Instructional Design for End User Application Training
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1. diagram for a Resource Manager lt lt uses gt gt Remove Skill gt Fras gt Resource Manager Add Resource lt lt uses gt gt Remove Resource Update Resource lt lt extends gt gt Assign Skill to Resource lt lt extends gt gt Ticis 1 Assigned To 1 J P Figure 3 Illustration of a class diagram lt lt uses gt gt Unassign Skill from a Resource LEARNING SOLUTIONS August 31 2009 a Design Techniques Object diagrams Objects are instances of classes Hence the object diagram represents the objects and their relationships using links in an application Like the class diagram the object diagram represents the static state of the system The only difference being that it is a snapshot of the system at a particular instance User Interface User Interface Sequence diagrams Sequence diagrams illustrate the various interac tions among classes in a project The interaction mod eling is as exchanges of messages which are under taken to accomplish a certain behavior Sequence Select diagrams consist of class roles lifelines activations Eai and messages Figure 4 illustrates the sequence dia gram for an assessment engine that allows users to compile and run their program using a Web based interface The sequence diagram illustrated in Figure 4 is not complete but it will give you an idea of how the dia gram will look This diagram will enable you to identify Table 2 l2. 31 2009 tant for the end users to know why they used a cer tain technology in developing the application then technical architects are the best people in the project team to answer these questions However you must realize that technical architects are very much sought after resources and are always busy with multiple projects Use their services optimally Programmers The programmers or developers as we sometimes call them are very junior members of an application team Normally they do not possess much functional knowledge of the application although they may pos sess foundational knowledge that might be necessary for the learners They have knowledge of computing logic algorithms and so on This means that they can be a handy resource in helping you to capture screens needed for your course They can also help you with understanding the application documentation Quality Management Team The quality management QM team consists of the quality assurance QA and quality control QC teams Collectively the QM team includes quality ana lysts process experts testers and auditors This team can be an excellent resource for instructional design ers The testers will have the knowledge of all the test cases that were administered to validate the applica tion These test cases can be very useful for you when you have to create assessments especially when you have to prepare scenarios and simulations When you are famil
3. work on multiple projects at the same time Technical architects like building architects have a good under standing of the application from the design perspec tive and also of the technologies used If it is impor Learning Solutions e Magazine is designed to serve as a catalyst for innovation and as a vehicle for the dissemination of new and practical strategies techniques and best practices for e Learning design devel opment and management professionals It is not intended to be THE definitive authority rather it is intended to be a medium through which e Learning professionals can share their knowledge expertise and expe rience As in any profession there are many different ways to accomplish a specific objective Learning Solutions will share many different per spectives and does not position any one as the right way but rather we position each article as one of the right ways for accomplishing an objective We assume that readers will evaluate the merits of each article and use the ideas they contain in a manner appropriate for their specific situation The articles in Learning Solutions are all written by people who are actively engaged in this profession not by journalists or freelance writ ers Submissions are always welcome as are suggestions for future top ics To learn more about how to submit articles and or ideas please visit our Web site at www eLearningGuild com LEARNING SOLUTIONS August
4. 98 UML in a Nutshell Sebastopol CA O Reilly Publications Botturi Lucca amp Stubs S Todd 2007 Handbook of Visual Languages for Instructional Design Theories amp Practices Hershey Pennsylvania Information Science Reference Author Contact Dr Murali Padmanabhan is currently the Head of Learning Technology Sol utions Group in TATA Consultancy Services He and his team are respon sible for developing and deploying e Learning solutions within TCS Dr Murali has over 15 years of experience in teaching IT technical training and e Learning consulting After earning a doctoral degree in 1993 in Applied Math ematics from University of Hyderabad India Dr Murali started his career as Lecturer in a college After a short teaching career he switched over to IT technical training delivering stand up training on various tech nologies He has handled many e Learning consulting assignments that involve course development as well His areas of interest include instructional design the use of technology in learning and learning in virtual worlds Contact Dr Murali by e mail to murali pad manabhan tcs com NOVEMBER 10 13 2009 SAN JOSE CA J Program Partners SERIOUS WRITERS A 20ne If you as an instruction al designer are aware of the application dev elopment process and are able to effectively understand the relevant documents that can be generated during the development then yo
5. August 31 2009 he eLearning Guild s Practical Applications of Technology for Learning i Il 371 f Instructional Design for End User Application Training By Murali Padmanabham f you are an instructional designer then this question is relevant to you When was the last time you designed an e Learning course for end user application training am sure that many if not most readers of this article are either in the middle of such an e Leaming project or have just finished one Also many of you probably felt that you did not get enough support from the application development team You are left wondering if the application team really appreciates your efforts or how you could have done this better personally believe lack of knowledge of the entire application documenta tion cycle is what puts the instructional designer in such a situation Most of the e Learning projects that set out to train end users run in parallel with the application development The application development team including the business analysis and the functional teams is struggling with deadlines and in most cases do not have time for the instructional designer or the training team Hence we instructional designers are left to fend for ourselves So what is the way out How does the instructional designer overcome this barrier and create an instructional design that meets the learning objectives of application training First as ob
6. The eLearning Guild 375 E Street Suite 200 Santa Rosa CA 95404 Phone 1 707 566 8990 www eLearningGuild com Business Analyst Y ou probably felt that you did not get enough support from the application devel opment team You are left wondering if the application team real ly appreciates your efforts or how you could have done this better The business analyst BA is a very important mem ber from the instructional perspective The BA will be in a position to explain to you the various business processes and the overall features and functions of the system under development The BA will also be able to help you in identifying the exact needs of a prospective learner He or she can help you segregate the need to know from the nice to have information in the course BA s are cru cial resources that play the role of subject matter ex pert in the e Learning project However they are also involved in various other tasks like modeling coordi nating with the customers in requirements gathering training and helping the customers in user accept ance test and so on As a result it will be useful to plan their time for the e Learning project in an optimal way If you are well prepared and quite knowledgeable about the project then you may have a willing SME who is ready to help you Technical Architect The technical architect is a key resource on the application development team Normally the architects
7. a team that develops software The team normally consists of the Project Manager Busi ness Analyst Technical Architect Database Adminis trator Technical Programmers and Software Quality Assurance Team am not claiming this is a complete team however most teams will consist of individuals who fill these roles Let us analyze each role and ex amine how it can help with the instructional design process Project Manager The project manager is the most crucial member of the team The project manager may not be in a posi tion to help the instructional designer with the course content creation but this person will be able to give you key inputs on the project schedule The project manager can also direct you to key members of the project who could be valuable to your design efforts The eLearning Guild s EARNING SOLUTIONS taro AANE Publisher David Holcombe Editorial Director Heidi Fisk Editor Bill Brandon Copy Editor Charles Holcombe Design Director Nancy Marland Wolinski The eLearning Guild Advisory Board Ruth Clark Lance Dublin Conrad Gottfredson Bill Horton Bob Mosher Marc Rosenberg Allison Rossett Copyright 2002 to 2009 Learning Solutions e Magazine formerly The eLearning Developers Journal Compilation copy right by The eLearning Guild All rights reserved Please contact The eLearning Guild for reprint permission Learning Solutions e Magazine is published weekly for members of
8. e request Process Payment System Requirements Specifications SRS Supervisor Finance Manager The system requirement specifications is a docu ment that captures the requirements as stated by the potential users and key stakeholders of the project This document also contains the hardware software and specific integration requirements Some projects have a two stage process of preparing these docu ments They prepare a user requirements specifica tions document URS and derive a functional specifi cation FS from it Without going into too much de tail would like to show you some key diagrams used in SRS FS URS that will come in handy for you to carry out your instructional analysis Use Case diagrams Use case diagrams describe the functionality of a system and the users of the system The use case diagrams consist of actors and use cases Use cases are the services provided by the system to the actors users Figure 1 is an example of a use case diagram As is evident from Figure 1 it will be very easy for Figure 1 Use case diagram for reimburse ment system LEARNING SOLUTIONS August 31 2009 Design Techniques you to identify the learning objectives for each group of learners You will be able to easily identify various groups of learners for your training You will be able to clearly identify from the expanded use case diagrams the major tasks each group of the learners will have to perf
9. ed the UAT user acceptance test Table 2 describes the 6 0 COMPILE PAGE If compiled successfully and there are no errors the message will display along with the Back and Run buttons If there are any errors in the code the error ware message and the Back button will display As is evident from Table 2 this is very important information for you It comes in handy when you have UTP unit test plan for the assessment engine soft If the user clicks the Back button The coding page will display recorded the application as a demonstration of the When the user clicks the Run If there are no runtime errors submit the code link tasks to the learner Having access to all possible button and display the Back button If there are any runtime l fie errors display an error message and the Back button scenarios of a use case will help you in designing the exact activities to achieve the learning objectives If the user clicks the Back button The coding page will display Alternatively these test cases will also help you in cre ating an evaluation instrument to validate the learning For example in this case you design an activity for the When the user clicks the Submit Efficiency page will display the code link LEARNING SOLUTIONS August 31 2009 6 learner to enter the valid employee ID and log in to the system Additionally you could familiarize the learner with what will happen if the learner enters a wrong ID T
10. hese help the learner to be aware of potential pitfalls Let us consider the test cases in Table 3 on page 5 In this scenario the users have to submit their pro gram to a Web based assessment engine to compile and run their code As an instructional designer it becomes easy for you to design the show me screens for your course Your screens will consist of all possible paths a user of the system could poten tially undertake Hence using the test cases ensures that you have explored and exhausted all possible routes your learners need to be aware of As men tioned earlier you could also design evaluation items by looking at the test cases Conclusion If you as an instructional designer are aware of the application development process and are able to effectively understand the relevant documents that can be generated during the development then you can be very effective in your job Your dependence on the development team will be minimal and you will have a holistic picture of the application The course that you develop will address all the potential learning objectives and the application development team and learners will immensely benefit from this G www DevLearn2009 com 1 707 566 8990 Produced by Va THE ELEARNING b UILD Co located with ADOBE LEARNING SUMMIT November o9 INNO NOVEMDELF J 2UUA Featuring Demo sciat m a ER Learning Ennes LeBrrng References Alhir Sinan Si 19
11. iar with the project team and how you can elicit required information from each team member it s time to negotiate the documenta tion maze The documentation maze URS SRS FS TP do these abbreviations make your head spin Yes it can be really difficult to get around these Fundamentally these documents are generated as part of the application development project The BIG question is where should one start Like the courseware development process the ap plication development process also has phases The most popular approach is the waterfall model that consists of analysis design development testing and implementation phases will not go into the details of each phase however it will be of interest to us to know the documents that each phase generates these are the deliverables at the end of each phase Table 1 describes these This is good a way to start Follow the application development phases and go through the generated documentation Let us do a deep dive and peek into these documents Design Techniques Table 1 Application Development Phase wise Document Deliverables Phase Document System Requirements Specifications SRS User Requirements Specifications URS Functional Specifications FS Analysis Design High Level Design Low Level Design Testing Test Strategy Test Plan Test Cases User Manual Help Documents Online Help Implementation Request for Approval Associate Approve th
12. odularizing your course You could also use this notation for carrying out instructional design as well This is explained in Handbook of Visual Languages for Instructional Design by Lucca Botturi and S Todd Stubbs see References Design documents The design documents may not contain information that is directly relevant for your instructional design However reading the design documents will help you in understanding the application from a programmer s perspective It will help you understand why a certain feature behaves a certain way As in the analysis phase there are few diagramming tools that you should be aware of when reading design documents Class diagrams Class diagrams describe how a system is struc tured It does not depict the behavior of the system The class diagram consists of classes and associa tions Classes represent the entities within the system that contain common characteristics Associations represent the relationships between the classes Fig ure 3 shows an example of a class diagram Figure 3 is a high level diagram and is illustrative in nature The detailed diagrams can give more specific information about the classes such as attributes and the kind of data and functions that operate on them If you really want to drill down to every possible detail of the application then these diagrams are for you From the course perspective however they do not have much significance 4 Figure 2 Use case
13. orm on the system Merely by going through the SRS you can tell early in the project life cycle that one of the learning objectives for an associate is At the end of the course you will be able to make a re quest for approval Once the learning objective is clear you need to identify the content relevant to this You will have to wait till the development phase of the project is over The case presented here might be simplistic since it is for illustration However each use case may have multiple levels of detailing These detailed use cases are a treasure trove for an instructional designer For example let us consider the use case shown in Fig ure 2 Figure 2 is the use case diagram for a resource manager using a resource management system The resource manager has to maintain the skills database and hence is expected to add delete and update skills Similarly the resource manager also has to carry out maintenance activities of the resources so he or she should be able to carry out the following tasks after undergoing the training program designed by the instructional designer 1 Add a skill 2 Delete a skill 3 Update a skill 4 Modify a skill 5 Add a resource 6 Delete a resource 7 Update a resource 8 Assign a skill to a resource 9 Un assign a skill from a resource This will not only help you identify the learning objectives but will also help you design the entire course outline It will help you in m
14. served in practice there is usually enough documentation gener ated as part of the application development to support instructional design If the instructional designer looks in the right places then it is possible to come up with an excellent course that will meet its instructional objectives Second it might be a challenge for an instructional designer to communi cate with multiple stakeholders in the project team have had instances where the instructional designer had to shuttle between the functional or business For instructional designers without a background or ex perience in application devel opment producing e Learning for end user training during the development can be a great challenge It can be dif ficult to communicate with the development team because of time constraints and espe cially because of a lack of familiarity with the documen tation that the team produces This week s article shows you where to find the information you need A publication of y a THE ELEARNING b UILD LEARNING SOLUTIONS August 31 2009 Design Techniques analysis team and the technical development team The inputs would not come on time and the instruc tional designer would become frustrated waiting for inputs and sign off on reviews This situation is avoid able if the instructional designer is aware of the roles that each member of the software development pro cess plays The development team Let us look at
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16. usitrative test cases the sequence of tasks that each group of users of the R Figure 4 Sequence dia gram for a Web based Scat assessment engine application will perform Step Description Expected Result 9 Apart from these there are various other diagrams ha that you will find in the design document They are as VOERLOGIN follows Validations are done with e State chart diagrams the database for each em e Activity diagrams ployee ID and password e Component diagrams i empid 507083 Should move to e Deployment diagrams password sekar instructions page For more information about these diagrams please i empid 507083 Soie refer to UML In A Nutshell see References password ouert message Unit Test Plan iii empid 507086 Should move to This important document will give you a peek at password naik instructions page how each use case has been tested This document Jo Shoda IV 10S INI normally consists of the list of test cases for each use Sone admin activities page case with expected results Once the first round of testing is completed you generate a Unit Test Results document The development team will fix the reported BELICE EEEn el EEEo MCU M A a Sse issues and then will issue the revised system for veri assessment engine fication After the final round of testing you release the system to a select set of users who complete the Step No Description Expected Result testing and certify it for deployment This is call
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