re: keeping track of students across several courses, some of which may be archived, perhaps passing that info over to a student information system, e.g. https://opensis.com/, would relieve some of the burden?

Re: continually changing learning objectives (LOs), this usually happens when the LOs are too detailed/specific/fine-grained. Is there any way you can go a bit more abstract/higher level/meta? For example, focusing on principles of how the software works & what it does without going into too much detail, i.e. The learner is presented with:

  1. This is what outcome X is (What are its essential/important characteristics?)
  2. This is the process to achieve outcome X (Present an abstract schematic of the steps, elements, etc..

With these first 2 (abstract) steps, how easily could your learners work out how to perform the procedure? How much additional information & guidance would they need to ensure success? How much of that additional info & guidance needs to be included in parts of the course that cannot be edited when there are active students, e.g. Quizzes & Assignments?

What I'm trying to get to is some way of creating a course that can develop along with the software as it changes by "going meta" (higher level/overview of understanding) so that learners can adapt to whatever they are confronted with when the software changes, i.e. they learn to understand the deeper, underlying structure so that changes in surface features aren't confusing/a distraction.

It'd also be in your interest to not have to retrain staff each time the software changes.

I hope this makes sense.

Matt smile

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In reply to Matt Bury

Re: Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

by Brendon Hatcher -

Hi Matt

Thanks for the detailed response.  Much appreciated.

I hadn't heard of OpenSIS, or indeed, the whole category of software that it is part of!  Lots to explore.

With regard to LOs and meta-level, I am still a bit lost. 

Here are two concrete examples of my needs.  If you could contextualise your previous response in the context of these two, I'd be grateful.

Software A contains a daily diary of activities.
This is presented as a form that users fill in.

Change 1:

A business rule determines how the number of staff is calculated for entry in the form.
This business rule has changed, requiring that all staff understand how to tally staff numbers going forward (the business rule is not presented in the software, the user has to know it).

I'll create a new mini-course called "Diary Update May 2019" which presents the change and asks them to confirm their understanding in a quick quiz.

However, the main course "Diary" contains a quiz where the correct answer is the old way of calculating staff numbers.  I'll need to change the wording of the section so that the correct training is provided, and change the quiz question slightly, and the correct answer.

Change 2:

Another part of the diary is brand new.  We need to make sure that all staff notice the new feature, and confirm that they understand how to use it.

I'll include this in "Diary Update May 2019".

In the main course, I'll need to add a new section with content and a quiz.  The new quiz will change the gradebook structure.  Staff who did the course previously will need the old gradebook calculation, final mark, and not lose their badge.

Thanks
Brendon


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In reply to Brendon Hatcher

Re: Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

by Matt Bury -
Picture of Plugin developers

Hi Brendon,

I think in both cases, your immediate needs can be met by passing grade information to a student information system (SIS). The course can be reset & updated without losing learners' data, i.e. the grades, dates, badges, etc., are in the SIS, so Moodle records can be discarded. However, you'll have to ensure that all learners have completed the course and the data sent to the SIS before resetting/archiving it.

You can do this by duplicating & updating the course, directing new learners to that one, & denying new enrolments to the old course. Once all the learners on the old course have completed it you can archive it. New learners take the whole new course & existing learners can update their training with shorter "refresher" courses.

So in the SIS, you'll have records that contain information like:

  • Learner A: Passed Diary Full Course August 2019  (85%) = up to date
  • Learner B: Passed Diary Full Course January 2019 (72%) & passed Diary Refresher Course May 2019 (89%), & passed Diary Refresher Course August 2019 (92%) = up to date
  • Learner C: Passed Diary Full Course January 2019 (98%) & passed Diary Refresher Course May 2019 (97%) = not up to date, needs to take Diary Refresher Course August 2019
  • Learner D: Passed Diary Full Course May 2019 (69%) = not up to date, needs to take Diary Refresher Course August 2019

The SIS would present this data in an easy to read format, e.g. a table.

In this way, you can minimise the number of active courses you have at any one time, i.e. Two full courses (previous & new) & one or more refresher courses, for each software package.

Alternatively, you can just have two full courses, previous & new, & require learners to take the full course each time they update. Depending on how often the course is updated, this could help learners consolidate & improve their understanding of the software. This is known in the learning sciences as "the testing effect" or "retrieval practice." There's a large & conclusive body of research to support this. For details on what it is & how it works, see: https://www.retrievalpractice.org/

I hope this helps! smile

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In reply to Brendon Hatcher

Re: Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

by Flotter Totte -
Picture of Plugin developers
If you go the "cloning way" the course templates plugin in the moodle db might be helpful.




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In reply to Brendon Hatcher

Re: Need help thinking about eLearning implementation

by Vicky Brian -

We are also planning to set up an eLearning at our company  ...have u already done it? what is the best advice that you can give from your experience?


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