In this proposal, we highlight the process of designing a graduate-level blended training workshop and present the evaluation results from three different sources. The blended workshop was focused on preparing female graduate students at a large midwestern university for enhancing their knowledge and skills for successful job interviews.
Introduction
This proposal aims to discuss the process of designing a blended training workshop for female graduate students and present the evaluation results. The project was originally initiated from a graduate-level class in instructional design at a large U.S Midwestern university. The team includes three graduate students majoring in Instructional Technology who have strong interests in designing a workshop to prepare female graduate students in their job-market competency.
Literature Review
Research on assessing or understanding the needs and experiences of graduate students beyond the classroom in the context of higher education is scarce (Rizzolo et al., 2016). Few studies have focused on the effects of graduate student involvement or their professional development experience at all degree levels (Gardner & Barnes, 2007). Despite the scant research, evidence from existing studies has indicated that structured professional development activities and community connection were necessary and beneficial to graduate students to remain actively engaged and involved in the higher education setting (Pontius & Harper, 2006; Dean, Woodard, & Cooper, 2007).
Need Analysis
Aligned with previous studies, our exploratory survey at a large U.S Midwestern university indicated that female graduate students, in particular, were concerned with the availability of campus-wide resources for professional development, specifically how to prepare for job interviews and female-centric academia preparation and mentorship. The preliminary survey showed that 60% of the female students surveyed expressed a preference for a blended format for instructional delivery, and 80% preferred spending only 30-60 minutes per week for any additional training.
Overview of the Blended Workshop
In order to accommodate these students’ needs, we designed a blended workshop for female graduate students in Fall 2015 that aimed to provide a high-efficient and self-paced training on job interviews as an essential part of their professional development. The blended format involves a week-long online session via a learning management system (Blackboard Learn), and a one-hour face-to-face workshop held on campus. The content of the online instructional unit “Job Interview Tips and Skills” included readings and discussions on the topics of interview preparation, questions for and in interviews, appropriate attire, and others. As for the face-to-face session, a guest speaker with expertise in career development provided participants with the opportunity of practicing in a mock interview and addressed their concerns in a Q&A discussion. During the face-to-face session, students could apply what they have learned in the online session to real-life scenarios and further extend their understanding of the reading materials.
Instructional Design Approach
The ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Develop, Implementation, and Evaluation) Model was adopted to guide the design process of this training workshop because its simple, intuitive and cyclical features that evolve over time and can potentially engage developers in problem-solving throughout the planning and implementation process (Peterson, 2003). Additionally, ARCS Model of Motivational Design (Keller, 1987) was used for promoting student motivation in the learning process. The four steps were implemented throughout the design of this training workshop: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. In the presentation, we will discuss how we used and adapted both models to make necessary modifications to better fit into our specific outcomes and contexts.
Evaluation Methods & Results
To evaluate this training workshop, the instructional design team relied upon three main strategies including SME review, peer review, and a student exit survey, in order to get a comprehensive evaluation result from different perspectives.
In order to better serve the instructional needs of our learners, we interviewed two SMEs. Through these interviews, we aimed to become informed about content and resources that could be implemented in each of the learning modules. During the entire design and development stages of our unit, we engaged with our SMEs in providing constructive feedback, suggestions, and recommendations to improve the quality of course content for each learning module. Additionally, all team members reviewed each of the learning modules to verify the consistency of the format like the layout, font size, and visual design.
We also developed a Student Exit Survey in Qualtrics to collect participants demographic information, feedback for each session, and overall experience and recommendations. Based on the results, we found all learners were very satisfied with the overall quality and strongly agreed that most learning materials and activities were consistent with stated objectives that provided a good overview on job interview preparation. Our participants also identified several areas for future improvement of the online modules including interface design, navigation issues, and additional content topics. More details and discussions on the evaluation results will be presented during the conference.
How to Engage the Audience
In order to create an easy-to-follow presentation, we plan to showcase both workshop sessions by providing a quick tour of our Blackboard page and playing a trailer video from the recorded face-to-face sessions. Additionally, we will provide a handout for the audience for a quick summary of our instructional design approach and highlighted results from three different types of evaluation methods.