As I mentioned in previous blogs we have gone through major
revisions of our ESI Learning courses to take advantage of the distance learning
format. After working all summer, we
decided to conduct a pilot of our new Piping Systems Fundamentals course and
had nearly 60 people participate.
After reviewing the feedback from the pilot participants, we
learned a tremendous amount on how to best use this exciting new means of
distance learning. We received plenty of
kudos as to the value of the course, as well as learned a lot on adult
learning, attendee involvement, and the training tools. I would like to share with you some of the
lessons learned:
1.
Be very familiar with your distance learning
software tools
2.
Don’t make major changes right before the course
3.
As individuals, we use many senses to learn
4.
As an instructor, teaching blended classes and
engaging students can be challenging
Developing one of these courses is a team effort; two months
prior to the pilot start date Delcina joined us at Engineered Software as our Director
of Marketing. With a wealth of
experience in building training programs for technology companies she was quickly
brought into the project. If it were not
for her efforts, the course would not have been as engaging and the number of
pilot participants would not have been as large.
One recurring comment we had about our Instructor Led Training
Classes was that we had a lack of example problems. In the past we simply
didn’t develop that many. With the self-paced
distance learning, we created practical examples for each topic, providing the
opportunity for attendees to apply their knowledge to real world scenarios. The more our team talked about these examples
the more we wanted them to mirror a college fluids lab. Before you know it, we had developed a PIPE-FLO®
simulation program for use with the course.
The fun part was creating problems to work out by hand, with examples
for people to visualize what happens in a system with variations in tank
levels, as well as troubleshoot the operation of pump and control valves.
Additionally, quizzes provide another learning opportunity. Which
for adult learning help reinforce subject matter. The first group of questions
we developed were simple calculations.
We then started looking at the process of solving an equation and then
identified steps that were more complicated.
For example, if the density of water was used in a calculation instead of
the prescribed density of the process fluid, a result would be calculated and if
the person entered that value they would get partial credit and an idea as to
what they did wrong. Furthermore, each
question provides feedback on the correct answer and how it is arrived at.
A disadvantage of any distance learning class is the inability
of the attendee to ask questions. To
overcome this limitation we created forums where attendees could post questions
and comments. We also scheduled “Office Hours” in which the instructor led a
weekly WebEx presentation where we discussed any questions the attendees wanted
covered. Approximately 1/3 of the
students attended the Office Hours sessions.
The number of questions asked was surprisingly small, but I knew from
conducting a number of Instructor Led Courses in front of a live audience they
always had questions on how to read a pump curve. I decided to use the extra time in the
Office Hours to go over the topic of How to Read a Pump Curve live. The presentation was well received and resulted
in a lively discussion. As a result of
the positive feedback we decided to continue the Office Hours each week, along
with covering a Critical Topic and a Q&A session on any question dealing
with the course.
During the four weeks of the class we conducted Critical Topics
on Reading Pump Curves, a Piping Head Loss Sensitivity study, Control Valve
Operation, and Building a Pump System Curve.
These Critical Topics were well received and have since become an
integral part of our “Blended” course.
Now for the dirty little secrets, since we were developing
the Labs and Quizzes right before the topic was released we didn’t have the
opportunity to review the content. I
would like to send out a special thank you to Pedro, Charles, Andrew, Angel,
Andrea, Maria, Deborah, and Charles who pointed out our errors and points of
confusion.
The final survey results were extremely positive with over
95% of the attendees saying they would recommend this course to others. They’re all looking forward to the
development of new courses.
For the remainder of the year we are incorporating many of
the suggestions you gave us, such as improving the learning value of the Labs
and Quizzes. We are also incorporating a
variety of back office improvements that will make it easier for students to
register for our courses and streamline the delivery of the course material.
Rumor around the office is that our marketing department is
already working on a Flo-Master blended e-learning course to launch sometime in
the second quarter of 2015. Keep an eye on our newsletter to stay updated.
Looking forward to seeing you in an upcoming course.
Ray Hardee
Back to ESI News Brief
We really agree with your words
ReplyDelete//////////quizzes provide another learning opportunity. Which for adult learning help reinforce subject matter////////////////
Great article from your life experience. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your feedback. Our goal at ESI is to develop more educational products with hands on labs and quizzes to assist in learning. Do you find this useful?
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