Archives February 2020

Original post date on online education, June 2018

Whether you are a student or faculty member, you may be starting to consider taking or teaching an online course. Online education seems to be the trend in education, especially higher education, but it is filtering down to the K-12 environment as well. Online education is here to stay!

The move to online education

What are the drivers of this trend? In my opinion, the biggest driver was initially financial. As more and more schools are increasing their number of online courses and technology is catching up, other schools are seeing the benefit and feeling the pressure to add their own as well. Whether it is massive open online courses (MOOC) or full graduate degrees, learners have more options than ever before.

According to Allen and Seaman (2016), in 2014, there were 5.8 million distance education students with 2.85 million taking all of their coursework in a distance learning format. Approximately 70% of leaders of public institutions feel that investing in online education is critical to their strategic plan. You may ask, how do faculty feel about the value of online coursework? Allen and Seaman (2016) report that about 30% of faculty accept the importance of online education and feel it is a legitimate form of education, approximately 55-60% are neutral, and nearly 15% disagree with it being a legitimate form of education.

So, what makes a course online?

Traditional course                     No online content
Web Facilitated Course             1-29% online
Blended or Hybrid Course       30-79% online
Fully Online                                 80% or more

Do faculty like online education?

When talking with faculty members, you notice that, whether positive or negative, their opinion on online education is strong. As a faculty member who has taught online courses and as an M.B.A student who has recently completed an online program, I have some thoughts on why? There is such a wide range of teaching methods for online courses. Some courses are merely voice-over-PowerPoint with a 10-question set of recall questions at the end of each unit. Students in these courses quickly learn what they need to do to find the answers to the recall questions. There is little to no conversation between students or between students and faculty. Students achieve their desired grade after learning the requisite amount of work required and get little from the class. After the initial setup time, the course can run on autopilot semester after semester, with no faculty involvement.

On the other end of the spectrum are courses set up to take full advantage of the technology and the expertise of the faculty. These courses have required reading and perhaps voice-over lecture PowerPoints, but these are merely to provide the background for the rest of the course. The bulk of the course is made up of writing assignments, discussion boards, case studies, and required online class meetings where students and faculty discuss the content and ensure understanding.

Many students have commented that the online environment makes them more comfortable talking and providing their opinion and perspective than a traditional course would. Instead of a 10 question recall question, full use of technology is used to make sure that a fair assessment is provided that assesses critical thinking skills and understanding of the content instead of the ability to look up an answer—more on technology and assessment in a later post.

Should you take an online class?

Should you take an online course? If you are unsure, try one of the MOOCs first, such as the ones offered by EdX and Coursera. These massive courses will give you an idea of whether an online format will work for you at little to no cost. With the number of students involved, be aware that there may be little faculty involvement and that the majority of the discussion and help with the content will come from your fellow learners.

If you like the format and you find you are motivated to stay on top of the content, then online learning may be for you. As you look for courses, pay particular attention to whether there are required meeting times, a discussion board with faculty involvement, writing assignments, and a description of the testing method. The testing method should show the faculty is aware of the pitfalls of testing online and has made an effort to make sure the tests are as fair as possible.

Are you ready to move your courses online?

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Online classes are on the rise, and with them comes the need to assess learners. Instructors have told me that frequently online courses are added to their face-to-face workload, and some say they do not get paid as much for online classes as they do for face-to-face. How do they maintain a fair and equitable testing environment without an exponential increase in workload? Should online courses pay less than face-to-face? Should there be a cap on the number of learners in an online class? How do you prevent cheating in an online class? These are questions many faculty ask when making a move to online courses.

More cheating in online classes?

Several studies have been done to evaluate whether there is increased cheating in online courses versus traditional courses, and so far, the evidence is promising that there is not. Some of these studies are based on self-report. (StuberMcEwen, Etter, Cramer, & Finn, 2007; Watson & Sottile, 2010) and some are based on analyzing the difference in test scores between proctored and unproctored tests. (Ladyshewsky, 2015). However, historically informal surveys of students questioned on cheating have found that that the incidence of cheating may be higher than expected (Corrigan-Gibbs et al., 2015).

What is cheating?

Why? I think in large part it is due to the definition of cheating. In today’s classroom, gone are the days of learning exclusively from lectures and textbooks. Students work in groups and are encouraged to collaborate in answering questions. They are encouraged to use all resources, including online, to find answers to their questions. Savvy instructors are aware that almost all textbook test banks can be found online and have moved to more case studies and essay questions for assessment to combat cheating. In a traditional classroom, collaborative work, followed by an individual essay or short answer assessment, will effectively test personal knowledge, but what about in the online environment?

The issues

The first issue in online testing is who is taking the test? Without any protective mechanisms in place, learners can easily share their username and password with someone else and have them take a test for them. How can you decrease the probability of this? Already available is proctoring software such as Respondus LockDown Browser. The instructor can have the test settings activated for both audio and video monitoring. Instructors can have learners show identification to their webcam,  submit a picture, then pan their environment with a camera, and keep the camera on for the duration of the test. Once the test begins, the webcam is hidden, and the learner frequently forgets that it is even present.

A newer technology in the works for maintaining the integrity of the online testing environment is keystroke monitoring. We all hit the keys on a keyboard at different paces and intensities. Monitoring this could likely identify whether someone other than the intended learner took the test. Both options bring up privacy concerns.

What is considered cheating?

As mentioned above, the definition of cheating can also be an issue, and instructors need to be very clear on what they consider cheating. Most list no collaborative work in their instructions, but what about the use of textbooks and notes? Using a lockdown browser implies that electronic resources are prohibited, but most students have a phone they could use to look up answers even when there is a lockdown browser. The lockdown browser prevents copying and pasting, but not looking up content.

One way an instructor could limit this without increasing their workload is to restrict the amount of time taking the test. Making it impossible to have enough time to look up content and complete the test could mitigate this problem. One recent class I took used this technique. Forty seconds were allotted for each question. Many students complained, but many others found it very effective. The instructor even provided research justifying his time limits using the reading speed of average students. 

One of the more definitive recent studies was done by Alessio, Malay, Mauer, Bailer, and Rubin in Online Learning (2017) in which the authors compared test scores and time to complete a test by students proctored by Respondus Lockdown Browser and those who were not proctored. Their results demonstrated a 14-20 point difference in average scores based on whether or not the tests were proctored. Besides the statistically significant grade spread, the authors found that students taking an unproctored test took significantly longer to complete the test.

What can an instructor do?

So, what can an instructor do? First, instead of copying the academic integrity policy into the syllabus, write a policy that pertains to your specific class. Saying that usage of an “unauthorized source” is prohibited is not helpful in this environment. If online sources, textbooks, or notes are or are not allowed, then specify this directly. Most students assume exams and quizzes are not group work, but some have been told they are “allowed to work together as long as they submit their own work.” What does this mean?

Be proactive in monitoring with a lockdown browser that requires the use of a webcam and showing identification. A lockdown browser alone is not sufficient when most learners have more than one piece of technology available. Write test questions that require critical thinking and interpretation, not recall information that can be searched for online. If all else fails, stipulate in your syllabus that the midterm and final need to be taken in a proctored room in a testing center or a university.

Do you need help with online testing?

We can discuss your assessment goals and make a plan.

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One concern about the use of online classes is the lack of direct conversation in an online environment. Students learn by testing and defending their ideas. In an online course, if there is no forum to present and defend your ideas, how will you know if your understandings are accurate, and how will you know what you do not know? There are two avenues for discussion that have been used in online courses; the first is discussion boards, and the second is scheduled meetings in an online environment.

The Discussion Board for Online Conversation

In a discussion board, the instructor posts an assignment or a question to encourage conversation. Students are expected to respond to the subject or post their assignments to elicit feedback. Frequently, there are guidelines as to how many posts or replies each student must make to other students, the length of the post, and even specific points that need to be made. In my personal experience, the discussion board sounds like a great idea, but without instructor presence and participation, it frequently fizzles out. Students write thoughtful posts initially, but quickly learn to do the minimum requirement if there is no instructor presence and especially if the motivator to participate is points or a grade. Scanning multiple students’ online classes shows that the vast majority of them do not read the online posts, even if they are in reply to something that they have posted. In one of my current classes, the instructor set up a discussion board for each chapter to encourage student interaction and to facilitate asking questions. So far, with two weeks left in the course, there have been a total of two posts.

A Discussion Board that encourages conversation

There are some very effective uses of discussion boards. The easiest of which is a forum to answer student questions, either by other students or by the instructors. In the graduate school where I worked, discussion boards were used in most of the classes. The students still participate in classes, but as they are active learning classes without lectures, the students frequently will have questions while reading the preparatory content and after the discussion in class. By having the students post a title on their discussion post and having a strong instructor presence, the discussion board has been used very effectively to answer student questions and encourage participation. One reason that this discussion board is working so well is that there is an active instructor presence and students receive timely answers to their questions. Some may argue that this type of discussion board is merely online office hours and does not encourage active thinking, answering questions, and defending an argument.

And one that doesn’t

The second type of discussion board is trickier to implement successfully. This type of discussion board requires students to post short answers or essay answers to questions and then respond to each other’s responses. Adult learning theory states that learners must be motivated by a desire to understand instead of a desire to earn points, but getting a student to respond to a discussion post without some benefit is tricky. An active instructor presence is required as well as transmission of information that the student clearly values.

Anonymous responses?

Should the online discussion board allow anonymous responses? The benefit of anonymous responses is that the students may feel more comfortable responding and therefore increase conversation. The drawback would be that allowing anonymous responses may allow some students to use the discussion board to make comments that they would not make in person.

Confidential responses would enable the poster to be anonymous to fellow students, but not to the instructor. I am not sure this would serve the intended purpose. A possible way to mitigate some drawbacks of anonymous responses is to set clear boundaries early in the class. I would advise being very specific about what is and is not appropriate. Generational differences and the current generation’s comfort level with the online environment and sharing may lead to different understandings of an “appropriate” post.

Tone

Everyone has probably experienced the misreading of tone and intent in emails. In the written online environment, sarcasm and joking may be misinterpreted and be a turnoff to students. An instructor may think they are being funny and trying to make the student feel more comfortable, but, in actuality, the student was asking a simple question and no longer feels comfortable doing so in the future.

The Future

The best users of a discussion board are learners who are self-driven and inquisitive. Learners who are seeking to understand the content and not merely working to see how many points they can accumulate. These learners must be comfortable in a social environment that encourages interaction and is non-hierarchal. They must feel strongly that knowledge is constructed and requires the input of all, not instructor driven with the learner’s role being a recipient of information. As more and more classrooms move to active learning and a flipped classroom style, I wonder if we will see more effective use of the discussion board in the online classroom.

Is it possible to replicate the traditional classroom experience in a virtual setting? In my opinion, it depends on who is teaching the course. I have been in several online classes that had a required synchronous online classroom setting in addition to the asynchronous portion of the class. All students sign into the learning management system to access the virtual classroom using either a link from the instructor or accessing a previously set up classroom at a given time and date. As the student logs in, his/her attendance is noted, and he/she is frequently given access to a chat feature and a microphone that the instructor can mute if desired. The instructor can utilize a virtual whiteboard and PowerPoint in the same way that it can be used in the traditional classroom. In addition, the instructor can share his/her desktop as well as search and display websites. Finally, there are break-out rooms where small group discussions can take place. Each break out room has audio, chat, and whiteboard capability.

Having these features is necessary if the goal is to replicate the traditional classroom experience, but I found that using the whiteboard too awkward and time-consuming to be of value. Unlike in a traditional classroom where students can have side discussions while waiting for the next assignment to be prepared, in an online class, distractions are plentiful, and it is easy to lose focus and difficult to return to the discussion.

The range of style in a virtual classroom

As far as the skillful use of the virtual classroom by the instructor, it has varied from straight lecture to full discussion. In the straight lecture class, there were occasional small group discussions, but they felt more like interruptions than of added value to the class. I found that the classes taught in this style dragged on forever.

The temptation to do other work and only half-listen were strong. At the other end of the spectrum was an instructor who assigned somewhat complicated case studies that required financial analysis on a biweekly basis.  These case studies were due before class started. This style required constant student attention and focus. The depth of these discussions was greater than in any traditional class that I have attended. The online setting made you feel that it was a discussion between you and the instructor. In addition, I think that students who may not be comfortable speaking up in a traditional classroom felt more comfortable doing so in a virtual setting.  More information on discussion boards is provided here.

Voice over PowerPoint

Many instructors do voice-over PowerPoint to provide the lecture component of a class. As someone who has a preference for audio delivery of content, I appreciate that it is provided, but feel that the discussion component to an online class is what makes it on par or better than a course taught in a traditional classroom. 

After completing a course where all lectures were delivered in a voice-over PowerPoint format, I really missed the ability to interact with the instructor, hear his stories, listen for emphasis on topics, and get explanations when needed. Perhaps if instructors were paid the same for teaching online classes as traditional, there would be more instructor involvement in these courses.

Gamification or the use of game elements to teach a concept was only accessible to hard-core coders in the not too distant past. Everyone else could have the imagination and the desire, but with no ability to write code, their creativity was as far as the games could get. Now anyone with a desire to learn can use online code snippets and access videos on how to code. In addition, software like Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate makes it possible for all e-learning developers to develop interactive games. With all these possibilities and an explosive trend to move from traditional to online learning, gamification is a hot topic for discussion. According to Deterding et al. (2011), we saw the first use of gamification in education in 2008 and became more widespread in 2010. However, the use of badges and levels has been around much longer. Gamification is becoming more and more prevalent in the business world and is frequently used to encourage wellness initiatives. The rapid feedback provided by games provides powerful encouragement for learners to make small changes in their behavior.

The Pros of Gamification

Gamification can make learning fun. It is interactive and can motivate even the most resistant learner to try it. Trying to win can motivate a learner to engage again and again with the material. Research has demonstrated that active learning and spaced recall are necessary for retention. Playing games provides an excellent media for both. Gamification can encourage problem-solving and can encourage communication skills and team-building. In a classroom, the implementation of gamification can be difficult because of the different developmental levels of the students. However, games can be developed that make it possible for learners at all levels to participate. On the other hand, some students may be able to master the content quickly and be distracting to other students. Besides, even with all the demonstrated benefits of gamification, it can be challenging to get parental and administrative buy-in that they are an effective use of classroom time.

The Cons of Gamification

On the negative side, games are expensive to develop, and typically only a small portion of the relevant content can be included in a single game scene. In today’s society, everything is fast-moving and pervasive. Students are accustomed to immediate access to information and feedback. Some learners with their greater experience with technology may be innately more successful with the games, even if their knowledge base is weaker than less technologically savvy students. The latter cannot demonstrate their knowledge as quickly in a game format. Competitions may encourage participation, but could also lead to divisiveness in the classroom. Care must be taken to promote collaboration and teamwork. The attainment of badges and “leveling up” motivates students, but is this what we want them to be striving for? Will we lose the desire to learn for learning’s sake?

Do we have a choice anymore?

Millennials and Generation Y students are so accustomed to the pervasiveness of technology that the slow-moving classroom may be a culture shock that feels intolerable to learn in. Are we adapting the class to fit the needs of students, or are games just a better way to learn? Is that a negative? They certainly encourage motivation, keep attention, allow for spaced learning, and require memory recall.  They may or may not encourage collaboration and communication. With the trend from traditional classrooms to online learning, will all students learn online utilizing games and technology as predominant learning media? Only time will tell, but it seems the trend is already well established.

Microlearning can be thought of as using small units of information to teach a process or a skill. Imagine this: You are a new barista in a coffee shop. Which would be more useful for you: a two-day training session and a manual of all possible coffee recipes or being given a quick overview of coffee making, shadowing someone for a day or two, and then having an application installed on your phone or tablet that provides quick 30 second directions, both written and video, on how to make a specific coffee recipe? I believe most people would choose the second. YouTube has demonstrated that the short video is the preferred learning method of today. Are we feeding into a dependence on quick tempo and instant gratification initiated by the ubiquitous cell phone and video games?

Gamification

With the advent of gamification and software to build online modules, microlearning modules are available to any company or business. Employees can rely on these modules for accurate, ready information that is written to follow company-specific policies and procedures. Critics of microlearning say learners may lose the ability to memorize and process information.

Appropriate Use of Microlearning

According to Kapp and Defelice (2018), there are four uses for microlearning: performance, persuasive, post-instruction, and preparation. Most are probably familiar with the performance or just-in-time job aids, but microlearning can also be used in the affective domain. I recently heard of Dr. Phil advertising a virtual reality application that he has developed to allow recovering alcoholics the ability to adjust gradually to a bar setting and the stresses that precipitate the need to drink. This application is clearly in the affective domain. On a recent visit to Dayton Children’s Hospital, I saw that they have tablet screens outside of every patient’s room to give vital patient information, a perfect location for a 10-second powerful reminder to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. What a great opportunity for a business to document that they are training employees and tying performance goals to their business’s strategic objectives. Microlearning examples do not necessarily need to utilize technology, a small laminated card with crucial steps in a procedure meet the goals just fine in some cases.

From a brain-based perspective, microlearning makes sense. Short-term memory is designed to hold approximately seven bites of information. Rehearsal and recall of this information allow it to be transferred to long-term memory as described in Make it Stick. Microlearning devices serve as a substitute for short-term memory. Only one or two objectives can be taught in this way at any given time. To encourage the transfer of information with the use of microlearning, ask questions instead of statements? Use social media to promote competition to learn between employees. Use gamification if possible, no matter how boring the content everyone wants to beat their previous or their competitor’s high score. Frequently changing the order of the topics or providing new content to keep learners from getting bored.

Are job aids a crutch?

Those who oppose the use of microlearning say that not using short-term memory will cause workers to always needing job-aids and never attaining a level of competence or expertise in any given area. They say that information taught in this way can never be supplied in context, and that the developer or writer of the microlearning job aid is the only one doing any assimilation of the learning content. Will our workforce lose the ability to develop skills for deep learning or problem-solving? What about solving problems that do not fit in the usual mold?

Are you sold on the concept? Developing microlearning modules does not mean taking your training manual, dividing it into small sections, and then placing it online. The lack of context will be a stumbling block for learners, as will the inability to navigate the content or read it on a small device. The content needs to be reviewed entirely, and particular objectives developed. These specific objectives should distill out information that is difficult to remember but frequently used and presented in a way that is engaging, motivating, and facilitates learner retention.

With the trend towards more active learning in the classroom, you are likely to see fewer power struggles to maintain quiet and complete a schedule. Students are given tasks, and they work through these tasks, with the instructor having the role of facilitator. This method of teaching and learning seems to engage the students more and lead to better retention. Still, it takes a special kind of instructor, one who does not feel the need to be “in charge” of the classroom, one who tolerates a higher decibel volume, and one who does not have an agenda to follow. As active learning filters down to the high schools and then grade schools, I wonder how it is going to mesh with all the standards that are required and the subsequent testing? 

The changing role of the teacher

I am taking an online class that is focused on power and politics. The text is Managing with Power, Politics, and Influence in Organizations by Jeffrey Pfeffer. It got me thinking about power in the classroom. There is a trend in teaching and learning towards active learning and away from the traditional “sage on a stage.” With the conventional method of teaching, it was evident who was in power, or at least supposed to be. Much of the stress and angst of teaching comes from trying to maintain that power and to follow your syllabus or agenda.

Remember the days of trying to keep the students quiet and focused as you move through your lessons? I have moved out of the classroom and into the training and higher education sector. It was not a surprise to me that I see the same thing there, grown adults in a school required to undergo training to check a box for their organizations, with the facilitator trying desperately to follow the schedule. Recently I had the opportunity to sit in on a ‘train the trainer’ training session. These people were motivated! You could see that they took their job seriously. They wanted to learn the content so they could help their employees. What was going on here? Why do some groups sit there on their phones with a scowl on their faces, and others seem to be excited about learning the content?

The online classroom

As we move to online classes, what will power look like in this setting? An instructor can set an agenda and standards for students to follow, but how will it be reinforced? We can do word counts on discussion boards. We can grade papers with rubrics. We can give graded tests, though these bring up a power and control issue in themselves. How do we guarantee the integrity of our tests? I have taken tests with webcams and microphones, which are timed and require me to show my ID and having my picture taken. Is this sufficient? I guess we will have to pause and consider whether we are testing to make sure that students meet our standards for completion of the course and the subsequent degree, or whether we hope that students will self-police because they want and need a quality education. If it is the first case, we are going to have to work on standards for online learning that help maintains fair and equitable testing and learning environment. If it is the second case, then online learning should fare just as well as in-classroom learning.

Training or teaching?

Maybe the answer lies in moving education into not only active learning but also a ‘train the trainer’ method. After eight years of school, shouldn’t we focus more on training rather than education? Going more toward the technical schools but allowing for the necessary depth of knowledge and critical thinking needed in many professions. Active learning could engage the students and train them to think and problem solve, whereas more of a training mentality would keep the education-focused,  it could decrease costs, and it could provide employers with highly trained employees. It seems like a win-win.

eLearning specifically and education, in general, must be accessible to everyone. The news, public interest stories, books, social media, employment opportunities, and online courses are all hosted online. It has become an inconvenience to use a paper copy. Since this is the medium of choice for information, it is even more critical that everyone has access to the best of their abilities. Making our website and eLearning content accessible may increase search engine optimization and the audiences we can reach, but that should not be the primary motivation. Learn how to take steps to make your online content more accessible so it meets 508 compliance guides.

Guidelines for 508 compliance

An excellent resource for guidelines for accessibility standards is W3.org The World Web Consortium (W3C) develops recommendations that are reviewed by the Accessible Platform Architects  Working Group.  These guidelines are called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). 

Where to start:

• First, make use of headings to break up your content. Using headers is something I frequently forget!
• Use short phrases to describe images and buttons.
• Describe the data that is found in tables and graphs. Using text makes this information available to screen readers.
• For audio content, a transcript should be included on your website or eLearning. The authoring tool that I use most often to create eLearning modules, Articulate Storyline 360, has made this much easier by introducing text to speech, closed captions, and a handy place to include a transcript in the Articulate Storyline Player.
• Make sure that your color choice and text style are easy to read for people with low vision or color blindness. Check the contrast ratio at WebAIM Contrast Checker. W3.org has detailed information on each of the standards.
• One standard that I need to remind myself of constantly is that the user must have adequate time to read the content. As a fast reader, I tend not to allow enough time for individual pop-ups to be read. 

There used to be a mall in Cincinnati, Ohio, which had video games and an arcade right inside one of the entrances. You had no warning as you entered the mall and were assaulted with flashing lights, strobe lights, loud noises, and other sights and sounds of an arcade. People with epilepsy and as yet undiagnosed seizure disorders were having seizures as they walked in the door. How is this pertinent? As gamification increases in elearning, we need to be careful not to cause seizures by including flashing lights and other content that may cause photosensitive reactions. 

Ready to check your website or eLearning for 508 compliance?

508 Compliance

Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires all federal agencies and their contractors to make sure that their electronic content is available and accessible to all.  The United States Access Board, where you can find the complete list of standards, is found here.

According to the Access Board, all public-facing content must comply with 508 compliance. For non-public-facing content, they require 508 compliance for content in the following eight categories:

1. Emergency notifications
2. Initial or final decisions adjudicating an administrative claim or proceeding
3. Internal or external program or policy announcements
4. Notices of benefits, program eligibility, employment opportunities, or personnel actions
5. Formal acknowledgment of receipt
6. Survey questionnaires
7. Templates and forms
8. Educational and training materials

Did you read the story about the young man with a disability who opened a coffee shop because he could get no one to hire him? Can you even imagine the contributions a person with that level of grit and determination could contribute to your business? The numbers cited vary, but consistently the studies indicate that the percentage of Americans with disabilities who are unemployed is very high. At this time of the year, where giving to others is a focus and a New Year brings the promise of new beginnings, I thought I would bring this topic up for discussion and advice. I work with several young people with disabilities and here are some of my experiences.

Stumbling blocks to college for people with disabilities

One young man I know has always wanted to work in the field of computer science. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s at a young age. He and his parents decided to go against the advice to move him to a public school so he could get additional help with his studies, and against advice to put him in reading lab and low-level math courses. Why? Because if they did, he would be tracked into the lowest level courses through-out his education, and there would be very little chance of him getting a college education. Remember, his dream is to work in the field of computer science.

He graduated from high school, an achievement in itself, and scored the minimally acceptable ACT score to get into college. He worked tirelessly to pass his computer science courses. Some he took twice and a few three times, but he made it. He went to the tutoring center, attended his professor’s office hours, and had many of his textbooks read out loud to him, but he made it!

At one point, this young man was not sure he would finish college as there were a few higher-level computer science courses that he struggled to pass. He decided to get an Associate’s degree, finish his BA in Computer Science, and maintain his part-time job at a local grocery store. He completed both degrees in the past year.

This post is the story of one young man, but he represents thousands of young men and women with and without disabilities who have this level of determination to succeed.

Interviewing with communication challenges

Communication struggles

Like many recent graduates, this young man with a passion for computer science is working hard to get a job in his field. However, there is a problem. His disability makes it harder for him to communicate than the average person. He will have a hard time expressing his passion in an interview. His answers to your questions will probably be short. His nervousness will compound his communication struggles.

Delayed responses

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone whose response takes 15 or even 30 seconds longer than you are comfortable with? Imagine being a busy recruiter or a hiring manager, and your candidate seems slow to answer. You may think the candidate is bored or disinterested, but it may be that his or her brain takes an extra few seconds to process the question.

Inability to read nonverbal cues

In addition to being a little slower in their conversation skills, a second thing I have noticed when working with young people with disabilities is that some believe everything you say and interpret it very concretely. One young man had a recruiter call him about a possible job opening for which he would be qualified. They spoke on the phone, and the recruiter said she would call back after receiving this young man’s resume. The young man sat by the phone for four days believing that the recruiter would call. It is a week later, and the recruiter never called back. Many people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) cannot interpret facial expressions or make meaning out of conversation other than the actual words spoken. This recruiter’s tone may have implied that she was not interested, but the young man would not be able to receive that message. Telling him that he was not a viable candidate hurts for a minute or even a day. Not telling him leaves hope that hurts indefinitely.

“A child is only as disabled as their environment and the beliefs of the people around them.” —Bala Pillai DPT, PCS

Customer service training on disabilities

As an instructional designer, with a medical and educational background, one company that prides itself on customer service asked me what course I would recommend they develop next for their employees. I suggested a course on communicating with people with disabilities for their call center employees. I wonder if they ever developed the course?

Should you disclose a disability to an employer?

As the New Year brings new opportunities, please feel free to reach out to me if I can help you or anyone you know with a disability. I can help with educational questions and share my experiences with you, but unfortunately, I cannot help with questions about employment. As you have read in this article, I have no solutions, do you?

Should an applicant disclose their disability? Should an employer be able to offer a lower salary to an otherwise great applicant who cannot work as fast as his or her colleagues? 

How do you start when you are given a new assignment to write training content? Do you talk to the learners, the management, read documents, or just start writing? Training content is supposed to move a learner from their current understanding to a desired level of knowledge, right?

How many clients agree to a needs assessment before the development process is started? Balancing time, scope, and cost against trying to develop a product that will best meet the desired outcomes is always challenging.

In the real world

In the real world, I find that we rarely have access to the learner’s point of view (point A), and sometimes the goal of training (point B) is not very clear. Here is an example. You are hired to write training content for new software which you have never seen or used before. You get access to instruction manuals and a sandbox version of the software, a busy subject matter expert, but not to learners who have used or will be using the software. Where do you start? If you start with the subject matter expert, you are likely to ask questions that you could have figured out on your own if you played in the software sandbox for a while. The subject matter expert may feel you are wasting his/her time or asking them to do your job for you.

On the other hand, if you start with the instruction manual or the sandbox, you may need to spend a lot of time learning how to do something, a subject matter expert could have more quickly helped you understand. Time is money.

Who is the best source of information for training content?

Is the subject matter expert the best source of information for software training? After teaching for many years, I would venture to guess that many of us would say no. When you are an expert at a topic, you forget the little details that trip new learners up. I don’t know how many times I explained the same concept to high-achieving students, and they did not get it. Why? Because I did not remember which steps confused me when I first started learning. (If you are interested in this topic, look at Peer Instruction a User’s Guide by Eric Mazur).

Should we initially work in the software sandbox and wade through documentation or seek the help of the subject matter expert? You could probably catch the details that way, and your directions may be more logical, but time is money. Even better, get access to someone who just recently mastered the software. They could verify the instructions were factually correct, but would still remember the confusing details.

Storyboard or develop?

Let’s say you have a general idea of the content you are to write for the software example, do you storyboard on paper (physical or online) or in a rapid authoring software such as Articulate Storyline. I have talked to people who have good reasons to support either choice. Those in favor of the paper method say that it is quicker, easier to review, and subject matter experts are not distracted by design. They get more feedback focused on the content instead of color choice and placement of buttons. Those who advocate for storyboarding in a rapid authoring software say that they can’t see the flow well when it is on paper. When you move through the module as a “learner” and see the pictures, watch the videos, try the assessment questions and listen to the voiceover, you can get a sense of whether the learning material has a good flow.

What are your preferences for developing training content?

Articulate Storyline 360 has an online review platform where you can share the link with any constituent, allowing them to navigate through the module as a learner. They can make comments on individual slides. True, you may get comments on the design, and that may lead to more discussion about design than you would want, but doesn’t design matter?

What do you think? Do you go to the SME first, later or not at all? How do you storyboard? I was taught to talk to the SME first, storyboard second, and then develop the content. I am starting to prefer reading content and using the sandbox first, then developing content in a rapid authoring software, and then finally bringing in the SME. The SME can see the actual module and pinpoint errors or any missing content. If I can find some new learners to test the training module, that is truly a win!