Wicked Problem Project - Final

Click here to access my Wicked Problem Project screen cast.

The Educational Need or Opportunity

I work mainly with department administrators to process visa paperwork for Michigan State University international faculty and staff. MSU hosts about three hundred international scholars (researchers, tenure-track faculty, and administrative staff). I usually process about 100 (either new or renewal) visas a year. It is very important to keep track of all these individuals and their visa end dates. Office for International Students and Scholars have purchased INSZoom (foreign employee tracking) system that not only helps track of these international scholars but allows us to fill out different immigrations forms online, save them and run various reports. This system also has a departmental interface. Department have a capability to log in the system and see how many international employees are working in their department; they can also see their visa expiry dates and visa application status. The problem is that department administrators are not trained in using this system and those who were emailed with log in information are not using the system. I would like to create an e-manual or a training program where I would introduce department administrators to the INSZoom departmental interface and convince them to use it by showing its capabilities.

The educational need that I am seeking to address is to establish effective training (tutorial, e-manual, in-person training and/or useful handouts) that will help department administrators to learn to use INSZoom H-1B tracking system. The goal of this training is to have at least 70-80% percent of department administrators using the system. That will reduce the email and phone call traffic to the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS). Department administrators will learn to track the process of pending H-1B case(s) for current or prospective employees in their department, submit forms and fill out questionnaires and run visa expiry reports through the INSZoom department interface. There is currently no effective training established.

Technology Integrated Strategy

I plan to develop an e-manual by creating a slidecast or screencast which will have screen shots of the INSZoom departmental interface and at the top of each screenshot explanations of each page and/or have my voice in the background explaining each slide and how to access and navigate the system. I have designed a survey for all department administrators with the explanation of the INSZoom system and its capabilities. I will ask them if they think this system may be beneficial to them. I will also survey them to ascertain what they think the best way to learn to use the program. The survey was sent out on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. I asked department administrators to respond to my survey by Friday, April 8, 2011.

Logistics of Solution

Once training is developed, the tool will be used indefinitely. Department administrators will be able to access the system from their offices as well as from any other location. The manual or training slides will be posted on OISS website. Only departments who sponsor and currently employ international scholars will be able to access the INSZoom system. Departments will be sent a password and user name. Only department administrators will be able to access the system. 

Research that Supports My Strategies

Since I will be working with adults, I did some research about adult learning strategies. What I found was: adults are problem centered, results oriented and self directed. They typically do not depend on others for direction. Adult learners are often skeptical about new information. They prefer to try it out before accepting it. Adult learners require learning to make sense. For that reason, I have to prove them why INSZoom tracking and record keeping system is so great. I have to convince them that it will make their job so much easier.

*Adult Learning Strategies: http://online.rit.edu/faculty/teaching_strategies/adult_learners.cfm

http://diythemes.com/thesis/how-to-create-screencasts/ This article talks about how to create a successful screencast.

http://www.techsmith.com/  I am planning to use Jing to capture the screenshots of my screen and write and explanation of each page.

A plan based on research for implementation, indicating the portion to be completed during this course and after it is over

During this course, I plan to survey department administrators and I hope to start creating a manual on how to log in to access INSZoom system and how to navigate some of the basic information.

After the course is complete, I hope to finish implementing my project by creating a manual that will be accessible online for every department administrator. I hope to also create a very detailed manual. I will survey department administrators after they used the system to find out whether they found the INSZoom system useful and ask them for any suggestions. I hope to receive some suggestions on how to make the training more efficient.

Indications of a successful project

I would know if I were successful with my training implementation after I surveyd department administrators and received positive feedback. I would know if I were successful if 70-80% of all department administrators were using the manual and INSZoom department interface. I would know if I were successful if I received less emails and phone calls from department asking about pending foreign employees case statuses or other information that could be accessed on INSZoom department interface.

Application of TPACK

What is the TP knowledge for the solution?

I used Jing as the technology which helped me best to facilitate the INSZoom system training. I took screen shots of many different screens of the INSZoom system and wrote explanations at the bottom of each page. I also did a few screen casts demonstrating to department administrators how to log in the system or how to run different reports. I hope the training slides and videos will be posted on the Office for International Students and Scholars Website. The training manual will be emailed to all department administrators. The use of electronic tutorials will give all of the department administrators’ access to the information and resources that they need to learn to navigate the INSZoom system on their own and at their own pace.  Having tutorials posted on the website gives an opportunity to all department administrators to go back to the tutorial if they’ve forgotten any information or need to learn something new. 

For in-person INSZoom training, I plan to use Prezi to present. Prezi is an effective and dynamic teaching and presentation tool. It is eye catching and grabs and hold viewers attention. I believe that department administrators will retain more information after watching Prezi and not Power Point presentation.

How do I know what type of training will work best? 


I sent a survey to department administrators and provided them with a brief explanation of the INSZoom department interface and asked them how they preferred to learn to use the INSZoom system. 33% percent said they would prefer to refer to an online manual, video tutorials and other 33% percent said they would prefer to have a group training. Based on the survey results I will most likely start with online tutorial implementation followed by group training where everyone probably had a chance to log in the system and ask more detailed questions at the group training.

Click below to see INSZoom Survey:

INSZoom Survey

What is the TC knowledge for the solution?

The technology I chose for the solution to my wicked problem is Jing (for online manual) and Prezi (for in-person training). I like Jing because I can take very clear screenshots and I can write an explanation on the screen shot. It will be very easy to understand the information when it is visually presented to the learner. There are many tabs and many screens that will need to be navigated through the INSZoom system; therefore having a visual manual with instructions is going to be very helpful. I believe it is very important for the adult learner to have the visual instruction.

I will also capture short videos that can be easily be attached to an email or uploaded to OISS website for viewing. The videos will teach department administrators how to log in to the system; how to find an employee and his/her case in INSZoom system and how to run some visa expiry reports.

What is the PC knowledge for the solution?

Department administrators will learn how to navigate the system either on their own at their own pace or in-person training. When there is a need to access the system, department administrators will be able to read the INSZoom manual online or watch instructional videos to learn to navigate the system.

They will also be given a choice to either schedule an individual meeting or attend a group training meeting to learn to navigate the INSZoom system.

They will also be provided a handout with detailed instructions about the INSZoom system; log in instructions, how to send/receive emails, check case status, and upload documents.

Department administrators will be learning how to use the system at their own pace individually or during in-person group training.

Implementation

I prepared INSZoom survey and emailed it to 129 department administrators. Department administrators had 3 days to respond to the survey. About 26 department administrators responded to the survey the first day. I sent out a reminder email the day the survey was due and total 55 department administrators responded to the INSZoom training survey.

I was very pleased with the survey results:

From the description of the INSZoom department interface, 76% of departments said they would be interested in learning to use the system.

45% of the department administrators thought that this system will make their job easier when preparing H-1B petitions and/or tracking H-1B employees.

33% said they would prefer video/audio or screen cast training, another 33% said they would prefer group training and 18% percent would prefer just a handout.

53% of the department administrators are actually planning to use the INSZoom interface and 40% are probably going to use the interface. Those 40% are probably employing no international employees or just one international employee and feel there is no need to use the system.

Based on the survey results, my supervisor and I decided to first prepare A Log In Request Form to all department administrators with explanation on how to obtain a log in ID and password from OISS to log in into the INSZoom system.

Since not all MSU departments are employing foreign employees, not everyone will need to use the system. A mass email was sent to all department administrators requesting to fill out “Department INSZoom Authorization Form” and mail or fax it to back to OISS to request log in information.  

Surprises: The planning process turned out to be more detailed than I expected. There were so many details and people involved in the planning process.

I have never thought about how departments were going to request log in information, therefore the first form I had to create was “Department INSZoom Authorization Form”. In this form I also included a paragraph about confidentiality since department will be accessing foreign employees confidential information.
I have 10 departments so far who want to sign up to use the INSZoom system.

Unexpected Bumps on the Road: I had to get an approval from my supervisor on everything I was working on this project (sending mass emails, have all the forms checked before posting them on OISS website). Since my supervisor was absent the first two weeks of April, it slowed down my implementation process. I was not able to get approvals for having form proof read and I was not able to email “Access Request Form” to our department administrators. This will be done this week.

Delights: I was very delighted with the survey results. I expected about 30 responses and I was very excited when I received 55. I have about 50% of all training slides created.

The in-person training will be scheduled for later in the fall semester. The training will be a part of our annual H-1B visa training workshop. 

INSZoom Login Page

Short video showing how to login to INSZoom system

How to check H-1B employees case status

Department INSZoom login Request Form

Department INSZoom Training Manual

Findings and Implications

Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?
Yes, a large portion (about 90%) of the project did get implemented as planned. I was very happy that with the help of this class I was able to implement something that’s been on my agenda for a very long time.

Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice

        I was able to survey my department administrators and determine what kind of training plan I should provide to them – group training, handout, and video tutorials.

        I created “Department INSZoom Login Request Form.” The department administrators will submit “Department INSZoom Login Request Form” to the Office for International Students and Scholars in order to gain initial INSZoom access.

        I created an email that was sent to 129 department administrators this week.

        In the email I attached “Department INSZoom Login Request Form” to request access to the INSZoom system and a training manual that they can refer to when accessing the INSZoom system to track employees, run reports and send emails. In the email I gave departments an option to schedule individual training. 10 departments have requested to sign up to use INSZoom system.

What is left to do:

      schedule in-person group training (this Fall 2011).
      survey department administrators in a few months to get a feedback and find out whether the training implementation was successful.

How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned
here?

I wish I had more time to complete the project. I wish I had sent my survey to departments earlier than I had planned to so I could have received the survey results a little earlier, which would have given me
more time to analyze the survey results. I needed more time to create a training manual. At first I
thought it would be a very simple task until I actually started preparing a manual. There were so many details I had to include in the training manual. Next time I would like to work on the project more independently and not rely on my supervisors. Since I had to get approvals from my supervisor on everything I was doing, it took a lot more time to complete this project. 

What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

I really enjoyed designing my own survey. I was able to incorporate the survey in my project.
I surveyed 129 MSU department administrators. I was able to design my training plan based on the survey results. I highly recommend of surveying either your colleagues or students before taking on a big project.

In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?

If I were to do the same project again, I definitely would like to spend more time working on it. I would have also liked to have a few department administrators try out the INSZoom system and give me some feedback. I think this would have helped me design my tutorial more effectively.

Next time I take on a similar project, I plan to survey my audience before implementing it. I plan to use Jing a lot for screen casting for my next projects (for form instruction and for visual instruction). I would like to also learn how to use Camtasia because I think the visual instruction looks more professional on Camtasia than Jing.