Overview
As an instructional designer for the Master of Professional Studies in Organization Development and Change (MPS-OD&C) program at the Pennsylvania State University, I worked on the revision of TRDEV 565, Implementing Training and Development Programs, for the Fall 2016 semester. The course is delivered online through Penn State World Campus. My task was to revise its structure and content in line with newly proposed material and to prepare it for launch on the course site.
Contents
The revised course is organised as a course-logic unit followed by thirteen lessons:
- Introduction to implementing training and development interventions
- Effective OD practice
- Entering and contracting
- Applying a critical lens
- Discourse and diagnosing
- Designing and developing interventions
- Taking action and managing change
- Getting ready
- Intervention modules: restructuring and work design
- Intervention modules: performance management and talent management
- Intervention modules: workforce diversity and transformational change
- Wrapping up
- Final
Each lesson follows the same pattern: a road map, the content pages, and the lesson activities (discussion forums, reflections, case study responses, and a project plan). The course-logic unit holds the syllabus, major assignments, requirements, schedule, and project tools.
Tools and materials
- A written workflow: build a test course, revise the content there, validate structure and content, then upload to the World Campus site.
- A test course site on Open edX, used because the content is delivered as HTML and transfers easily.
- A page template to keep the layout consistent across lessons.
- A project toolkit for students: implementation plan examples, RACI charts, process maps, and a project team charter.
- A meeting log tracking revisions and follow-ups.