eLearning technologies Building Buying Renovating?

How to make sure your IT partnersh ip works for you in bi g eLearning projects

Andrea Barrett, LearnPros

Workshop

Introductions Activity Technology challenges in elearning projects Getting familiar with IT

project Worksheet 1: Technology challenges for your project or why you need an IT partnership

Technology selection. Technology configuration. Data migration. Courseware migration/interoperability. User acceptance testing. Network issues & constraints (e.g., remote access, bandwidth, desktop variability). End user support. Authoring standards (e.g., tools, style guides, templates, LCMS utilization). Content management standards and work processes (e.g., publishing, updating, shelf life). Problem resolution (i.e., complexity, accountability). Courseware deployment controls and guidelines. Advanced technologies (e.g. rich media, web-conferencing/casting, social networking & collaboration, virtual 3D environments, instructional gaming & simulations) Thanks to Steve Foreman for this list

Is this YOUR starting point?

How does IT happen in business?

Two polar extremes in organisations:

IT is centralised and dominates technology decisions IT is distributed and business divisions make technology decisions

IT Control

Decisions get made to fit technical priorities, not user needs Staff and procedures simply get re-used with all new vendors and technologies Business managers and users are frustrated, senior management dont get involved, black market staff, software and hardware are common New systems are forced to fit existing data structures Emergent uses of technology are not identified All new technology requires a formal cost/benefit and justification

Business control

Technology planning is based on short term business needs No strategy in the way systems are selected or implemented: duplication common No one really knows how much it costs to support and manage systems No data strategy or quality control Business units have their own technical experts Cost/benefit analysis and application roadmaps are rarely used

Worksheet 2: Evaluate Your internal IT partner which is it?

IT Dominates? Business Dominates? Neither dominates its a partnership!

What does this mean for your elearning project?

IT control : Youre going to need clearly documented support of IT and probably best to have them involved from the start of the project Business control : Your main support will come from the affected business units, but you will need to get IT involved to ensure that they understand what you are trying to achieve

IT basics for elearning projects

Applications and Systems Software and Databases (also software, but) Computers hardware Networks Access and communications Help desk and Support for users and system owners
(Most of these functions fall under IT Operations )

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1. eLearning Software

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2. Hardware

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3. Networks

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4. Help Desk and Support

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Other Aspects?

Questions, Comments? What did I miss?

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Activity 1 Buying a house

In a group, create a home buyers checklist. Group the characteristics in logical ways to ensure that you are able to evaluate how well a new home will meet all of your needs and uses

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Activity: Planning to build a project home

You are planning to build a home, but dont have the expertise or time to start from scratch, so youve chosen to build a project home.

Start by thinking about the way you live! Create a list of uses that your home will need to be able to satisfy. E.g. base to travel to work; room for your pets etc When youve created your list, see if you can group these factors into categories. Once youve got your categories, brainstorm the phases and sources/resources you may need to include in your home building project (TIP: To get started, think about the location, the land, inside and outside of the property)

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Discussion

how is buying a house similar to implementing technology?

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Activity

Compare your housebuying checklist with your technology challenges checklist Can you group them into similar categories

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What else do you need from IT?

Solutions - designing, developing, integration and implementing your software and hardware Project management managing design, development and implementation of your overall elearning deliverables Security information, networks, standards that govern hardware security, information security and organisation/administration security Enterprise Architecture frameworks, standards and roadmaps for the organisation

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Common IT Barriers

Time and resources Network bandwidth priorities and costs IT standards and policies Rigid software policies Security risks Techno-speak IT religion What are yours?

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Working with IT - Fundamentals

You need top management sponsorship to get things done

Without appropriate sponsorship in the business AND IT, your project wont happen OR wont happen the way you want it to.

You need business stakeholders, champions and allies

These are your users, so get them involved and give them

opportunities to explore and communicate their needs Keep them in the loop communication and participation make the change seem less complex

You need IT supporters, stakeholders and managers

IT are problem solvers Enlist their help Give them lots of opportunities to explore and understand technologies involved

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Working with IT: Critical steps

Develop your elearning strategy Know who your audiences are and the learning activities they will undertake Get IT involved early Identify and document your requirements, then be prepared to refine and rework Evaluate, explore and experiment Plan for implementation Agree how technology will be supported in production Document standards and processes for use and management of your technologies Create guidelines for internal and external users and vendors

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Features of a successful IT Partnership

A clear elearning technology strategy Know your internal constraints and opportunities Build relationships and define processes for working together Get your governance right Agree on the language to be used by the project Identify your technical interpreters and use them Be practical! Really! Explore your software, hardware, networks and experiment

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Workshop Close

What can you do in your organisation to create effective IT partnerships? What barriers will you face? What opportunities are available to you?

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Thank You

Andrea Barrett LearnPros andrea@learnpros.com.au

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