Mary L Kish, 5/15/2007 · 0 comments
The Knowledge College web site, created by the E-Learning project team for a learning simulation, looks and navigates like a real web site.
The OrgCom Intranet, housed on Web CT, contains communication tools which students in the HCO simulation will use to share and store information as well as make decisions and manage the project.
Each semester, students in Mary Lou Kish’s Human Communication in Organizations (HCO) classes, enter a simulation during the last weeks of the course. The students take on roles in a fictitious corporate communication consulting firm, OrgCom Associates, and must respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP) from a fictitious client.
According to Kish, “Traditionally, the simulation concentrates on face-to-face communication. However, I wanted to start using modern technologies to make the simulation even more realistic since students will eventually move into technologically sophisticated workplaces. My problem was that I had neither the time nor the skills to create a client web site, so I proposed a project to the E-Learning class.”
The E-Learning course focuses on the theory and practice of designing Electronic media that help people Learn. Course instructor, Dr. Dennis Charsky explained that, “The faculty-as-client projects provide an ‘authentic problem’ for the E-Learning students to learn both the theoretical and instrumental aspects of designing instruction for online learning." CMD majors Nic Barajas ’08, Jessica Briskin ’09, Sarah Hathaway ’09, and Kira Walsh ’09 became the HCO project team during the spring 2007 class.
“As the main instructional designer, I was responsible for researching and deciding which instructional methods would be appropriate,” said Hathaway. After conducting a needs assessment, the team decided that HCO students also need web-based tools for project management. “We went above and beyond Professor Kish's request for a web site by also creating an Intranet on Web CT, adding communication support for the OrgCom project teams,” continued Hathaway.
Briskin’s role was to develop storyboards and create graphics that would work on Web CT. “We had to figure out a way to make an existing simulation more ‘real,’ and knowing that our work would eventually be used by other students, made us work even harder. We worked extremely well together and in the end we created an authentic intranet.” The Intranet will allow HCO students to share and store project-related information, as well as communicate effectively outside the classroom, both in real time and asynchronously.
According to Barajas, “My role was developing the client’s web site. I used ideas from both the IC website and other sites to give the fictitious site a realistic feeling. I was glad to do the project because I know it will give the HCO students a much more immersive experience.”
Walsh summed up her experience with, “E-Learning is one of the more valuable CMD classes that I have taken. The project for Professor Kish intrigued and motivated me because the work that I produced was going to be implemented.” The project team also developed various job aids for the HCO students to assist them in using the Intranet effectively, and for Kish to enable her to maintain the web site.
Both Kish and Charsky were very impressed with the project’s outcome. “I thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration with the E-Learning students,” said Kish. “Both the web site and the Intranet are very professional in design and functionality. I really look forward to the HCO students using them this fall.”
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