ESC Group's Practice on ISD

Analysis

Objectives

Design/Development Phase

Evaluation Strategies

Evaluation Questions

Scenario (fictious but plausible): Once again the folks responsible for the Professional Development Program in Distance Education have been reading those evaluations. Yes, learners are completing the program and the evaluations have been glowing but at what cost? A large number of have reported unbelievable levels of stress balancing work, family, community and the Certificate Program. Their health and their progress in the Certificate Program is suffering. Something must be done!

Analysis Phase

Context: Students completing the Professional Development Program in Distance Education (PDPDE) identify stress as a major factor impacting learning while in the certificate program. Evaluations report a high level of stress while trying to balance work, family, community and education pursuit. Further, health issues related to stress are such that progress in the program is suffering.

Identified Need: There is an identified need for the university to develop a learning module on stress management, as part of the student support services, offered to all learners. While stress is often most acute at the beginning of the program, learners at any point in the curriculum can experience stress and may need extra support. The department overseeing the PDPDE is noticing extended program plans for completion: students are not progressing on schedule and a high attrition rate. The student attrition impacts faculty retention, departmental budgeting, and program expansion to name a few areas.

The goal for this unit of instruction dealing with stress management relates to student needs and secondarily to the mission of the university which broadly identifies developing human resources as the overall broad goal. In essence to develop students to be all that they can be which in turn affects business and industry outside of institutional borders. Preparing students for competency includes learner support materials, which the institution has integrated into orientation for new and returning students. Content on managing stress is either missing or needs to be re-evaluated for quality and to ensure the material contains the most up to date information.

Learner Analysis: At any given time there are students in the two tracks of the program: a collaborative track and an individual track and cycles start at different times a year for each track. The demographic profile for all students in the PDPDE, include an average age spread from30-58. Sometimes referred to as the sandwich generation, key characteristics of this group include their busy lives which includes multiple responsibilities for family (immediate and extended), friends, and community, work, and now school. Educational background includes post secondary degrees ranging from associate to doctoral. Student’s professional work background includes experiences with teaching/learning either in private and public business, military (governmental) settings and/or educational institutions: secondary and post secondary which includes instructors, administrators, and technology resource personnel.

Students are motivated and understand the concept of stress although are not completely able to manage their own stress. Managing their stress will precipitate a cascading effect and enhance their overall feelings of accomplishment and potentially impact others around them.

Content and Task Analysis: Content on stress management needs to be sequenced in the following manner to make the best use of time. Students need to first develop a knowledge base, secondly apply their knowledge and thirdly synthesize their newly learned knowledge.

Objectives

The objectives of the module Stress Management 101 in the Professional Development Program in Distance Education (PDPDE) student support services curriculum follow. By the end of the module, each student will:


1. Define stress
2. Identify causes of stress
3. Develop a personal stress plan

Design/Development Phase

This section describe the key elements or principles of the five instructional components: preparation, persentation, participation, practice with feedback, and performance assessment.

Course Title:
Module Stress Management 101 in the Professional Development Program in Distance Education (PDPDE)

Learning Materials:
Teaching materials:

1. Stress Management and Emotional Wellness Links
2. Aging in the New Millennium: Managing the Role of Stress in Our Lives. Struggling with What It Is
3. Stress Management
4. Stress assessment:
   University Health Service, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
   BBC
   University of Pittsburgh
   Stress Quiz, 211 questions
5. More resources at John D Dingell VA Medical Center
6. Assorted Stress Quotes
7. Samples of personal stress plans:
   http://www.hr.duke.edu/sos/planning.html; http://www.twilightbridge.com/stress/complete/8actionplan.htm;

Student materials:

1. Stress Management and Emotional Wellness Links

Prerequisites:
Enrolled in one of the tracks of the Professional Development Program in Distance Education (PDPDE).

Overview of the Content:
Stress Management is a module that helps learners to understand that stress is a part of everyone's life and what they can do to ease or control the stress they might have while in the PDPDE program.

Design Decisions:

1. Instructional approach: suitable for collaborative learning and independent (self-paced) learning
2. Scale: large scale (hundreds of Professional Development Program in Distance Education (PDPDE) students)

Design/Development Phase - Teaching Strategies

1. 1. This is part of learner support services offered for all PDPDE students and not a core subject. Interactive media will be used to engage students in the module content.
2. 2. Learning activities will be created around real life situation cases that are relevant to learners.
3. 3. Discussion topics will provide opportunity for self reflection and networking between learners.
4. 4. Each student will conduct a stress assessment to determine their level of stress and identify their personal weakness.
5. 5. Instructor will listen and help learners to summarize a stress cycle chart so that learners can visualize the psychological consequence of stress. A learning activity might be for students to draw a stress cycle and indicate where they need to intervene for themselves. Instructor provides feedback or questions.
6. 6. Learners list their ways that they used to deal with stress while instructor leads to classify the items on the list and come to a conclusion of "relief (short term solution) vs. Management (long term solution)" and "react (biomechanical) vs. Respond (rational)". Instructor could play video of Dr. Stevens Kickman's lecture to explain these concepts. For self-paced learners they could find the link in resource listed below.
7. 7. Learners watch video, practice some tips for stress relief or management. Instructor provides feedback in discussion forum.
8. 8. During the course, instructor will ask students to complete a pre and post questionnaire to test their knowledge and collect data.
9. 9. Learners will submit their personal stress plan and give feedback to each other.
10. 10 Instructor will provide resources for further study.

Design/Development Phase - 5P Lesson Plan

Component One

Objective:
Each student will

1. 1. Define stress
2. 2. Identify causes of stress
3. 3. What is stress and where does it come from
4. 4. Signs of stress
5. 5. How people cope with their stress and stress cycle
6. 6. Stress reduction
7. 7. Stress prevention

Learning Activities:

1. 1. Complete a pre-module stress questionnaire.
2. 2. Watch the video and discuss onlne or write in journal (self paced track) will ask for self reflection and relevancy to the student: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7607932069553025423&q=stress
3. 3. Is it familiar to you?
4. 4. Have you ever felt stress?
5. 5. What are the sources of stress? Good and Bad.
6. 6. What happens when we can't cope with stress? Consequences long term.
7. 7. Complete the Stress assessment. (Stress Source Input Form)
8. 8. Discuss (or journal) hte chart below (created by Dr Stevens Kickman) and explain the consequences of stress to an individual. (Elements in the stress cycle are: External Stress - Internal Stress Events - "Fight-or-Flight" - Stress Reaction - Internal Reaction - Mental Adaptive Coping - Breakdown. The element in the right hand side is Mindfulness - Stress Response)

Design/Development Phase - 5P Lesson Plan

Component Two

Objective:
Learn strategies for managing stress

Activities:

1. 1. Question: How do you handle stress? Complete the Stress Strategies survey and discuss in your small group or journal if in the self paced trackhttp://www.umich.edu/~fasap/stresstips/72.html
2. 2. Review the stress management techniqueshttp://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TCS.htm
3. 3. Compile a list of stress strategies,
   1) Question: How many stress relievers do you know? Share with everyone. (Brainstorming. Categories: physical activity, nutrition, social support, relaxation, spirituality, positive thinking.)
   2) Feedback: Simple ways to deal with stress: Breath deeply, take a break to think and relax, exercise, work on a hobby, play an instrument, listen to music, laugh, and etc.
4. 4. Practice stress strategies:
5. watch the video and practice other stress relief techniques: Medical tips , Meditation, Yoga,
   1) Question: Does it work? (Relievers will work for a while but then the stress comes back.) What the different between react and Respond (Break the reactive response).
   2) Feedback: Effective ways to managing stress: Facing stress as it is and solve it, do not create all kinds of scenario in your mind and scare yourself; changing to an organized life style; avoiding high fat, sugar, caffeine, and salt; building social support system; improving communication skills; and etc.

Design/Development Phase - 5P Lesson Plan

Component Three

Objective:
Develop a personal stress management plan

Activities:

1. 1. Write up a personal stress plan:
   1) Describe at least two ways that you used to identify the cause of your stress.
   2) Identify one stressor and generate possible solutions to that problem.
   3) Evaluate the strength and weakness of each solution.
   4) Select 1-2 strategies and implement them for 4 weeks
   5) Write down what have you learned from the module: self reflection and application to daily life
   6) Post your stress plan and provide feedback to members in your group (collaborative track); email stress plan (self-paced track)
   
2. 2. Complete the post module stress questionnaire
3. 3. Complete the module survey
4. 4.Additional Resources:
   1) Aging in the New Millennium: Managing the Role of Stress in Our Lives. Struggling with What It Is, Dr. Stevens Kickman, 56 min.
   2) Yoga , 35 min.
   3) Psychological Self-help, Dr. John Grohol
   
5. 5. Performance assessment.

Evaluation Strategies

Formative evaluation strategies will be conducted prior to the release of the stress course and will consist of data collection, course analysis, and validation. Formative evaluation is a valuable tool that provides rapid feedback on the efficacy of the unit of instruction on stress management. Evaluation strategies, such as those listed below, will be used to assess the stress management course and provide information that could perhaps aid in improving and strengthening the design, content, and instructional delivery. Evaluation strategies will provide course, instructor, and student feedback include:

Instruction Evaluation Strategies:
Design Review – Expert courseware designers having content knowledge and experts in online instructional design will review the course content, adult learning theories, usability and prototype testing (storyboards, screen shots, beta testing, etc.) and university pedagogical goals to evaluate the course design. By doing so, sets the stage for continual course instructional design improvement.

Expert Review – Subject matter experts (SMEs) in the area of stress management will check the courseware validity, relevancy, and currency of the materials and provide their conclusions to the course developers prior to the course implementation.

Developmental Testing – The course will be validated using learners from the target population to work the material to determine:
1. If the course teaches what it is designed to teach
2. If the course reaches the intended audience
3. If the course actually prevent learner attrition
4. If the course actually teach students how to be happier while they complete the one-year certificate program, balance work, family, community, personal health, and educational pursuits
5. The effectiveness of the unit of instruction on stress management
6. Progress made towards the goal of the unit of instruction on stress management
7. Student attitudes and stress levels prior to the course and after taking the course
8. What generated the most stress for students and how the stress was handled
9. What generated the most stress for the faculty and how the stress was handled
10. If the course as designed helped both students and faculty to manage their stressors

Questioning and Classroom Discussion – The instructor can use questioning and classroom discussion to increase and expand students’ understanding and suggest strategies like:
1. Inviting students to discuss their thinking, in small groups, about a question or topic about stress and then sharing the results with the larger group.
2. Asking students to summarize what they believe to be the main points of a lecture, topic, or subject about stress.
3. Speaking to each student individually or in groups to determine stress factors in their personal lives.
4. Having students to write a paper about what they believe stress to be, how to manage it, and then discussing the idea with the entire class.
5. Questioning could be on what causes stress, what is the definition of stress, how does stress affect the student, or how to manage stress.
6. Classroom discussions could be on stress triggers, stress concerns, how tests might generate stress, what support services are available at the university to help students cope with stress, or the usefulness of the stress course.

Telephone Calls – Give students the opportunity to converse privately with their instructor and discuss whatever factors that maybe a stressor or potential stressor affecting their ability to learn, complete assignments, participate in class, or other matters. By providing this medium students will have a feeling that the instructor is more than a “talking head” or facilitator and that the instructor actually is there to help them to satisfy the course requirements and is willing to work with them. Let students know that phone calls are welcome.

Workshop Observations – At least two Workshop Observations will occur during the 8-week training timeframe to measure instructor stressors and management techniques. Workshop observations can be monitored via a review of documents collected (surveys, participation logs, number of sign-ins, or chat blogs) throughout the class period. Less participation may be a stress indicator while higher number of sign-in may be the opposite.

Electronic Mail – E-mail is a very useful strategy for instructor to use to converse about anything to include stress. Not only can email be used to make course assignments but instructors can have students to share his/her feelings or on-going concerns about stress within their lives or about the course itself.

Checklist of Course Lesson Strategies – Instructor asks the students which lessons were effective and which were not. Students are asked to provide suggestions on how the unit of instruction on stress can be improved. This survey helps the faculty to determine which lessons are vital for students and which are viewed as unnecessary and can be eliminated.

Instructor Surveys – Surveys will be given to instructor to determine if instructors are receiving the necessary training they need to teach the stress course to the students.

Student Evaluation Strategies:
Workshop Observations – At least two Workshop Observations will occur during the 8-week training timeframe to measure student stressors and management techniques. Workshop observations can be monitored via a review of documents collected (surveys, participation logs, number of sign-ins, or chat blogs) throughout the class period. Less participation may be a stress indicator while higher number of sign-in may be the opposite.

Student Surveys – Surveys will be given to students to determine if students received the necessary training needed to meet the course objectives.

Teaching Circles – Groups of students from within the same classes or throughout the university will get together either via webcam or chat room at least once a week to discuss or collaborate on their week, particular events that triggered stress, how they handled the situation, how the stress course helped them to combat or resolve the stressful situation, outcomes, and lessons learned.

Self-Evaluation – Self-evaluations is useful in providing a record of teaching goals, techniques, innovations, as well as outcomes. Have students to maintain a portfolio of their stressors. By doing so, it will provide a clear visual of the students’ stressors; identify stress triggers, what the student did to fix the stressors, and how often the stressors took place. The portfolio becomes a reflective analysis of the students’ stress, control strategies, and it act also as a file for students to post and have at hand lessons learned and resulting outcomes.

Threaded Discussions – Threaded discussions will enable students to chat to each other about videos showed in the class, effects of stress, stress management techniques, and other subject matter materials dealing with stress. Students can share information with their cohorts, work as groups/teams to complete projects on the subject of stress.

Checklist – Students will be given a checklist which will be useful for faculty to determine if the unit of instruction on stress management meet its intended learning objective and determine if students believe the unit of instruction is useful and helpful or should be continued or eliminated.

Questionnaire – The questionnaire will be computer generated so that students can return it promptly. It will ask specific questions about the unit of instruction on stress management and allow students to provide suggestions for improvement or otherwise.

Check on Learning – students will be asked to maintain a portfolio to identify, measure, and select techniques to rid or reduce stress within their life.

Field Trials – The field trails are evaluated to assess the field’s usability and functionality of the unit of instruction of stress management but to also assess the results of the field trial prior to full implementation of the unit of instruction.

List of Formative Evaluation Questions

Design/Content:
1. What is the need for the instruction?
2. Is course designed to meet its intended instructional goal?
3. Who are the learners or target audience?
4. What are the learning objectives?
5. Is the learning objective(s) clearly stated?
6. Is the lesson content related to the stated objective?
7. Will assessment gauge learning objectives?
8. Are objectives in proper sequencing to aid learner’s completion?
9. Does the course, as designed, require additional objectives?
10. What, if any, objectives have no relevancy and should be removed?
11. What is the need for the instruction?
12. Are objectives in proper sequencing to aid learner’s completion?
13. Does the course, as designed, require additional objectives?
14. What, if any, objectives have no relevancy and should be removed?
15. How are the tasks, skills, and content organized?
16. Is the course content current?
17. Do some tasks take longer than expected?
18. What are those tasks and are they relevant to the course?
19. Can the tasks that take a long time to complete, and adds no value, be removed from the unit of instruction?
20. Do learners find some tasks especially difficult?
21. Is there sufficient online help for students?
22. What changes would learners like to see?
23. What changes would faculty like to see?
24. What concerns/issues do learners have?
25. What concerns/issues does faculty have?
26. Is there ample transition between learning objects, topics, etc.?
27. Is the instructional material too difficult for students’ to comprehend?
28. What is the completion rate of the unit of instruction?
29. Is there adequate variety or interaction in the material to make it interesting to the student?
30. Did the instructional strategies support the content?

Technology:
1. Will learners need a wizard (intelligent agent) to guide them through the unit of instruction?
2. Do all students have access to technology to aid them in completing the self-paced training module?

Assessment/Feedback:
1. What type(s) of assessment will be used to examine learning objectives?
3. Does the unit provide students an opportunity to test their subject mastery skills?
4. Does the unit provide ample checks on learning opportunities?
5. Is feedback provided to students for the practice/checks on learning?
6. What tool(s) is used to measure attrition rates?
7. What tool(s) is used to measure student stress levels before and after the completing the unit of instruction?
8. What tool(s) is used to examine how well students are managing their stress levels after completing the unit of instruction on stress?
9. Is there ample check on learning (interactivity) built into the training module?
10. How will students measure the effectiveness of the training module?
11. How will learner happiness in regards to balance of work, family, community, personal health, and educational pursuits be measured?
12. How was the learning gap analyzed?