Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

The post mortem project that was designed was called Personal Learning Environments (PLE). A PLE is a system that helps learners take control of and manage their own leaning. This includes providing support for learners to set their own goals and manage their learning both content and process. Learners also communicate with others in the process of learning and thereby achieve their learning goals. The term personal learning environment (PLE) describes the tools, communities, and services that constitute the individual educational platforms that learners use to direct their own learning and pursue educational goals. PLEs represent a shift away from the model in which students consume information through independent channels such as the library, a textbook, or an LMS and etc.

As designers, designing instruction for PLE, the group members had to create a scenario in which learners would set up their own personal learning environment. During the phases of this project, the group members had to use a systematic design called the ADDIE model. Additionally, as designer we not only had to teach learners how to create their personal learning environment, but we  also had to show them how PLE’s can be applied to their learning. In this way the learning context would be concrete and realistic to the learner.

In this project we had to set up training for teachers to set up a personal learning environment so they can organize their own learning to fit their own learning styles and have self-supported peer group learning. The PLE project is to help teachers begin their technology education. They can network with other educators or others knowledgeable or interested in learning about technology. They will also have the convenience of working at their own pace.

What contributed to the project failure was the group members had limited knowledge of how to apply the ADDIE systematic model to the concepts of this project. An additional problem that contributed to the failure was that some of the group members did not make contributions to the project or they were late turning in their assigned parts. Therefore, when group members did not do their parts it added more burdens on the other group members because, in order for the project to be successful each part of the project had to be completed. If there was a member of the group who did not do his / her part, the other members were responsible for getting it done and turned in on the scheduled time. An additional problem that added to the failure of this project was the lack of communication by the group members. It was hard for group members to collaborate because of the different time zones. It was hard for all the group members to be online at the same time. As we have learned in instructional design technology, it is important for ID’s to be able to work successfully with other team members in order to design an effective, efficient and successful project.

The part of the PM process that would have made the project more successful is planning and organizing (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton, 2008). Planning amongst group members would have made this project more successful by determining what components and artifacts would be a part of the project. Planning would have also aided in determining how and what information would be included in the project. Organizing would have made the project more successful if we could have collaborated more to determine the organizational structure of the project. Organizing would have made the project more uniformed so that each group member would be designing information related to the same topics in the project.

            In conclusion, it is essential that team members plan, organize and control their project. It is also vital that they consistently collaborate for the success of the project. Furthermore, each team member must take charge and perform the role in which he/she has been assigned. When group members are able to do the above they will more than likely produce a project that is efficient, effective, and will meet the needs and objectives in which the project was designed.

Reference:

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