Some years ago, I was in an e-learning company. I was creating web based tutorials for its client. The project required a lot of instructional designers, but they were in short supply. So the company hired writers from various fields. They had to meet quality standards, but could be from any field- web content writing, technical writing, journalism, even teaching. The company would provide a crash course in instructional design and we would be put on the project.
I myself was a technical writer.
Because it was a huge project for a huge overseas client, we tried to deliver ahead of schedule. There was hardly time for training.
It was a steep learning curve--the various learning models and theories, expected learning outcomes, content analysis, lesson design, assessments-- all the nuances of instructional design packed into hardly a week of training. We would learn the rest on the job, we were told.
Needless to say, the first tutorials that we produced weren't up to the mark. The senior instructional designers put them through several rounds of reviews to bring them up to quality standards.
The stress levels and the attrition rate was sky high. New employees came and went. To add to their woes, many of them had relocated and were still adjusting to life in the megapolis.
At the end of a particularly frustrating day, I opened the company's employee feedback site and wrote down my concerns. I remember having written that learning has to be a fun process, not something to dread. Even toddlers, when they learn to walk, fall down many times.,,
Naive, was'nt it? Tell that to the MNC that's billing you by the minute and you lose the contract. But something had to be done. Atleast explore the options.
I thought nobody had read it, for there never was a formal acknowledgment. Then one day, in the midst of a brief elevator conversation, a middle level manager told me, chidingly: ...and that is why, you've to get it right the first time..
That was my reply. But would it do any good if the employees on that project never again wanted to work there?
I myself was a technical writer.
Because it was a huge project for a huge overseas client, we tried to deliver ahead of schedule. There was hardly time for training.
It was a steep learning curve--the various learning models and theories, expected learning outcomes, content analysis, lesson design, assessments-- all the nuances of instructional design packed into hardly a week of training. We would learn the rest on the job, we were told.
Needless to say, the first tutorials that we produced weren't up to the mark. The senior instructional designers put them through several rounds of reviews to bring them up to quality standards.
The stress levels and the attrition rate was sky high. New employees came and went. To add to their woes, many of them had relocated and were still adjusting to life in the megapolis.
At the end of a particularly frustrating day, I opened the company's employee feedback site and wrote down my concerns. I remember having written that learning has to be a fun process, not something to dread. Even toddlers, when they learn to walk, fall down many times.,,
Naive, was'nt it? Tell that to the MNC that's billing you by the minute and you lose the contract. But something had to be done. Atleast explore the options.
I thought nobody had read it, for there never was a formal acknowledgment. Then one day, in the midst of a brief elevator conversation, a middle level manager told me, chidingly: ...and that is why, you've to get it right the first time..
That was my reply. But would it do any good if the employees on that project never again wanted to work there?
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