Brad Poorman Pepperdine University |
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Cycle 3 Review -rtf version
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Online Lay Leadership Training Cycle 3 Review Brad Poorman
Action Research Question: How can the use of on-line tools provide educational training and support for the development of a learning community to help meet the need for trained lay leaders in the United Methodist church and establish a community of practice for those lay leaders to support their continued growth and development of expertise in effective lay leadership? Purpose: The purpose of my Action Research Project is to develop an online Lay Leader training program to be administered by McMurry University . Lay leaders share the core values of Christian Faith, Personal Relationships, Learning, Excellence, and Service with McMurry University . The program would consist of two learning tracks, the Certified Lay Minister track and the General Lay Leadership track. Common characteristics for both tracks would be to present lay leaders with practical knowledge and resources. Both tracks would also attempt to develop communities of practice where lay leaders can continue to learn how to better serve from each other.
My search for how I could use online tools to provide educational training and support for lay leaders began with discussions with Dr. John Russell , President of McMurry University. He was searching for ways McMurry could strengthen its ties to the Methodist church. He had also mentioned that some sort of lay leader training was needed because when he served on church committees at times he didn't feel qualified or prepared. My cycle 3 question is what layout, format, and features would be most effective for the Academy for Faithful Ministry?
Based on my previous two cycles I felt I had a better understanding of the committee's expectations. However, since most of the committee members were not very familiar with these forms of communication I expect considerable changes may yet be ahead for the project. I expect to develop a beta site that will be distributed to the committee along with a questionnaire to document feedback. I also expect to gain additional feedback from our next committee meeting.
I built an informational page for the Academy for Faithful Ministry using Moodle. I concentrated on making it clean and easy to navigate. Since Moodle is primarily a Course Management System I tried to use a template that did not look like a course delivery page. I then set up the community building page trying to minimize the course look as much as possible on it as well. I added forums, chat rooms, and quick polls. Afterwards I began development of a tutorial and training section to help beginners. Evidence and data was collected in the form of feedback through surveys and meetings to help me improve the site.
Evidence/Data Collected I asked a few members of the committee that had shown strong support for the community building plan to view and comment on the site. I wanted their feedback to determine if there were any glaring errors or major misunderstandings on my part before releasing the beta to the entire committee for review. I didn't receive any negative comments, only a couple of minor questions on how it would be utilized.
I felt the positive feedback I got indicated that I was at least on the same page as the committee. Since the selected members recommended no major changes I felt I could proceed with the beta release to the full committee.
Evidence/Data Collected I sent an email to the committee members with a link to the site and some brief instructions. I told them I would like for them to try the site with minimum instruction so they could view it as a newcomer. I also included a link to the survey site where I gathered their feedback. All of the responses indicated that most of the features they would expect were on the page. They also indicated that the layout was easy to navigate. There were no recommendations of items to add. There were some cosmetic suggestions on where to locate items to make them more prominent, as well as suggestions on different pictures that could be used. Despite the positive response I wondered if the survey might reflect the committee's lack of experience in this area. Knowing that most members had little or no experience with this type of site they had very little to compare it to. They simply may not have known enough to give constructive feedback.
Evidence/Data Collected Prior to the fourth meeting I wrote Dr. Russell asking him to place the review of the beta site on the agenda. I explained the importance of having enough time to make corrections before the pre-academy site needed to be active. My strongest supporter was out of town and not in attendance. The site was well received and most of the feedback dealt with content. For example there was a suggestion that a question be added to the sign up form asking whether the applicant had any mobility assistance needs. Another suggestion was the need to include a way for those wishing to attend to pay online. The committee also agreed that I needed biographical information for the facilitators and descriptions of the breakout sessions. They set a deadline of March 31st for getting me this information. While we were reviewing the chat and forums there was some hesitancy, particularly by the older members of the committee. There were statements like "We don't want to make people feel that if they can't master this technology their opinions don't matter." The statements were made by the same individuals that had previously expressed concern about the impersonal nature of the medium. In response I mentioned observations made by facilitators at similar sites run by churches. They indicate that people of all ages participated in their discussion boards. They also observe that many people who are shy and don't feel comfortable speaking up in a regular class, often speak up in this environment because they have time to formulate their thoughts. A professor in attendance agreed that he had seen the same thing with an online class he had taught. There was also considerable discussion on a number of topics of organization and site management. One comment that was made and then endorsed by several on the committee was the need to introduce the support site to the attendees sometime during the conference. Dr. Russell, the president, helped by offering supportive comments about how important he felt post academy support was to the success of the program. I was encouraged that the committee had come to realize the attendees needed to be introduced to the site during the conference. That realization indicated progress because when I made that same suggestion two meetings ago it fell on deaf ears. I think I also see signs the committee members are beginning to understand how this site can integrate and help the attendees of the Academy. The quality of the suggestions indicated a higher level of understanding. Obviously there is still some hesitation among some of the committee, but the numbers seem to be diminishing. I hope that reflects they are changing their minds, and not an indication they are giving up.
Evidence/Data Collected Because of my nagging concern about the quality of the feedback I got from the committee in my survey I decided to consult instructors at the University who had taught online courses. These instructors are familiar with online course management systems having used both Blackboard and Moodle. I trusted them to give me an honest appraisal. They had several comments about layout, content, and options I had chosen to implement, but were generally complimentary and saw no major stumbling blocks. The committee had also chosen to hire a person to develop the mail out brochure. I suggested I should work with her to integrate our marketing look and feel. She also designs web sites and McMurry has used her in that capacity before. I had been impressed with her previous work. I asked her to look at the site before we met. She emailed me back and said that she went to the site expecting the worst, however she was pleasantly surprised. She went on to say that she was impressed with the layout and functionality of the page and she was going to incorporate it into her brochure. The feedback I received from those I considered experts relieved some of my fears about the survey results I had received from the committee. I felt better about the product adequately representing the Academy and performing the necessary ongoing support functions.
Evidence/Data Collected This cycle was about the introduction of the beta version of the site and obtaining feedback from the committee and others. I introduced it to a small segment of the committee, then the full committee and finally to a group of instructors that have taught online courses and are familiar with various course management systems. I also got design and layout confirmation from a marketing and website developer. I gathered feedback through surveys, meetings, and follow up conversations. The feedback was generally positive with some very good suggestions for improvements. All in all I felt very positive about the introduction of the beta version even though it left me with plenty of work to do revising the site. However I had a nagging question about the quality of the committee feedback. Those concerns were relieved when the online instructor group confirmed the basic content and functionality. The marketing and website developer also blessed the design and layout. Overall, I feel pretty good about the site functionality, but the site is nothing without the people. I need to turn my attention to participation. How do I ensure the participants will come to the site once they return home? What activities do we need to offer to make sure they become engaged? This leads me to Cycle 4.
My next step will be to assemble a focus group of potential attendees with two objectives. The first is to get their feedback on whether the site offers the functions they would find inviting and then to see what would keep them coming back to the site. My concern is that I am still waiting on some of the information from the committee and there may not be enough time.
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| Brad Poorman bpoorman@mcm.edu |
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