Assignment 2 – Part 1
Assignment 2 – Recommendations for Design
Selected Course: Impact of Drugs & Alcohol
Outline of Context (Fictional)
The context is based on my workplace at a mobile phone store where my company enforces a strict zero tolerance policy on employees working under the effects of drugs and/or alcohol. It has been reported to me by my manager that there have been a few incidents in the past few weeks relating to some employees arriving at work with a degree of alcoholic intoxication. As a result, the company has decided to seek my consultation in developing an online e-learning course that will be effective in educating the company’s employees on the impacts of drugs and alcohol in the workplace.
Theories & Application
This report will examine how certain learning theories and multimedia principles can be applied to the e-learning course and provide recommendations on the best technologies, which can be used to support and enhance a learner’s experience.
At the end of the e-learning course, the learners (employees of the company) will be able to:
· Describe the effects of prolonged alcohol and/or drug use
· Identify the consequences of alcohol and/or drug abuse
· Explain effective strategies for helping individuals in overcoming their alcohol and/or drug abuse
· Demonstrate the correct procedures in monitoring, handling and reporting an individual suspected of alcohol and/or drug abuse
Part of the e-learning course will apply a humanist approach. A humanist approach “emphasise the individual’s innate need to achieve personal worth, dignity and creativity and believe a better society will evolve by nurturing these qualities” (e-Learning Design 2008, p. 6). The reason this approach was chosen is because this will allow learners to draw deeper and more meaningful connections between drug/alcohol abuse and the wider implications on the individual and society. Humanists such as Abraham Maslow placed emphasis on the motivation of an individual through basic needs and self actualisation (Wikipedia 2008).
As such, the topic itself when integrated with certain technologies can potentially help an individual achieve self-actualisation during the process of learning. One such technology to be integrated into this course is the use of a video sharing site such as YouTube, which could be used by learners to truly see and understand from a drug/alcohol abuser’s perspective. In order to help individuals overcome drug/alcohol abuse, the e-learning course would guide learners in understanding the behaviours leading to these abuses. A college in the USA has even offered a course where learning takes place from watching and inviting critique from YouTube videos (Arrington 2007).
As presented in an interview with one of the teachers leading the above Youtube course, there are several advantages to integrating say for example, a video on the harm of drug abuse, the same way as government television advertisements for not smoking and drinking under influence (Jenkins 2008). One of these is the ability for Youtube to allow its viewers to share comments and/or opinions on the video itself, which allows learners a chance to create personal meanings when they watch the videos.
However, at the same time, the e-learning course will also utilise a behaviourist approach to ensure all learners absolutely understand the implications of drug/alcohol abuse and follow company policies and procedures relating to this topic. Electronic word documents with short open-ended answer questions will be provided at the end of each module to test learners on what is correct and what is not in regards to the use of drug/alcohol in the workplace. As Wortham (2007) describes it, many educators will continually provide reinforcement to a learner in order to achieve certain goals on a step by step basis.
The e-learning course itself will be created based on a virtual world environment and in this instance, it will be Second Life. Forterra Systems (2008) highlights the benefit of being able to use virtual role-plays to develop drug refusal skills. The important link is between using role plays to reinforce learners in responding with the desired actions in relations to the modules, which covers various aspects of drugs and alcohol.
The advantage of creating a course based in a virtual world is also being able to provide learners with a large environment to personally explore and establish personal meaning to the topic it is being developed for. Multimedia including still graphics, photos and YouTube videos with information all relating to drugs and alcohol can be used to provide information for the learner to dissect for themselves.
The course will be based on four modules, each module addressing the four learning objectives mentioned at the beginning of this report. At the end of each module will be a short answer questionnaire with roughly 10 questions provided to students in an electronic word document format to fill out and return to the training officer at the end of the course. However, the last learning objective (demonstrating correct procedures) will be based on a virtual role play between the learner and the trainer.
Below is a storyboard, which reflects the learning theories and integrated technologies reflective of the context of this e-learning course.
e-Learning Course: Second Life – Alcohol & Drugs in the Workplace
Description of Storyboard
Firstly, learners will enter Second Life through the program and teleport to a specific location where the course content/objects are located. Upon arriving at this location, learners will be given a pop-up message explaining the objectives of this course.
Guided Tour
Afterwards, the trainer will communicate to the learners via in-game chat messaging to follow him/her around so that the trainer can introduce some of the interactive objects and information, which are around the course area.
Photos/Pictures/Diagrams
An example would be a large advertisement sized picture of the internal bodily damage, which can be caused by drugs and/or alcohol and how the body helps break down these substances.
Fact Sheets and Textual Information
Likewise, there will be presentation power-point like objects with important information relevant to the module. These will also be what the students may use to help answer the short answer question sheet. Much like how a school excursion visiting the museum would be like – collecting information, applying personal meaning to it (humanist approach) and also at the same time, having a teacher ensure that a certain response is given (behaviorist approach – because the learner must answer the question sheet correctly)
Youtube Videos
These youtube videos may for example, contain videos of drug users and their views and experience on overcoming abuse and/or addiction.
Short Answer Question Sheet
This will consist of 10 questions and will be handed out electronically via e-mail for participants to fill out and return to the trainer by a certain due date after completing the course.
Once the guided tour has been provided, the trainer will give the learners a certain amount of time to complete the short answer questions by providing learners the freedom to refer back to the informative objects to answer the questions. Afterwards, the trainer will move the learners along to the next module and a similar process unfolds until the 4th module.
Role Plays
For the 4th (last) module, learners with their Second Life characters will have to complete a role play of being able to demonstrate the correct procedures in relations to drugs and alcohol. The learner may use their character to communicate via chat messaging to the trainer who will play the role of a co-worker under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
References
Arrington, M., 2007, WTF: Pitzer College Offers “Learning From YouTube” Class, TechCrunch, viewed 5th June 2008, http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/14/pitzer-college-offers-youtube-class/
e-Learning Design 013967 Autumn 2008, Activity 2.2 in Behaviourist Approach in eL Design Activity Guide Mod2 2008, University of Technology, Sydney: Education, p. 6
Forterra Systems Inc. 2008. Greenleaf Pioneers Virtual Worlds Behavioral Therapy: Troubled Kids & Computer Games: Using Virtual Worlds for Successful Behavioral Therapy. Viewed 5th June 2008, http://www.forterrainc.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=47%3E%3C/span%3E%3Cspan
Jenkins, H. 2008, Learning From YouTube: An Interview with Alex Juhasz (Part One), Confessions of an Aca-fan: The Blog of Henry Jenkins, viewed 5th June 2008, http://www.henryjenkins.org/2008/02/learning_from_youtube_an_inter.html
Wikipedia 2008, Humanistic Psychology, Wikipedia, viewed 5th June 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanistic_psychology
Wortham, S., 2007, Theories of Learning: Behaviourism in Elliot Masie’s Learning 2007, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, viewed 5th June 2008, http://www.learning2007.com/p7/stanton-wortham-behaviorism.pdf
