Progress

I have always been a pro-active person; however, taking charge and leading a project, being the project manager so to speak, is not a strength. Perhaps I just have not had much practice. I am fairly good at keeping people on task, but delegating and "putting the pressure on" is not a favorite activity. I did not have a choice, though, in regards to my capstone. Progress had stalled. When I tried to discuss the topic and arrange casual meetings with the SME, something always occurred whereby the meeting would not occur. The SME happens to be my husband, so it was usually personal/home life that interfered, as we tried to hold the meetings at home, either after work or on weekends. At the suggestion of my advisor, I scheduled a meeting for this morning at my husband's work.

The meeting was a success and what I consider to be good progress was made. Following the Morrison, Ross, and Kemp model, we discussed and developed a goal and objectives for the course.

Goal: The goal of this course is for the student to learn about facilitation and to utilize it as a tool to create productive work in a team environment.

Objectives:
By the end of this course the student will be able to:
1. Apply current research regarding the human components of meetings such as:
• Team dynamics - the phases of groups
• Empowerment – science of participation
• Communications – science of listening
2. Manage the non-human dynamics of meetings such as:
• Selecting the meeting environment
• Developing/determining the schedule
• Creation of content, including agenda
3. Utilize facilitation skills in order to:
• Select participants (if applicable)
• Encourage participation
• Guide participants
• Prevent and manage conflict
• Ensure results
4. ????How to create and present results???

We then moved on to brainstorming regarding learner characteristics. For this segment Michael asked to include another member of the EMS staff, Eric Perry, as a subject matter expert. I have mentioned Eric previously. He is the Education Coordinator for the Division of Fire Standards and Training & Emergency Medical Services. As the Education Coordinator Eric has detailed knowledge regarding the EMS professionals involved in the current education system. We developed the following question and then brainstormed the answers included.

What are the characteristics of EMS Learners that should be considered when designing an online course? (other subject matter experts involved)
• Unfunded mandate personality (not in my job description)
• Misconception that all learners are created equal – differing learning styles
• Slow Internet connections (bandwidth)
• Diverse educational background (grade school & above)
• Diverse clinical education and background (EMT-B & above)
• Diverse backgrounds (EMS is prime job)
• Dynamics of EMS system (rural vs. urban)
• Volunteer vs. Paid
• Level of involvement in EMS (management/supervision vs. primary patient care provider) /level of direct patient care
• Agency call volume
• Minimum vs. motivated learning
• Level of knowledge/experience (based on where they received their education, where they serve)
• Age of learner
• Bureau does not know about people’s computer-based experience and education
• Conflict of time and life
• Breaking education into basic and advanced
• Paramedics are taught to think independently
• Assessment-based vs. diagnostic-based thinking
• Department vs. State vs. National requirements
• What is the learner’s regular role in educational endeavors (students vs. instructor)
• Don’t consider themselves students/learners
• Different management styles

Prerequisites for Facilitation Course: None


Michael, Eric, and I agreed that this list is a good representation of issues and information regarding the learners that would be helpful to keep in mind when developing any kind of online course. This list will also be shared with other members of the Division who are going to be involved in developing online courses beyond the Quality Management course. We felt it would be helpful to them as well.

I have to say that I truly enjoyed today's meeting. I love the instructional design process. I enjoy helping individuals to develop effective instruction. As the "instructional designer" and facilitator of this meeting, I believe the challenges that I faced were directing Michael towards a student-centered approach rather than instructor-center approach when designing the goal and objectives. He constantly wanted to phrase the goal and objectives from the viewpoint of the teacher/instructor ("To teach...."). Once he understood the student-centered approach he then consistently used "To understand...." phrases, rather than more action oriented verbs. Another one of my challenges was, and I think will continue to be, emphasizing and convincing him that in instructional design, and especially the ID model we are utilizing, everything can be revisited and revised at any time during the process. He seemed a little resistant to the idea of revising. He wanted to finish with that section and move on. I'll win him over.

All in all a great session with good progress made. We have agreed we will continue to meet weekly in his office from this point forward.

Action items for next meeting:
Research the topics of the first objective
Create a preliminary content sequence