Wicked Problem Final

PART A: The Wicked Problem - A Need or an Opportunity
I currently teach in the Alternative Education department for my school district. Recently, my district has switched from PLATO to Compass Learning as a more cost-effective way to provide online classes to use in the Alternative Ed program, the Credit Recovery Program, and the Summer School program. While the district paid for and set up training for teachers when we first made the switch to Compass Learning, staffing has changed dramatically since it was initially implemented. As a result, teachers who have never administered Compass Learning classes have been thrown into the classes with little to no training.

As a teacher who has been using Compass Learning since the beginning, many teachers turn to me for help. My colleagues often call or email me with questions and in need of help troubleshooting a problem that they are having with the program. While I don’t mind answering their questions and helping them out, I feel that most of their questions could be easily solved with some sort of training guide or FAQ reference material. I am also too swamped with trying to manage my own classroom of Alternative Ed students to take phone calls from other staff members all day long.

You may ask why I am the person being contacted concerning this. There are a few factors that go into that. First of all, our technology department for the entire district is composed of two employees. Their response to work orders is slow at best and not for lack of effort. Secondly, the resource materials from Compass Learning itself do not seem to be helpful, especially to teachers who are already afraid of a computer. The directions provided by Compass Learning are too short and do not explain steps well. They are also lacking images. Staff members get easily confused trying to follow the directions sheet provided. I myself have tried the support line. While they are friendly and helpful when you can get through, teachers cannot spend 20 minutes on hold in a automated telephone system while trying to manage their classrooms. Finally, my colleagues know that I am willing to help and can usually answer any question they may have.

To address this issue with technology, I would like to create a resource for teachers in my district to access at any time. Originally, I wanted to create videos using Jing or Camtasia to demonstrate how to perform common tasks and the most asked about tasks in the Compass Learning program. Unfortunately, after many test runs I could not get videos to play on some teachers computers. The computers are older and would not open the video files. I tried to use a link from www.screencast.com and even my blog, but both are blocked by my district.

Since our computers are not “video friendly”, I decided instead to create a PowerPoint presentation using screen shots and audio to walk teachers through frequently asked questions and problems. It is also an easier to distribute to staff as not all computers in the building can support video.

PART B: Application of TPACK
As I learned in Session 2, there is a formal name for teaching teachers or Professional Development. (Hooray for expanding my vocabulary!) I therefore used the principles in andragogy to teach my fellow teachers how to use the Compass Learning program.

When I had to talk my co-workers through a problem over the phone, I learned quickly that they needed short and simple directions. I knew this would also apply to a presentation or training session. I also know from reading and from personal experience, that teacher training is most effective when it can be accessed after the initial training has finished. The training I planned covered the four needs Malcolm Knowles outlined: I addressed why the staff needed to know it; it built on their previous experiences with PowerPoint and the initial Compass Learning training; it was presented as a problem I wanted to solve for them; and it was relevant as teachers were expressing a need for help on using Compass Learning.

I decided to use PowerPoint as the technology to deliver my training for several reasons:

1. Teachers in my building are more familiar with PowerPoint than using videos.
2. PowerPoint will also be easier for my district to utilize in the future.
3. I would not have to worry if a teacher’s computer does not have the ability to play a video because it is out of date. All computers in the district have PowerPoint and I have saved it in Word 97-2003 format to ensure it is compatible for them. Teachers can be (and have been) given print outs of the slide show with an area to take notes on. Teachers would be able to click through the slides at their own pace after the initial training has been completed.

PowerPoint has made the content knowledge (learning how to use Compass Learning) more accessible to teachers because I used it to directly show teachers how to do tasks in Compass Learning step-by-step. I inserted screen shots and audio to enhance what I am teaching them. Those functions will help those teachers who just need to “see it” or “hear it” without have to use video. Some teachers in my building would just be overwhelmed if I put the content into a video. They would struggle with getting the video to play and give up on trying to learn what I am showing them about Compass Learning. Ultimately, it would result in calling me about the video, and I would be no better off.

However putting it into a PowerPoint format allows teachers to watch the presentation or look at just the slides they need on their own time, after my initial training. They can and did take notes during my presentation. I also made it a hands on activity by having them open the Compass Learning program and do each step or each task as I explained it and not have to pause a video. The PowerPoint has also been made available for access after the fact through an email attachment. I also printed out the PowerPoint presentation to act as a pseudo manual to reference.

Again, I made sure to focus on using andragogy to create a quality professional development experience. As a teacher in the same building, I am uniquely aware of the technology limitations and the nervousness that older staff members have when it comes to learning technology. In some ways, I feel that because of this, I can address these issues more effectively than a trainer coming in from the outside. I can use the same terminology that I know my colleagues use every day to help them understand exactly what I am doing so that they are not caught up in trying to translate what they are being taught into what they already know.

Part C: Implementation:
For my partial implementation, I had created a PowerPoint that covered how to add a student to a Compass Learning class and how to make sure they were assigned the proper assignment and presented it to Brian (no relation to my Group 1 member), who is my colleague in the classroom next door to me. He had given me positive feedback, so I decided to offer a training session to the other teachers in the building that use Compass Learning. I used the feedback from Brian and inserted arrows in PowerPoint to indicate where to click and which menus or buttons I was referring to.

I had two new teachers show up for the second training plus my original guinea pig. All attendees had positive feedback. I also printed out the slides with room for notes so teachers could jot down their own reminders. I received many comments that the handouts with space for notes was a great idea.

The one thing I did not and should have planned on was the amount of questions following the second training. Since I had only focused on one topic, the teachers that came naturally wanted to ask questions about other problem concerning the program. To address this, I used the Demo tool in my Vision program to demonstrate more solutions to the teachers. I just recently learned how to use the Demo tool in Vision. It works great for showing learners (whether it be students or fellow teachers) exactly what menus, links, etc they need to click on to accomplish a certain task. Unfortunately, I do not have a way to record these demos on the school computers. There is no record function in the Vision program.

Part D: Wicked Problem Project – Findings and Implications
For the most part, the project has been implemented as planned. I did have to scale back how much information I put into the PowerPoint, but as I have stated before, I will continue to add to the document. I plan to keep adding to the PowerPoint or maybe create a PowerPoint for each individual topic as resource document to submit to my district for use in the future. The one thing I did not plan on was the amount of questions following the second training. Since I had only focused on one topic, the teachers that came naturally wanted to ask questions about other problem concerning the program. To address this, I used the Demo tool in my Vision program to demonstrate more solutions to the teachers. I just recently learned how to use the Demo tool in Vision. It works great for showing learners (whether it be students or fellow teachers) exactly what menus, links, etc they need to click on to accomplish a certain task. Unfortunately, I do not have a to record these demos on the school computers. There is no record function in the Vision program. I even tried installing Jing on my teacher’s computer at school. Downloading programs is not permitted. I have submitted a request to the technology department and I am waiting to hear back if they will install Jing or not. I have also requested to get a microphone and speakers. That is also still in limbo.

I feel the project so far has been quite successful. The teacher that did attend the training have expressed that it was very helpful and that they understood the directions better than when the company representative had come in when we originally purchased the program. Like the original training, the teachers expressed that they understood my directions better, because I used simple, short steps with familiar terms and language. One of the teachers also expressed that they were happy that I gave them a print out that they could add notes to as well as refer to later. They expressed they would rather refer to that document before picking up the telephone to call me directly during class. This was my original goal and I was ecstatic to actually hear my colleagues acknowledge that I might need a break from all of the phone calls.


If I were to approach another project of this type, I think I would approach it with less skepticism. I have to admit that I went into thinking I would not be able to make it work given the lack of technology. I was very skeptical that I would find a way to not only present the training and find a way to easily distribute it in the future. I had originally wanted to create videos using Jing, but once I took a step back and thought about it, I was able to come up with the solution of using PowerPoint instead. I also think I would not underestimate the teaching staff either. I truly felt that if I created the Jing videos, teachers would not know how to play them using their older computers in their classrooms. I did not even consider that they might be willing to access the videos at home and watch them there. Finally, I think I would also start off with a better idea of how much information I can prepare in a short amount of time. I originally wanted to cover much more material than I had time for. This experience has taught me to be careful about not biting off more than I can chew. I have learned to start small and add to a project instead of being overly ambitious and causing myself to get overwhelmed with the task.


I also feel that others might learn the following from my experience:

1. You can make a difference in your own building.
2. Districts do not need to hire expensive trainers if someone is willing to put in some time and effort – a true cost saver.
3. There is a way to make the technology that you have work, no matter what the constraints. Don’t look at it as limiting. Make what you have work for you.

As stated before, if I were to do this project again, I would change the following things:

1. I would create demonstration videos using Jing for teachers to access at home.
2. I would complete different topics about Compass Learning in smaller, more manageable chunks. Not only would this help me achieve the goal, it would make the training more manageable. I could do a series of short trainings and not keep colleagues after school too long.
3. I would like to find a way to create a video to add into PowerPoint that would be compatible with our older computers.
4. I would like to purchase (or have the district purchase) USB drives to save the PowerPoint documents and videos on for teachers to access.
5. I would like to get the technology department to add the files to the Shared drive for the district for easy access.

Finally, the project has been a success simply because I receive far less phone calls. Previously, I received phone calls everyday or every other day. I now only receive a call for help every now and then, about once every two weeks. And even then, it is usually for a problem that I might not have even considered to put into a FAQ format instead of basic operational questions.

I look forward to creating more PowerPoint presentations and creating Jings of some demonstrations for teachers to access from home. I will be presenting my final video to my Program Director next week. He is anxious to see my final product!