Instructional design & development project showcase

Tonight is the project showcase for my IDT 7095/8095: Developing Interactive Learning Environments II course.  This semester the teams are comprised of all women.  (Go girl-power!)  The overwhelming majority of this course is based in working with a “live” external client.  At the beginning of the semester, student teams select clients from proposals I have received.  Then students work all semester with the client to analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate a solution to the proposed problem.  This semester one project is a traditional instructional design training opportunity for a client and friend Dr. Chuck Hodges at Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium.  The other project is more of an electronic performance support system for abnormal ophthalmology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center here in Memphis.  As part of the showcase, student teams will present an executive summary of their projects’ problems, solutions and evaluations.

In addition to the primary project, students are also learning project management.  We follow Lynch and Roecker’s (2007) Project Managing e-Learning: A Handbook for Successful Design, Delivery and Management, which is based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).  In addition, we supplement with the Fast Forward MBA in Project Management, which has a wealth of examples and templates built in.

On top of the instructional design models from previous courses, including Morrison, Ross and Kemp and Dick, Carey and Carey, we emphasize rapid prototyping as a development model. So, you can see that students are doing a tremendous amount of work and learning.

Below are the project teams’ descriptions.

PB&K Solutions has focused on designing and developing an electronic performance support system for medical students studying ophthalmology at UT Health Science Center.  Their clients are Dr. Bill Brescia and Dr. William Morris.  One of their most unique challenges is to create a system that is scalable and maintainable.  PB&K Solutions’ primaries are Kathy Youngblood, Patti Liddell and Becki Barnhardt.

Joint Creative Design designed and developed training for test proctors at Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium.  The Math Emporium supports several thousand students enrolled in math courses throughout the year.  Their client is Dr. Charles Hodges, a faculty member in Virginia Tech’s math program and geographically located in Blacksburg, VA.  Joint Creative Design combines the expertises of Donna Brunner, Joanne Gikas and Christie Hayes.

I encourage you to leave your thoughts and well-wishes to the students in the comments below.