Solution: Collaborative Training Environment

Scenario: A new automated staff information system was recently purchased by a major corporation and needs to be implemented in six regional offices. Unfortunately, the staff is located throughout all the different offices and cannot meet at the same time or in the same location. As an instructional designer for the corporation, you have been charged with implementing a training workshop for these offices. As part of the training, you were advised how imperative it is that the staff members share information, in the form of screen captures and documents, and participate in ongoing collaboration.

In this scenario, the client is in need of a training experience that would connect staff to the same content and connect the staff to each other because they are all housed in different locations and time zones. To ensure staff  has means to share screen shots, documents and participate in group discussions and projects, the robust features offered by VoiceThread is an excellent choice.  

“Software companies are creating user-friendly applications that are an asset to business and educational settings alike” (Beldarrain, 2006). This is, especially true of the company that produces VoiceThread. Communnication-driven, VoiceThread allows for the “overlapping fields of  experience” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2006) of students of varying levels, teachers, parents, administrators, managers, etc. This innovation is so easy to incorporate and use that elementary school children are participating in projects using VoiceThread. “VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds imges, documents,and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways- using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too” (Voicethread, 2011). 

VoiceThread is portable so that instructional designers can integrate into their Learning Management System (LMS). Voice Thread allows for discussions and comments “using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam)” (Voicethread, 2011).    A VoiceThread can, even, be embedded into the company website “allowing you to add interactive group discussions to any website. Simply copy and paste the embed code to your website and let the conversations begin. Whether it's feedback, critique, or group story-telling, collect it how, when, and where you want.” (Voicethread, 2011).

An example of successful usage of VoiceThread in distance learning can be found in a recent Walden University course I completed.  Another successful example of VoiceThread integration is available on the VoiceThread website, http://voicethread.com/ that hosts a gallery of ideas suitable for the collaborative application.

Another application that would work for this scenario is Live Documents by InstaColl.  “Live Documents is a web-enabled, collaborative office productivity suite that merges the richness and responsiveness of desktop software with the collaborative capabilities and reach of browser-based services” (Live Documents, 2010).  Live Documents allows end-users to work within and collaborate on documents and/live presentations.  Beldarrain emphasizes that “editing documents with

InstaColl™ is user-friendly; each student collaborating is assigned a color to identify individual edits” (Beldarrain,2006). This is an valuable organizational tool for the facilitator to track who is contributing to group projects. For the purposes of the scenario chosen, any group projects can be managed in-house to protect company integrity using the application in conjunction with the company’s firewall. Nothing needs to be installed and Live Documents is designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft Office products.  Live Documents require end-users have internet connectivity and a web browser along with Flash 10.  Live Documents offers a free version that does not limit the bells and whistles but does limit the document creation and storage space allowance.  

References:
Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and   
     collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2),139–153.

InstaColl (2010). Retrieved January 22, 2011 from http://www.live-documents.com/index.html.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance:
     Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

VoiceThread  (2011). Retrieved January 22, 2011from  http://voicethread.com/.