An Overview of Application Learning, Solutions to Problems and Future Goals
I. Introduction
The course that I propose to develop is the application learning, which falls in the system of the Information Technology Department. With the current technology and e-learning, the classroom is no longer viewed as a local community but rather as a heterogeneous group of learners worldwide. In the global e-learning classroom, diversity is an important way of life. The organization is Instructional Development Program. The course fits in the Information Technology Department since it will provide training to the current employees and help them to obtain certifications that will enable them secure promotions and other benefits such as pay rise.
With the current technological advancements, it is important to be updating the employees on the current technologies that are present in an organization. It will help the employees improve their performance as it enhances their abilities to carry out tasks and responsibilities as well as keep pace with the current trends in information and technology. This paper will provide an in-depth description of how a company can strengthen the skills of their employees as well as retain the best employees through. It will paper will provide a way of designing an online course for training employees towards learning more about the current trends as well as skills in information technology.
II. Gap or the Problem
The reason I chose application learning is because I learned that most of the employees do not have the knowledge and skills for utilizing the currently available technologies within organizations. Only a few employees are able to perform the usual tasks using the current technological devices. This online course will help employees to gain confidence of using the technology within an organization which enables them to create new opportunities for the organization besides improving their personal skills.
Most employees depend on the technical staff for assistance on all issues they encounter while working with technological devices and software due to their limited knowledge and skills in technology. Some minor problems are supposed to be handled by the employees without technical assistance. The performance problem arises since whenever an employee does not know how to solve simple problems, they affect performance in their respective work. The performance problem exist since calling a technical staff to debug a particular problem might be time consuming. The prescribed curriculum of the application learning will help employees to have adequate platform that will help them solve the minor problems posed by their systems.
III. How will this Course Help to Solve the Problem?
Rather than using a complex software, one can make use of a simple software to avoid the application learning online course. The current problem existing as a result of lack of skills and knowledge among the current employees. In our information technology system there are no courses present on Facebook that the employees can use. If they were available, I also do not see it as a good idea for an employee to learn the general knowledge from Facebook. The best solution that I am sure will solve the problem is the application learning online course. Here, the employee will acquire relevant knowledge regarding the system the organization is using as well as master the system functionality. The employees will find it easy using systems and technological devices within the organization since the online course will upgrade their knowledge and skills.
IV. Target Audience
As I started by saying diversity is a crucial way of life in the application learning online course. This is because my target audience are employees who aged between 21 years to 55 years from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Also, employees with disabilities of all kinds such as visual and physical disabilities will be considered when designing the online course to ensure that every employee can utilize the technologies that are available within an organization. To enhance learning during the online course, a computer laboratory with 10 Megabytes internet speed will be set up for the employees.
Mentors will be there to help them to use the computers and applications without difficulties to ensure an equal learning opportunity. The IT staff will be provided to handle the technical problems that may occur with the computers or the internet connection. The employees will have access to the application learning online course from their home computers. This will provide a platform that ensures availability and consistency to the target audience as well as enable the employees to practice on their own.
V. The overall Instructional Goals
The learners of the application learning online program will be able to navigate the system without any problems. The learners will handle their tasks and responsibilities using the shortest route since they will have adequate knowledge to choose the shortest path. The learners will understand how to perform various duties other than the normal basic functions. By understanding the system, the learners will be able to solve simple problems on their own without much assistance from the technical staff.
The disabled learners will become productive in the same manner as the other employees in the organization. The high-speed internet access will enable them make fast communication to the rest of the staff in the organization. The learner will have adequate knowledge and skills of the system they are using, which will improve the employee’s performance. Even when they are at homes during their leave, the employees will manage to deliver what the organization needs from them since their home computers will be able to connect with their computers at work.
VI. Technology Context
The available technologies for developing, learning, designing, and teaching is the Moodle. I will use Moodle as the course management system since it is simple to use. The bandwidth for the teachers will be 10 Megabytes internet speed that will enable them stream videos and attach documents much faster for the learners. The computing power of the student’s computers will be a 2.1GHZ processor with 4GB RAM. The computers will have at least a 250GB internal memory and an internet connection of 5 Megabytes. The internal memory will help the learners to store the video and notes from their teachers and will be able to revisit them whenever they want. The computer will have basic software that are relevant for use by learners and teachers. For example, the Microsoft Word editor and Adobe Reader to help the learners open the notes.
VII. Future Data Collection
In order to design an appropriate online course for the employees, I require data that will facilitate an excellent design of an online course. The methods that I will use for data collection involves interviewing, observation, and literature review. Interviewing the employees will help me in designing an online course that will be centered on their needs, which will help them improve their skills and knowledge.
Observation will help me to see the most frequent problems that employees experience when they are in the line of duty. This will help me design a course that will aid them in overcoming those challenges. The literature review of designing online courses will only help me to identify the relevant tools for use by the learners and the teachers in the past through a extensive review of existing research and designs of online courses. For example, I will be able to know the computing power needed for the learners and the teachers. I will also manage to know the internet speed required to stream videos to avoid some difficulties to the teachers.
References
- http://ctl.mesacc.edu/teaching/designing-an-online-course/
- https://www.udemy.com/courses/design/
- https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Main_page
