National Park Service Training
This project was created during an Independent Study class led by Jackie Dobrovolny.
It fulfills the Management course requirement for the ILT program.
In the project, six of us (two teams of three) analyzed the current
National Park Service NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) /
DS-12 training program, a real-world project led by Jackie, and began
to think of ways to create online training to improve Park Service
staff skills in writing reports for their NEPA requirements.
In this project I learned to manage a workflow through its phases,
to create a sequence of screens for online training, various instructional
design elements to include for different learning styles, instructional
design and learning theories and strategies to be used for various
audiences, and improved my technical skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
I learned about accessibility for the Web and ways to incorporate
it into a design.
ILT Competencies Demonstrated
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- Competency 1: Reflective Practice
This project helped me to learn the context in which the training would be used
in the NPS, the relationships between the stakeholders in the
organization, and about possible resistance to the new training
that would require change leadership. The accessibility issues
required action research to learn about Web standards and how
to incorporate them. I learned new tools and technologies (CSS,
JavaScript, accessibility issues) that have helped me in my
work.
- Competency 2: Planning and Analysis
We were required throughout the project to consider the learners, content, tasks,
goals and objectives, environment, culture, history, ethical
and legal implications, and appropriate media and technologies
for the training program.
- Competency 3: Design and Development
Our group studied various learning and instructional design theories and choose
the best for our audience and objectives. I learned ways to
design for a diverse audience, both by studying accessibility
issues and by discussing the demographics of the audience.
We discussed which tools and technologies would be used in
designing our prototypes and made decisions based on the requirements
of the project. We used principles of perception, interaction,
motivation and attitude change to design the interface to hold
the learner's interest and to facilitate learning.
- Competency 4: Evaluation and Assessment
This project required formative evaluation of our prototypes, done in our weekly
meetings by group discussion and collaboration. We discussed
methods of evaluating learners' progress, within the requirements
of the NPS and considering the ways in which learners would
progress through the training. Based on research about Web
technology and accessibility issues, we better understood the
pros and cons of different technologies and how to maximize
the effectiveness of using them in the program.
- Competency 5: Implementation and Change
The group was required to discuss how the training will be introduced to NPS
staff, and on what schedule. We discussed how to handle resistance
to the new training, and the various responsibilities of those
involved in its implementation. We included job aids, FAQs,
and other elements to help the learner find information in
the best way for them.
- Competency 6: Management
We demonstrated this competency by collaborating on the management of the project,
and by appointing team leaders to help keep the groups on focus.
I acted as one of the team leaders and helped to manage our
responsibilities and deadlines.
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Links to Materials
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Other Project Pages
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