Tamara's Blog » Case Studies

I’m going to Germany

tamaraauer — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:15:51 +0000

I need to get part 2 done before I go to Germany and I leave on the 26th of September. I’m almost finished now. My individual reflection will include:
- A review of the three case studies
- An evaluation of how these three organisations have addressed the issue of blended learning.

This is the Assignment question:

Individual weighting: 15%

Task: approx 750 words

A short written review that evaluates how organisations are addressing the issue researched and presented in the selected case studies. The individual review will be presented as a separate page on their personal weblog.

Assignment 2 reflection

tamaraauer — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:14:22 +0000

Group Assignment – part 1 of Assignment 2
The group assignment was really hard because when delegating roles within my group of two, the balance was not even. I found myself writing all of the introduction and conclusion on top of the two case studies that I nominated to examine. Although this was a bit of a struggle, I did learn a lot and found my case studies very interesting. In the past I have never really examined in depth how an e-learning course has been implemented into an organisation. This was a good opportunity for me to study not just two case studies but also others that I came across when searching through research.

Case Studies x 3: Doing Assignment 2 (part 1)

tamaraauer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:12:31 +0000

Case studies.
Case studies.
Case studies.
There are so many that I have found. How do I choose which one to write about? I have decided to write about more than just one case study because I would like to compare and contrast between more than just two case studies (my one and Alex’s one) in the final part of Assignment 2.

I have found a nice article about E-learning in the Australian Army and another good article about a company who successfully implemented e-learning into pilot training. That company was called TransAsia Airways.

By looking at different examples of how much trainer contact has been used in these two case studies, I will be able to judge how much trainer contact is the right amount for e-learning facilitation.

Analysing case studies

tamaraauer — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:05:03 +0000

Searching:

How do you select appropriate information sources – where do you start?
Start by searching for the topic in journal articles online. Library databases are a place to start

What key words may help narrow your search?
Blended Learning

Which UTS Library databases or journals may be useful?
- e-learning -
- International Journal on E-Learning
- Elearningmag.com
- http://www.learningcircuits.org
- Books: The handbook of blended learning
- Journal of technology in Human services

How do you distinguish points of view from facts?
You work out if there is any bias by using your own personal judgment and experience. Look at who the author is and look to see if any points offer criticism or another perspective.

Are your resources bias in any way? What do you do about this?
Get another view point. The Army article was very good as it also presented criticism helping me to see both sides of the story.In the Taiwanese company I could work out for myself that the article presented the correct viewpoint as all points were supported by facts and figures.

My focus of inquiry: Scope

tamaraauer — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:14:54 +0000

Trainer contact

In today’s environment more and more work places are struggling to meet the rapidly changing educational needs of their employees. As technology constantly changes, the knowledge and skill requirements of the workforce moves towards the notion of lifelong learning and training must become a lifelong activity.

In order to meet increasing demand for education and training, many organisations are turning to e-learning for training solutions that are based on more convenient and flexible modes of training and delivery. While training may be more accessible for learners, the introduction of e-learning means that more and more technology is being used to replace face to face elements of training courses, which in turn reduces the importance of the role of facilitator/trainer.

My case study area of interest

tamaraauer — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:41:52 +0000

Today I chose my topic. Trainer Contact. We set up the class wiki pages for each topic. No one is in a group with me yet. This is a bit of brainstorming that I started doing to work out what type of question I want to answer through my case study examples?

- What is the appropriate blend of face-to-face and computer-mediated training?
A correct balance of both computers based and face to face learning produces a much more effective process of learning.

- Does the achievement of learning outcomes increase if there is more face-to-face contact?

- Why is the blend needed?

These are some of the things I am wanting to address:

What is Blended Learning?
The term blended learning is used to describe a training solution that combines several different delivery methods, including computer software, and trainer contact to expose learners to material that is presented in a more well rounded and engaging way (Valiathan 2002). In blended learning, different methods have different amounts of emphasis. The amount of time spent doing face-to-face training should compliment the time spent doing computer-based learning and an appropriate balance of both should be achieved.

How is it measured?
Time – face-to-face vs computer training

What is face to face contact?
Personal contact between the educator and the learner with the goal to educate and teach.

What is computer mediated training?
CMT is the process of educating via the means of computer based software.

Is there a need for support – face to face support.
All methods of learning can be supported via various different means, which provided help to those who need it. Such things are Journals for face to face learning, and perhaps face to face reinforcement for the computer mediated learning.

Can manuals substitute a facilitator?
Manuals allow for users to recover information in great detail, and further their knowledge of the area, this can sometimes allow for all the learning to take place only from the manual.