Author Archives: Cindy McCourt

In today’s world of do it better, do it faster, we often look to technology to save the day. There isn’t anything wrong with looking to technology for opportunities to improve. The challenge arises when the technology is chosen before the process that needs to be improved is analyzed. This happens for many reasons. SomeContinue reading “Process versus System”

There are a lot books out there on facilitation. They all say basically the same thing. They tell you a well planned event is better than one you do off the cuff. This is true. However, the best made facilitation plans have unknown factors that can prevent the plan from being successfully executed. I startedContinue reading “Facilitation Tricks of the Trade”

I like to distinguish between measure, metric, and measurement because when it comes to process improvement, design, benchmarking, and re-engineering, there is a difference between what you want to know (measure) what it is that can be collected (metric) when that information is available (interval) what the measurement is against (process or product) what theContinue reading “Understanding Measures, Metrics, and Measurements”

The process of Drupal web design has moved to the front of my thoughts recently. I am not necessarily talking about the graphic design but instead the information architecture component of the design. I started thinking about how much has changed since I was creating basic HTML sites. What constituted planning back then seems aContinue reading “A Drupal Life-cycle”

In brick-and-mortar higher education institutions, where online learning is a grass roots effort, the quality of the course is dependent upon the professor/instructor. In other words, online environments quite often mirror classroom environments. A good classroom environment often translates to a reasonable online experience as well. The professors who put as much energy into theirContinue reading “Online Instructional Development in Higher Ed”

When we are given a tool that makes the development of online learning easier for the novice, we risk loosing the power of the design process. The temptation to open the course shell in Blackboard, for example, and start adding sections, items, folders, documents, etc. can be overwhelming. Add to this temptation the fact thatContinue reading “Instructional Design versus Building Online Courses”

What is cross-training? I use this term to describe a management approach I tried as a Project Control Manager for TRW. A project control manager is responsible for managing the financial books of a government contract. The number of staff in this type of office is often limited in order to keep total project costsContinue reading “Building a Dynamic Workplace with Cross-Training”

When I help instructors move from the classroom to online, I start with what they know (learning theory 101). It is easier to move forward one-step-at-a-time versus leaping. The following don’t have to be done in the order they are listed. Imagine I ask the instructors to close their eyes and imagine the first dayContinue reading “Building a Virtual Classroom (TM)”

Most of us have either heard of someone being certified to do something or maybe we have been through a certification process ourselves. Depending on the certification, the process could be to simply take a test. Or, it could be more involved such as to include one or more of the following: multiple exams, training,Continue reading “Building a Certification Program”