Planning Implementation Evaluation/Revision Implementation of

¶ … Planning Implementation Evaluation/Revision Implementation of any Revisions List in order the five steps to developing an effective training program. Describe each step briefly, and how you would proceed to do each step to create the online orientation training. What organization, job, and person level needs would need to be assessed to develop this training program? What characteristics of the new online students might influence the effectiveness of this training program? Explain. What would be your training objectives for this training program? List a minimum of 3. 5.

How would you evaluate this training program to determine if it was successful? How could you determine if the objectives were achieved? Introduction Online Learning has been a boon to colleges, universities and students. Colleges and universities have embraced distance learning in an effort to increase enrollment, increase tuition (profit) and provide a learning platform that students embrace and use in the twenty-first century. Today's students, used to instant gratification, on demand entertainment, often prefer the convenience of online classes.

In addition, the vast majority of today's students embrace technology and may actually prefer online learning to face-to-face delivery. Obviously, colleges and universities must ensure that online learning is easy to access and use. In other words, the learning portal should not be more complicated than the content being studied. One need not be a computer science major to navigate, say, an online Composition course. To help ensure both student success and fidelity to curriculum, colleges and universities should design and implement a proper online training program.

This paper delineates the process a university could use, the key stakeholders involved as well as how to measure student success using such a program. Developing an Online Training Program Step one of the process is a needs assessment. The university should decide (a) what online platform it will use (b) what challenges a first time online student could and face and (c) anticipate all questions, concerns and fears of students. Using surveys, focus groups, collaborating with other colleges and universities that have used such learning platforms, can complete this.

Step two involves the actual planning of the training program. The planning step involves "who, what, when and where" of the program. The planning of the actual training should be across departments (it, Undergrad, Graduate, etc.) in an effort to synthesize and use current learning models (theory and pedagogy) as well as the technical (it how to). Step three is the actual implementation of the training program. This could use targeted segments of student populations, faculty and staff of the university.

By using smaller focus groups before rolling out the training on a larger scale allows for refinement and correction. This is step four, evaluation and revision. A training program of such magnitude should continually be evaluated, and improved upon. This could be accomplished through data analysis, student surveys and targeted interviews. Step five is the implementations of any improvements and corrections in the training process.

Players and Stakeholders The key players in this process could not be more different: technical experts (it) and academic experts (departments, colleges and schools in the university). The academics have a clear vision of what the training program should encompass and the it experts possess the technical skills in facilitating such a process. Clearly, this must be a collaborative effort. For example, let's say the academic side of the team wants to use discussion board that incorporates online reading, YouTube videos as well as Social Networking.

For the actual implementation of such an idea, it must be consulted, cajoled and consulted. Online Students and Objectives Online learners do not learn in a vacuum. Such learners must be disciplined to succeed in an online learning environment. Therefore, any online training program must carefully balance challenge with practicality. The experience should be interesting, engaging and a challenge. If the training is deemed to difficult, the learner could give up and participate halfheartedly.

If the training is too easy, the learner could feel insulted and feel as if they were wasting their time and money. Therefore, the program designers walk a tightrope in the design and implementation of any training program. Perhaps one way to circumvent such scenarios is to actively consult and listen to students. Today's students are not passive consumers and learners. Indeed, they are consumers of.