Target Audience, Purpose, Goals, and Technologies Required
The target audience for this mobile technologies implementation plan is business leaders looking for digital solutions for their remote workers, especially those in the fields of project management, HR, and product management. The purpose of this plan is to determine mobile solutions for managing employee projects and scheduling in remote work environments. The goals of this plan are to increase collaboration among remote employees, coordinate contractors’ availability and scheduling, establish fee schedules for contractors, and evaluate contractor performance. The mobile technologies that will be needed to launch this plan are mobile devices with high-speed Internet connectivity (WiFi or mobile data) as well as the Monday app (which can be downloaded in the Mac OS store or other mobile app stores). The link to the app in the Mac OS store is here: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/monday-com/id1298450641?mt=12 .
Ethical Concerns
While this plan has been thoroughly conceptualized, there remain a number of potential ethical dilemmas that pose challenges in the implementation plan. Additionally, there are technical limitations of the current iteration of the Monday app, as reported by reviewers. Some of the ethical dilemmas that should be considered include unequal distribution or access to these technologies, privacy concerns, concern about the effects of screen time, impacts to human connection and communication, and a reliance on technologies as opposed to human ingenuity. In regards to addressing these complex challenges, it would be best if the business in question could provide employees with a monthly mobile technologies stipend (perhaps $80) to be applied to the cost of the mobile device usage. The company could also provide users with blue light-blocking glasses, which would reduce screen glare and eye strain. Weekly social lunch meetups (held over Zoom) could enhance worker connectivity and communication in a social setting. Perhaps the company would sponsor a quarterly contest for their employees to solve hands-on problems, such as teaching the contractors how to properly present the coaching material.
Implementation
In order to implement this mobile technologies plan in the workplace, I suggest that the business leaders should work with the instructional designer to determine the mobile technologies compatibility with learning needs and establish prior knowledge (Dodds, 2021). This can be done as a first step, and the designer can conduct a learner analysis, task analysis, and learning context to confirm that the chosen technologies are the right fit for the problem and for the company. The business leaders should provide authorization at this point for the project to move forward into the design stage. Following this authorization, learner objectives and project goals will be finalized (including the learning goals, budget, and timeline for deliverables). This will establish the business contract with key deliverables for the business leaders and the instructional designer to acknowledge and sign. Following the signing of the contract, designers will spend a couple of weeks deliberating with the business leaders and other SMEs on the best fit pedagogical theories and learning models to be applied to this training. Throughout the design stage, it is wise to check technical requirements and write documentation (Campbell et al., 2022), so that if another designer comes on board they will be fully appraised of the project and will feel up to speed. Another best practice throughout the design, implementation, and evaluative stages is to consistently review UDL Guidelines and apply measures for accessibility, in order to ensure that all learners can participate in the training.
Next, designers can create storyboards or use blueprinting that can serve to design engaging, socially-appropriate scenarios and action-based activities based on the chosen learning goals and using the Monday mobile app. Pre-training on the use of the mobile technology remains critical, and designers should establish onboarding and navigational instructional videos with mobile screen captures to teach how to use the technology. In the design phase, evaluation will remain an important piece to ensure mastery of leaning materials, determine user functionality, and iterate on improvements.
The development phase will allow designers to construct pilots of the training materials with full rigor. Pilots will enable testing opportunities for early adopters of the mobile technologies and training administrators, giving them opportunities to review the training materials, the pedagogical outlook, and the outcomes. At this stage, there may be significant changes to the training program, and designers should not hesitate to make significant changes. This iterative process may require more time, but it will result in a smoother training in the long run. Evaluative measures such as exit polling or assessments can provide feedback and ensure mastery of learning objectives, as well as to highlight any potential problems or issues.
Implementation of the training program will ease the path for employees to adopt the mobile technologies. If employees feel knowledgeable about the benefits of the mobile technology as well as feel comfortable using it, an implementation manager will easily incorporate these mobile technologies into the workplace. According to recent research, there are three steps required in the implementation phase: “(1) early identification and enhancement of the fit between a product and user needs, (2) preparation of the user organization to receive the innovation, and (3) shifting of ‘ownership’ of the innovation to users” (Leonard-Barton & Kraus, 1985). At this phase, steps one should have been met, due to a thorough needs and learner analysis in the analysis phase.The user, which would be the employees, should be equally prepared to use the mobile technology due to the excellent training materials, leading therefore to adoption.
In order to truly know that your training has been effective and that the employees have adopted the technologies and are using it for the purposes stated, a thorough evaluative phase will conclude this plan. In the evaluative phase, the designer will conduct final analyses as to the results of the user performance when using the technology, as well as evaluate learner interaction. This can be done through interviews, surveys, polls, and more, to provide comprehensive evidence that the learning goals have been clearly met and that the employee feels comfortable using the technology for the given purpose. By the end, employees will be enjoying using the mobile technologies, and business leaders will be pleased with the increase in collaboration among their workers.
References
Dodds, H. E. (2021). Immersive Learning Environments: Designing XR into Higher Education - A Practitioner’s Guide to Instructional Design in Higher Education. https://edtechbooks.org/id_highered/immersive_learning_e
Leonard-Barton, D., & Kraus, W. A. (1985, November). Implementing new technology. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://hbr.org/1985/11/implementing-new-technology
Qarkaxhja, Y., Kryukova, N. I., Cherezova, Y. A., Rozhnov, S. N., Khairullina, E. R., & Bayanova, A. R. (2021). Digital transformation in education: teacher candidate views on mobile learning. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 16(19), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v16i19.26033
