1. Identify the key issues present in the case.

The key issues in this case are:

• a) implications surrounding the decision to hire the designer;
• b) the lack of a comprehensive needs assessment;
• c) the formative evaluation did not represent the actual event.

Dr. Cranston's exclusion of the Work Readiness Committee in the decision to hire an instructional designer left the Committee without investment in the project. For example, Jane resented spending money to hire Terry and having to concede her authority. In addition, Dwight was hostile at Terry's suggestion to do a needs analysis.

Terry's relative inexperience also compounded the problem. She had no previous experience with public schools and had only done five workshops for one client. Although enthusiastic, Terry did not know how to use the Committee's personality types to her advantage. For example, Jane's dominant personality and business teaching experience could have made Jane an ally.

Had the Committee had more input in the decision to hire a designer, and had the designer been more experienced, there would have been more cohesion within the Committee.

Secondly, the needs assessment did not involve important stakeholders, such as students, school personnel, and administrators. Additionally, a limited range of employers were involved. Consequently, college prep and professional employment needs were not addressed.

Thirdly, the formative evaluation did not represent the actual event: the timing was different, the sample group was not representative of the student body, a speaker was not included, and the facilitator had personal investment and was not to be the facilitator in the actual event.

2. Consider the issues from different perspectives, including those of the key players in the case.

Key perspectives in the case include Terry's, Jane's, Len's, Larry's, administration's, and students'.

Terry probably felt unsupported once she realized the Committee resented her being hired, but she remained confident in her abilities. Jane felt slighted by the hiring decision because her previous experience was not validated. Len and the rest of the Committee remained passive about the hiring. The administration, spurred by the Committee's lack of movement, felt certain in their decision to hire Terry.

Terry was confident in her decision to conduct a needs assessment and back it up with research. However, she expressed doubt about the scope of the results when she recognized she did not consider the college prep students' needs. Jane saw the needs assessment as unnecessary and criticized its "fuzzy," unmeasurable goals. Some students felt their needs were not considered and, for them, the workshop was irrelevant.

Terry was satisfied with the results of the formative evaluation and thought they predicted the workshop's success. Jane outwardly endorsed Terry's evaluation but inwardly decided to no longer participate in developing the workshop. Len relished the opportunity to lead the formative evaluation but was unaware that his participation skewed the results. The students responded positively to the formative evaluation because they liked Len and were comfortable working with each other.

Larry's perspective, although not directly linked to the key issues, is also important. He sincerely believed he was making an important community contribution and he was unaware of the Committee's expectations of his role in the workshop.

3. Identify what professional knowledge they have that would be pertinent (and what more they need to know).

Terry came to the project with formal training in instructional design principles. However, she lacked knowledge of Dundee's institutional and social environments, experience designing for a school, understanding of group dynamics, evaluation experience, and the ability to anticipate potential design and implementation problems.

Jane had twenty-five years of business teaching experience, a genuine desire to help students achieve workplace readiness, some good ideas for the workshop, and a dynamic, take-charge personality. Unfortunately, Jane also lacked diplomacy, up-to-date knowledge of workplace readiness skills, and the ability to compromise effectively.

Len, a master teacher, possessed great rapport with students, understood adolescents, and worked well with at-risk students. For the Committee, he was a peacemaker and a willing team player, but he lacked the ability to critically analyze situations.

The administration recognized the importance of preparing students for the transition from school to community, the importance of good PR, and the need for an expertly designed workplace readiness workshop. At the same time, they needed diplomacy and sensitivity in dealing with a pre-existing committee. They also needed to strike a balance between micro-managing and delegating tasks.

Larry knew the realities of the business world and, from his experience with TV ads, knew how to entertain on camera. Although the Committee failed to inform him of his role in the workshop, he, likewise, failed to inquire about the audience to whom he would be speaking. Thus, he was ill-prepared for the presentation and was unable to read his live audience and respond accordingly.

4-5. Develop a plan of action, picking up at the conclusion of the case and hypothesize as to the possible outcomes of that plan.

As a team, we decided to have two plans of action: a short-term plan for the workshop scheduled for March 15th, and a long-term plan for future workshops.

In the short-term, we would ask teachers to serve as small group facilitators. This would promote full participation by the students and ensure that all students stay on-task. To further encourage student involvement, we would ask Donald McKay to explain the workshop's relevance to all students, including college prep, in his introduction. Finally, we would ask Larry to address the students in his role as "Lucky Larry, King of the Highways and Byways." If he feels uncomfortable assuming his on-camera persona, we would move Larry to the beginning of the workshop and have him limit his role to a brief, ceremonial introduction, leaving the closing remarks to Donald McKay. Keeping Larry in the program in some manner would preserve political ties with Angela Motley, Larry's sister-in-law and School Board Chairperson. Larry's contribution to the workshop would be more effective if he were funny or, if not, if he played a smaller role.

In the long-term, it would be necessary to revise the design of the workshop as a whole. In essence, we would use the March 14th and 15th workshops as a formative evaluation. If we found our short-term changes were effective, we would implement them in our long-term plan as well. We would also use the evaluation forms that the students completed on March 15th and our own observations of the two workshops to supplement the needs assessment. Specifically, we would modify the workshop activities to meet the needs of all students. We might, for instance, emphasize that problem-solving, working cooperatively in a team, and resolving conflict are necessary skills in all occupations.

In addition to revamping the workshop, it would be important to address the dynamics of the Committee. We would encourage Terry to assign specific tasks to Committee members, follow-up on those tasks, maintain a schedule, and use the Committee members' personalities and skills in a more resourceful way. For example, because Susan Fuentes is an English teacher and has contact with all the students, Terry could ask Susan to assess students' needs. Jane, with her business savvy, could canvass the business community, and Dwight, the vocational education teacher, could bring his students' interests to the table. Moreover, Len would be ideal to train small group facilitators since he has a good understanding of how to interact with students. By capitalizing on the talents of each Committee member, Terry could feel confident that all members are invested in the project and committed to its success.

COMMON PROVOCATEUR QUESTION:

It appears that one of Terry's major failings, as with so many instructional designers, was in not conducting any sort of context analysis to describe the organizational, socio-cultural context in which this process was to be played out. How should she have done this? What do you believe that she would have found? How would that have affected the design of the instructional/learning activities that were used to engage the students?

ANSWER:

Terry should have included in her needs assessment a context analysis, including an organizational and sociocultural analysis. Her first step in this process should have been to identify a wider scope of potential stakeholders and their formal roles and responsibilities. An organizational analysis would have highlighted:

1. 1) community pressures on the school system (i.e., was there a wide perception that the school was graduating students who lacked workplace readiness skills);
2. 2) the motivation of the school system in developing the workshops;
3. 3) the institutional links of the administration to the workplace readiness committee, and;
4. 4) the complexity of the organizational dynamic of Dundee.

Terry could have used the following methods to conduct her organizational analysis:

1. 1) formal surveys and informal interviews of administrators, faculty, including all members of the workplace readiness committee, and school guidance counselors;
2. 2) observing a typical school day and the interactions among the school community,
3. 3) conducting background research on prior seminars and curricula that address the problem of workplace readiness; assessing the formal documentation of the school systemUs missions and objectives; and
4. 4) conducting an historical analysis of the workplace readiness committee through review of minutes of formal meetings and interviews with committee members.

A complete sociocultural analysis would have highlighted:

1. 1) demographic characteristics of the student participants,
2. 2) the level and quality of job experience among the student population,
3. 3) the scope of employment opportunities in the community,
4. 4) the students' level of understanding of and interest in workplace readiness,
5. 5) students' post-high school educational and employment plans, and
6. 6) employers' expectations regarding workplace readiness skills.

Terry could have used the following methods to conduct a sociocultural analysis:

1. 1) formal surveys and informal interviews of a cross section of the student population and potential employers,
2. 2) observing a typical school day and the social interactions among groups of students, and
3. 3) observing students at various employment sites.

With this new information, Terry would have been able to develop a clearly defined problem statement and, therefore, alter the design of the workshop by addressing a wider range of student abilities, interests, and needs and giving students a choice of activities depending upon their career interests.

SPECIFIC PROVOCATEUR QUESTION (Supplied by David Jonassen):

There appeared to be tacit approval by all members of the committee and the community that a series of workshops was the most effective way of getting high school students to become empathetic, effective problem solvers. Do you agree? If so, justify large group workshops as the most effective approach. If not, describe instruction/learning experiences that may be more effective in accomplishing the objectives set forth by the Workplace Readiness Committee.

ANSWER:

The workshops as currently delivered are not the most effective way to develop workplace readiness. However, restructured large group workshops should be an integral part of developing a workplace readiness program.

With the objectives of the workshop in mind--developing cooperation, joint or group problem solving skills, and conflict management skills--large group sessions are essential. One of the benefits of large groups is that they allow for small group breakouts to meet a variety of instructional objectives. Students can be grouped heterogeneously and homogeneously for different activities. Therefore, a workshop which includes a large core group is an important component of the instructional design.

Although we would keep large group workshops, we would restructure them based on a more complete context analysis, including a demographic profile of the student body. Because it is important that the workshop reflect the real life workplace, we would purposely include activities that mix students with different socioeconomic backgrounds and career objectives. Other activities would allow students to self-select into groups based on their interests, abilities, previous work experiences, and educational or work goals.

In addition to the restructured workshop, a comprehensive workplace readiness program would offer other educational opportunities. For instance, it would be beneficial to initiate a mentoring program between area employers and Dundee high school students or have Dundee students spend a day on the job at local businesses. Also, it would be helpful to integrate workplace readiness education into other parts of the curriculum, such as reading biographies that highlight peopleUs work for English, studying how conflict management has influenced foreign affairs for Social Studies, or teaching math skills that have direct application to the workplace in Math. Finally, instructional strategies that encourage cooperative problem solving could be incorporated throughout the curriculum. Of course, to implement these follow-up activities, we would address the need for faculty training on how to integrate workplace readiness skills in the curriculum.