In response to Rob Phillips request, here's a case study of courseware I worked on (SCORE) and my comments on the process:
AT&T has an on-going need for qualified customer service personnel. In order to promote people to these positions from within the company, AT&T found it necessary to enhance some of their personnel's basic skills.
The Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy at Penn State, in conjunction with AT&T Corporate Human Resources and Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Florida, developed customer service computer-assisted instruction for adults reading at the 6th to 9th grade reading levels. The courseware was designed to assist learners in acquiring basic skills within the context of the customer service job domain. The courseware is called SCORE (Sales and Customer Service Occupational Readiness Education). SCORE consists of five modules (see Table 1). Module 1 teaches the novice computer user how to use a computer and introduces the learner to the rest of the courseware. Modules 2 through 5 each consist of four scenarios (computer microworlds) which enables the learner to learn about using forms, charts, manuals, and computers as reference tools. A strong attempt was made to fold learning theories and design principles relevant to microworlds into the scenarios. All scenarios revolve around a customer service theme. The scenarios represent a variety of work environments, including banks, credit companies, telephone companies, and insurance companies. Each scenario has specific activities the learner must accomplish. Each scenario has supporting lessons the learner can access as desired or needed. Modules 2 through 5 are hierarchical in difficulty; Module 2 being composed of relatively easy activities to difficult activities in Module 5.
SCORE represents about 40 hours of CBT, and is part of an overall curriculum AT&T devised for their customer service people. SCORE was seen as phase 1, with in-depth live role-playing (developed externally to SCORE) as phase 2.
Module 1: How to Use the Computer
- Computer Use
- The Keyboard and Mouse
- Using This Courseware
- Answer Formats
Module 2: Information Sharing
- Form Lookup Scenario
- Chart Lookup Scenario
- Procedure via Manual Lookup Scenario
- Telephone # Lookup on Computer Scenario
Module 3: Simple Customer Contact
- Assist in Form Completion Scenario
- Product Information via Chart Scenario
- Updating a Manual Scenario
- Billing Inquiry via Computer Scenario
Module 4: Complex Customer Contact
- Complete a Form Scenario
- Create a Chart Scenario
- Write a Letter Scenario
- Billing Adjustment via Computer Scenario
Module 5: Sales
- Recommend a Product via Form Scenario
- Recommend a Product via Chart Scenario
- Offer a New Service Scenario
- Cross Selling via Computer Scenario
AT&T surveyed many job sites to identify what their customer service people need to do. These jobs and activities were termed "critical incidents." The critical incidents identified by AT&T were then analyzed in a literacy task analysis by the Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy at Penn State to identify the basic skills they required. The Comprehensive Adult Learner Assessment System (CASAS) list of basic skills needed in the workplace was used to aid the analysis. CASAS is a California-based, nationally validated adult education curriculum management and assessment system.
A microworld-based design approach was discussed and accepted by all team members. I believe it was accepted for two reasons: We did our homework (background research), and had prior development success with microworlds of a similar nature. SCORE brings direct relevance to the learner by the nature of its design. In SCORE scenarios, learners learn by doing. Constructivism, functional context theory, situated learning theory, andragogy theory, and experiential learning theory all support this methodology. At the request of AT&T, a strong emphasis was placed on developing learner's metacognitive skills.
Members of the design team used standard storyboarding/scripting techniques to develop the microworlds on paper. All team members reviewed the first several storyboards to make sure everything was on track. From that point, we starting scenarios while working on additional storyboards. The Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) used volunteer students to test the prototypes as they were developed. Feedback from instructors and students was used to modify the courseware.
The courseware was developed using Authorware Professional and is cross-platform. I don't consider it true multimedia in that it doesn't use movies, sounds, etc. The main delivery platform (dictated to us by AT&T) was a PC 386 without CD-ROM or sound card, so it would have been impossible to include these elements.
In addition to courseware, a print-based curriculum was developed by Dr. Linda Baker, University of Maryland, a noted expert on metacognition. The print-based curriculum complements the courseware in that one of its goals was to teach metacognitive principles.
Our plans were ambitious, and we worked hard to obtain them. Like many multimedia developers, we found that things always take longer than expected. My advice is to use minimalist plans and add to them if possible. It's better to over-deliver than to over-promise.
Our project ran fairly smoothly because we took the time up front to structure it. That's the best way to do it.
SCORE is in use today, but it looks somewhat dated. We completed it several years ago, and unlike wine, multimedia does not age well! Bugs are minimal--I've received only several reports of bugs in the past several years, and all were easily fixed. I divide bugs into three categories: crash & burn, typos & other glitches, and conceptual disagreements (you did it this way, but I think you should have done it that way). Most bugs are in the glitches category. From a design standpoint, SCORE is the most solid product I've ever developed. I attribute this to teamwork, up-front planning, and no sudden shifts in direction from anyone involved in the development. All team members got along fairly well, though there was some finger-pointing that occurred when problems arose. Fortunately we had a person who was able to smooth out these difficulties--a very important role.
I'd like to update SCORE and add some sorely needed multimedia components and some conceptual ideas I have, but it was developed under a govtovernment grant, and AT&T is split up now. In order to update/upgrade it I would have to jump through too many hoops.
If you want to see a demo, go to:
Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. Feel free to ask questions.