Running head: SILVER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL WRITING 1

Silver Creek High School Writing Revision Client Project

Team 5: Jonathan Watts, Karen Currie, Kelleth Chinn, Brian Hill, Anna Hild

California State University, Monterey Bay

July 18, 2018

IST 626 Advanced Instructional Design

Dr. Jeanne Farrington

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Introduction

Part of an effective high school education is the preparation of necessary skills that

enable students to be successful in future academic endeavors, as well as in the general

workforce and society. The ability to express oneself in writing is paramount to these

organizational goals. Based on student writing samples and client communication, students are

displaying a lack of knowledge or awareness in their ability to express themselves through

formal academic writing. In addition, our client shared that students lack the beneficial habit of

regularly reviewing and revising their written work. As training addresses a gap in knowledge,

skills, or attitude, it is evident that the targeted learners will benefit from training on the subject.

Client and Organizational Goals

Silver Creek High School encourages students to work towards the goal of attending a

four-year college or university. To this end, the school aims to help students acquire the

necessary skills that will enable them to be successful in post-secondary academic work, as well

as in the general workforce and society. The ability to express oneself in writing is paramount to

these organizational goals.

Our client, Shelley Wessels, Social Sciences Instructor at Silver Creek High School,

requested an online asynchronous training solution to assist students through independently

planning and revising their written work in a variety of content areas. To achieve a training

solution, it was imperative that the training requested be separated into two different learning

modules. As a precursor to our module, an additional instructional design team, “Team

Wolfpack,” designed tools to support the same students with pre-writing needs. The two

instructional design teams were able to collaboratively create a seamless training solution to
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meet students’ academic needs and support them to the level of proficiency outlined by our

client.

Learner Analysis

The target audience for this training will include Silver Creek High School Students. The

students are enrolled in both Advanced Placement (AP) classes as well as non-AP classes. Many

of these students come from families that fall below the poverty line, are first- or second-

generation Americans and speak English as a second language. The class has a Chromebook cart

to use to complete writing assignments, with access to Google apps for education. Away from

school some students have computers or Chromebooks available to them, while others rely on

the use of their smartphones to continue the process.

Based on student writing samples and client communication, students are displaying a

lack of knowledge or awareness in their ability to express themselves through formal academic

writing. In addition, our client shared that students lack the beneficial habit of regularly

reviewing and revising their written work. As training addresses a gap in knowledge, skills, or

attitude, it is evident that the targeted learners will benefit from training on self-editing their own

work. These high-school students already have basic writing skills, as the client currently

includes a significant amount of writing in her classes, and they presumably complete writing

assignments in other classes as well. According to the client, the students are currently writing in

the form of short answers, paragraphs, and essays. The students also have experience with

Chromebooks and the Google Apps for Education Suite.

Project Description

After examining a summary of common errors in student work, provided by our client,

the focus of our learning module was refined to three key components: grammar, spelling, and
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formatting. Through the use of branching learning scenarios, our instructional tool enables

students to independently work at their own level, self-identify their unique errors, and correct

them. Our module is accessible through Google Sites, and utilizes tools within Google Apps for

Education. As both applications are available and supported in our client’s instructional

environment, it will be a format the learners are familiar with.

Upon entering the Google Site, learners are directed to watch a quick instructional video

that walks them through the components of this website. Under the instructional video the initial

homepage consists of two options labeled, Writing and Editing. The writing portion of the

website was designed by The Wolfpack team and was created to guide users through the writing

process. Once users have finished writing their assignment, they access the Editing portion of the

website. By clicking on this option, users are directed to another page which consists of an

overview of topics to be covered, along with additional resources for each topic. Users are then

instructed to move onto the next page; this page gives them the option to edit according to

spelling or format. Upon arrival on either the Spelling/Grammar or Formatting/Structure page,

learners will watch a video describing how to download a Google Sheets checklist, along with a

video describing how this checklist should be used side-by-side with their written work. The

learning and assessment activities are all housed in a Google Sheets checklist, which learners

download after watching the first two videos.

Design Decisions

One of the first changes in design dealt with the decision to use Google Sites in place of

Weebly. Our team’s original decision to use Weebly was due to the more elegant design and

ease-of-use of its embedded tools. After reviewing some of our initial plans with our client, she

suggested we use Google Sites to be consistent with the other tools so all instructional tools
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could live within the Google Apps domain. An added benefit to this change is that we would be

able to transfer ownership to our client’s district-provided Google account after completion of

the project.

Other small changes involved color schemes throughout our deliverables. While some of

the initial site was colored following Silver Creek High School’s colors, our instructional

modules and assessment modules were immediately colored orange, as well, to provide

consistency in the learner’s experience.

One of the biggest design changes we faced was making sure we understood exactly what

the client wanted in terms of content. Although we previewed the prototype with our client

throughout the entire process, upon completion of the product, we received feedback from our

client that we had not included certain elements she was looking for. We designed the module so

that students could walk themselves through their written work and edit as they complete each

module. However, she requested additional instructional material outlining this process as it

related directly to editing student work. To remedy this, we included instructional videos on each

page that walk the learners through a step-by-step process of using the modules alongside their

written work. After completion of these videos, though, our client provided additional feedback

that an aspect not mentioned in previous discussions, and only minimally mentioned in written

communication, was vital to the complete project. Given a short time frame to address a complex

issue, we decided to create a couple in-depth screencasts walking the learners through a sample

essay’s content to revise their thesis and supporting details. After the insertion of these videos,

though, our client continued revising her expectations and still expressed confusion about some

of the more basic elements of the website for which she had already previewed and given

positive feedback. The videos were then removed and replaced with a simple step-by-step
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checklist of each topic with hyperlinked resources. Although the initial three videos were

considered a great addition to the site by all designers involved, we ultimately removed them and

went with the client’s requests, instead.

Evaluation

To ensure defect prevention, our team used an informal method for developmental

testing. Team member Brian was assigned to test the module; his task was to walk through each

step of the module while taking notes on defects and issues. These notes were then sent to Jon

and Kelleth who in turn edited the module as necessary. Once Brian finished reviewing the

module, a beta test was conducted. The beta test consisted of three secondary education teachers.

A link with instructions to the module was sent to the three educators. Each educator provided

positive feedback and one of the educators asked for the job aids to use in her own classroom.

This module is meant to be used as a checklist multiple times by the client’s students as

writing assignments are disseminated; it does not require formal testing of the learner. Each

learning module includes questions to check student understanding of the concept, with remedial

videos and text when an answer is incorrect. Learners then complete a post-test of each

individual module for the instructor to find general trends of her class’ performance in each

topic. Our decision to use Google Forms gives our client an advantage in monitoring her

students’ progress. The client will be able to view the data from all her students as they use the

quiz modules. Since Google Forms provides summaries of data in graphs and statistical

representations, it will also allow her the ability to see trends throughout the entire class. She will

also have the ability to focus on individual students’ progress and from there can direct them on

where they need improvement in their writing.

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Teamwork

Team 5 consisted of five individual team members. Each team member was assigned a

certain task to ensure every facet of the design process was addressed, see Table 1. Due to

limited access, only two team members of Team 5 were given access to the Google Sites, by the

client; Jon Watts and Kelleth Chinn were the two team members chosen. To ensure that every

remaining member of the group was given opportunity to contribute content, we set up a shared

google document in our team drive titled Writing Skills Activity. The Writing Skills activity

document was set up in a table format, with specific headings and subheadings, in which team

members could contribute content to be included in the training modules. As a team we

collaborated over the course of seven weeks, preparing the content to be entered into the website.

There were three keys to our success on this project. (1) Communication among

teammates was vital. As a team, we made sure that each piece of material and research

documents were made accessible to every teammate through our team Google Drive. We also

ensured that we communicated through email about different facets of the project and deadlines

to be met. (2) Communication with our client played a huge role in designing this training. In

order to maintain a professional relationship, our project manager, Karen, was the liaison

between our team and the client. This way our client was not bombarded by individual emails

from each teammate that had a question; this practice also allowed us to maintain a clear line of

communication with our client. All meetings with our client were held in a Zoom conferencing

session. All team members were able to attend each meeting, except one instance where we

informed the client ahead of time that the team member would not be present. (3)

Communication with The Wolfpack team was extremely vital to the success of designing this

module. Due to the amount of content the client wanted to cover, it became important early on in
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the project for us to communicate clearly with The Wolfpack team to ensure we were not

duplicating content or overloading students with too much content on either the pre-writing or

post-writing section. In order to establish a solid line of communication, both Karen and Anna

were assigned as point of contact for The Wolfpack team. Any meetings with The Wolfpack

team were held through a Zoom conferencing session.

Table 1

Team member roles broken down by tasks completed.

Role Name Tasks

Project Karen Currie ● Main correspondent to the Client

Manager/Facilitator ● Content contributor

Instructional Jon Watts ● Google Apps/Website content

Developer manager
● Designed and formatted the
website

Subject-Matter Expert Anna Hild ● Content contributor

● SME for English language and
writing skills

Prototype Manager Brian Hill ● Content contributor

● Quality assurance tester of the
module and sub-modules

Visual Designer Kelleth Chinn ● Google Apps/Website content

manager.
● Designed and formatted the
website
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Karen Currie

Karen served as the Project Manager and Facilitator. She was assigned as the main

correspondent between Team 5 and the client, Shelley Wessells; she was also the main

correspondent between Team 5 and The Wolfpack team. She ensured that all correspondence

was answered in a timely manner, and was responsible for coordinating each Zoom meeting with

our client and The Wolfpack team. Karen's professional background as an educator also allowed

her ample contribution to the content of the training modules.

Jon Watts

Jon's expertise was best suited for the design and implementation of the Google Site; he

served as the instructional developer for this project. Jon has vast experience working with

Google Sites and Google Apps, allowing him to select the medium best suited to meet the needs

of our client. He was also chosen as one of two members from our team to serve as the Google

Site editor. Collaborating on a unified format and layout, Jon, Kelleth, and two other members

from The Wolfpack team designed the Google Site. Part of this responsibility involved

integrating learning modules, quizzes, and instructional screencasts to the website through

embedded YouTube videos and a content-loaded Google Sheet.

Anna Hild

Anna was a Subject Matter Expert in writing and editing skills. As a former English

Instructor, she was able to contribute content such as MLA formatting and Thesis Statement

Development. She was also responsible for designing Thesis Statement, Paragraphs, MLA

Formatting, and Works Cited job aides. Through her content contributions and guidance, the
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Instructional and Visual Designers were able to create cohesive instruction and assessment

modules. Anna also served as the second point of contact for The Wolfpack team.

Brian Hill

Brian served as the Prototype Manager. Along with contributing content to the Writing

Skills Activity document, Brian was also responsible for testing the modules for quality

assurance. He completed each module, tested each link, and noted anything that needed the

attention of the Google Site editors. Brian was also responsible for collaborating with Anna on

the design of the Thesis Statement, Paragraphs, MLA Formatting, and Works Cited job aides.

Kelleth Chinn

Kelleth has vast expertise in Google Sites and Google Apps, which made him an

excellent Visual Designer for this project. Kelleth, like Jon, was chosen to be one of the Google

Site editors. Kelleth was responsible for entering the content from the Writing Activities Planner

into the different mediums chosen to include in the Google site. Kelleth designed and formatted

the training modules, which included branching navigation and a point system to collect student

assessment data to further instructional decisions of our client.

Challenges

When our team initially chose to work with Ms. Wessels, we were under the impression

that our background in education would give us an advantage in this assignment. We learned

quickly that no matter what the training, challenges will arise. Following are some of the

challenges Team 5 had to work through when designing this project:

1. The first challenge we faced as a team was selecting the project that suited all members

of our team. Upon reviewing the options, we each selected our first and second choice,
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and talked through each option presented. With all of our team members in the education

field, we felt we had the most knowledge in this area. Due to most of our team being on

the elementary side, we felt this would still provide us with a sufficient challenge to grow

our skills as a team.

2. The second challenge was our group size. With five members this seems like it would

not be an issue, but more hands do not always equal less work. Now that we are in our

third semester working together, we all have a very good sense of each other’s strengths

and have developed a close enough bond to be straightforward with task delegation. We

could have candid conversations about which role we would each take and were in

constant contact throughout the project to keep each member in the loop with progress,

updates, adjustments, and meeting schedules.

3. Another challenge was ensuring our team and the client were clear on the meeting times.

On our first conference call, for instance, our client joined the Zoom conference more

than twenty minutes prior to our scheduled meeting time. Fortunately, Karen, as our

project manager, receives an email each time someone joins the room, and could

coordinate the rest of the team joining early to meet with the client. Throughout the

summer, our client was rightfully enjoying her summer vacation so there was some wait

time between our emails and her responses. We did manage to make important

deadlines; however, looking back on it, having a set weekly call with her, along with a

shared calendar and call times, would have improved our lines of communication with

her.

4. The final challenge we overcame was making sure we were meeting the needs of the

client. As stated in the Design Decisions section, we designed the module so that
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students could walk themselves through their written work and edit as they complete each

module. However, although we had previewed the prototype with our client throughout

the entire design process, the client provided feedback that we had not included certain

design elements she was looking for. She requested additional instructional material

outlining this process as it related directly to editing student work. To remedy this, we

included instructional videos on each page that walk the learners through a step-by-step

process of using the modules alongside their written work. After completion of these

videos, though, our client provided additional feedback that an aspect not mentioned in

previous discussions, and only minimally mentioned in written communication, was vital

to the complete project. Given a short time frame to address a complex issue, we decided

to create a couple in-depth screencasts walking the learners through a sample essay’s

content to revise their thesis and supporting details. After the insertion of these videos,

though, our client continued revising her expectations and still expressed confusion about

some of the more basic elements of the website for which she had already previewed and

given positive feedback. The videos were then removed and replaced with a simple step-

by-step checklist of each topic with hyperlinked resources. Although the initial three

videos were considered a great addition to the site by all designers involved, we

ultimately removed them and went with the client’s requests, instead.

Advice for Future Students

While the process of development and design played out in a favorable manner for our

team, following is advice Team 5 would give to future students in the MIST program:

1. Learn your client’s availability. We found the quickest way to acquire a response to

communication was by knowing our client’s availability. Determine if work email,

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personal email, phone call, or text is their preferred method of contact early in the

process.

2. Establish team member assignments. From week one we established what each team

member’s contribution to this project would be. As things progressed, sometimes team

members roles changed, however, we found having done this held each member

accountable for their portion of the contributed work.

3. Keep in constant communication and contact with your client. If possible schedule a

weekly time that you can check in even if just do a fast update. We found that our client

was brief in her feedback, so we were sure to schedule Zoom conferencing meetings with

her to review the material and find out what she specifically liked and disliked about

what we were creating.

4. Meet with your team regularly. Our team utilized the Zoom conferencing tool often and

at all hours of the day. We had one set mandatory meeting a week in which each team

member was required to attend. Then throughout the weeks, as we were communicating

changes and progress, team members collaborating on different aspects of the project

would meet via Zoom individually. We found this mode of communication worked best

when we were trying to update each other about progress on the modules.

5. Create a separate folder under your Team Drive in Google to organize your materials.

This makes each item used and worked on accessible to every teammate. This practice

also helped us to keep our content for the modules organized.

6. Do as much work ahead of time as your schedule allows. While we felt we had a solid

moving pace with our project the last weeks of this session were jam packed with two
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papers due and the completion of the deliverable. If you can complete this early, it will

alleviate the stress of two large assignments on your to do list simultaneously.

7. Agree to expectations and come to this agreement in some form of writing. Also come up

with a deadline for any changes the client wants to have made. Without these agreements,

the client may change expectations continually, and want never-ending revisions made

without any ending point in sight.