Evaluating Effective Communication

This week’s assignment is about communicating effectively in the work place. I am reviewing a multimedia program “The Art of Effective Communication” in this video the same message is delivered in three modalities: text, audio, and as a video. I will evaluate how I interpret each version of the message and the factors that influenced me.


TEXT: As I read the message I thought it was to wordy and lacked professionalism. The apologetic nature could be perceived with various voices depending on the mood of the reader. The indirect nature of the email annoyed me and telling me that my part impacted there part of project was offensive in this format. I felt as if the person were telling me I was not doing job and that I needed to get on the ball and indicated I might not do my job. The line that stated “I might miss my deadline if I don’t get your report soon” was offensive in email.

AUDIO: In the voice mail it was better but still hard to tell if the person was truly sincere or if she was trying to be polite. I still thought the request was wordy in the voicemail and would have annoyed me had I received it. This time the line “Because your report contains data I need to finish my report” seemed unnecessary in a voicemail.

Video of Face-to-Face: When the same message was delivered face-to-face the inflection of Jane’s voice was very different in person than on the voicemail. In the video Jane used a positive body language that was casual and non-confrontational. She maintained appropriate eye contact and gave a pleasing smile at key points in the conversation. Though what was said seemed lengthy in an email and voicemail it was appropriate for face-to-face communication.

I have learned in this scenario that effective communication is all about conveying your message to others clearly and unambiguously. It is also about receiving information that others are sending to you without distorting the message as much as possible. Communication is only successful when both the sender and receiver understand the same information.

Despite the need for effective communication skills many individuals continue to struggle unable to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively. This makes it nearly impossible for them to compete in workplace and stands in the way of career progression.

References:


Ertmer, P., & Quinn, J. (Eds). (2007). The ID casebook: Case studies in instructional design (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., & Sutton, M. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

The first project I ever worked on with a team in design still lingers in my mind. I was on a team of four, two artist combined with two designers building a sales ad. I had to work closely with one of the artist to build the storyboard design for the team concept. Though it was saluted as a successful project in retrospect as I look over the 15 year old storyboard it was rudimentary at best. We worked within the confines of our software and training and built the storyboard strictly by hand. We followed the concept, technical requirements, and script designed by the team. My contribution was to assure that technically what the artist rendered we could reproduce with the software and technology we had available.


My larger task grew to keeping the artist on task and on schedule. He was very precise and deliberate in his graphic style and was taking excessive time with each cell of the storyboard. He was not realizing that the storyboard is a concept piece not the entire project and can have rough drawings with informative text. If I were to redo this project today I would use storyboarding software and collaboration software to communicate with the other designers on the team. I recall we had communication issues due to schedule conflicts. Software such as SKYPE would have allowed us all to meet without everyone having to be in the same room. Designating a team project manager would have also benefitted each member in defining our roles and duties to the group. The project if redone today given the knowledge I have gained as a designer, technology improves, and software advances would be easier to produce and take a fraction of the time to create.

References:
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Project management triangle. (2010, June 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Project_management_triangle&oldid=368175262.
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

15 Essential steps of IT project management - Digital Perspectives

I found a great article that discusses the “15 Essential steps of IT project management - Digital Perspectives”. The article is from Healthcare Financial Management, Feb,2002, by David Hefner, Christine Malcolm. I have summarized the article here and provided a link:


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_2_56/ai_83044084/

1. Thoroughly evaluate project feasibility.

2. Clarify the project objectives and scope.

3. Make a single sponsor accountable for project success.

4. Appoint a full-time project manager one individual should oversee the day-to-day management, execution, and deliver of the project.

5. Establish a project-management team that can exercise real authority.

6. Create a detailed project plan.

7. Secure committed staff resources.

8. Obtain commitments from vendors and suppliers.

9. Divide project into manageable segments to reduce complexity.

10. Establish clear performance measures and report progress regularly to assess project performance, a specific set of performance indicators should be identified.

11. Take decisive, corrective action sooner rather than later resolve any performance variances quickly and decisively

12. Establish and manage a formal change-control mechanism.

13. Proactively manage a risk.

14. Develop a communication program to promote organization wide acceptance of the program.

15. Celebrate successes, at each milestone to foster team coherence.



Resources:

Hefner, David; "15 Essential steps of IT project management - Digital Perspectives". Healthcare Financial Management. FindArticles.com. 07 Nov, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_2_56/ai_83044084/

Reflection on Distance Learning

George Siemens explains in this week’s video, the acceptance of distance education by society as a whole is due to the increase in online communication, practical experience with new tools, growing comfort with online discourse, and the ability to communicate with diverse and global groups (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.b.). The notion of distance is not the same as it was a few years ago due to the new technology we are realizing that we can now participate in conversations globally. Education has become a global interactive option for corporations and education. As new technologies have improved educational options are growing in the online environment.


My perceptions of distance learning are constantly evolving as my knowledge of interactive media expands. The views I had of how could I implement a course and fill it with interactive stimulating options for my learner’s changes on a weekly basis. We are asked to look at the future of online education 10-20 years from now and I see a future where online education is the norm and face-to-face becomes the antiquated form public education still uses. Online education will is becoming a highly sought out form of education for adult learners in various fields. I foresee both private and public institutions utilizing online learning to save time, money, and expand their reach.

As a designer it is important to be a proponent for improving the perceptions of distance learning. As such an advocate I will continue to build my own knowledge of available educational solutions through collaboration, education, and research. I will offer peers support and guidance in learning how to utilize new tools and technologies and long with accepting support and guidance. My personal technology blog and website will be building blocks to aide in my development of larger projects as I start my career.

Working as a positive force in the field of distance education involves continuous personal growth and skill develop in the field of Instructional Design Technology. I will need to offer support, guidance and training backed by research and practical practice in the field. To be a true leader I will need to join groups, utilize new skills, and actively work to spread the knowledge that Online Learning and Instructional Design open the door to education that might other be closed to many learners.



Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.b.). The future of distance education [Multimedia]. Distance Learning. Retrieved from Week eight resources.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.c.). Theory and distance learning [Multimedia]. Distance Learning. Retrieved from Week Two resources.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

e-Learning Project Management

E-learning: How to deliver an engaging Virtual Classroom presentation