The world has been experiencing gradual advancement in technology that affects organizational activities like communication. Various firms have been integrating new technological advancements in their operation to increase their efficiency (Goh & Sigala, 2020). The University of Michigan has constantly made effort to integrate technology in their system like having an online library. The online library allows students to access several e-books and other learning material from the comfort of their phones as long as they have the password. Such initiatives increase effectiveness for both the teaching and learning process. However, the COVID-19 disrupted the gradual plan and all cooperate institutions had to introduce a crush program on integrating technology in their operations. Social distancing for infection prevention pushed institutions to cut physical meetings use alternative digital platforms. The University of Michigan introduced online learning in response to COVID-19 precautions. The new strategy played a major role in preventing the viral disease, however, it caused massive interruption since most people were not conversant with the same (Archibald et al., 2019). To date, online learning faces significant drawbacks majorly because users lack necessary operational skills. This paper is a report to the institution management to design training programs for a digital communication platform.
Identifying a Single Platform for Official Communication
There were various communication platforms before the pandemic that were mainly used for social purposes. Skype and zoom for example have been there for some years but were mainly used for social purposes like in the case of Facebook and WhatsApp. Some of the apps were hardly known leave alone being used. However, they rapidly gain popularity with COVID-19 and almost everyone has at least one of the said apps on their phones. It is a good thing that they are several apps that can be used for official purposes like online classes. However, it is also disadvantageous when some lecturers prefer some apps over others. That may cause confusion among learners and may even miss classes due to confusion of migrating from one app to the other for a different lecture. Therefore, the university administration should decide which app will be used officially for online classes. The app of choice should be easy to use with no restrictions on the gadgets that can be applied. The initiative will make it easier for the training team to focus on a specific communication platform.
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Designing System Generated Training
Training can occur in various ways as long as the learner obtains the required skills. On the way of training lecturers and students on the use of online communication, platforms include designing system-generated training. The institution management should engage a technical team that will develop a system where users learn by direct interaction with the platform rather than a trainer. Such a system has an interactive stepwise learning process that moves from one stage to the other when the learner confirms to have understood the initial step. Some systems are made more efficient by integrating demo videos with theory for the learner for better understanding. The demos help the users identify the various feature that is not displayed on the layout of the chosen communication platform (McGill & Fiddler, 2021). For instance, the feature where the user writes a message to broadcast to all members of the meeting when it's ongoing may not be obvious for everyone. The institution should also ensure that the system generated training program has a self-evaluation feature at the end of the training. That allows the user to test their level of understanding. The learner may decide to undergo training afresh depending on the findings of the evaluation. That aspect will give them the confidence to use the platform identified either for learning or teaching skills in the online schooling program.
Conducting Online Training
System generated training on the use of the digital communication platform may not be fully effective. The learning process entails learners asking questions to clarify areas that they feel they need further or detailed explanation. The Michigan University management should therefore consider hiring experts in the digital platforms to educate users of the same. Due to COVID-19 precautions, the training would be best conducted online. The training should be done in small groups to increase easy interaction between the trainer and the learners. Such an initiative would help digital platform users ask questions on areas that they did not understand when using the system generated training. The trainer also has a chance to ask learners questions to evaluate their comprehension. Consequently, both parties with be contented that the users are skilled and ready to use the chosen digital platform for learning. The training also saves the lectures time wasted as they await students who delay joining meetings due to lack of knowledge.
Bench Marking other Departments and Firms
As mentioned earlier, digital communication platforms have been in use for some time by the various institution. Our institution for example has the distance learning department that offered the part of their training suing the platforms even before the pandemic. Such departments have enough experience to share on how best the platforms can be used. One of the challenges identified with online schooling is students leaving and joining the meeting when the session is ongoing (Shahmoradi et al., 2018). That interrupts the learning process and lectures should develop a strategy to minimize or prevent such interruptions (Kim, Park & O'Rourke, 2017). The department can also health the management identify the best platform to use based on the advantages and disadvantages that have been identified over time. The university management can also benchmark with other leading institutions to gain insight on the best way to integrate the platform and ensure maximum learning. Such information ensures that the institution avoids flaws that may delay or halt the learning process.
Users Opinion
The institution should also create a strategy that provides users to give their feedback and opinion on the identified digital platform. As much as the institution may think a specific platform is the best for its user, feedback is quite necessary. Both learners and lecturers can easily identify flaws associated with the various platform they use. The university should allow users to rate, critique as well as give positive reviews of apps chosen. That information is necessary to determine the need to improve the use of an app or change it completely (Kizilcec, Makridis, & Sadowski, 2021). The reviews given should be used to establish any weaknesses to serve as the basis to improve performance.
The current pandemic saw institutions integrate new was of operations in their systems to protect their people from the spread of the same. Schools, for instance, have to migrate to digital learning to reduce contacts that occur during class sessions (Suprianto et al., 2020).The rapid change forced institutions to adopt the available platforms with no time to train their users on the same. Consequently, various drawbacks are associated with the same including tame wastage and missing classes. Michigan should develop and implement effective teaching strategies that will ensure that users are conversant with the platforms chosen for online schooling.
References
Archibald, M. M., Ambagtsheer, R. C., Casey, M. G., & Lawless, M. (2019). Using zoom videoconferencing for qualitative data collection: perceptions and experiences of researchers and participants. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919874596.
Goh, E., & Sigala, M. (2020). Integrating Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) into classroom instruction: teaching tips for hospitality educators from a diffusion of innovation approach. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 20(2), 156-165.
Kim, S., Park, C., & O'Rourke, J. (2017). Effectiveness of online simulation training: Measuring faculty knowledge, perceptions, and intention to adopt. Nurse Education Today, 51, 102-107.
Kizilcec, R. F., Makridis, C. A., & Sadowski, K. C. (2021). Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(11).
McGill, M., & Fiddler, K. (2021). A User's Guide for Understanding and Addressing Telepractice Technology Challenges via ZOOM (Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 494-499). American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Shahmoradi, L., Changizi, V., Mehraeen, E., Bashiri, A., Jannat, B., & Hosseini, M. (2018). The challenges of E-learning system: Higher educational institutions perspective. Journal of education and health promotion, 7.
Suprianto, S., Arhas, S. H., Mahmuddin, M., & Siagian, A. O. (2020). The Effectiveness of Online Learning Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. Jurnal Ad'ministrare, 7(2), 321-330.
