Context and Conditions

This project was developed for MIT 510: Design and Development of Instructional Technology in the spring of 2002 under the direction of Dr. Mahnaz Moallem. The New Hanover County School System had a performance problem regarding the lack of Riverdeep Software usage within the secondary schools. The complete front-end analysis included: conducting a needs assessment, analyzing existing policies and procedures, identifying causes of the problem, identifying possible solutions. After identifying the causes, it was determined that a possible solution was to provide training for all secondary teachers. The final plan included a problem statement, design, implementation, and evaluation plan of an instructor-led training for secondary teachers in the New Hanover County School System.

The project was completed in collaboration with a fellow MIT student, Beth Allred, who was also a New Hanover County schools secondary teacher at the time. Together, we completed the project with the intentions that it would only take one school year to complete.

Scope

The front end analysis report consisted of results of the needs analysis, problem analysis, cause analysis, and a summary of the proposed solution. Information was gathered by conducting interviews with stakeholders within the system. The stakeholders included the technology department, computer resource teachers, classroom teachers, and Riverdeep software experts. In addition to conducting interviews, information gathering included collecting monthly reports, lab schedules, and conducting observations. The analysis of the information identified the conditions of the how the system is performing and how the system should be performing. The implementation plan includes a proposed training solution. It describes the problem and how the training solution should be designed, developed, and implemented. Microsoft Project software was used to plan the major tasks and the timeline of the project.

The project proposal was intended for use in New Hanover County Schools. It was submitted to the New Hanover County School’s superintendent John Morris in May 2002. There is no data that can confirm the use of the plan. Although the software still exists at the secondary level, it is unknown whether or not the training package is used to prepare teachers for using the software.

Role

Because the project was completed for a course, I was involved in every aspect of the analysis and design. I assumed a dual role on this project as a systems analyst and a project manager. As a systems analyst, I collected information from the county technology department and secondary schools and analyzed causes of the problem. Our positions in the school system gave us the ability to provide input during the analysis and design of the project.

Reflection

In the analysis phase of this project, I learned how to think of a system at the macro level and identify the stakeholders within a system. It was important to understand the roles of the stakeholders throughout this process in order to gather appropriate information that would help determine causes for the problem. While designing the training program, I gained experience in planning using timelines, budgets, and possible constraints. I had to learn how to see the solution in a larger scale and find ways to make use of facilities and resources that already exist. It was interesting to find that a training program was implemented and did not produce the results that were anticipated. As an analyst in this case I had to find out why the original training did not work and how to use training as a solution to produce different results. After looking at the final plan, I feel the need for additional support for the teachers. It included extended support for teachers that would encourage continuity during the implementation of the software usage. However, I believe that in order to increase individual motivation, the plan should include an additional schedule of work sessions that allow teachers to present success stories in person and provide work sessions to develop more lessons for use in the classroom.