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2.4 Darnall-Preston Complexity Index Structure
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe each of the external attributes that contribute to project complexity.
2. Describe each of the internal attributes that contribute to project complexity.
3. Describe each of the technological attributes that contribute to project complexity.
4. Describe each of the environmental attributes that contribute to project complexity.
The Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI™) is designed to develop a project profile that reflects different aspects of the project that will influence the approach to leading and executing the project.
The DPCI is built on four categories of attributes:
1. External. Environmental attributes that are in existence at the beginning of the project, such as size, duration, and available resources
2. Internal. Clarity of project objectives, the clarity of scope, the organizational complexity, and stakeholder agreement
3. Technological. Newness of the technology and familiarity of team members with the technology
4. Environmental. Legal, cultural, political, and ecological
The DPCI was developed around four assumptions:
1. All projects are unique.
2. Projects have common characteristics.
3. These characteristics can be grouped together to create a project profile.
4. There is an optimum execution approach for each project profile and therefore an optimum set of skills and experience for the project manager and execution team.
EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTES
Theexternal attributes include those issues that are typically established early in the project definition phase and are usually outside the direct control of the project management team. The project size can be a product of the dollars needed to execute the project or project cost. The cost of the project is estimated during the conceptual phase of the project, and is established at the time the project is authorized. The duration or time allocated to complete the project and the resources available are also attributes that are established when the project is authorized.
Size
Project size is a relative concept. How do we decide if something is large or small? A 150-pound person is big if the person is ten years old. A 150-pound person is small if the person is a professional football lineman. The frame of reference provides the context in which size is determined.
The size of a project is also relative. A \$250 million oil refinery expansion is a relatively small project in an industry where billion dollar projects are common. A \$250 million pharmaceutical development project or software development project would be considered a large project. The size of a project is determined by the context of the industry and the experience of the team executing the project.
Design firms usually specialize in projects that fall within a defined range. Small firms usually execute small projects and large firms usually execute larger projects. There is a size range for which the company experience, management skills, tools, and work processes are primarily designed. This size range or comfort zone exists for both the company and the members of the project team executing the project.
When a project team executes a project outside their comfort zone, stress is placed on both the tools and project team. When a project is larger than the comfort zone of a company, stresses are placed on the ability to provide experience and appropriate work processes, and the results are typically cost overruns and schedule delays. To mitigate this stress, some companies will divide large projects into smaller projects and execute the smaller projects with separate dedicated staff and resources. The key to success then becomes the coordination of the small projects to behave as if they are one large project.
When a company is executing a project that is much smaller than the company norm, resources are often misused and inappropriate work processes are utilized. The result often increases the project costs. Some companies with a history of executing large projects have set up a small project group to execute smaller projects. These groups establish a different culture, develop appropriate work processes, and use tools designed to execute smaller projects.
The more the project size is outside the comfort zone of the project, the more stress is created for the project. This is true on both ends of the spectrum. Both smaller and larger projects that fall outside the comfort zone of the project management team will create stress for the project. New skills, tools, and processes will need to be developed to manage the project, and this activity will absorb management time and energy. The higher the stress level created by executing a project outside the comfort zone of the organization, the greater the impact on the complexity level of the project.
Duration
The duration of a project is often set by the parent organization that charters the project with a deadline that reflects the business purpose of the project. The following are examples of projects with end dates that are established to meet the organization’s business purpose:
• A new software program for a university to be implemented in time for registering students in the fall
• A new product to be introduced to the marketplace at the industry’s major conference
• A new high school to be constructed and open next fall
The project team also estimates the duration of the project and establishes a project end date based on normal work (e.g., forty hours per week) and the availability of resources.
Sometimes the normal time needed to complete a project is longer than the time available.
College Accreditation
A university’s college of nursing is working to develop an assessment system to measure learning outcomes as part of its efforts to meet accreditation requirements. The deadline is six weeks earlier than the time estimated to pilot, revise, and finalize the assessment system. New employees will have to be hired to complete the additional work needed and professors will be asked to use small chunks of instructional time to expedite the piloting of items. A new schedule is developed based on these changes to the execution approach, and now the project schedule has zero float.
The result of this six-week compression to the project schedule is additional stress on the project. Significant management time and energy will be invested in tracking and managing schedule issues. Every issue that arises will need to be resolved quickly and involve the project’s senior manager to assure the project schedule does not slip. This additional stress increases the overall project complexity.
Resource Availability
Projects require both human and tangible resources. The project requires people with the right experience, knowledge, and skills to accomplish the assigned tasks. Some projects require specialized subcontractors with skills not found within the project team. Each of these resources required by the project will be needed at the point in the project schedule when the materials or skills are required. When these resources are scarce or not available, additional management time and energy is needed.
Criterion Referenced Tests
When congress authorized the No Child Left Behind Act, states were required to develop large-scale assessments to measure how well students were performing according to the new standards. With many states trying to hire measurement experts to help develop these tests, a project manager for one state’s implementation found that experts in testing and measurement were in short supply. The project manager dedicated significant time and resources to train people from within the project in educational assessment and measurement principles, so that the project of test development could continue.
When resources needed to execute the project are not readily available, the project leadership dedicates more management time and energy to acquiring the resources or finding innovative solutions to accomplish the project goals without the needed resources or with creative alternative solutions. The more time and energy the management team must dedicate to searching for resources or alternatives, the more stress on the project. The more scarce and more important the resources, the more stress is placed on the project.
INTERNAL ATTRIBUTES
Theinternal attributes are within the control or influence of the project manager, such as the clarity of objectives, clarity of scope, the organizational complexity, and stakeholder agreement. Although the clarity of objectives, as with the other attributes, can be improved during the life of the project, the project profile reflects the project at a given time. If the project objectives are not clear during the evaluation of the project, this lack of clarity impacts the complexity of the project.
Clarity of the Project Objectives
Project decisions are made based on how these decision help the project meet its objectives. If the objectives are unclear, the team will not make the best decisions. The greater the confusion for the project team on the goals and objectives of the project, the greater the impact on the complexity of the project.
Confusion Over Objectives in Philadelphia
A consultant was asked to evaluate the likelihood of success of a large project in Philadelphia. The consultant interviewed the project leadership and asked if the goals of the projects were clear. Each member of the leadership team responded that the goals and objectives were clear; however, when asked what the goals were, the answers varied greatly.
Protected
An educational evaluation project involved collecting outcome data from a large number of college students. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) application stated very clearly that individual students would not be identified with the data collected, that every effort would be made to make data generation and collection non-intrusive for students, and that students would not lose instructional time. Every major data decision passed through an evaluation of the impact on student instructional time and the protection of student confidentiality. Although these steps increased the complexity of the project, the clear goals warranted the extra efforts.
Clarity of Scope
The project scope defines what is inside the project and what is outside. Does the project to train five hundred technicians for the Boeing 787 include recruiting and assessing potential employees? The project scope did include recruitment and assessment, but hiring processes and drug testing belonged to Boeing. This scope was clear about which responsibilities belonged to the contractor doing the training and which responsibilities belonged to the parent organization.
Not all project scopes are this clear. The development of a clear project scope depends on information available about what products and services will be required. A project to develop a vaccine for a new strain of flu may not include sufficient information to develop the processes the team will utilize to understand the flu virus and develop a vaccine. As the team develops more information, the scope can be further developed.
Leadership time and energy will be focused on developing scope clarity. The lack of clarity and the amount of time needed by the leadership team to develop a clear scope will add to the project complexity.
Organizational Complexity
The structure of the project’s client organization and the organizational decision-making processes influence the project complexity. A project with one client as the central point for making decisions and providing client approvals and technical information has only one relationship to manage and a streamlined communication process. Projects with a team representing the client require more of the project manager’s time and energy managing the client relationships and communication process. The client team approach brings more expertise and often more comprehensive project oversight, but it adds to the project complexity.
Stakeholder Agreement
Often there is more than one major stakeholder in the project. An increase in the number of stakeholders adds stress to the project and influences the project’s complexity level. The business or emotional investment of the stakeholder in the project and the ability of the stakeholder to influence the project outcomes or execution approach will also influence the stakeholder complexity of the project. In addition to the number of stakeholders and their level of investment, the degree in which the project stakeholders agree or disagree also influences the complexity of the project.
A small educational project will typically have several stakeholders in addition to the client. School administrators, teachers, students, parents, and even community and business leaders may have an interest in the project and can influence the execution plan of the project. The number of stakeholders on the project, multiplied by their passion for the subject and the potential for disagreement, increases the complexity of the project. Significant time and resources of the project will be dedicated to identifying, understanding, and managing expectations.
TECHNOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY
The technology of a project refers to the product of the project and not the technology used to manage the project. This technology is typically unique to the industry. A pharmaceutical project technology is the drug-making technology or pharmacology. The technology for a project to build a new automobile plant is the car production process. The key stress on the project is the newness of the technology. What aspects of the technology are known, and what aspects are unknown? Does the project combine technologies on the project that have never been combined? Newer and more complex technology requires greater expertise on the project team and increases the stress and complexity of the project.
Open Assessment Project
A non-profit organization hired a project manager to oversee the development of a website to distribute openly-licensed assessment items for teachers. The project required building an interface that would allow teachers to access materials and receive training on how to write good items, have a mechanism for teachers to submit new items, and a way for teachers to give tests online so student data could be used to evaluate the strength of individual items. Most of the technology was tested and the project team brought in experts to help design and implement an interface to meet the requirements of the project. The technology of the project necessitated the project team to develop a new understanding of this technology and adapt work processes to the technology requirements.
PROJECT ENVIRONMENT
The project environment includes all the issues related to the environment that will influence the development and execution of the project plan. An instructional design project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will have very different legal, cultural, and political issues to address from one in São Paolo, Brazil. The environment attributes in Brazil require more planning, resources, and leadership attention to successfully execute the project.
Legal
The legal issues on a project can be broad and include many different levels of government. Most local governments have various permits, such as business licenses and building permits, required to do work. Some projects will have security issues and will work with local law enforcement.
Workforce laws vary significantly in country, regional, and local jurisdictions. The hiring and management of workers can be a complex and time-consuming issue for some projects. Companies not used to working in a union environment will invest project resources in learning and adapting to the new environment. Scheduling holidays, supporting maternity leave, and dealing with workforce reduction issues surrounding project closeout will vary in each environment, industry, and project. Understanding and managing workforce issues on a project can be simple or very complex.
National, regional, and local taxes require a project tax approach or policy on most international projects and some domestic projects. Duties for equipment and material brought into a country add complexity to the procurement plan. Equipment used temporarily to execute the project, such as a crane, is treated differently than permanently installed equipment, such as a pump. In some countries, a third party is hired to expedite the flow of materials through complex custom processes.
Not every project will have significant legal issues. When legal issues are involved, they are typically significant and will add to the complexity of the project. Understanding the legal issues that can affect the project and developing a plan to address these issues will reduce the complexity of the project.
Cultural
Culture is a term that reflects the community’s assumptions, norms, values, and artifacts. Community includes the parent organization charting the project, the local community or communities where the project is executed, and the region and country where the project is located. The project team must understand the community’s culture and its potential impact on the project. Culture also defines the meaning of work, truth, relationships, and how to communicate. Projects executed in various cultures will often experience cultural conflict.
Gender Difficulties in Argentina
A project team from the United States was responsible for executing a project in Argentina. The U.S. leadership team included women in key leadership positions, and the Argentines refused to take direction from females. The U.S. team believed strongly in their leadership capability and refused to make changes. This conflict was settled by senior managers of both organizations, and rules were established that respected all team members in leadership roles. The conflict did not go away, but the team was able to successfully execute the project with the original team. Delays were experienced on the project that could be traced to this cultural conflict.
Many organizations have rule-based cultures. Institutions of higher learning, organizations related to judicial organizations, and most government organizations are examples of rule-based organizations. The organizational structure and culture inhibits risk taking through established rules and policies. Projects are goal based and focus on plans and processes to achieve goals. Goal-based cultures promote assuming risk to achieve goals. Projects that are closely tied to a rule-based parent organization will often find conflict with the parent organization’s need to follow rules and the project’s need to accomplish goals. This conflict creates additional stress that adds to the project complexity.
On global projects, language, cultural conflict with the role of women, the religious role in daily activities, and even the concept of time can becomes issues on the project. These issues require project leadership to resolve and they add to the project complexity. In some countries and even different companies in the same country, meetings start on time, and a person arriving five minutes late will cause major disruption. In other situations, meetings can start within thirty minutes of the starting time without anyone objecting.
Communication Problem in India
A team of project experts was sent to India to evaluate a large instructional design project. The team arrived and reviewed the project documents which reported that the project was on time and meeting all project goals. After spending three days with various designers and team managers, the team discovered the project was significantly behind schedule. A culture existed on the project where workers told the project management what they expected to hear, and the difference between the progress of the project team and the progress reports became so large that the difference could not be reconciled during the original schedule of the project.
An increase in the number of cultures represented on the project team raises the cultural complexity and the complexity of a project. Although this cultural diversity creates leadership challenges, it also presents opportunities. The diversity of cultures presents various approaches to solving problems, and the project manager may find innovative solutions easier to develop with a diverse project team.
Political
Every project operates within one or more communities that reflect organizational dynamics and power struggles. The more important the project is to the organizational leadership, the more invested various organizational leaders will be in the project. The more people that become invested in the project and the more influence these people exhibit on the resources and activities of the project, the more time and energy will be expended by the project team in managing these outside influences. This additional stress on project leadership time and resources adds complexity to the project.
Ecological
Projects have the potential to impact the living conditions or the health of people, plants, and animals. In addition to the potential impact to land, water, and air, the ecology includes the sights and sounds that can impact the quality of life. An increasing number of clients expect the project team to minimize the impact of the project on the ecology. An ecology that is more sensitive to disruption and a more disruptive technology will place greater stress on the project and increase the project complexity. The addition of twenty-five people in existing office space or one that requires a substantial increase in electrical use will all impact the ecology. The project team develops means and methods to minimize the impact of the disruption in a manner consistent with the requirements as communicated by the client. The effort that is needed to minimize the ecological impact will influence the complexity of the project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The external attributes are the relative size of the project, duration of the project, and the available resources.
• The internal attributes are the clarity of its scope, the complexity of the organization, and the agreement among stakeholders.
• The technological attributes are the technology of the product (not the technology used to manage the project), the newness of the technology, and the familiarity of the team with the technology.
• The environmental attributes are the legal issues, cultural conflicts, political interests, the impact of the project on the ecology, and the impact of the ecology on the project. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/02%3A__Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/2.03%3A_2.4_Darnall-Preston_Complexity_Index_Structure_--_Proj.txt |
2.3 Complex Systems and the Darnall-Preston Complexity Index
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the characteristics of complex systems.
2. Explain the benefits of using the Darnall-Preston Complexity Index.
Understanding and managing complex systems like a project require some systems concepts that have been developed in other disciplines and applied to project management as a tool to make complex projects manageable.
COMPLEX SYSTEMS
When is a project complex? The complexity of a system is usually determined by the number of parts or activities, the degree of differentiation between the parts, and the structure of their connections. Heterogeneous and irregularly configured systems are complex, such as organisms, airplanes, and junkyards. Order is the opposite of complex. Ordered systems are homogenous and redundant, like an interstate toll booth or a production line in a factory. Complex systems have multiple interacting components whose collective behavior cannot be simply inferred from the behavior of the individual components.1
In addition to the number of parts, the degree of differentiation between parts and the number, type, and strength of relationships between parts also influences the degree of complexity. For example, the transistors in a computer have three connections to other parts of the computer, but each nerve cell in the human brain can be connected to thousands of other cells in the brain, which is why the human brain is more complex than a computer. Complexity is context dependent. A project is more or less complex in relation to the number of activities, the type and strength of relationships to other project activities, and the degree and type of relationships to the project environment.
Projects are complex adaptive systems, which consist of a large number of parts or activities that interact with each other in numerous and various ways. A complex adaptive system is adaptive if the activities adjust or react to the events of the environment. Successful adaptive systems adjust in a way that facilitates or allows the system or project to achieve its purpose.
The dependence of the project on the activities, the interdependence of the activities, and the specialization of the activities underscore the relationship dependence of project activities. Thisrelationship dependence is a key aspect of complex adaptive systems. The nature of complex adaptive systems can be probed by investigating the impact of change in one activity and the effect on other activities and the behavior of the whole. Activities must be studied and understood as interrelated, connected parts of the whole. If you remove a computer chip from a computer and the computer powers down, do not assume the purpose of the chip was to provide power to the computer. If you remove or shorten a project kickoff activity, do not assume the project will finish earlier because of the dependence of later project activities on project kickoff activities. Any change to the kickoff activities will impact other activities and the project as a whole.
Common Core Curriculum
In 2009, the Council of Chief State and School Officers and the National Governors Association undertook the project of developing K-12 curricular standards that would be common across the adopting states. The project proved to have a level of complexity not traditionally seen in state curriculum development. The project catered to diverse stakeholders, including state legislatures, state departments of education, teachers, administrators, parents, colleges/universities, and businesses. The project included the creation of different committees who advised on steps in the process, requiring consensus across multiple states in different time zones with different educational values. The project complexity profile reflected the relationship dependence of project activities as well as the large number of interacting parts and stakeholders in the project.
Complex adaptive systems have three characteristics that are also reflected in complex projects.
Complex Adaptive Systems Tend to Self-Organize
Formal organizational charts indicate reporting relationships but are not very effective at displaying project relationships. Projects organize around the work, phases, or activities. The organization of the project reacts to the nature of the work at any given phase. During the start-up meeting of a large complex project, the project manager facilitated the development of the project organization chart that included all the major partners, client leaders and key team members. After the chart was complete, the project manager ripped the chart up in front of the entire project team to demonstrate his key message, which was that there are formal reporting relationships, but the real leadership and communication will change during the life of the project. In other words, the system will adapt to meet the needs of the project at each phase.
Informally, the project team reorganizes information flows and priorities to support the current work of the project and a good project manager facilitates this adaptive behavior of the project organization by minimizing the impact of formal authority and processes.
Complex Systems Adapt to Changing Environments
A deterministic system is a system that will produce the same results if you start with the same conditions. The outcome can be reliably predicted if you know the starting conditions. For example, if you fire a rifle several times at a target, the hits on the target will be closely grouped if all the initial conditions are almost identical. A nonlinear system, orchaotic system, can produce wildly different results even if the starting conditions are almost exactly the same. If today’s weather pattern is almost exactly the same as it was on a previous date, the weather a week later could be entirely different. Projects are usually nonlinear systems. If we execute an identical complex project three different times, we would deliver three different outcomes. We start with the assumption that the project is deterministic and use scenarios and simulations to develop the most likely outcome, yet a small change such as the timing of someone’s vacation or a small change in the delivery date of equipment can change the entire trajectory of a project.
Changing Environments
A design company was hired to create training for employees of the client’s new enterprise. The company managers felt that the outcome would be fairly predictable and assigned the management of the project to one of their lead designers. Two weeks into the project start-up, the company president realized the project needed a manager with more expertise and assigned a new person to manage the project. Then the client informed the company that they had changed the location for their new offices from Seattle to Houston. Since they had initially wanted the training to have location-specific nuances, the project needed to be reworked. During the second month of the project, the client encountered a legal suit which necessitated that the project be placed on hold. This project environment was unstable and the project plan and organization adjusted and evolved to respond to each of these changes.
All projects experience some forms of environment shift during the life of the project. This is one of the reasons project managers develop an aggressive change management process. The purpose of the change management process is not to stop change but to incorporate the change into the project planning and execution processes. Projects, like all other complex adaptive systems, must respond to the evolving environment to succeed. Plan as if the project is deterministic but be prepared for unpredictable changes.
Complex Systems Coevolve with Internal and External Changes
In addition to responding to changes in the project environment, the internal project organization and environment is in a constant state of change. New people become members of the team, people quit, retire, and get sick. The office roof starts leaking, headquarters rolls out a new computer program required for all workers, or the project’s lead designer cannot get her immigration visa extended. These are real examples of events that occurred on one project, and the project team adjusted to each event. The adaptation to changes in the project’s internal situation while also adapting to the external environment reflects the coevolving nature of a complex adaptive system. An increase in the number of events within the project and the project environment that are likely to change during the life of the project is reflected in an increase in the complexity of a project.
DARNALL-PRESTON COMPLEXITY INDEX
Projects are more likely to fail in the beginning, not in the end. This generalized statement reflects the importance of understanding the environment in which a project will be executed and the importance of developing an execution plan that can be successfully implemented within this environment. Profiling a project correctly requires a system that is relatively easy to use but that includes enough attributes to capture all the most important characteristics of a complex project. The Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI™) is one model for understanding and profiling projects (and will be explained further through the rest of this chapter). This index assesses the complexity level of key components of a project and produces a unique project profile. The profile indicates the project complexity level, which provides a benchmark for comparing projects and provides information about the characteristics of a project that can then be addressed in the project execution plan. It achieves this objective by grouping eleven attributes into four broad categories: internal, external, technological complexity, and environmental.
The DPCI provides project stakeholders with information about the project to define the experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by the project manager. The DPCI also has implications for the composition, organization, and skills needed by the project leadership team. The DPCI provides information and a context for developing the project execution plan and for assessing the probability of success.
Recovery costs can be extremely high for projects where the environment is misread or the execution plan does not address critical issues of the project environment. In addition to cost overruns and delays in the project, execution plans that are not aligned with the project environment can create barriers that make recovery difficult, and in some cases, the business purpose of the project cannot be met. The DPCI is a tool to assist project stakeholders in developing a comprehensive analysis of the project environment and a project execution plan more aligned with that environment, both of which increase the likelihood of project success.
The foundation of a sound project execution plan is an assessment of the project environment. This assessment provides the information on which the execution plan is built. In the absence of an accurate assessment of the project environment, the project leadership makes assumptions and develops the execution plan around those assumptions. The quantity and quality of those assumptions will significantly influence the effectiveness of the project execution plan. The amount of information available to the project manager will increase over time and assumptions will be replaced with better information and better estimates. As better tools are developed for evaluating the project environment, better information will become available to the project manager.
The project environment includes all the conditions that can influence the outcome or success of the project, such as the project size, technological complexity, cultural and language barriers, the political landscape, and resource constraints. Understanding these influences and developing a project profile creates a foundation for building an effective project execution plan.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Complex systems have many different parts that interact with each other in different and often unpredictable ways. They adapt to changes in their external and internal environments.
• The Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI) assesses project attributes, enabling better-informed decisions in creating the project profile.
[1] Stephen Jay Gould, Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1996). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/02%3A__Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/2.04%3A_2.3_Complex_Systems_and_the_Darnall-Preston_Complexity.txt |
2.2 Project Profiling Models
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LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1. Understand different methods of typing projects.
Image by PehMed2020
Aaron J. Shenhar and Dov Dvir1 developed a typology—classification or profile—of projects that reflected two dimensions. The first dimension reflected the technological uncertainty and ranged from low tech, medium tech, and high tech to super high tech. Although projects involve the use of various levels of technology, Shenhar and Dvir developed criteria for each type of technological uncertainty that enabled the project to be typed. The second dimension reflected the system scope. The system scope dimension ranged from assembly projects that dealt with building a single component, to system projects that included interactive elements, to array projects that included a wide dispersal of interactive systems and subsystems.
Shenhar and Dvir observed that the project execution approach was connected to the project type. The study identified different management patterns associated with project type as well as different management tools and practices. As the project system scope became more complex and the system scope of the project became larger, more sophisticated management tools were put in place to reduce project uncertainty. As project technology increased, project managers became more invested in processes to manage technical issues such as redesign and testing. As projects increased in system scope, project managers became more invested in formal planning and control issues. In later research, Shenhar2 developed recommendations for adjusting the project management approach based on the project typology. For example, project managers will use more risk management techniques (see Chapter 11) when the technological uncertainty is high.
Robert Youker3 identified basic differences in project types. Among the attributes he used were the uncertainty and risk, level of sophistication of the workers, the level of detail in the planning, the newness of the technology, and the time pressure. Youker also looked at project size, duration, geographic location, number of workers, cost, complexity, urgency, and organizational design as attributes that help determine a project profile.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• There are many different typology methods to consider when characterizing a project in order to meet its specific needs and scope. Some things to consider might be technological uncertainty and complexity of scope, risk, worker sophistication, location, urgency, and organizational design.
[1] Aaron J. Shenhar and Dov Dvir, “Toward a Typological Theory of Project Management,”Research Policy 25 (1996): 607–32.
[2] Aaron J. Shenhar, Adapting Your Project Management Style: The Key to Project Success (Hoboken, NJ: Stevens Institute of Technology, 1999).
[3] Robert Youker, “Defining the Hierarchy of Project Objectives,” IPMA Conference (Slovenia: American Society for Advancement of Project Management, 1998).
2.06: 2.1 Using a Project Profile -- Project Management for
2.1 Using a Project Profile
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify project attributes that can be used for project profiling.
2. Define project profiling.
A project manager with a long history of successful projects oftentimes fails on others. What causes this to happen? Even though all projects are by definition unique, there are attributes (such as size, cost, subject matter, etc.) that are common among projects that allow the characterization or profiling of a project. Different skills and approaches are needed by the project manager for different projects. You can imagine that the ideal project manager for a large construction project may not be a good fit for a software development project. The technical knowledge needed to manage these projects is not the same and having the wrong technical knowledge may make the difference between a successful project and project failure.
A large project that will be executed in at least three locations will have a very different profile from a small project that will be executed in one location. These two attributes—size and location—provide information about the project that will enable a manager in the parent organization to assign a project manager with the appropriate knowledge and skills. We can then develop an execution approach to increase the likelihood of success.
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Organizations need good tools for understanding and matching the needs of a project with the project manager who has the right skills and experience. Developing a project profile is one method for gaining an understanding of the project and providing a systematic approach to developing an execution plan to select a project manager who has the right kind of experience and skills.
Project profiling is the process of extracting a characterization from the known attributes of a project. The characterization will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the project that should result in developing an appropriate execution approach and the assignment of organizational resources. In different terms, project profiling is a process that summarizes what is known about the attributes of a project and places the project into a category with other projects that have similar characteristics. For example, you can characterize a project as a large project or a small project; the size of the project becomes the profiling attribute. You can characterize a project as domestic or global, making the location of the project the profiling characteristic.
A company that has twenty projects may determine that four of these projects are estimated to cost more than \$1 million dollars and the remaining sixteen projects are estimated to cost much less. The company then communicates that all projects over \$1 million be considered a large project. The company now establishes a rule that large projects will require a project manager with at least five years of management experience, it will have a vice president as executive sponsor, and it will require formal quarterly reports. In this example, one characteristic is used to develop the organization’s project management approach to their twenty projects.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Project profiles can be created based on attributes such as budget and size to determine a systematic approach to developing an execution plan and selecting a project manager.
• Project profiling is the process of extracting a characterization from the known attributes of a project. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/02%3A__Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/2.05%3A_2.2_Project_Profiling_Models_--_Project_Management_for.txt |
3.0 Overview
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This chapter provides an overview of the entire project management process and applies to all the questions in the CAPM and PMP. However, it aligns well with Chapter 2 of the PMBOK and 4% of the CAPM is specifically dedicated to project life cycle and organization.
This chapter outlines the possible project organizational structures (both in terms of staff roles and communication channels) as the project progresses through its phases, from initiation to closeout.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
Well this turned out to be an interesting team. I was–this was my second project–training helicopter pilots and sensor operators and working with a very large client. This was my second project after graduate school. I had only been in the field for a year as a designer. The team ended up being about twenty, twenty-five people by the time we were through. The kinds of people that I worked with were first of all, subject matter experts who were given to us by the customer, which was the Navy. We also had–on our team we had–I had an assistant designer who was not trained, but was experienced. And was a former member of the Navy, and that really helped a lot because he understood the context that we were working with, and he understood the personalities. He frequently had to save us from peril. I mean, here is this fresh out-of-the-can instructional designer out of college, inexperienced in the ways of the world, and this guy–guy named Bob Hoffman saved my bacon a lot of times. We had other people. I had an assistant instructional designer who was a good writer, served writing functions. We had a video producer, because we had to produce twenty video segments while we were doing this. I had a host of artists. We had a very large art shop it turns out. There were different varieties of artists. We had a cartoonist, a guy named Johnny Hawk, who was very good. We had a serious technical–straight lines–you know with straight edge and everything. We had one of those. We had, one of the categories that we had that was very interesting to work with was what were called paste-up artists. In those days we didn’t have desktop publishing at all. I mean, a word processor was still a Wang machine that came as a thing that sat beside your desk, it was huge. We didn’t have, we couldn’t create, design the layouts. And so they would have to use a special processor called a compositor to print out on glossy certain kind of paper, the text that was going to be placed on a page. And these paste-up artists would have to come with their X-ACTO knives and their straight edges, and cut out a piece of text and glue it to the piece of paper. It was a really interesting process. Nothing in my training in college told me that there was this kind of a person. And yet I end up, or any of these kinds of categories of artists, and yet within a year after college I was managing a host of these people. It was a very interesting experience.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
Okay, well, we have editors. So we have fulltime employees and student employees. Our full-time employees kind of oversee the different functions. We have an editing function. The editing supervisor supervises student editors who take a first take and a second take on the courses. We also have a video supervisor who supervises our videographers. We have a flash supervisor, who supervises the flash programmers. So, and then, obviously an art director who supervises the artists. What I do as a project manager–I meet with the instructional designer and the different supervisors of those departments. And we meet at the beginning of a course and discuss what all the requirements will be for the course and collaborate. If there is an idea where originally the instructional designer thought that it would be good as a video piece, as we talk and meet perhaps the flash supervisor would have a better idea of how to best present it instructionally for the student. Something more interactive than just watching a video. So that’s how the roles are divided.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
In a project like the BYU Learning Suite project, which is a learning content management system, there are quite a few roles that are encompassed in that–in the development process alone, not to mention everything else. In the needs gathering phase of that we have consultants who contribute to, along with the instructional designers, the building of the design of what we’re going to produce. We have programmers who have to weigh in and say whether or not that is feasible. We have graphic designers who say “Gee if we have this kind of a format, then we’re going to have to do this with the layout”, and that kind of constricts us. Going back again to the stake holders we have faculty and students weighing in all along the way. And then of course we have the University administration giving us mandates. You have to do this and you have to do that. So the various roles as a project manager, you have to balance all those competing interests, and try to weigh, you know, when you get a mandate you have to weigh it against the realities of what you can do with the time, the scope, the money that you have. And then you take the resources, the people, the expertise that they have, and try to match it against all of those different competing agenda items. And you come up with a plan, and you try to execute against the plan. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/03%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/3.01%3A_3_Project_Phases_and_Organization_--_Project_Management.txt |
3.2 Project Phases and Organization
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the various functions represented on a project.
2. Analyze and evaluate the influence of organizational structure on project functions.
3. Design a project organizational chart for various project complexity profiles.
There is no single organizational approach to projects. Each project is organized to accomplish the work effectively and efficiently. Several factors influence the organizational approach to execute a project. The complexity profile of a project, the culture of the parent organization, the preferences of the project manager, the knowledge and skills of the team, and whether the project management office is in-house or outsourced are some factors that influence the project’s organization.
Image by nicholasjon
In developing the project organizational structure, the project manager considers the span of control for each manager. The span of control represents the number of people reporting to a manager. For example, the project manager does not want all of the artists on a project reporting to the art director and assigns lead artists to report to the art director with groups of artists who work on particular aspects of the design reporting to their group’s lead artists.
The art director can organize the art department reporting structure so that the various lead artists would report to him or her. For example, the lead artists for various aspects of an instructional design project would report to the art director. On a larger, more complex project, the art director may establish area team leaders and have the art leads for each area report to an area art lead. If the project is geographically dispersed, with areas of the art department in different cities working on the project, then structuring the art function by area provides better coordination and control (see Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1 Decreasing Span of Control by Increasing Levels of Reporting
The organization on the left has seventy-one artists reporting to the same person. The organization on the right creates two additional positions and reduces the span of control to thirty-seven and thirty-four, respectively.
Most projects have similar functions that are important to successfully managing the project. Included among these are the following:
• Sponsor
• Project manager
• Controls
• Procurement
• Technical management
• Quality
• Administration
Figure 3.2 Typical Project Organization
On smaller projects, more than one function can be managed by one person. On larger projects, large teams may be needed to accomplish the work within the function.
Project Sponsor
The project sponsor is outside the day-to-day operations of the project and has the organizational authority to provide resources and overcome barriers for the project. The project sponsor is typically a leader in the parent organization with an interest in the outcome of the project. As a leader in the parent organization, the project sponsor can provide input into the project scope and other documents that define project success. The guidance and support from the project sponsor enhances the ability of the project to successfully meet the parent organization’s objectives.
Southern Training Center Organization
A training organization in South Carolina assigned a project sponsor to every project. For smaller projects, the regional manager fulfilled the role of project sponsor. On larger, more complex projects, the operations manager was the project sponsor. The vice president was the project sponsor of the three or four most complex projects, and the president was the project sponsor only on projects with a high degree of political risk. This approach to assigning project sponsors assured that each project had an organizational advocate that could address barriers and provide direction and resources. The project sponsor, in this organization, developed a relationship with a senior representative of the client organization, reviewed monthly reports, and conducted thorough quarterly reviews.
Project Manager
Project managers often have the breadth of responsibility associated with corporate chief executive officers (CEOs). The project manager facilitates the start-up of a project and develops the staff, resources, and work processes to accomplish the work of the project. He or she manages the project effectively and efficiently and oversees the closeout phase. Some projects are larger than major divisions of some organizations, with the project manager responsible for a larger budget and managing more risk than most of the organizational leaders. A mining company that builds a new mine in South Africa, an automobile manufacturer that creates a new truck design, and a pharmaceutical company that moves a new drug from testing to production are examples of projects that may consume more resources in a given year than any of the organization’s operating divisions.
The function of the project manager can vary depending on the complexity profile and the organizational structure. Defining and managing client expectations and start-up activities, developing the scope, and managing change are functions of the project manager. On some projects, the project manager may provide direction to the technical team on the project. On other projects, the technical leadership might come from the technical division of the parent organization.
Although the functional responsibilities of the project manager may vary, the primary role is consistent on every project. The primary role of the project manager is to lead, to provide a vision of success, to connect everyone involved in the project to that vision, and to provide the means and methods to achieve success. The project manager creates a goal-directed and time-focused project culture. The project manager provides leadership.
Project Control
In general, project controls is both the planning function and the function that tracks progress against the plan. Project control provides critical information to all the other functions of the project and works closely with the project manager to evaluate the cost and scheduling impact of various options during the life of a project.
Sometimes accounting functions such as payroll, budgeting, and cash management are included within project controls. On larger projects, accounting functions are typically separate because the accounting culture tracks expenses to the nearest penny, and cost estimating and tracking by project controls can often be off by hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. The lack of definitive information necessitates the development of cost estimates within ranges that are often inconsistent with accounting practices. Separating these two functions allows each to operate within their own accuracy comfort zone. The following are typical activities included within the project controls function:
• Estimating
• Tracking costs
• Analyzing trends and making projections
• Planning and scheduling
• Managing change
• Tracking progress against schedule
The project controls team gathers this information from all the functions on the project and develops reports that enable each functional manager to understand the project plan and progress against the plan at both the project level and the functional level. On large complex projects, some project managers will assign project controls professionals to work within the major functions as well as the project management office. This approach allows each function to plan and track the function’s work in more detail. The project controls manager then coordinates activities across functions.
Project Procurement
The approach to purchasing the supplies and equipment needed by the project is related to the complexity profile of the project and is, therefore, elaborated on in this chapter; however, the procurement process is discussed in more detail in Chapter 9. A small project with a low complexity level may be able to use the procurement services of the parent organization. In an organization where project resources reside in various departments, the departments may provide the supplies and equipment each team member of the project may need.
Southern College Procurement Organization
A college in South Carolina chartered a number of projects to increase the energy efficiency of the college. The project team included members from various college departments. Each department paid for the time, travel expenses, and supplies needed by the team member from their department. Each team member continued to use the computers and administrative support in their department for project work. The costs for this support was not included in the project budget nor tracked as a project expense. Equipment purchased by the project that was installed to reduce the energy consumption of the college was purchased through the college procurement department and charged to the project.
More complex projects with greater procurement activity may have a procurement person assigned to the project. This same South Carolina college retrofitted a warehouse to create a new training center for industry. A procurement person was assigned to the project to manage the contract with the construction firm remodeling the space, the purchase and installation of the new training equipment, and the purchase of the supplies needed by the project team. All the procurement activity was charged to the project. The procurement person reported to the project manager for better communication on what the project needed and participated as a member of the project team to understand and provide input into the costs and scheduling decisions. She also reported to the college procurement manager for developing and implementing project procurement processes that met college procurement policies and procedures.
Figure 3.3 The Procurement Manager is Part of the Project Team
On larger, more complex projects, the procurement team has several responsibilities. The team is responsible for procuring the supplies and equipment (such as office supplies and computers) needed for the project team and the supplies and equipment (such as the training equipment) needed to execute the project. On an instructional filming project, the procurement team would rent set fixtures, office supplies, and computers for the project team to outfit a film crew on location. The procurement team would also purchase or acquire costumes, make-up artists, catering services, camera operators, and other materials needed for filming.
Procurement for Distance Learning Project in South America
On the large distance learning project in South America, during the initiation phase of the project, the procurement department arranged for office space and supplies for the design teams in Canada, Chile, and Argentina and offices at the site in Argentina. As the design progressed, the procurement team managed bids for the computer equipment and bids for the preparation of the campus site. The procurement team managed the logistics associated with transporting equipment from Europe, North America, and Asia to the job site in rural Argentina. After the completion of the project, the procurement team managed the deposal of project property.
On large, complex projects, the procurement team manages at least three types of relationships with companies doing business with the project.
Commodity Procurement
The largest number of purchased items for most projects is commodity items. Commodities are items that can be bought off the shelf with no special modification for the project. These items are typically bid and the lowest prices that can meet the schedule of the project will win the contract. The procurement team assures the company that wins the bid can perform to the contact specifications and then monitors the progress of the company in meeting the projects requirements. Software for the project and the computers or other technology leased to the project are examples of commodities. The key to success in managing commodity suppliers is the process for developing the bids and evaluating and awarding the contracts.
Procurement from Vendors
The second type of relationship is the vendor relationship. The terms supplier and vendor are often used interchangeably. In this text, suppliers provide commodities, and vendors provide custom services or goods. Suppliers bid on specialized equipment for the project. Programmers will specify the performance requirements of the equipment, and suppliers that have equipment that meets the requirements will bid on the project. The programming team will assist in the evaluation of the bids to assure compliance with specifications. The lowest bid may not win the contract. Sometimes the long-term maintenance costs and reliability of the equipment may indicate a high price for the equipment. The key to success is the development of clear performance specifications, good communication with potential bidders to allow bidders to develop innovative concepts for meeting the performance requirements, and a bidding process that focuses on the goals of the project.
Partnerships
The third type of project procurement relationship is the partnership. Sometimes the partnership is legally defined as a partnership, and sometimes the success of each partner is so closely tied together that the relationship operates as a partnership. On the South American project, the project team partnered with an Argentinean instructional design company to access the local education practices and relationship with local software vendors. This was a legal partnership with shared profits. The partner also designed and procured some programmed instructional materials on which the success of the project and the company designing the overall project depended. With this type of relationship, a senior manager on the project is assigned to coordinate activities with the partner, and processes are put in place to develop shared goals, align work processes, and manage change.
Technical Management
The technical management on the project is the management of the technology inherent in the project—not the technology used by the team to manage the project. The technical complexity on a project can vary significantly. The technological challenges required to build a submarine navigation training system are significantly different from those required to build an instructional unit for first grade math. The technological complexity of the project will influence the organizational approach to the project. The technological complexity for a project reflects two aspects: the newness of the technology and the team’s familiarity with the technology. The newness refers to the degree to which the technology has been accepted in the industry. The more accepted the technology is in the industry usually means that more knowledge and experience will be available to the team. Familiarity refers to the experience the project team has with the technology. The less familiarity the team has with the technology, the more energy and resources the team will expend on managing the technological aspect of the project. For projects with high levels of project technology, a specialist may be hired to advise the technology manager.
Project Quality
Project quality is often part of the technical manager’s responsibility. On large projects or projects with a high degree of technical complexity, the quality is sometimes a separate function. The project quality manager focuses on the quality of the project work processes and not the quality of the client’s product. For example, if the project is to design and construct training for insurance agents, the quality manager focuses on the project work processes and meeting the technical specification of the instructional materials created by the project team. The project quality manager is not responsible for the quality of the instructional materials that the team produces. If the design team’s computers, and other support equipment and materials function to the defined project specifications, the quality of the instructional designer team’s output is the responsibility of the company’s quality department, and it may take several months for the company to refine the work processes to meet the design specifications of the instructional materials.
On an instructional design project, the quality manager may test the programmers to assure the programmers have the skills and that the code meets project specifications. On a training project, the quality manager may review the training curriculum and the qualification of the instructors to assure the training provides the knowledge and skills specified by the client. On a drug development project, the quality manager may develop processes to assure the water and other raw material meet specifications and every process in the development process is properly documented.
Project Administration
The administrative function provides project specific support such as the following:
• Accounting services
• Legal services
• Property management
• Human resources (HR) management
• Other support functions found in most organizations
In most organizations, support for these functions is provided by the parent organization. For example, people assigned to the project will get human resources (HR) support from the HR department of the parent organization. Salary, benefits, and HR policies for employees assigned to the project will be supported out of the HR department. The parent organization will provide accounting functions such as determining the cost of cash, taxes, year-end project reports, and property disposal at the end of the project.
The project manager on smaller, less complex projects will have sufficient knowledge about these issues to coordinate with the parent organization’s functional leaders. On more complex projects, the project may have an administrative manager responsible for coordinating the administrative functions of the projects. On larger, more complex projects, an administrative function may be established as part of the project team, with many of the functions assigning a resource to the project. In all cases, the administrative function on a project is closely related to the legal and organizational responsibilities of the parent organization and close coordination is important.
Figure 3.5 Organization for Major International Project
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Key job functions on a project include the sponsor, project manager, controls, procurement, technical, quality, and administration.
• The project sponsor has the organizational authority to provide guidance and resources and can overcome barriers for the project.
• The project manager is the project leader with broad responsibilities for all phases of the project and for meeting project goals and client expectations.
• The project controls manager is responsible for controlling the project processes, including cost estimating and tracking, developing schedules, tracking progress against schedules, managing changes to the schedule or budget, and analyzing trends.
• The procurement manager is responsible for obtaining the services and materials needed to complete the project. This is accomplished by purchasing commodities, managing contractors who provide services and products, and working with partners.
• The technical manager deals with the issues related to the technology of the project.
• The quality manager monitors the project’s processes—not the quality of the product of the project—and takes steps to assure they are done correctly and meet specifications.
• Project administration manages accounting, legal, property, and human resources. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/03%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/3.02%3A_3.2_Project_Phases_and_Organization_--_Project_Manageme.txt |
3.1 Project Phases and Organization
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the phases of a project.
2. Describe the types of activities in each phase of a project.
Projects, by definition, have a beginning and an end. They also have defined phases between the project kickoff and project closeout. A phase represents a grouping of similar activities that has a very loosely defined beginning and end. Phases are typically sequential, where the prior phase is essentially complete before the beginning of the next phase; however, phases do not have clear-cut end dates and some activities in an early phase of the project will continue into the later phases. This is in contrast to project beginning and ending dates and milestone dates, which do have clearly defined dates with the expectation that these dates will be met.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) identifies four major phases of a project as characteristics of the project life cycle.1 These four life-cycle phases are initiation, planning, execution, and project closeout. The knowledge, skills, and experience needed on the project can vary in each phase. During the early phases of a project, the project leadership needs good conceptual skills, the ability to build a team, and the experience to build a project roadmap. During project closeout, the project leadership provides a high degree of motivation and attention to details. On a large project, lasting two or more years, it is common to see the project management team change leadership to provide skills that are appropriate to the final phases of the project.
Initiation
The initiation phase, which PMI labels “starting the project,” includes all the activities necessary to begin planning the project. The initiation phase typically begins with the assignment of the project manager and ends when the project team has sufficient information to begin developing a detailed schedule and budget. Activities during the initiation phase include project kickoff meetings, identifying the project team, developing the resources needed to develop the project plan, and identifying and acquiring the project management infrastructure (space, computers). On projects where the scope of work for the project is not well defined, the project team will invest time and resources in developing a clearer scope of work. On projects where the major project stakeholders are not aligned, the project team will expend resources and time creating stakeholder alignment.
Unlike project milestones, some activities associated with project initiation may be delayed without delaying the end of the project. For example, it is advantageous for the project to have the major project stakeholders aligned from the beginning, but sometimes it is difficult to get the commitment from stakeholders to invest the time and resources to engage in an alignment process. Sometimes it is only after stakeholders begin observing progress on a project that the project manager can facilitate the stakeholder alignment processes.
Image by iChris
Planning
The planning phase, which PMI labels “organizing and preparing,” includes the development of more detailed schedules and a budget. The planning also includes developing detailed staffing, procurement, and project controls plans. The emphasis of the planning phase is to develop an understanding of how the project will be executed and a plan for acquiring the resources needed to execute it. Although much of the planning activity takes place during the planning phase, the project plan will continue to be adjusted to respond to new challenges and opportunities. Planning activities occur during the entire life of the project.
Execution
The execution phase, labeled by PMI as “carrying out the work,” includes the major activities needed to accomplish the work of the project. On a construction project, this would include the design and construction activities. On an information technology (IT) project, this would include the development of the software code. On a training project, this would include the development and delivery of the training.
Closeout
The closeout phase—or using PMI’s nomenclature, “closing of the project”—represents the final stage of a project. Project staff is transferred off the project, project documents are archived, and the final few items or punch list is completed. The project client takes control of the product of the project, and the project office is closed down.
The amount of resources and the skills needed to implement each phase of the project depends on the project profile. Typically, a project with a higher-complexity profile requires more skills and resources during the initiation phase. Projects with a profile that indicates problems with alignment among key stakeholders or political and legal issues will require specialized resources to develop plans that address these issues early in the project. A project with a lower complexity level will invest more resources in the execution phase to complete the project as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Project Phases on a Large Multinational Project
A United States instructional design company won a contract to design and build the first distance-learning-based college campus in northern Argentina. There was no existing infrastructure for either the educational or large internet-based projects in this part of South America. During the initiation phase of the project, the project manager focused on defining and finding a project leadership team with the knowledge, skills, and experience to manage a large complex project in a remote area of the globe. The project team set up three offices. One was in Chile, where large distance education project infrastructure existed. The other two were in Argentina. One was in Buenos Aries to establish relationships and Argentinean expertise, and the second was in Catamarca—the largest town close to the campus site. With offices in place, the project start-up team began developing procedures for getting work done, acquiring the appropriate permits, and developing relationships with Chilean and Argentine partners.
During the planning phase, the project team developed an integrated project schedule that coordinated the activities of the design, procurement, and design teams. The project controls team also developed a detailed budget that enabled the project team to track project expenditures against the expected expenses. The project design team built on the conceptual design and developed detailed drawings for use by the procurement team. The procurement team used the drawings to begin ordering equipment and materials for the implementation team; to develop labor projections; to refine the construction schedule; and to set up the campus site. Although planning is a never-ending process on a project, the planning phase focused on developing sufficient details to allow various parts of the project team to coordinate their work and to allow the project management team to make priority decisions.
The execution phase represents the work done to meet the requirements of the scope of work and fulfill the charter. During the execution phase, the project team accomplished the work defined in the plan and made adjustments when the project factors changed. Equipment and materials were delivered to the work site, labor was hired and trained, a learning center site was built, and all the development activities, from the arrival of the first computer to the installation of the final light switch, were accomplished.
The closeout phase included turning over the newly constructed campus to the operations team of the client. A punch list of a few remaining items was developed and those items completed. The office in Catamarca was closed, the office in Buenos Aries archived all the project documents, and the Chilean office was already working on the next project. The accounting books were reconciled and closed, final reports written and distributed, and the project manager started on a new project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The phases of a project are initiation, planning, execution, and closeout.
• The initiation phase, which PMI calls “starting the project,” includes activities such as holding alignment and kickoff meetings, identifying the project team, developing the resources needed to develop the project plan, and identifying and acquiring the project management infrastructure.
• The planning phase, which PMI calls “organizing and preparing,” includes developing detailed staffing, procurement, and project controls plans.
• The execution phase, which PMI calls “carrying out the work,” includes the major activities needed to accomplish the work of the project.
• The closeout phase, which PMI calls “closing of the project,” includes transferring staff, archiving documents, closing offices, completing punch list tasks, and turning over the results of the project to the client.
[1] Project Management Institute, Inc., A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 4th ed. (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2008), 11–16. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/03%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/3.03%3A_3.1_Project_Phases_and_Organization_--_Project_Manageme.txt |
4.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with the beginning of Chapter 3 of the PMBOK where stakeholders are addressed and 11% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Initiation and Planning category of the PMP questions.
Project management, especially within instructional design, revolves around understanding and meeting client expectations. Even the most efficiently completed project will not count as a success if the client and other important stakeholders are unhappy with the results. Accordingly, every successful project will necessarily have a plan or strategy of some sort in place for making the client happy. Depending on the complexity level of the project, this strategy to meet the client’s expectations can range from having a general discussion with the project leadership team to developing a formal plan that is tracked during the life of the project. Since project stakeholders can often exert considerable influence over the success of the project with expertise, political influence, and additional resources, an essential element of such a plan will be on how to motivate the client to contribute to the team’s success throughout the life of the project.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
Miscommunication did happen on this project. We were working with people who were trained in how to operate helicopters, how to fly them and how to operate the electronic equipment in the back of the helicopter. We found that, well first of all, the first communication challenge that we came up against was the communication of the content itself. I wasn’t trained in helicopter piloting. I had no idea what a sensor operator was until I shook hands with one. I had no idea how the technical worked. I had no idea how the strategic part of this, how you actually play the chess game of finding a submarine that is under the water. And yet at the surface that’s what these people were trained to do. So the first communication problem that we had was the subject matter. The second was the simple day-to-day communications with people who, in some cases, were highly motivated towards our project, and in some cases weren’t. Learning to manage people’s motivations became a very important challenge for us. There were people who just wouldn’t show up for work when they were scheduled to work. Not on my staff but on the Navy’s staff. Because they would have a check-ride in a simulator or they’d be doing something else, and we were low priority for them. Probably the biggest miscommunication problem that we had—had to do with an entire section of the subject matter. We mistook that what we were trying, what we were supposed to do was train people how to fly this helicopter and how to operate the sensors in the back of the helicopter. It turns out that, and we did our task analysis, a very thorough task analysis, reams of paper, showing all the things that needed to be trained and these resulted in instructional goals, however there was kind of a meta-performance that these people were engaged in. It was not just flying the helicopter, and not just operating the sensor equipment in the back. It was using the combination of pilot and sensor operator skills as a team to fly across the top of the water, looking for, first of all to detect a submarine and once you had detected it finding a way to keep track of it and to keep tracking. Of course the submarine is trying to escape. So there is this whole strategic, or what they call the tactical section of the training, and we found out about two-thirds of the way through the project that the subject matter expert team had not told us about this part of it, and we had not noticed it, it was kind of a stupid mistake on our part. So I looked at the subject matter, the head subject matter expert and said, we need to do a little bit more task analysis and add some things to the curriculum. Of course, by then, the budget had been set on a certain number of things to be created. And so, when I said to him that means we’re probably going to have to create some more instructional pieces. He said, well no, and he started finding excuses not to do that part of the course. Well once again the people on the East coast, because they had clear water, were much more expert it turns out. And when the training hit the East coast training site, the first thing they did was they opened up the box, and they took out the training. And they looked for this part on these tactical exercises. And it wasn’t in the course. And so they immediately packed up the box and sent it back and said this course is useless for us. We need the tactical part. And what happened, the long and the short of it was, the U.S. Navy had to make another contract, and design more training. And the subject matter expert turned out to be wrong. He should have said, yeah we’re going to develop more training. And so, that’s how that worked out.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
Well, we did have some miscommunication. The instructional designer was brand new, and so, wasn’t as familiar with our processes as other instructional designers. So when we originally meet, we have all the supervisors meet together for collaborative meetings. Which, these types of meetings can be very expensive when you have a lot of full-time people meeting together. The instructional designer continued to have meetings, but normally what we would do is, we would have meetings with perhaps the student employee who is actually doing the work and not everybody who is involved at the supervisor level. So we had a lot of meetings with people that didn’t necessarily need to be there that were probably extra meetings, and that of course made the project become quite expensive in meeting time. So that was a miscommunication on my part in communicating with the instructional designer that all those meetings weren’t necessary. So the cost on this course grew quite quickly, but at the same time it was also good because there was a lot of collaboration, more than we would have on a normal course within the department. So, it was not a good thing as far as the course expense, but the course ended up being a really amazing project. The final product was amazing and actually won an award.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
Oh gee, where do I start. In the Learning Suite project, where we are building such a large and complex system that interacts with faculty and students, it accesses University databases that are password protected, that are roll protected. One of the key issues is communication of those requirements to our IT organization. Early on, one of the miscommunications that we had concerned some of the services we needed built, and it just never got done. So here we are progressing right along with the development, and so then we call up this person and say, “Is the service ready?” “What service?” Well, we actually never told them which service it was. So you know, it was a miscommunication on our part, but it was, you know, we didn’t tell them exactly what to build, and they have a completely different process. We’re not a professional in IT organization that normally builds gigantic applications like this. We’re the Center for Teaching and Learning, so we’re a bunch of PhDs who specialize in design and development of instruction materials and we just kind of happen to fall into building this Learning Suite because we made something called the Syllabus. That is the biggest part of the problem, is we’re not IT folks. So I am the associate director and the project director. Kind of, well it’s not two hats, its multiple hats that I’m wearing because I do other things. I’m also the Center’s evaluator. Etc. Etc. So you see, you know, with a smaller organization we do a lot of things. In big centralized IT organizations where they have not just one, but multiple project managers, that greatly facilitates project management on a scale where you could develop Microsoft Project plans and enterprise wide project plans in lots of detail, spreadsheets, etc. etc. We have a whiteboard where we track things. So the miscommunication happened because of our limited resources. You know, we do what we can, we try to be as professional as we can, but sometimes we fail to communicate in the way that the other party expects. So that was the primary difficulty. So you always want to try to verify that what you ask for got communicated. It got through the request process in a way that they could hear it. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/04%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/4.01%3A_4_Understanding_and_Meeting_Client_Expectations_--_Proj.txt |
4.3 Dealing with Problems
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe standards and procedures for dealing with problems.
2. Describe the advantages of dealing with difficult issues as soon as they arise.
3. Describe the importance of establishing methods for revising major decisions.
Projects always experience unexpected problems that produce stress. Dealing with problems with competence is vital to maintaining a good relationship with clients.
Establish Standards and Procedures for Decisions
There are competing interests on projects, and the larger and more complex the project, the greater the number of issues and concerns that need to be addressed.
Competing Interests
It’s 7:30 in the morning and the client called and wants you to have coffee in an hour with the new CEO, who flew in last night, to give him an update on the project. The instructional designers were supposed to be on site at 7:00, but they have still not arrived. A news reporter called and said she has an unnamed source who claims that there are sexual-harassment policy violations in your team.You decide to postpone a team meeting about project scheduling and cancel lunch plans with your daughter. It’s going to be a busy day.
On large, complex projects, hundreds of decisions are made every day. Most of the decisions focus on the day-to-day operation of the project. Early in the project, decisions focus on choosing between alternative options for accomplishing project goals and determining how the project will be executed. Later, the focus is typically on solving problems. The project team develops solutions to deal with the barriers that emerge and develops alternative plans to meet project goals. The authority to make decisions is typically established early in the project and identified in a responsibility matrix—a table of people and types of problems that might require decisions—as shown in Figure 4.1.
The responsibility matrix identifies roles and client involvement.
Decisions that influence the outcome of the project, such as a delay to the project completion date or an increase in the project costs, typically involve the client. Some clients prefer to make the final decision, with the project manager developing alternative solutions with a cost-benefit analysis of each of the alternatives. Others prefer to be involved in discussions to better understand the barriers, developing alternative solutions and making decisions in a team environment. Understanding the client’s decision-making preference and developing procedures and processes that support that preference is important to meeting client expectations.
Develop processes and methods that encourage both the client and team members to identify issues and concerns early and develop processes for dealing with them effectively. Define how and when decisions are made.
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On projects with a low complexity level, the project manager and team leaders can make decisions informally, with short meetings or phone calls. Weekly or monthly staff meetings are appropriate for more important decisions. Even though the decision-making process may be simpler on less complex projects, it is still important to understand the client’s expectation for inclusion in the decision-making process and recording decisions and changes in project plans.
On more complex projects, the use of action item registers, weekly staff meetings, responsibility matrices, and other tools foster the decision making on a timely basis. For project teams operating in diverse locations, Internet-based tools for recording and tracking action items are beneficial in capturing issues and concerns.
Inform Client of Difficult Issues Early
Project managers typically have a high degree of confidence in their ability to deal with issues and concerns as they arise. Let’s say the delivery of some equipment is delayed a week, causing changes in the project schedule, or the beta test of a software program identified far more problems than expected. If the project manager knows the problems, the project has a plan for recovering, the team developed a solution and will be back on track soon, should the project manager inform the client? The answer seems like an easy yes, yet many project managers often believe there is no reason to bother the client with a problem they have under control.
Then suppose a second delay occurs on the equipment delivery or the fixes for the beta test are more costly than expected. Now the problems have elevated to the point the client needs to be informed. The greater the distance between the time of the event and the time the client knows about the events, the greater the client’s frustration and mistrust. Including the client in the processes for handling project issues or concerns, as well as recovery planning, enables the client to develop confidence that problems will be addressed successfully. Including the client early in the process for dealing with problems enables the client to contribute with solutions and builds confidence that there is open and clear communication.
New Estimates Increase Cost Projections
On a large, complex project in South America, the project team was re-estimating the project cost and schedule projections after the project design was complete. The team was also conducting a new risk analysis, and the results of the cost and schedule projections, together with the risk analysis, provided the client with better cash flow projections. Early in the process, the project team understood that the cost projections would greatly increase and the final project cost would be significantly above the contingency set aside for the project.The client looked for an early indication of the results of the analysis, and the project manager kept reporting it was too early to know. The project team debated how much contingency the project needed and how to inform the client. When the client was told the results of the cost projections, the response was a combination of frustration and anger. The project manager was removed from the project and a new project manager assigned.
In the example above, when first indications suggested that estimates were low and several items in the budget needed extra funds, the project manager should have had conversations with the client. Including one or more members of the client’s team in the reevaluation effort would have kept the client informed of the progress regularly and built trust in the new numbers. The project team could have offered suggestions and contributed to possible solutions for addressing the concerns that were developing, as costs were higher than expected. Dealing openly and early with the client is critical to client satisfaction.
Clients are often involved in major decisions on the project. For example, if the project invested another million dollars, the project could be completed a month early. The client will conduct the cost-benefit analysis and decide if the extra expense is worth the gain in time. Once this decision is made, the necessary changes are made in the execution plan and new goals are established through the change management process. Later, for reasons outside the control of the project, the project will not experience the time savings from the additional investment of funds. It is important to revisit the decision. A culture that encourages project team members to bring up the need for revisiting decisions and a mechanism that makes it easy to surface issues and concerns will increase the likelihood that these issues will come to the attention of the management team.
Establishing a culture and a mechanism for revisiting project decisions is important for meeting client expectations.
Emergency Button
An experienced project manager came up with a clever idea to enable his clients to capture the attention of the project team. He gave the client’s team a bright red index card and said, “This is your emergency button.” The card was a symbol. It empowered the client with the ability to capture the complete attention of the project team. When the client presented the red button, the project manager instantly stopped current activities and focused on the client. The red button meant the project leadership focused on understanding the issue or concern presented by the client and developing project priorities to meet the client’s concerns.Although the red button was rarely used, it gave a sense of power to the client and communicated that the client was important. One project manager used the “red button” on four projects, and on two of the projects the card was never used. On one project, the client used the card to get the project ready for a visit from the client’s boss, and on the fourth project, the client used the card often. Although the project manager believed the card was overused to get the total attention of the project leadership team, he never regretted providing the client with the card. The “red button” card provided them a method to distinguish the really important needs of the client.
Revisiting Major Decisions and Issues
The project environment moves fast, and decisions are made and implemented to keep pace. Decisions made in the conceptual phase of the project may not be effective during the design phase. It is not that the decisions made were necessarily wrong, based on the data at the time they were understandable. However, with new information, it is sometimes important to revisit and change decisions made earlier in the project. As obvious as this might sound, many project teams are reluctant to challenge earlier decisions. Without a mechanism in place to revisit decisions, the early decisions may be seen as final. This sense of finality may limit progress and prevent the project from completing on time, as well as potentially having a project that is irrelevant as soon as it is introduced.
Sometimes people ask that decisions be revisited just because they did not like the decision that was made.
Not Revisiting Decisions
On an educational training manual project, the visual design schedule was changed to support the completion of the activities on the critical path by a project milestone date. The change increased the number of hours needed to complete the work because of the change in work processes. The project manager accepted the costs of the change to achieve the milestone date, but the manager of the visual design team objected because the change would cause their part of the job to exceed the budgeted amount. The project manager decided not to revisit the decision because no new information was available that would cause the decision to change.
Mechanisms for revisiting decisions are similar to project change orders. With a change order, a request to revisit a decision must be initiated by someone on the team. The formality of methods used by the project to revisit a decision depends on the complexity profile of the project. On less complex projects, an informal discussion in project meetings can develop the awareness that a decision needs to be revisited. On more complex projects, the action item register and the weekly project meetings provide a venue for revisiting decisions.
Vendor Decision Revisited
On a major project creating a new marketing manual for a large university, the priority was completing the manual in time for recruiters to visit athletes and other high school students throughout the country. The client was involved in the process to select major policy wording, and after an expedited bidding process, an instructional design vendor was selected for a critical piece of the manual layout.Later, members of the project team learned that this vendor was overcommitted, and there was a high risk that the vendor would not be able to meet the schedule dates. Even though it was the client’s decision to hire the vendor, the project leadership had established that this kind of issue needed to be readdressed with the client and warned the client of the possible risk and suggested changing plans. The client decided to proceed. Weeks later, the vendor began missing critical dates just as the project team predicted.Since the issue had been revisited, the client took the blame. Changes were made that brought the project back on track and the project finished on time and within budget, making the client even more impressed with the project team.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Determine who should be included in decisions for each category using a decision matrix.
• Additional information that is developed during the design and planning phase can require that decisions made during the conceptual phase need to be reconsidered.
• Decide at what level of problem the client should be involved by discussing the threshold with the client. Involve the client early in the process and provide a mechanism to give them a chance to contribute to the solution before the problem gets worse.
• Decide what criteria to use to determine when a decision should be revisited. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/04%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/4.02%3A_4.3_Dealing_with_Problems_--_Project_Management_for_Ins.txt |
4.2 Understanding Values and Expectations
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify methods for determining client expectations.
2. Identify methods for clarifying values and determining differences.
3. Describe the importance of dealing fairly with the client.
Two of the sources of dissatisfaction in personal and business interactions are unmet expectations and a misunderstanding or ignorance of the values held by the other party. The project manager needs to avoid having an unsatisfied client due to a clash of values or a failure to meet expectations.
Clarify Expectations
Client expectations are expressed in chartering documents such as the scope of work, the project purpose statement, and the list of project deliverables. Other expectations exist that are more difficult to express in written documents.
Managing Expectations
One project client had such a difficult time with the billing processes on her previous project that significant project management time and resources were expended on reconciling billing issues. This client has an expectation in the next project that project accounting and billing processes operate effectively and efficiently.Another client had been constantly surprised by changes and unplanned events happening on the project. This client wanted to participate early in the discussion of problems that arise during the life of the project and contribute to finding solutions and minimizing the negative impact on project performance.
Understanding and capturing these expectations in a written document is an important step in effectively meeting client expectations. Often it is the next question that enables a project manager to discover the less obvious expectations. The next question is the one the project manager asks after the initial response to inquiries about expectations. In our example, the client may express that he or she wants project billings to be accurate and timely. This is an easily understandable expectation, but when the project manager asked the next question—“Can you tell me more about what you mean?”—the client revealed the problems on her previous project, and the project team developed a better understanding of the client’s concern. The project team developed measures for tracking project billings that measured both timeliness and accuracy. This process enabled the project team to understand the client’s concern, develop work processes that demonstrated a response, and provide data to the client on the timeliness and the accuracy of the billing processes.
For the client that expected to hear about problems early and participate in the problem-solving discussions, the project team shared the project action item register and highlighted issues the team felt may be important to the client. The project manager also discussed potential concerns with the client during their weekly project update.
After the project team captures the client expectations, the team then develops a method for tracking performance against expectations. In our example, the project team defined accuracy and timeliness in measurable terms and tracked the team performance. The project team developed a survey to track the client’s perception of inclusion in the problem-solving process and tracked the client’s response. These measures were then presented in the project review meetings with other measures of project performance such as cost and schedule.
As the project team meets and exceeds the client expectations, these expectations tend to change. If the goal is 85% accuracy on all project billings, and the project team begins to perform with an average of 95% accuracy or higher and never falls below 90%, then the client begins to expect 95% accuracy. This is a realistic expectation of the client; it also changes the expectation so that meeting the client’s expectation becomes harder. Even if expectations change, it is important to maintain the original goal. This reminds the client at the end of the project that the project team not only met expectations but also raised them during the life of the project.
Clarify Values
Values are desirable principles or qualities.1 Disagreements based on differences in values are extremely difficult to resolve because compromising means compromising your values. Organizations often have developed a list of corporate values. Sometimes these are real and sometimes they are more important to the corporate brand. The project manager needs to understand the real organizational and personal values of the team members related to the project.
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Communication Values
A large project in Washington had a client that valued prompt communication. All the members of the client’s team had the latest phone technology and took calls during project meetings. The project team saw this behavior as rude and interfering with the effectiveness of the project. The client was very comfortable in this chaotic environment and valued constant communication because it provided them with a competitive advantage in their marketplace by enabling quick identification and response to opportunities. The same behavior was preventing the project team from developing a common understanding and agreeing on a project plan because they could not focus on the needs of the project long enough to develop this common understanding. The project manager and the lead client recognized the potential conflict for the project and developed a list of project meetings that would be “cell-less,” which meant that the team members would turn cell phones off for that meeting. Other meetings would follow the cultural standards of the client.
Developing a mutual understanding of the personal and organizational values and dealing with differences during the early phases of the project will significantly reduce the potential for insolvable conflicts. This becomes more important on a large, complex project where the likelihood of a diverse project team is high, and the team may have to deal with different laws, customs, and cultural values. Developing an understanding of these differences and developing an appreciation for the value of this diversity for project team members can prevent conflict later in the project.
Deal Fairly with the Client
During the life of the project, the project manager will often have the opportunity to take advantage of the client, either because a clause in the contract is not written accurately or because the project manager has access to more detailed information. For example, a client finds a mistake in the original documents provided to the project team. The project team analyzes the new information to access the potential impact on the project cost and schedule. A skilled project manager can demonstrate a negative impact and increase project profits by requesting a change order. A skilled project manager can also usually find an innovative approach to finding a solution without increasing the cost or schedule. In most cases, the client wants to be treated fairly. Fairness is characterized by impartiality and honesty that is free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism.2 If the client interprets the change order as fair, then the project manager has the opportunity to create a satisfied client. If the client believes the behavior of the project manager is unfair, then it is difficult to create a satisfied client.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• To identify client expectations, review written documents, but have a dialogue with the client to uncover unwritten expectations by asking questions and listening. Manage increasing expectations by reminding the client of the original objectives.
• Understand the stated corporate values by reviewing written documents and client actions related to those stated values.. Attempt to avoid conflicts of values by identifying the differences before they become problems.
• Do not take advantage of clients’ mistakes, but help them meet their objectives in spite of their errors. Live your own values of fairness.
[1] Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online Dictionary, s.v. “values,” http://unabridged.merriam-webster.co...bin/collegiate (accessed June 18, 2009).
[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online Dictionary, s.v. “fairness,” http://unabridged.merriam-webster.co...irness&x=0&y=0 (accessed June 18, 2009). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/04%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/4.03%3A_4.2_Understanding_Values_and_Expectations_--_Project_Ma.txt |
4.1 Including the Client
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe what the client needs to know about the management style during different phases of a project.
2. Identify advantages and disadvantages of including the client on project teams.
To appreciate the skill and effort expended by the project team in achieving the objectives of the project, the client needs to know more about what the team does.
Educate the Client from the Beginning
Often the client does not have project management experience and, therefore, does not understand project phases and the requirements of the different phases. A less-experienced client may become frustrated at the changes in the management approach required for the different phases of the project. For example, during the early phases, the project leadership is encouraging creative approaches to accomplishing the project goals. As the project proceeds and the project plan becomes more firm, the project leadership focuses on accomplishing the project goals. The types of meetings, the agenda of the meetings, and the general project atmosphere change as the project moves from the planning phase to the production mode of the execution phase of the project.
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During the last phases on a project, project team members are often tired and beginning to anticipate the transition that will take place at the end of the project. The motivational approach that worked during the early phases of the project is less effective during the final phases, and the project manager applies different approaches to motivating the project team. These changes can be disconcerting on a person’s first project. By explaining what to expect and planning with the client a process to minimize the impact of these changes, the project manager prepares the client for these events and reduces the frustration.
Include the Client on Selected Project Teams
The client translates the needs of the organization through chartering the project and defining the project scope to the project manager and the project team. The client also has a supervision role. This supervision is often accomplished through regular project reviews and reports from the project team. Depending on the complexity level of the project, the reviews can vary significantly. On less complex projects, the review might be conducted in a one-hour meeting with a one-page summary document serving as the project progress report. On more complex projects, a full-day meeting might be necessary for the project progress to be fully understood, and the project report may be one hundred pages or more.
In addition to providing the formal overview of the project, most clients would like to actively participate in the success of the project. This is a delicate balance. The participation of the client can have undue influence on project decisions. The advantage of including the client in project activities is to gain the client’s personal investment in the project plan, to create a better understanding for the client of the problems the project encounters during the life of the project, and to gain the insights and contributions of the client in problem solving.
Involving the client in teams where the client’s special knowledge can add value to the team discussions and activities contributes both to the success of the team and the satisfaction of the client. During the development of a chemical-plant employee training in Tennessee, the project team struggled with a very tight project schedule. A team was established to explore ways to reduce the approval process for the drawings of the instructional design. It was taking two weeks for the design review, and even though this was within the normal time frame for design reviews, the project management team believed there were opportunities to reduce this time and shorten the length of the project.
The client’s engineering manager participated in the brainstorming sessions that explored ways to reduce the design review time. Several good ideas were developed and put into place. The client’s engineering manager took these ideas back to the client’s team and instituted many of the same ideas. There were two positive results: (1) a shortened schedule that saved two weeks by the end of the design, (2) a client that was emotionally engaged in the positive outcomes and contributed to the project success.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The project manager’s style changes with each phase of the project. The client might not have experience with project phases and needs to be guided through the different phases, the purposes of each phase, and the different management styles those entail.
• Client participation in project teams can have undue influence on decisions, but this is offset by the buy-in of the client and the insights the client can offer when special knowledge is needed or schedules need to be changed. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/04%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/4.04%3A_4.1_Including_the_Client_--_Project_Management_for_Inst.txt |
5.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with Chapters 3 and 9 of the PMBOK and 18% of the CAPM questions come from these chapters. The content connects to the Planning and Executing category of the PMP questions.
Few skills are more essential to the project manager than the ability to lead, inspire, and manage people effectively. By effectively managing relationship dynamics and enhancing communication among team members, a project manager can contribute enormously to the success of any given endeavor. Moreover, as project scope and complexity increase, these skills become increasingly important lest the project fall into a tangle of petty factions and unclear expectations.
Some of the key skills include:
1. The ability to work well with individuals. This includes skills such as responsiveness to the needs and motivations of team members and the ability to effectively negotiate and resolve disputes.
2. The ability to create effective team dynamics. The project manager must take the lead in ensuring that trust and accountability are engendered, developing goals, effectively managing meetings, and monitoring team progress.
3. The ability to create a project culture. Successful project cultures are characterized by a strong shared vision of success and a consistent set of values that guide members of the project team in their independent decision making.
The concepts discussed in this chapter are not meant to be an exhaustive description of the skills required to successfully work with people on a project, but instead are meant only as a starting point. Some students of social dynamics mistakenly think that they can learn people skills solely from what they read in a book. This notion would be tantamount to an aspiring violinist hoping to learn the instrument by reading about music theory without ever physically touching the instrument! The principles that follow are the groundwork as you begin to build your own mental map of what effective people management and leadership looks like.
Note for ID: Effective people management is perhaps more important within instructional design than it is within a more prototypical setting, such as within a software company or building construction business. Instructional design projects are often characterized by small teams, vaguely specified client deliverables, the requirement to work closely with many individuals who do not have a vested interest in the outcome of the project, such as the subject matter experts (SMEs), and oftentimes a limited budget. Although no specific domain of project management has a monopoly on difficulty, the instructional design project manager has his or her own unique set of challenges and needs – especially when it comes to working with people.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
Well on this project where we were—we were training our diverse group. We were training submarine, excuse me, we were training helicopter pilots and we were training sensor operators who sit in the back and are completely different. One group was officers. One group was not officers, they were enlisted people. So, there was a great diversity of people we had to communicate with. I was very fortunate in this project because of some staffing. You know, it was not skill on my part or good choices on my part. We had two people whose personalities really spelled the success of the project. One was an untrained instructional designer. He was a Harvard graduate, he had his Bachelors from Harvard, and yet he wasn’t employed in a law firm, you know, he wasn’t advancing in his career. He was kind of in-between trying to decide what he wanted to do, but he had this wonderful outgoing personality, people just loved being around him, they wanted to talk to him all the time. And so he was kind of the heartbeat of the project. He was the glue that made all this diverse group of people, he was a motivator, he was exciting to be around. The second person was a Navy, former Navy, was a retiree. He had been in the Navy for so long and we were working with Navy personnel, both officers and enlisted people. He had been a fairly high ranking enlisted person. And he knew how not to take “guff” from enlisted people. He knew how to address officers, and he was on the technical side of things. He was very skilled with people within the military world. Without those two guys this would have been the biggest disaster. This project would have not worked, so personalities were incredibly important.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
Well on Art 45, it’s unusual because the instructor is actually an artist. Then we have an art director. Our flash supervisor has an art background, and he also has his masters in Instructional Design. And then we have our videographer who is artistic. So we had a lot of artistic personalities on this project. I think most of our team is used to working together, so I think the synergy was really great there, they had great ideas supporting because they’re aware of what each role can do. I think the only, probably one thing that made this course, this project a little more interesting was our art director and our flash supervisor are both artists, and then of course the author is an artist. So they sometimes differed on how things should be presented. So I was really, they did a fantastic job in finding compromise. Because at the end of the day with our courses we have the final say with what is in a course. The author will give us the material, but we have the final say in how to present it. I think we found a nice way. Some things we went with the way that the author wanted to present certain concepts. And other ways, we went with the ways that our team thought it should be presented and I thought it was a good compromise.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
Our Center, we have about 20 full-time employees, and we have a wide variety of personality types. We have some folks who spend a lot of years in industry and kind of got tired of doing that. That would be me. I worked for IBM, Intel, Xerox, companies like that. And then went back, got a Ph.D., and now I’m working at the University. So we have folks that have a lot of industry experience, and we have people who have just come up through the University. Ph.D., you know, maybe a few years working as high school teachers, get a Ph.D. and now they’re working with us. And so their experience with real world kinds of applications is kind of limited. Sometimes you get clashes there because you have people who have been used to running in industry large teams, and they have lots of resources and they expect things to be done like this. When I worked at Intel for example, there were lots of meetings where, you know, folks were yelling at each other. Literally yelling at each other in the meeting, and then you walk out the door and you talk about, you know, see you at the tee at four o’clock. Like they’re bitter enemies, but they’re best of friends. But that’s the corporate mentality, the corporate culture. Here, the culture is let’s all get along, and so when we had these personalities that have different, very different backgrounds it takes a little massaging. So as project manager it’s my job is to smooth some ruffled feathers here, and to keep the kind of egos from getting bruised and keep doing the great work that they’re doing without taking offence at what appear to be slights. And that is all communication when it comes down to it. Folks say things and we don’t understand it because of different contexts. So frequently you have to have separate meetings. This is what this person meant and this is what this person meant so we can all get along right? A large part of what the role of a project manager is, is to make sure that those kind of communication issues get smoothed over. Not covered up, but smoothed over and clarified so that the project can keep moving forward. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/05%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/5.01%3A_5_Working_with_People_on_Projects_--_Project_Management.txt |
5.3 Creating a Project Culture
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe how project culture is developed and enforced.
2. Describe how differences in culture between stakeholders can influence the project.
3. Describe the role of innovation on projects.
Project managers have a unique opportunity during the start-up of a project. They create a project culture, something organizational managers seldom have a chance to do. In most organizations, the corporate or organizational culture has developed over the life of the organization, and people associated with the organization understand what is valued, what has status, and what behaviors are expected. Edgar Schein defined culture as a pattern of basic assumptions formed by a group on how to perceive and address problems associated with both internal adaptation and external integration.1 Schein also described organizational culture as an abstract concept that constrains, stabilizes, and provides structure to the organization. At the same time, culture is being constantly enacted, created, and shaped by leadership behavior.
Characteristics of Project Culture
A project culture represents the shared norms, beliefs, values, and assumptions of the project team. Understanding the unique aspects of a project culture and developing an appropriate culture to match the complexity profile of the project are important project management abilities.
Culture is developed through the communication of
• the priority
• the given status
• the alignment of official and operational rules
Official rules are the rules that are stated, and operational rules are the rules that are enforced. Project managers who align official and operational rules are more effective in developing a clear and strong project culture because the project rules are among the first aspects of the project culture to which team members are exposed when assigned to the project.
Operational Rules on a Multisite Project
During an instructional design project that required individuals to collaborate remotely, an official rule had been established that individuals would backup their work in a location other than the shared folders they were using every week. It did not take long, however, for everyone involved to see that one member was actively backing up all work. Believing that was sufficient, the operational rule became simply leaving the backing up to a single individual. They assumed that official rules could be ignored if they were difficult to obey.
When this individual fell ill, however, no one picked up the slack and followed the official rule. When some files were corrupted, the team found that their most recent backups were weeks old, resulting in redoing a lot of work. The difference between the official rules and the operational rules of the project created a culture that made communication of the priorities more difficult.
In addition to official and operational rules, the project leadership communicates what is important by the use of symbols, storytelling, rituals, rewards or punishments, and taboos.
Creating a Culture of Collaboration
A project manager met with his team prior to the beginning of an instructional design project. The team was excited about the prestigious project and the potential for career advancement involved. With this increased competitive aspect came the danger of selfishness and backstabbing. The project leadership team told stories of previous projects where people were fired for breaking down the team efforts and often shared inspirational examples of how teamwork created unprecedented successes—an example of storytelling. Every project meeting started with teambuilding exercises—a ritual—and any display of hostility or separatism was forbidden—taboo—and was quickly and strongly cut off by the project leadership if it occurred.
Culture guides behavior and communicates what is important and is useful for establishing priorities. On projects that have a strong culture of trust, team members feel free to challenge anyone who breaks a confidence, even managers. The culture of integrity is stronger than the cultural aspects of the power of management.
Culture of Stakeholders
When project stakeholders do not share a common culture, project management must adapt its organizations and work processes to cope with cultural differences. The following are three major aspects of cultural difference that can affect a project:
1. Communications
2. Negotiations
3. Decision making
Communication is perhaps the most visible manifestation of culture. Project managers encounter cultural differences in communication in language, context, and candor. Different languages are clearly the highest barrier to communication. When project stakeholders do not share the same language, communication slows down and is often filtered to share only information that is deemed critical. The barrier to communication can influence project execution where quick and accurate exchange of ideas and information is critical.
The interpretation of information reflects the extent that context and candor influence cultural expressions of ideas and understanding of information. In some cultures, an affirmative answer to a question does not always mean yes. The cultural influence can create confusion on a project where project stakeholders share more than one culture.
Culture Affects Communication in Mumbai
A project management consultant from the United States was asked to evaluate the effectiveness of a management team executing a project in Mumbai, India. The project team reported that the project was on schedule and within budget. After a project review meeting where each of the team leads reported that the design of the project was on schedule, the consultant began informal discussions with individuals. He began to discover that several critical aspects of the project were behind schedule and lacked a mitigating strategy. The information on the project flowed through a cultural expectation to provide positive information. The project was eventually cancelled by the U.S.-based corporation when the market and political risks increased.
Not all cultural differences are related to international projects. Corporate cultures and even regional differences can create cultural confusion on a project.
Cultural Differences between American Regions
Be aware that cultural differences don’t only occur if you have a multinational team. On a major project in South America that included project team leaders from seven different countries, the greatest cultural difference that affected the project communication was between two project leaders from the United States. Two team members—one from New Orleans and one from Brooklyn—had more difficulty communicating than team members from Lebanon and Australia.
Image by UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Innovation on Projects
The requirement of innovation on projects is influenced by the nature of the project. Some projects are chartered to develop a solution to a problem, and innovation is a central ingredient of project success. The lack of availability of education to the world at large prompted the open education movement, a highly innovative endeavor, which resulted in the textbook you are now reading. Innovation is also important to developing methods of lowering costs or shortening the schedule. Traditional project management thinking provides a trade-off between cost, quality, and schedule. A project sponsor can typically shorten the project schedule with an investment of more money or a lowering of quality. Finding innovative solutions can sometimes lower costs while also saving time and maintaining the quality.
Innovation on a Textbook Project
A project manager brought together a team of professors, graduate students, and undergraduates to develop a mathematics textbook. One of the major goals of the team was to present the information in a compelling way. To encourage innovation the project manager was lenient with the dress code, noise levels, and even space (there were members of the team that liked to wander). This created a comfortable atmosphere where participants felt welcome to take risks and suggest a variety of ideas. This approach was not, however, in line with the expectations of the university in which they were housed. The project manager had to decide if he wanted to maintain the lenient atmosphere or ask the team to abide by the expectations of the university. Feeling that the innovation of the project would suffer by changing the dynamic the group had established, the project manager chose to rent office space off-campus.
Innovation is a creative process that requires both fun and focus. Stress is a biological reaction to perceived threats. Stress, at appropriate levels, can make the work environment interesting and even challenging. Many people working on projects enjoy a high-stress, exciting environment. When the stress level is too high, the biological reaction increases blood flow to the emotional parts of the brain and decreases the blood flow to the creative parts of the brain, making creative problem solving more difficult. Fun reduces the amount of stress on the project. Project managers recognize the benefits of balancing the stress level on the project with the need to create an atmosphere that enables creative thought.
Stress Managed on a Website Design Project
When a project manager visited the team tasked with designing the website for a project, she found that most of the members were feeling a great deal of stress. As she probed to find the reason behind the stress, she found that in addition to designing, the team was increasingly facing the need to build the website as well. As few of them had the necessary skills, they were wasting time that could be spent designing trying to learn building skills. Once the project manager was able to identify the stress as well as its cause, she was able to provide the team with the support it needed to be successful.
Exploring opportunities to create savings takes an investment of time and energy, and on a time-sensitive project, the project manager must create the motivation and the opportunity for creative thinking.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Project culture is developed by communicating priority, status, and the alignment of official and operational rules. It is enforced through use of symbols, storytelling, rituals, rewards or punishments, and taboos.
• Differences in culture between stakeholders can affect communications, negotiations, and decision making.
• Innovation can be the main focus of the project, or it can be used to achieve improvement in goals that are usually mutually exclusive, such as lowering costs and shortening schedule.
[1] Edgar Schein, “Organizational Culture,” American Psychologist 45 (1990): 109–19. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/05%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/5.02%3A_5.3_Creating_a_Project_Culture_--_Project_Management_fo.txt |
5.2 Working with Groups and Teams
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the value of trust and how it relates to contracts and complex projects.
2. Identify four types of trust.
3. Describe how a project manager can build trust.
4. Identify three common meeting types and then describe how they differ.
5. Identity types of teams.
6. Describe the HUMM method of measuring project performance.
7. Describe the importance of developing a project story.
A team is a collaboration of people with different personalities that is led by a person with a favored leadership style. Managing the interactions of these personalities and styles as a group is an important aspect of project management.
TRUST
Trust is the foundation for all relationships within a project. Without a minimum level of trust, communication breaks down, and eventually the project suffers in the form of costs increasing and schedules slipping. Often, when reviewing a project where the performance problems have captured the attention of upper management, the evidence of problems is the increase in project costs and the slippage in the project schedule. The underlying cause is usually blamed on communication breakdown. With deeper investigation, the communication breakdown is associated with a breakdown in trust.
Image by Brunel University
On projects, trust is the filter through which we screen information that is shared and the filter we use to screen information we receive. The more trust that exists, the easier it is for information to flow through the filters. As trust diminishes, the filters become stronger and information has a harder time getting through, and projects that are highly dependent on an information-rich environment will suffer from information deprivation.
Contracts and Trust Relationships
The project typically begins with a charter or contract. A contract is a legal agreement that includes penalties for any behavior or results not achieved. Contracts are based on an adversarial paradigm and do not lend themselves to creating an environment of trust. Contracts and charters are necessary to clearly establish the scope of the project, among other things, but they are not conducive to establishing a trusting project culture.
A relationship of mutual trust is less formal but vitally important. When a person or team enters into a relationship of mutual trust, each person’s reputation and self-respect are the drivers in meeting the intent of the relationship. A relationship of mutual trust within the context of a project is a commitment to an open and honest relationship. There is nothing that enforces the commitments in the relationship except the integrity of the people involved. Smaller, less complex projects can operate within the boundaries of a legal contract, but larger, more complex projects must develop a relationship of mutual trust to be successful.
Types of Trust
Svenn Lindskold1 describes four kinds of trust:
1. Objective credibility. A personal characteristic that reflects the truthfulness of an individual that can be checked against observable facts.
2. Attribution of benevolence. A form of trust that is built on the examination of the person’s motives and the conclusion that they are not hostile.
3. Nonmanipulative trust. A form of trust that correlates to a person’s self-interest and the predictability of a person’s behavior in acting consistent in that self-interest.
4. High cost of lying. The type of trust that emerges when persons in authority raise the cost of lying so high that people will not lie because the penalty will be too high.
Creating Trust
Building trust on a project begins with the project manager. On complex projects, the assignment of a project manager with a high trust reputation can help establish the trust level needed. The project manager can also establish the cost of lying in a way that communicates an expectation and a value for trust on the project. Project managers can also assure that the official goals (stated goals) and operational goals (goals that are reinforced) are aligned. The project manager can create an atmosphere where informal communication is expected and reinforced.
The informal communication is important to establishing personal trust among team members and with the client. Allotting time during project start-up meetings to allow team members to develop a personal relationship is important to establishing the team trust. The informal discussion allows for a deeper understanding of the whole person and creates an atmosphere where trust can emerge.
High Cost of Lying in a Charleston Project
On a project in Charleston, South Carolina, the client was asking for more and more backup to information from the project. The project manager visited the client to better understand the reporting requirements and discovered the client did not trust the reports coming from the project and wanted validating material for each report. After some candid discussion, the project manager discovered that one of the project team members had provided information to the client that was inaccurate. The team member had made a mistake but had not corrected it with the client, hoping that the information would get lost in the stream of information from the project.The project manager removed the team member from the project for two main reasons. The project manager established that the cost of lying was high. The removal communicated to the project team an expectation of honesty. The project manager also reinforced a covenant with the client that reinforced the trust in the information the project provided. The requests for additional information declined, and the trust relationship between project personnel and the client remained high.
Small events that reduce trust often take place on a project without anyone remembering what happened to create the environment of distrust. Taking fast and decisive action to establish a high cost of lying, communicating the expectation of honesty, and creating an atmosphere of trust are critical steps a project manager can take to ensure the success of complex projects.
Project managers can also establish expectations of team members to respect individual differences and skills, look and react to the positives, recognize each other’s accomplishments, and value people’s self-esteem to increase a sense of the benevolent intent.
MANAGING TEAM MEETINGS
Team meetings are conducted differently depending on the purpose of the meeting, the leadership style that is appropriate for the meeting, and the personality types of the members of the team.
Action Item Meetings
Action item meetings are short meetings to develop a common understanding of what the short-term priorities are for the project, individual roles, and expectations for specific activities. This type of meeting is for sharing, not problem solving. Any problems that emerge from the discussion are assigned to a person, and another meeting is established to address the issue. Action item meetings focus on short-term activities, usually less than a week in duration.
The action item meeting is fact based and information oriented. It is a left-brain-type focus. The action item meeting has very little dialogue except to ask clarification questions. If discussion is needed or disagreement is not easily resolved, another problem-solving meeting is established to deal with that issue. On smaller topics, that meeting might take place immediately after the action item meeting and only include those people with an interest in the outcome of the discussion.
The project manager keeps the successful action item meeting short in duration and focused on only those items of information needed for the short-term project plan. The project manager will restate the common understandings of what activities are priorities and who will be responsible for the activities. Often these meetings can include a review of safety procedures or security procedures when these issues are important to the project. The leadership approach to action item meetings focuses on data, actions, and commitments. Although the project manager may observe stresses between project team members or other issues, they are not addressed in this meeting. These are fact-based meetings. If issues begin to arise between people, the project manager will develop other opportunities to address these issues in another forum. Using the Myers-Briggs descriptions, team members who favor thinking more than feeling and judging more than perceiving are more comfortable with this type of meeting.
Management Meetings
Management meetings are longer in duration and are focused on planning. They are oriented toward developing plans, tracking progress of existing plans, and making adjustments to plans in response to new information.
These meetings include focused discussion on generating a common understanding of the progress of the existing plan. This discussion is based on quantitative information provided on the progress of the schedule and other data, but the discussion is qualitative in evaluating the data to develop a more complete understanding of the data. The experience and opinions of the project leaders are solicited, and disagreement about meaning of the data is even encouraged to develop a deeper understanding of the data. Through this discussion, a common understanding of the status of the project should emerge, and the project manager invites discussion, includes people to offer their thoughts, and assures that disagreements are positive discussions about interpretation of the information and that disagreements do not become personal.
Management meetings also focus on developing midterm goals. For larger, more complex projects, the goals may be monthly or even quarterly. For smaller or less complex projects, weekly goals will provide the focus. The project manager focuses the discussion on the broad priorities for the next period and includes all the functional leaders in the discussion. The goals that emerge from the discussion should represent a common understanding of the priorities of the project for the next term.
For example, during the early phases of a project, the team is focused on developing a conceptual understanding of the project. A major milestone on complex projects is typically the completion of the conceptual plan. The project manager would lead a discussion on what needs to be accomplished to meet the project milestone and asks what potential barriers exist and what key resources are needed. From the discussion, the project team develops a few key goals that integrate the various functions of the project team and focus the team on priorities.
The following are some examples of goals during the conceptual phase:
• Developing a list of the procurement long lead items and defining critical dates
• Developing a human resources plan that identifies critical positions
• Developing and building agreement with the client on the project scope of work
Each of these goals is measurable and time framed. They can be developed as positive motivators and will take the project leaders and most of the project team to accomplish. They develop a general understanding of the priorities and are easy to remember.
Management meetings are a combination of left-brain thinking, which is fact based, and right-brain thinking, which is creative and innovative. Using the Myers-Briggs terminology, team members who prefer feeling over thinking and perceiving over judging can contribute ideas and perspectives on the project that the more fact-oriented members might miss.
The project manager allows and encourages conversation in developing and evaluating the goals but focuses the discussion on the goals and obstacles. Management meetings take on a different focus during the month. Meetings at the beginning of the month spend time addressing the progress and potential barriers to the goals developed the previous month. During the middle of the month, the project manager leads the team to develop next month’s goals as the team also works on the current month’s goals. Toward the end of the month as the goals for the month are accomplished, the meeting focuses more on the next month, enabling the team to remain goal focused during the life of the project.
Management meetings are also an opportunity to discover obstacles to goal achievement. The project team reallocates resources or develops alternative methods for accomplishing the goals. As the project team discusses the progress of project goals, the project manager explores possible obstacles and encourages exposing potential problems in achieving goals. The project manager focuses the team on finding solutions and avoids searching for blame.
The project manager uses a facilitative leadership approach, encouraging the management team to contribute their ideas, and builds consensus on what goals will bring the appropriate focus. The project manager keeps the focus on developing the goals, tracking progress, identifying barriers, and making adjustments to accomplish the management goals. Although there are typically meetings for scheduling and procurement and other meetings where goals are established and problems solved, the management meeting and the goal development process create alignment among the project leadership on the items critical to the project’s success.
Leadership Meetings
Leadership meetings are held less frequently and are longer in length. These meetings are used by the project manager to reflect on the project, to explore the larger issues of the project, and to back away from the day-to-day problem solving. The project manager will create a safe environment for sharing thoughts and evaluations of issues that are less data oriented. This is a right-brained, creative meeting that focuses on the people issues of the project: the relationship with the client, vendors, and project team. Team members who favor feeling, perceiving, and intuition often contribute valuable insights in this type of meeting. The team might also share perceptions by upper management and perceptions of the community in which the project is being executed. Where the time frame for action item meetings is in weeks and management meetings is in months, the time frame for leadership meetings is longer and takes in the entire length and impact of the project.
The project manager’s meeting management skill includes creating the right meeting atmosphere for the team discussion that is needed. For discussions based on data and facts, the project manager creates the action item type meeting. The conversation is focused on sharing information and clarification. The conversation for leadership meetings is the opposite. Discussion is more open ended and focused on creativity and innovation. Because each type of meeting requires a different meeting atmosphere, mixing the purposes of a meeting will make it difficult for the project manager to develop and maintain the appropriate kind of conversation.
Skilled project managers know what type of meeting is needed and how to develop an atmosphere to support the meeting type. Meetings of the action item type are focused on information sharing with little discussion. They require efficient communication of plans, progress, and other information team members need to plan and execute daily work. Management type meetings are focused on developing and progressing goals. Leadership meetings are more reflective and focused on the project mission and culture.
These three types of meetings do not cover all the types of project meetings. Specific problem-solving, vendor evaluation, and scheduling meetings are examples of typical project meetings. Understanding what kinds of meetings are needed on the project and creating the right focus for each meeting type is a critical project management skill.
TYPES OF TEAMS
Teams can outperform individual team members in several situations. The effort and time invested in developing a team and the work of the team are large investments of project resources, and the payback is critical to project success. Determining when a team is needed and then chartering and supporting the development and work of the team are other critical project management abilities.
Teams are effective in several project situations:
• When no one person has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to either understand or solve the problem
• When a commitment to the solution is needed by large portions of the project team
• When the problem and solution cross project functions
• When innovation is required
Individuals can outperform teams on some occasions. An individual tackling a problem consumes fewer resources than a team and can operate more efficiently—as long as the solution meets the project’s needs. A person is most appropriate in the following situations:
• When speed is important
• When one person has the knowledge, skills, and resources to solve the problem
• When the activities involved in solving the problem are very detailed
• When the actual document needs to be written (Teams can provide input, but writing is a solitary task.)
In addition to knowing when a team is appropriate, the project manager must also understand what type of team will function best.
Functional Teams
A functional team refers to the team approach related to the project functions. The engineering team, the procurement team, and the project controls team are examples of functional teams within the project. On a project with a low complexity profile that includes low technological challenges, good team member experience, and a clear scope of work, the project manager can utilize well-defined functional teams with clear expectations, direction, and strong vertical communication.
Cross-Functional Teams
Cross-functional teams address issues and work processes that include two or more of the functional teams. The team members are selected to bring their functional expertise to addressing project opportunities.
Cross-Functional Teamwork on Video Production Project
A cross-functional project team in Tennessee was assigned to develop a project approach to drafting, shooting, and editing educational videos without storing the videos on the school server. Although the complexity of this goal is primarily related to creating the videos and procuring editing equipment, the planning involved coordination of the script drafting, procurement of equipment and talent, and project controls. Team members from each of these functions developed and tracked a plan to meet the project goal. Because they communicated so frequently and clearly, the cross-functional team was successful in designing a process and executing the plan in a way that saved three weeks on the video schedule and several thousand dollars in cost by hosting off-site.
Problem-Solving Teams
Problem-solving teams are assigned to address specific issues that arise during the life of the project. The project leadership includes members that have the expertise to address the problem. The team is chartered to address that problem and then disband.
QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE
Project managers should provide an opportunity to ask such questions as “What is your gut feeling about how the project going?” and “How do you think our client perceives the project?” This creates the opportunity for reflection and dialogue around larger issues on the project. The project manager creates an atmosphere for the team to go beyond the data and search for meaning. This type of discussion and reflection is very difficult in the stress of day-to-day problem solving.
The project manager has several tools for developing good quantitative information—based on numbers and measurements—such as the project schedules, budgets and budget reports, risk analysis, and goal tracking. This quantitative information is essential to understanding the current status and trends on the project. Just as important is the development of qualitative information—comparisons of qualities—such as judgments made by expert team members that go beyond the quantitative data provided in a report. Some would label this the “gut feeling” or intuition of experienced project managers.
The Humm Factor is a survey tool developed by Russ Darnall2 to capture the thoughts of project participants. It derived its name from a project manager who always claimed he could tell you more by listening to the hum of the project than reading all the project reports. “Do you feel the project is doing the things it needs to do to stay on schedule?” and “Is the project team focused on project goals?” are the types of questions that can be included in the Humm Factor. It is distributed on a weekly or less frequent basis depending on the complexity profile of the project. A project with a high level of complexity due to team-based and cultural issues will be surveyed more frequently.
The qualitative responses are converted to a quantitative value as a score from 1 to 10. Responses are tracked by individuals and the total project, resulting in qualitative comparisons over time. The project team reviews the ratings regularly, looking for trends that indicate an issue may be emerging on the project that might need exploring.
Humm Survey Uncovers Concerns
On a project in South Carolina, the project surveyed the project leadership with a Humm Survey each week. The Humm Factor indicated an increasing worry about the schedule beginning to slip when the schedule reports indicated that everything was according to plan. When the project manager began trying to understand why the Humm Factor was showing concerns about the schedule, he discovered an apprehension about the performance of a critical project supplier. When he asked team members, they responded, “It was the way they answered the phone or the hesitation when providing information—something didn’t feel right.”
The procurement manager visited the supplier and discovered the company was experiencing financial problems and had serious cash flow problems. The project manager was able to develop a plan to help the supplier through the period, and the supplier eventually recovered. The project was able to meet performance goals. The Humm Factor Survey provided a tool for members of the project team to express concerns that were based on very soft data, and the project team was able to discover a potential problem.
Another project team used the Humm Factor to survey the client monthly. The completed surveys went to a person who was not on the project team to provide anonymity to the responses. The responses were discussed at the monthly project review meetings, and the project manager summarized the results and addressed all the concerns expressed in the report. “I don’t feel my concerns are being heard” was one response that began increasing during the project, and the project manager spent a significant portion of the next project review meeting attempting to understand what this meant. The team discovered that as the project progressed toward major milestones, the project team became more focused on solving daily problems, spent more time in meetings, and their workday was becoming longer. The result was fewer contacts with the clients, slower responses in returning phone calls, and much fewer coffee breaks where team members could casually discuss the project with the client.
The result of the conversation led to better understanding by both the project team and client team of the change in behavior based on the current phase of the project and the commitment to developing more frequent informal discussion about the project.
DEVELOPING A PROJECT STORY
Every project develops a story. It is the short explanation that project team members give when asked about the project. This is also called the elevator speech, which is the explanation a person would give if he or she were in the elevator with the CEO and the CEO asked him or her to describe the project. Project stories often express important aspects of the project and can create a positive picture of the project or one that is less appealing.
A project story will develop, and creating a positive project story is a project management skill that helps the project. A positive project story is inviting to people and helps with the recruitment of talent to the project. A positive project story also helps when services are needed from functional departments within the company and in developing management support for the project. The project manager actively sets out to create the project story. Creating a positive story entails identifying the unique aspects of the project and building a positive outcome.
Building a Reputation for Project Completion Speed
A project manager in South Carolina always challenged people with speed. He identified the last project with similar characteristics and challenged the team to beat the time by weeks or months. The story became, “If you want a project done on time, this is the project team you need.” The project manager created a spirit of competition and fun. The project manager was a high-energy person, and the idea of finding a way to finish a project early seemed a natural outcome.
Every project manager can find the unique aspect of the project and build a sense of specialness about the project. The project becomes a good place to work, provides the team with a sense of accomplishment, and becomes the story created by the project manager.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Trust is important to reduce delays caused by excessive filtering and fact checking. Contracts are specific about the project scope, but personal relationships of mutual trust are necessary on complex projects.
• Four types of trust are objective credibility, attribution of benevolence, nonmanipulation, and a high cost of lying.
• To create trust, the project manager needs a reputation for trustworthiness and needs to align official goals with operational goals, establish a high cost of lying, and create an atmosphere of respect and benevolent intent.
• Meeting types are action item, management, and leadership. Action item meetings focus on specific short-term priorities. Management meetings focus on planning, and leadership meetings focus on larger issues.
• The types of teams are functional, cross-functional, and problem solving.
• The Humm Factor measures project performance and uses a questionnaire to identify qualitative information about project performance.
• A short statement of the purpose and character of the project is useful in recruiting and obtaining support for a project.
[1] Svenn Lindskold, “Trust Development, the GRIT Proposal, and the Effects of Conciliatory Acts on Conflict and Corporation,” Psychological Bulletin 85, no. 4 (1978): 772–93.
[2] Shari Caudron, “Industry’s Unsung Heroes,” Industry Week, December 4, 1995, 12–16. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/05%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/5.03%3A_5.2_Working_with_Groups_and_Teams_--_Project_Management.txt |
5.1 Working with Individuals
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe emotional intelligence.
2. Describe personality types and tools used to describe them.
3. Describe the relationship between leadership style and personality types.
4. Describe people skills that are necessary for negotiation and conflict resolution.
5. Describe how work is delegated.
6. Describe individual goals that are related to personality types.
Working with other people involves dealing with them both logically and emotionally. A successful working relationship between individuals begins with appreciating the importance of emotions and how they relate to personality types, leadership styles, negotiations, and setting goals.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotions are both a mental and physiological response to environmental and internal stimuli. Leaders need to understand and value their emotions to appropriately respond to the client, project team, and project environment. Daniel Coleman1 discussed emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) as a factor more important than IQ in predicting leadership success. According to Robert Cooper and Ayman Sawaf, “Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and acumens of emotions as a source of human energy, information, connection, and influence.”2
Emotional intelligence includes the following:
• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Empathy
• Relationship management
Image by Infusionsoft
Emotions are important to generating energy around a concept, to building commitment to goals, and to developing high-performing teams. Emotional intelligence is an important part of the project manager’s ability to build trust among the team members and with the client. It is an important factor in establishing credibility and an open dialogue with project stakeholders. Emotional intelligence is critical for project managers, and the more complex the project profile, the more important the project manager’s EQ becomes to project success.
Personality Types
Personality types refer to the differences among people in such matters as what motivates them, how they process information, how they handle conflict, etc. Understanding people’s personality types is acknowledged as an asset in interacting and communicating with them more effectively. Understanding your personality type as a project manager will assist you in evaluating your tendencies and strengths in different situations. Understanding others’ personality types can also help you coordinate the skills of your individual team members and address the various needs of your client.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of most widely used tools for exploring personal preference, with more than two million people taking the MBTI each year. The MBTI is often referred to as simply the Myers-Briggs. It is a tool that can be used in project management training to develop awareness of preferences for processing information and relationships with other people.
Based on the theories of psychologist Carl Jung, the Myers-Briggs uses a questionnaire to gather information on the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment. Perception represents the way people become aware of people and their environment. Judgment represents the evaluation of what is perceived. People perceive things differently and reach different conclusions based on the same environmental input. Understanding and accounting for these differences is critical to successful project leadership.
The Myers-Briggs identifies sixteen personality types based on four preferences derived from the questionnaire. The preferences are between pairs of opposite characteristics and include the following:
• Extroversion (E)-Introversion (I)
• Sensing (S)-Intuition (N)
• Thinking (T)-Feeling (F)
• Judging (J)-Perceiving (P)
Sixteen Myers-Briggs types can be derived from the four dichotomies. Each of the sixteen types describes a preference: for focusing on the inner or outer world (E-I), for approaching and internalizing information (S-I), for making decisions (T-F), and for planning (J-P). For example, an ISTJ is a Myers-Briggs type who prefers to focus on the inner world and basic information, prefers logic, and likes to decide quickly.
It is important to note that there is no best type and that effective interpretation of the Myers-Briggs requires training. The purpose of the Myers-Briggs is to understand and appreciate the differences among people. This understanding can be helpful in building the project team, in developing common goals, and communicating with project stakeholders. For example, different people process information differently. Extraverts prefer face-to-face meetings as the primary means of communicating, while introverts prefer written communication. Sensing types focus on facts, and intuitive types want the big picture.
On larger, more complex projects, some project managers will use the Myers-Briggs as a team-building tool during project start-up. This is typically a facilitated work session where team members take the Myers-Briggs and share with the team how they process information, what communication approaches they prefer, and what decision-making preferences they have. This allows the team to identify potential areas of conflict, develop communication strategies, and build an appreciation for the diversity of the team.
Another theory of personality typing is the DISC method, which rates people’s personalities by testing a person’s preferences in word associations in the following four areas:
• Dominance/Drive—relates to control, power, and assertiveness
• Inducement/Influence—relates to social situations and communication
• Submission/Steadiness—relates to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
• Compliance/Conscientiousness—relates to structure and organization
Personality Type Badges
One project team in South Carolina used color-coded badges for the first few weeks of the project to indicate Myers-Briggs type. For this team, this was a way to explore how different team members processed information, made decisions, and took action.
Understanding the differences among people is a critical leadership skill. This includes understanding how people process information, how different experiences will influence the way people perceive the environment, and how people develop filters that allow certain information to be incorporated while other information is excluded. The more complex the project, the more important the understanding of how people process information, make decisions, and deal with conflict. There are multiple personality-type tests that have been developed and explore different aspects of people’s personalities. It might be prudent to explore the different tests available and utilize the one(s) that are most beneficial for your team.
Leadership Styles
Leadership style is a function of both the personal characteristics of the leader and the environment in which the leadership must occur, and a topic which several researchers have attempted to understand. Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt3 described leaders as either autocratic or democratic. Harold Leavitt4 described leaders as pathfinders (visionaries), problem solvers (analytical), or implementers (team oriented). James MacGregor Burns5 conceived leaders as either transactional (focused on actions and decisions) or transformational (focused on the long-term needs of the group and organization).
Fred Fiedler6 introduced his contingency theory, which is the ability of leaders to adapt their leadership approach to the environment. Most leaders have a dominant leadership style that is most comfortable for them. For example, most engineers spend years training in analytical problem solving and often develop an analytical approach to leadership.
A leadership style reflects personal characteristics and life experiences. Although a project manager’s leadership style may be predominantly a pathfinder (using Leavitt’s taxonomy), most project managers become problem solvers or implementers when they perceive the need for these leadership approaches. The leadership approach incorporates the dominant leadership style and Fiedler’s contingency focus on adapting to the project environment.
No particular leadership approach is specifically appropriate for managing a project. Due to the unique circumstances inherent in each project, the leadership approach and the management skills required to be successful vary depending on the complexity profile of the project. However, the Project Management Institute published research that studied project management leadership traits7 and concluded that good communication skills and the ability to build harmonious relationships and motivate others are essential. Beyond this broad set of leadership skills, the successful leadership approach will depend on the profile of the project. For example, a transactional project manager with a strong command-and-control leadership approach may be very successful on a small software development project or a construction project, where tasks are clear, roles are well understood, and the project environment is cohesive. This same project manager is less likely to be successful on a larger, more complex project with a diverse project team and complicated work processes.
Matching the appropriate leadership style and approach to the complexity profile of the project is a critical element of project success. Even experienced project managers are less likely to be successful if their leadership approach does not match the complexity profile of the project.
Each project phase may also require a different leadership approach. During the start-up phase of a project, when new team members are first assigned to the project, the project may require a command-and-control leadership approach. Later, as the project moves into the conceptual phase, creativity becomes important, and the project management takes on a more transformational type leadership approach. Most experienced project managers are able to adjust their leadership approach to the needs of the project phase. Occasionally, on very large and complex projects some companies will bring in different project managers for various phases of a project. Changing project managers may bring the right level of experience and the appropriate leadership approach, but is also disruptive to a project. Senior management must balance the benefit of matching the right leadership approach with the cost of disrupting established relationships.
Multinational Textbook Publishing Project
On a project to publish a new textbook at a major publisher, a project manager led a team that included members from partners that were included in a joint venture. The editorial manager was Greek, the business manager was German, and other members of the team were from various locations in the United States and Europe. In addition to the traditional potential for conflict that arises from team members from different cultures, the editorial manager and business manager were responsible for protecting the interest of their company in the joint venture.
The project manager held two alignment or team-building meetings. The first was a two-day meeting held at a local resort and included only the members of the project leadership team. An outside facilitator was hired to facilitate discussion, and the topic of cultural conflict and organizational goal conflict quickly emerged. The team discussed several methods for developing understanding and addressing conflicts that would increase the likelihood of finding mutual agreement.
The second team-building session was a one-day meeting that included the executive sponsors from the various partners in the joint venture. With the project team aligned, the project manager was able to develop support for the publication project’s strategy and commitment from the executives of the joint venture. In addition to building processes that would enable the team to address difficult cultural differences, the project manager focused on building trust with each of the team members. The project manager knew that building trust with the team was as critical to the success of the project as the technical project management skills and devoted significant management time to building and maintaining this trust.
Leadership Skills
Einsiedel8 discussed qualities of successful project managers. The project manager must be perceived to be credible by the project team and key stakeholders. The project manager can solve problems. A successful project manager has a high degree of tolerance for ambiguity. On projects, the environment changes frequently, and the project manager must apply the appropriate leadership approach for each situation.
The successful project manager must have good communication skills. Barry Posner9connected project management skills to solving problems. All project problems were connected to skills needed by the project manager:
• Breakdown in communication represented the lack of communication skills.
• Uncommitted team members represented the lack of team-building skills.
• Role confusion represented the lack of organizational skills.
The research indicates that project managers need a large numbers of skills. These skills include administrative skills, organizational skills, and technical skills associated with the technology of the project. The types of skills and the depth of the skills needed are closely connected to the complexity profile of the project. Typically on smaller, less complex projects, project managers need a greater degree of technical skills. On larger, more complex projects, project managers need more organizational skills to deal with the complexity. On smaller projects, the project manager is intimately involved in developing the project schedule, cost estimates, and quality standards. On larger projects, functional managers are typically responsible for managing these aspects of the project, and the project manager provides the organizational framework for the work to be successful.
Listening
One of the most important communication skills of the project manager is the ability to actively listen. Active listening is placing oneself in the speaker’s position as much as possible, understanding the communication from the point of view of the speaker, listening to the body language and other environmental cues, and striving not just to hear, but to understand. Active listening takes focus and practice to become effective. Active listening enables a project manager to go beyond the basic information that is being shared and to develop a more complete understanding of the information.
Client’s Body Language Indicates Problems at a Board Meeting
A client just returned from a trip to Australia where he reviewed the progress of the project with his company’s board of directors. The project manager listened and took notes on the five concerns expressed by the board of directors to the client.
The project manager observed that the client’s body language showed more tension than usual. This was a cue to listen very carefully. The project manager nodded occasionally and clearly demonstrated he was listening through his posture, small agreeable sounds, and body language. The project manager then began to provide feedback on what was said using phrases like “What I hear you say is…” or “It sounds like.…” The project manager was clarifying the message that was communicated by the client.
The project manager then asked more probing questions and reflected on what was said. “It sounds as if it was a very tough board meeting.” “Is there something going on beyond the events of the project?” From these observations and questions, the project manager discovered that the board of directors meeting did not go well. The company had experienced losses on other projects, and budget cuts meant fewer resources for the project and an expectation that the project would finish earlier than planned. The project manager also discovered that the client’s future with the company would depend on the success of the project. The project manager asked, “Do you think we will need to do things differently?” They began to develop a plan to address the board of directors’ concerns.
Through active listening, the project manager was able to develop an understanding of the issues that emerged from the board meeting and participate in developing solutions. Active listening and the trusting environment established by the project manager enabled the client to safely share information he had not planned on sharing and to participate in creating a workable plan that resulted in a successful project.
In the example above, the project manager used the following techniques:
1. Listening intently to the words of the client and observing the client’s body language
2. Nodding and expressing interest in the client without forming rebuttals
3. Providing feedback and asking for clarity while repeating a summary of the information back to the client
4. Expressing understanding and empathy for the client.
Active listening was important in establishing a common understanding from which an effective project plan could be developed.
Negotiation
When multiple people are involved in an endeavor, differences in opinions and desired outcomes naturally occur. Negotiation is a process for developing a mutually acceptable outcome when the desired outcome for each party conflicts.. A project manager will often negotiate with a client, with team members, with vendors, and with other project stakeholders. Negotiation is an important skill in developing support for the project and preventing frustration among all parties involved, which could delay or cause project failure.
Vijay Verma10 suggests that negotiations involve four principles:
1. Separate people from the problem. Framing the discussions in terms of desired outcomes enables the negotiations to focus on finding new outcomes.
2. Focus on common interests. By avoiding the focus on differences, both parties are more open to finding solutions that are acceptable.
3. Generate options that advance shared interests. Once the common interests are understood, solutions that do not match with either party’s interests can be discarded, and solutions that may serve both parties’ interests can be more deeply explored.
4. Develop results based on standard criteria. The standard criterion is the success of the project. This implies that the parties develop a common definition of project success.
For the project manager to successfully negotiate issues on the project, he or she should first seek to understand the position of the other party. If negotiating with a client, what is the concern or desired outcome of the client? What are the business drivers and personal drivers that are important to the client? Without this understanding, it is difficult to find a solution that will satisfy the client. The project manager should also seek to understand what outcomes are desirable to the project. Typically, more than one outcome is acceptable. Without knowing what outcomes are acceptable, it is difficult to find a solution that will produce that outcome.
One of the most common issues in formal negotiations is finding a mutually acceptable price for a service or product. Understanding the market value for a product or service will provide a range for developing a negotiations strategy. The price paid on the last project or similar projects provides information on the market value. Seeking expert opinions from sources who would know the market is another source of information. Based on this information, the project manager can then develop an expected range from the lowest price that would be expected within the current market to the highest price.
Additional factors will also affect the negotiated price. The project manager may be willing to pay a higher price to assure an expedited delivery or a lower price if delivery can be made at the convenience of the supplier or if payment is made before the product is delivered. Developing as many options as possible provides a broader range of choices and increases the possibility of developing a mutually beneficial outcome.
The goal of negotiations is not to achieve the lowest costs, although that is a major consideration, but to achieve the greatest value for the project. If the supplier believes that the negotiations process is fair and the price is fair, the project is more likely to receive higher value from the supplier. The relationship with the supplier can be greatly influenced by the negotiation process and a project manager that attempts to drive the price unreasonably low or below the market value will create an element of distrust in the relationship that may have negative consequences for the project. A positive negotiation experience may create a positive relationship that may be beneficial, especially if the project begins to fall behind schedule and the supplier is in a position to help keep the project on schedule.
Negotiation on a Textbook Adoption Project
After difficult negotiations on an open textbook adoption project in Indiana, the project management team met with the publisher and asked, “Now that the negotiations are complete, how can we help you get more adoptions?” Although this question surprised the publisher, the team had discussed how information would flow, and confusion in expectations and unexpected changes always cost the supplier more money. The team developed mechanisms for assuring good information and providing early information on possible changes and tracked the effect of these efforts during the life of the project.
These efforts and the increased trust enabled the publisher to increase adoptions on the project, and the publisher made special efforts to meet every project expectation. During the life of the project, the publisher shared several ideas about how to reduce total project costs and increase efficiencies. The positive outcome was the product of good partner management by the project team, but the relationship could not have been successful without good faith negotiations.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict on a project is to be expected because of the level of stress, lack of information during early phases of the project, personal differences, role conflicts, and limited resources. Although good planning, communication, and team building can reduce the amount of conflict, conflict will still emerge. How the project manager deals with the conflict results in the conflict being destructive or an opportunity to build energy, creativity, and innovation.
David Whetton and Kim Cameron11 developed a response-to-conflict model that reflected the importance of the issue balanced against the importance of the relationship. The model presented five responses to conflict:
1. Avoiding
2. Forcing
3. Collaborating
4. Compromising
5. Accommodating
Each of these approaches can be effective and useful depending on the situation. Project managers will use each of these conflict resolution approaches depending on the project manager’s personal approach and an assessment of the situation.
Most project managers have a default approach that has emerged over time and is comfortable. For example, some project managers find the use of the project manager’s power the easiest and quickest way to resolve problems. “Do it because I said to” is the mantra for project managers who use forcing as the default approach to resolve conflict. Some project managers find accommodating with the client the most effective approach to dealing with client conflict.
The effectiveness of a conflict resolution approach will often depend on the situation. The forcing approach often succeeds in a situation where a quick resolution is needed, and the investment in the decision by the parties involved is low.
Resolving an Office Space Conflict
Two senior managers both want the office with the window. The project manager intercedes with little discussion and assigns the window office to the manager with the most seniority. The situation was a low-level conflict with no long-range consequences for the project and a solution all parties could accept.
Sometimes office size and location is culturally important, and this situation would take more investment to resolve.
Conflict Over a Change Order
In another example, the client rejected a request for a change order because she thought the change should have been foreseen by the project team and incorporated into the original scope of work. The project controls manager believed the client was using her power to avoid an expensive change order and suggested the project team refuse to do the work without a change order from the client.
This is a more complex situation, with personal commitments to each side of the conflict and consequences for the project. The project manager needs a conflict resolution approach that increases the likelihood of a mutually acceptable solution for the project.One conflict resolution approach involves evaluating the situation, developing a common understanding of the problem, developing alternative solutions, and mutually selecting a solution. Evaluating the situation typically includes gathering data. In our example of a change order conflict, gathering data would include a review of the original scope of work and possibly of people’s understandings, which might go beyond the written scope.The second step in developing a resolution to the conflict is to restate, paraphrase, and reframe the problem behind the conflict to develop a common understanding of the problem. In our example, the common understanding may explore the change management process and determine that the current change management process may not achieve the client’s goal of minimizing project changes. This phase is often the most difficult and may take an investment of time and energy to develop a common understanding of the problem.
After the problem has been restated and agreed on, alternative approaches are developed. This is a creative process that often means developing a new approach or changing the project plan. The result is a resolution to the conflict that is mutually agreeable to all team members. If all team members believe every effort was made to find a solution that achieved the project charter and met as many of the team member’s goals as possible, there will be a greater commitment to the agreed-on solution.
Project Goals Accomplished
In our example, the project team found a new way to accomplish the project goals without a change to the project scope. On this project, the solution seemed obvious after some creative discussions, but in most conflict situations, even the most obvious solutions can be elusive.
Delegation
Delegating responsibility and work to others is a critical project management skill. The responsibility for executing the project belongs to the project manager. Often other team members on the project will have a functional responsibility on the project and report to a functional manager in the parent organization. For example, the procurement leader for a major project may also report to the organization’s vice president for procurement. Although the procurement plan for the project must meet the organization’s procurement policies, the procurement leader on the project will take day-to-day direction from the project manager. The amount of direction given to the procurement leader, or others on the project, is the decision of the project manager.
If the project manager delegates too little authority to others to make decisions and take action, the lack of a timely decision or lack of action will cause delays on the project. Delegating too much authority to others who do not have the knowledge, skills, or information will typically cause problems that result in delay or increased cost to the project. Finding the right balance of delegation is a critical project management skill.
When developing the project team, the project manager selects team members with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to accomplish the work required for the project to be successful. Typically, the more knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience a project team member brings to the project, the more that team member will be paid. To keep the project personnel costs lower, the project manager will develop a project team with the level of experience and the knowledge, skills, and abilities to accomplish the work.
On smaller, less complex projects, the project manager can provide daily guidance to project team members and be consulted on all major decisions. On larger, more complex projects, there are too many important decisions made every day for the project manager to be involved at the same level, and project team leaders are delegated decision-making authority. Larger projects, with a more complex profile will typically pay more because of the need for the knowledge and experience. On larger, more complex projects, the project manager will develop a more experienced and knowledgeable team that will enable the project manager to delegate more responsibility to these team members.
Learning Project in Peru
An instructional design project in Peru was falling behind schedule, and a new manager was assigned over the design team that was the most behind schedule. He was an experienced project manager from the United States with a reputation for meeting aggressive schedules. However, he failed to see that as a culture, Peruvians do a great deal more socializing than teams in the U.S. The project manager’s communication with the team was then limited because he did not go out and spend more time with them, and his team did not develop trust or respect for him. Due to these cultural differences, the project fell further behind, and another personnel change had to be made at a significant cost of time, trust and money.
The project manager must have the skills to evaluate the knowledge, skills, and abilities of project team members and evaluate the complexity and difficulty of the project assignment. Often project managers want project team members they have worked with in the past. Because the project manager knows the skill level of the team member, project assignments can be made quickly with less supervision than with a new team member with whom the project manager has little or no experience.
Delegation is the art of creating a project organizational structure with the work organized into units that can be managed. Delegation is the process of understanding the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to manage that work and then matching the team members with the right skills to do that work. Good project managers are good delegators.
Adjusting Leadership Styles
In the realm of personality traits, remember that they reflect individual’s preferences, not their limitations. It is important to understand that each individual can still function in situations for which they are not best suited. It is also important to realize that you can change your leadership style according to the needs of your team and the particular project’s attributes and scope.
For example, a project leader who is more Thinking (T) than Feeling (F) (according to the Myers-Briggs model) would need to work harder to be considerate of how a team member who is more Feeling (F) might react if they were singled out in a meeting because they were behind schedule. If a person knows their preferences and which personality types are most successful in each type of project or project phase, they can set goals for improvement in their ability to perform in those areas that are not their natural preference.
Another individual goal is to examine which conflict resolution styles are least comfortable and work to improve those styles so that they can be used when they are more appropriate than your default style.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply emotions.
• Two common tools for describing personality types are DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness) and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI is the most common. It rates personalities on the position between extremes of four paired terms: Extroversion (E)-Introversion (I), Sensing (S)-Intuition (I), Thinking (T)-Feeling (F), and Judging (J)-Perceiving (P).
• Leadership styles are usually related to the personality of the leader. The type of leadership style that is most effective depends on the complexity and the phase of the project.
• Negotiation and conflict resolution require skill at listening and an understanding of emotional intelligence and personality types.
• Delegation is the art of creating a project organizational structure that can be managed and then matching the team members with the right skills to do that work.
• Individual goals can be set for improving abilities that are not natural personality strengths to deal with projects and project phases.
[1] Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam Books, 1995).
[2] Robert K. Cooper and Ayman Sawaf, Executive EQ, Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizations (New York: Perigree Book, 1997), xiii.
[3] Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt, “How to Choose a Leadership Pattern,” Harvard Business Review 36 (1958): 95–101.
[4] Harold Leavitt, Corporate Pathfinders (New York: Dow-Jones-Irwin and Penguin Books, 1986).
[5] James MacGregor Burns, Leadership (New York: Harper & Row, 1978).
[6] Fred E. Fiedler, “Validation and Extension of the Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness,” Psychological Bulletin 76, no. 2 (1971): 128–48.
[7] Qian Shi and Jianguo Chen, The Human Side of Project Management: Leadership Skills (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2006), 4–11.
[8] Albert A. Einsiedel, “Profile of Effective Project Managers,” Project Management Journal 18 (1987): 5.
[9] Barry Z. Posner, “What It Takes to Be a Good Project Manager,” Project Management Journal 18 (1987): 32–46.
[10] Vijay K. Verma, Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager (Sylvia, NC: PMI Publications, 1996), 145–75.
[11] David Whetton and Kim Cameron, Developing Management Skills (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2005). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/05%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/5.04%3A_5.1_Working_with_Individuals_--_Project_Management_for_.txt |
6.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with Chapters 4 and 10 of the PMBOK and 18% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Planning, Executing and Monitoring & Controlling category of the PMP questions.
Almost by definition, projects require teamwork, and team members must communicate with each other for a variety of reasons and by a number of possible methods. For instance, team members frequently need to update each other on their progress and may employ such means of communication as email, project management software, or social media. Available technology can greatly facilitate such tasks and assure timely and accurate communication between team members.
Such technologies include:
• Communication technologies
• Email
• Short Message Services (SMS), commonly referred to as texting
• Video conferencing and chat services, like Skype
• Blogs and wikis, like WordPress and Mediawiki
• Microblogging services like TwitterDocument and calendar sharing services like Google Docs
• Postal and shipping services
• Desktop software tools
• Microsoft Office or Open Office Suite
• Visual design and mockup software like Balsamiq
• Project management software like Microsoft Project or OpenProject
Choosing which communication resource(s) to use on any given project is a critical decision and should be driven by the needs of the project. Generally speaking, simple projects will require fewer communication resources, while larger, multifaceted projects may require more specialized or complex tools and software.
Software tools are constantly changing. Wikipedia maintains a relatively up-to-date listing of various project management programs and their features.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
Well, we were training fairly technical subject matter, it was how to fly a helicopter and how to operate the sensitive electronic equipment in the back, sensors. So that the technologies that we were working with, that we were training people to use were very sophisticated technologies. Unfortunately, we had almost zero technologies. As a designer this was the 1975–76 time frame. The word “processor” was just being invented. We didn’t have word processors. Everything was typed by hand, by secretaries. We had an overworked secretary who was constantly typing things. And a lot of hand written documents had to pass. Our design document was typed, and if you made a mistake on a page you would have to re-type the whole page if it was a major mistake, or an addition. So sometimes the documents ended up looking kind of funny. You’d have a document with just a small paragraph at the top. What I’m trying to depict here is we didn’t even have the word processor. We didn’t even have the desktop publishing that we have today. We had video technology, but we didn’t have some of the video editing technologies that we have. So it was almost a razor blade kind of an operation where stuff would end up literally on the cutting room floor, tape would end up that way. Although we did, one of the things, the Navy did give us use of their editing base. So once we had identified the takes that we wanted to edit into our video materials, they—we could do a re-roll kind of thing. But it was, compared to the tools that we have today, if we had had the tools today, then, that we have today the project would have been made much easier. And frankly, my staff would have been cut by half if I had had word processing and design.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
My name is Heather Bryce, and I am the project manager for Brigham Young University Independent Study andWe used video and Flash, I don’t know if you count video as a technology, but definitely Flash as a technology. And the Flash in this course is absolutely amazing. I can show you some examples. We did a virtual sketchbook as a way to introduce vocabulary. So instead of just memorizing what perspective is, they could actually see what an artist sketch would look like and how they would use perspective. Flash is particularly important in this course because it really allowed the student that interactive experience that you need in a drawing course. So that was probably the most important technology used on this project.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
Technology issues in the Learning Suite are probably the biggest concern that anyone has. Because the technologies we are using are off-the-shelf. We’re looking at using essentially PHP and MySQL databases although we’ll probably migrate to Oracle simply because that is kind of University standard. Because the product we’re building, the BYU Learning Suite, is a University supported product. As we build that and hand it over to the University IT folks to operate, their saying “Hmm, our supported platform is Oracle.” So we’ll have to migrate that over time, over to Oracle. But right now, you know, we’re doing simple things. PHP programming, MySQL. Just really, kind of straight forward web pages that we build little dialogue boxes, we get inputs and we store it somewhere. So, it’s not a very complicated system. The key to it really is the decision that the University IT folks made several years ago to, in the past, University data systems were locked up very tightly. And they have to be. It is our paycheck information, it’s all the FERPA data that needs to be protected for students, all that private stuff. But the University decided that they wouldn’t be the only ones to build the applications that would then get access to the data. They decided to build a web service interface so that folks like us can write an application that goes through the web service and securely gets the data. And that’s how we’re able to build the Learning Suite. So we’re able to access the University Gradebook, the University academic information systems, the personnel files so that we can know who’s on campus and who is not, who is authorized to use this system, the library, the bookstore. All those things are enabled by a simply thing that we call web service. It’s just an abstraction layer that separates the data from the program here. It’s also a really great thing because it allows us down the road. Right now we’re using a third party, grade book. In a year or so we will have our own grade book written. And because of this application interface layer that separates us from the actual data we’ll be able to swap out that backend grade book, and the interface for the students and faculty, unchanged. Except you’ll see “new features”. Because it’s our grade book and we have other stuff. So that’s kind of the technologies that we’re using. It is really enabled by some very forward thinking decisions on the part of the University IT folks who, you know, came to the conclusion that, you know, maybe we’re not the best folks to write applications. We’re really good though at management and deployment of things. So you build the systems, turn them over to us and we’ll run them for you. So that’s kind of where we are right now. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/06%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/6.01%3A_6_Communication_Technologies_--_Project_Management_for_.txt |
6.2 Selecting Software
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the types of software that are appropriate for projects of low complexity.
2. Identify the types of software that are appropriate for projects of medium complexity.
3. Identify the types of software that are appropriate for projects of high complexity.
4. Describe strategies for sharing documents that can be edited by a team.
Part of a communications plan is determining the type of computer software that will be used to create documents, spreadsheets, diagrams, and reports. The choice of software is related to the complexity of the project.
Image by Eastern Arizona College
Simple Projects
Basic projects can be managed using some of the features available in general-purpose software that is available in most offices.
Word Processing
Even the most basic project will generate numerous documents using word processing software. A communications plan can specify standards for these documents that make it easier to create, edit, combine, store, and retrieve the documents. Document standards include the following:
• Specifying the file format
• Using consistent styles
• Using templates for commonly used forms.
File Format
Word processing software programs display a document on a computer’s screen and allow the user to enter and edit text. When the file is saved to a storage device, the text and all the various formatting such as font and font size are converted to a code for efficient storage. The code varies from one word processing program to another and even between releases of the same program.
The most common word processing program, by a wide margin, is Microsoft Word (MS Word). Several releases of MS Word run on the Windows operating system and on the Macintosh operating system. Versions of MS Word released prior to 2007 save files in a proprietary format. The format is indicated by a period and a three-letter extension—.doc—that is automatically attached to the file when it is saved. Beginning with MS Word 2007 for Windows and MS Word 2008 for Macintosh, files are saved using a different format that is indicated by a period and a four-letter extension—.docx—that identify the newer format.
Styles
The combination of formatting, including font, font size, font color, shading, and other attributes used to display a segment of text and to identify its level of importance, is called a style. A style can be given a name and applied repeatedly to different portions of a document. Predefined styles are available in MS Word 2007 on the ribbon, on the Home tab, in the Styles group, as shown in Figure 6.10, “Style Choices”. Users can define their own styles and give them names. Some organizations prefer that all of their documents have similar fonts and styles for headings, body text, and figure captions.
Templates
If a particular type of document will be used repeatedly, it might be worth the time to create an example document—a template—that is formatted using the appropriate styles with blanks or placeholder text where the user can insert the information that describes a particular situation. A variety of templates are already available for download at no additional cost. For example, when a new document is created in Microsoft Word 2007, there is an option to choose a template such as the invoice template shown in Figure 6.2.
Figure 6.2 Standardized Document Used as a Template
The template may be customized and used repeatedly for all the documents of that type, or the organization can design its own.
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are a display of data in row and column format—in which financial or numerical data can be manipulated. The intersection of the rows and columns are cells into which numbers, text, dates, and formulas can be entered. The formulas can utilize values found in other cells and display the results in the cell in place of the formula. If the value in a cell to which the formula refers is changed, all the formulas that use that cell’s value are immediately recalculated. This feature makes it convenient to examine several options quickly. Spreadsheets are often used to manage data on simple projects instead of a dedicated database or project management software.
The most common spreadsheet program, by a wide margin, is Microsoft Excel (MS Excel). There have been several releases of MS Excel that run on the Windows operating system and on the Macintosh operating system. Versions of MS Excel released prior to 2007 save files in a proprietary format. The format is indicated by a period and a three-letter extension—.xls—that is automatically attached to the file when it is saved. Beginning with MS Excel 2007 for Windows and MS Excel 2008 for Macintosh, files are saved using a different format that is indicated by a period and a four-letter extension—.xlsx—that identifies the newer format.
If the data in the spreadsheet is arranged in simple rows of the same type of data, it can be manipulated to provide reports for basic projects. If one or more of the columns in a table contain labels, identification numbers, or other descriptions, those labels can be used to specify sorting and filtering options. For example, if the spreadsheet has a list of expenses, the rows of data can be sorted in decreasing or increasing value by one of the data types such as the due date or the amount of the expense. The display can be restricted—filtered—to display only those rows that meet criteria specified by the user. For example, the table could be filtered to display the expenses for a particular department that were incurred between two dates. This ability facilitates the preparation of monthly progress reports and budgets.
Graphics for Bar Charts and Milestones
Spreadsheets can be used for basic progress reports that show activities, dates, and horizontal bars that represent the duration of an activity. A sequence of dates can be created as column labels by entering the first two dates in the sequence, selecting both dates, and then dragging the fill handle—a small square in the lower right corner of the selected cell.
The duration of each activity and the relationships between activities can be illustrated using the drawing shapes. A long rectangle can represent a bar whose length represents the duration of the activity. Events or significant dates in the project are identified with a diamond. The diamond can be created by using a small square shape and rotating it. Arrows can be drawn between the shapes to indicate their relationships, as shown in Figure 6.3.
Figure 6.3 Diagram of Activities
This type of diagram is useful for projects with low complexity where a simple chart of a few activities will suffice.
SOFTWARE FOR MODERATELY COMPLEX PROJECTS
More complex projects involve more people who are often separated geographically and who contribute to the same documents. Complex projects have more tasks with more complex relationships. To manage those tasks and relationships, using dedicated project management software and more sophisticated diagramming software is justified.
Sharing Team Documents
If more than one person on a team will be contributing to a document, the document must be accessible to them. To manage documents that are created by a team, it is necessary to control the edits so that work is not lost or confused.
Version Control and File Storage
Previously, files such as word processing documents and spreadsheets may be stored on an individual’s computer and copies sent to participants who then make changes and return the revised version to the person who is responsible for the final version of the document. Today, file sharing services like Dropbox are used to provide team members access to the canonical copy of a document in a single location. A user can still lose a lot of work if a newer version of a document is replaced with an older version. Fortunately, services like Dropbox provide access to every version of a file ever saved as a contingency against overwriting, accidental deleting, etc.
Tracking Changes and Adding Comments
One of the features that is particularly useful for keeping track of the changes made to a document by several users is called Track Changes. If a team member wishes to explain a change, it is very important that they do not insert their explanation as text into the document. Such explanations might not be deleted and would end up in the final version of the document with potentially damaging results. Instead, team members can use a form of electronic sticky note to make comments. This feature is found in MS Word 2007 on the Review tab, in the Comments group. A change and a comment are shown in Figure 6.4. The document owner must go through the document and accept or reject each change and delete all the comments before the document is released as a finished product.
Diagramming Software
The processes and relationships in medium- and high-complexity projects usually require more sophisticated software tools for creating reporting diagrams and workflow charts. The market for diagramming software is more diverse than for word processing and spreadsheets, and it is not as likely that most team members will have the same programs that save files in the same formats. Microsoft Visio 2007 is available as a stand-alone program that sells for several hundred dollars. For medium-complexity projects, a free alternative to Visio is Open Office Draw. Open Office is a free software alternative that includes a word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs. The Open Office Draw program, and others like it, can create diagrams such as the one shown in Figure 6.5.
Figure 6.5 Diagram Created Using Open Office Draw
The files created by the various drawing programs might not be compatible with each other, but all the programs can create static image files that can be pasted into word processing documents.
Project Management Software
The relationships between project activities can become complicated in medium- and high-complexity projects. Dedicated project management software can compute the sum of activity durations along several different paths through complex relationships and recalculate them immediately if any of the durations or starting times are changed. Similarly, charts and reports are updated automatically based on the new data. The most popular software for medium-complexity projects is Microsoft Project. If a project manager begins work on the project in the belief that it can be managed using a list of activities in a word processing program or in a spreadsheet, the list of activities and their durations can be copied and pasted, or imported, into the project management software’s table of activities, if the original document or spreadsheet was designed with that possibility in mind, as shown in Figure 6.6.
Figure 6.6 List of Activities Transferred to a Project Management Program
Once the data are placed in the project management software, the relationships can be defined and reports created. Organizations on a tight budget might consider using an open source program named OpenProject. Open source software is usually available at no cost for individual users and with fewer restrictions than proprietary software like Microsoft Project. OpenProject is similar to Microsoft Project, as shown in Figure 6.7, and could be used on low- and medium-complexity projects that do not need the more advanced features available in Microsoft Project.
SOFTWARE FOR COMPLEX PROJECTS
Complex projects can involve thousands of individual activities and a company might have several projects going at the same time. Large, complex projects are common in the construction industry. A software that is commonly used for complex projects in construction is P6 from Primavera. It has the ability to produce sophisticated reports that help project managers to anticipate problems and make projections.
Word processing documents often contain data that could be aggregated and analyzed. Beginning with Microsoft Word 2007 and the .docx file format, it is possible to insert characters called tags on either side of a particular section of a form or document and assign a data label. For example, the name of the supplier on an invoice could be enclosed between two tags: Thompson Hardware. These tags resemble those used in the hypertext markup language (HTML) to identify how to display text on a Web page, but instead of telling a Web browser how to display the name of the supplier, it identifies Thompson Hardware as the supplier. These tags are can be created by following a set of rules called the extensible markup language (XML). Forms created using XML can be scanned for the content that is marked by tags. The data can be imported into a spreadsheet or database for analysis. Creating documents that use XML to identify data in the forms can be done using Microsoft InfoPath. An example that identifies key facts in a document that was prepared using InfoPath is shown in Figure 6.8. Because it takes extra effort to learn to use InfoPath, or a similar XML authoring program, and to create the forms, this approach is normally limited to complex and sophisticated organizations that have the need to manage large amounts of data.
Figure 6.8 InfoPath Form with XML Tags
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Low-complexity projects might be managed using general purpose word processing and spreadsheet software by using the special features for outlining, managing data, and inserting graphic objects
• Medium-complexity projects need special purpose software for managing project activities, such as Microsoft Project, and graphic software such as Visio. Open source software such as OpenProject and Open Office Draw may suffice.
• High-complexity projects need more sophisticated project management software like P6 from Primavera. Forms can be created using XML tags that allow data to be extracted from the documents.
• Files can be stored at a location that is accessible by all the team members. They can be granted different levels of access, including view only, edit only, and ownership. Features like track changes and compare documents can help manage edits. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/06%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/6.02%3A_6.2_Selecting_Software_--_Project_Management_for_Instru.txt |
6.1 Types of Communication
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify characteristics and examples of synchronous communication.
2. Identify characteristics and examples of asynchronous communication.
3. Identify questions to answer when considering new communications technologies.
Completing a complex project successfully requires good communication among team members. If those team members work in the same building, they can arrange regular meetings, simply stop by each other’s office space to get a quick answer, or even discuss a project informally at other office functions. Many projects are performed by teams that interact primarily through electronic communication and are, therefore, called virtual teams.1 To avoid miscommunication that can harm trust and to include team members in a project culture, the project team needs a plan for communicating reliably and in a timely manner. This planning begins with understanding two major categories of communication.
Image by World Economic Forum
Synchronous Communications
If all the parties to the communication are taking part in the exchange at the same time, the communication is synchronous. A telephone or Skype conference call is an example of synchronous communication. The following are examples of synchronous communications:
• Live meeting. Gathering of team members at the same location.
• Conference call. A telephone call between two or more individuals where several people participate.
• Audio conference. Like a conference call, but conducted online using software like Skype.
• Computer-assisted conference. Audio conference with a connection between computers that can display a document or spreadsheet that can be edited by both parties.
• Video conference. Similar to an audio conference but with live video of the participants. Some laptop computers have built-in cameras to facilitate video conferencing.
• IM (instant messaging). Exchange of text or voice messages using pop-up windows on the participants’ computer screens.
• Texting. Exchange of text messages between mobile phones, pagers, or personal digital assistants (PDAs)—devices that hold a calendar, a contact list, a task list, and other support programs
Modern communication technologies make it possible to assemble project teams from anywhere in the world. Most people work during daylight hours, which can make synchronous meetings difficult if the participants are in different time zones. However, it can be an advantage in some circumstances; for example, if something must be done by the start of business tomorrow, team members in Asia can work on the problem during their normal work hours while team members in North America get some sleep.
Remember Time Zones
It is important to remember time zones and calculate the difference between yours and your associates’ correctly so as to not miss important meetings or deadlines. Cities and countries to the north or south of each other all observe the same local time. Be aware that many well-educated people in the United States think of South America as directly south of North America. As you can see in Figure 6.1, most of South America is one or two time zones east of the United States. A helpful site to convert local time to another time zone is http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc
Figure 6.1 World Time Zones
Image by TimeZonesBoy
Time zones are calculated in reference to the time zone of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The time at that location is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). More recent references designate it as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) instead of GMT. The time zones advance from Greenwich in an easterly direction. However, at the international dateline (about the midpoint around the world from Greenwich), you subtract the time zone from GMT. To prevent confusion between a.m. and p.m., times are often given using a twenty-four-hour clock. For example, midnight is indicated as 00:00, noon is 12:00 and 1 p.m. is 13:00.
Conference Call between New York and Paris
A project manager for an online course development project in New York is five time zones west of the reference zone, so the time is given as UTC–5 (or GMT–5). If it is noon in the reference zone, it is 7 a.m. (five hours earlier) in New York. The manager would like to contact a project team member in Paris, France. Paris is one time zone east of the reference zone (UTC+1 or GMT+1). If it is noon (12:00) in the reference zone, it is 1 p.m. (13:00) in Paris.This means that there is a six-hour difference between New York and Paris. If the project manager waits until after lunch to place the call (1 p.m. in New York), it will be too late in the day in Paris (7 p.m.) to reach someone.
Asynchronous Communications
Getting a team together at the same time can be a challenge—especially if they are spread out across time zones. Many types of communication do not require that the parties are present at the same time. This type of communication is asynchronous. There are several choices of asynchronous communications.
Mail and Package Delivery
Many companies prefer that final contracts are personally signed by an authorized representative of each party to the agreement. If several signatures are required, this can take weeks to get all the signatures if the contracts are transferred by a postal service. If this process is holding up the start of the project, you can use an overnight delivery service to minimize the time spent transferring the documents.
Fax
Fax machines have been around a long time and enjoy a high level of trust for transmitting documents accurately. Although it might seem archaic to still use fax transmissions, in many countries a fax of a signed contract is legal, but a computer-scanned image is not.
E-Mail
Electronic mail (e-mail) is widely used to coordinate projects and to communicate between team members. It has several valuable characteristics for project management:
• Information can be sent to a list of team members.
• Messages can be saved to document the process in case of a misunderstanding or miscommunication.
• Files can be attached and distributed.
Project Blog
A blog is an online journal that can be private, shared by invitation, or made available to the world. Some project managers keep a journal in which they summarize the day’s challenges and triumphs and the decisions they made. They return to this journal at a later date to review their decision-making process after the results of those decisions are known to see if they can learn from their mistakes. Many decisions in project management are made with incomplete knowledge, and reflecting on previous decisions to develop this decision-making skill is important to growth as a project manager.
Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
Some projects are directly affected by external factors such as political elections, economic trends, corporate mergers, technological or scientific breakthroughs, or weather. To keep informed about these factors, you can subscribe to online news sources. A technology that facilitates this process is Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Web pages with RSS news feeds have labeled links.
If the user clicks on the RSS feed, news from the website is automatically sent to the user’s news reader, such as Google Reader. The news reader can be set to filter the news for key words to limit the stories to those that are relevant to the project.
Assessing New Communication Technologies
New technologies for communicating electronically appear with increasing frequency. Using a new technology that is unfamiliar to the team increases the technology complexity, which can cause delays and increase costs. To decide if a new technology should be included in a communications plan, seek answers to the following questions:
• Does the new communication technology provide a competitive advantage for the project by reducing cost, saving time, or preventing mistakes?
• Does the project team have the expertise to learn the new technology quickly?
• Does the company offer support such as help desk and equipment service for new communication technology?
• What is the cost of training and implementation in terms of time as well as money?
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Synchronous communications take place when all the parties are present at the same time. Examples are telephone calls and video conferencing.
• Asynchronous communications take place when the parties are not present at the same time. Examples are e-mail and blogs.
• Determine if a new technology can save time, reduce cost, or prevent mistakes and if the increased complexity can be handled by the team and support staff for an affordable cost in time and money.
[1] Business Dictionary, s.v. “Virtual Team,”http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/virtual-team.html (accessed January 27, 2010). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/06%3A_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers/6.03%3A_6.1_Types_of_Communication_--_Project_Management_for_In.txt |
7.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with Chapters 3-5 of the PMBOK and 33% of the CAPM questions come from these chapters. The content connects to the Initiating, Planning and Monitoring & Controlling category of the PMP questions.
This chapter provides an overview of the selection and initiation of a project. Prior to the initiation of a project, the chartering organization—the organization that determines the need for the project—develops a justification for the project. Often, several initiatives compete for the resources of the organization, and potential projects are evaluated to see which ones are best aligned with the mission and goals of the organization. This evaluation process can be very simple where the benefits to the organization are obvious and the economics of the project are very favorable. On larger, more complex initiatives, the process of gathering and evaluating the data to justify the project can take a year or more. The information gathered during this evaluation process provides the basis for the project charter, the initial scope of work, and other information required to initiate the project.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
The starting of a project is always an exciting time. There is so much happening and it has to happen so fast, you almost can’t catch your breath. This project was on a technical subject matter, how to fly helicopters. I’ve never flown in a helicopter before, much less piloted one. Sensor operators operating sensitive electronic equipment. So one of the big challenges was getting up to speed on the technology. One of the things that they hadn’t taught me in school that I wished they had taught me was about different types of content and how to do an analysis of the subject matter. Because there were different kinds of subject matter in this training. And we were getting up to speed as quickly as we could, but we were treating the subject matter as if it was procedures and rules and facts that had to be memorized. When in fact it was a very complex skill that had to be learned. And we didn’t analyze it appropriately. So one of the challenges was how to learn the content fast. And how to see in the content structures that even the subject matter experts didn’t see. There were other projects that I worked on where after I had learned to see into content the people had, it’s a skill that you learn as a designer by the way, how to see the constructs that exist in their subject matter. There were times when I could actually anticipate and ask questions where the subject matter expert would say “Oh yeah that is a part of our, that is something that you have to learn in order to do this.” As designers, one of a designer’s biggest challenges at the beginning of a project is getting their minds around the subject matter and seeing invisible structures inside. When training is bad, and as a designer, you get called in to replace somebody else’s bad job, or inadequate job. When training is bad very often it is because the subject matter was misconceived. So that was one big challenge. The other was just a matter of getting budgets completed, and getting staff organized, and getting them assigned to tasks, figuring out who is going to do what. Making sure that–one interesting process that we–that I had to undertake was a challenge. And that was, we created probably four or five hundred different pieces, instructional pieces, actually elements, media elements from videotapes down to individual handout lessons that had to be managed and configure managed–configuration managed. And we had to have a way as they were going through the development process. Each piece that was created had to go through seven or eight stages including, the reviews and the paste-up artists, and the Navy reviews, and the subject matter, excuse me the designer reviews. Artwork had to be created, text had to be written. And so each piece had to go through a chain of events. Managing one piece of instruction through that chain of events, and because there were things that were this kind of event, there were this kind of workbook, or maybe there was this kind of a slide sound presentation, or a videotape, or there were all kinds of different events going through this process. We found that managing that was going to be a nightmare, and so one of things that really saved us on this particular project was we devised a little system of, you normally had some kind of a check off that would go around with each package of material at each stage of development. Well, we devised a little system where each person, as it would get sent to the artist, and it says create the art for this segment. When they had finished it they would check it off and they would put the date and the time and then they would clip that and put it into a box. Each day at the end of work we were able to tell where every segment was because it was going to be on somebody’s desk. We were able to tell how much time they had worked on it and how fast things were moving through this pipeline. And which artists had free time, which artists had surplus–who didn’t have surplus but were being overworked and were falling behind. It was a stroke of luck actually that we discovered early on that we had to have this kind of a tracking system for all these little tiny pieces and parts that had to go through this system. That was a really a stroke.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
With Art 45, I think our greatest challenge was at the beginning there were so many ideas. Because we had so many artists working on the project, people with art backgrounds. So I think that the challenge was trying to figure out how do we best present this in a long distance atmosphere. Traditionally, with an art class, you’re in the classroom, the teacher is looking at what you’re doing, you’re seeing examples. And so as much as possible we wanted to see how we could give that experience. So it was a combination of having everyone at the table talking about, well this would be a good example of when video would be appropriate for the actual instructor to draw or, you know, show what she is doing. We showed technology, you know, have them show the program and a little video snippet and then some Flash activities where the student can have some kind of virtual experience. So I think that was probably the beginning, the start-up. All these amazing ideas, how to bring them in together and be concrete in deciding okay what is the best way to proceed?
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
Well, the project start-up for the BYU Learning Suite was a little bit kind of an interesting start-up. The way evolved is out of an existing product. We built something called the Syllabus Builder, which was an attempt to offer a systematic way for departments and faculty to build a uniform syllabus. We did a database at the backend of it at the request of a college who needed to output all of their syllabi for creditors. The University as they were going through and looking at the learning management system with the University currently purchases and renews on an annual basis. As they were looking at alternatives to that, one of the administrators took a look at the Syllabus Builder and said “Hey we could extend that and make it into a learning management system.” And so the start-up of the project really came from the University down to us. And they gave us a huge list of requirements. So the start-up was really difficult because we had to pair through all of those requirements and match those against our limited capabilities and see, you know, what could we do in the, with the resources that we had. The people, the money, which is essentially how much can we pay for students. And the time that we have to make all of this stuff. And so, you know, start-up was interesting. And then of course, because of who we are, we have lots of instructional designers, we have consultants who have Ph.D.’s in Instructional Design. So they went out and started talking to faculty and students, so our list of requirements, it got to be really big. And we had, you know, our biggest challenge at start-up was to figure out what we could do in the time frame that the University was going to give us. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/07%3A_Chapter_7/7.01%3A_7_Starting_a_Project_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
7.5 Communications Planning
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the differences between communications in an existing organization compared with a new project.
2. Describe how the detail of the communications plan is related to the complexity of the project.
3. Describe a communication matrix and its function.
4. Describe conventions for naming files to indicate their content and the version.
When a person joins an existing organization, one of the early tasks is to learn the work processes of the organization, including where to find information, the meeting schedule, and what reports are required. In existing organizations, new members discover the gatekeepers of information: those persons in the organization who know how to generate or find information. Typically, the generation, flow, and storage of information reflects the organizational culture, and to effectively communicate in an organization, a person must be able to develop communication styles and processes consistent with that organization.
Image by Anthony Albright
Projects do not have the advantage—or sometimes the disadvantage—of an existing organizational culture or communication structure. The project leadership team develops an understanding of the information needs of the various members and stakeholders of the projects and develops a communications plan that provides the right information, at the right time, to the right people.
The detail of the communications plan is related to the complexity level of the project. Highly complex projects require a detailed communications plan to assure that the information needed by the project team and stakeholders is both generated and distributed to support the project schedule and project decisions. Crucial information can be lost or delayed in a complex project if the communications plan is not functioning properly.
Communicating Priorities
During a project in Tennessee, the project management team was exploring ways to complete the project earlier to meet the changing requirements of the client. The team identified a number of actions that could create an earlier completion date. The plan required an early delivery of testing materials by, and the team visited the supplier’s senior management and agreed to pay a bonus for early delivery of the equipment.
Two weeks later, during a review of the project procurement team progress, the project manager discovered that the organization’s procurement department had delayed approvals needed by the supplier because the engineering design was not submitted in the required format. This action effectively delayed the project two weeks and reduced the possibility of the project team meeting milestone requirements for earning a bonus.
The organization’s procurement team did not understand the critical nature of this supplier’s contribution to an early completion of the project. All the information needed by the organization’s procurement team was in the meeting minutes distributed to the entire team. The procurement team did not understand the implications of their work processes, and the result was a delay to the project schedule and a reduction in client satisfaction and project profitability.
Effective communication on a project is critical to project success. The Tennessee project is a typical example of errors that can be created by the breakdown in communication flow. Highly complex projects require the communication of large amounts of data and technical information that often changes on a frequent basis. Even when the information is at the right place and at the right time, the project procurement leader must assist the procurement team in understanding the priorities of the project. On large, complex projects, that procurement lead would not be in the daily communication to subcontractors or vendors. In the Tennessee project example, the procurement leader’s unique understanding that came from participation in the project leadership meeting required a more direct involvement with those subcontractors and vendors that impacted the project goals.
An effective project communications plan also does not overload team members and project systems with information that is not useful. Some project managers will attempt to communicate everything to the entire project team. Although this assures that each team member will receive critical information, the large influx of information can make the distillation of the information to the critical and relevant people more difficult for each team member.
Communication Matrix
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) describes tools and techniques for identifying project stakeholders, defining their information requirements, and determining the appropriate communication technology. The project includes developing a list of all the people impacted by the outcome of the project and people who can influence the execution of the project, including project team members. The project leadership then generates a list of information needed or requested by each stakeholder.
The project leadership team develops a list of communication methods for gathering and communicating project information. These include a list of reports, meetings, and document flowcharts. The leadership team then typically develops a communication matrix that details who is included in each project meeting and the distribution of major documents in a table format.
Document Control
On large, complex projects, organizing the creation, distribution, and storage of documents is a major and important activity. Organizations that execute a large number of complex projects will often have project document control systems that the project leadership team will adapt for their project. Document control systems distribute, store, and retrieve information that is needed by the project team. Documents originate from the various team members during the planning and execution of the work and then are transmitted to the document team for cataloging, distributing, and storing.
Document control systems have a systematic numbering system that allows a team member to derive information about the document through the document number.
Document Naming Provides Information about the Content
It is useful to have a unified system for naming documents which immediately provides content identification. For example, document names might indicate the category, purpose, author, and date via standardized codes that the project team adheres to. For example, a file named RFQ3.Monitors-Darnall-10.08.2012,rev3 lets team members instantly know this is a procurement document, which item was procured, who it was prepared by, when it was prepared, and what revision number it is.
When a document is expected to be revised over the course of the project, version control becomes important. Version control means labeling each revision which enables the team to understand the latest activity and status of the document (or the activity behind the document). For example, each drawing might be given a unique identification that reflects the type of drawing, the artist, and the version number. Because the design process includes several iterations of the drawings as more information is developed, document control uses an identification that indicates the version of the document. One procedure might be to use letters to indicate the version of the document until the document is approved and then use a number after approval. Therefore, a document with revision D will be the fourth version of the document. The same document with revision 3 means that this is third revision after the project was approved for construction.
To assure that everyone who should either review or approve the document received a copy, document control develops a distribution list for each type of document. Each person reviews and signs the distribution list and then sends the document to the next person on the list. The design documents, distribution lists, and other project documents are archived by document control for future reference. In the example above, the document was the third revision after the design was approved.
Naming conventions for files and the versions of files should be consistent with the practices of the parent organization or with the client organization so that the files may be archived with files from other projects.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• In an existing organization, there are gatekeepers who know how to find information, when it is needed, and what reports are required. In a new project, the project manager can create a new flow of information and reporting requirements.
• More complex projects require more sophisticated communications plans.
• A communication matrix is a table that shows the names of people as column or row headings and the types of documents as row or column headings. In the cells where the name and document type intersect, a symbol indicates the person’s responsibility or access with regard to that type of document.
• File names can be used as codes to describe the contents of the file. Parts of the name can be used to identify the category, location, subject, author, and date. File name conventions should be used that match those used by the parent organization or by the client. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/07%3A_Chapter_7/7.02%3A_7.5_Communications_Planning_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
7.4 Alignment Process
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the purpose of the alignment process.
2. Identify the components of the alignment process.
3. Identify the effects of a lack of trust on a project.
Developing a common understanding among the key stakeholders of the purpose and goals of the project and the means and methods of accomplishing those goals is called the alignment process. It is important to accomplish this alignment during the initiation phase. Project managers usually conduct a start-up meeting that is sometimes called a kickoff meeting. The agenda and duration of the start-up meeting depends on the complexity level of the project. Projects with a limited scope and short duration may engage in a session start-up meeting over lunch. A medium-complexity project will require a four-hour meeting or more while a high-complexity project cannot achieve alignment in a single meeting. Alignment can require several days of activities.
Enhance Alignment Meetings
On one large, complex project, the project alignment required a five-day process. Over twenty members of the project team and client participated in this alignment. To create a relaxed atmosphere and facilitate an open discussion, the alignment meetings and activities were held on a horse ranch in Montana.
A number of companies specialize in designing and facilitating alignment sessions for large, complex projects. Although designed to meet the needs of each project, alignment sessions have some common agenda items:
• Developing a common understanding of the project purpose
• Agreeing on the means and methods for accomplishing the purpose
• Establishing trust among team members
Common Understanding
A common understanding does not mean building a consensus. People may disagree with the direction being developed, but they have the same basic understanding as to the purpose of the project. For a project plan to be effective, there must be a critical mass or sufficient commitment among the critical stakeholders. Therefore, disagreement is not fatal to the project execution, but a unified team with a common understanding is much more powerful and increases the likelihood of success. If disagreement does exist, an open and forthright discussion will enable the project leadership to address the disagreement in developing the project plan. If the disagreement stays hidden and is not openly discussed, problems will emerge later in the project.
Developing a common understanding can be as easy as an informal discussion that lasts a few hours, or it can be a lengthy, complex process. The methods and processes employed to develop a common understanding are directly related to the complexity of the project. The more complex projects will require more intense discussions around those issues that score high on the complexity profile.
Developing a common understanding among the key project stakeholders requires the following:
• Defining project success
• Determining potential barriers to success
• Establishing key milestones
• Identifying decision makers and the decision-making process
It is difficult to execute a successful project without first defining what makes a successful project. The first part of this discussion is easy: the project must be completed on time, within budget, and to all specifications. The next level of the discussion requires more reflection. During this discussion, reflection on the organization’s mission, goals, and related issues such as safety and public perception of the project emerge.
After the team develops a common understanding of project success, a discussion of barriers to achieving that success enables team members to express skepticism. On more complex projects, the goals of a project often seem difficult to achieve. A discussion by the team of the potential barriers to project success places these concerns out in the open where team members can discuss and develop plans to address the barriers. Without this discussion, the perception of these barriers becomes powerful and can have an effect on project performance.
Project Purpose
The project purpose is sometimes reflected in a written charter, vision, or mission statement. These statements are developed as part of the team development process that occurs during the project initiation phase and results in a common understanding of the purpose of the project. A purpose statement derived from a common understanding among key stakeholders can be highly motivating and connects people’s personal investment to a project purpose that has value.
A purpose statement—also called a charter, vision, or mission—provides a project with an anchor or organizational focus. Sometimes called an anchoring statement, these statements can become a basis for testing key decisions. A purpose statement can be a powerful tool for focusing the project on actions and decisions that can have a positive impact on project success. For example, a purpose statement that says that the project will design and build a free educational website for high-school students will influence meeting educational goals, designs appropriate for cognitive development levels, the cost, etc. When designers are deciding between different types of materials or instructional methods, the purpose statement provides the criteria for making these decisions.
Image by thekenyeung
Developing a common understanding of the project’s purpose involves engaging stakeholders in dialogue that can be complex and in-depth. Mission and vision statements reflect some core values of people and their organization. These types of conversations can be very difficult and will need an environment where people feel safe to express their views without fear of recrimination.
Goals
Goals add clarity to the anchor statement. Goals break down the emotional concepts needed in the development of a purpose statement and translate them into actions or behaviors, something we can measure. Where purpose statements reflect who we are, goals focus on what we can do. Goals bring focus to conversations and begin prioritizing resources. Goals are developed to achieve the project purpose.
Developing goals means making choices. Project goals established during the alignment process are broad in nature and cross the entire project. Ideally, everyone on the project should be able to contribute to the achievement of each goal.
Goals can have significantly different characteristics. The types of goals and the processes used to develop the project goals will vary depending on the complexity level of the project, the knowledge and skills of the project leadership team, and the boldness of the project plan. Boldness is the degree of stretch for the team. The greater the degree of challenge and the greater the distance from where you are to where you want to be, the bolder the plan and the higher the internal complexity score.
Clarity of Objectives Saves Money
A critical online instructional resource was being developed for a project in Michigan. Designers determined that a software upgrade would enable the resource to be developed one month earlier, but at a cost higher than was allocated in the budget. Earlier in the project it was determined that any delays would cost the project over \$100,000 per month. Because the objectives of the project were well understood, the decision to obtain the more expensive software was made quickly and easily.
Roles
Role clarity is critical to the planning and execution of the project. Because projects by definition are unique, the roles of each of the key stakeholders and project leaders are defined at the beginning of the project. Sometimes the roles are delineated in contracts or other documents. Yet even with written explanations of the roles defined in documents, how these translate into the decision-making processes of the project is often open to interpretation.
A discussion of the roles of each entity and each project leader can be as simple as each person describing their role and others on the project team asking questions for clarification and resolving differences in understanding. On less complex projects, this is typically a short process with very little conflict in understanding and easy resolution. On more complex projects, this process is more difficult with more opportunities for conflict in understanding.
One process for developing role clarification on projects with a more complex profile requires project team members, client representatives, and the project’s leadership to use a flip chart to record the project roles. Each team divides the flip chart in two parts and writes the major roles of the client on one half and the roles of the leadership team on the other half. Each team also prioritizes each role and the two flips charts are compared.
This and similar role clarification processes help each project team member develop a more complete understanding of how the project will function, how each team member understands their role, and what aspects of the role are most important. This understanding aids in the development or refinement of work processes and approval processes. The role clarification process also enables the team to develop role boundary spanning processes. This is where two or more members share similar roles or responsibilities. Role clarification facilitates the development of the following:
• Communication planning
• Work flow organization
• Approval processes
• Role boundary spanning processes
Means and Methods
Defining how the work of the project will be accomplished is another area of common understanding that is developed during the alignment session. An understanding of the project management methods that will be used on the project and the output that stakeholders can expect is developed. On smaller and less complex projects, the understanding is developed through a review of the tools and work processes associated with the following:
• Tracking progress
• Tracking costs
• Managing change
On more complex projects, the team may discuss the use of project management software tools, such as Microsoft Project, to develop a common understanding of how these tools will be used. The team discusses key work processes, often using flowcharts, to diagram the work process as a team. Another topic of discussion is the determination of what policies are needed for smooth execution of the project. Often one of the companies associated with the project will have policies that can be used on the project. Travel policies, human resources policies, and authorization procedures for spending money are examples of policies that provide continuity for the project.
Trust
Trust on a project has a very specific meaning. Trust is the filter that project team members use for evaluating information. The trust level determines the amount of information that is shared and the quality of that information. When a person’s trust in another person on the project is low, he or she will doubt information received from that person and might not act on it without checking it with another source, thereby delaying the action. Similarly, a team member might not share information that is necessary to the other person’s function if they do not trust the person to use it appropriately and respect the sensitivity of that information. The level of communication on a project is directly related to the level of trust.
Trust is also an important ingredient of commitment. Team member’s trust in the project leadership and the creation of a positive project environment fosters commitment to the goals of the project and increases team performance. When trust is not present, time and energy is invested in checking information or finding information. This energy could be better focused on goals with a higher level of trust.1
Establishing trust starts during the initiation phase of the project. The kickoff meeting is one opportunity to begin establishing trust among the project team members. Many projects have team-building exercises during the kickoff meeting. The project team on some complex projects will go on a team-building outing. One project that built a new pharmaceutical plant in Puerto Rico invited team members to spend the weekend spelunking in the lime caves of Puerto Rico. Another project chartered a boat for an evening cruise off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. These informal social events allow team members to build a relationship that will carry over to the project work.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The purpose of the alignment process is to develop a common understanding of the purpose, agree on the means and methods, and establish trust.
• The components of the alignment process are discussions of the purpose, goals, participant roles, methods of tracking progress and costs, methods of managing change, and building trust.
• The effects of a lack of trust are delays caused by fact checking or missing information that was not shared because the person’s discretion was not trusted to handle sensitive information.
[1] Marsha Willard, “Building Trust: The Relationship Between Trust and High Performance,” Axis Advisory 1999, http://www.paclink.com/~axis/M7trust.html. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/07%3A_Chapter_7/7.03%3A_7.4_Alignment_Process_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
7.3 Project Start-Up
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the major activities included in project start-up.
2. Explain how the project start-up activities may differ on a highly complex project.
The parent organization’s decision-making process influences when start-up activities of the project will take place. The transition from planning to project initiation is typically marked by the decision to fund the project and the selection of the project manager. However, be aware that the selection of the project manager is not always the defining event. Some organizations will have the project manager involved in project evaluation activities, and some select the project manager after the decision to fund the project has been made. Including the project manager in the evaluation process enables the project manager to have an understanding of the selection criteria that he or she can use when making decisions about the project during later phases. Selecting the project manager prior to a complete evaluation also includes some risks. The evaluation of the project may indicate a need for project manager skills and experiences that are different from the project manager who is involved in the evaluation.
Selecting the best project manager depends on how that person’s abilities match those needed on the project. Those skills can be determined using the Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI). If the project profile indicates a high complexity for external factors and a medium complexity for the project’s technology, the profile would indicate the preference for a project manager with good negotiation skills and an understanding of external factors that affect the project. Because of the technological rating, the project manager should also be comfortable in working with the technical people assigned to the project. The project manager involved in the project selection process may not be the best match for the project execution.
During the start-up of a project, the project manager focuses on developing the project infrastructure needed to execute the project and developing clarity around the project charter and scope. Developing the project infrastructure can be a simple task on a project with a low complexity level. For example, the project manager of a worker training project in South Carolina who works for a training college has existing accounting, procurement, and information technology (IT) systems in the college that he or she can use. On large complex projects, a dedicated project office, IT system, and support staff might be needed that would be more challenging to set up. For example, on a large project in South America, the design and operations offices were set up in Canada, Chile, and Argentina. Developing compatible IT, accounting, and procurement systems involved a high degree of coordination. Acquiring office space, hiring administrative support, and even acquiring telephone service for the offices in Argentina required project management attention in the early phases of the project.
Image by Novartis AG
The project manager will conduct one or more kickoff meetings to develop plans for the following activities:
• Establish the project office
• Develop project policies and procedures
• Begin refining the scope of work, the schedule, the budget, and the project execution plan
Depending on the complexity level of the project, these meetings can be lengthy and intense. Tools such as work flow diagrams and responsibility matrices, as defined in Chapter 8, can be helpful in defining the activities and adding clarity to project infrastructure during the project start-up.
Typically, the project start-up involves working lots of hours developing the initial plan, staffing the project, and building both internal and external relationships. The project start-up is the first opportunity for the project manager to set the tone of the project and set expectations for each of the project team members. The project start-up phase on complex projects can be chaotic, and the project manager must be both comfortable in this environment and able to create comfort with the client and team members. To achieve this level of personal comfort, the project manager needs appropriate tools, one of which is an effective alignment process. This is one of the reasons there are a large number of meetings during the start-up of projects with a high-complexity profile.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The major activities included in project start-up are selecting the project manager; establishing funding; developing project infrastructure such as accounting, procurement, and IT; holding a kickoff meeting, determining staffing; and building relationships.
• The start-up activities for small projects can utilize existing infrastructure for support functions and can have a single start-up meeting, while larger projects require more dedicated infrastructure and full-time staff, and the start-up meetings can take longer and involve more people. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/07%3A_Chapter_7/7.04%3A_7.3_Project_Start-Up_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
7.2 Project Scope
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe how the project scope is affected by project complexity.
2. Identify the uses of a scope document.
3. Describe how a scope document is developed and changed.
Definition of Scope and the Effects of Complexity
Recall from Chapter 1 that the scope document (also called the scope of work document) defines the project scope—what tasks the project team is expected to accomplish and, just as importantly, what is not part of the project. Depending on the complexity level of the project, the scope document can be as short as one page or as long as several hundred pages. On more technical projects (like the submarine project described in Dr. Gibbons’ video), the scope would include a significant amount of technical specifications (such as focusing on the equipment used to find the submarines). The size and character of the project scope document is related to the project complexity. Higher scores on the Darnall-Preston Complexity Index indicate the need for more detailed scope documents.
Image by World Economic Forum
Uses of a Scope Document
A well-developed project scope statement provides the project team with information the team needs to design and implement the project execution plan. The well-developed project scope also provides the team with an understanding of the purpose of the project and the basis for defining project success.
Scope Document for Training Auto Workers
An automotive company is building a new plant to produce electric passenger cars in the southeast United States. As the plant nears completion, the plant’s manager issues a contract to an instructional design firm to train the new plant workers. The training of workers who will be maintaining the production equipment will be done by the equipment suppliers and will not be in the scope of the training contract.
The scope of work for the training project will include the identification of the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by each classification of worker and the development of the delivery methods (online, classroom, hands-on) that will effectively and efficiently teach the identified knowledge, skills, and abilities. The scope will also include delivery of the training, evaluation of the workers after training, and the development of training records. Items not included in the project scope are items that will be the responsibility of the automotive company, such as the selection and hiring of the workers and the provision of the automotive tools and equipment needed for training. These exclusions are specifically stated in the scope document.
During the design of the plant, the Human Resources Division of the company explored different workforce models. Experience in other plants indicated that a team-based approach combined with a lean manufacturing philosophy produced the highest productivity. This information was included in the documents provided to the team developing the training project’s scope. The plant manager, the human resources manager, and the plant engineer reviewed and occasionally made changes to the draft training scope.
The scope of work for the training project was developed from a combination of information from experts with previous experience, documents that reflected the plant operation philosophy, and selected managers from operations and human resources. All the knowledge needed to develop the scope was within the automotive project team. Sometimes outside consultants are needed to develop a complete project scope. For example, if the team in our automotive training example did not have experience in the start-up of another automotive plant, then the hiring of a consultant with that experience might have been required to understand the entire scope of activities needed for training the automotive workforce.
The automotive project described above is a typical example of the types of information and the people involved in developing a project scope. From the information in the project description, the project team could develop a project scope document.
Development and Management of a Scope Document
The project manager will often develop the first draft of the project scope and then solicit feedback and suggestions from the project team, client, and sometimes key vendors. The project manager will attempt to develop consensus around the project scope, but the final approval belongs to the project client or sponsor. Depending on the complexity profile of the project, the development of the project scope document can be a short discussion between the project manager and the client, or on a large, complex project, the process can take weeks.
The project scope is not a stagnant document, and changes are to be expected. Changes to the project scope are necessary to reflect new information. Changes to the project scope also create the opportunity for new purposes to emerge that will change the end results of the project. In some cases, these new results represent a positive outcome for the chartering organization.
Deviation versus Change
If a minor change is made to the schedule that does not affect the completion date of the project, it is a deviation from the schedule. As long as the end date of the project or major objectives are not delayed, a formal change request to the client is not needed. Recording and communicating these schedule deviations is still important for coordinating resources and maintaining the client’s awareness of the project’s progress.
Deviation of Educational Materials Cost
In our example above, the cost of educational materials for employee training was estimated at fifteen dollars per training packet. The winning bid for the printing contract actually quoted a cost of sixteen dollars per packet. The cost deviated from the estimate and a change was made to the budget. This was a cost deviation, not a change in scope. The additional cost for the materials was covered from the project contingency reserves, and the budget was revised to reflect the changes.
New Boss Causes a Change to the Schedule
The client hired a new boss who wants something completely different from what was decided upon under the old management. This is an actual change of scope that requires a change request because it changes the budget, the timeline, and the materials needed.
Documenting Changes
It is important to have a written record of changes to the scope of a project. On the least complex projects, an e-mail message can be sufficient, but on larger projects a standard form is normally used. The following steps are paraphrased from Tom Mochal,1 and they have the necessary components of a change documentation process:
• Inform project stakeholders of the change request process.
• Require that the change request is made in writing, including the business value of the change to the project.
• Enter the request into a scope change log, a record that should be kept to track changes (remember – “Document, document, document!”).
• Estimate the time needed to evaluate the change. If the evaluation process is time consuming and would affect activity completion dates by diverting management resources, get approval from the project sponsor to evaluate the change request. If the evaluation is not approved, record the decision in the scope change log.
• Evaluate the change and its impact on the schedule and budget if the evaluation is approved.
• Present the change request to the project sponsor for approval. Record the decision in the scope change log with the recommended course of action.
• Distribute the scope change log periodically to team members so they know what changes are being considered and what happened to those that were not approved or evaluated.
• If the change is approved, update the project charter or other initiation documents.
• Update the work plan.
• Distribute the revised work plan to stakeholders and team members.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Scope is a description of the major tasks that are included in the project and some of the tasks that are specifically not included. More complex projects require more detailed and specific scope documents.
• A scope document is used to provide the project team with the information it needs to design and implement the project plan. It provides understanding of the purpose of the project and what project success would be.
• The scope document begins as a draft that is circulated for comments by the team, client, and in some cases, key vendors. The final draft is approved by the client or sponsor. Changes to the scope must be approved by the project sponsor or client and are documented carefully using standard forms and processes.
[1] Tom Mochal and Jeff Mochal, Lessons in Project Management (Berkeley, CA: Apress, 2003). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/07%3A_Chapter_7/7.05%3A_7.2_Project_Scope_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
7.1 Project Selection
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the difference between an organization’s mission, goals, and objectives.
2. Describe how the missions are different depending on the type of organization.
3. Define economic terms used for choosing projects.
4. Describe the influences of funding, timing, and unofficial considerations on project selection.
5. Define a project champion and his or her role.
Projects are chosen for a variety of reasons and not all of them are apparent. The project manager must understand why a project was selected over other choices so that he or she can align the team toward justifying the choice that has been made by senior management.
Image by UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Mission of the Organization
The mission of an organization is a statement of why it exists. For example, a police department might have its mission stated on the door of each patrol car—to protect and serve. A well-written mission statement is short and has the following sections:
• Purpose of the organization
• Primary stakeholders
• Responsibility of the organization toward the stakeholders
• Products or services offered
BYU IP&T Department Mission Statement
The objective of the Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology is to enhance learning by improving instruction and teaching. In partnership with others, the department will (1) search for knowledge that improves instruction, (2) apply knowledge and technology to solve instructional problems, and (3) empower students with knowledge and skills in instructional development, research, evaluation, and measurement.1
Organizations can be categorized as profit, not for profit, and government. A business that is created to make a profit for its owners and stock holders must consider the cost of each project and how much profit it is likely to generate. The mission statement of a not-for-profit organization, like a charity, would emphasize the service it provides. A not-for-profit organization must control its costs so that it does not exceed its funding, and it is always seeking funding and is in competition with other not-for-profit organizations for funding from the same sources. A government agency, like a police department, is similar to a not-for-profit organization but its sources of funding are usually taxes and fees. Its mission would include its responsibilities to the citizens it represents. Government organizations compete for funding from higher levels of government. Projects are more likely to be funded if the proposal for the project is closely aligned with the mission of the organization. The project manager must be aware of that mission while building a team and aligning it behind the purpose of the project.
Goals and Objectives
Senior administrators of the organization decide on how to achieve the mission of the organization by choosing goals. For example, the director of a not-for-profit preschool that provides low-cost education for children of poor, single parents might set a goal of improving its reputation for quality. A goal is an end toward which effort is directed. The director meets with her staff and they consider several ways of achieving that goal. They decide to seek certification by a nationally known group that evaluates the quality of preschool programs. Obtaining this certification is an objective.
In this text, we distinguish between the terms goals and objectives. An objective must have a measurable outcome. In this example, it is easy to measure whether or not the organization receives the certification, which is the distinguishing characteristic of an objective. The use of these terms is not standardized across the industry or in business, but we will be consistent within this text. To determine whether a statement is a goal or an objective, simply ask if there is a measurable outcome. Seeking the certification is an objective that can be met by treating it as a project that has a measurable outcome and a limited time frame.
Economic Selection Criteria
If an organization’s mission is to make money, it will try to maximize the profits of the company by increasing the money coming in or decreasing the money going out. The movement of the project’s money is called cash flow. Money coming in is positive cash flow, and money going out is negative. The company can maximize profits by improving its operational efficiency or by executing projects. The company must raise money to fund projects. Companies can raise money in three ways:
1. Borrow it (government organizations, such as cities and schools, can sell bonds, which is a form of borrowing).
2. Fund the project from existing earnings.
3. Sell additional stock or ownership shares in the company.
If a company borrows money, it must pay back the amount it borrowed plus additional interest. The interest is a percentage of the amount of the loan that has not been repaid. The repayment of the loan and interest is usually paid quarterly or annually. To qualify for selection, a project that is intended to make or save money must be able to do the following:
• Repay loans if money must be borrowed to fund the project
• Increase future earnings for shareholders
• Make the company stock more valuable
When senior managers at a for-profit company decide which projects to fund, they must consider these economic issues.
Simple Payback
To help managers choose between projects, they can use an unsophisticated measurement called simple payback. If the purpose of the project is to improve cash flow—make it more positive or less negative—the improved positive cash flow each year is applied to the original cost (negative cash flow) of the project to determine how many years it would take to pay back the original cost. It is assumed that after that date, the improved cash flow could be used for other purposes or paid out to owners. For example, if the company borrows \$100,000 to fund the project and the project increases cash flow by \$20,000 a year, the simple payback would be five years, as shown in Figure 7.2.
The cash flow from each year is summed up in the cumulative cash flow row. When the cumulative cash flow becomes zero or positive, it means that the original cost has been paid back by the increased income or savings created by the investment.
Companies can use simple payback to establish a cutoff for project consideration. For example, management could declare that no projects will be considered that have a payback of more than three years. For projects that meet this criterion, projects with shorter simple payback periods would have an advantage in the selection process. Not-for-profit or government organizations are likely to approve projects with longer simple payback periods because they are not compared to other not-for-profit or government agencies based on their profitability.
Internal Rate of Return
Companies whose mission is to make a profit are usually trying to make more profit than their competitors. Simply paying back the loan is not sufficient. If the project involves buying and installing equipment to make a profit, executives can use another method called internal rate of return (IRR). The IRR is like an internal interest rate that can be used to compare the profitability of competing projects. To calculate an IRR, the company considers the cash flow each year for the expected life of the product of the project. It assumes that some of the annual cash flows will be negative and that they can vary from year to year due to other factors, such as lost production during changeover, periodic maintenance, and sale of used equipment. For example, a company decides to upgrade a manufacturing line with new equipment based on new technology. They know that the initial cash flow—shown in year zero—will be negative due to the expense of the conversion. They know that the new equipment has an expected life of six years before newer technologies make it out of date, at which time they can sell it for a certain salvage value. The inputs to the IRR calculation are the net cash flow for each year where at least one of them is negative and at least one of them is positive. The result is a percentage that indicates how well this project performs as an investment. (See Figure 7.3.)
Figure 7.3 The internal rate of return measures the profitability of an investment.
The life of the equipment is part of the IRR calculation. If a project manager knows that senior management intends to sell the equipment in six years, team members can be made aware of that decision if it affects their choices.
Other Selection Criteria
Besides making money, there are many other reasons for a project to be selected, including the following:
• Keeping up with competitors
• Meeting legal requirements, such as safety or environmental protection
• Improving the organization’s public image
The timing of the project can be very important. A project might be selected at a particular time of year for some of the following reasons:
• Accumulating a year-end budget surplus
• Increasing executive bonus for the year or quarter
• Funding or certification review deadline
If the project manager must make changes to the schedule at some point in the project that could affect its completion date, it is valuable to know if the project was selected because of timing.
Project Champions and Opponents
In addition to knowing why a project was selected, it is valuable to know which senior executives supported or opposed the selection of the project and if the project manager’s supervisor was in favor of it or not. Because most project teams consist of people who do not report to the project manager but who report to other unit managers, they might not be available when you need them if their boss thinks other projects are more important. If a particular executive proposed the project and actively advocated for its approval, that person could be a source of support if the project runs into trouble and needs additional resources. A project champion, sometimes called an executive sponsor, is an influential person who is willing to use his or her influence to help the project succeed.
To identify the advocates and opponents of the project, you can read public documents (if available), such as the minutes of the meeting at which the project was approved. Next, the project manager can use his or her unofficial network of trusted colleagues to get their opinions. Those discussions should be informal and off the record. Those opinions might be inaccurate, but it is valuable to know what misunderstandings exist about a project. If executives in an organization are assigned as project sponsors, the project champion might be a different person.
Project Champions Support Employee Performance Training
A large organization hired an instructional design team to improve employee performance. The project took over a year to complete and faced some setbacks due to resistance from middle management. During the course of the project, some department managers were frustrated with the time needed for the project team’s assessments, interviews, and test implementations, which interrupted the normal course of business. Some of the project team’s findings also indicated a need for specialized training, which put a greater burden on individual departments and the department managers balked at taking on this additional workload.
However, due to the organization director’s priority of performance improvement, the project team had the support and authority to continue. If upper management did not reinforce the efforts of the project team, the department managers would have greatly inhibited the progress of the project. Ultimately, the project was a success and the department managers realized that the temporary upset to the status quo yielded exponential benefits to the organization as a whole.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• A mission statement declares the purpose of the organization and identifies the primary stakeholders, the products or services offered, and the responsibility toward the stakeholders. Goals are statements of direction for the organization, and objectives are activities that achieve those goals with measurable outcomes.
• Profit-making organizations exist to make profits for their owners while in competition with other companies. Not-for-profit organizations are directed at providing a service to a particular group. A government agency is similar to a not-for-profit organization, but its sources of funding are usually taxes, fees, and funding from a higher level of government, and it has a responsibility to the citizens it represents.
• Two economic tools for evaluating and comparing projects are simple payback and internal rate of return. Simple payback is a calculation of the year when the cumulative income or savings due to spending money on a project will meet or exceed the original cost of the project. Internal rate of return is a calculation of the average percentage of increased cash flow over the life of the project’s product.
• Project selection depends on the availability of funds, which depends on the way each type of organization receives money for projects. Funds might be available at certain times and projects are selected that can take advantage of that opportunity. Projects might be initiated for reasons that are not stated, and investigating the source of funding and likely motivation of project champions can provide better understanding of the project’s chances for success.
• A project champion is an influential person who is willing to use his or her influence to help the project succeed. It is useful to know why the project champion wants the project to succeed and to be sure to accomplish that goal even if it is not stated. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/07%3A_Chapter_7/7.06%3A_7.1_Project_Selection_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
8.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with Chapter 6 of the PMBOK and 11% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Planning and Monitoring & Controlling category of the PMP questions.
“In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
Although stated for a context quite distinct from instructional design, the above quote encapsulates several key truths about planning when it comes to project management: A well-structured plan and schedule fulfills an essential role in the completion of successful projects, although it may often be the case that events unfold quite differently from what was originally projected.
The nature of the planning process varies by project. For larger and more complex projects, there may be an extensive planning process with multiple layers of complexity, documentation, and specialized staff; while for smaller projects, the planning process may consist of little more than a regularly updated Excel spreadsheet by a single project manager.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide you with a framework by which to approach planning as a project manager. Project planning and scheduling is both an art and a science. No two project managers or planning professionals develop identical plans or project schedules. The planning process is creative and reflects each planner’s approach and style. Even though the project plan is unique to the approach and style of the planner, methods for developing the schedule and documenting the resulting plan typically follow certain patterns. These include:
• Identification of project resources and scope
• Development of a project timeline
• Deciding on project milestones
• Determining the schedule of activities
By following these steps the project manager is in better position to successfully guide the project to completion.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
On this particular project, we were training two different positions: A helicopter pilot and a sensor operator who operated sensitive electronic equipment. We had about 500 different pieces that were being created of media, different kinds of media. Each one had to go through its own little development process. So managing the schedule was figuring out how many of each piece we had to create, how many steps it had to go through, how long each step would take on average, and then doing the multiplication deal. This was, by the way, before the day of spreadsheets, and so we didn’t have, this is all done by hand on big sheets of graph paper. But we would build a schedule–actually there are two ways to do a schedule. On this project we were able to manage the schedule that way. We could do a very systematic approach, number of people, amount of time for each step, that kind of thing, and it worked out very well. On another project that I worked on, I did the same thing on a big piece of graph paper that was, here is this many things that need to be created, and here is this many steps, and I actually plotted each piece of thing that had to be created on a certain number of squares on this graph paper. And as the list grew, I still have this chart at home as a reminder that the systems approach doesn’t always work. Because I got about half way down the list of things to be produced and I was already at the end of the project and there were still the rest of the things on this plan, the rest of the things had to be produced and it was going to double the time of the project. And so we finally just said, throw it away. We’re just going to get it done. We don’t know how we’re going to get it done, but we’re going to get it done. And we just started putting it through, and it worked, we were done on time, satisfied customer.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
At the very beginning, I think the key to Art 45 or any project that you work in is to do as much planning work up front, in making predictions on how long you think something will take a team. A lot of a project is one part of the team will work on their portion of it, and then they’ll pass it off to another team. So they’re kind of dependent. And so we really try to get together and figure out. Okay, this project started last year in January, so you know, editing would take from January to March, from March to June we would be working on the Flash or the video. I think that’s really key, is to plan ahead of time. To make sure that you kind of have a basis schedule and then what I do is, we actually have a program here that is a task management program. So, one person checks off their task. The next person who is supposed to receive the task will have it show up in their dashboard. And then that kind of helps control the flow of processes. And then I check in and remind people, because we have several people on several different teams. So you could be working on several different projects at the same time. So, one of my functions is to check in on people. Have regular meetings and see that we’re staying on schedule. Our general guideline for a course is about a year. From beginning, when we’re planning the idea to when we finish and it is actually available to students. We try to get it finished within a year, and this course finished within a year.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
You know, the BYU Learning Suite because it’s such a large project, very complex, lots of different components, scheduling is our biggest difficulty. So, you know, we’ve got resources we have to schedule, the developers, instructional designers, graphic designers. So the complexity of that was my biggest challenge as a project manager. We always kept running into bottlenecks, the critical path, you know, seemed like one person, you know, they’d bounce around. Okay, as soon as we get this problem resolved and this person off the critical path, now we’ve got another one. So initially it was the instructional designers, they’ve got to get the initial look and feel, and their working that out with the consultants, we’re gathering all the requirements, we’re building the initial design. Now we have to throw it over to our graphic designer, and he’s got to develop the high fidelity look and feel for the programmers to develop. And they take that look and feel, combine it with the requirements and they know what to program. So, you know, you’re going through all those different things and it’s like, how hard do you push this person, you know. And one of the constraints that we’re working with is we’re not a business. I can’t say we’ve got a deadline, I don’t care if you have to work 60, 70 , 80 , 90 hours a week, you got to get it done. This is a University where we kind of don’t do that. It’s not like we’re working 40 hour weeks, but we’re not working 60 hour weeks, at least not all of us are. Some of us are. So that’s the biggest issue is how do you get the schedule in a constrained environment where your resources really are only working this many hours a week, as many as we’re paid to work. And so that’s the biggest difficulty, but that’s true with any project. You have schedules and the resources that you have. And you have to know how hard you can push without pushing so hard that they leave, try to find a better job, they become disgruntled, they become less effective, because you can only work so many hours of peak efficiency work and then it starts dropping off. So you have to balance all those issues whether you are in a University environment or not, but in any instructional project you have almost always limited resources because folks who build instructional products are trainers, product specialists, folks who generally don’t have unlimited budgets. So you have a limited amount of budget, a limited amount of time to get things done. So the schedule is often the thing that drives those other things. So you know, we’ve only got this much money to spend, and we’ve got this much time, so we’re going to get this much done. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/08%3A_Chapter_8/8.01%3A_8_Project_Time_Management_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
8.5 Project Scheduling Software
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the relationship between the choice of software and project complexity.
2. Identify the features that should be considered when selecting software for project management.
Low-complexity projects can be managed with lists of activities on paper or by using an outline in word processing or spreadsheet software. This software is inadequate for tracking complex projects. Fortunately, there are several dedicated software programs that keep track of the complex relationships between activities and resources.
Appropriate to Project Complexity
Simple projects can be tracked using general purpose word processing and spreadsheet software like those available in Microsoft Office or OpenOffice. Medium-complexity projects benefit from dedicated project management software such as Microsoft Project and OpenProject. Complex projects require software that can track the interactions of thousands of tasks and produce sophisticated reports such as Oracle’s P6.
Image by Tricia Wang 王圣捷
Features
There are many features to consider when selecting the appropriate software. One consideration is cost. There are dozens of computer software programs available with a wide range of prices; some open source software programs are free, but others cost up to a thousand dollars. However, cost is not the most important feature.
Another factor to consider is familiarity. Use software that is already in use and with which most team members are already familiar. If software that is used by most team members is appropriate to the complexity of your project, it is the default choice. It is also valuable to know what software is used by key vendors or project partners so files can be exchanged electronically in the same format.
Team members should be able to view the project schedule. Some software products require the use of expensive proprietary software that runs on the company’s server and that will allow several different team members to use the same schedule and restricts the use of the software to team members who have access to the company’s computer system. Other software products use a server on the Internet that is open to team members and vendors who have valid passwords.
Any project management software that is selected must have the ability to track and display basic features such as the following:
• Durations
• Relationships
• Milestones
• Start and end dates
• Resource calendars
• Graphic displays using Gantt and network charts
For more complex projects, look for advanced features, such as the following:
• Issue tracking that tracks problems, actions, and resolutions
• Project portfolio management that tracks and compares groups of related projects
• Automatic resource leveling and alerts when a resource is overscheduled
• Document management feature that tracks contracts, bids, scope changes, and incidents
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Medium- to high-complexity projects usually require the use of software that is designed specifically for managing projects.
• Features to look for when choosing project management software include (1) compatibility with existing software at the company or its vendors, (2) basic features for managing medium-complexity projects, (3) a method for collaboration between team members, and (4) if needed, advanced features for managing multiple projects. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/08%3A_Chapter_8/8.02%3A_8.5_Project_Scheduling_Software_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
8.4 Managing the Schedule
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe methods of tracking and reporting progress.
2. Define resource leveling.
3. Describe methods of accelerating the schedule.
To manage a schedule, the project manager must know how the work is progressing compared to the master schedule and, if necessary, make changes to keep the project on time.
TRACKING AND REPORTING PROGRESS
Tracking the schedule performance involves measuring the work performed against the work expected to be performed with a given expenditure of resources. Periodic reporting on the progress of the project provides the project management team with information on how the project is performing against expectations and to make decisions and corrections. Accurate measurement of schedule performance requires planning during the early stages of the project to determine the unit of measure and process for tracking progress.
Reporting Percentage Completed
To determine the percentage of a project that has been completed, the project manager must determine what to measure. Some percentages are misleading. For example, a project that has completed 25% of the scheduled activities does not mean that the project is 25% complete. In our John’s move example, four rooms were to be packed. After the bedroom was packed, packing was not 25% complete. The kitchen contained five times as many items and required more delicate, time-consuming packing. John estimated that 40% of the items to be packed were in the kitchen, 20% in the living room, 20% in the bedroom, and the remaining 20% in miscellaneous locations. If the unit of measure for these activities is items packed, the packing is only 20% complete instead of 25% if rooms are the unit of measure.
The unit of measure for tracking schedule progress is related to the estimate. If hours of labor are used as the unit of measure, the percentage of packing is even less because more time is estimated to pack each item in the kitchen. As the project management team estimates the duration for each activity, the amount of work to accomplish the tasks is captured in both resources expended and a unit of measure for tracking progress. The unit of measure is related to the type of project. On a software development project, the unit of measure may be lines of code written. The unit of measure that is chosen can affect the quality of the work.
Units of Measure on a Programming Project
Steve Ballmer of Microsoft related early clashes with IBM over the unit of measure used to determine how much Microsoft would get paid for its work for IBM. IBM’s standard was to pay per K-LOC, which is a thousand lines of code; Microsoft thought that they should not be paid less if they were able to produce good work in fewer lines of code.1
In this case, IBM’s insistence on using thousands of lines of code as the unit of measure did not reward Microsoft for writing smaller code that would run faster. Microsoft and IBM cancelled their joint project for writing an operating system named OS/2. Microsoft wrote Windows, and IBM’s OS/2 operating system was not able to compete with it successfully.
On a construction project, a unit of measure may be yards of concrete poured, and on a training project, the unit of measure may be the class curriculums developed or the number of students taught.
Managing Schedules Using Milestones
Milestones provide the opportunity for project management to focus on completing activities that will have the greatest impact on the schedule. On complex projects, focusing on the milestones is useful for communicating important dates to the entire project team. Project team members can then adjust their efforts to complete the activities connected to the milestone events.
Many project leaders believe that time lost on early activities can be made up toward the end of the project. Hard decisions about paying overtime and working weekends are often delayed until the end of the project when the pressure to complete the project on time becomes much stronger. Project managers who focus on milestone events create a sense of urgency to meet the milestone deadlines and spread the urgency to complete the project over the life of the project. Projects that meet milestone dates are more likely to meet project completion dates.
Current Schedule
A schedule update is distributed regularly to provide project stakeholders with an assessment of the progress of the project against the master schedule. This updated schedule is called the current schedule. Thecurrent schedule provides new start and end dates for all activities and the project. Calculations based on the current schedule may result in a new critical path and subsequent changes in the project execution plan.
The project team develops an understanding of the project productivity by comparing the current schedule to the original schedule. If the schedule is behind original estimates, the project team conducts an assessment of the causes of the schedule slippage and develops a plan to address the changes to the project. The project management team typically has several alternatives for addressing changes to the project situation. Selecting the right alternative requires good information.
RESOURCE LEVELING
The schedule of activities is constrained by the availability of resources. If you apply the resource calendar to each activity to be sure the people and equipment are available on those dates, you can still miss an important constraint. If there are several activities that use a particular person’s time on the same days, that person could end up with too many activities scheduled for the same days and very little on other days. If key people are overloaded, the activities to which they are assigned might not be completed on time. Managing the schedule of activities to ensure that enough resources are available to complete each task by distributing the work load is calledresource leveling. Activities to which that person is assigned and that have free float can be delayed to reduce work overload of key people.
Image by Tulane Public Relations
ACCELERATING THE SCHEDULE
The project manager must know how to accelerate a schedule to compensate for unanticipated events that delay critical activities or to accommodate changes in the project completion date. Compressing or crashing the schedule are terms used to describe the various techniques used to shorten the project schedule. Project managers utilize several techniques to keep projects on schedule.
One method of accelerating the schedule is to add activities to the critical path that are empty or that are optional. If the project is behind schedule, the time can be made up by dropping these activities. This extra time that is built into the schedule is called contingency time, buffer, or reserve time.
Activities that are not on the critical path that have free float can be delayed without delaying the end date of the project if they start by the late start date. Project managers can divert some resources from activities with free float to activities on the critical path without delaying the completion of the project.
Changing Scope
The unit cost of work to be performed on a project is calculated at the beginning of the project based on the execution strategy of the project to meet the project completion date. If the project completion date is moved up, then the unit cost of work will likely increase. Conversely, a project team may be able to save money by extending the project end date. With more time, the project team may be able to schedule activities in such a way to reduce their costs. For example, an activity requiring overtime to be paid can now pay the labor at normal rates, saving the overtime premium. Changing elements of the master schedule means a change in scope. Scope changes often affect costs and require agreement by the parties who signed the original scope documents.
Additional Resources
Another option is to allocate funds that can be used to add resources if necessary. Available resources can be increased by adding overtime to existing resource calendars or by hiring additional contract workers or renting additional equipment.
Adding Resources to the Dreamliner Project
When Boeing sales of the new 878 Dreamliner Airplane exceeded expectations, contractors who were building the plane were asked to increase production while maintaining all quality and safety requirements. All contractors involved in the plane production were affected by this change.
One project team was responsible for developing and delivering training to the new employees who would be building the fuselage of the Dreamliner. Training for new employees had to be complete three months early and the project team developed an execution strategy to meet the new deadlines. The project had a month of float, so the project accelerated the schedule by two months. The team authorized overtime from forty to fifty hours a week for team members working activities on the critical path. The project team leased additional space and hired contractors to perform selected work packages on the critical path and delayed the production of library quality documents until after the critical dates on the project. Authorizing overtime and hiring contractors added a 15% cost to the project. Overtime and the procurement of additional contract help was authorized only for work packages on the critical path because work not on the critical path would not accelerate the schedule.
Changing Quality
Another option for accelerating the schedule is the changing of the quality specifications of the product. This is usually done as a scope change.
Making Up Time by Reducing Quality
A western university contracted an online learning company to make an online independent study course for their Calculus 112 class. As the project went on it fell behind schedule. To speed up the project, it was decided to produce fewer animated videos, which meant that some of the lessons would not have these learning aids. The contract did not specify the amount or quality of these videos so this change did not require a change of scope. As a result, some of the more difficult calculus principles had only text as instruction. The university did not realize this change had been made until after the project was completed and being used by the students.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Progress can be measured by determining the percentage of resources expended, completion of activities by scheduled dates, milestones achieved, or fraction of activities accomplished. Standards used to measure progress, particularly when partial payment to contractors is concerned, should be specified in contract documents.
• Resource leveling is reallocating people and equipment to remove periods of overuse or underuse.
• Unplanned delays and costs can be anticipated by including contingency time and budget amounts where needed to keep the schedule on time. Resource allocation and resource calendars should be examined to determine if a resource is overcommitted. Free float can be used to delay noncritical activities that use the same resource to allocate its time more evenly. If it is necessary to accelerate the schedule, activities that are not on the critical path can be delayed using their free float and their resources can be moved to activities on the critical path to complete them sooner. Contingency resources can be committed to speeding up the activities. If necessary, the scope can be changed to bring in additional resources or lower the quality.
[1] Robert X. Cringely, Triumph of the Nerds, June 1996, http://www.pbs.org/nerds/part2.html (accessed July 27, 2009). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/08%3A_Chapter_8/8.03%3A_8.4_Managing_the_Schedule_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
8.3 Critical Path and Float
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LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1. Calculate critical path, project float, early start dates, and late start dates.
The critical path is the path through the network that results in the latest completion date of the project.
Image by Be the Change, Inc.
If any activity on the critical path is delayed, the completion of the project will be delayed by an equal amount. To determine the critical path, add the amount of time estimated for the duration of each activity to the previous activity, as shown in Figure 8.10. Durations are indicated in days and activities on the critical path are shaded. The critical path through these tasks takes at least eight days.
Early Start Dates
Starting dates can be assigned to each activity by doing a forward pass proceeding from left to right in the network diagram beginning with the project start date. The dates derived by this method are the early start (ES) dates. The early start date for an activity is the earliest date the activity can begin. The estimate considers durations and resource availability calendars. To calculate early start dates, begin with the project start date and assign that date as the start date of activities that have no predecessor activities. Follow these steps to calculate the early start dates of subsequent activities, assuming finish-start relationships:
• Add the predecessor activity’s duration to its start date.
• Add the lag time or subtract the lead time.
• Refer to the resource calendar(s) that applies to the people and equipment necessary for the activity, and add the number of off-days that the activity would span on those calendars.
• Assign the calculated date as the early start date of the successor activity.
Forward Pass for John’s Move
John begins planning his move to Atlanta the same day he accepts the job. The start date in this example is Monday, November 29, 2010. Tasks 1.1 and 2.1 can both start on that day, so the early start dates for tasks 1.1 and 2.1 are November 29. John calculates the early start date for the activities. A partial list is provided below. Compare the figure below and the figure in the next sidebar. Observe that John is willing to work on weekends, but activity 2.2.3 is delayed by two days because one of the moving companies did not provide bids on the weekend. Observe that activity 2.3 has a lead time of one day, but that relationship is between activity 2.1 and 2.3. The network path from activity 1.3 is longer, so the lead time with activity 2.1 is not considered in calculating the early start date of 2.3.
Figure 8.11 Early Start Dates Determined by a Forward Pass
Doing this process manually is error prone and time consuming. Fortunately, there are computer programs to assist in the process, but the project manager must understand the process well enough to recognize computer errors. Computer software must be combined with common sense or good judgment.
Float
Float, sometimes called slack, is the amount of time an activity, network path, or project can be delayed from the early start without changing the completion date of the project.
Total float is the difference between the finish date of the last activity on the critical path and the project completion date. Any delay in an activity on the critical path would reduce the amount of total float available on the project. A project can also havenegative float, which means the calculated completion date of the last activity is later than the targeted completion date established at the beginning of the project.
If activities that are not on the critical path have a difference between their early start date and their late start date, those activities can be delayed without affecting the project completion date. The float on those activities is calledfree float.
Float in John’s Move
The last activity in John’s move has an early start date of December 28 and a duration of one day. John could start work on Wednesday, December 29. John’s first day at work is Monday, January 3, so the project has a total float of five days.
Late Start Dates
The next step is to work through the network diagram from right to left beginning with the mandated completion date, which is a milestone that is set in the project plan. Subtract the duration of each activity in each path to determine the latest date the activity could begin and still meet the project completion date. Resource calendars must be considered in the backward pass as well as the forward pass.
To calculate late start dates, begin with the project completion milestone and assign that date as the finish date of its predecessor activities. Follow these steps to calculate the late start dates of predecessor activities, assuming finish-start relationships:
• Subtract the predecessor activity’s duration from its late finish date.
• Subtract the lag time or add the lead time to the late finish date.
• Refer to the resource calendar(s) that applies to the people and equipment necessary for the activity, and subtract the number of off days that the activity would span on those calendars.
• Assign the calculated date as the late start date of the predecessor activity.
The difference between the early start date and the late start date for activities on the critical path is usually the same as the total float, unless the activities are affected by the resource calendars differently in the forward and backward pass. For example, if a piece of key equipment is only available for a few days, activities that depend on it have the same start and finish dates in the forward and backward passes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• To calculate total project float, begin at the start date and add the duration of each activity in each possible path through the network diagram, including nonworking days from the resource calendars, to determine the early project end date. The longest path through the network is the critical path. The difference between the early end date and the required completion date of the project is the total project float, and the start date of each activity is the early start date. To calculate the late start dates, begin with the required project completion date and work backward, subtracting the duration of each activity though each possible pathway. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/08%3A_Chapter_8/8.04%3A_8.3_Critical_Path_and_Float_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
8.2 Elements of Time Management
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe a work breakdown structure and how it relates to activities.
2. Describe the use of graphic representations for time management.
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), project time management includes the following elements:1
• Define activities
• Sequence activities
• Estimate activity resources
• Estimate activity durations
• Develop schedule
• Control schedule
The list of activities, their relationship to each other, and estimates of durations and required resources comprise the work breakdown structure (WBS). The project WBS is a hierarchical—classified according to criteria into successive levels—listing and grouping of the project activities required to produce the deliverables of the project. The WBS represents a breakdown of the project into components that encompass the entire scope of the project. Each level of the WBS hierarchy represents a more detailed description of the project work so that the highest level represents broad categories, and the lower levels represent increasing amounts of detail.
Image by Klaus Schoenwandt
Larger and more complex projects often require a larger WBS. The size of the WBS is directly related to the amount of work on the project and how that work is divided into work packages. The WBS can be developed around the project phases or the project units or functions that will be performing the work. A WBS organized around the project phases facilitates the understanding of the amount of work required for each phase of the project. A WBS developed around the project units or functions of the project facilitates the understanding of the amount of work required for each function.
The following example, “John’s move”, will often be used throughout the rest of the book. It has a low level of complexity compared to a larger project and would probably not receive the amount of detailed planning described in the following examples; however, we felt this basic scenario, which is familiar to most people, will demonstrate the concepts that can be applied to any project.
John’s Move
John has a small but important project. He has accepted an instructional design position in Atlanta and now has to move from Chicago to Atlanta and be there, ready to work, right after the Christmas holidays. If the furniture arrives in good condition at least two days before John starts work, and for less than five thousand dollars, the project will be a success. The move to Chicago five years ago cost five thousand dollars, but John is smarter now and will use his friends to help, so he is confident he can stay within budget.
Developing a WBS begins by defining and developing lists of all activities—work performed on the project that consumes project resources, including cost and time—needed to accomplish the work of the project. The first draft of the WBS includes activities at the highest level of the hierarchy or the management level and typically includes the major activities or summary activities required to accomplish the deliverables identified in the project scope of work. On John’s move project, these top-level activities are numbered 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and so on, as shown in figure 8.1.
Figure 8.1 Summary Level Activities
One of John’s Summary Level Activities is Packing (3.0). The activity is then decomposed—broken down into smaller units—to the next level by listing the tasks needed to accomplish that step, as shown in figure 8.2. The first subdivision of activities is listed as 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3. The WBS shows a greater level of detail by listing the tasks needed for each subdivision activity, such as 3.3.3 Pack bedroom (which could be decomposed further, such as 3.3.3.1 Pack closet, 3.3.3.2 Pack drawers, etc.). This type of numbering of the activities is calledintelligent numbering. In intelligent numbering, the numbering system has meaning so that a member of the project team knows something about the activity by the number of the activity. For example, any activity associated with packing begins with a 3; even picking up donuts is an activity under packing because the donuts are a form of payment for the packing labor of Dion and Carlita.
Figure 8.2 Major Activity Decomposed into Smaller Activities
The WBS is developed or decomposed to the level that the manager needs to control or manage the project. On our John’s move example, the project schedule may have been just as effective without detailing the packing of the individual rooms in the old apartment. If we deleted these items, would John know when he needed to pack each one of these rooms? If the answer is yes, then we may not need that level of detail.
Estimation of Duration
After the project team has created the WBS, each activity is reviewed and evaluated to determine the duration (how long it will take to accomplish from beginning to end) and what resources (time, materials, facilities, and equipment) are needed. An estimate is an educated guess based on knowledge, experience, and inference—the process of deriving conclusions based on assumptions. The accuracy of the estimate is related to the quality of the knowledge and how that knowledge is applied. The person with the most knowledge may not be the most objective person to provide duration estimates. The person responsible for the work may also want to build in extra time. Multiple inputs into the duration estimate and a more detailed WBS help reduce bias—the making of decisions based on a prejudged perspective.
Duration Estimate for Training
A language training facility recently decided to start teaching Arabic. The language training manager will need to know when the new language materials can be acquired, when the new instructors will start their training on the curriculum and when they can start teaching. The facility’s human resources manager will need to know what skills the workers need to teach Arabic and how much time each training class will take. In addition, the HR manager will need to include activities to locate facilities, schedule training, write contracts for trainers, and manage the initiation of training classes. As can be seen, a duration estimate can become very complicated and require an even greater level of detail, which could be measured in days, hours or even minutes.
The unit of time used to develop the activity duration is a function of the level of detail needed by the user of the schedule. Typically, larger and more complex projects require a more detailed WBS—which usually translates into shorter time for the actual activities. The unit of duration is typically working days but could include other units of time such as hours, weeks, or months. The unit chosen should be used consistently throughout the schedule.
Resource Allocation and Calendars
A common resource constraint is availability. To consider the availability of team members, consultants, and vendors, you can create a resource calendar that indicates which days they are available and which are days off. A calendar for team members from the same company could be the company calendar that shows working days, weekends, and holidays. Individual team members can have individual calendars that show their vacation days or other days off, such as parental leave days. If major pieces of equipment are only available for certain periods of time, they can be given a resource calendar.
Resource calendars become important tools when changes must be made to the schedule. When a resource calendar is applied to a duration estimate, the duration in days is distributed across the available calendar days. For example, if the duration is three days and the start date of the activity is Thursday, the activity would begin on Thursday and end on Monday of the following week, assuming the resource calendar shows that the person has the weekend off. If the weekend included an extra day off for a holiday like Labor Day, the completion day of the same three-day activity would be pushed to Tuesday.
Activity Sequencing
Determining the schedule of a project begins by examining each activity in the WBS to determine its relationship to the other activities. The project logic is the development of the activity sequence or determining the order in which the activities will be completed. The process for developing the project logic involves identifying the predecessors—activities that come before—and successors—the activities that come after.
Project Logic for John’s Move
In our example of John’s move, contacting Dion and Carlita—activity 1.1—comes before the lunch meeting is scheduled. You must logically contact Dion and Carlita before you schedule your Host Planning Lunch—activity 1.2. Your conversation with Dion and Carlita will provide you with dates they are available and establish their commitment to help you move. Therefore, the conversation with Dion and Carlita is a predecessor to the Host Planning Lunch Activity. This relationship is diagramed below.
Figure 8.3 Relationship between Two Activities
These terms define a relationship that is similar to a family relationship like father and son. The father exists in time before the son. Similarly, each element of the diagram can have predecessor-successor relationships with other elements, just like a father can be the son of someone else. Additionally, just as the son has a mother as well as a father, activities can have more than one predecessor.
The relationship between a predecessor activity and a successor activity is called a dependency. The successor activity starts after and is dependent on the predecessor activity. Because the conversation with Dion and Carlita must take place before a planning meeting can be scheduled, this is called a natural dependency because the relationship can be inferred logically. Activities that have predecessor-successor relationships occur sequentially—one after the other. Another term for this type of relationship is finish-start, which means the first activity must finish before the next one can start. (Refer to the figure 8.3.) Because the finish-start relationship is by far the most common, the type of relationship is assumed to be finish-start unless otherwise mentioned.
Some activities take place concurrently—at the same time. If they must begin at the same time, they have a start-start relationship. If the activities can start at different times but they must finish at the same time, they have a finish-finish relationship. (Refer to Figure 8.4.)
Concurrent activities can be constrained to finish at the same time or start at the same time.
Figure 8.5 shows the activities in John’s move with the predecessors identified for the Plan Move and Prepacking groups of activities.
Lag and Lead Times
As stated before, most activities in a network diagram have a finish-start relationship. If a certain amount of time must go by before a successor activity can begin, the required delay is calledlag time. In some cases, the successor activity can overlap the end of its predecessor activity and begin before the predecessor is finished. This is called lead time.
Lead Time in John’s Move
In John’s move, you might begin separating the small and delicate items that will be packed in step 2.3 before you get the packing materials in step 2.1 so that when the materials are available, step 2.3 is already partially completed. If preparing the small items for packing can overlap its predecessor and shortens the time it takes to accomplish both tasks by a day, it has a lead time of one day.
Figure 8.6 Lead Time
The characteristics and identifiers of an activity are its attributes. At this point in the process of analyzing John’s move, each activity has an identifying code, a short description, predecessors, and lead or lag times, as shown in a partial table of activities in Figure 8.7.
Milestones
Milestones are significant events in your project which consume no resources and have no duration. Milestones are usually indicated on the project schedule with a diamond and often have a vertical line on a time-scaled graph to show the relationship of various schedule paths to the milestone. An effective milestone schedule will capture the major constraints to the project schedule and provide a summary level overview of the project.
In our John’s move project, we might create a milestone called “all packing complete” to represent the date when everything is packed and ready for the moving van. Any delay in this date will mean a delay in the arrival of the moving van in Chicago, a delay in the arrival of the moving van in Atlanta, and a delay of all the unpacking and other downstream activities (see Figure 8.8, “Gantt Chart”).
GRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS
Relationships between activities are easier to recognize if they are presented using graphics such as bar charts or a network of connected boxes.
Gantt Chart
The type of bar chart used to illustrate activity relationships in a project is the Gantt chart. The Gantt chart was developed by Henry Gantt and used on major projects, including building the Hoover Dam and the U.S. interstate highway system.2 The Gantt chart is a time-scaled graphic that represents each activity with a bar that reflects the duration, start, and finish time, as shown in Figure 8.8.
Figure 8.8 Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart is easy to read and provides sufficient information for project team members to plan activities within a short time frame. For many larger projects, a two-week bar chart, extracted from the larger master schedule, provides the information needed for team members and contractors to coordinate activity details. The Gantt chart provides information for simple planning but is limited because a Gantt chart does not illustrate complex relationships well.
Network Diagrams
People recognize relationships and patterns more effectively when they look at diagrams like the one in Figure 8.9, “Project Network Diagram”. The precedence diagram method (PDM) is a technique for graphically displaying the logic of the schedule by placing the activities in boxes with arrows between them to show the precedence-successor relationships. The boxes in this type of diagram are called nodes and the arrows indicate finish-start relationships. Compare the diagram in Figure 8.9 to the outline in Figure 8.5, “Outline of Activities with Predecessors Identified” to see how much easier it is to trace a sequential path from one activity to the next in the precedence diagram. This type of diagram is also called a project network diagram.
Figure 8.9 Project Network Diagram
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The work breakdown structure is a list of activities, including estimates of their durations, their relationships with others, and the resources assigned to them.
• Bar charts are used to indicate durations and sequencing where the relationships are simple. Network diagrams are used to show complex relationships between activities.
[1] Project Management Institute, Inc., A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 4th ed. (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2008), 129.
[2] Reference.com, “Henry Gantt,” http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Henry_Gantt (accessed July 27, 2009).
8.06: 8.1 Types of Schedules -- Project Management for Instructional Designers
8.1 Types of Schedules
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LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1. Define the types of project schedules.
The schedule develops as the project moves from its early conceptual phase into the execution phase.
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SCHEDULES
When the scope of the project is being determined, a conceptual simple schedule that shows the major tasks and approximate start and end dates is developed to allow senior management to make decisions about the scope of the project. Detail is not required at this stage because entire tasks might be dropped from the scope, or the whole project might not be approved.
Master
If the project is chosen, a master schedule is created. It has major events and dates such as the starting date and the completion date. The master schedule is often part of a contract. Changes to the master schedule must be approved using a documented change process with approval by the project sponsor and client.
Detail
To execute the master schedule, the major activities are broken down into smaller activities and resources are assigned to those activities. The most detailed versions or portions of the schedule may be developed a few weeks prior to the execution of those activities and are called two-week plans. Portions of the master schedule that affect particular vendors might be sent to them so they can provide detailed activities that they would perform.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Types of schedules vary in detail. A broad, general conceptual schedule is used in the earliest phases of the project design. A master schedule with start date, milestones, and completion date becomes part of the contract and is changed by mutual agreement using a formal change process. Details are added to the master schedule as needed to perform the work of the project activities. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/08%3A_Chapter_8/8.05%3A_8.2_Elements_of_Time_Management_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
9.0 Overview
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The cost portion of the chapter aligns with chapter 7 of the PMBOK and 9% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Planning and Monitoring & Controlling category of the PMP questions. The procurement portion of the chapter deals with Chapter 12 of the PMBOK and 9% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling and closure category of the PMP questions.
An important part of a project manager’s job is managing money. All types of organizations must manage their money well in order to fulfill their mission, including not-for-profit and government organizations. The tools and methods used to manage money on a project vary depending on the phase and complexity of the project. This chapter first describes the methods used to estimate the cost of a project, create a budget, and manage the cost of activities while the project is being executed. It then covers a major component of cost management—the procurement process.
To achieve the objectives of the project, the management team often needs to look outside the internal organization for additional help. The process of obtaining goods and services from providers who are outside of the organization is called procurement. We will discuss ways of selecting the work that will be procured and the different methods and processes for procuring the equipment, materials, and services for the project.
The procurement effort on projects varies widely and depends on the type of project. Often the client organization will provide procurement services on less complex projects. In this case, the project team identifies the materials, equipment, and supplies needed by the project and provides product specifications and a detailed delivery schedule. When the procurement department of the parent organization provides procurement services, a liaison from the project can help the procurement team better understand the unique requirements of the project and the time-sensitive or critical items of the project schedule.
On larger, more complex projects, personnel are dedicated to procuring and managing the equipment, supplies, and materials needed by the project. Because of the temporary nature of projects, equipment, supplies, and materials are procured as part of the product of the project or for the execution of the project. For example, workbook materials might be procured for the product of the project, and the computers and software might be equipment procured for the execution of the project work. At the end of the project, equipment bought or rented for the execution of the work of the project are sold, returned to rental organizations, or disposed of some other way.
More complex projects will typically procure through different procurement and management methods. Commodities are common products that are purchased based on the lowest bid. Commodities include items like concrete for building projects, office supplies, or even lab equipment for a research project. The second type of procurement includes products that are specified for the project. Vendors who can produce these products bid for a contract. The awarding of a contract can include price, ability to meet the project schedule, the fit for purpose of the product, and other considerations important to the project. Equipment especially designed and built for a research project is an example of what might be provided by a project vendor. These vendors’ performances become important parts of the project, and the project manager assigns resources to coordinate the work and schedule of the vendor.
The third procurement approach is the development of one or more partners. A public relations firm that is awarded the advertising contract for a major project and a research firm that is conducting critical subparts of the research are examples of potential project partners. A partner contributes to and is integrated into the execution plan. Partners perform best when they share the project vision of success and are emotionally invested in the project. The project management team builds and implements a project procurement plan that recognizes the most efficient and effective procurement approach to support the project.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
Well project budgets are scary. Because when you are out of money, you are out of money. Your goal is to come in under budget if you possibly can. You know it’s funny, there is a concept, I was working on this project, training submarine finding helicopter pilots and sensor operators so we had two little mini-projects going on. Well they weren’t mini-projects they were pretty good-sized projects. We had a staff of about 25 people. We had to pay them all. We had to bring them on at the right time, and we had to put them off of the project at the right time. Because if we didn’t then, they would bill against the project and we would use up funds that we didn’t have. So we had to know when a certain set of jobs was going to be done. One of our artists was a cartoonist. We had to know when he came on the project and when he left the project. We had to make sure he was busy the whole time. So sometimes that comes into conflict with the production schedule, and you end up having people being paid longer than you expected. Boy, budget. There is a concept called designed costs. I think it’s an important concept for instructional designers to understand. It means you only have a certain amount of time, and a certain amount of money to pay people, and so you make your design to fit those resources. There is no project that you get on where you couldn’t design something that is like the Taj Mahal, ornate and guilded and beautiful and pure marble and all that kind of stuff. But you know, every project can’t be the Taj Mahal. You can’t afford it, it takes too long, too many people. And so you have to make your design fit what you have. And people say that’s giving up your principles, isn’t there something wrong about that, isn’t there something unethical about that. And the answer is no. When your client contracts with you for a certain amount of money, that’s what they want to pay you. And you can go back to your client with a change order, and that’s kind of an official thing, a change order, saying, now if you want this extra feature this is how much it’s going to cost you. Because one of the things that happens as you design for a client, all of a sudden they start getting the picture, you create these wonderful clouds of vision in their mind and they say, “That’s so cool! We could do this. And we could do this…” You excite them. And they start imagining, “Wow we could create this, such a cool thing”. Well your budget said Volkswagen, it didn’t say Cadillac. It said Volkswagen. So if you want a Cadillac we’re going to have to re-write some of the contract to say Cadillac in it. So budgets are scary.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
Well, we didn’t manage our budget very well for this course. Because of the meetings, the excessive meetings, it, the cost jumped up dramatically. And a lot of the things that we made decisions on, the instructional designer. You know, Flash takes a long time, video takes a long time, the recording, the post process, the pre-process. Those are costly things. So you have to kind of weigh those things out when you create a course. But, with an art course it would not be a very good course, instructionally, if you didn’t have any of those things in it, if it was just straight reading. In the end, we spent a lot more money than we planned, but it made for such a rich course. It’s a fantastic drawing course. In the triangle of project management, when you manage your time and your cost and your quality, the quality of this course is incredible. The time, we kept our time on time. What we gave up was, we gave up cost for quality in this example. And the award that we received, we all feel like it was worth it, but of course we wouldn’t be in business if we did that with every course. So you have to weigh it out. What we have to manage the course budget, is we do have a program. Our same program that we use to manage our tasks, and everyone records their hours that they spend on each task. And so it tabulates how much money we’re spending on the budget so you can look at the course at any time. I just, what I do is, and the instructional designers we check on that throughout. So each phase of the project it will tell you how much money. And so, how it’s supposed to work is when you see that you are close, it will kind of go red, and it will show you that you’re using up your budget money for that processor, so you better hurry it out. So, how ideally it works is you cut things out if you have to stay within your budget, but like I said, that was probably a project failure as far as budget went for this course.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
So in building the BYU Learning Suite, we’re at the Center for Teaching and Learning. So, our budget is pretty constrained. And we have lots of stuff that we’re doing. So we were kind of given this much money to do things, and we said we can only do this much of the project and you want this much done. So they said okay, we’ll give you this much. And we just had to keep going back, this much, this much, this much. So, you know, budget management is one of the critical things that any project manager has to do. Where you’re a smaller entity within a larger organization, and the larger organization is the one asking you to do something at least you’re in a good position. You can go back and ask for more money. Is this really important to you? Then give us some more money. Is this really important to you? Than give us some more money. And that’s kind of how we’ve been having to do this. They shortened the time frame that we needed to do the project in by quite a bit. So that compressed the development cycle. The budget went from this to this. Simply because we had to hire a lot more people to get it done that fast. So you know, it’s a difficult project management triangle. You know, it’s time, scope and money. If they reduce the time, you’ve got to spend more money, or reduce the scope. And we actually had to do both. We couldn’t get as much done in that amount of time. But we tried to get more done by hiring more people. So you know, it’s the old trade off. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/09%3A_Chapter_9/9.01%3A_9_Costs_and_Procurement_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
9.6 Procurement Process
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the components of the procurement plan.
2. Identify the decisions made when selecting the type of contract.
3. Describe how bidders are qualified, solicited, and chosen.
4. Identify the methods used to manage the contracts.
The project procurement cycle reflects the procurement activities from the decision to purchase the material or service through to the payment of bills and closing of procurement contracts.
Image by Jeremy Lim
Procurement Plan
After the decision has been made to purchase goods or outsource services, the procurement team develops a plan that includes the following:
• Selecting the appropriate relationships and contract approaches for each type of purchased goods or outsourced service
• Preparing RFQs and RFPs and evaluating partnership opportunities
• Evaluating RFQs, RFPs, and partnerships
• Awarding and signing contracts
• Managing quality, timely performance
• Managing contract changes
• Closing contracts
Depending on the complexity level of the project, each of these steps can take either hours or sometimes weeks of work to complete. Each of these steps is also included in the project master schedule. The time involved in the procurement cycle can influence the scheduling of critical activities, including the decision to self-perform the work or contract the work to others. The equipment and materials delivery dates and completion of contracted work dates are placed on the project schedule and any procurement activities that create a project delay or fall on the project critical path may require special attention.
Selecting the Contract Approach
The technical teams typically develop a description of the work that will be outsourced. From this information, the project management team answers the following questions:
• Is the required work or materials a commodity, customized product or service, or unique skill or relationship?
• What type of relationship is needed: supplier, vendor, or partnership?
• How should the supplier, vendor, or potential partner be approached: RFQ, RFP, or personal contact?
• How well known is the scope of work?
• What are the risks and which party should assume which types of risk?
• Does the procurement of the service or goods affect activities on the project schedule’s critical path and how much float is there on those activities?
• How important is it to be sure of the cost in advance?
The procurement team uses the answers to the first three questions listed above to determine the approach to obtaining the goods or services and the remaining questions to determine what type of contract is most appropriate.
A key factor in selecting the contract approach is determining which party will take the most risk. The team determines the level of risk that will be managed by the project and what risks will be transferred to the contractor. Typically, the project management team wants to manage the project risk, but in some cases, contractors have more expertise or control that enable them to better manage the risk associated with the contracted work.
Soliciting Bids
A solicitation is the process of requesting a price and supporting information from bidders. The solicitation usually takes the form of either an RFQ or an RFP. Partnerships are pursued and established on a case-by-case basis by senior management.
Qualifying Bidders
Potential bidders are people or organizations capable of providing the materials or performing the work required for the project. On smaller, less complex projects, the parent company typically has a list of suppliers and vendors that have successfully provided goods and services in the past, and the project has access to the performance record of companies on that list. On unique projects, where no supplier lists exist, the project team develops a list of potential suppliers and then qualifies them to become eligible to bid on project work. Eligible bidders are placed on the bidders list and provided with a schedule of when work on the project will be bid.
The eligibility of a supplier is determined by the ability to perform the work in a way that meets project requirements and demonstrates financial stability. Ability to perform the work includes the ability to meet quality specifications and meet the project schedule. During times when economic activity is high in a region, many suppliers become busy and stretch their resources. The project team investigates the potential suppliers to assure they have the capacity and the track record of meeting deadlines before they are included on the bidder’s list.
The potential supplier must also be financially stable to be included on the bidders list. A credit check or a financial report from Dun and Bradstreet (D&B)—a well-known provider of financial information about individual companies—will provide the project with information about the potential bidder’s financial status. D&B services include the following:
• D&B proprietary rankings and predictive creditworthiness scores
• Public filings, including suits, liens, judgments, and UCC filings—standardized financial disclosure documents that conform to the uniform commercial code
• Comprehensive payment history, including D&B’s Paydex Scores
• Company financial statements and history
Request for Quote
An RFQ focuses on price. The type of materials or service is well defined and can be obtained from several sources. The bidder that can meet the project quality and schedule requirements usually wins the contract by quoting the lowest price.
Request for Proposal
An RFP accounts for price but focuses on meeting the project quality or schedule requirements. The process of developing a proposal in response to an RFP can be very expensive for the bidder, and the project team should not issue an RFP to a company that is not eligible to win the bid.
Evaluating Bids
Evaluation of bids in response to RFQs for commodity items and services is heavily graded for price. In most cases, the lowest total price will win the contract. The total price will include the costs of the goods or services, any shipping or delivery costs, the value of any warranties, and any additional service that adds value to the project.
The evaluation of bids based on RFPs is more complex. The evaluation of proposals includes the price and also an evaluation of the technical approach chosen by the bidder. The project team evaluating the proposal must include people with the expertise to understand the technical aspects of the various proposal options and the value of each proposal to the project. On more complex projects, the administrative part of the proposal is evaluated and scored by one team, and the technical aspect of the proposal is evaluated by another team. The project team combines the two scores to determine the best proposal for the project.
Awarding the Contract
After the project team has selected the bidder that provides the best value to the project, a project representative validates all conditions of the bid and the contract with the potential contractor. Less complex awards, like contracts for printed materials, require a reading and signing of the contract to assure the printed materials supplier understands the contract terms and requirements of the project schedule. More complex projects require a detailed discussion of the goals, the potential barriers to accomplishing those goals, the project schedule and critical dates, and the processes for resolving conflicts and improving work processes.
Planning Session Follows Contract Award
On a design project to create a major training for a world-wide company, the project manager invited two critical partners to a three-day planning session after the project contracts were awarded.
The project manager began the session by stating that the project leadership intended to create an environment that enabled each of the partners to exceed profit expectations on the project and that the only way to accomplish this goal was through a mutually supportive team where everyone contributed to improve project performance and everyone benefited from better performance. The session then focused on developing ways to resolve problems and increase performance. Although this may appear to be a simple process of focusing contractors on project success, the process took several days of lengthy discussion and conflict resolution. The effort invested in developing alignment between the project team and contractors can significantly improve project performance.
Managing the Contracts
The contract type determines the level of effort and the skills needed to manage the contract. The manager of supplier contracts develops detailed specifications and assures compliance to these specifications. The manager of vendor contracts assures the contractors that bid the work have the skills and capacity to accomplish the work according to the project schedule and tracks the vendor’s performance against the project needs, supplying support and direction when needed. The manager of partnering arrangements develops alignment around common goals and work processes. Each of these approaches requires different skills and various degrees of effort.
Items that take a long time to acquire—long lead items—receive early attention by the project leadership. Examples of long lead items are equipment that is designed and built specifically for the project, curriculum that is created for training a new workforce, and a customized bioreactor for a biotech project. These items might require weeks, months, and sometimes years to develop and complete. The project team identifies long lead items early to begin the procurement activities as soon as possible because those procured through the normal procurement cycle may cause delays in the project.
After the contract is awarded, the project team tracks the performance of the contractor against performance criteria in the contract and his or her contribution to the performance of the project. Typically, the contractors deliver the product or service that meets the quality expectations and supports the project schedule. Typically, there are also one or two contractors that do not perform to project expectations. Some project managers will then pull out the contract and attempt to persuade the contractor to improve performance or be penalized. Other project managers will explore with the contractor creative ways to improve performance and meet project requirements. The contract management allows for both approaches to deal with nonperforming contractors and the project team must assess what method is most likely to work in each situation.
Managing contractor performance on a project is as important to the overall project outcomes as the work performed by the project team.
Logistics and Expediting
Equipment and materials that are purchased for use on the project must be transported, inventoried, warehoused, and often secured. This area of expertise is called logistics. The logistics for the project can be managed by the project team or can be included in the RFP or RFQ. On international projects, materials may be imported, and the procurement team manages the customs process. On smaller projects, the logistical function is often provided by the parent company. On larger projects, these activities are typically contracted to companies that specialize in logistical services. On larger, more complex projects, that procurement team will include logistical expertise.
The project work often depends on materials procured for the project. The delivery of these materials influences the scheduling of the project, and often some materials are needed earlier than normal procurement practices would deliver. On long lead items, the project schedule is included in the contracting plans and contractors must explain how they will support the project schedule.
On large, complex projects, critical items might be scheduled for delivery after they are needed on the project. The procurement team then explores ideas with the contractor to expedite the manufacturing or transportation of the equipment or materials. The contract can often place a priority on the fabrication of the equipment and delivery of the equipment to meet the project schedule. The project logistics team can also explore ways of shortening the transportation time. For example, a project in Argentina flew some critical equipment from Sweden rather than transport the equipment by ship to save several weeks in transit. The logistics costs were higher, but the overall value to the project was greater.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The procurement plan includes determining the category of materials or services, choosing the type of contractual relationship, soliciting bids, selecting bidders, managing the work, and closing the contracts.
• The decisions made when selecting the type of contract are based on whether the materials can be provided by suppliers, vendors, or partners; how well defined the work is; how the risk will be shared; the importance of the task to the schedule; and the need for certainty of the cost.
• Companies that bid on contracts are evaluated on past performance and current financial status. RFQs and RFPs are sent to those companies. RFQs are evaluated on price and RFPs are evaluated on price and method.
• Long lead time items are identified and monitored. Items that are critical to the schedule or delayed are assigned to an expediter. The logistics of handling delivery, storage, and transportation are determined. Work and materials are inspected for quality. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/09%3A_Chapter_9/9.02%3A_9.6_Procurement_Process_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
9.5 Selecting the Type of Contract
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify factors that determine which type of contract to select.
2. Describe the types of fixed cost contracts.
3. Describe the types of cost reimbursable contracts.
4. Understand progress payments and how to reduce problems in changing the contractors’ scope of work.
An agreement between the organization and an outside provider of a service or materials is a contract. To limit misunderstandings and make them more legally binding, contracts are usually written documents that describe the obligations of both parties and are signed by those with authority to represent the interests of the parties.
Because legal agreements often create risk for the parent organization, procurement activities are often guided by the policies and procedures of the parent organization. After the project management team develops an understanding of what portions of the project work will be outsourced and defines the type of relationships that are needed to support the project execution plan, the procurement team begins to develop the contracting plan. On smaller, less complex projects, the contract development and execution is typically managed through the parent company or by a part-time person assigned to the project. On larger, more complex projects, the procurement team can consist of work teams within the procurement function with special expertise in contracting. The contract plan defines the relationship between the project and the subcontractors (supplier, vendor, or partner) and also defines a process for making changes in the agreement to accommodate changes that will occur on the project. This change management process is similar to the change management process used with the project agreement with the project client.
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The contracting plan of the project supports the procurement approach of the project. The following are some factors to consider when selecting the type of contract:
• The uncertainty of the scope of work needed
• The party assuming the risk of unexpected cost increases
• The importance of meeting the scheduled milestone dates
• The need for predictable project costs
There are several types of contracting approaches and each supports different project environments and project approaches. The legal contracts that support the procurement plan consist of two general types of contract: the fixed-price and the cost-reimbursable contracts, with variations on each main type.
Fixed-Price Contracts
The fixed-price contract is a legal agreement between the project organization and an entity (person or company) to provide goods or services to the project at an agreed-on price. The contract usually details the quality of the goods or services, the timing needed to support the project, and the price for delivering goods or services. There are several variations of the fixed price contract. For commodities and goods and services where the scope of work is very clear and not likely to change, the fixed price contract offers a predictable cost. The responsibility for managing the work to meet the needs of the project is focused on the contractor. The project team tracks the quality and schedule progress to assure the contractors will meet the project needs. The risks associated with fixed price contracts are the costs associated with project change. If a change occurs on the project that requires a change order from the contractor, the price of the change is typically very high. Even when the price for changes is included in the original contract, changes on a fixed-price contract will create higher total project costs than other forms of contracts because the majority of the cost risk is transferred to the contractor, and most contractors will add a contingency to the contract to cover their additional risk.
Fixed-price contracts require the availability of at least two or more suppliers that have the qualifications and performance histories that assure the needs of the project can be met. The other requirement is a scope of work that is most likely not going to change. Developing a clear scope of work based on good information, creating a list of highly qualified bidders, and developing a clear contract that reflects that scope of work are critical aspects of a good fixed-priced contract.
If the service provider is responsible for incorporating all costs, including profit, into the agreed-on price, it is a fixed-total-cost contract. The contractor assumes the risks for unexpected increases in labor and materials that are needed to provide the service or materials and in the materials and timeliness needed.
The fixed-price contract with price adjustment is used for unusually long projects that span years. The most common use of this type of contract is the inflation-adjusted price. In some countries, the value of its local currency can vary greatly in a few months, which affects the cost of local materials and labor. In periods of high inflation, the client assumes risk of higher costs due to inflation, and the contract price is adjusted based on an inflation index. The volatility of certain commodities can also be accounted for in a price adjustment contract. For example, if the price of oil significantly affects the costs of the project, the client can accept the oil price volatility risk and include a provision in the contract that would allow the contract price adjustment based on a change in the price of oil.
The fixed-price with incentive fee is a contract type that provides an incentive for performing on the project above the established baseline in the contract. The contract might include an incentive for completing the work on an important milestone for the project. Often contracts have a penalty clause if the work is not performed according to the contract. For example, if the new software is not completed in time to support the implementation of the training, the contract might penalize the software company a daily amount of money for every day the software is late. This type of penalty is often used when the software is critical to the project and the delay will cost the project significant money.
If the service or materials can be measured in standard units, but the amount needed is not known accurately, the price per unit can be fixed—a fixed unit price contract. The project team assumes the responsibility of estimating the number of units used. If the estimate is not accurate, the contract does not need to be changed, but the project will exceed the budgeted cost.
Cost-Reimbursable Contracts
In acost-reimbursable contract, the organization agrees to pay the contractor for the cost of performing the service or providing the goods. Cost-reimbursable contracts are also known as cost-plus contracts. Cost-reimbursable contracts are most often used when the scope of work or the costs for performing the work are not well known. The project uses a -reimbursable contract to pay the contractor for allowable expenses related to performing the work. Since the cost of the project is reimbursable, the contractor has much less risk associated with cost increases. When the costs of the work are not well known, a cost-reimbursable contract reduces the amount of money the bidders place in the bid to account for the risk associated with potential increases in costs. The contractor is also less motivated to find ways to reduce the cost of the project unless there are incentives for supporting the accomplishment of project goals.
Cost-reimbursable contracts require good documentation of the costs that occurred on the project to assure that the contractor gets paid for all the work performed and to assure that the organization is not paying for something that was not completed. The contractor is also paid an additional amount above the costs. There are several ways to compensate the contractor.
• A cost-reimbursable contract with a fixed fee provides the contractor with a fee, or profit amount, that is determined at the beginning of the contract and does not change.
• A cost-reimbursable contract with a percentage fee pays the contractor for costs plus a percentage of the costs, such as 5% of total allowable costs. The contractor is reimbursed for allowable costs and is paid a fee.
• A cost-reimbursable contract with an incentive fee is used to encourage performance in areas critical to the project. Often the contract attempts to motivate contractors to save or reduce project costs. The use of the cost reimbursable contract with an incentive fee is one way to motivate cost reduction behaviors.
• A cost-reimbursable contract with award fee reimburses the contractor for all allowable costs plus a fee that is based on performance criteria. The fee is typically based on goals or objectives that are more subjective. An amount of money is set aside for the contractor to earn through excellent performance, and the decision on how much to pay the contractor is left to the judgment of the project team. The amount is sufficient to motivate excellent performance.
On small activities that have a high uncertainty, the contractor might charge an hourly rate for labor, plus the cost of materials, plus a percentage of the total costs. This type of contract is called time and materials (T&M). Time is usually contracted on an hourly rate basis and the contractor usually submits time sheets and receipts for items purchased on the project. The project reimburses the contractor for the time spent based on an agreed-on rate and the actual cost of the materials. The fee is typically a percentage of the total cost.
Time and materials contracts are used on projects for work that is smaller in scope and has uncertainty or risk and the project, rather than the contractor, assumes the risk. Since the contractor will most likely include contingency in the price of other types of contracts to cover the high risk, T&M contracts provide lower total cost to the project.
Figure 9.11 Table of Contract Types and Characteristics
To minimize the risk to the project, the contract typically includes a not-to-exceed amount, which means the contract can only charge up to the agreed amount. The T&M contract allows the project to make adjustments as more information is available. The final cost of the work is not known until sufficient information is available to complete a more accurate estimate.
PROGRESS PAYMENTS AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Vendors and suppliers usually require payments during the life of the contract. On contracts that last several months, the contractor will incur significant cost and will want the project to pay for these costs as early as possible. Rather than wait until the end of the contract, a schedule of payments is typically developed as part of the contract and is connected to the completion of a defined amount of work or project milestones. These payments made before the end of the project and based on the progress of the work are called progress payments. For example, the contract might develop a payment schedule that pays for the development of the curriculum, and payment is made when the curriculum is completed and accepted. There is a defined amount of work to be accomplished, a time frame for accomplishing that work, and a quality standard the work must achieve before the contractor is paid for the work.
Just as the project has a scope of work that defines what is included in the project and what work is outside the project, vendors and suppliers have a scope of work that defines what they will produce or supply to the company. (Partners typically share the project scope of work and may not have a separate scope of work.) Often changes occur on the project that require changes in the contractor’s scope of work. How these changes will be managed during the life of the project is typically documented in the contract. Capturing these changes early, documenting what changed and how the change impacted the contract, and developing a change order (a change to the contract) are important to maintaining the progress of the project. Conflict among team members will often arise when changes are not documented or when the team cannot agree on the change. Developing and implementing an effective change management process for contractors and key suppliers will minimize this conflict and the potential negative effect on the project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Contract selection is based on uncertainty of scope, assignment of risk, need for predictable costs, and the importance of meeting milestone dates.
• Total fixed cost is a single price where the scope is well defined. A fixed price with incentive contract offers a reward for finishing early or under budget or a penalty for being late. A fixed price with adjustment allows for increases in cost of materials or changes in currency values. A fixed unit price contract sets a price per unit, but the exact number of units is not known.
• In a cost reimbursable contract, the project pays for costs. A cost plus fixed fee contract assures the contractor of a known fee. A cost plus percentage fee calculates the fee as a percentage of the costs. A cost plus incentive fee sets goals for the contractor to achieve that would result in a bonus. A cost plus award fee is similar, but the goals are more subjective. Time and materials contracts pay for costs plus an hourly rate for the contractor’s time.
• Payments to vendors and suppliers are required during the course of the project. A change management system needs to be in place when dealing with vendors and suppliers. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/09%3A_Chapter_9/9.03%3A_9.5_Selecting_the_Type_of_Contract_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
9.4 Procurement of Goods
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the role of suppliers.
2. Describe the role of vendors.
3. Describe the role of partners.
After the outsourcing versus self-performing decisions are made, the procurement team develops the purchasing plan.
The method of purchasing products or services depends on the uniqueness and importance of the product or service. One way to organize the procurement plan is by the type of relationship with the providers of the outsourced goods or services.
Suppliers
Some of the goods or services are commonly available with little variation in quality or availability. Such goods and services are called commodities. The providers of commodities are suppliers and there are usually several from which to choose. Purchasing commodities from suppliers focuses on achieving the lowest cost. Additional cost savings are often available if large quantities of a commodity are purchased from the same supplier.
On larger, more complex projects, a list of materials and supplies is developed from the project cost estimate. This list is provided to suppliers as arequest for quote (RFQ), and the suppliers respond with their lowest price. To avoid choosing a bid— a quote that lists the specific materials to be provided, the price for each, and a schedule for delivery– from a company that will make a promise it cannot keep, many organizations will maintain a list of suppliers that meet the organization’s requirements. These requirements usually include the proven ability to meet the quality and schedule specifications.
The project management team develops a procedure for requesting a quote. On smaller projects, the parent purchasing organization may process all RFQs. On larger projects, a procurement organization is established with expertise in purchasing. The purchasing team will develop a list of all procurement requirements for the project and develop a procurement schedule that assures the materials will be available to the project when needed.
The project team develops an RFQ based on the quantity and schedule needs of the project and sends the RFQ to the identified qualified suppliers. The project team evaluates each quote from suppliers and determines that the supplier bid meets all the requirements, and in most cases, the supplier with the lowest price will be awarded the bid.
RFQ for Publishing Contractor
A publishing contractor who is drafting a series of ten math textbooks develops a materials list that includes all the supplies needed to publish all ten books. The contractor develops an RFQ for all these materials, including the writing schedule, and submits the RFQ to the four largest writing guild companies in the region. Each of the guild companies decides to bid on the project and provides a bid for the materials in the RFQ. One of the bidders has the lowest price but is unable to deliver the materials to the client site. The project team calculates the cost of transporting the materials to the client site. After the cost of transportation is added to the bid, it is no longer the lowest total cost. The bidder with the total lowest total cost is awarded the contract.
Some organizations that do a large number of projects will develop a relationship with one or two suppliers based on developing cost savings for both organizations. This relationship is commonly called a key supplier relationship.
Key Supplier for Publishing Supplies
The publishing contractor develops a key supplier relationship with one or two of the material supply companies. The material supply company would guarantee a 10% discount on all materials and the contractor would promise to purchase exclusively from the key supplier. Both organizations save the cost and time associated with preparing the bid. The publishing supply company plans on a consistent volume of business from the contractor and the contractor can expect priority treatment when supplies are scarce.
Vendors
Vendors often provide a unique product or service that cannot be readily purchased in the marketplace. The vendor typically provides a product or service that is designed for the project. The following are examples of products or services provided by vendors:
• Artwork
• Software developers and programs
• Publishers
Products and services from vendors need input and insight from the vendor. Instead of issuing a request for quote (RFQ) for a list of commodities, the project team issues a request for proposal (RFP). Companies responding to an RFP are invited to provide creative approaches to adding value to the project. Bidders are encouraged to offer design alternatives, alternative uses of materials, and scheduling alternatives that meet all the project requirements and also reduce the total project cost. The bids are evaluated on the total value to the project, including the contribution to the project goals.
Because vendor performance is critical to the success of the project, the management of the vendor relationship is a project management priority. Project management will often implement processes that encourage the vendors to submit suggestions that will reduce total project cost, shorten the schedule, or improve the performance. The project management team will often assign someone from the team to monitor the relationship and provide support from project resources to help assure vendor success.
Partners
If the parent organization lacks key skills or relationships, it might work with other organizations as partners—especially on international projects.
A partnership is a formal arrangement to execute the project with each party contributing resources. In most partnerships, both parties benefit from the success of the project and share the costs associated with a less successful project. Critical to the success of a partnership is the clear definition of roles and responsibilities on the project, a common understanding of the project goals, and a scope of work for each partner.
Building the relationship between major partners on the project is similar to building relationships with clients. On a large, complex project, a partnership alignment session is often required to build the trust required for open communication channels. Maintaining the relationship permits more effective problem solving and coordinated action on the project. A well-managed partnering relationship can contribute to the achievement of project goals, reduce overall costs, and shorten the project schedule. In most cases, the parent organization is aware of weaknesses in the project resources or skills and searches for a potential partner that has the needed resources or skills.
PR Partnership
On a project in Puerto Rico, an instructional design company wanted a Puerto Rican public relations firm to market their product because of their expertise with the locale. Both companies researched the capability of the other company to assure that the partnership was appropriate for each of them. This was a situation where a partnering relationship would benefit the project—both companies would mutually support each other to achieve project goals and both would benefit from project success.
In this situation, the project procurement plan specified the development of a subcontract for the PR services, and a contract was developed with a clear scope of work and a cost based on completing the work in the contract on time and according to specification. Because the project schedule required the PR firm to begin work before all the needed information was available, change orders were required when new information became available. The contract allowed several days to evaluate the impact of the change on cost and schedule, and the time evaluation process began to cause delays in the project.
Eventually, a new contract was developed to make the Puerto Rican company a partner. These new partnering arrangements allowed PR to get early information and contribute ideas that would shorten the schedule. This case is an example of the need to evaluate the project goals and environment and develop a procurement strategy that matches the conditions of the project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Commodities are purchased through suppliers using a request for quote (RFQ) and selected on the basis of price. An exception is the key supplier relationship where the supplier-organization relationship is long term and the supplier passes along some of the savings of avoiding the bidding process.
• Vendors provide products and services that are designed for the project based on a request for proposal (RFP) that invites the vendors to meet the goals of the request using their products and skills.
• If the organization lacks key skills or relationships, it might form a partnership arrangement with another company to share the benefits and risks of the project. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/09%3A_Chapter_9/9.04%3A_9.4_Procurement_of_Goods_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
9.3 Identifying the Need for Procuring Services
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify what factors are considered when deciding to outsource or perform the work within the organization.
The decision to procure work from outside companies (outsourcing) or whether to have the project team members perform the work (self-performed) is decided by the project team. Luu, Ng, and Chen1 studied project procurement selection priorities and identified budget and schedule as the most important considerations in the decision to outsource activities. Other factors that must be considered are risk, quality, and flexibility. Self-performing and outsourcing the work have both benefits and risks. The project procurement strategy begins with these self-perform or outsourcing evaluations.
Outsourcing Decision
A design company has a contract to build a large training curriculum for a company in downtown New York. Most, if not all, of the editing and graphic-art work will be contracted with companies that specialize in these areas. Existing companies that have expertise can provide these project needs faster and at a much lower cost than if the project manager’s organization attempted to build the capacity itself.Some outsourcing decisions—sometimes called make or buy decisions—are difficult. In the same training project example above, new learning devices and methods are required that will make the instruction more efficient. The project manager can decide to outsource this portion of the project to companies that have technological expertise or develop this expertise on the project and self-perform the work. The costs of developing this expertise within the project will be more expensive and may take more time than outsourcing this work.
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Self-performing this work also has benefits. The project team would develop this expertise and the additional expertise would add value to their parent company and save money on future projects. The project management team would have greater control over the work because the work would be performed by members of the project team instead of outsiders.
Outsourcing Versus Self-Performing
On the New York project, the project manager decided to outsource the portion of the work that required new methods and materials. The project team designers evaluated the work during the project and assessed the appropriate methods and costs for the parent company to develop this capacity within the company. The additional costs of developing the capacity and the additional risks of implementing a new method with existing resources outweighed the benefits of developing the capacity within the organization.The basic instructional design activities are the core expertise of the parent company and the project team had access to the qualified resources to perform the work. The decision to self-perform this portion of the work was easy because the company had a cost and schedule advantage by using the existing resources.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The factors that influence procurement are primarily cost and schedule but also include risk, quality, and flexibility.
• To determine whether to outsource or do the work within the organization, consider which option is less costly and which option can deliver the work on time.
[1] Duc Thanh Luu, S. Thomas Ng, and Swee Eng Chen, “Parameters Governing the Selection of Procurement System,” Journal of Engineering, Construction, and Architectural Management10, no. 3. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/09%3A_Chapter_9/9.05%3A_9.3_Identifying_the_Need_for_Procuring_Services_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Desi.txt |
9.2 Managing the Budget
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe methods to manage cash flow.
2. Describe the terms and relationships of budget factors used in earned value analysis.
3. Calculate and interpret budget and schedule variances.
4. Calculate and interpret the schedule performance index and the cost performance index.
5. Calculate and interpret estimates to complete the project.
6. Calculate the revised final budget.
Projects seldom go according to plan in every detail. It is necessary for the project manager to be able to identify when costs are varying from the budget and to manage those variations.
MANAGING CASH FLOW
If the total amount spent on a project is equal to or less than the amount budgeted, the project can still be in trouble if the funding for the project is not available when it is needed. There is a natural tension between the financial people in an organization, who do not want to pay for the use of money that is just sitting in a checking account, and the project manager, who wants to be sure that there is enough money available to pay for project expenses. The financial people prefer to keep the company’s money working in other investments until the last moment before transferring it to the project account. The contractors and vendors have similar concerns, and they want to get paid as soon as possible so they can put the money to work in their own organizations. The project manager would like to have as much cash available as possible to use if activities exceed budget expectations.
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Contingency Reserves
Most projects have something unexpected occur that increases costs above the original estimates. If estimates are rarely exceeded, the estimating method should be reviewed because the estimates are too high. It is impossible to predict which activities will cost more than expected, but it is reasonable to assume that some of them will. Estimating the likelihood of such events is part of risk analysis, which is discussed in more detail in a later chapter.
Instead of overestimating each cost, money is budgeted for dealing with unplanned but statistically predictable cost increases. Funds allocated for this purpose are called contingency reserves.1 Because it is likely that this money will be spent, it is part of the total budget for the project. If this fund is adequate to meet the unplanned expenses, then the project will complete within the budget.
Management Reserves
If something occurs during the project that requires a change in the project scope, money may be needed to deal with the situation before a change in scope can be negotiated with the project sponsor or client. It could be an opportunity as well as a challenge. For example, if a new technology were invented that would greatly enhance your completed project, there would be additional cost and a change to the scope, but it would be worth it. Money can be made available at the manager’s discretion to meet needs that would change the scope of the project. These funds are called management reserves. Unlike contingency reserves, they are not likely to be spent and are not part of the project’s budget baseline, but they can be included in the total project budget.2
Evaluating the Budget During the Project
A project manager must regularly compare the amount of money spent with the budgeted amount and report this information to managers and stakeholders. It is necessary to establish an understanding of how this progress will be measured and reported.
Reporting Budget Progress on John’s Move
In the John’s move example, he estimated that the move would cost about \$1,500 and take about sixteen days. Eight days into the project, John has spent \$300. John tells his friends that the project is going well because he is halfway through the project but has only spent a fifth of his budget. John’s friend Carlita points out that his report is not sufficient because he did not compare the amount spent to the budgeted amount for the activities that should be done by the eighth day.
As John’s friend points out, a budget report must compare the amount spent with the amount that is expected to be spent by that point in the project. Basic measures such as percentage of activities completed, percentage of measurement units completed, and percentage of budget spent are adequate for less complex projects, but more sophisticated techniques are used for projects with higher complexity.
EARNED VALUE ANALYSIS
A method that is widely used for medium- and high-complexity projects is the earned value management (EVM) method. EVM is a method of periodically comparing the budgeted costs with the actual costs during the project. It combines the scheduled activities with detailed cost estimates of each activity. It allows for partial completion of an activity if some of the detailed costs associated with the activity have been paid but others have not.
The budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) comprises the detailed cost estimates for each activity in the project. The amount of work that should have been done by a particular date is the planned value (PV). These terms are used interchangeably by some sources, but the planned value term is used in formulas to refer to the sum of the budgeted cost of work up to a particular point in the project, so we will make that distinction in the definitions in this text for clarity.
Planned Value on Day Six of John’s Move
On day six of the project, John should have taken his friends to lunch and purchased the packing materials. The portion of the BCWS that should have been done by that date (the planned value) is listed in Figure 9.6. This is the planned value for day six of the project.
Figure 9.6 Planned Value for Lunch and Packing Materials
The budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) is the budgeted cost of work scheduled that has been done. If you sum the BCWP values up to that point in the project schedule, you have the earned value (EV). The amount spent on an item is often more or less than the estimated amount that was budgeted for that item. The actual cost (AC) is the sum of the amounts actually spent on the items.
Comparing PV, EV, and AC in John’s Move on Day Six
Dion and Carlita were both trying to lose weight and just wanted a nice salad. Consequently, the lunch cost less than expected. John makes a stop at a store that sells moving supplies at discount rates. They do not have all the items he needs, but the prices are lower than those quoted by the moving company. They have a very good price on lifting straps so he decides to buy an extra pair. He returns with some of the items on his list, but this phase of the job is not complete by the end of day six. John bought half of the small boxes, all of five other items, twice as many lifting straps, and none of four other items. John is only six days into his project, and his costs and performance are starting to vary from the plan. Earned value analysis gives us a method for reporting that progress (refer to Figure 9.7).
SCHEDULE VARIANCE
The project manager must know if the project is on schedule and within the budget. The difference between planned and actual progress is the variance. The schedule variance (SV) is the difference between the earned value (EV) and the planned value (PV). Expressed as a formula, SV = EV − PV. If less value has been earned than was planned, the schedule variance is negative, which means the project is behind schedule.
Schedule Variance on John’s Move
Planning for John’s move calls for spending \$261.65 by day six, which is the planned value (PV). The difference between the planned value and the earned value is the scheduled variance (SV). The formula is SV = EV − PV. In this example, SV = \$162.10 − \$261.65 = \$(99.55) A negative SV indicates the project is behind schedule.
The difference between the earned value (EV) and the actual cost (AC) is the cost variance (CV). Expressed as a formula, CV = EV – AC. A positive CV indicates the project is under budget.
Cost Variance on John’s Move
The difference between the earned value of \$162.10 and the actual cost of \$154.50 is the cost variance (CV). The formula is CV = EV − AC. In this example, CV = \$162.10 − \$154.50 = \$7.60.
Variance Indexes for Schedule and Cost
The schedule variance and the cost variance provide the amount by which the spending is behind (or ahead of) schedule and the amount by which a project is exceeding (or less than) its budget. They do not give an idea of how these amounts compare with the total budget.
The ratio of earned value to planned value gives an indication of how much of the project is completed. This ratio is the schedule performance index (SPI). The formula is SPI = EV/PV. In the John’s move example, the SPI equals 0.62 (SPI = \$162.10/\$261.65 = 0.62) A SPI value less than one indicates the project is behind schedule.
The ratio of the earned value to the actual cost is the cost performance index (CPI). The formula is CPI = EV/AC.
Cost Performance Index of John’s Move
In the John’s move example, CPI = \$162.10/\$154.50 = 1.05 A value greater than 1 indicates the project is under budget.
Figure 9.8 Schedule Variance and Cost Variance on Day Six of the John’s Move Project
The cost variance of positive \$7.60 and the CPI value of 1.05 tell John that he is getting more value for his money than planned for the tasks scheduled by day six. The schedule variance (SV) of negative \$99.55 and the schedule performance index (SPI) of 0.62 tell him that he is behind schedule in adding value to the project.
During the project, the manager can evaluate the schedule using the schedule variance (SV) and the schedule performance index (SPI) and the budget using the cost variance (CV) and the cost performance index (CPI).
ESTIMATED COST TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT
Partway through the project, the manager evaluates the accuracy of the cost estimates for the activities that have taken place and uses that experience to predict how much money it will take to complete the unfinished activities of the project—the estimate to complete (ETC).
To calculate the ETC, the manager must decide if the cost variance observed in the estimates to that point are representative of the future. For example, if unusually bad weather causes increased cost during the first part of the project, it is not likely to have the same effect on the rest of the project. If the manager decides that the cost variance up to this point in the project is atypical—not typical—then the estimate to complete is the difference between the original budget for the entire project—the budget at completion (BAC)—and the earned value (EV) up to that point. Expressed as a formula, ETC = BAC − EV
Estimate to Complete John’s Move
In John’s move, John was able to buy most of the items at a discount house that did not have a complete inventory and, he chose to buy an extra pair of lift straps. He knows that the planned values for packing materials were obtained from the price list at the moving company where he will have to buy the rest of the items, so those two factors are not likely to be typical of the remaining purchases. The reduced cost of lunch is unrelated to the future costs of packing materials, truck rentals, and hotel fees. John decides that the factors that caused the variances are atypical. He calculates that the estimate to complete (ETC) is the budget at completion (\$1,534) minus the earned value at that point (\$162.10), which equals \$1,371.90. Expressed as a formula, ETC = \$1,534 − \$162.10 = \$1,371.90.
If the manager decides that the cost variance is caused by factors that will affect the remaining activities, such as higher labor and material costs, then the estimate to complete (ETC) needs to be adjusted by dividing it by the cost performance index (CPI). For example, if labor costs on the first part of a project are estimated at \$80,000 (EV) and they actually cost \$85,000 (AC), the cost variance will be 0.94. (Recall that the cost variance = EV/AC).
To calculate the estimate to complete (ETC) assuming the cost variance on known activities is typical of future cost, the formula is ETC = (BAC – EV)/CPI. If the budget at completion (BAC) of the project is \$800,000, the estimate to complete is (\$800,000 – \$80,000)/0.94 = \$766,000.
ESTIMATE FINAL PROJECT COST
If the costs of the activities up to the present vary from the original estimates, it will affect the total estimate for the project cost. The new estimate of the project cost is the estimate at completion (EAC). To calculate the EAC, the estimate to complete (ETC) is added to the actual cost (AC) of the activities already performed. Expressed as a formula, EAC = AC + ETC.
Estimate at Completion for John’s Move
The revised estimate at completion (EAC) for John’s move at this point in the process is EAC = \$154.50 + \$1,371.90 = \$1,526.40.
Refer to Figure 9.9 for a summary of terms and formulas.
Figure 9.9 Summary of Terms and Formulas for Earned Value Analysis
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Extra money is allocated in a contingency fund to deal with activities where costs exceed estimates. Funds are allocated in a management reserves in case a significant opportunity or challenge occurs that requires change of scope but funds are needed immediately before a scope change can typically be negotiated.
• Schedule variance is the difference between the part of the budget that has been done so far (EV) versus the part that was planned to be completed by now (PV). Similarly, the cost variance is the difference between the EV and the actual cost (AC).
• The schedule performance index (SPI) is the ratio of the earned value and the planned value. The cost performance index (CPI) is the ratio of the earned value (EV) to the actual cost (AC).
• The formula used to calculate the amount of money needed to complete the project (ETC) depends on whether or not the cost variance to this point is expected to continue (typical) or not (atypical). If the cost variance is atypical, the ETC is simply the original total budget (BAC) minus the earned value (EV). If they are typical of future cost variances, the ETC is adjusted by dividing the difference between BAC and EV by the CPI.
• The final budget is the actual cost (AC) to this point plus the estimate to complete (ETC).
[1] Project Management Institute, Inc., A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 4th ed. (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2008), 173.
[2] Project Management Institute, Inc., A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 4th ed. (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2008), 177. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/09%3A_Chapter_9/9.06%3A_9.2_Managing_the_Budget_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
9.1 Estimating Costs
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe methods of estimating costs.
2. Identify the effects of project phase and complexity on the choice of estimating method.
3. Describe the method of combining cost estimates with a schedule to create a budget.
ESTIMATING COSTS TO COMPARE AND SELECT PROJECTS
During the conceptual phase when project selection occurs, economic factors are an important consideration when choosing between competing projects. To compare the simple paybacks or internal rates of return between projects, an estimate of the cost of each project is made. The estimates must be accurate enough so that the comparisons are meaningful, but the amount of time and resources used to make the estimates should be appropriate to the size and complexity of the project. The methods used to estimate the cost of the project during the selection phase are generally faster and consume fewer resources than those used to create detailed estimates in later phases. They rely more on the expert judgment of experienced managers who can make accurate estimates with less detailed information. Estimates in the earliest stages of project selection are usually based from previous projects that can be adjusted—scaled—to match the size and complexity of the current project or by applying standardized formulas.
Image by Andrew Magill
Analogous Estimate
An estimate that is based on other project estimates is an analogous estimate. If a similar project cost a certain amount, then it is reasonable to assume that the current project will cost about the same. Few projects are exactly the same size and complexity, so the estimate must be adjusted upward or downward to account for the difference. The selection of projects that are similar and the amount of adjustment needed is up to the judgment of the person who makes the estimate. Normally, this judgment is based on many years of experience estimating projects, including incorrect estimates that were learning experiences for the expert.
Analogous Estimate for John’s Move
In the John’s move example, John asked a friend for advice about the cost of his move. His friend replied, “I moved from an apartment a little smaller than yours last year and the distance was about the same. I did it with a fourteen-foot truck. It cost about \$575 for the truck rental, pads, hand truck, rope, boxes, and gas.” Because of the similarity of the projects, John’s initial estimate of the cost of the move was less than \$700 and he decided that the cost would be affordable and the project could go forward.
Less experienced managers who are required to make analogous estimates can look through the documentation that is available from previous projects. As explained in Chapter 2, if those projects were evaluated using the Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI), the manager can quickly identify projects that have similar profiles to the project under consideration even if those projects were managed by other people. Comparing the original estimates with the final project costs on several previous projects with the same DPCI ratings gives a less-experienced manager the perspective that it would take many years to acquire by trial and error. It also provides references which the manager can use to justify the estimate.
Parametric Estimate
If the project consists of activities that are common to many other projects, average costs are available per unit. For example, if you ask a construction company how much it would cost to build a standard office building, they will ask for the size of the building in square feet and the city in which the building will be built. From these two factors—size and location—the company’s estimator can predict the cost of the building. Factors like size and location are parameters—measurable factors that can be used in an equation to calculate a result. The estimator knows the average cost per square foot of a typical office building and adjustments for local labor costs. Other parameters such as quality of finishes are used to further refine the estimate. Estimates that are calculated by multiplying measured parameters by cost-per-unit values are parametric estimates.
Parametric Estimate for John’s Move
To estimate the size of the truck needed for John’s move, the parameter used by a truck rental company is the number of bedrooms, as shown in Figure 9.1.
Figure 9.1 Number of Bedrooms Used for Parametric Cost Estimate
The moving company assumes that the number of bedrooms is the important parameter in determining how big a truck is needed for a move. For John’s move, he has a one-bedroom apartment, so he chooses the fourteen-foot truck. Once the size is determined, other parameters, such as distance and days, are used to estimate the cost of the truck rental.
ESTIMATING COSTS TO INITIATE PROJECTS
Once the project is selected, more accurate estimates are often needed to raise funds and agree on contracts with vendors in the initiation phase.
Estimate During the Initiation Phase of John’s Move
John recalled that his friend also told him how tiring it was to do all the packing, loading, and driving himself, and some items were damaged when the load shifted inside the truck during the trip. John decides to call in favors from two friends, Dion and Carlita, to help him pack in Chicago and to hire some of the skilled labor like that needed to load the truck properly.
Vendor Bid Analysis
If services or products will be provided by vendors, the cost of those services can be determined by issuing a request for proposal (RFP). The RFP describes the work, service, or product to be provided by the vendor and the quality level required. The RFP is sent to a list of vendors who are qualified—meet standards of reliability and capability—to perform this type of work. They respond with a proposal for completing the work described in the RFP, including an estimate of the cost. Some government organizations are required to use the qualified vendor with the lowest bid. Other organizations are not bound to take the lowest bid but are usually required to justify their reasons for not doing so.
Using RFPs to Make Estimates on John’s Move
John wants to find out how much it would cost to hire a skilled crew to load and secure the furniture in the truck and then have another crew from the same company meet him in Atlanta to unload the truck and help him unpack. He is not sure if any companies offer this option, so he decides to ask three moving companies for bids. He also decides to ask for bids on a standard move that includes all phases of packing, loading, transportation, and unloading as a comparison to see if his cost-saving plan is worth the extra effort.
The project management team can review the responses by several vendors to the RFP to determine if their estimate of the cost of that aspect of the project is close to the estimate made during the project selection stage. If the estimates by the vendors are much higher than expected, and if the project cannot be completed for the cost that was used to select the project, the selection decision might have to be reconsidered. Reconsidering the selection of the project should take into consideration the economic ratings of the competing projects that were not chosen and who the project champions are for the projects that would be affected.
Some vendors may suggest an alternative way to meet the objective of the RFP in a more cost-effective manner that does not match the specifics of the RFP. Such alternatives can reduce costs if they are acceptable.
Bottom-Up Estimating
The most accurate and time-consuming estimating method is to identify the cost of each item in each activity of the schedule, including labor and materials. If you view the project schedule as a hierarchy where the general descriptions of tasks are at the top and the lower levels become more detailed, finding the price of each item at the lowest level and then summing them to determine the cost of higher levels is called bottom-up estimating.
Bottom-Up Estimate for John’s Move
After evaluating the bids by the moving companies, John decides the savings are worth his time if he can get the packing done with the help of his friends. He decides to prepare a detailed estimate of costs for packing materials and use of a rental truck. He looks up the prices for packing materials and truck rental costs on company Web sites and prepares a detailed list of items, quantities, and costs, as shown in Figure 9.2.
This type of estimate is typically more accurate than an analogous or parametric estimate. In this example, the sum of packing materials and truck expenses is estimated to be \$661.25.
The detail can be rolled up—subtotaled—to display less detail. This process is made easier using computer software. On projects with low complexity, the cost estimates can be done on spreadsheet software. On larger projects, software that manages schedules can also manage costs and display costs by activity and by category. For example, the subtotal feature could be used in Excel and collapsed to show the subtotals for the two categories of costs, as shown in Figure 9.3.
Activity-Based Estimates
An activity can have costs from multiple vendors in addition to internal costs for labor and materials. Detailed estimates from all sources can be reorganized so those costs that are associated with a particular activity can be grouped by adding the activity code to the detailed estimate, as shown in Figure 9.4.
Establishing a Budget
Once you have broken your project down into activities, you will be able to calculate your overall project costs by estimating and totaling the individual activity costs.
This process of subtotaling costs by category or activity is called cost aggregation.
Budget Timeline
Costs are associated with activities and since each activity has a start date and a duration period, it is possible to calculate how much money will be spent by any particular date during the project. The money needed to pay for a project is usually transferred to the project account shortly before it is needed. These transfers must be timed so that the money is there to pay for each activity without causing a delay in the start of the activity. If the money is transferred too far in advance, the organization will lose the opportunity to use the money somewhere else, or they will have to pay unnecessary interest charges if the money is borrowed. A schedule of money transfers is created that should match the need to pay for the activities. The process of matching the schedule of transfers with the schedule of activity payments is called reconciliation. Refer to Figure 9.5 which shows the costs of ten major activities in a project. Funds are transferred into the project account four times. Notice that during most of the project, there were more funds available than were spent except at activity 6 when all the available funds were spent.
Figure 9.5 Fund Transfers and Expenditures
In the project budget profile shown in Figure 9.5 there is no margin for error if the total of the first six activities exceeds the amount of funding at that point in the project.
Contractual agreements with vendors often require partial payment of their costs during the project. Those contracts can be managed more conveniently if the unit of measure for partial completion is the same as that used for cost budgeting. For example, if a graphic designer is putting together several pieces of artwork for a textbook, their contract may call for partial payment after 25% of their total number of drawings is complete.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Analogous estimating scales an estimate from a similar project to match the current project. Parametric estimating multiplies a standard cost-per-unit value by the number of units in the project. Bids from contractors can be compared to estimate costs. Bottom-up estimating determines the cost of each detail and aggregates them to determine activity cost estimates.
• During the project selection and approval stage, rough estimates are used that are usually obtained using analogous and parametric methods. Vendor bid analysis and detailed bottom-up estimates are used in the initiation phase to estimate project costs.
• Detailed estimates are associated with activities and aggregated during the planning phase to create an activity-based budget. Funding transfers are arranged to reconcile money spent to money from funding sources in a timely manner. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/09%3A_Chapter_9/9.07%3A_9.1_Estimating_Costs_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
10.1 Standards of Quality and Statistics
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define quality and grade.
2. Define and explain how statistics are used in quality control.
3. Estimate the likelihood of samples falling within one, two, or three standard deviations of the mean given a normal distribution caused by random factors.
Quality and Grade
According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), quality is “the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements.”1 The requirements of a product or process can be categorized or given a grade to give a basis for comparison. The quality is determined by how well something meets the requirements of its grade.
Quality of Gasoline Grades
Petroleum refiners provide gasoline in several different grades based on the octane rating because higher octane ratings are suitable for higher compression engines. Gasoline must not be contaminated with dirt or water, and the actual performance of the fuel must be close to its octane rating. A shipment of low-grade gasoline graded as 87 octane that is free of water or other contaminants would be of high quality, while a shipment of high grade 93 octane gas that is contaminated with dirt would be of low quality.
For most people, the term quality also implies good value—getting your money’s worth. For example, even low-grade products should still work as expected, be safe to use, and last a reasonable amount of time. Consider the following examples.
Quality of Furniture Packing in John’s Move
John has antique furniture that is in excellent condition that was left to him by his grandmother. The pieces are important to John for sentimental reasons and they are also valuable. John decides to hire movers (high-grade professionals) to load his furniture into the truck using appropriate padding and restraints to prevent dents and scratches during the long trip to Atlanta and then to unload the truck in Atlanta. John’s standard for high quality is that no observable damage occurs to his large pieces of furniture, especially the antiques. If the furniture arrives in his new apartment without a single dent, scratch, or other damage, the activity will be of high quality.John’s standard for packing his kitchen is lower. His dishes are old and cheap, so he decides to trust his inexperienced friends (low-grade amateurs) to help him pack his kitchen. If a few of the dishes or glassware are chipped or broken in the process, the savings in labor cost will more than make up for the loss and were still a good value.
Statistics
Determining how well products meet grade requirements is done by taking measurements and then interpreting those measurements. Statistics—the mathematical interpretation of numerical data—is useful when interpreting large numbers of measurements and is used to determine how well the product meets a specification when the same product is made repeatedly. Measurements made on samples of the product must be between control limits—the upper and lower extremes of allowable variation—and it is up to management to design a process that will consistently produce products between those limits.
Instructional Designers often use statistics to determine the quality of their designs. Student assessments are one way in which instructional designers are able to tell whether learning occurs within the control limits.
Setting Control Limits in Gasoline Production
A petroleum refinery produces large quantities of fuel in several grades. Samples of the fuels are extracted and measured at regular intervals. If a fuel is supposed to have an 87 octane performance, samples of the fuel should produce test results that are close to that value. Many of the samples will have scores that are different from 87. The differences are due to random factors that are difficult or expensive to control. Most of the samples should be close to the 87 rating and none of them should be too far off. The manufacturer has grades of 85 and 89, so they decide that none of the samples of the 87 octane fuel should be less than 86 or higher than 88.
If a process is designed to produce a product of a certain size or other measured characteristic, it is impossible to control all the small factors that can cause the product to differ slightly from the desired measurement. Some of these factors will produce products that have measurements that are larger than desired and some will have the opposite effect. If several random factors are affecting the process, they tend to offset each other, and the most common results are near the middle of the range – this phenomenon is called the central limit theorem.
If the range of possible measurement values is divided equally into subdivisions called bins, the measurements can be sorted, and the number of measurements that fall into each bin can be counted. The result is afrequency distribution that shows how many measurements fall into each bin. If the effects that are causing the differences are random and tend to offset each other, the frequency distribution is called a normal distribution, which resembles the shape of a bell with edges that flare out. The edges of a theoretical normal distribution curve get very close to zero but do not reach zero.
Normal Distribution of Gasoline Samples
A refinery’s quality control manager measures many samples of 87 octane gasoline, sorts the measurements by their octane rating into bins that are 0.1 octane wide, and then counts the number of measurements in each bin. Then she creates a frequency distribution chart of the data, as shown in Figure 10.1, “Normal Distribution of Measurements of Gasoline Samples”.
It is common to take samples — randomly selected subsets from the total population—and measure and compare their qualities, since measuring the entire population would be cumbersome, if not impossible. If the sample measurements are distributed equally above and below the center of the distribution as they are in Figure 10.1, the average of those measurements is also the center value that is called the mean, and is represented in formulas by the lowercase Greek letter µ (pronounced mu). The amount of difference of the measurements from the central value is called the “sample standard deviation” or just the “standard deviation”.
The first step in calculating the standard deviation is subtracting each measurement from the central value (mean) and then squaring that difference. (Recall from your mathematics courses that squaring a number is multiplying it by itself and that the result is always positive.) The next step is to sum these squared values and divide by the number of values minus one. The last step is to take the square root. The result can be thought of as an average difference. (If you had used the usual method of taking an average, the positive and negative numbers would have summed to zero.) Mathematicians represent the standard deviation with the lowercase Greek letter σ (pronounced sigma). If all the elements of a group are measured, instead of just a sample, it is called the standard deviation of the population and in the second step, the sum of the squared values is divided by the total number of values.
Figure 10.1 Normal Distribution of Measurements of Gasoline Samples
The chart shows that the most common measurements of octane rating are close to 87 and that the other measurements are distributed equally above and below 87. The shape of the distribution chart supports the central limit theorem’s assumption that the factors that are affecting the octane rating are random and tend to offset each other, which is indicated by the symmetric shape. This distribution is a classic example of a normal distribution. The quality control manager notices that none of the measurements are above 88 or below 86 so they are within control limits and concludes that the process is working satisfactorily.
Standard Deviation of Gasoline Samples
The refinery’s quality control manager uses the standard deviation function in her spreadsheet program to find the standard deviation of the sample measurements and finds that for her data, the standard deviation is 0.3 octane. She marks the range on the frequency distribution chart to show the values that fall within one sigma (standard deviation) on either side of the mean (see figure 10.2).
Most of the measurements are within 0.3 octane of 87.
For normal distributions, about 68.3% of the measurements fall within one standard deviation on either side of the mean. This is a useful rule of thumb for analyzing some types of data. If the variation between measurements is caused by random factors that result in a normal distribution and someone tells you the mean and the standard deviation, you know that a little over two-thirds of the measurements are within a standard deviation on either side of the mean. Because of the shape of the curve, the number of measurements within two standard deviations is 95.4%, and the number of measurements within three standard deviations is 99.7%. For example, if someone said the average (mean) height for adult men in the United States is 5 feet 10 inches (70 inches) and the standard deviation is about 3 inches, you would know that 68% of the men in the United States are between five feet seven inches (67 inches) and six feet one inch (73 inches) in height. You would also know that about 95% of the adult men in the United States were between five feet four inches and six feet four inches tall, and that almost all of them (99.7%) are between five feet one inches and six feet seven inches tall. These figures are referred to as the 68-95-99.7 rule.
Almost All Samples of Gasoline are Within Three STD
The refinery’s quality control manager marks the ranges included within two and three standard deviations, as shown below.
Figure 10.3 The 68-95-99.7 Rule
Some products must have less variability than others to meet their purpose. For example, if training designed to operate highly specialized and potentially dangerous machinery was assessed for quality, most participants would be expected to exceed the acceptable pass rate. Three standard deviations from the control limits might be fine for some products but not for others. In general, if the mean is six standard deviations from both control limits, the likelihood of a part exceeding the control limits from random variation is practically zero (2 in 1,000,000,000). (Refer to Figure 10.4)
Figure 10.4 Meaning of Sigma Levels
A Step Project Improves Quality of Gasoline
A new refinery process is installed that produces fuels with less variability. The refinery’s quality control manager takes a new set of samples and charts a new frequency distribution diagram, as shown below.
Figure 10.5 Smaller Standard Deviation
The refinery’s quality control manager calculates that the new standard deviation is 0.2 octane. From this, he can use the 68-95-99.7 rule to estimate that 68.3% of the fuel produced will be between 86.8 and 87.2 and that 99.7% will be between 86.4 and 87.6 octane. A shorthand way of describing this amount of control is to say that it is a five-sigma production system, which refers to the five standard deviations between the mean and the control limit on each side.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Quality is the degree to which a product or service fulfills requirements and provides value for its price.
• Statistics is the mathematical interpretation of numerical data, and several statistical terms are used in quality control. Control limits are the boundaries of acceptable variation.
• If random factors cause variation, they will tend to cancel each other out—the central limit theorem. The central point in the distribution is the mean, which is represented by the Greek letter mu, µ. If you choose intervals called bins and count the number of samples that fall into each interval, the result is a frequency distribution. If you chart the distribution and the factors that cause variation are random, the frequency distribution is a normal distribution, which looks bell shaped.
• The center of the normal distribution is called the mean, and the average variation is calculated in a special way that finds the average of the squares of the differences between samples and the mean and then takes the square root. This average difference is called the standard deviation, which is represented by the Greek letter sigma, σ.
• About 68% of the samples are within one standard deviation, 95.4% are within two, and 99.7% are within three.
[1] International Organization for Standardization, Quality Management Systems—Fundamentals and Vocabulary (Geneva: ISO Press, 2005), in Project Management Institute, Inc., A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 4th ed. (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2008), 190. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/10%3A_Chapter_10/10.01%3A_10.1_Standards_of_Quality_and_Statistics_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
10.2 Development of Quality as a Competitive Advantage
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the historical events and forces that led up to today’s emphasis on quality as a competitive requirement.
2. Describe quality awards in Japan and the United States.
3. Describe quality programs and standards such as TQM, Six Sigma, and ISO 9000.
4. Describe and calculate the cost of quality.
Quality management is an approach to work that has become increasingly important in every field, including instructional design, as global cooperation and competition have increased. A review of the history of quality management explains why it is so important for you to understand and why clients often require documentation to show that your processes satisfy their quality standards.
HISTORY
Prior to the late 1700s, products such as firearms and clocks were made as unique, individual works. If a part broke, a new one had to be made by hand to fit. In 1790 in France, Honoré Blanc demonstrated that he could make musket parts so nearly identical that a musket could be assembled from bins of parts chosen at random.1 The practice of making parts to a high level of accuracy in their dimensions and finishes made the parts interchangeable. The use of interchangeable parts became the founding principle of assembly-line manufacturing to produce all manner of goods from sewing machines to automobiles to computer chips. The manufacturers of firearms and weapons were often the leaders in improving quality because reliable and safe operation of weapons and their rapid repair is a matter of life and death.
Statistical Control in the United States During World War II
During World War II, factories were converted from manufacturing consumer goods to weapons. War plants had to make large numbers of parts as fast as possible while doing it safely for the workers and for the service members who used them. Important improvements in quality control (QC)—the management of production standards through statistical interpretation of random product measurements, which emphasizes consistency and accuracy—were made during this period.
A key figure in the history of quality management who was an important person in the war effort was Walter Shewhart at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Shewhart recognized that real processes seldom behaved like theoretical random distributions and tended to change with time. He separated causes of variation into two categories: chance cause and assignable cause. Chance causes could be ignored if they did not cause too much variation, and trying to eliminate them often made the problem worse, but assignable causes could be fixed. To help distinguish between variations caused by random events and trends that indicated assignable causes, Shewhart introduced the control chart, which is also known as a type of run chart because data are collected while the process is running. A control chart has time on the bottom axis and a plot of sample measurements. The mean, upper control limit, lower control limit, and warning lines that are two sigma from the mean are indicated by horizontal lines.
Control Chart Shows Production Variation of Gasoline
The refinery quality control manager takes samples each day of the 87 octane gasoline for twenty days and charts the data on a control chart, as shown below.
Figure 10.6 Control Chart Displaying Variations Due to Chance Causes
She recognizes that the highest and lowest measurements are not part of a trend and are probably due to chance causes. However, the control chart from the next twenty days, as shown below, indicates an upward trend that might be due to an assignable cause. She alerts the process manager to let him know that there is a problem that needs to be fixed before the product exceeds the upper control limit. This might indicate the need to initiate a project to fix the problem.
Deming and Postwar Japan
The most influential person in modern quality control was an American who was a hero in Japan but virtually unknown in the United States. W. Edwards Deming worked with Shewhart at Bell Labs and helped apply Shewhart’s ideas to American manufacturing processes during World War II. Following the war, American factories returned to the production of consumer goods. Many of the other major manufacturing centers in the world had been damaged by bombing during the war and took time to recover. Without the safety needs of wartime and with little competition, quality control was not a high priority for American companies.2 Management in the United States focused on increasing production to meet demand and lowering costs to increase profits.
After the war, while the United States occupied Japan, Deming was asked by the U.S. Department of the Army to assist with the statistics of the 1950 census in Japan. Kenichi Koyanagi, the managing director of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers and a very influential industrialist, asked Deming to speak to twenty-one top industrial leaders on the topic of global strategy for Japanese industry. Deming went beyond Shewhart’s work and talked about his philosophy of quality manufacturing and how the responsibility for quality begins with management. He explained that a corporate culture devoted to producing high-quality products would result in less waste, lower costs, greater client loyalty, and greater market share. With Koyanagi’s support, Deming’s ideas were widely adopted by these influential leaders.
Deming described his philosophy as a system of profound knowledge, which has four parts:
1. Appreciation of a system. Understanding how suppliers, producers, and clients interact.
2. Knowledge of variation. Understanding statistical variation.
3. Theory of knowledge. Understanding what can be known and what cannot.
4. Knowledge of psychology. Understanding human nature.
In 1950, the Japanese created the Deming prize in Deming’s honor, which is awarded to an individual and a company for major advances in quality improvements. In 1960, Deming was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class by the Prime Minister on behalf of Emperor Hirohito.
Image by Shane Global Language Centres
Quality Management in America
By the 1970s, Japanese companies had a reputation for high quality and were taking market share from American companies, but Deming’s teachings were virtually unknown in his own country. It was not until 1980 that America became aware of Deming when his work was described in an NBC documentary titled If Japan Can, Why Can’t We?3 By then, Deming was eighty years old and the producer of the show originally assumed he was dead.4
In 1982, Deming’s book was published and later retitled Out of Crisis, in 1986.5 It was aimed at explaining his system to American manufacturers and the American public. In the book, Deming described fourteen principles of management to guide the implementation of his philosophy. Some of them were challenges to Western managers and very different from the thinking that was prevalent at the time. In brief, they are as follows:
1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service.
2. Adopt a new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for a change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service to improve quality and productivity and thus constantly decrease costs.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9. Break down barriers between departments.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity.
11. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.
12. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.
Between 1979 and 1982, Ford Motor Company lost \$3 billion, and they were looking for solutions to their problems. They chose to apply Deming’s approach to develop the new Taurus-Sable model and by 1986 had become the most profitable American auto company.6
Ford adopted a Japanese approach to quality known in America as total quality management (TQM). TQM in Japan has four major components:
1. Kaizen. Improvement must involve all members of a company.7
2. Atarimae hinshitsu. Make things work the way they are supposed to work.8
3. Kansei. Learn from the way a user applies the product to make improvements.9
4. Miryokuteki hinshitsu. Things should have an aesthetic quality and be pleasing to use.10
According to Peter B. Petersen,11 TQM differs from the Deming approach in four fundamental ways:
1. The Deming approach represents one philosophy that is used in its entirety or not at all. In contrast, TQM can be tailored to a particular environment.
2. Both agree that a long-term commitment is required by top management. However, Deming would drop clients if they started to wane, while TQM consultants were less demanding.
3. Deming insists on constancy of purpose, while TQM adapts to the situation, which results in lack of constancy.
4. Deming requires adoption of his principles of profound knowledge, while TQM lacks this unified philosophy.
Many poorly qualified consulting firms provided training in TQM to American companies. The approach worked in some cases but not in others where it was applied superficially, and the movement’s credibility was diminished.
Another approach to quality management in the United States was formulated at Motorola in 1986 and was named Six Sigma (6σ). The Six Sigma practices were based on Deming’s work, TQM, and others and had similarities regarding continuous efforts at improvement involving everyone at the company. It emphasized a clear focus on achieving quantifiable financial returns from any Six Sigma project. To determine the financial return on a quality initiative, the cost of quality (COQ) must be determined. The cost of quality has two parts: the cost of prevention and the cost of failure (or nonconformance). The cost of quality is the difference between the additional money spent on prevention and the corresponding reduction in the cost of failure.
Cost of prevention
1. Cost of conformance. Cost to improve quality
2. Cost of appraisal. Cost to measure and evaluate quality
Cost of failure
1. Internal costs. Repairing bad parts before shipment or retooling a manufacturing line to reduce failures
2. External costs. Managing returns, lawsuits, product recalls
The name Six Sigma refers to a process that has six standard deviations from the mean to either control limit that would ensure virtually zero defects. This approach was adopted by Jack Welch at General Electric with great success. By the late 1990s, about two-thirds of the top five hundred companies in the United States had begun Six Sigma projects, including Ford, which had allowed its quality programs to slip. To provide encouragement and a consistent standard, the U.S. government created the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1987 to encourage companies to improve quality; the award was named for Malcolm Baldrige who was the U.S. secretary of commerce from 1981 to 1987.12 The criteria used to determine award winners are as follows:
1. Leadership of senior executives
2. Strategic planning
3. Customer and market focus
4. Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management
5. Workforce focus
6. Process management
7. Results
Often, instructional designers will be working with others who focus on quality within their organizations. Quality is usually associated with the evaluation portion of instructional design. It is important to understand the current quality management models that are employed so that evaluation of a design can be in line with organizational expectations.
Trade and International Standards
Trade between countries increased as countries recovered from WWII and began producing consumer goods. In 1948, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established the rules for international trade in the postwar world. Through years of negotiations based on GATT, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was created in 1995. The WTO is a negotiating forum where governments can discuss ways to help trade flow as freely as possible.13
Increases in trade forced companies to improve the quality of their products to compete for clients and to exchange parts reliably between companies that used parts suppliers. To assist in developing standards for quality that would be the same between countries, an organization of 158 national standards groups formed the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which is headquartered in Switzerland. There are thousands of ISO standards, and they are grouped by their numbers. The ISO 9000 group of standards relate to quality.
Recommended steps for implementing a quality management system (QMS) are as follows:
1. Fully engage top management.
2. Identify key processes and the interactions needed to meet quality objectives.
3. Implement and manage the QMS and its processes.
4. Build your ISO 9001-based QMS.
5. Implement the system, train company staff, and verify effective operation of your processes.
6. Manage your QMS—focus on client satisfaction, strive for continual improvement.
7. If necessary, seek third-party certification and registration of the QMS, or alternatively, issue a self-declaration of conformity.14
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The need for production of safe, reliable weapons that could be mass produced led to use of methods to assure that parts were manufactured within controlled limits. An early example is the interchangeable musket parts produced in France in 1790 and, later, the quality control methods introduced by Shewhart in the United States during World War II.
• Following World War II, Japanese companies followed advice from Deming and others to make quality a top priority for management. Higher-quality products gave Japan a competitive advantage with U.S. consumers that forced U.S. firms to respond with similar quality programs.
• The Deming award is given by Japan to companies doing business in Japan for high-quality standards. Similarly, the Baldrige National Quality Award is given to U.S. companies and individuals for their contribution to quality.
• Total quality management is a flexible program that is adapted from Japanese practices that emphasize kaizen, participation by all; atarimaie hinshitsu, making things work the way they should; kansei, learning from the way the client uses the product to make improvements; and miryokuteki hinshitsu, giving products an aesthetic quality to make them pleasing to use. Six Sigma identifies specialists within the organization and assigns titles like Master Black Belt. Each quality project must evaluate the cost of quality to gain approval.
• The International Standards Institute devises guidelines for establishing practices. The ISO 9000 group are guidelines for establishing practices that are likely to create quality products.
• The cost of quality has two parts: the cost of prevention and the cost of failure. The cost of prevention includes costs to establish quality practices and the costs to verify them. The cost of failure includes internal costs before the product is sold, such as waste and fixing products, while external costs include those that occur after the product is sold, such as returns and lawsuits.
[1] Ken Alder, “Innovation and Amnesia: Engineering Rationality and the Fate of Interchangeable Parts Manufacturing in France,” Technology and Culture 38, no 2 (April 1997): 273–311.
[2] John Dowd, “How the Japanese Learned to Compete,” Asia Times, October 27, 2006,http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/HJ27Dh01.html (accessed August 11, 2009).
[3] John Dowd, “How the Japanese Learned to Compete,” Asia Times, October 27, 2006,http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/HJ27Dh01.html (accessed August 11, 2009).
[4] Thomas J. Boardman, “The Statistician Who Changed the World: W. Edwards Deming, 1900–1993,” The American Statistician 48 (August 1994): 179–87.
[5] W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis (Boston: MIT Press, 1982).
[6] Andrea Gabor, “Ford Embraces Six-Sigma Quality Goals,” June 13, 2001, http://andreagabor.com/selected-articles/management-quality-revival-part-2-ford-embraces-six-sigma/ (accessed December 4, 2012).
[7] Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. “Total Quality Control,”http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1387304/Total-Quality-Control (accessed August 13, 2009).
[8] NationMaster.com, “Miryokuteki Hinshitsu,” 2005,http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Miryokuteki-Hinshitsu (accessed August 14, 2009).
[9] WASEDA University, “Kansei Quality,”http://www.tqm.mgmt.waseda.ac.jp/study/kansei_e.html (accessed June 20, 2010).
[10] NationMaster.com, “Miryokuteki Hinshitsu,” 2005,http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Miryokuteki-Hinshitsu (accessed August 14, 2009).
[11] Peter B. Petersen, “Total Quality Management and the Deming Approach to Quality Management,” Journal of Management History 5, no. 8 (1999): 468–88.
[12] National Institute of Standards and Technology, “Frequently Asked Questions about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award,” November 25, 2008,http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/baldfaqs.cfm (accessed August 14, 2009).
[13] World Trade Organization, “Understanding the WTO: Basics,”http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact1_e.htm (accessed August 14, 2009).
[14] International Organization for Standardization, Quality Management Systems—Fundamentals and Vocabulary (Geneva: ISO Press, 2005), in Project Management Institute, Inc., A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 4th ed. (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2008). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/10%3A_Chapter_10/10.02%3A_10.2_Development_of_Quality_as_a_Competitive_Advantage_--_Project_Management_for_Instructi.txt |
10.3 Relevance of Quality Programs to Project Quality
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the similarities between process quality management and project quality management.
2. Identify the differences between process quality management and project quality management.
PROCESS V. PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Project quality refers to two distinct aspects of the project. The first aspect is the quality of the product or service delivered by the project. Does the end product meet client specifications? For example, does a software development project develop a program that performs to the client’s requirements? A software program that performs the basic work functions but does not integrate with existing software would not be considered a quality product, as long as the client specified that the software must interface with existing software.
The second aspect of project quality is managing the project efficiently and effectively. Almost any client specification can be met if the project manager has unlimited time and resources. Recall that high quality means meeting the requirements for a particular grade while providing value. Meeting project deliverables within the time and resource constraints is also a measure of project quality. Developing a project execution plan that matches the complexity level of the project is the most critical aspect in developing a project plan that meets project specifications within the time frame and at the lowest costs. These two aspects of project quality have similarities and differences to quality as applied to parent organizations.
License: CC BY-SA
Similarities
All successful quality programs have (1) a requirement for commitment to quality by all the employees and their partners and (2) an emphasis on error prevention and client satisfaction. To comply with TQM, Six Sigma, ISO, or other quality standards required by the client or by the project management firm, the project manager must engage in quality programs and provide documents that specifically comply with the quality standards in use. For example, a project is typically required to follow the parent organization’s work processes related to procurement and document management. Any project’s processes that interface with the organization’s quality processes will be required to meet the quality standards of the organization.
If a large project involves repetitive processes such as repeated modules in an online training course, statistical processes control methods can be used to maintain the quality of the product. These process control methods are similar to those used by process managers in the manufacturing environment. The intent is for the work of the project to meet design specifications. The modules, for example, if repeated could be assessed to determine whether they consistently meet the quality standards of the project. The programmers design the modules to meet certain criteria that will support a structure. The criteria, detailed in the design specifications, provide the parameters that the instructional designers must meet when designing the course. On large projects the use of quality control tools and methods are critical to meeting design specifications.
Differences
Because projects are temporary, spotting trends in samples produced by repetitive processes is not as important as considering quality in the planning of the project. Instead, the project manager must be able to provide documentation that demonstrates that the correct processes are in place to prevent quality failures.
The cost of quality (COQ) must be considered in the scope document and the project budget. If the group or company that is providing the project management is separate from the client, the project budget will bear the cost of prevention while the client will reap the rewards of avoiding the costs of failure. If senior management does not recognize the benefit to the organization of reducing cost of failure by spending more on prevention during the project, the project manager can be placed in the position of producing a product or service that he or she knows could be of higher quality.
If the cost of quality is not specifically considered and approved by senior management in the scope of the project, quality might be sacrificed during the project to meet budget goals.
Cost of Quality in a Learning Management System
At a Midwestern university, a new learning management system was being implemented. To reduce the cost of the system and avoid a late penalty, the project manager purchased and installed inferior server capacity. The less expensive system could only handle the current size of the university’s processing load. Five years after the learning management system went online, the university had grown to far exceed the capabilities of their server architecture. The university did not take the time to specify the quality of the learning management system in the scope statement and was not aware of the implication of the inferior system at the time it was made. As a result, the cost of quality was lower in the prevention category but much higher in the cost of failure category. Because each party acted in their own interests instead of the interest of the university, and quality was not a priority, waste occurred and total cost increased.
Some separation of responsibility for quality is necessary. For example, if a project is undertaken to build a facility that makes something, it is important to distinguish between the quality of the work done by the project team and the quality of the items produced after the project is over. The client provides specifications for the facility that should result in production of quality products. It is the client’s responsibility to provide appropriate project requirements that will result in a facility that can produce quality products. It is the project manager’s responsibility to meet the project requirements. The project manager must focus on meeting requirements for project activities, but as part of the quality team, opportunities to improve the quality of the final product should be discussed with the client. If the final products fail to meet quality standards, someone will be blamed for the failure. It could be the project manager, even if he or she met all the requirements of the project specified by the client.
Cost of Prevention in Safety Training
An electronic parts manufacturer chooses to expand operations and needs to hire and train fifty employees. It uses its own human resources department to handle the selection and hiring of the employees, but it contracts with a nearby technical college to provide some of the training. The technical college is responsible for designing and delivering training on the topic of plant safety practices. The objective of the training project is to reduce the number of workplace accidents, but that is not the characteristic by which the quality of the training program is determined because the rate of accidents for employees who go through the training will not be known until after they have been employed for months or years. The criteria for determining the quality of the training must be something that can be controlled and measured by the project manager during the project.
Because projects are time sensitive, meeting activity finish dates is a common characteristic of quality work on a project that is not typical of a requirement of a process manager.
Timely Delivery Part of Quality
While developing training for a national event, certain deadlines were already set. If the event is scheduled for 6 months out, then those volunteering will need appropriate training before the event. If the training is designed and developed to specifications, but is delivered without enough time before the event, then the quality of the product is poor regardless of the effectiveness of the training.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Both project and process quality management require commitment from all employees, including top management. They are both client oriented and prevention oriented.
• Projects are temporary and allow fewer opportunities to improve repetitive processes. Cost of prevention is often part of the project budget, but the cost of failure usually happens after the project is completed. This separation of costs and benefits can lead to taking short-term savings on the project at the expense of higher cost of failure after the project is complete. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/10%3A_Chapter_10/10.03%3A_10.3_Relevance_of_Quality_Programs_to_Project_Quality_--_Project_Management_for_Instructio.txt |
10.4 Planning and Controlling Project Quality
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define statistical measurement terminology.
2. Identify sources of information for the planning process.
3. Identify and describe the techniques for controlling project quality.
4. Describe the results of planning and controlling quality.
High quality is achieved by planning for it rather than by reacting to problems after they are identified. Standards are chosen and processes are put in place to achieve those standards.
Measurement Terminology
During the execution phase of the project, services and products are sampled and measured to determine if the quality is within control limits for the requirements and to analyze causes for variations. This evaluation is often done by a separate quality control group, and knowledge of a few process measurement terms is necessary to understand their reports. Several of these terms are similar, and it is valuable to know the distinction between them.
The quality plan specifies the control limits of the product or process; the size of the range between those limits is the tolerance. Tolerances are often written as the mean value, plus or minus the tolerance. The plus and minus signs are written together, ±.
Tolerance in Gasoline Production
The petroleum refinery chose to set its control limits for 87 octane gasoline at 86 and 88 octane. The tolerance is 87 ± 1.
Tools are selected that can measure the samples closely enough to determine if the measurements are within control limits and if they are showing a trend. Each measurement tool has its own tolerances.
The choice of tolerance directly affects the cost of quality (COQ). In general, it costs more to produce and measure products that have small tolerances. The costs associated with making products with small tolerances for variation can be very high and not proportional to the gains. For example, if the cost of evaluating each screen as it is created in an online tutorial is greater than delivering the product and fixing any issues after the fact, then the COQ may be too high and the instructional designer will tolerate more defects in the design.
Defining and Meeting Client Expectations
Clients provide specifications for the project that must be met for the project to be successful. Recall that meeting project specifications is one definition of project success. Clients often have expectations that are more difficult to capture in a written specification. For example, one client will want to be invited to every meeting of the project and will then select the ones that seem most relevant. Another client will want to only be invited to project meetings that need client input. Inviting this client to every meeting will cause unnecessary frustration. Listening to the client and developing an understanding of the expectations that are not easily captured in specifications is important to meeting the client’s expectations.
Project surveys can capture how the client perceives the project performance and provide the project team with data that is useful in meeting client expectations. If the results of the surveys indicate that the client is not pleased with some aspect of the project, the project team has the opportunity to explore the reasons for this perception with the client and develop recovery plans. The survey can also help define what is going well and what needs improved.
Sources of Planning Information
Planning for quality is part of the initial planning process. The early scope, budget, and schedule estimates are used to identify processes, services, or products where the expected grade and quality should be specified. Risk analysis is used to determine which of the risks the project faces could affect quality.
Techniques
Several different tools and techniques are available for planning and controlling the quality of a project. The extent to which these tools are used is determined by the project complexity and the quality management program in use by the client.
Quality Management Methodology
The quality management methodology required by the client is used. The project manager must provide the documentation the client needs to prove compliance with their methodology. There are several different quality management methodologies, but they usually have characteristics that are similar to the ones described previously in the text.
Flowcharting
Many processes are more complicated than a simple sequence of related events that include several different paths. A flowchart uses standard symbols to diagram a process that has branches or loops. Diamonds indicate decisions, and arrows indicate the direction of the flow of the process, as shown in Figure 10.8.
Figure 10.8 Flowchart of a Quality Control Process
The process used to plan and assess quality can be described using flowcharts. They are useful for communicating processes that have logical branches that can be determined by simple yes or no questions. Flowcharting is also useful for discovering misunderstanding in project roles and responsibilities and communicating responsibility for work processes.
Benchmarking
When products like shoes were made by hand, artisans would seek some degree of standardization by marking standard lengths for different parts of the product on their workbench. In modern management practice, if a particular method or product is a standard of quality, comparing your organization’s quality plan to it is called benchmarking. If a product or service is similar to something that is done in another industry or by a competitor, the project planners can look at the best practices that are used by others and use them as a comparison.
Cost-to-Benefit Analysis
Because the cost of prevention is more often part of the project budget, the case must be made for increasing the project budget to raise quality. Some quality management programs, like Six Sigma, require that expenditures for quality are justified using a cost-to-benefit analysis that is similar to calculating the cost of quality, except that it is a ratio of cost of increasing quality to the resulting benefit. A cost-benefit analysis in some quality programs can take into account nonfinancial factors such as client loyalty and improvements to corporate image and the cost-to-benefit analysis takes the form of a written analysis rather than a simple numeric ratio. It is similar to determining the cost of quality (COQ).
Design of Experiments
Measuring for quality of manufactured products or use of repetitive processes requires taking samples. Specialists in quality control design a test regimen that complies with statistical requirements to be sure that enough samples are taken to be reasonably confident that the analysis is reliable. In project management, the testing experiments are designed as part of the planning phase and then used to collect data during the execution phase.
Control Charts
If some of the functions of a project are repetitive, statistical process controls can be used to identify trends and keep the processes within control limits. Part of the planning for controlling the quality of repetitive processes is to determine what the control limits are and how the process will be sampled.
Cause and Effect Diagrams
When control charts indicate an assignable cause for a variation, it is not always easy to identify the cause of a problem. Discussions that are intended to discover the cause can be facilitated using a cause-and-effect or fishbone diagram where participants are encouraged to identify possible causes of a defect.
Diagramming Quality Problems
For example, a small manufacturing firm tries to identify the assignable causes to variations in its manufacturing line. They assemble a team that identifies six possibilities, as shown in the fishbone diagram below.
Each branch of the diagram can be expanded to break down a category into more specific items.
An engineer and the electrician work on one of the branches to consider possible causes of power fluctuation and add detail to their part of the fishbone diagram, as shown below.
Check Sheets, Histograms, and Pareto Charts
When several quality problems need to be solved, a project manager must choose which ones to address first. One way to prioritize quality problems is to determine which ones occur most frequently. This data can be collected using a check sheet, which is a basic form on which the user can make a check in the appropriate box each time a problem occurs or by automating the data collection process using the appropriate technology. Once the data are collected, they can be analyzed by creating a type of frequency distribution chart called a histogram. A true histogram is a column chart where the width of the columns fill the available space on the horizontal axis and are proportional to the category values displayed on the x axis, while the height of the columns is proportional to the frequency of occurrences. Most histograms use one width of column to represent a category, while the vertical axis represents the frequency of occurrence.
A variation on the histogram is a frequency distribution chart invented by economist Vilfredo Pareto known as a Pareto chart, in which the columns are arranged in decreasing order with the most common on the left and a line added that shows the cumulative total. The combination of columns and a line allows the user to tell at a glance which problems are most frequent and what fraction of the total they represent.
Planning and Control Results
The quality plan is produced during the initiation phase. The methods, procedures, and logic are described to demonstrate a commitment to a project of high quality. The plan identifies the products or services that will be measured and how they will be measured and compared to benchmarks. A flowchart demonstrates the logic and pathways to improve the plan.
During the execution phase, data are collected by measuring samples according to the design specified in the plan. The data are charted and analyzed. If variations are due to assignable causes, change requests are created.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Statistical control terms that are commonly used are tolerance (the range between control limits), flowchart (a diagram showing decision branches and loops), benchmarking (comparison to best practices), fishbone diagram (shows possible causes of quality problems), check sheet (form used to record frequency of problem occurrences), histogram (column chart that shows frequency of problems), and Pareto chart (histogram sorted by frequency from highest to smallest with a line that shows total cumulative problems).
• The quality planning process uses initial scope, budget, and schedule estimates to identify areas that need quality management.
• Control of quality in repetitive processes use statistical control methods that involve designing testing while considering the cost of quality, taking measurements, and then analyzing the data using run charts that show control limits and trends. Methodologies are compared to the best practices by competitors, which is called benchmarking. Errors are documented using check sheets and analyzed using fishbone diagrams, histograms, or Pareto charts.
• The products of planning and controlling quality are a quality management plan, data, analysis documents, and proposals for improvement | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/10%3A_Chapter_10/10.04%3A_10.4_Planning_and_Controlling_Project_Quality_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Desi.txt |
10.5 Assuring Quality
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the purpose and methods of quality assurance.
The purpose of quality assurance is to create confidence that the quality plan and controls are working properly. To assure quality, time must be allocated to review the original quality plan and compare that plan to how quality is being ensured during the execution of the project.
Process Analysis
The flowcharts of quality processes are compared to the processes followed during actual operations. If the plan was not followed, the process is analyzed and corrective action taken. The corrective action could be to educate the people involved on how to follow the quality plan or to revise the plan.
The experiments that sample products and processes and collect data are examined to see if they are following statistically valid sampling techniques and that the measurement methods have small enough tolerances to detect variation within control limits.
Because projects are temporary, there are fewer opportunities to learn and improve within one project if it has a short duration, but even in short projects, the quality manager should have a way to learn from experience and change the process for the next project of a similar complexity profile.
Analyzing Quality Processes in Safety Training
The technical college responsible for training employees in safe plant practices evaluates its instructor selection process at the end of the training to see if it had the best criteria for selection. For example, it required the instructors to have Masters degrees in manufacturing to qualify as college instructors. The college used an exit survey of the students to ask what they thought would improve the instruction of future classes on this topic. Some students felt that it would be more important to require that the instructors have more years of training experience, while others recommended that the college seek certification as a training center by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).1 The college considered these suggestions and decided to retain its requirement of a Master’s degree but add a requirement that the instructor be certified by OSHA in plant safety.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The purpose of quality assurance is to build confidence in the client that quality standards and procedures are being followed. This is done by an internal review of the plan, testing, and revisions policies or by an audit of the same items performed by an external group or agency.
[1] Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA Training Institute Education Center Fact Sheet, July 3, 2007, http://www.osha.gov/fso/ote/training....html(accessed August 7, 2009).
10.06: 10 Managing Project Quality -- Project Management for Instructional Designers
10.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with chapter 8 of the PMBOK and 7% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Planning, Executing and Monitoring & Controlling categories of the PMP questions.
Project quality has a very different definition under instructional design than it has in a traditional manufacturing setting. Nevertheless, no aspect of the final deliverable is more important than the actual quality and effectiveness of the educational materials.
Managing project quality within instructional design takes some ingenuity, since any assessment of a project’s “quality” can differ depending on an individual’s subjective criteria. The most important judges of the project’s quality are your client and the people who will be using your training.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
Well the first thing that you do, is that you hire really capable people. You hire people who are really good at what they do. And you wait until you find the really good person that you want. We looked really hard for a cartoonist on this project. We were training submarine finding helicopter pilots, and sensor operators, military people, and we’re going to have some cartooning in our art, we decided. We looked and we looked, and we waited and we waited until we found a really good cartoonist. Sometimes when you get the quality worker, you get all the quality workers quirks with him, and so, we had to manage this cartoonist. That was quite a revealing experience. So number one, you get the best people you can, people who are competent, people who are good because those people are also usually fast. The second thing you do is, you’re innovative in your designs. You design your materials, how do you describe it? You design your materials so they can be created by, according to some kind of a pattern that people can get used to. You use those patterns as efficiency tools. You control costs by not having, in the early days of computer based instruction, people were so inventive, every piece of computer based instruction was different in some way. Uniquely, sometimes gothically so. Well, students had to learn a whole new system of navigating a lesson. Because in one lesson the controls would be up here, and in one lesson the controls would be down here. And so it became confusing. Designers eventually learned how to use screen designs that were consistent in the placement of controls. The worldwide web works that way today. The controls all work the same regardless of what web page you go to, more or less. One of the things you can do for designers is to find these patterns that designers use, I don’t want to use the word templates, but templates is kind of what it is. Lesson patterns that they use, so that the lessons have the same internal structure. And so you’ve got one class of lessons, maybe you’ve got fifteen lessons of this type, that have this kind of a strategy that require this much writing, this much art. And so you know how much that packet costs. And then there is this kind over here. It’s going to require this kind of graphics, this kind of writing and this amount. And so you use that as a projection tool. You have to know what the characteristics are of the thing that you’re creating. The advent types become very important to you.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
How I balance quality and time and cost is really a factor of my boss. They make the decision on whether to do a course. Now if we know a course is going to be a high enroller, you have more money to play with on a course. If a course is a low enroller there might be different reasons for doing that. We have to be stricter about our budget. So when we meet at the very beginning with the designer, we talk about it and say, okay basically this is the budget that you’ve been given. And we’ve gotten more strict with budget, so then you can fudge with time or quality. Every project is different. Some projects, you have an absolute deadline that you have to have a course available. So then, at that point you say, okay, then do we fudge on the quality, or do we fudge on the cost? So it really depends on each project. For the project that I did, Art 45, we went with quality. That was the one that we weren’t going to sacrifice, and so we sacrificed cost on that one. But there have been other projects that we’ve had, where time was a factor and we had to get it out. On those we said, okay, we’ll have to not do those videos, because that’s a cost. So we cut our cost and maybe possibly the quality. Every project is different.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
So that’s always a project manager’s trade-off. How do you balance quality with time and money? If you had as much money, regardless of what the project is. Whether it’s an instructional design project or building a bridge. If you have a lot of money and a lot of time you could make a great bridge. If you don’t have as much money and you don’t have as much time then your beautiful four lane bridge becomes a two lane bridge and hopefully it’s still earthquake proof and all those kinds of things. So you manage those quality things, but you have to shrink things down. In our project, the BYU Learning Suite, we have a kind of, pretty fixed quality target, in that there is an existing learning management system. And so let’s say the satisfaction level is here with the existing management system. So we have to at least hit that target. Now what we’ve had to do is define what that target is. Basically that means no outages, we can’t look at the history of that learning management system and say, well when they first started there were lots of outages, and you know, things like that. We can’t do that because when it first started they had one hundred faculty on it. We have eighty percent of the faculty now using the learning management system, and it affects virtually every student at Brigham Young University. We have to hit that level of reliability. What we could do is kind of take a look at the quality of the offering in terms of the number of features that are offered by the current learning management system and what we’re going to initially offer in our new BYU Learning Suite learning management system. And what we did is we took a look at what are the features that are used by most of the faculty and students most of the time? And deliver those in a way that’s easier to use than the existing system, just as reliable as the existing system. So those are kind of two quality elements that we looked at. It has to be just as reliable. And it has to be easier to use. And that’s kind of difficult because we think, in our design, we think it’s easier to use, but it’s different, and so the users may not think it’s easier to use initially. And so there’s a training curve and a learning curve. After they use it a little bit they say, “Oh this is easier to use.” But it’s like going from one kind of vehicle to another. They’re both automatic transitions, but the shift mechanism is on the column in one and on the middle panel on the other one. And some people just never get used to that. Same thing with the learning management system. You click here in one, and you click here in another. And people, they’ll just never get used to it and they’ll think it’s not as good. Quality is so subjective in applications like this. You just have to do what you can. And then you provide instructional help to help address some of those kinds of issues. And that’s kind of one of the roles of the project manager is you go through and you start evaluating as it comes close to completion, and you start testing it within users. You find out what are the issues that they have? And you build just in time help so that they can click that little help icon or the help with this page and it brings up appropriate help that says, “Oh, this is what that is, now I know what to do.” You can address some quality issues with help, but you don’t want to rely on that. But the old saying of, “it should be so easy, no help is needed.” You can almost never rely on that. As much as you’d like too. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/10%3A_Chapter_10/10.05%3A_10.5_Assuring_Quality_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
11.1 Defining Risk
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define project risk.
2. Define the difference between known and unknown risks.
3. Describe the difference between the business risk of the organization and project risk.
Risk is the possibility of loss or injury.1Project risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has an effect on at least one project objective.2Risk management focuses on identifying and assessing the risks to the project and managing those risks to minimize the impact on the project. There are no risk-free projects because there are an infinite number of events that can have a negative effect on the project. Risk management is not about eliminating risk but about identifying, assessing, and managing risk.
Tzvi Raz, Aaron Shenhar, and Dov Dvir3 studied risk management practices on one hundred projects in a variety of industries. The results of this study suggested the following about risk management practices:
• Risk management is not widely used.
• The projects that were most likely to have a risk management plan were those that were perceived to be high risk.
• When risk management practices were applied to projects, they appeared to be positively related to the success of the project.
• The risk management approach influenced project schedules and cost goals but exerted less influence on project product quality.
• Good risk management increases the likelihood of a successful project.
Risk deals with the uncertainty of events that could affect the project. Some potential negative project events have a high likelihood of occurring on specific projects. Examples are as follows:
• Safety risks are common on construction projects.
• Changes in the value of local currency during a project affect purchasing power and budgets on projects with large international components.
• Projects that depend on good weather, such as road construction or coastal projects, face risk of delays due to exceptionally wet or windy weather.
These are examples of known risks. Known risks are events that have been identified and analyzed for which advanced planning is possible. Other risks are unknown or unforeseen.
Weather
Project team members were flying to a project review meeting in South Carolina when a severe storm caused all flights to be cancelled. Members of the leadership team could not make the meeting and weren’t even able to return to their home base for a couple of days.
Sudden Family Death
Just before a project meeting in Texas, the instructional design lead received word that his father had died in the middle of the night. The team delayed making decisions on some critical events without the knowledge and judgment of the instructional designer.
These events were unforeseen by the project team, and in both cases the projects experienced schedule delays and additional costs.
Project risks are separate from the organizational risks that are associated with the business purpose of the project.
A project was chartered to design training for a new customer management system at a cost not to exceed \$250,000. If a project is completed on time, within budget, and meets all quality specifications, the project is successful. If the customer management system does not meet the needs of the organization, the organizational goals of the project may not be achieved. The customer management system is an organizational or business risk. The company authorized the project based on assumptions about the system meeting their needs. The system’s capability is not a project risk on this project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Project risk is the possibility that project events will not occur as planned or that unplanned events will occur that will have a negative impact on the project.
• Known risks can be identified before they occur, while unknown risks are unforeseen.
• Organizational risks are associated with the business purpose of the project and assumed by the client when deciding to do the project.
[1] Merriam-Webster Online, s.v. “risk,” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Risk(accessed August 21, 2009).
[2] Project Management Institute, Inc., A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 4th ed. (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc., 2008), 273.
[3] Tzvi Raz, Aaron J. Shenhar, and Dov Dvir, “Risk Management, Project Success, and Technological Uncertainty,” R&D Management 32 (2002): 101–12. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/11%3A_Chapter_11/11.01%3A_11.1_Defining_Risk_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
11.2 Risk Management Process
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the major elements in managing project risk.
2. Describe the processes for identifying project risk.
3. Describe the processes for evaluating risk.
4. Describe the processes for mitigating risk.
Managing risks on projects is a process that includes risk assessment and a mitigation strategy for those risks. Risk assessment includes both the identification of potential risk and the evaluation of the potential impact of the risk. Arisk mitigation plan is designed to eliminate or minimize the impact of therisk events—occurrences that have a negative impact on the project. Identifying risk is both a creative and a disciplined process. The creative process includes brainstorming sessions where the team is asked to create a list of everything that could go wrong. All ideas are welcome at this stage with the evaluation of the ideas coming later.
Risk Identification
A more disciplined process involves using checklists of potential risks and evaluating the likelihood that those events might happen on the project. Some companies and industries develop risk checklists based on experience from past projects. These checklists can be helpful to the project manager and project team in identifying both specific risks on the checklist and expanding the thinking of the team. The past experience of the project team, project experience within the company, and experts in the industry can be valuable resources for identifying potential risk on a project.
Identifying the sources of risk by category is another method for exploring potential risk on a project. Some examples of categories for potential risks include the following:
• Technical
• Cost
• Schedule
• Client
• Contractual
• Weather
• Financial
• Political
• Environmental
• People
The people category can be subdivided into risks associated with the people. Examples of people risks include the risk of not finding the skills needed to execute the project or the sudden unavailability of key people on the project. David Hillson1 uses the same framework as the work breakdown structure (WBS) for developing a risk breakdown structure (RBS). A risk breakdown structure organizes the risks that have been identified into categories using a table with increasing levels of detail to the right.
Risks in John’s Move
In John’s move, John makes a list of things that might go wrong with his project and uses his work breakdown structure as a guide. A partial list for the planning portion of the RBS is shown in Figure 11.1.
Figure 11.1 Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS)
The result is a clearer understanding of where risks are most concentrated. Hillson’s approach helps the project team identify known risks, but can be restrictive and less creative in identifying unknown risks and risks not easily found inside the work breakdown structure.
Risk Evaluation
After the potential risks have been identified, the project team then evaluates the risk based on the probability that the risk event will occur and the potential loss associated with the event. Not all risks are equal. Some risk events are more likely to happen than others, and the cost of a risk event can vary greatly. Evaluating the risk for probability of occurrence and the severity or the potential loss to the project is the next step in the risk management process.
Having criteria to determine high impact risks can help narrow the focus on a few critical risks that require mitigation. For example, suppose high-impact risks are those that could increase the project costs by 5% of the conceptual budget or 2% of the detailed budget. Only a few potential risk events met these criteria. These are the critical few potential risk events that the project management team should focus on when developing a project risk mitigation or management plan. Risk evaluation is about developing an understanding of which potential risks have the greatest possibility of occurring and can have the greatest negative impact on the project. These become the critical few.
Figure 11.2 Risk and Impact
There is a positive correlation—both increase or decrease together—between project risk and project complexity. A project with new and emerging technology will have a high-complexity rating and a correspondingly high risk. The project management team will assign the appropriate resources to the technology managers to assure the accomplishment of project goals. The more complex the technology, the more resources the technology manager typically needs to meet project goals, and each of those resources could face unexpected problems.
Risk evaluation often occurs in a workshop setting. Building on the identification of the risks, each risk event is analyzed to determine the likelihood of occurring and the potential cost if it did occur. The likelihood and impact are both rated as high, medium, or low. A risk mitigation plan addresses the items that have high ratings on both factors—likelihood and impact.
Risk Analysis of Equipment Delivery
A project team analyzed the risk of some important equipment not arriving to the project on time. The team identified three pieces of equipment that were critical to the project and would significantly increase the costs of the project if they were late in arriving. One of the vendors, who was selected to deliver an important piece of equipment, had a history of being late on other projects. The vendor was good and often took on more work than it could deliver on time. This risk event (the identified equipment arriving late) was rated as high likelihood with a high impact. The other two pieces of equipment were potentially a high impact on the project but with a low probability of occurring.
Not all project managers conduct a formal risk assessment on the project. One reason, as found by David Parker and Alison Mobey2 in their phenomenological study of project managers, was a low understanding of the tools and benefits of a structured analysis of project risks. The lack of formal risk management tools was also seen as a barrier to implementing a risk management program. Additionally, the project manager’s personality and management style play into risk preparation levels. Some project managers are more proactive and will develop elaborate risk management programs for their projects. Other managers are reactive and are more confident in their ability to handle unexpected events when they occur. Yet others are risk averse, and prefer to be optimistic and not consider risks or avoid taking risks whenever possible.
On projects with a low complexity profile, the project manager may informally track items that may be considered risk items. On more complex projects, the project management team may develop a list of items perceived to be higher risk and track them during project reviews. On projects with greater complexity, the process for evaluating risk is more formal with a risk assessment meeting or series of meetings during the life of the project to assess risks at different phases of the project. On highly complex projects, an outside expert may be included in the risk assessment process, and the risk assessment plan may take a more prominent place in the project execution plan.
On complex projects, statistical models are sometimes used to evaluate risk because there are too many different possible combinations of risks to calculate them one at a time. One example of the statistical model used on projects is the Monte Carlo simulation, which simulates a possible range of outcomes by trying many different combinations of risks based on their likelihood. The output from a Monte Carlo simulation provides the project team with the probability of an event occurring within a range and for combinations of events. For example, the typical output from a Monte Carlo simulation may reflect that there is a 10% chance that one of the three important pieces of equipment will be late and that the weather will also be unusually bad after the equipment arrives.
Risk Mitigation
After the risk has been identified and evaluated, the project team develops a risk mitigation plan, which is a plan to reduce the impact of an unexpected event. The project team mitigates risks in the following ways:
• Risk avoidance
• Risk sharing
• Risk reduction
• Risk transfer
Each of these mitigation techniques can be an effective tool in reducing individual risks and the risk profile of the project. The risk mitigation plan captures the risk mitigation approach for each identified risk event and the actions the project management team will take to reduce or eliminate the risk.
Risk avoidance usually involves developing an alternative strategy that has a higher probability of success but usually at a higher cost associated with accomplishing a project task. A common risk avoidance technique is to use proven and existing technologies rather than adopt new techniques, even though the new techniques may show promise of better performance or lower costs. A project team may choose a vendor with a proven track record over a new vendor that is providing significant price incentives to avoid the risk of working with a new vendor. The project team that requires drug testing for team members is practicing risk avoidance by avoiding damage done by someone under the influence of drugs.
Risk sharing involves partnering with others to share responsibility for the risk activities. Many organizations that work on international projects will reduce political, legal, labor, and others risk types associated with international projects by developing a joint venture with a company located in that country. Partnering with another company to share the risk associated with a portion of the project is advantageous when the other company has expertise and experience the project team does not have. If the risk event does occur, then the partnering company absorbs some or all of the negative impact of the event. The company will also derive some of the profit or benefit gained by a successful project.
Risk reduction is an investment of funds to reduce the risk on a project. On international projects, companies will often purchase the guarantee of a currency rate to reduce the risk associated with fluctuations in the currency exchange rate. A project manager may hire an expert to review the technical plans or the cost estimate on a project to increase the confidence in that plan and reduce the project risk. Assigning highly skilled project personnel to manage the high-risk activities is another risk reduction method. Experts managing a high-risk activity can often predict problems and find solutions that prevent the activities from having a negative impact on the project. Some companies reduce risk by forbidding key executives or technology experts to ride on the same airplane.
Risk transfer is a risk reduction method that shifts the risk from the project to another party. The purchase of insurance on certain items is a risk transfer method. The risk is transferred from the project to the insurance company. A construction project in the Caribbean may purchase hurricane insurance that would cover the cost of a hurricane damaging the construction site. The purchase of insurance is usually in areas outside the control of the project team. Weather, political unrest, and labor strikes are examples of events that can significantly impact the project and that are outside the control of the project team.
Contingency Plan
The project risk plan balances the investment of the mitigation against the benefit for the project. The project team often develops an alternative method for accomplishing a project goal when a risk event has been identified that may frustrate the accomplishment of that goal. These plans are called contingency plans. The risk of a truck drivers’ strike may be mitigated with a contingency plan that uses a train to transport the needed equipment for the project. If a critical piece of equipment is late, the impact on the schedule can be mitigated by making changes to the schedule to accommodate a late equipment delivery.
Contingency funds are funds set aside by the project team to address unforeseen events that cause the project costs to increase. Projects with a high-risk profile will typically have a large contingency budget. Although the amount of contingency allocated in the project budget is a function of the risks identified in the risk analysis process, contingency is typically managed as one line item in the project budget.
Some project managers allocate the contingency budget to the items in the budget that have high risk rather than developing one line item in the budget for contingencies. This approach allows the project team to track the use of contingency against the risk plan. This approach also allocates the responsibility to manage the risk budget to the managers responsible for those line items. The availability of contingency funds in the line item budget may also increase the use of contingency funds to solve problems rather than finding alternative, less costly solutions. Most project managers, especially on more complex projects, will manage contingency funds at the project level, with approval of the project manager required before contingency funds can be used.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Risk management is a creative process that involves identifying, evaluating, and mitigating the impact of the risk event.
• Risk management can be very formal, with defined work processes, or informal, with no defined processes or methods. Formal risk evaluation includes the use of checklists, brainstorming, and expert input. A risk breakdown structure (RBS) can follow the work breakdown structure (WBS) to identify risk by activity.
• Risk evaluation prioritizes the identified risks by the likelihood and the potential impact if the event happens.
• Risk mitigation is the development and deployment of a plan to avoid, transfer, share, and reduce project risk. Contingency planning is the development of alternative plans to respond to the occurrence of a risk event.
[1] David Hillson, “Using a Risk Breakdown Structure in Project Management,” Journal of Facilities Management 2, no. 1 (2003): 85–97.
[2] David Parker and Alison Mobey, “Action Research to Explore Perceptions of Risk in Project Management,” International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management 53, no. 1 (2004): 18–32. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/11%3A_Chapter_11/11.02%3A_11.2_Risk_Management_Process_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
11.3 Project Risk by Phases
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the elements of risk management during the initiation phase.
2. Describe the elements of risk management during the planning phase.
3. Describe the elements of risk management during the execution phase.
4. Describe the elements of risk management during the closeout phase.
Image by shawncalhoun
Project risk is dealt with in different ways depending on the phase of the project.
INITIATION PHASE
Risk is associated with things that are unknown. More things are unknown at the beginning of a project, but risk must be considered in the initiation phase and weighed against the potential benefit of the project’s success in order to decide if the project should be chosen.
Risks by Phase in John’s Move
In the initiation phase of John’s move, John considers the risk of events that could affect the whole project. He identifies the following risks during the initiation phase that might have a high impact and rates the likelihood of their happening from low to high.
1. His new employer might change his mind and take back the job offer after he’s given notice at his old job: Low.
2. The current tenants of his apartment might not move out in time for him to move in by the first day of work at the new job: Medium.
3. The movers might lose his furniture: Low.
4. The movers might be more than a week late delivering his furniture: Medium.
5. He might get in an accident driving from Chicago to Atlanta and miss starting his job: Low.
John considers how to mitigate each of the risks.
1. During his job hunt, John had more than one offer, and he is confident that he could get another job, but he might lose deposit money on the apartment and the mover. He would also lose wages during the time it took to find the other job. To mitigate the risk of his new employer changing his mind, John makes sure that he keeps his relationships with his alternate employers cordial and writes to each of them thanking for their consideration in his recent interviews.
2. John checks the market in Atlanta to determine the weekly cost and availability of extended-stay motels.
3. John checks the mover’s contract to confirm that they carry insurance against lost items, but they require the owner to provide a detailed list with value estimates and they limit the maximum total value. John decides to go through his apartment with his digital camera and take pictures of all of his possessions that will be shipped by truck and to keep the camera with him during the move so he has a visual record and won’t have to rely on his memory to make a list. He seals and numbers the boxes so he can tell if a box is missing.
4. If the movers are late, John can use his research on extended-stay motels to calculate how much it would cost. He checks the moving company’s contract to see if they compensate the owner for late delivery, and he finds that they do not.
5. John checks the estimated driving time from Chicago to Atlanta using an Internet mapping service and gets an estimate of eleven hours of driving time. He decides that it would be too risky to attempt to make the drive by himself in one day, especially if he didn’t leave until after the truck was packed. John plans to spend one night on the road in a motel to reduce the risk of an accident caused by driving while too tired.
John concludes that the high-impact risks can be mitigated and the costs from the mitigation would be acceptable in order to get a new job.
PLANNING PHASE
Once the project is approved and it moves into the planning stage, risks are identified with each major group of activities. A risk breakdown structure (RBS) can be used to identify increasing levels of detailed risk analysis.
Risk Breakdown Structure for John’s Move
John decides to ask Dion and Carlita for their help during their first planning meeting to identify risks, rate their impact and likelihood, and suggest mitigation plans. They concentrate on the packing phase of the move. They fill out a table of risks, as shown in Figure 11.3.
EXECUTION PHASE
As the project progresses and more information becomes available to the project team, the total risk on the project typically reduces, as activities are performed without loss. The risk plan needs to be updated with new information and risks checked off that are related to activities that have been performed.
Understanding where the risks occur on the project is important information for managing the contingency budget and managing cash reserves. Most organizations develop a plan for financing the project from existing organizational resources, including financing the project through a variety of financial instruments. In most cases, there is a cost to the organization to keep these funds available to the project, including the contingency budget. As the risks decrease over the length of the project, if the contingency is not used, then the funds set aside by the organization can be used for other purposes.
To determine the amount of contingency that can be released, the project team will conduct another risk evaluation and determine the amount of risk remaining on the project. If the risk profile is lower, the project team may release contingency funds back to the parent organization. If additional risks are uncovered, a new mitigation plan is developed including the possible addition of contingency funds.
CLOSEOUT PHASE
During the closeout phase, agreements for risk sharing and risk transfer need to be concluded and the risk breakdown structure examined to be sure all the risk events have been avoided or mitigated. The final estimate of loss due to risk can be made and recorded as part of the project documentation. If a Monte Carlo simulation was done, the result can be compared to the predicted result.
Risk Closeout on John’s Move
To close out the risk mitigation plan for John’s move, John examines the risk breakdown structure and risk mitigation plan for items that need to be finalized. He makes a checklist to be sure all the risk mitigation plans are completed, as shown in Figure 11.4.
Figure 11.4 Closeout of Risk Mitigation Plan for John’s Move
Risk is not allocated evenly over the life of the project. On projects with a high degree of new technology, the majority of the risks may be in the early phases of the project. On projects with a large equipment budget, the largest amount of risk may be during the procurement of the equipment. On global projects with a large amount of political risk, the highest portion of risk may be toward the end of the project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• During the initiation phase, risks are identified that could threaten the viability of the project. Mitigation options are considered to see if they would be sufficient to protect the project.
• During the planning phase, risks are identified and analyzed for each activity group in a risk breakdown structure, and mitigation is planned for each risk
• During the execution phase, risks are checked off as activities are completed or mitigation is performed if loss does occur. New risks are identified and added to the plan.
• During the closeout phase, insurance contracts are cancelled and partnerships terminated. A summary of actual costs associated with risks are compared with initial estimates to refine estimating capabilities. The successes and failures of the risk management plan are summarized and saved with the project documentation to add to the company’s corporate knowledge. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/11%3A_Chapter_11/11.03%3A_11.3_Project_Risk_by_Phases_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
11.4 Project Risk and the Project Complexity Profile
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the relationship between project risk and external, internal, technical, and environmental complexity.
Risk seems to have a positive correlation to complexity. High-risk projects are in most cases highly complex. The process of conducting a risk analysis focuses on understanding what can go wrong and the likelihood that it will go wrong. The project team then develops a project mitigation plan that addresses the items that were identified as high risk. The complexity analysis explores the project from the perspective of what elements on the project add to project complexity. The result of this analysis is the information needed by the project leadership to develop an appropriate execution plan. This execution plan also contains the risk management plan.
Image by Michigan Municipal League (MML)
Although increased complexity on a project increases the project risk profile, risk is only one component of the complexity profile, and the manageability of the risk is also reflected in the complexity level of the project. For example, the organizational component of the project may be extremely complex with decision making shared among several independent clients. The project management team will develop an execution plan that includes developing and maintaining alignment among the various clients. Although the organizational risk of the project decreases with the development of the execution plan, the organizational approach of the client did not change the complexity level of the project. If the Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI) is used to rate the project, high ratings in each category carry their own types of increased risks.
External Complexity
Projects that have a high score in the external complexity category in the DPCI are larger and longer than usual for the project management group and the project manager and the available resources are lacking. Due to lack of experience on this size project, unknown risks are significant. The inadequacy of resources will cause risks that are more predictable.
Internal Complexity
Projects with high scores for internal complexity have risks to the budget, schedule, and quality due to organizational complexity and changes of scope due to lack of clarity in project and scope statements.
Technological Complexity
High scores in technological complexity are associated with high levels of risk due to unknown flaws in the technology and lack of familiarity with it. These problems result in risks to the schedule, budget, and quality.
Environmental Complexity
Environmental complexity includes legal, cultural, political, and ecological factors. High scores for complexity in this category imply high risks for delay and expensive resolution to lawsuits, public opposition, changes for political considerations, and unforeseen ecological impacts.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• There is a positive correlation between the complexity of a project and the risk. Increased levels of complexity imply more people, newer technologies, and increased internal and external unknown factors.
• High scores for external complexity imply high risks to the schedule, budget, and quality due to unknown factors and limited resources.
• High scores for internal complexity imply high risks to the budget, schedule, and quality due to organizational complexity and changes of scope due to lack of clarity in project and scope statements.
• High scores for technological complexity imply high risks to the budget, schedule, and quality due to unknown flaws in the technology and lack of familiarity with it.
• Environmental complexity includes legal, cultural, political, and ecological issues. High scores for complexity in this category imply high risks for delay and expensive resolution to lawsuits, public opposition, changes for political considerations, and unforeseen ecological impacts. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/11%3A_Chapter_11/11.04%3A_11.4_Project_Risk_and_the_Project_Complexity_Profile_--_Project_Management_for_Instruction.txt |
11.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with chapter 11 of the PMBOK and 11% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Planning and Monitoring & Controlling category of the PMP questions.
All projects, including those within instructional design, rarely, if ever, go completely according to plan. Thus, competent project managers are prepared to deal with unexpected adversity during the course of the project. In order to mitigate the impact of disruptions, project managers must identify the potential risks and make appropriate plans. Failure to do so can easily lead to a decrease in project quality or unnecessary increases in budget.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
At the beginning of this project we were training helicopter pilots, we were training sensor operators who sit at the back and operate electronic equipment. What was the biggest threat? It was probably me and my naivety. I was the project director of a project that eventually accumulated twenty-five staff members, and we were working with Navy teams of subject matter experts. We probably had eight or nine subject matter experts assigned to our project. That was a rich, rich resource. And I had no idea, I’d not been trained how to manage a project that size. My previous project experience had been a staff of four people at most: a secretary, an artist and a writer, and myself. Well this project was a different kind of challenge. The biggest risk was me not understanding, and as a result, there were some big mistakes made. I would say that as far as designer’s secrets, that I should have known that I didn’t know, it would be how subject matter experts, excuse me, how bodies of subject matter are organized. And how, as a designer, you have to be able to get to the heart of the subject matter quickly and efficiently, sometimes even before the subject matter expert is there. I’ll tell you about another project. I was working on a project with DC-10 pilots, for a major airline. And we were doing a task analysis. Tried to identify all the tasks that these pilots had to be able to perform. We got to the part where we were talking about emergencies that they had to be able to perform. And we were listing emergencies that happened in the pilot’s handbook. And I was all the time going through trying to make sure, are we leaving anything out? Is there anything that could go wrong with this aircraft that a pilot would have to be able to respond to, that needs to go into this task analysis? And they said, well no. I said, well okay, hydraulic systems, your aircraft’ s got two hydraulic systems. And they said, yeah. And I said, well what if both hydraulic systems, we’ve got a single hydraulic system failure here, and you got a procedure that the pilot has to learn for that. What about if you have a dual hydraulic system failure? What if both of them go out at the same time? Oh it never happens. If one of them goes out, the second one kicks in, it automatically turns itself on, you don’t have to do anything. I said, hasn’t there been any instance or isn’t there some possibility of that happening. No, no, no. So we left it out of the task analysis. Not nine months later there was a DC-10 flying over Saint Louis somewhere in the region, mid U.S, and a private plane clipped off its tail. And both hydraulic systems failed. And there were three hundred people on board. Now, a quick thinking pilot figured out a way, I mean what happens when a hydraulic system fails on a major airliner, you can’t control the aircraft, you can’t turn it, you can’t bank it you can’t do anything. So how did they land that aircraft, they finally did land the aircraft, it was a crash landing, but it was a landing, and half of the people on board survived, so 150 people survived that crash landing in a cornfield. How did the pilot figure out how to handle that emergency? Well, they used the jet throttles. They would adjust it this way if they wanted to turn this way, they would adjust it this way if they wanted to turn this way. And so they were able to land the aircraft where they wanted to. And of course, they did altitude control just by denying gas to the engines. So they brought it down and a hundred and fifty people were saved, that otherwise would have died. But I always remembered that one time when I had the instinct to say I think I know your subject matter better than you do, and I think this is something that could happen. This is a task that you ought to include in your training. I’ll just bet you it’s in the training now. And so, you have to, as an instructional designer, you can’t just be naive. You can’t just accept what they tell you. You’ve got to question everything. You’ve got to become a big critic.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
I didn’t know how expensive Art 45 was going to be. And I hate bringing that up over and over again, because honestly it was the only drawback of this project. Everything else went so well. That was probably a risk. Fortunately, you know, we had the funds to be able to pay for that. But some places, you know, you don’t have the funds. If you run out of money, you are not able to finish your project. So that was probably a huge risk to this project. But other than that, there weren’t really any risks. I mean I suppose there could have been conflict between the artist’s opinions of what you should do when you have several artists working on different projects. But we just really didn’t have that.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
Probably in building the learning management system, that we call the BYU Learning Suite, the biggest risk that we had was the short beta test period that we’re going to have. Had we known that up front I think we would have compressed some of our development cycle sooner so that we have a little bit more of a beta test period. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/11%3A_Chapter_11/11.05%3A_11_Managing_Project_Risk_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
12.0 Overview
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This chapter aligns with chapter 3 of the PMBOK. 11% of the CAPM questions come from this knowledge area. The content connects to the Closure category of the PMP questions.
This chapter describes several of the essential close-out activities to be performed at the end of a project.
Designers Share Their Experiences
Dr. Andy Gibbons – Instructional Psychology and Technology – BYU
The most interesting part of scaling back a project toward the end is, actually it’s the funnest part of the project because there are a lot of celebrations as people are dropping off the payroll you have a party for them, and you have a close-out, and there are gifts that are given to each other, and it’s fun. And people who are on your staff use their talents to celebrate each other. We had one, oh just this amazing artist on this one helicopter pilot project I did. And he drew a big caricature of the whole team. And gave out caricatures of the team members to each one of them. It was a wonderful thing, and I still have a poster that is about this big, in colorful color, the nicest artwork you want to see. The caricature of everybody that is on the team and they all signed it. It’s just a warm memory. And one of the things that you want to do at the end of the project is make sure that you’ve given the people on your project the best possible experience. As a manager, you’re not just a dollar and cents person, you’re not just a timetable person. You’re a leader and you need to be an inspiring leader. And you need to, by the time they finish the project, they need to have seen you as a leader, they need to have learned something, the project needs to have enriched their experience, they need to have gained friendships, they need to be working as a team. If you can’t get there, then the project gets done, but as a designer you haven’t done your job.
Heather Bryce – Independent Studies – BYU
I think the biggest challenge in finishing a project is keeping people engaged. When you’ve worked on a project for a long time, maybe at the beginning of a project you had a more important role than you might as your role kind of becomes less in one project as you move onto another, I think it’s hard to stay engaged in that former project. As your roles, you might have to do a few edits, come back and fix a few things that you worked on, but you might have moved on. So I think that’s the biggest challenge is, people who have moved on to a more important role in project B, it’s harder to get them back to “Hey don’t forget about the things you need to finish up to get project A. So I think the most important process that we have is the course completion process. It goes through a lot of different hands and it’s those final touches that you have to put on to have a course go live. And while the tasks themselves are kind of small, they add up. So a course could be delayed up to two weeks, because people just sit on their tasks. You know, “oh it’s just a five minute task”. But if everybody sits on a five minute task for a couple of days the time adds up quickly. So I think as the project manager you need to make sure that people continue to be engaged even when their role lessens, and to make sure you finish up strong.
Dr. Larry Seawright – Center for Teaching and Learning – BYU
With the BYU Learning Suite, which is an ongoing project, there is never a close-out or something like that. Until the University decides, okay we’re going to shift from using our own internally developed learning management system, and we’ll go back out on the market and once more buy a more commercially available one. At that point then we’ll go through the close-out process, and take a look at things. But, that being said, you still have, no matter how you officially close out a project, there is a delivery. We’re going to start delivery on December 1st this year. Faculty, it will be available to them to begin to build courses. So that’s really the close out period at that point were going to have post-mortem meetings. We’ll take a look at what went well, what didn’t go well? What can we learn that we can apply to the ongoing enhancement process, because this is an ongoing project. Things that we can do better, places that we can involve the faculty more, so that there’s more faculty buy-in. Places where we can involve students more, so students are more appreciative of it, and understand it better. Quite frankly, become demanding of faculty, you know, you must use the Learning Suite because it makes our lives so easy, kind of thing. That’s how the Learning Suite will succeed. Ultimately, in any project, it’s the end users and whether or not they like it that will determine its success. They like it and start buying it or accessing it or downloading it, you know, whatever the method of delivery is, or the method of purchase is, then it’s a success. And you know, you can take a look those things and say, you know, this was good, these things were not quite so good, but there has to be some point where you just kind of stick a stake in the ground and say let’s take some time and look at what worked, what didn’t work and what lessons can we learn from that. And that’s kind of difficult sometimes. It’s actually the classic evaluation problem. A lot of evaluation never gets done because it takes time, it takes money, and it’s never used. You know, once the evaluation is done, people don’t make use of it, same with a project management post-mortem. If you don’t take the time and the money to do it, you won’t get useful data that is usable and actionable for making changes. So you don’t want to just go through and have a post-mortem because it’s part of the project management checklist. You want to do it if people are going to use it. Otherwise just skip it and, you know, go on with the project. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/12%3A_Chapter_12/12.01%3A_12_Project_Closure_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
12.1 Project Closure
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the procedures for closing out contracts.
2. Describe the elements and purpose of the post-project review process.
3. Identify the types of documents that should be archived.
4. Identify the objectives of the project closeout celebration.
Team members who were excited by the project in its early stages may find it difficult to maintain their focus to complete the project. They might already be looking forward to the next project. Bringing a project to an end requires a different management style that focuses on details as well as an analysis of the decisions that were made.
CLOSING OUT CONTRACTS
The last stage of the project procurement cycle includes the payment of the bills and closing of procurement contracts. Suppliers provide commodities that should meet standards of quality. The project team must check the records of deliveries made and determine that they were acceptable quality. If any items were rejected for poor quality or not delivered, the final payment is adjusted accordingly.
Punch Lists and Performance Tests
If a vendor is providing a service or building something for the project, there are usually items that must be fixed or mistakes that must be corrected before the contract is complete. On a software project, performance tests are run on the software, usually by the people who will be using the software, and any performance expectations not met are noted. Sometimes the expectations were not captured in the project scope of work and sometimes the performance did not meet the expectations established in the scope. If the items were not in the scope of work and the owner wants the work done, then the owner typically issues a change order. If the expectations were in the scope of work, the contractor is still responsible for completing the work.
Before the contract is closed, any minor items that need to be repaired or completed are placed on apunch list, which is a list of all the items found by the client/or team/manager that still remain to be done. The project team will then work on all of the items on the list, building a small schedule to complete the remaining work. If the number of items on the punch list is too large or the amount of work is significant, the project team continues to work the project. Once the punch list becomes smaller, the project manager begins closing down the project, maintaining only enough staff and equipment to support the team that is working the punch list.
Transfer to Customer or Sponsor
If the product of the project is a software system, or something that must be operated and maintained by someone else, it must be turned over to the people who will be responsible for it after the project is complete. They might perform their own inspection to determine if the project team has met its goals for quality and that all elements of the project are complete. These performance tests are typically identified in the original project contract.
Final Payments
The final payment is usually more than a simple percentage of the work that remains to be completed. Completing the project might involve fixing the most difficult problems that are disproportionately expensive to solve, so the final payment should be large enough to motivate the vendor to give the project a high priority so that the project can be completed on time.
If the supplier has met all the contractual obligations, including fixing problems and making repairs as noted on a punch list, the project team signs off on the contract and submits it to the accounting department for final payment. The supplier is notified that the last payment is final and completes the contractual agreement between the supplier and the project.
Post-project Evaluations
Before the team is dissolved and begins to focus on the next project, a review is conducted to capture the lessons that can be learned from this project, often called a lessons learned meeting or document. The team explores what went well and captures the processes to understand why they went well. The team asks if the process is transferable to other projects. The team also explores what did not go well and what people learned from the experience. The process is not to find blame, but to learn.
Quality management is a process of continual improvement that includes learning from past projects and making changes to improve the next project. This process is documented as evidence that quality management practices are in use. Some organizations have formal processes for changing work processes and integrating the lessons learned from the project so other projects can benefit. Some organizations are less formal in the approach and expect individuals to learn from the experience and take the experience to their next project and share what they learned with others in a very informal way. Whatever type of approach is used, the following elements should be evaluated and the results of the post-project evaluations are summarized in reports for external and internal use.
Project Profile
One of the first activities was to create a project profile to determine where the challenges were most likely to occur. If the Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI) was used, each of the complexity evaluations is reviewed and compared to actual events that occurred during the project. The team explores the changes in the complexity level during the life of the project and how the team managed the complexity during the life of the project. Learning from this exercise develops expertise that is useful in making the next project profile. The DPCI rating is adjusted, if necessary, for reference purposes on future projects.
Trust and Alignment Effectiveness
The project leadership reviews the effect of trust—or lack of trust—on the project and the effectiveness of alignment meetings at building trust. The team determines which problems might have been foreseen and mitigated and which ones could not have been reasonably predicted. What were the cues that were missed by the team that indicated a problem was emerging? What could the team have done to better predict and prevent trust issues?
Schedule and Budget Management
The original schedule of activities and the network diagram are compared to the actual schedule of events. Events that caused changes to the schedule are reviewed to see how the use of contingency reserves and float mitigated the disruption caused by those events. The original estimates of contingency time are reviewed to determine if they were adequate and if the estimates of duration and float were accurate. These activities are necessary for the project team to develop expertise in estimating schedule elements in future projects—they are not used to place blame.
A review of budget estimates for the cost of work scheduled is compared to the actual costs. If the estimates are frequently different from the actual costs, the choice of estimating method is reviewed.
Risk Mitigation
After the project is finished, the estimates of risk can be reviewed and compared to the events that actually took place. Did events occur that were unforeseen? What cues existed that may have allowed the team to predict these events? Was the project contingency sufficient to cover unforeseen risks? Even if nothing went wrong on this project, it is not proof that risk mitigation was a waste of money, but it is useful to compare the cost of avoiding risk versus the cost of unexpected events to understand how much it cost to avoid risk.
Procurement Contracts
The performance of suppliers and vendors is reviewed to determine if they should still be included in the list of qualified suppliers or vendors. The choice of contract for each is reviewed to determine if the decision to share risk was justified and if the choice of incentives worked.
Customer Satisfaction
Relationships with the client are reviewed and decisions about including the client in project decisions and alignment meetings are discussed. The client is given the opportunity to express satisfaction and identify areas in which to improve. Often a senior manager from the organization interviews the client to develop feedback on the project team performance.
A general report that provides an overview of the project is created to provide stakeholders with a summary of the project. The report includes the original goals and objectives and statements that show how the project met those goals and objectives. Performance on the schedule and budget are summarized and an assessment of client satisfaction is provided. A version of this report can be provided to the client as a stakeholder and as another means for deriving feedback.
Senior Management
The report to senior management contains all the information provided to the stakeholders in a short executive summary. The report identifies practices and processes that could be improved or lessons that were learned that could be useful on future projects.
Document Archival
The documents associated with the project must be stored in a safe location where they can be retrieved for future reference. Signed contracts or other documents that might be used in tax reviews or lawsuits must be stored. Organizations will have legal document storage and retrieval policies that apply to project documents and must be followed. Some project documents can be stored electronically.
Care should be taken to store documents in a form that can be recovered easily. If the documents are stored electronically, standard naming conventions should be used so documents can be sorted and grouped by name. If documents are stored in paper form, the expiration date of the documents should be determined so they can be destroyed at some point in the future. The following are documents that are typically archived:
• Charter documents
• Scope statement
• Original budget
• Change documents
• DPCI ratings
• Manager’s summary—lessons learned
• Final DPCI rating
PROJECT CELEBRATION
A final celebration is a symbolic ending of a project and perhaps the dissolution of the team. The end of a major project is often a time to reflect. Project team members and stakeholders have typically invested a great deal of time and emotional energy into the success of the project. Because of this investment and because of the close relationships that develop during a project, project closure is often sad. However, it is also an opportunity to improve client and team-member satisfaction.
Image by Jason Pratt
Reviewing the challenges and successes of the project creates a positive memory of the project and reinforces the learning that can be transferred to future projects. Awards or recognition plaques might be given out to individuals who made an outstanding contribution to the project. Groups or teams can be recognized for instances where trust between team members made a positive difference can be rewarded. Celebrating the successes of the project provides a sense of accomplishment and closure that brings satisfaction and pride in a job well done.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• To close contracts, systems are tested, materials are inspected, and punch lists of work to be completed are made.
• The purpose of the post-project review is to examine decisions that were made with partial knowledge with the way the project actually developed to learn from the experience and to improve future decisions. It is also used to identify processes that can be improved.
• Original project documents, such as the charter, scope statement, and budget, are stored. Documents developed during the project, such as change agreements, are stored. Post-project reviews, including a summary of lessons learned and a final project profile description—DPCI rating—are saved.
• At the project closeout celebration, positive behavior is awarded for individuals, and groups and the client or sponsor is invited to speak to enforce a sense of satisfaction. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers_(Wiley_et_al.)/12%3A_Chapter_12/12.02%3A_12.1_Project_Closure_--_Project_Management_for_Instructional_Designers.txt |
In this chapter [1], I will consider some of the underlying issues of language and culture pedagogy. Whilst it is the basic tenet of this study that language and culture need to be addressed in an integrated manner in language teaching, I will nevertheless discuss language and culture separately as two interlinking pedagogic areas.
In the first part of this chapter, I look at views of culture which underpin culture pedagogy as part of modern language degrees, and I describe some of the practices. I argue that teaching culture as part of language classes may be better served by a ‘cultural studies’ approach, rather than courses which emphasize the ‘content’ dimension and focus on imparting knowledge about the target language country as a coherent overview. The latter approach tends to be located in a national view of language and culture, whereas a cultural studies approach focuses on the processes and practices of culture and the construction of meaning and allows for a more complex idea of culture.
In the second part of this chapter, I focus on views of language in relation to cultures which have influenced language teaching approaches. In doing so, I argue that a traditional structural view of language as stable still underpins some contemporary language courses and that this view has taken on a common-sense understanding. I then describe social and cultural views of language, including those derived from linguistic relativity, critical language study, and Hymes’ notion of pragmatic language use.
I conclude the chapter by discussing how the two areas are interlinked in pedagogy.
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It is a ‘truism’ that the word ‘culture’ is problematic. Raymond Williams is purported to have said he wished he had never heard ‘the damned word’. There are various common-sense definitions of the word, and Williams’s discussion on this is still a good place to start. As he points out, there are various overlapping categories of meaning: culture as a process, as a product, and as a way of life of a particular community, but the meaning of the word shifts continuously (Williams, 1983 (1976). Stuart Hall (1997: 34-36) calls the word ‘the new language of our time’; it is a catchword, used widely and frequently ‘from politics to business, from life-style to media’ to refer to the way people think, feel and behave. Frequently, the words ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ are used interchangeably, both in everyday use and in the literature on the subject. There are no clearly agreed definitions on what separates the social from the cultural, although the word social is more often used when we talk about structures and systems of society and relations between people or groups of people, whereas culture is often seen as encompassing anything social plus the wider notions of value and ideological systems.
In Williams’ seminal book Keywords, he lists the intricate and complex semantic transformations the term ‘culture’ has undergone since its early use in the 15th Century. In summary, modern usage of the term relates to three broad categories (1983 (1976): 90):
1. A general process of intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic development. This usage captures the idea of culture as a natural process of human development in a linear way, the ultimate of which resulted in the European ‘civilization’ and culture of the Enlightenment. Culture is then seen as a universal development of human history;
2. A particular way of life, whether of a people, a period, a group, or humanity in general, in short, the anthropological view of culture. The use of the word ‘culture’ as ‘a way of life’ started in the 18th century with Herder (1782-1791) who attacked the Eurocentric view of culture encompassed in the first definition. This view contrasts with the first one, as it does not see culture as a universal process, but instead sees ‘cultures’ in the plural: ‘the specific and variable cultures of different nations and periods but also of […] social and economic groups within a nation’ (Williams, 1983 (1976): 89). Whilst Herder is sometimes cited as being the forerunner of the one nation, one language view of culture, he was, according to Risager, not a National Romantic (Risager, 2006: 61). The view of culture, in terms of specific particularities associated with a particular group of people, often equated with nation or ethnicity is a dominant one in common parlance. Generally speaking, these particularities refer to behaviour, belief systems, history, language, customs, values, and so on. Within cultural anthropology itself, however, this static view of culture is seen as outdated (cf. Wright, 1998; Street, 1993; Hannerz, 1999).
3. The works and practices of intellectual and aesthetic activities, such as music, literature, painting and sculpture, often referred to as Culture with a capital C or ‘high’ culture. In daily contemporary usage this view of culture now also includes products and practices from popular (‘low’) culture, such as film, TV, and media. The use of the terms ‘high’ and ‘low’ indicate the value judgments attached to these. Hence, Eagleton represents the view of ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture as the ‘culture wars’ (Eagleton, 2000).
The latter definition, culture in the sense of aesthetic activities and products, is the view of culture which has been traditionally assumed in modern language degree programs, at least in Britain. In the liberal humanist educational paradigm, culture was (and in certain institutions still is), mostly seen through the prism of the literary canon, the ‘high’ view of culture, which combines the aesthetic view with the hierarchical view of culture as civilization. This concords with Matthew Arnold’s (1889: 56) view of “the best knowledge and thought of the time”. However, as I discussed in chapter 1, as a result of the expansion of university education in Britain and the political pressures towards instrumental aims of language learning, literature courses have been increasingly replaced by courses focusing on ‘contemporary cultural studies’, as Worton referred to it (2009), bringing about a change in how ‘culture’ is interpreted. ‘Contemporary cultural studies’ in Worton’s report refers to courses which combine the ‘high’, and ‘low’ view of culture; literature as well as film studies. But in addition, culture is part of the curriculum in its anthropological form through ‘Area Studies’. These courses tend to include the history, politics, and social structures of the target country.
When it comes to the view of culture as anthropology, culture as a way of life, there is, however, a range of practice in courses taken as part of a modern language degree. At the humanities-based modern language degree programs at the university where this study takes place, for instance, there is, for instance, no reference to the term Area Studies. Non-literature courses tend to be taught in academic disciplinary areas, such as history, film studies, and occasionally as linguistics or sociolinguistics. Increasingly courses are taught comparatively (e.g. comparing literature from different countries) or as interdisciplinary, thematic courses.
Language teaching remains strictly separate from the ‘content’ courses. In this book, my concern is not with separate content courses in the academic disciplines of literature or history, but with the cultural dimension of language teaching itself. For this reason, I will not discuss Area Studies as an academic discipline. What I will discuss is culture pedagogy as it is practiced in the language classroom.
I start with the knowledge dimension of culture pedagogy, which is often underpinned by the national dimension of culture. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/02%3A_Culture_Pedagogy-_Some_Theoretical_Considerations/1%3A_Introduction.txt |
With the knowledge dimension, I am referring to courses which are, even if implicitly, based on a view of culture pedagogy which used to be called Landeskunde. This term is now gradually disappearing, as Risager says, (Risager, 2007: 5) but the idea of providing an overview of knowledge of society, country and culture, an extension of the old, what Risager refers to as ‘land-and-people tradition’ (ibid: 27), still underpins many language courses in practice. The term kennis van land en volk (knowledge of land and people), is also in some cases still adhered to in the context of Dutch as a Second and as a Foreign Language. The term is gradually being replaced by Nederland-en Vlaanderenkunde (knowledge about the Netherlands and Flanders), a clear indication of the national orientation of this approach to culture in language teaching. The traditional ‘land-and-people’ courses took a strong orientation towards typical national characteristics (ibid: 28). This emphasis has changed over the years, yet the discussion of the ‘national typical’, even of the national psyche, was until recently part of many language courses. I will discuss this below in relation to some Dutch textbooks which specifically address the culture dimension, either as an integrated language activity, in providing reading texts in Dutch, or as articles written in English to be used by teachers to address ‘culture’ in the curriculum as they see fit.
The knowledge element of culture pedagogy, particularly when it has a strong national focus, tends to be based on a view of culture in terms of its particularities. These courses are based on the idea of a defined culture or ‘cultures’ (Williams, 1983 (1976): 89) that can be clearly described as a cohesive unit, marked off from the cultures of other groups of people (Risager, 2006: 33). The most traditional of courses in this mode focus on the history and social structures of the target country, providing factual information on, for instance, the party political, judicial, educational, and healthcare systems, economics, media, and historical events. In other words, a course that describes rather than analyses. These courses tend to provide a simplified picture of society in order to create a coherent overview. An example of a book which is used (or perhaps more accurately now, used to be used, at universities abroad where Dutch is taught is Nederland leren kennen (Snoek, 2000, (1996)). This consists of chapters focusing on history, culture, recent social issues, economics, and religion written in Dutch and functioning as reading texts in the language classroom. Another well-respected example is The Netherlands in Perspective: The Dutch way of Organizing a Society and its Setting (Shetter, 2002 (1997), an English language resource providing an in-depth historical, social and cultural ‘coherent overview of the Dutch society in all its aspects’ [my translation] (Beheydt, 2003). Themes running through the chapters emphasize supposed national characteristics, such as the consensual nature of Dutch society, the pragmatic approach of its citizens and institutions, and, above all, the insatiable need to ‘organize’.
The kind of Landeskunde pedagogy I referred to above, might seem a little outdated, with its broad overview and its references to national characteristics. However, the national paradigm is anything but outdated, at least in practice. Courses which aim to provide a cultural dimension are more often than not presented in a national framework, and directed towards ‘the target country’ and ‘the target language’. Some of these courses can indeed be very informative, aiming for a deeper understanding of the cultural and social complexities of the country under study. Recently, in the Netherlands a book was published with the intention to address ‘culture’ in a more complex context, acknowledging that Dutch national identity is fluid and apt to change as a result of globalization and multiculturalism (Besamusca and Verheul, 2010). Their book, Discovering the Dutch is not primarily written for the educational market, but already it has become a key text for Dutch language and culture courses at universities in and outside the Netherlands. This book takes a more contemporary approach to ‘Dutch culture’ than some of its predecessors I mentioned above. Gone are the references to the national characteristics of the Dutch. And there where Dutch characteristics such as pragmatism and tolerance are mentioned, this is always within the context of representations made ‘through foreign eyes’. The approach to Nederlandkunde in this textbook is not only aimed at giving factual information, but many of the themes which are touched upon are based on research and theoretical considerations. A chapter on the multicultural society, for instance, offers a gentle critique of the ‘us and them’ approach adopted by the Dutch government and sets the discussion in a complex historical context. The occasional references to the ‘construction’ of national identity, indicates that the idea of national identity is not necessarily taken as a given. The book clearly pushes the genre of Nederlandkunde, but it does not constitute a new paradigm as it remains located in a national context. This is not surprising, since the context of Dutch language and culture pedagogy, including the materials and textbooks available, is influenced by the guidelines of the European Council, which I will discuss later in the chapter. But, probably more significantly, Dutch language and culture teaching is influenced by the current political context in the Netherlands. As a response to the brand of government supporting multiculturalism, which the Netherlands pioneered in the late 1970s, the political climate has veered towards a strong national outlook, which demands cultural assimilation of immigrants. These political views also had an effect on the public discourses about ‘Dutch culture’ and history, and the media frequently discussed the need to reclaim the Dutch national identity. In 2006 a canon of the history of the Netherlands was commissioned by the government in order to address the fact that many native Dutch do not have a sense of their national identity and history. The canon, widely used in primary and secondary education, sets out the ‘significant events in Dutch history’ that all Dutch citizens should be aware of.
The national model in language learning in the Netherlands is strong. Language learning materials construct a nationality which constitutes what Billig (1995) refers to as ‘banal nationalism’; the representation of nationality through seemingly harmless symbols, such as the orange dress of football supporters, tulips on t-shirts, weather reports with national maps, and indeed language when it is seen as a political and national, rather than a social construct. Banal nationalism feels ‘natural’, because it is part of everyday life and customs.
The national outlook in culture pedagogy does then not only have its source in earlier romantic notions of nationality but is also influenced by contemporary political contexts. Nor is it only a characteristic of Dutch foreign language and culture pedagogy. As Stougaard-Nielssen argued, the same national outlook takes place in course materials produced in Denmark (2010). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/02%3A_Culture_Pedagogy-_Some_Theoretical_Considerations/2%3A_Teaching_Culture/2%.txt |
The national outlook is gradually being replaced, at least in theoretical discussions of language and culture pedagogy, by notions of transnationality (Risager, 2007,) super-diversity (Vertovec, 2009), and the idea of the Cosmopolitan Speaker (Ros i Solé, 2013).
The view of culture as complex, fluid, changing, and indeterminate, is now dominating the pedagogical literature, as the world is becoming increasingly interconnected in an age of globalization and mobility. Kramsch (2002: 276) refers to the invention of the personal computer as the watershed of changing views about culture. Before the 1970s, culture meant national culture; ‘what peoples had and held in common’, whereas now she says referring to Geertz (2000) ‘there is a scramble of differences in a field of connections.’ As Brian Street (1993) said in an often-quoted paper: culture is not a noun, but a verb. Culture is not a static object, but a dynamic process of meaning-making. Holliday (2004: 132) quotes Hall to refer to the meaning-making aspect of culture. ‘A national culture is a discourse’, Hall says, ‘a way of constructing meanings which influences both our actions and our conceptions of ourselves.’ (Hall, 1996: 613). These discourses of nationalities as ‘imagined communities’ (cf Anderson, 1983) are powerful and perpetuate the myth of national unity and national characteristics that many in a nation would share. Hannerz (1999: 393-407) argues that the seeming self-evidence of ‘cultures’ as entities existing ‘side by side as neat packages, [as if] each of us identified with only one of them’, is a time-worn anthropological concept. Most of us, he states, have more complex lives which entail various cross-cultural allegiances.
Most of us come into contact on a daily basis, whether face-to-face or virtually, with people with different cultural or ethnic backgrounds, with people with different ideas. As a result, we have all become global citizens, who have become part of ‘a larger global tribe’ as Appiah calls it, where intercultural encounters are no longer the exception but the norm for many. Appiah (2006) uses the term ‘cosmopolitanism’ to indicate the complexities and multifaceted nature of these daily intercultural experiences. This challenges the traditional notions of ‘identity’. It challenges the notion of ‘national identity’ as consisting of a clearly described and delineated set of fixed characteristics shared by all within the borders of a nation-state. It also challenges the traditional notion of individual identity – the idea of individuals having a core and stable self, which remains unchanging over time.
But the notion of ‘cosmopolitanism’ does not assume that we all share a universal set of values. The interconnectivity of intercultural encounters that globalization brought, is only one aspect of ‘cosmopolitanism’. It does not preclude the perception of the particularities of ethnic, cultural or national identities.
Kumaravadivelu (2008) proposes that our complex cultural and subjective experiences are formed by at least 4 different ‘realities’ of which the global one is only one aspect. The others are formed of national, social, and individual realities. It is important to note that none of these realities should be seen as fixed itself. Instead, each of these shape and reshape one another in a dynamic and constantly shifting relationship (p.157-158).
However, as I showed above, in language learning materials, the national outlook remains strong. Textbook writers and teachers of ‘culture’ do face a difficult choice. On the one hand, teachers want to emphasize the complex social and cultural reality of ‘the target culture’. On the other hand, teachers or textbook writers do not want to create a confusing message to students; after all, it would be hard to deny that there are cultural specificities. Moreover, students often want to know about what makes ‘the’ culture of the country or countries whose language they study different from their own. Besamusca stated that her students were disappointed when they found out that certain practices in the Netherlands were similar to those in their own country. Students had hoped the Netherlands to be more ‘exotic’ (2006). Similarly, Ros i Solé found in her study of learner identities that students often are attracted to the language they study because of a romanticized idea of the culture (Ros i Solé, Fenoulhet, 2013). This pull between the pedagogic desire for clarity, and the intellectual desire for acknowledging complexity, is part of what Risager (2007: 216) calls the national dilemma.
The content dimension of nationally oriented courses which focus on imparting information tends to centre on sociological and historical themes. But there are two other areas which are also considered to be part of the cultural dimension of language teaching. Since Byram (1989) developed a model for intercultural communicative competence for what he used to call ‘language-and-culture’ teaching, the communication element has also become an integrated part of culture pedagogy. I will discuss this in greater detail in the next chapter. The other very significant element in culture pedagogy, apart from social, political, and historical information, is the anthropological aspect of culture as everyday experienced life. This aspect has been included in the detailed taxonomy by the Common European Framework of References for Languages (2001). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/02%3A_Culture_Pedagogy-_Some_Theoretical_Considerations/2%3A_Teaching_Culture/3%.txt |
The Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR for short) was commissioned by the Council of Europe and published in 2001. Even though it is to a large extent based on Byram’s notion of intercultural communicative competence (see chapter 3), it cannot be completely attributed to him, as the CEFR is a consensus document between the various member states of the EU. In fact, as Risager points out, many of Byram’s recommendations, particularly those on intercultural competence, were not included in the final document (2007: 115). The CEFR provides guidelines for teaching, learning, and assessment and does not suggest particular teaching methodologies. Instead, it consists of a taxonomy of the skills that learners should possess at certain levels of study. The CEFR arose as a consequence of the mobility schemes which were set up by the Council of Europe and which followed the removal of trade restrictions in the European market. These mobility programs encouraged exchanges between staff in areas of governmental and non-governmental organizations in health, social care, education, and other professional domains. To facilitate this movement, the CEFR was set up to encourage language learning, to provide parity in language provision across the EU to prepare people linguistically as well as mentally for the intercultural experiences that mobility would bring. It is an extremely comprehensive document which describes in detail what competencies, skills, and knowledge learners of a foreign language ought to possess at a particular level and in a particular domain.
The emphasis in the document is on language skills, although attention is also given to sociolinguistic aspects which stems from an instrumental rationale: one cannot be an effective ‘intercultural’ or ‘cross-cultural communicator’ without having at least a basic understanding of the social patterns and values in society as these are reflected in the way that people communicate. It relates to culture as communication. For this reason, sociolinguistic information is provided to develop an awareness of prevailing communication strategies and customs (shaking hands when greeting, degrees of directness in expressing intent, etc.). This is what Canale and Swain (1980: 30, 31) called ‘sociolinguistic’, ‘strategic’ and ‘discourse’ competence.
In addition to linguistic and sociolinguistic competencies, there is a cultural dimension in the CEFR, which is referred to as ‘intercultural awareness’, although the emphasis is on language skills rather than on cultural aspects. An important aspect of this awareness is ‘objective knowledge of the world’ in respect of the country in which the language is spoken. This includes information about areas such as everyday living (e.g. food, hobbies, celebrations), living conditions (e.g. welfare arrangements), interpersonal relations (e.g. family structures, race relations, relations between genders), values, beliefs and attitudes, body language, social conventions (regarding, for instance, punctuality, gift-giving, dress, and taboos), and finally ritual behaviour regarding, for instance, religious celebrations, birth and death, festivals and so on (CEFR, pp101-130).
Whilst the CEFR acknowledges that intercultural awareness should be seen in a wider sense than the context of the L1 and L2 cultures, it also emphasizes that learners should be aware of ‘how each community appears from the perspective of the other, often in the form of national stereotypes’ (CEFR, p.103).
Even though the CEFR document does not make reference to its particular perspective on culture, the view which emerges from the CEFR seems to be partly based on a similar view of culture as underpinning Landeskunde: culture as knowledge. But its inclusion of attitudes and values with regards to a range of areas in daily life, suggests that Geertz’s (1973) symbolic and interpretive view of culture as ‘historically transmitted patterns of meaning […] by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life” (Geertz 1973: 89) may also have informed the CEFR.
The CEFR has undoubtedly advanced the notion of culture pedagogy as part of language teaching by introducing a considered list of the wider aspects of cultural knowledge that it considered students should possess. But in practice, at least in contemporary Dutch language courses (cf. Contact, 2010), the cultural dimension is limited to a few reading texts about topics such as the geographical situation of Flanders, or information about everyday habits such as customs and conventions regarding food or celebrations. The rest of the course is solidly based on a functional approach to language teaching; arguably a more considered inclusion of the cultural dimension of the CEFR would have been a step forward.
The focus on everyday life in the CEFR gives the potential to include an ethnographic element into language courses; a self-reflexive awareness of the political, cultural, and social influences to which learners subjected themselves in their everyday experiences and realities. However, this possibility is not emphasized and the CEFR’s treatment of the cultural dimension of everyday life is superficial. It does not encourage reflection beyond a comparing of everyday living practices with the learners’ ‘own’ culture. A national perspective of culture is taken, which links the foreign language to an essentialized idea of ‘the’ target culture and does not allow for a critical understanding of the complexities of cultural realities such as power inequalities, differences in role or status, and the ‘lived experience’ occasioned by the complex and fluid cultural identities and subjectivities of people. It tends to represent culture as homogenous and stable and reduces culture to facts and information. This can provide students with pragmatic and useful information, but it also brings with it the danger of reinforcing, or even creating, unchallenged stereotypical images.
Despite the influence it has on language teaching in Europe, Risager only mentions the CEFR in passing in her overview of language and culture pedagogy (2007: 143); ‘its conception of the relationship between language and culture, and that between language teaching and culture teaching [in the CEFR], is unclear and without theoretical foundation’, she states. Yet, the CEFR informs many language courses in Britain and seems a force to stay.
Whilst I think an element of knowledge about the target country needs to be addressed in language pedagogy, it should not present culture in a bounded, stable, and one-dimensional way, as that will not provide the enabling of an intellectual critical development in the students. This brings us again to the issue of criticality. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/02%3A_Culture_Pedagogy-_Some_Theoretical_Considerations/2%3A_Teaching_Culture/4%.txt |
When I initially started to develop the Dutch language course on which this study is based in the mid-1990s, one of my prime motivations was to introduce an intellectual and critical element to the course. I discussed the motivations for this in the introduction. At the time, criticisms against a national approach had not yet arisen in the pedagogical literature, except as a rejection of the ultimate aim of language learning to emulate ‘the native speaker’. The cultural content element of language teaching courses was largely limited to the national. My own discomfort with the national approach, honesty demands me to say, was at the time not theoretically motivated, but was the result of practical considerations. Wanting to introduce a critical element into language and culture teaching based on the practice of asking students to discuss intellectually stimulating topics, rather than only providing information, I found, unsurprisingly, that most topics relating to culture and society had international relevance. In discussing environmental issues, for instance, students would automatically introduce perspectives, angles and examples which were related to their own experiences, and to discourses with which they were familiarised through their own varied contexts of living. But rather than taking a comparative perspective, it soon appeared through these discussions that the discourses on which students, or the articles I presented them with, drew, were not limited to national situations or viewpoints, but rather to global ones. The differences between perspectives were not informed by nationality, but by ideological and general worldviews which crossed borders.
So from starting out to address critical skills at the level of ‘critical thinking’, or questioning skills, which is located in a humanist educational perspective, I arrived through pragmatic considerations at, what Risager calls, the transnational perspective. I conceptualized this as ‘global discourses’, but since national political situations impact global debates, I also conceived of the notion of ‘national articulations’ within these discourses. I will develop this idea further below.
What I had conceptualized at the time, was that culture, language and communication were infinitely more complex and fluid than most language and culture courses allowed and that the criticality for which I aimed needed to go beyond the questioning skills of ‘critical thinking’. The criticality that was needed to understand how meaning is created, which discourses come into being, why and how, and generally to understand the processes of meaning-making, demanded a different ontological view of culture pedagogy.
An information-based approach would not suffice. A better option for the language and culture teacher would be to address culture in terms of its wider definition and see cultural products and practices in relation to the meaning-making processes that inform them. I found this in the Cultural Studies approach.
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The term cultural studies needs explaining as it is used in different ways in different contexts. In modern language degrees, the term is often used to refer to academic subject courses with ‘cultural content’, such as literature, film studies, or area studies. In language pedagogy literature the term has also been used. In his 1989 book, Byram called the language and culture pedagogy for which he started to develop a theoretical basis ‘Cultural Studies’. However, his use of the term is not the same as that of the Cultural Studies movement which I discuss below. Byram has since dropped the term, as his overriding concept came to be the ‘Intercultural Speaker’, which I discuss in chapter 3.
I use the term cultural studies here in line with Turner (1992: 9) to refer to an interdisciplinary area of study - rather than one particular approach - where various concerns and methods converge which have ‘enabled us to understand phenomena and relationships that were not accessible through existing disciplines’. Its interest encompasses a very broad field of contemporary cultural practices, products, and processes, although its main focus tends to be on ‘popular’ culture, as it rejects the notion of the ‘canon’. Whereas a Landeskunde approach focuses on providing information and knowledge, a cultural studies approach allows students to engage with texts, to ‘discover’ information about cultural practices, values or processes through reading and interpreting texts.
In chapters 3 and 4, I set out my particular take on how to include a cultural studies approach in a language class, but below I provide a short overview of some of the main ideas and concepts associated with cultural studies as an approach to culture pedagogy. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/02%3A_Culture_Pedagogy-_Some_Theoretical_Considerations/2%3A_Teaching_Culture/5%.txt |
Cultural Studies developed initially in Britain. The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Study (CCCS), the first of its kind, was established in 1964 at the University of Birmingham. The birth of cultural studies marked a movement which took a very different view of culture than the traditional one, which is based on the literary canon, and regarded culture as a socially informed construct rather than purely the expression of an individual great mind. The distinction between high and low culture became irrelevant. Raymond Williams, generally considered to be the godfather of this movement, has been seminal in seeing culture as a process as well as ‘concrete lived experience’, and in analyzing cultural products in relation to the institutions and social structures which produced them (Williams, 1961).
British Cultural Studies changed the way that people think about, study, and teach culture, but as the approach developed beyond Britain, different interpretations underpinned by different theories emerged. Much of British Cultural Studies was initially informed by a Marxist agenda, centering around issues such as power relations, particularly those determined by social class. Later academics, such as Stuart Hall extended the notion of inequality in society to incorporate areas of ethnicity and gender. An important moment in cultural studies was the adoption of Gramsci’s (1971) notion of ‘hegemony’, which views the cultural domination of a particular group as being achieved through persuasion or consent. Submission to the dominant ideas is then partly a consensual undertaking. People submit to dominant views because these views have developed a taken-for-granted perspective. Power is then exercised not so much by a dominant group or ruling class imposing its will on other groups or people, but instead, power is the legitimization of certain ideas in becoming the norm. As Van Dijk (1993) states, we speak of hegemony when subtle forms of ‘dominance’ seem to be so persistent that it seems natural and it is accepted that those that are dominated act in the interest of the powerful. Behind this principle of hegemony, as Wallace points out (2003: 30), is the view that people, in general, are not aware of the operation of power, especially as embedded in language. The idea that language practices and conventions are invested with power relations of which people are unaware, is also the focus of a strand of language pedagogy, Critical Language Awareness, which I will discuss later on in this chapter.
The issues in cultural studies are wide and varied but a consensus concerns the extent to which, and the processes through which, cultural meanings are made and accepted, and are imposed upon or resisted by us. The central questions are therefore to do with ideology and power. The notion of ideology which is used in cultural studies is a complex one. The concept of ‘ideology’ is often traced back to a Marxist view which pertains to ideas of economic and cultural domination of the ruling class over the working class. As Wetherell (2001: 286) says, ‘Marxist work on ideology was concerned with testing ideas and statements for their truth value, or their accordance with reality’. However, this early view of ideology has become superseded in cultural studies by other views which are based on notions of reality, which are more complex and subtle.
Stuart Hall (1983) uses the term ‘ideology’ to refer to a framework of ideas and concepts to make sense of the world. This view of ideology as a belief system is the one which is used most frequently in the ‘common sense’ understanding of the term. The notion of ‘ideas’ as encompassing a belief system is, I think, given more subtlety through the concept of ‘discourses’ as used by Foucault, which explains how ways of thinking about a particular topic or slice of the cultural or social world can become so dominant that it ‘infiltrates’ people’s mind and takes on the aura of ‘truth’.
What thus becomes relevant for the study is not just what products or practices are part of a particular way of life, but rather the meanings attributed to them. Quite how we interpret cultural products and practices, whether we see them as forms of self-expression or socially enforced meanings, as acts of resistance or incorporation, depends on the theoretical paradigm and underlying epistemology from which we approach the texts we study.
Interpreting texts then is not just a matter of seeing how meaning is encoded, but it is a process of constructing the meaning of signs which must take account of the wider context in which the texts are produced and in which they are read and received, or how they are ‘articulated’ (Stuart Hall, 1985). Meaning is thus not fixed, as different meanings can be ascribed dependent on the position from which we approach the sign. Different people, in different contexts, with different ideological backgrounds and different individual histories, will interpret texts in different ways. The importance of looking at signs not merely from the viewpoint of text production but also of text reception is central to many contemporary cultural studies practices. One of the key issues in this respect is the notion of intertextuality. As Maaike Meijer (1996) argues, this goes beyond traceable references to other texts and should be interpreted in its widest sense as the whole of the social and cultural climate and conventions. The reader constructs the meaning of the texts through his/her knowledge of and experience with other texts and a whole network of conventions and discourses. In this way, a text becomes what Meijer calls a ‘cultuurtekst’, a network of accepted ways of talking about a particular theme. Seeing a text as ‘cultuurtekst’ necessitates looking at the cultural and social environment in which the text is produced. The intertexts also provide a wider context through the other cultural phenomena and practices to which the text refers and the discourses on which it draws. Intertexts provide the cohesive structure through which text and context can be studied in relation to one another.
Culture in Cultural Studies is not an aesthetic view of culture, but an anthropological one. This, as Risager (2006: 49) says, is an extension of Geertz’ interpretative view of culture as a system of meanings. Whereas for Geertz, she explains, an already existing meaning needs to be ‘unearthed’ from texts or practices, in a Cultural Studies approach the emphasis is on the creation, recreation, and the attribution of meaning as part of a process of people in interaction or ‘dialogue’. This, as well as the notion of ‘cultuurtekst’, are key aspects in my own pedagogy which I will discuss further in Chapters 3 and 4. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/02%3A_Culture_Pedagogy-_Some_Theoretical_Considerations/2%3A_Teaching_Culture/7%.txt |
Central to this chapter is the concept of ‘culture’. I argued that knowledge-based language courses with a national bias do not provide insight into the complexity of culture, although when taught at an academic level, it can develop a critical understanding of the target country in terms of querying information given and understanding changing events in relation to the wider global and cultural situation. A cultural studies approach to culture in language teaching allows for acknowledging the cultural complexity and indeterminacies of contemporary life.
I discussed various views of language and argued that the view of language as being stable and autonomous, as it is in the structuralist paradigm, leaves no role for cultural or social context. This view, whilst widely considered to be outdated in modern language teaching, still, unwittingly, underpins language courses.
Social views of language include the determinist Whorfian hypothesis, which is frequently quoted in the field of Dutch language teaching, to theorize the unrefuted relationship between language and culture. Whilst I believe there is indeed a strong relationship between the two, this is not at the level of ‘a’ particular language in relation to ‘a’ particular culture, which the Whorfian hypothesis supposes. Instead, this relationship is occurring at the generic level.
A more complex view of language and the social world underpins Critical Language Awareness approaches, which provide a critical stance and deepen learners’ understanding of the processes of producing texts, and the ideological forces that have a bearing on this. CLA particularly focuses on how power is produced and reproduced through language. These approaches could be applied to modern language teaching, but the critical understanding, which is occasioned through CLA approaches, should be supplemented with an understanding of other cultural parameters, in addition to power.
Hymes’ view of communicative competence provides such a view in considering a range of parameters, including time, place, and social conventions. However, this view focuses primarily on the context of the situation and does not allow enough space for the wider cultural ideas provided through the context of culture. Finally, I argued that looking at language as discourse, and its meaning-making potential, can help students to develop a deeper understanding of the complexities of the cultural world in which the language under study is spoken.
Risager’s concepts of a generic and a differential level of language and culture help in considering how the notion of discourses can be conceptualized in relation to language teaching. I argued that both levels, the generic and the differential are part of language teaching, and the generic level avoids the narrow one-to-one relationship of the one language, one culture view.
Looking at language as discourse, Pennycook points us to pedagogies of ‘mapping discourses’ (2001), which helps to understand the multiplicity of discourses, how discourses cross borders, and develop students’ critical awareness of how texts construct truth claims. Despite my focus on the global aspect of discourses, I also argued, that we cannot deny particular national ‘accentuations’, even if these articulations themselves need to be understood in the context of the complexity of culture in an age of mobility.
Finally, through discursive mapping students are invited to think about the relations and interrelations which are part of the process of communicating in different cultural situations and realities, and ultimately practice them.
It is this aspect of intercultural communication, which has been implicit in this chapter, which I will discuss explicitly in Chapter 3. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/02%3A_Culture_Pedagogy-_Some_Theoretical_Considerations/5%3A_Summary_and_Conclus.txt |
In the previous chapter, I looked at views of the nature of language and the nature of culture, particularly as applied to the context of language education. In this chapter, I focus on the intercultural aspect of language pedagogy and develop the idea of being intercultural through text. I argued in chapter 2 that the relationship between language and culture is very close on a generic level, but not at a differential level, i.e. there is not a direct and straightforward link between a particular language and a particular culture. At the generic level, language and culture come together through discourses. I use discourses in the way that Foucault uses these; discourses as discursive formations giving rise to certain routinized ways of talking and thinking about specific topics or areas of social life. I argued for an approach to language teaching which is akin to cultural studies, taking account of the notion that language is to a large extent a social construct which is influenced by its context of use. The complexity of the interrelationship between language and its context of use is reflected in discourses, voices, and genres; language as ‘styles for certain spheres of human communication’ (Bakhtin, 1986: 64).
For that reason, I want to extend the notion of context as used in language teaching beyond that of merely situational and immediate concerns, to include a ‘context of culture’ (Kramsch, 1993), as the area where meaning is constructed. Context is then not just formed by the situation in which the communicative event takes place, but also by what the broader views, ideas, and taken-for-granted assumptions and meanings are in particular contexts of use.
Cultural studies as a discipline itself can be approached from at least two different angles, Turner (1992) says: a text-based or a context-based approach. With the former, he refers to the study of texts from literature, film, or popular media. With the latter, he refers to Area Studies: courses which cover historical, social, and political aspects. Arguably, the same applies to language teaching. I will refer to Kramsch’s 1993 book, Context and Culture in Language Teaching, and to Byram’s notion of Intercultural Communicative Competence as the two dominant examples of respectively a text-based and a context-based approach, at the time when I started this study.
Both Byram and Kramsch have slightly rearticulated their positions, but many of their basic tenets are still relevant, and indeed often referred to in the pedagogic literature. Both approaches have taken language teaching out of the mere functional concerns of communicative language teaching and have advanced language and culture pedagogy. Both challenge the myth of ‘the native speaker’, and both use the model of the Intercultural Speaker. I build on both Kramsch’s and Byram’s approaches for my own pedagogy. However, I believe we need to further problematize the nature of intercultural communication and acknowledge its complexity, particularly in multicultural and global societies, without denying the existence of cultural patterns.
To do so, I will look at Blommaert who, although not a language pedagogue, puts forward a view of intercultural communication which can be usefully applied to the debates about language and culture pedagogy. I make use of Blommaert’s insights and relate these to various emerging views in the last few years of a new conceptualization of intercultural communication in language teaching. But, whilst intercultural communication and the inclusion of culture in the language curriculum is a much-debated issue at a theoretical level (cf Risager, 2007; Phipps and Guilherme, 2004; Starkey, 1999; Sercu, 2005; Fenoulhet and Ros i Solé, 2010, to name but a few) in practice, this is still haphazard in many coursebooks, certainly in Dutch, and is even ignored in influential language exams.
My challenge then is to find a model of language teaching as part of a general language course that contributes to the development of the learner as a critical intercultural language user. In this chapter, I build on the concepts discussed in the previous chapters which underpin such a pedagogy, and in chapters 5 and 6 I look at how students engaged with this pedagogy.
4: S
This chapter set out more specifically the underpinning ideas of my pedagogy. I drew on Byram and on Kramsch’s early work, and on Guilherme’s critical pedagogy. I aligned myself with the latter’s critical emphasis, with Byram’s focus on ‘the everyday’ aspects of culture, and with Kramsch’s notion of context as complex and multilayered, her focus on text and on the notion of dialogue in class. I interpret this dialogue as taking place between students themselves as well as in relation to the teacher and the text under discussion, including the multiple discourses which occupy the cultural spaces which exist and open up in such dialogues.
Whereas language and culture in language teaching have been frequently seen as relating to information about the target country, and what to say in what situation, intercultural communication as a discipline, developed initially for diplomacy and applied to business contexts, focuses exclusively on interpersonal relations, seeing a direct link between ‘a’ communicative style and ‘a’ culture. I argued, drawing on Blommaert, that language and culture teaching should not focus on this perceived link, because even though there are patterns of communication in specific, including national, groups, language teaching should take account of linguistic and cultural complexity.
One way of conceptualizing a new way of thinking about intercultural communication is that put forward by Phipps and Gonzalez of ‘being intercultural’; an actual engagement with ‘the other’ in and through language. Ethnography is an excellent tool to encourage interculturality, as it encourages students to observe, participate in, engage with, and reflect on the ‘other’ in relation to themselves and their own complex cultural environment. Even though ethnography is about engaging with ‘real’ situations, I argue that the idea can be applied to looking at text as well.
I set out different views of text which have prevailed in education, but the view of text which allows for a critical, an ethnographic, and a dialogic reading is that of ‘cultuurtekst’, as this view of text combines the idea of text as a product, and text in relation to the context of culture as shifting, complex and reflecting multiple discourses. The idea of ‘cultuurtekst’ then underpins my pedagogy. The advantage of this model, I argued, is that it lends itself to ‘discursive mapping’, which I see as both a critical practice and as an engagement with the cultural contexts of the texts.
In the next chapter, I set out the context in which this study took place, discuss the text I used for this study and I will introduce the framework for analysis which I used with the students. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/03%3A_Being_Intercultural_Through_Texts-_The_Student_as_Text_Ethnographer/1%3A_I.txt |
In this chapter, I set out both the methodological concerns of this study, as well as its context; a space where the tensions between expectations, mine and students’, and the normative processes of traditional liberal humanist educational perspectives and instrumental ones were constantly felt.
The aim of this classroom study was to find out how students engaged with my pedagogy of intercultural language education which I had been developing over the previous years: a cultuurtekst approach. The process of this study was not a neat and linear one. As I let the data ‘rest’ for a few years after I initially collected these, the underpinning ideas to this pedagogy kept evolving. This was as a result of reflection on the analysis of my data, the everyday experience of teaching this particular language course and a range of other courses, and through further theoretical reflection. The first three theoretical chapters of this book, then, do not just set out the theory underpinning the data chapters. Conversely, the data chapters also underpin the theoretical chapters, as my notion of the cultuurtekst approach, and its accompanying idea of becoming a ‘text ethnographer’, and how this contributes to learners’ cultural and intercultural awareness became more refined.
02: Background to the Study
When I started this study in the late 1990s, the theoretical field of intercultural communication as part of language teaching had only just started to develop. The idea that the notion of the Intercultural Speaker should replace that of the ‘native speaker’ as the aim of language learning was only posed in 1997 by Byram and Zarate. At the university where I worked, language teaching was at many language departments still largely grammar and translation based with an assumption that students should achieve the level of ‘near-native speaker’ competence upon graduation. The underlying educational principles in language departments were rooted in the liberal Arts and Humanities with their emphasis on critical and rigorous thinking, objectivity, and the notion of ‘high’ culture. The texts which were used for reading and translation in language teaching were challenging in their intellectual content, but the actual pedagogy did not emphasize communication in the foreign language in real-life situations.
As I set out in Chapter 1, outside the institutions adhering to liberal education, the grammar-translation approach was, justifiably in my opinion, recognized as outdated. A contrasting approach, that of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), was favoured at universities with less traditional language departments or at Language Centres attached to universities. The content of these latter courses was originally developed with exchanges in typical tourist situations in mind, but this was soon incorporated into the new educational paradigm of instrumentalism which was gaining significance in HE.
Contemporary published language teaching materials for Dutch, such as Code Nederlands (1992, 1996) strictly followed the principles of the functional notional syllabus with its bite-size approach to memorizing phrases to perform language functions such as asking for directions or ordering in a restaurant. Unlike the grammar-translation approach, the pedagogy of CLT was informed by general theories of language acquisition and learning. The strength of this approach, clearly, was that students learned to communicate in everyday situations and were familiar with appropriate phrases in a range of contexts. Students would be more likely to use ‘authentic’ language expressions within these set contexts. However, as a language teacher, I felt equally dissatisfied with this approach because of its lack of structure and linguistic underpinning on the one hand, and the reductive content focusing on pragmatic language exchanges only, on the other.
It would seem an obvious solution to integrate the positive aspects of each of these approaches into one syllabus, i.e. integrating the learning of grammatical structures in relation to communicative language functions, and, in addition, adding more interesting ‘cultural’ content. Indeed before embarking on the study for this book, in the mid to late 1990s, I had developed the second and fourth-year language courses at the department where I taught. My brief had been to ‘improve the language skills’ of students. The principles that influenced my courses at that time were informed by, amongst others, Wilkins’ notion of the semantico-grammatical category [1] (1976), Hawkin’s (1984) notion of language awareness as a meta-linguistic construct, and views of language as ‘discourse’ in the sense of the units of language which contribute to coherent texts, i.e. the ‘traditional’ applied linguistics view of discourse. I wanted students to develop their language competence and skills both at the level of social interpersonal communication as well as at the level of academic and cognitive language use; the areas that Cummins (1979) refers to as BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills) and CALP (cognitive academic language proficiency).
In practice, this meant that in my courses I focused on the integration of form, function, text structure, text coherence, and cohesion. But in addition, I also introduced an element of critical thinking in the courses, particularly in the fourth-year language course. At that time I had not conceptualized criticality either as ideology critique, or as ‘discursive mapping’ (see Chapter 3), but instead conceptualized critical thinking to mean scrutinizing argumentation for its logical interplay of ideas in texts and being able to write logical and cogent arguments. In the initial syllabus for the fourth year language course then, I included a range of language activities focusing on ‘heavyweight’ topics such as the political and ethical principles of the various Dutch media or the political ideals and historical influences which were embedded in the current arts policy of the Dutch government.
The initial results of this course (developed in the mid-1990s) suggested that students’ language and writing skills improved in the sense that they showed a greater competence in writing cohesive and coherent texts than was previously the case. They also showed an awareness of the reader (albeit a universal one) in writing reader-friendly prose [2]. Yet, I was still not satisfied with the course and its learning outcomes; the students’ writing lacked authenticity and engagement. I realized that this was due to the fact that they were not able to understand, and certainly not produce, the subtle and connotative cultural meanings in language use. Students were quite capable of comprehending the surface meaning of texts and recognizing stylistic points such as the degree of formality or informality of a text, but they tended not to respond to more subtle or specific cultural meanings. Nor were they able to produce language themselves incorporating these subtle or cultural meanings. Moreover, the texts that I exposed students to covered - due to the nature of the topics, mainly one register: that of the ‘quality newspaper’ or popular academic article. I realized that in my desire to provide a high standard university course encompassing critical thinking, I had unwittingly interpreted the notion of content and culture as couched in the liberal humanist ideology: culture as the ‘better’ products of intellectual thinking. And in having done so, students received a one-sided and value-based view of language and text as needed to adhere to certain standards. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/01%3A_Introduction.txt |
The challenge for me became to develop principles for language teaching and learning for a general language course in the context of a language degree, which would conceptualize communication as not only taking place in a context of situation but also in a context of culture. I followed Kramsch in using these two parameters. The course would need to develop students’ general communicative and critical language skills and relate these to the immediate context (which I had focused on in my original course), as well as relate it to the wider cultural context of ‘ideas and values’. As I came to understand later, the notion of ‘cultural values’ carries with it the assumption of stability and clearly delineated ‘cultures’ which are distinct from others. As I started to conceptualize the idea of cultuurtekst, I soon came to use the notion of ‘discourses’ and ‘discursive formations’ (see chapter 2) in my own conceptualization, although I used these terms only occasionally to students themselves, since they showed a resistance to these concepts. As a result of this study, my own conceptualization of criticality also changed. My intention was initially to develop students’ critical language skills in both the ‘critical thinking’ paradigm I set out above and in addition in terms of CLA, which I saw as a way of alerting students to the fact that texts invite us to take up certain reading positions, particularly in relation to dominance of particular ideologies. Later in the study, I came to think of this as ‘discursive mapping’ as that afforded texts to be looked at in relation to complexities, contradictions, and tensions in real life as well as the ‘text producing environment’.
My intention was to develop these principles through re-designing my fourth-year language course and to reflect on my pedagogy and the students’ responses to see how the course ‘worked’ in practice. This course is taken by students when they return from their Residency Abroad - a period of a year or half a year, spent at a university in the Netherlands or Flanders.
My initial intention with this study was to develop principles for good practice in language and culture teaching. As my study progressed along dialogic lines, i.e. a continuous reflection on practice in relation to theory, new concepts started to emerge. The research focus changed as part of this reflective process. Early on in the study, I articulated the initial aim further as ‘developing principles for a pedagogy that would enable students to see the text as cultuurtekst within a general language course’. Later on, my research focus shifted from developing principles of good pedagogy to understanding what happens in the classroom, and how students engaged with the concept of cultuurtekst, which had become the focus of my pedagogy.
It was the juggling and problematizing of the initial and emerging concepts which posed the challenge of this study. In the process I followed various angles and themes, later abandoned them, resurrected some, picked up new ones, only to abandon some again. I will describe below which concepts, in the end, informed the thesis and how they changed over time. However, first I will set out the nature of the enquiry and the particular methodological features of this study. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/03%3A_Research_Challenge.txt |
The data for this study consist of two recorded and fully transcribed lessons out of the fourth-year language course and two sets of fully transcribed student interviews. In collecting and analyzing these data I engaged in a few different research orientations. As my study was aimed in part at improving my own pedagogy, it can be said to be a form of action research. However, this study aims to be more than a ‘procedure designed to deal with a concrete problem’ (Cohen and Manion, 1985: 223), as it seeks to understand how students responded to my approach and to see what would emerge from my classes in terms of student learning and engagement. In that sense, my methodology is ethnographic in nature in trying to understand the ‘richness, complexity, connectedness, conjunctions, and disjunctions’ (Cohen et. al., 2007: 167) of the classroom environment. I used the ‘traditional’ ethnographic methods of participant observation, although there was a tension between my dual roles of teacher and researcher. I also carried out in-depth ethnographic style interviews. My study reflected to some extent the tension which exists in ethnography between traditional naturalistic perspectives which sees the ethnographic product of field notes as a closed, completed, and final text, and a postmodern orientation influenced by the linguistic, or interpretative turn. The latter orientation looks upon the discipline as characterized by difference and diversity and a series of tensions ethnographers and the people they study both engage in.
As I indicated earlier, my data seemed messy and contradictory. The realities of the classroom and the students’ experiences seemed at times ambiguous, elusive, and slippery. However, it is in reflection that I can conclude that this indistinctiveness is an inherent part of the research which seeks not to reduce or simplify the complexity of social reality. As Blommaert (2010: 11) states, social activities are ‘not linear and coherent, but multiple, layered, chequered, and unstable.’ By refusing to impose ordered methods to complicated and kaleidoscopic realities, ethnography becomes a critique, Blommaert suggests (ibid).
It can be said that in my own study I used the standard social science approaches of observations and interviews. Similarly, in the initial stages of the data analysis, I followed the ‘mechanical’ approach which is inherent in that standard methodology. Nevertheless, my intellectual engagement with the data, as well as with the ‘project’ as a whole, has embraced ways of thinking about the method which sees messiness not as an unavoidable disadvantage, but as a ‘way of working’ and a ‘way of being’ (Law, 2004: 10).
In my reflection on the data, this study also borrows from grounded theory (cf. Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Rather than having a clear hypothesis at the start of the study to explain certain phenomena, research using a grounded theory approach aims to understand these phenomena through the data. Concepts and categories of explanation are ‘discovered’ through careful analysis of the data, as well as through reference to and reflection on theoretical literature. The tentative categories and concepts which emerge can be tested over and over again, against new data in a continuous cycle. In relating the data to concepts and to make links with existing theories and categories, I developed and rearticulated the concepts which I discussed in the previous chapters. This process of developing categories and concepts took place through ‘coding’: reading and re-reading the data and going through these to see what categories emerge, whilst acknowledging the multiple voices and what Denzin and Lincoln call the ‘breaks, ruptures, crises of legitimation and representation [and] self-critique’ (quoted in Atkinson et. l. 2007 (2001): 3). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/04%3A_Methodology_and_Messiness.txt |
In developing my approach to language and culture teaching, I conceived of the context of situation and context of culture as consisting at two levels: context of situation as the basic level that students would need to understand and the context of culture as the level which would allow students to become intercultural – to understand where the text or the speakers were ‘coming from’ at an ideological level. Both levels are necessary to discuss and understand text, and indeed to become a competent language user and intercultural speaker. The second level, the context of culture, addressed the relationship between language and culture at the generic level; how values and ways of thinking are articulated and refracted in language through discourses. Following a range of other concepts, such as a Foucauldian notion of discourse, Bakthin’s notion of multivoicedness and dialogue, Kress’s notion of conflicting discourses and Maaike Meijer’s idea of cultuurtekst, I applied these ideas to my language teaching courses, in what I came to call the cultuurtekst principle of language teaching. As I set out in previous chapters, this principle holds that seeing text as cultuurtekst helps students to become aware of the discourses and values which underpin our everyday communications and which are often taken for granted. I wanted to make students aware of this through reading texts, and also to apply, or at least be aware of it in their own communications.
The notion of cultuurtekst also helped me to address the tension that exists in the relationship between language and culture at the differential level, i.e. ‘a’ language related to ‘a’ specific culture. As I set out in chapter 3, we cannot hold to a view of a direct relationship between a language and ‘the’ culture with which it is associated. Yet, at the same time, we cannot ignore that there are cultural patterns which relate to or, at least, are experienced by people as a national or localized entity (cf. Holliday, 2011). Many of the discourses that learners come across, however, are global and cross many different national borders, e.g. the discourses of ‘terrorism’ or ‘environmentalism’, but these ‘global’ discourses can be articulated differently in different contexts, including national ones. I have called this in relation to the text we discussed in class a ‘Dutch articulation’.
In the process of conducting my study and analyzing data, making tentative inferences, and recognizing categories, new concepts emerged. Whereas earlier on in the study I had worked with the notions of context of situation, context of culture, and different views of criticality, which then led me to the idea of cultuurtekst, the analysis of the data brought new categories to the fore. One of these new categories was particularly the importance of students’ previous personal experiences, their emotions, their lifeworld knowledge as ways of making sense of the world in interpreting texts. Also, I realized that the view that students had of ‘text’ became an important part of their response to the text. The ‘partial’ or ‘half ’ understandings (as I saw them), I recognized later to be an important part of the ‘struggle to mean’ and to gain a deeper understanding of these complex issues. As I realized, the ‘rich’ learning moments in the lessons had been where students engaged with and related the text to their own experiences.
Students did not just approach the text in an intellectual way, but also in an experiential way. That is to say, they read text in relation to their own experiences. I came to think of this way of intellectually and experientially engaging with text as ‘seeing text as a text ethnographer’, which I describe in Chapter 3.
It was only retrospectively, after the process of analyzing, further reflection, and further theorizing on the course that I came to see how reading texts as an ethnographer is a way of engaging with the other and being intercultural through texts, so it was not part of my pedagogy at the time of data collection.
This study analyses two lessons in the fourth-year language course. In order for the reader to understand where these lessons fitted in, I will give a short overview of the course, its aims, and the distinctiveness of my approach. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/05%3A_The_Concepts_which_Informed_the_Stu.txt |
The course which I am using as the basis for this study, is a fourth-year Dutch language class. The reason for focusing on this year's group was partly pragmatic, in that this was the only language year group I was teaching at that point. However, more importantly, I felt that for researching the understanding of the cultural locatedness of texts, the fourth-year class would be the best starting point as the students had just returned from the Netherlands or Flanders on their Year Abroad, and would therefore have already experienced various cultural practices; in other words, they have already participated and have been socialized in the ‘shared cultural knowledge’ that the Dutch readership for the texts we are using would have. The fourth-year students would therefore be more likely to recognize the discourses in the texts in relation to the context of production and be able to discuss texts at a critical level because their language competence would be that much greater than in the first or second years.
Whilst the course takes a cultuurtekst approach, which borrows concepts from cultural studies, it is important to emphasize that this study took place as part of a general language class and not a cultural studies class per se. This means that students were not just engaged in reading, discussion, and interpretation, but also in other practical language tasks which included all the four traditional language skills. However, as the students on this course have just spent a substantial time in a Dutch-speaking environment, they are confident communicators at the interpersonal social skills level (cf. Cummins), and are confident intercultural speakers. For that reason, the course focuses more on cognitive language skills. It is largely centered around texts (including oral and visual ones, although the latter were only touched upon), discussed in class, and with a range of follow-up writing activities.
At the time of data collection, I had articulated the overall aim of the course at a practical level as enabling students to function and communicate at a professional, social and academic level in a Dutch-speaking environment within a wide range of social and cultural contexts. Apart from advancing students’ actual language skills, this functioning particularly requires the students to develop an awareness of how language, communication, and culture relate to one another. As I mentioned earlier the students need to be able to engage with communicative instances at the level of context of situation as well as context of culture. Both levels would demand a particular level of criticality. Looking at texts in relation to the context of situation requires students to engage with texts as products and encourages them to think critically about the text in terms of its interplay of ideas, its coherence, and clarity. Looking at the context of culture requires students to engage with text as a process and encourage criticality in terms of ‘discursive mapping’: looking at texts for the way they draw on discourses and produce ‘truth claims’ and maintain assumptions about the world and power differentials. Students need to be ‘critical intercultural language users’, not only in their ability to read and talk about texts but also in being able to write and address readers themselves, taking into account the communicative demands set by both levels of contexts.
As set out in previous chapters, the course differed from other Dutch language courses in its focus on awareness-raising of ‘culture in language’. In my previous chapters, I criticized the instrumental approaches to language learning which are informed by the guidelines of the Council of Europe. Particularly in the Netherlands, there is a strong instrumental focus in language teaching. My criticism of instrumentalism is directed at its limited and reductive approach to the social and cultural world. Frequently in instrumentally oriented textbooks, examples of ‘language in use’ are presented as if the language users all share the same context and speak with the same voice; as if there is a universal (native) speaker.
That does not mean that I believe preparing students for the world of work is irrelevant, but I believe that the ‘world of work’ is part of the complex wider cultural context. We cannot predict what particular linguistic and cultural contexts our graduates will encounter. What we can predict, however, is that these situations will be complex and differ each time, will be challenging, consist of many indeterminacies, and will be intercultural.
As well as linguistic skills, students should develop intellectual skills which go over and beyond the cognitive academic language proficiency of writing cogent arguments in order to understand and become aware of language and its uses in the cultural world. These are not just skills for functional and pragmatic purposes, but also for ideological purposes: recognizing on the one hand how ideas and values are reflected and constructed in texts, how power relations are reproduced, and how the reader is positioned in certain texts.
With these factors in mind, I designed the course so that students were gradually made aware of the wider cultural context of the text and how this is reflected and constructed in the language used. I had ‘packaged’ this approach to students in the more pragmatically formulated notion of ‘style’. After all students’ expectations and their own objectives for this course would have been primarily to improve their language skills, not to learn how to analyze texts. The importance of looking at cultural values in texts, I explained, was partly to recognize as a reader where a text is ’coming from’, but also, it would help them in their practical writing skills by being able to write stylistically appropriately for different aims and purposes. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/06%3A_Distinctiveness_of_the_Course.txt |
The course of 20 weeks is split into two parts. In practice, the material that I wanted to cover in the first part took approximately 12 weeks, with 8 weeks left for the remaining part of the course. The table below shows a schematic overview of the course. However, the course did not progress as neatly as the overview suggests. As well as discussing texts and doing writing activities, we also did grammatical exercises where appropriate. In addition, a number of lessons were spent on translating texts as this offers a way to discuss cultural aspects of a text.
The first 12 weeks of the course consisted of two blocks. The first block introduces the notion of ‘style’ in relation to the aim and audience of a text before looking at how language in its stylistic choice of structures and lexis can reflect particular ideological positions in texts. In order to help students to query the seemingly natural positions in texts, I introduced most texts in ‘pairings’ so that students could see how else the topic could be talked about. I also structured the ideas in a gradual way, moving from ideas of situational context to context of culture. Paired texts covered the same topic, but were either written for different purposes, for different audiences, consisted of different genres, or draw on different discourses.
The second block of this first part of the course applied these conceptual ideas to a more ‘traditional’ area of advanced language teaching; that of argumentation and text structure. In looking at structure and argumentation we initially focused on the ‘textual’ and ‘product’ level of the text, I introduced students first to the academic, rhetorical and linguistic aspects of these areas, e.g. how arguments and texts are constructed, and cohesion and coherence in texts. Then we looked at these texts in their situational and cultural contexts. It is in this block that I introduce the notion of cultuurtekst using the Men’s Health text which is the focus of this study. I will discuss these lessons in more detail below.
The second part of the course aimed to put the framework and the new understandings of cultuurtekst into practice in more practically and professionally oriented situations and contexts, such as report and letter writing and giving oral presentations. I ask students to look at addressivity and at the positioning of the texts, as well as to write for different contexts, and drawing on different discourses. My main aim in this second part of the course with moving from cultuurtekst to instrumental and goal-oriented areas of language teaching was to encourage students to apply their critical awareness of discourses to communicative events which may seem even more natural than those of popular media texts but are equally filled with different voices, discourses, and ideologies. In their writing I want students to be responsible towards their readers and audience – to take account of ‘addressivity’.
Course Overview
TERM 1 Language and Culture
Block 1
Aim: To introduce the concepts in a progressive fashion
Topics:
• Representations of Dutch (and English) culture and society in the Dutch media
• Comparing discourses
• The multi-cultural society
• A current debate, e.g. euthanasia
• Gender roles and representations
Texts used include:
• Two newspaper reports from different newspapers reporting on an attempted prisoner break-out’. Newspapers: Telegraaf and Volkskrant.
• Two interviews conducted by a female journalist in a series of interviews with ‘experts’ about their views on Dutch identity. One was an ex-diplomat, the other a young female parliamentarian of Turkish descent. Newspaper: Volkskrant.
• Two informative texts about Dutch identity: 1) textbook for social studies at secondary school; 2) the first two pages of an article from a popular academic monograph Het nut van Nederland.
• Three texts representing regional identities: 1) article from a Dutch newspaper, Volkskrant, about the Cotswolds; 2) column in the newspaper, Trouw, by Dutch novelist about his experiences of and views on London. 3) a texts from popular media, One, a magazine aimed at young women, ‘exoticification’ and essentializing particular travel destinations.
• A set of texts to make the differences clear between aim, audience, style, and genre of the text. Topic: self-development courses. Texts: 1) PR material from personal development/vocational training company; 2) a section from a popular weekly publication for young women (Viva) giving ‘vignettes’ of people talking about courses they have taken and how this helped them to develop personal skills; 3) course description from the website of a publication aimed at professional staff, Intermediair Loopbaantrainingen.
• Texts from the same genre, but different audiences and orientations are compared for different representations of the same event in terms of information focused on or left out; grammar, lexis, and their effect.
• Texts from the same genre are looked at critically and used for discussion of content and are compared for different positioning from journalist and interviewee and the other way round, through the language used.
• Text from textbook is looked at critically for the essentialist representation of an aspect of Dutch culture, and scrutinized for how the language used and its ‘breezy style’ help to ‘convince’. Text from academic monograph is used to compare its style: its structure and stylistic strategies (e.g. repetition and contrast) also help to ‘convince’.
• The travel texts are used to further talk about the representation of identity, and how the language and style used aids respectively 1) its nostalgic impression of the Cotswolds through romantic literary language, 2) discussing students’ personal responses to the novelist’s views, and 3) its exoticizing and directing at the audience by fitting in with expectations of genre, using techniques of rhyming and repetition and focusing on senses.
• We analyzed the texts for genre, purpose, audience and style. This led to talking about different values about work and personal development which were reflected in some of the texts.
Tasks and Assessment:
Activities included discussion about and analysis of the texts. Writing tasks are in preparation for the assessment task which is to write two contrasting pieces: a fairly essentialized description of a country or region or town in a ‘closed’ style as well as a more nuanced version about the same place in a popular academic style.
Block 2 Argumentation
Aim: To apply the concepts to a larger range of genres relating to arguments, debates, and discussions. Introduce the concept of cultuurtekst more explicitly.
Texts and materials used include:
• Textbook for native speakers about argumentation structures
• Ons drugsbeleid mag er zijn. Rationale for drug policy written by the Dutch Health Secretary (published in NRC newspaper.)
• Three texts about a new euthanasia law in the Netherlands: 1 and 2) two newspaper editorials from Trouw and Volkskrant respectively. 3) An emotive interview with a mother whose child died through euthanasia.
• Three texts: 1) Het multiculturele debat, Paul Scheffer, NRC. This text later became a key text in the discussion surrounding multiculturalism in the Netherlands. 2) A criticism of this article and 3) Scheffer’s response to that.
• Three texts about gender roles and representation: 1) a polemical text: ‘De man als dinosaurus’, Liesbeth Wytzes, Volkskrant. 2) An argued response to this text; 3) Men’s Health text: ‘Pas op. Er word op je gejaagd’.
Focus:
• Text in context of situation:
• Text purpose
• Audience
• Text as product:
• Argumentation structures
• Argumentation types/genres
• Cohesion and coherence
• Text as the context of culture
• Genre
• Intertexts
• Implicit argumentation/discourses - Cultuurtekst
Tasks and Assessment:
Activities included discussion about and analysis of the texts. Writing tasks were in preparation for the Assessment task which was to write an argument about the same topic and more or less the same viewpoint, but for different audiences and purposes and hence drawing on different discourses.
NB The discussion of this particular text forms the focus of and is the entry point of my study.
TERM 2 Practical Skills
Aim: Apply the concepts introduced in the first half to communicative situations often encountered in work-related contexts.
Oral Presentations
Materials used:
Textbook on communication Presentations from a symposium about the topic whether Dutch language is in danger of disappearing
Authentic Contexts
We look critically at text book examples. It is useful to gain new language expressions, but we critique its lack of authenticity. We talk about different styles and audience needs and contexts. Addressivity and audience.
We listen to two presentations held at a symposium in the Netherlands to see how they are structured and what techniques the speakers use, such as repetition.
Tasks and Assessment
Students work on sample presentations for different contexts. These are recorded on film and discussed individually with students for pointers on style and manner etc.
Oral presentation: students use the same topic as their year abroad research project and choose an appropriate and authentic context, and determine what role they themselves and the audience need to play. Students are assessed on relevance and appropriacy of content and style within the chosen context.
Report Writing
Materials used:
Authentic reports of institutions and companies
Identity:
We look at these reports partly in terms of product, the kind of conventions within report writing and expressions and representations of statistical information, but we particularly look at these in terms of context of culture: what corporate or public identity the institution/company is representing through language and the information focused on (i.e. traditional and trustworthy, or dynamic, market leader, environmentally aware, successful, etc.).
Tasks and Assessment:
Activities include discussion about and analysis of the texts. Writing tasks are in preparation for the Assessment task which was to conduct a simple study, i.e. in local swimming club or amongst students regarding eating habits, and to write two reports using more or less the same information but for different audiences and purposes.
Letter Writing
Textbook on communication for a few examples.
Many authentic letters: e.g. asking for donations, newsletter, letters from school to parents, an invitation to a leaving party of a colleague at work, an invitation to project meeting, and so on.
Addressivity
We look at textbook examples critically. It is useful for some language expressions, but we critique its lack of authenticity. Talk about different styles and audience needs and contexts. Addressivity and audience.
We used a framework I made for analyzing letters and focus on interpersonal relations and positioning and power relations and how these are embedded in language.
Tasks and Assessments:
Tasks included writing a range of letters for different purposes and audiences and ‘relationships’ including power roles
This task is assessed during the exam where students have to write two letters about the same topic using different roles and purposes and positioning, e.g. provost sending letter to students advising not to go on strike, union sending letter to students urging them to go on strike.
Summary
Context
In the last couple of lessons, we focus on the importance of context in writing a summary. Depending on why you want to write a summary and for whom, you will focus on different aspects and formulate it differently.
08: The Lessons
The two lessons I focus on in this study represent the point in the course where I introduce the notion of cultuurtekst explicitly to the students. Even though we have looked at discourses in texts at earlier points in the course, I had masked that as looking at ‘style’.
These two particular lessons fitted into a series of lessons within the block on argumentation, which had as its starting point gender roles and representations. Prior to discussing the Men’s Health text, the class discussed a feminist polemical article, ‘De man als dinosaurus’, (‘The male as dinosaur’), by a female journalist, and a critical response to that. The students looked at this text particularly to see how the linguistic representation through grammar and style enhances the impression of the strong successful female and the weak disempowered male. I then introduced the text which forms the focus of this study, the text from Men’s Health (see appendix).
The reason for discussing the Men’s Health text was that it provided a range of different and contrasting discourses with the previous texts. Whereas the first two texts, respectively the feminist text and a critical response to it, came from a ‘quality’ newspaper (de Volkskrant), the Men’s Health text is a different genre text from a popular lifestyle ‘glossy’ for men.
The rationale for using a text from the popular media is that discourses tend to be more exaggerated and easily recognizable. Moreover, as Wallace citing Luke et. al. (2001: 113) states, these texts may seem innocuous, neutral, and requiring just a simple response, ‘cumulatively they document and shape social and cultural life’ (Wallace, (2003: 1). This particular Men’s Health text, I felt, would easily yield a discussion around discourses and values in texts. The topic crossed national boundaries and the article drew on various conflicting discourses familiar in the western world. Moreover, I thought there was a Dutch articulation in the text, as I will explain below. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/07%3A_Overview_of_the_Syllabus.txt |
The framework I have developed (see below) borrows to some degree from Wallace (2003: 39), in the sense that her concern with critical language awareness (CLA) is both with critiquing the logic, arguments, and sentiments expressed in texts, as well as the ideological assumptions underpinning these (ibid: 42). As the basis of my framework I adapted Wallace’s orienting questions which she based on Kress (1989): 1) why has the text been written?; 2) To whom is the text addressed?; 3) What is the topic?; 4) How is the topic being written about?; 5) What other ways of writing about the topic are there? However, I am not following Wallace’s Hallidayan methodology, based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (1994), partly because of its high level of abstraction which would demand much more specialist in-depth analysis and the use of metalanguage. My theoretical concerns are less with in-depth analysis according to clearly delineated linguistic categories. Instead, I saw my framework partly as a tool for looking at texts, at both levels of ‘text as product’, and ‘text as cultuurtekst’, each encompassing a particular perspective on criticality. As I set out before, one of my concerns with reading texts in class is also with the culture. I saw cultuurtekst not only as a tool for analysis but also as a guideline to facilitate the dialogue in class, to provide the ‘fuel’ in the process of collaborating in making sense of the text. Moreover, cultuurtekst also embodies the cultural aspect of language learning, as by looking at discourses in texts, students can access social, historical, and political meanings.
I intended for the discussion around texts to move from a focus on the text at a textual level, to text at a cultuurtekst level, which I saw in relation to respectively the context of the situation and the context of culture. I based the level of context of situation on Hymes’ model of communication, even though strictly speaking this model also encompasses cultural and social contexts as part of some of the speech categories such as norm and genre, but, these, I would say, are distinct from the context of culture, as they do not explicitly consider values embedded in language use. For my framework then I conceptualized the context of the situation in a slightly more ‘pared’ down manner than Hymes’ model, focusing particularly on the where, to whom, when, why, and how. Or as I have phrased it in my framework, the text audience, the text function, the text structure.
English Translation of Framework
Framework for Analysing and Understanding Texts
1 – Content: What (or Who) is the Text about?
• what is the main point?
• maybe also: what are the subsidiary points?
• what is exactly said about those points?
• Relating to your own expectations and knowledge
• to what extent do you recognize the theme of the text?
• in what kind of situations have you come across this before (having read or heard about it?
• and in what way?
2 – Immediate Context:
• aim/function
• what does the text ‘do’? (what does the text want to achieve?) examples of functions are: to inform, to analyse a problem, to suggest a solution for a problem, to amuse, to give an opinion, to convince the reader of a particular argument, to explain something, to try and convince the reader to change his/her behaviour, etc.
• Describe the function in relation to the content of the text. For example: this text provides an overview of the different saving accounts available at this bank. Or: this text tries to convince the readers that the product of this company is the best on the market.
• Which (strategic) means are used to achieve that aim?
For example: Engage the reader by appealing to making the theme recognizable, or engage the reader through grammatical structures, e.g. use of imperfect tense. Or: Convince the reader by referring to sources of authority, or by making comparisons, or by referring to a generally accepted ‘rule’ or convention, etc.
• target audience: who is the text aimed at?
• is the text written for a certain situation or a certain publication?
• and what do you know about that situation?
• if you don’t know that situation or publication, are there clues in the text which could help you to find out what kind of audience the text is aimed at? (for example: is the reader expected to have certain prior knowledge, the way the reader is addressed (or not), the kind of arguments which are used, kind of sources which are used, complexity, liveliness, formality, and use of grammar: use of passives, complex sentence structures, use of verbs, nouns, adjectives etc.)
3 – Genre
• What kind of text is it? (for example: a business letter, a personal letter, an invitation for a party, a news report, an opinion article in a newspaper, an essay, a report, an academic article, a conversation, a joke, an informative article in a women’s glossy, dietary advice etc.)
4 – Text as Text
• structure
• How is the text structured?
• What is the effect?
• cohesion
• How are the sentences and sentence parts connected? (for example: formal markers, use of ellipsis, repetitions, through word order, synonyms, bridging sentences which indicate links explicitly etc.)
• What is the effect?
5 – Text as Cultuurtekst
• How does the text talk about the topic and the ‘participants’? Show this by referring to specific words and expressions. (For example: written from perspective of the ‘participants’; distant; critical; ambiguous; knowledgeable; angry; sympathetically; with empathy; with disdain; from a power position; as truth; cautiously etc.)
• How is the reader addressed? (as equal, patronizingly; as a ‘student’, from the assumption reader shares the same ideas and values; with (dis)respect; etc.)
• Which values do you recognize in the text? (for example: feministic; new age; religious; social-democratic; humanistic; conservative; capitalistic; individualistic; collaboratively; environmentally aware; nationalistic; etc.)
• Which different ‘discourses’ and ‘intertexts’ do you recognize in the text? (see above, and discourses reminiscent of law, textbooks, advertising, financial world, etc.)
• Are these values conflicting in any way?
6 – Evaluation
• Why is this text written?
• If you would write it for a different target group what and how would you adapt it?
• What other ways could you write about this topic (think about aim, audience, values, and intertexts?
• Is it an acceptable text if you look at it from a liberal view of text structure (in terms of argument, structure, clarity, and ‘honesty’)?
• How do you yourself respond to the text now? Compare with your own expectations you had written down at point 1.
I introduced this framework at the point of the lessons where we looked at the Men’s Health text. The questions in the framework were not specifically geared to this particular text. So, even though one aspect of the second lesson related to Dutch articulation, the framework itself does not cover this aspect. The notion of Dutch articulation was not a general point to be discussed for each text we read but seemed pertinent to this Men’s Health text. There are six points in the framework, which relate to various stages in the interpretation process, as I had conceptualized this. These stages move gradually from content and description gradually to interpretating and problematizing the text. The earlier points in the framework relate to looking at the text from an ‘outside’ perspective, whereas looking at the complexity of the text as cultuurtekst introduces discursive mapping which involves students looking at texts also from an ‘inside’ perspective.
In designing my framework I did not take account of the framework which O’Regan (2006) designed for his approach which he calls the TACO approach: Text as a Critical Object, as his study was not available then. My framework does indeed differ from O’Regan’s in that his framework is designed to be interpretive, as well as analytical. My approach as I explained before was less explicitly analytical and partly formed the basis for discussion of text and content. Although O’Regan’s TACO approach is more complex and more fully underpinned by philosophical perspectives, there are some similarities with my approach as a staged process of analysis and an aim to engage in ‘discursive mapping’ (Pennycook, 2006), so I will refer to his work in the discussion of my framework below.
The first point in the framework serves to invoke students’ previous experience and expectations of the text in order to make them aware of the possible preconceptions they may have. This is not a pre-reading activity per se, because normally the students would already have read the text as homework in preparation for the class. However, the first reading of the text as homework is primarily meant for students to read at a content level, in order to look up any vocabulary they do not understand. Point 1 in the framework then, is to ensure there were no misunderstandings which arose from unfamiliarity with the vocabulary or with certain (cultural) references to the text. Under the heading of what the text was about, I also included the recognizing of main and subsidiary points in the text. This was because the aim of my lessons was partly to develop cognitive language skills.
The second point was designed to make students think more carefully about the immediate context of the text; the context of the situation. This involved moving from the surface content of the text (which is discussed under point 1) to recognizing what the text ‘does’; what its aim or function is, and the way of bringing that about, such as the use of various argumentation schemas. Another aspect of this part of the framework refers to the target group: who is the text aimed at and how can you tell? Whereas the first point of the framework is intended to be purely at a description level, this second point in the framework moves the attention of learners on to the level of interpretation. This point in the framework constitutes the ‘preferred reading’, which O’Regan (2006: 113) describes as ‘the apparent argument, perspective, or purview of the text as it appears to the reader and is therefore preferred in the sense that the text itself seems to indicate this preference.’
Point 3 of the framework, the notion of genre, bridges the notion of context of the situation, i.e. social setting, and context of culture. I have given this a separate heading as it needs some special consideration, both in terms of reading as well as the writing of the text. In developing writing skills, it is crucial for the students to consider the conventions of certain social contexts (Bakhtin, 1986; Fairclough, 1992). As far as reading a text is concerned, the issue of genre helps students to recognize the conventions associated with specific types of text and to consider why a text may deviate from these conventions and expectations.
The fourth point of this framework, text as text (i.e. text as a product), is designed to alert students to the textual aspect of the text, which I see here as a more traditional, structuralist approach to text in language teaching. In this framework, I am contrasting the notion of text with the notion of cultuurtekst. Under this heading students look at the text in terms of cohesion and argumentation. The rationale for this was not only to develop cognitive language skills but also to guide students towards the interpretation of the text as cultuurtekst. I felt that, together with Point 3 of the genre, looking at the effect of the overall structure and cohesion of a text, would alert the reader to style as social language use, which would pave the way for seeing the text as cultuurtekst. This point in the framework, as well as the previous two points, requires critical work by the students which are on a par with the ‘critical thinking’ level defined by Pennycook (2001) as being an aspect of the liberal humanist paradigm. It is a level of critique which requires students to take up an ‘outside’ position towards the text they are reading.
The most important point for my purposes is point 5, that of cultuurtekst. In this section I want students to look at that aspect of cultuurtekst which recognizes and maps the discourses and the voices in the text, and to see if the discourses are consistent with one another, or conflicting. The conflicting discourses are the most significant ones. For this aspect I borrowed from Wallace’s framework (Wallace, 2003: 39) which focuses on how the topic and participants in the text are represented. I am encouraging students to recognize discourses by engaging their knowledge of previous texts, of intertexts, by asking: where have you come across this kind of ‘talk’ before? This discursive mapping, ‘problematizing practice’ (Pennycook, 2001), applies to all texts, and not just to ones which show clear ideological positions, in terms of power domination. As O’Regan states (2006: 118) ‘all texts are inserted into a matrix of social, political, and economic meaning relations.’
The final point in the framework is an overall ‘evaluation’. I use evaluation here, partly in line with Halliday (cf 1985) in attributing meaning to the text. However, it also has a more pedagogical rationale in the sense that it functions to summarize the points mentioned under 5, cultuurtekst, which can then be compared with the questions and answers which were given in the earlier parts of the framework. I followed Wallace’s aforementioned Hallidayan framework with questions such as ‘Why has this text been written?’ which serves to make students aware that as well as text function, as part of immediate context discussed under point 2, there are ideological underpinnings to a text. Finally, I ask the students to look at the text from the liberal humanist perspective of text: Is it a clear, well-argued piece of text?, before asking them to give their own response to the text. By comparing their answers under point 6 with earlier answers, I hope to alert students to the value or importance of analyzing a text from different perspectives.
Important to mention is that my framework was not purely meant to help students interpret texts, but also intended to function as an ‘awareness raiser’ for students in producing text themselves. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/09%3A_Framework_and_How_it_Relates_to_the.txt |
The English translation of the text is in the appendix. I will offer a summary here.
The title of the text is: ‘Huwbare mannen gevraagd’ (‘Marriageable men wanted’) with the subtitle: ‘Pas op. Er wordt op je gejaagd. (‘Look out. They are after you’.) The text comes from a monthly publication called Men’s Health. The publication is an international one, and the Dutch version carries the same English name. As far as I can tell, the texts are not translated from English but written by Dutch authors for a Dutch audience. The particular issue (1999) which carried the text I was using for these classes, used the following editorial categories within the table of contents: ‘Fitness and sport’; ‘Relationships’ (the category in which the article under discussion appeared); ‘Psychology’ (an article about stress); ‘Nutrition’; ‘Sex’ (‘How to keep going for longer’); ‘Health’; ‘Career’; ‘Adventure’; and ‘Fashion’. In addition, there are a number of columns which all reflect the topics in the sections just mentioned. The categories and topics would suggest that the target group of Men’s Health are ambitious, health, and body-conscious, fairly youngish men. The notion of ‘success’ is emphasized in many of the articles and columns.
Content and Context
As described in the introductory paragraph of the text, the article is about single career women between 35 and 54 whose ‘biological clock is ticking’. As the title states: ‘Marriageable men wanted’. The women are represented on the one hand as aggressive young women who go out in the evenings to engage in ‘mannen vernielen’ (‘male-bashing’), and on the other hand as women who have a problem and need help, as they are incapable of maintaining a healthy relationship with a man, and are thus risking missing out on having a baby.
The ‘preferred reading’ of the text could be construed as advice or as a warning to men. In the last line of the introductory paragraph this is made explicit as the (male) reader is directly addressed in this warning:
Kijk uit, er wordt op je gejaagd.
Look out, they’re after you. (literally: Look out, you’re being hunted).
Equally, there is a whole paragraph with the heading: ‘The career woman: instructions for use’, in which advice is given. It starts with the following sentence:
Wat doe je wanneer je verstrikt raakt in een relatie met een vrouw die gehard is in de top van het bedrijfsleven?
What do you do when you get trapped in a relationship with a career woman who has been hardened in a top position in the business world?
There are some linguistic, as well as visual features of the text which suggest a half-serious as well as a half amusing undertone in discussing the particular ‘social phenomenon’ of the single career woman. Particularly the descriptions in the first few paragraphs, which describe some of the women in their ‘male-bashing’ exploits seem geared to getting some laughs:
Allen zijn ze op hun eigen manier even succesvol én …. even single. Nou ja, de meiden komen wel aan hun trekken hoor, dat is het niet. Dorien – 34, topbaan bij een bank – heeft al een paar jaar een relatie met een getrouwde vent. José – 36, manager bij een hotel in Utrecht – heeft een onmogelijke verhouding met een vage schilder met een alcoholprobleem.
All are in their own way equally successful and …… equally single. Well, the girls don’t go without, you know. Dorien – 34, top job at a bank – has had a relationship with a married bloke for a few years. José – 36, hotel manager in Utrecht – has an impossible relationship with some vague artist with an alcohol problem.
Similarly, the inset box with a quiz about ‘how to recognize a desperada’ clearly is not meant to be taken seriously, e.g.:
• Ze heeft geen kinderen maar soms al wel de kinderopvang geregeld - 25 pt.
• Ze citeert moeiteloos enkele strofen uit ‘Het dagboek van Bridget Jones, 59 kilo’ -10 pt.
• Zeven van de tien zinnen die ze uitspreekt, begint met één van de drie volgende woorden: onafhankelijkheid, ruimte of respect - 20 pt.
• She doesn’t have any children but has sometimes already arranged child care 25 points.
• She quotes with ease whole paragraphs from ‘The diary of Bridget Jones, 59 kilos’ – 10 points.
• Seven out of her 10 sentences start with one of the three following words: independence, space, or respect – 20 points.)
On the other hand, the thrust of the rest of the article seems fairly serious and informative. There certainly is a semblance of seriousness in its references to other sources. The dominant information source is that of the female psychologist, Labrijn, who has carried out ‘exhaustive research’ (uitputtend onderzoek) into this phenomenon. She has written a book on the subject and gives therapy to women with ‘this problem’. Furthermore, a documentary film by a Dutch female filmmaker set in New York is cited as proof that this problem is universal.
Representations and Discourses
When deconstructing the text, the first paragraph sets the scene and gives the impression that ‘the issue’ of single career women is widespread. They are characterized as a homogeneous group:
Ze verdienen geld als water en hebben alles wat hun hart begeert, behalve een man. Steeds meer hoogopgeleide carrière-vrouwen tussen de 35 en 54 raken in paniek omdat zich maar geen potentiële vader voor hun kind aandient. Ze zijn soms cynisch, vaak hard en altijd veeleisend...
They earn money like water and have everything to their heart’s desire, except a man. More and more well-educated women between 35 and 54 are starting to panic because a potential father for their child has not yet turned up. They are sometimes cynical, often hard-nosed, and always demanding…
The group characteristics are defined as:
Leuke, goed geklede, vlot gebekte meiden zijn het en ze hebben het helemaal voor elkaar.
Great, well-dressed girls they are, with the gift of the gab and they’ve really made it.
What it means to have ‘really made it’ is further defined in terms of possessions and appearances:
Designkleren, dakterras of balkon, vlot karretje onder de cellulitis-vrij getrainde billen, make-up van Clarins en Roc, koelkast met zalm en champagne en natuurlijk die job met uitdagende perspectieven.
Designer clothes, roof garden, nice trendy car under their cellulite-free trained buttocks, make-up from Clarins en Roc, fridge with salmon and champagne, and of course that job with challenging prospects.
Moreover, this group of women is represented as sexually aggressive:
Als de meiden uitgaan is zij [Suzanne] het die roept ‘Kom vanavond gaan we mannen vernielen!’, een kreet die een gevleugeld begrip is geworden in het groepje. Sarren, flirten, beetje zoenen, en net als hij denkt dat-ie jou heeft, toch weer afwijzen – aan veel meer komen ze niet toe.
When the girls go out, [Suzanne] is the one who shouts ‘Come on, tonight we’re going to destroy men!’, which has become a battle cry in their little group. Provoking, flirting, a bit of snogging, and just when he thinks he has got it in the bag, drop him. Much more than that they don’t get around to.
Initiating sexual advances seems to be the male prerogative.
Welke man heeft er geen avonden gespendeerd aan vrouwen waarin je een vermogen aan aandacht, humor en dineetjes investeert met nul komma nul aan (seksueel) rendement?
What man has not spent evenings with women, investing a fortune in attentiveness, humour, and dinners with zero point zero (sexual) gain [profit]?.
The expected conventions of behaviour, it is clear, is for the man to take the woman out to dinner and bestow his attention and charm on her, with a clear expectation that this favour will be returned in sexual kind. The discourses on which the text draws are very similar to the ones which the Men’s Health publication displays; discourses of success and status defined through possessions, a job, a toned body, and money. The latter is important; the quote above is located within a capitalist discourse, e.g. ‘investing’, ‘fortune’, and ‘profit’.
These discourses of success take on a natural common-sense assumption when applied to men. However, when applied to women, these discourses take on a negative connotation; it seems subversive and abnormal for women to have ‘a top position in the business world’. Indeed the rest of the article makes clear that success is not a natural state of affairs, but it is a ‘problem’ for women. The first example of this is in the form of a woman in a documentary film, Laura Slutsky (!), who as a single career woman has ‘developed strategies for being successful’, which have led her to be ‘confrontational and critical’ in her relationships. Laura was told by her psychiatrist that ‘her game was power’. She might win the battle with this, but she would lose the war.’ Again, power and success are highlighted as problems. By describing Laura in relation to her psychiatrist, her desire to be powerful and successful is constructed in terms of an ‘illness’ or ‘madness’ (cf. Foucault, 1965). Moreover, the unnatural and aggressive aspect of this is emphasized by locating power in yet a different strand of meaning: that of fighting and war.
Another shift in tone then takes place. A discourse of psychological analysis is constructed as the female psychologist, Labrijn, is quoted, explaining that women’s desire for success is occasioned through their ‘jeugdervaringen’ (childhood experiences). Frequently, the father is absent, and because of this fatherly neglect women overcompensate by building ‘a strong male ego’ for themselves in terms of ‘wanting to achieve a successful position in society’. But building up this strong outer protective layer
snijdt haar ook af van haar zachte kant. Haar creativiteit, haar vermogen evenwichtige relaties met mannen aan te gaan.
has cut her off from her soft side, her creativity, her ability to have stable relationships with men.
Labrijn continues:
Afhankelijk kunnen zijn is het taboe van de succesvolle vrouw.
Being able to be dependent is the taboo of the successful career woman.
Softness, creativity, being dependent are then constructed as ‘natural’ characteristics of women.
Another shift of personal self-development takes place as the psychologist describes therapy sessions in which women are trained in ‘alternative behaviour’. Together with her clients, she explores the behaviour that women themselves want to change. Moreover, Labrijn gives some practical tips to men who are in a relationship with a career woman. These reflect the discourse of self-development; on the one hand, the shared responsibility is emphasised, and on the other, the importance of the man to protect himself and his own individuality:
Zoek en vecht samen uit wat wel en niet goed voelt in de relatie, ook als je voor jezelf geen pasklare antwoorden hebt. En blijf bij jezelf.
Work out together what does and doesn’t feel good in the relationship, even if you have no ready-made answers. And stick to your own convictions.
The final paragraph represents yet a different strand of discourse, which seems to be almost diametrically opposite to the discourses of the independent successful career woman. Instead, an intensely traditional image is presented; evidence of the successful results of the therapy sessions is given in the form of the marriage and birth announcements Labrijn receives from her ex-clients. Moreover, she herself points to how happy she is now since she has been in a ‘really good relationship’ for the past 5 years. Moreover, she also had her first child, she says ‘beaming’. The last few sentences set the article within a wider context. Labrijn explains women of her age have been part of the generation which was conscious of feminism, and even though, she said, this was a phase that was necessary, it had led to a particular attitude towards men:
In die tweede feministische golf werden mannen individueel verantwoordelijk gemaakt voor allerlei maatschappelijke misstanden, voor de ongelijkheid. Dat heeft de attitude van je afzetten tegen mannen bevorderd en onze generatie heeft daar last van. Ik denk dat er nu wel ruimte is voor een andere houding.
During the second feminist wave, men were held individually responsible for all kinds of social injustice, for inequalities. That encouraged the attitude of contempt for men, and our generation suffers from that. I think now the time is right for a different attitude.
Feminism is represented here for its contempt against men. It would seem then, that the final discourse which emerges is that of anti-feminism. This final discourse, allows us, I would suggest, to read the whole article in the light of an anti-feminist perspective or at least a perspective of fear of successful women, as success seems to be a male attribute.
The women in the text are represented in many different and conflicting ways. Through the range of representations and different discourses a picture is created where the discourses of power, success and sexual aggression are ‘natural’ for men, but unnatural for women, to the point that they are seen as ‘ill’ or at least as ‘unhappy’ when they display these male characteristics. What is natural for women is to be soft, creative and dependent, and to find happiness in a stable relationship and motherhood.
A discourse of self-development, both in terms of changing one’s behaviour and gaining insight into oneself is also reflected in the text. Part of this discourse is the discourse of shared responsibility, (‘work out together what does and doesn’t work’) and a discourse of individuality, at least when it applies to the male: ‘stick with your own convictions’. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/10%3A_The_Text_and_My_Analysis.txt |
Looking at the text as cultuurtekst as I did in the previous paragraph, means looking at culture and language at a ‘generic’ level. But I also felt that this text displays culture at a ‘differential’ level (cf. Risager, 2007), which I referred to in Chapter 2 as ‘Dutch Articulation’. The topic of the text is clearly a global, or at least a western one; indeed students made intertextual connections, as Chapter 5 will show, with American and English soaps and films. Yet my own interpretation of this text is that particularly the gender-based discourse of women-only finding fulfilment in motherhood was more likely to have occurred in the Netherlands. Whilst I realize I am treading on dangerous ground here, keen as I am to underline the pluriformity and multicultural aspects of society and avoid an essentialist interpretation, there are nevertheless cultural and social specificities in society as a result of, at least in part, historical development. Certainly, in her history on Dutch women’s writings between 1919 and 1970, Fenoulhet (2007: 1) highlights the ‘extreme emphasis on the nuclear family’.
Another Dutch discourse, as I saw it, was that of the semi-therapeutic one, which was quite prevalent in lifestyle publications in the Netherlands at the time (1999). On the other hand, we could surmise that ‘therapy talk’, and the discourse of ‘personal development’ is part of many lifestyle magazines in the west. It has become so ingrained that we cannot even step outside it easily; it has become taken for granted to such an extent, that, even in a men’s magazine, it does not seem out of place (at least not to me). However, I felt that a discourse which sometimes is referred to as ‘touchy-feely’, - the word already indicates a critical attitude - would be out of place in an English men’s magazine. I also interpreted this particular discourse as an indication that strongly negative stereotyping of women and brazen sexism, as expressed in the first part of the article, was not acceptable, even in a glossy male magazine (which quite likely is also read by women), and needed to be toned down and wrapped up in a semi-serious therapeutic tone. Of course, the underlying sexism is still there, even, or maybe especially in the ‘therapy-part’ of the article. But the therapy discourse seems to make the sexism in the article more acceptable because of the tone of concern and caring it adopts, even using a literal female voice.
12: Using the Framework in the Classroo
In the first lesson, students had not received the framework for analysis which I discussed above. I felt that it might make the class too formal and I wanted them to ‘engage’ with the text. For most of the other texts we had discussed in the course up to that point, I had given them questions specifically geared towards that particular text. In quite a few instances I found that following the questions one by one formed a hindrance to the flow of the discussion in class. In this particular lesson, then, the framework was intended to be more of a guide for myself.
However, as I will show in Chapter 5, in reality, it was very difficult to follow the framework. Whilst it had been designed to take students through the text progressively, the students themselves did not make that strict separation. Frequently, in answering one of my questions, they would bring in issues that related to one of the other points in the framework. Initially, I did say on a couple of occasions; ‘this will come later in the lesson’, but as that frequently had the effect of stopping the flow of communication, I tried to steer students back to the point under discussion – and not always with success. Cooke and Wallace call these students ‘not staying on task’ (2004: 109). This happened even more frequently in the second lesson, as the students rather than pre-empting the next questions, used the text for their own purposes to ‘talk around the text’ (ibid), as I will show in the next chapter. As a result, the framework was followed only in a very loose sense during both classes.
To prepare students for the second lesson, the cultuurtekst part of the framework, I gave students a copy of the framework and asked them to answer the questions related to Point 5 as a homework task. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/11%3A_Dutch_Articulation.txt |
There are six students on this course, two male, four female. Five of the students have followed the whole program in the department which included a language course in the first and second year and a year or a half year (varying between 3 to 8 months) spent in the Netherlands as part of the Year Abroad. The sixth student was a mature student, Chris, who was in his sixties and who followed an MA course at the department. All students have had experience of foreign language learning at an advanced level (i.e. at A-level or comparable) before they started this degree course. All students except one (Emma) started the degree course without any prior knowledge of Dutch. Students followed a variety of degree options which were either BA Dutch or a combination of Dutch with another modern foreign language.
All students are white, three are mature students (Chris, Emma, and Eve), the other three either started their degree straight from school or after a gap year. All students were British, but students had a variety of background experiences. In addition, there were two exchange students from the Netherlands, Marijke, and Yasmin, who I had invited to take part in one of the classes which I use for data collection. I will describe the individual students below.
Emma
Emma was a mature student in her late twenties. She had lived and worked for a number of years in the Netherlands before she came to study at our department. She was the only student in the group who when she started her degree already had a high competence in Dutch. She was taking the BA Dutch program.
Claire
Claire had studied in France for a couple of years doing a Baccalaureate, but had lived in Britain prior to that. She did not speak any Dutch when she started her study. She was taking the BA Dutch and French program.
Andy
Andy had taken A-levels at a British school. He did not speak any Dutch before starting his study. Like Claire, he was taking the BA Dutch and French program. Sarah Sarah had taken A-levels at a British school. She also started Dutch completely from scratch. She was studying BA Dutch and German.
Eve
Eve was in her mid-twenties which classified her as a mature student. She had lived for a brief period in Amsterdam working in a bar. She had a smattering of Dutch when she started her BA Dutch program.
Chris
Chris was a mature student in his sixties. He had worked his whole life. He was taking an MA course at the Dutch department. He had learned Dutch many years ago and wanted to catch up on his language skills. His Dutch competence was particularly grammar-based and his writing style tended to be very formal.
Marijke
Marijke was an exchange student from the Netherlands. She was studying literature at the University of Groningen. She also undertook some work practice while she was at the department. In this capacity, she did vocabulary work with students in a literature class.
Yasmin
Yasmin was an exchange student from the Netherlands. She was studying at the University of Amsterdam and was of Turkish descent.
In Chapter 5, I use classroom data mainly, but not exclusively, relating to Claire, Emma, Sarah and Marijke, because their responses tended to provide the richest segments of data. In Chapter 6, in providing a general overview of my findings, I also discuss some interview data relating to Claire and Sarah. I decided to focus on these two students because of their contrasting approaches to the cultuurtekst pedagogy. One of the students, Claire, could be said to be a ‘model student’, as she engaged well with this pedagogy. Claire has also, together with Emma and Marijke, contributed more than the other students to the classroom discussions. I selected Sarah for this study, because the data relating to her are significant: she resisted my pedagogy throughout the course and she was very open and frank about this.
14: Conclusion
This chapter described the context in which my study took place and I set out the conceptual framework which I developed to look at texts as part of what I call the cultuurtekst approach. I draw attention to the tensions, ‘ruptures’ and frustrations which were part of this study in terms of a number of areas, which included
1. the conflicting pulls of language teaching discourses in the context of my work;
2. the organic nature of the study, with paradoxical and ‘messy’ data and a constant interplay between data, theory, and reflection;
3. and in the classroom itself when students did not always ‘play ball’ or even resisted my pedagogy.
In the next chapter, I look at the classroom data of this study in which these tensions emerge clearly. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/04%3A_Context_of_Teaching_and_Research/13%3A_The_Students.txt |
In this chapter, I look at what happened in the classroom data during the two lessons in which we discussed the Men’s Health text, using the framework for analysis which I described in Chapter 4. During the first lesson, we discussed the text as ‘text’ and looked at it from the perspective of the immediate context, or the context of the situation, which, as I described in Chapter 4, I had conceived of as a pared-down version of Hymes’ model of communicative competence.
During the second lesson we looked at the text as a cultuurtekst, i.e. we looked at it at the level of the context of culture. For the second lesson, I had invited two exchange students from the Netherlands to enhance the intercultural aspect of looking at a text as cultuurtekst. I have explained in Chapter 4 how these two lessons fitted in with the syllabus as a whole.
I had conceptualized both lessons to be distinct from one another, with lesson 1 focusing on the situational context, pedagogically speaking supporting the second, cultural and intercultural, layer of reading. Both levels of reading would require students to approach the text from a critical perspective, but I had envisaged students taking a critical approach to the text from outside, seemingly objective stance in Lesson 1 and a critical approach of critiquing the ideological stance in Lesson 2.
To be able to answer the overall question of this study ‘How do students engage with the cultuurtekst-pedagogy?’ I focus in this chapter on what different ways of reading my focus in these two lessons yielded.
More particularly, I look at whether the cultuurtekst layer of reading would enable students to ‘be intercultural’, whether they recognize the range of (conflicting) discourses in the text, and whether reading the text at a textual level in the first lesson would pedagogically speaking support the reading of the text as cultuurtekst in the second lesson. Finally, I look at whether the notion of Dutch articulation is a fruitful one to pursue as part of a cultuurtekst approach reading.
A number of tensions emerged from these data, tensions which were located both in the fact that students’ conceptualization of the text and of the pedagogical activity itself were not always straightforward. It is particularly how students engaged with the text through ‘dialoguing’ and ‘languaging’ which led me to understand the importance of students’ own experience in interpreting the text, and particularly how these experiences can be utilized and given a greater role in the classroom.
1: The Progress
This first lesson took place with all six students in the group, 2 male, 4 female. The students had read the text as homework and I had asked them to underline and look up the words and expressions they did not know. At the start of the lesson we quickly went through any queries students still had at a semantic level. I had not given students a copy of my framework for analysis, so the discussion was to a large extent teacher-led.
Whilst lesson 1 was geared towards looking particularly at the level of ‘text’ as a product and in relation to the immediate context of the aim, audience, function and structure of the text, students did start to deconstruct the text and issues of representation and voice also surfaced. I followed the structure of my framework for analysis loosely. The first 20 minutes or so of the lesson were taken up by me explaining the task, i.e. that we would look at the text twice over the course of two different lessons, that in each session we would look at it in slightly different ways, and that Dutch students would be joining us for the second session. I also explained briefly what these two different ways of looking at text were and that in the second session we would focus on a text as ‘cultuurtekst’, i.e. looking at discourses and possible intertextual references. Students had heard of the terms ‘discourse’ and ‘intertext’, as they had been mentioned in other classes, but it seems fair to say that the understanding of these concepts was still somewhat vague. I only explained these in a cursory manner. This was partly because in previous years when I piloted my course, students had shown resistance to explicit analysis in class. They felt the language class was for learning language skills, not for doing text analysis. Equally, in previous lessons in the course with the cohort of students on whom I am basing this study, students had responded very negatively when I mentioned the word ‘discourse’. One student, Chris, said: ‘It’s always ‘discourse this and discourse that. It’s just jargon’, referring to another (literature) course. Other students were nodding in agreement. I felt at that time that we could talk about the issues by referring to terms such as ‘ideas’, ‘values’, and ‘network of ideas’, as these terms seemed less ‘loaded’ to students. After all, my aim was not necessarily for students to carry out a full discourse analysis of texts, but rather to raise awareness of underlying assumptions in texts. I did not purposely avoid the term ‘discourse’, but I felt we could talk about all the issues which a critical look at texts would throw up in language with which students felt comfortable. As it turned out some students occasionally used the term ‘discourse’ themselves, and whilst students sometimes searched for terms and phrases, they were able to express complex ideas fluently and at times in an academic voice.
The level of participation of individual students in this lesson was more or less on a par with that of other lessons during the year. Noteworthy is that the male students did not contribute very much to the lessons, though this was partly reflected in all lessons, as the female students tended to be very articulate and eager to engage in classroom discussions. Both male students signaled signs of resistance towards this particular text. Chris particularly disliked the text and said several times it was a very ‘bad’ (slechte) text. He commented once that the writer was probably drunk when he wrote it. Andy participated more than Chris but tended mainly to contribute only when being addressed directly. Andy commented that he had not much to say about the text, because it did not relate to him. Both Andy and Chris rejected the triviality of the text. Andy commented later in his interview that he felt the topic would have been better discussed using a ‘better’ text. With this, I assumed he meant an academic text or one from a ‘quality’ newspaper. The female students in the class on the other hand clearly were invoking personal experiences and intertextual references, even in this first lesson. In my discussion of the data of this first lesson, I am guided by the topics of the framework: content, function, and text structure. A more specific selection of data was guided in the different ways of reading the text. I will now turn to the discussion of the first point in the framework; that of ‘content’. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/1%3A_Introduction.txt |
Aligning with or Going Beyond the Text
In line with my framework, the first point I wanted students to engage with was the surface content of the text. My aim with this question was to elicit an awareness of the surface content, or ‘preferred reading’ of the text, what the text seemed to be about, at the first reading. Even though in my framework I had formulated other questions relating to content, particularly whether students recognized the theme of the topic and in what situations they might have heard or read about it, it turned out to be difficult to follow this format as the discussion tended to stray from the point at times.
My own interpretation of the surface content of the article was guided by the introductory paragraph in the text, as well as by recognizing a particular rhetorical structure, often referred to in the Dutch mother tongue writing pedagogy as the ‘problem-solution’ structure (cf. Steehouder, 2006 (1979)). (We had discussed these rhetorical structures in texts a few weeks earlier.) Applying this structure to text, the ’problem’ would then relate to a ‘certain type’ of women (single successful career women between 35 and 54) whose ‘problem’ is that they are not capable of loving and lasting relationships and were thus lacking a partner to have a baby with.
The question of what the text is about is of course very open and ambiguous. In effect, I am asking students to give a concise summary in one sentence. And as we had not at this stage looked at the text in terms of its textual structure, the students responded from first impressions. Moreover, as I explained in Chapter 3, readers bring their own experiences to bear upon interpreting text so a wide range of interpretations is to be expected. This highlights the issue that summarizing out of context – a standard pedagogical task in much of language teaching – is not a disinterested activity. We can only summarize a text if we know what the reason for the summary is and from which perspective we need to summarize.
The students gave indeed a range of different answers:
Eve
Eve: …dat dat soort vrouwen nu bestaan en een beetje gevaarlijk zijn voor mannen […] vrouwen die op jacht willen en jonge mannen willen pakken. […] ja niet gevaarlijk, maar hoe zeg je dat nou? opletten
G: Ja een waarschuwing voor mannen.
Eve: …that these kind of women now exist and are a bit dangerous for men […] women who want to hunt and catch/ grab young men […] well, not dangerous, but how do you say that: ‘take care’?
G: Yes, a warning to men.
Andy
Andy: Het gaat over dat sommige vrouwen nu een mannelijke identiteit hebben.
G: Wat is het mannelijke daaraan? Wat is het mannelijke aan hun identiteit?
Andy: Dat ze hard zijn geworden..
Andy: It’s about the fact that some women now have a male identity.
G: What is male about it? What is male about their identity?
Andy: That they have become hard…
Sarah
Sarah: eh… ik vond het een beetje grappig. Het gaat over hoe mannen ook gebruikt kunnen worden.
G: Als hoofdpunt of als bijpunt?
Sarah: …. er zitten een heleboel tips in over hoe je deze situatie kunt vermijden.
Sarah: I found it a bit amusing. It’s about how men also can be used
G: As main point or as subsidiary point?
Sarah: … there are lots of tips in the article about how to avoid this situation.
Claire
Claire: Kijk voor mij is dit de ideale vrouw die de ideale man wilt.
Claire: For me, it’s about the ideal woman who wants the ideal man.
Emma
Emma: Ik denk dat het echt gaat om vrouwen die echt denken dat ze niet zonder een man kan; dat ze echt een man nodig hebben.
Emma: I think it really is about women who really think they can’t live without a man, that they really need a man.
The question of what the text was about was made even more difficult because of the range of conflicting discourses and the various textual elements in the text (e.g. the visual page layout of the text which included different headings, photographs, and various text boxes). The students’ interpretation of the text content showed that rather than trying to weigh up the different text elements together and to decide what the main thrust or point would be, they focused on only one aspect of the text. In doing so, students’ answers depended on what they had selected as a significant aspect of the article.
Even though my question was intended to be one of surface content, students did go beyond that already, and tried to analyze the content in relation to an aim or an underlying meaning; they gave an ‘evaluation’ of the text, as Halliday (cf. 1985) calls it. Wallace (2003: 43), referring to Wells (1991), points out that it is inherent in readers, even very young ones, to discuss the implications of the text.
All students presented their answer with a confident voice and took the question to be a standard pedagogical one needing a definite answer. They did not query the ambiguity of the question, nor the ambiguity of the article.
Text Alignment: Discourse of Hard and Aggressive Women
The aim of this first stage of reading the text had indeed been to ‘stay close to’ the surface content of the text, and not to query any of the underlying ideological assumptions or the truth claims made in the text. However, even if students stayed close to the text, there were still significant differences in their responses.
Eve applied a common reading strategy to determine what the text was about. She looked at the first paragraph, where frequently the main point is introduced. In this introductory paragraph, the text explicitly addresses the presumed male audience and says: ‘take care: you’re being hunted’. In her interpretation Eve is aligning herself with the text’s presentation of what the main issue is; namely to say that ‘these’ women exist and men should be warned against them. She is interpreting what the text is about from a text functional perspective; the text aims to achieve something, and that aim is to warn men against these women. In seeing the content of the text as related to its function, she is in line with Hymes’ paradigm where text function or aim is one of the features guiding communication.
However, in describing the women in the text as ‘scary’, Eve also evaluated the text. She presumably referred to the paragraph in which the women were described as enjoying ‘male-bashing’ when going out with friends in the evening. In focusing on this particular representation, rather than on any of the other various representations of women in the text, Eve saw the main point of the text as embodied in that particular discourse. Eve is confident in her interpretation of the text; she does not add qualifiers or modal particles.
Andy, similarly to Eve, feels the text is about a certain ‘type’ of women, but he pinpoints a different representation as the main point. By saying that they have a male identity, Andy may be referring to the part of the article which is written in a therapeutic discourse, where the male characteristics that women have taken on are explained as a response to their perceived lack of paternal contact. Andy does not elaborate on this, nor does he say the article represents the women as having a male identity. Instead, he states that the text is about the fact that some women have a male identity. And as such he is staying with the thrust of the article. He says this in a seemingly objective voice by presenting his view as factual statements and by not adding a qualifier such as: ‘according to me’. The meta-communication that Andy uses is in line with traditional educational discourse where the teacher asks questions and the student responds. A qualifier in such cases is not necessarily a convention that needs to be followed.
Sarah’s answer is interesting because on the one hand, she seems to align herself with the text position, yet on the other hand she is looking outside the text to interpret the main issue of the article. Sarah, like Eve and Andy, also uses a confident voice and uses no qualifiers such as ‘I think’, so she seems to be confident about her interpretation. However, she is also explicit about her own response to the article: she thought it was a bit amusing. Sarah is also evaluating the text; she is assigning meaning to it. Like Eve, she also sees the article in terms of its discourse of women who are ‘dangerous’ for men, but Sarah transforms that discourse into one of ‘exploitation’; the text is about the fact that men can also be ‘used’. So, Sarah sees the main focus of the article not so much in terms of ‘the fact’ that ‘these kinds of women’ exist, but instead, she focuses on the effect these women have on men. Whereas Eve and Andy saw the article in the light of women, Sarah is seeing the text in relation to men.
However, Sarah also evokes her knowledge of society to attribute meaning to the text. By using the modifier ‘ook’ (also) Sarah transposes the issue of women being used (by men) to men being put in the same role. Being used is not just happening to women, Sarah seems to be saying. Moreover, Sarah, like Eve also assigns a functional meaning to the text. By stating that ‘there are lots of tips in the article about how to avoid this situation’ (of being used by women), Sarah sees the aim of the text also as informative for men, which could have a real impact on the readers’ lives (avoiding a particular situation).
Even though the three students above, Eve, Sarah, and Andy all hinted at the particular discourse of ‘aggressive women’, their answers still showed considerable differences, showing the complexity and ambiguity of the question of what the text is about. Eve stayed closest to the text by focusing specifically on the introductory paragraph, whereas Andy and Sarah were already ‘evaluating’ the text. In mentioning the amusing aspect of the article, Sarah pointed to the ‘preferred reading’ of the text. All three students had interpreted the task as a traditional language classroom task and followed the academic discourse for that. They gave their answers in a seemingly objective voice. They also stayed on task in seeing text in relation to the immediate context.
Going Beyond the Text: Different Discourses
Two other students, Emma and Claire, did not just stay close to the text position of the discourse of ‘hard’ women, as Eve, Andy and Sarah had done. They both allowed a greater role for cultural context in their interpretations. But each of them drew on a different discourse in the article. Claire took on a position of critique from the start. By saying that the text was about the ideal woman wanting the ideal man in the set of data above, Claire is not only evaluating the text, in relation to its immediate context, she is relating it already to a context of culture. It is not clear how she has come to this interpretation, or indeed what she means by ‘ideal’, although in making this statement, Claire is, like Sarah, clearly referring to the text-producing environment and indeed discursive formations. She comes back to this interpretation later on in the lesson when she seems to refer to the pressure women are under to conform to certain lifestyle characteristics (e.g. have a great body, wear great clothes, have a great car etc.). In making this connection, she is also evoking her life experience and knowledge of media discourses by seeing the text in the light of these previously encountered discourses. She comes back to this text fragment several times in the lesson. In contrast to the other students, Claire makes clear that she is not just stating what the content of the article is, but what she thinks the text is about; Kijk voor mij is dit… [Look for me this is about…]
Emma has yet another response to the question of what the text is about. Like Claire, she is not aligning herself with the position of the hard and aggressive women, and she brings her own evaluation and interpretation to bear on the text. She, like Claire, is explicit in stating she is giving her own interpretation (ik denk dat het echt gaat om…, I think that it is really about…). Her interpretation centres on one of the aspects of the article which focuses on women who are unsuccessful in their relationships, as represented through the therapeutic discourse of women who go into therapy to help them to have ‘stable and mature’ relationships. That she feels strongly about her interpretation is shown by the fact that she used and repeated the word ‘echt’ (really) several times. She did not explain her interpretation nor why she specifically focused on only this particular discourse. Both Claire and Emma were already engaged in ‘discourse mapping’, even if they did not do this explicitly.
In summary, in the individual answers as to what the text is about, students focused on the various content aspects of the text, which represented a range of discourses; aggressive women (who are ‘bad’ for men), women who have a male identity, pressures on women to be perfect, and women who feel they are incomplete without a man.
In doing so, they discuss the text at a range of levels: functional, cultural (identity and representations) and intertextual (implicit references to other media representations). So even if the question of content was intended to focus students’ awareness on the superficial text level, students interpreted the task as an invitation to go beyond the text, to evaluate the text and critique the ideas and truth claims implicit in it. Even in the answers which stayed closest to the text, and indeed the intended task, students inscribed their own meaning onto the text and evaluated it in relation to what could lie behind this text.
However, the contrast in these representations, the aggressive woman versus the image of fulfilled motherhood, was not seized upon by any of the students at this stage, and in fact never became a point of focus in either of the two lessons, despite my efforts to draw students’ attention to it. Each student saw the text-only in the light of one discourse, i.e. single-voiced discourse, whether about ‘aggressive women’ or about ‘women as mothers’. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/2%3A_Lesson_1%3A_Text_as_Text/2%3A_Discussing_Te.txt |
Different Positions of Critique
From the initial statements about the content of the texts, students gradually started to collaborate to make sense of the text around the questions which focused more specifically on the pragmatic aspect of the text (audience/aim) as well as structure and argument. My intention had been to focus specifically on this immediate context of text production, but students continued to relate the text further to its wider cultural context.
In my own answer to the question of what the text was aiming to achieve, I indicated that there were two sections in the article where the reader was addressed directly; in the first paragraph this consisted of a warning (as Eve had indeed noticed earlier), and further on in the article, as Sarah had noted above, the reader was presented with advice on ‘what to do when trapped in a relationship with a career woman’. However, apart from these paragraphs which indicated a warning and advice, at the surface level the article as a whole seemed to present itself as an informative text, albeit in a humorous tone, setting out the phenomenon of ‘single career women’ and its ‘associated problems’.
Claire focused on the latter notion in saying that the function of the text was (in part) a commentary. However, as the data below show, Claire’s position shifted immediately from taking part in the classroom exercise of looking at what the text was aiming to achieve to critiquing the text itself for its positioning. She used both levels of criticality I referred to in Chapter 4; on the one hand, she criticized the text for not achieving its aim, and on the other hand, she critiqued the text (albeit implicitly) for its ideological view:
Claire: Ik denk dat er zijn een paar serieuze commentaren want je denkt, ja… er zijn vrouwen die hebben problemen, maar ja sorry hoor, dit is niet normaal. er zijn veel vrouwen die ik ken, maar ik ken geen stereotiep… Dit is een heel streng stereotiep.
G: Welk stereotiep?
Claire: De eerste, op het begin…. ‘leuke goed gebekte meiden, zalm in de koelkast’… ja….
Emma: Ik weet niet wat hij hiermee wil zeggen. Hij noemt een aantal vrouwen op die een bepaalde leeftijd zijn en een bepaalde levensstijl, maar wat wil hij daarmee zeggen? Is dat een probleem van alle vrouwen? Of van de vrouwen die hij toevallig is tegengekomen?
G: Ja, maar Claire zegt hij heeft het over een bepaald verschijnsel en jullie zeggen ook… je herkent dit verschijnsel, zo van de succ…
Claire and Emma: de succesvolle carrièrevrouw
Emma: Maar gaat dit altijd hand in hand met dit [gedrag]?
Claire: Ja, precies, precies.
Translation
Claire: I think there are a few serious comments because you think, yes…there are women who have problems, but sorry, this is ridiculous. I know many women, but I don’t know a stereotype[ical one]… this is a very strong stereotype.
G: Which stereotype?
Claire: The first… at the beginning… ‘good looking girls with the gift of the gab, salmon in the fridge’… yes…
Emma: I don’t know what he intends to say with that. He talks about a few women of a certain age and leading a certain lifestyle, but what does he want to say with that? Is that a problem of all women? Or just the women he has happened to have met?
G: Yes, but Claire said… you recognize the phenomenon, that of the succ…
Claire and Emma: of the successful career woman
Emma: Yes, but is that always accompanied by this [behaviour]?
Claire: Yes, exactly, exactly.
Rather than staying with the task of identifying the aim of the text, which Claire brushes off with the comment that it could be seen to be a commentary about problems that women have, she immediately turns to the implication of the text by relating it to her own experiences and evaluating it in accordance with those.
Claire makes use of her personal experiences at two levels. In stating that the text aims to be a serious commentary she legitimizes the topic, it seems and confirms that ‘women who have problems’ do exist. So she does not dismiss the text as ludicrous or not worthy of discussion outright (although which ‘problems’ Claire is referring to is again not clear: women who are ‘hunting’, women not having successful relationships, women harassing men, women feeling the biological clock?).
But Claire also makes use of her lifeworld knowledge as she starts to deconstruct the text. She looks not just at the text, but she uses – implicitly - the context of her own experiences as a reality check against which to gauge her own response to the text; there isn’t anyone she knows who is like this. Claire is moving on from ‘text’ to critique its representation.
By asking students to look at the text at a textual level in relation to the immediate context, I had assumed students would take on an ‘outside’ position (i.e. looking at the text for its textual intricacies and specificity at a seemingly objective level). This outside perspective is surrounded by its own conventions of ‘educational talk’, where, in class, students usually employ an ‘analytical voice’. However, as Claire is taking on a position of critique and using her experience of the world to look at text at a cultural level, she, in contrast with the convention of this approach, switches to using a ‘personal’ voice: ‘well, I’m sorry, but this [stereotype] is ridiculous’.
Emma then contributes to Claire’s analysis and critique by trying to link the excerpt quoted by Claire with the motivation or intention of the author. Emma is also critical of the text in different ways. On the one hand, she criticizes the author’s lack of clear purpose and his lack of intellectual rigour in using stereotypes. But, at the same time, she also takes a more critical cultural perspective on board; she starts to consider that the excerpt is a generalisation which suggests all women display the same lifestyle characteristics. Both Claire and Emma are starting to relate the text to social and cultural perspectives and knowledge, Claire critiquing the text for not according to reality, Emma for its generalization.
Text Alignment in Order to Understand the Male Perspective
Sarah, on the other hand, provided a very different take on the idea of what the text aimed to achieve. Since the students had brought the discussion on to a cultural level, I wanted to build on this by focusing their attention on what these particular stereotypes might signify. The stereotypes to which Claire above had referred, were a set of lifestyle characteristics that successful career women displayed, such as having a house with a balcony, luxury food, snazzy car and so on. But when I ask, in response to Claire’s statement in the set of data above, why the author might have chosen those particular clichés, Sarah interpreted my question not as an invitation to refer to the social world or other views she may have had. Instead, she brought the discussion back to the textual level referring to the aim of the text, which was indeed the aim of this pedagogical activity in the first place. In doing so, Sarah introduced the notion of the intended reader:
Sarah: Ik denk dat hij zo begint om ze zo aan te trekken, ze zijn daarin geïnteresseerd… als je aan een leuke goed geklede mooie vrouw denkt, dan als je als man dat artikel leest dan denk je van ‘he mmmm’ interessant en dan wat is het, hoe gaat het verder, dus het is eigenlijk… het trekt precies de mannen aan… dus het werkt alsof het zo’n vrouw is, ‘t zegt: hier is een groepje mooie vrouwen en we gaan hun houding bespreken en dat… dus het brengt de man die de tekst leest, in, zeg maar, om eh om het verder te gaan lezen en aan het eind is het zo andersom dat eigenlijk eh dan willen ze niet meer… dan zijn ze niet meer in deze vrouwen geїnteresseerd want ze zijn eigenlijk een beetje kinderachtig.
[…]
Sarah: Ja maar volgens het artikel... dus aan het eind dan is dan wordt de mannen vrijgelaten, zeg maar, van de vrouwen in de tekst.
G: Hoe wordt hij daardoor vrijgelaten…?
Sarah: Omdat gewoon hoe het aan het eind is dan zou hij niet meer geїnteresseerd zijn in de vrouw want het lijkt alsof ze een beetje stom is en nergens naartoe gaat.
G: Waar zie je dit precies? aan het eind hè, ja ‘t eind is interessant hè, Claire noemde het eind ook al...
Sarah: Ja ik denk niet dat het oppervlakkig is want ‘t gaat over de relatie met hun vader. Als je kijkt daarnaar dan zie je dat het is een sociologische en psychologische analyse over wat er in hun hoofden zitten. Dus eigenlijk denk je: ze zijn een beetje gek, het is eigenlijk... ze weten niet wat ze willen. Ze willen gewoon alles wat ze denken te kunnen krijgen. Dus eh ‘t gaat eigenlijk over de manier waarop mannen oppervlakkig in deze vrouwen geїnteresseerd zijn, maar de doel van de tekst is eigenlijk te zeggen: nou deze vrouwen zijn niet goed voor je want ze kunnen niet goed met je praten, want ze kunnen alleen maar over hun praten en...
G: Ja ze zijn niet goed voor je en ze zijn alleen maar met zichzelf bezig.
Sarah: Ja.
Translation
Sarah: I think that he starts like that to attract them. [To draw the male readers into the article] They are interested in that… if you think about a nice well-dressed beautiful woman, then when you read the article as a man then you think: mmmm interesting and then:…what is it? How does it continue? So really. It attracts exactly the men… so it works as if it is one of those women, it says: here is a group of beautiful women and we are going to talk about their attitude and that… so it brings the man who is reading the text in, as it were, to eh to read further and at the end, it is the other way round that actually eh then they don’t want them anymore… then they are not interested in these women anymore, because really they are a bit childish.
[…]
Sarah: Yes, but according to the article… so at the end the men are released as it were from the women in the text
G: How is he released by that?
Sarah: Because, well just how at the end he is not interested anymore in the woman because it seems as if she is stupid and going nowhere.
G: Where do you see that exactly? The end is interesting isn’t it, Claire also mentioned the end…
Sarah: Yes, I don’t think that it is superficial because it is about the relationship with their father. If you look at that then you see that it is a sociological and psychological analysis about what is in their heads. So actually you think… they are a bit mad, it is really… they don’t know what they want. They really want everything that they think they can get. So eh it is really about the way these men are superficially interested in these women, but the aim of the text is really to say: these women are no good for you because they can’t really talk with you because they can only talk about themselves and…
G: Yes, they are not good for you as they are only concerned with themselves.
Sarah: Yes.
Sarah is constructing a different context in which to interpret the aim of the text by referring to the intended reader. In explaining why these stereotypes were mentioned in the text, Sarah focuses on the rhetorical structure of the text. She sees a parallel between the way that the text is structured as if it were a metaphor for the women themselves; the quote which Claire called stereotypical, (the description of women in terms of lifestyle characteristics) Sarah regards as a rhetorical effect: the male reader would be attracted to these women because they are good looking, and so would be inclined to read further. But, further on in the article, Sarah says, the male reader would realize these women are ‘stupid’ (stom). With her interpretation, Sarah brings the discussion back again to the textual level; both in term of how the text is constructed which leads her to conclude that the aim of the text is to say to the reader: ‘these women are not good for you’. The text function is then, as Eve had suggested in the first set of data, a warning to men.
Assigning a function to a text takes account of a social context; the immediate context in which the text functions as a communicative act. Sarah did indeed consider a social context: that of the male reader who needs to be warned against ‘these’ women. By describing this text function from the perspective of how a male reader might approach this text, it might seem that Sarah is trying to read the text interculturally: she is trying to understand the ‘other’; the ‘other’ being the male author as well as the male reader for whom the text is intended. It would seem that Sarah is trying to relate the text to the context of reception, but as she is not referring to previous knowledge, or experiences of the context of the intended readers of the text, she is taking her cue from the text itself. So by explaining how a male reader might read the text, she is actually ‘imagining’ this context.
Like Emma and Claire, Sarah focuses just on one of the discourses in the article; but unlike Claire and Emma, she does not see the article to be about women who are out to hunt or hurt men, but women who are ‘stupid’ and ‘a little bit mad’. She seems to refer to the part of the text which describes women in therapy in order to deal with their inability to have long-term relationships. She does not see the text as representing women as such, but as a description of how women ‘are’.
Sarah, like Emma and to a lesser extent Claire, also feels sure about her interpretation is the ‘correct’ one. In one of her interviews, she later states that she really doesn’t see how you can interpret the article in any other way. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/2%3A_Lesson_1%3A_Text_as_Text/3%3A_Discussing_Te.txt |
Conflicting Discourses
My intention with focusing on the textual structure was to encourage students to recognize the different ways in which the women in the text were portrayed. This would then prepare the way for seeing the text as cultuurtekst and the multiple and contrasting discourses embedded in it. In the course of the discussions so far, students had located their comments regarding the text always within one particular representation of the women, one particular discourse. Students were not necessarily aware that they saw the text in terms of a representation. In this lesson, I did not use the meta-language of the cultural studies oriented analysis, which makes up the cultuurtekst part of the framework we would discuss in the next lesson. Students seemed to regard their interpretation as ‘obvious’. As I had said before, students felt confident about their interpretation, and at no point did they seize on the conflicting answers that each student seemed to give in terms of what they thought the main point or aim of the text was. Students then read the text as, what Kramsch (1993: 27) calls after Bakhtin, a ‘single-voiced discourse’.
Only Claire had voiced her concern with the conflicting discourses. When I asked earlier in the lesson whether there was an argument in the article, she said:
Claire: Maar ik denk dat het begint met een idee en dat het eindigt niet met hetzelfde idee, of in het midden is er een… there’s wires crossed.
Claire: But I think that it starts with an idea and it does not end with the same idea, or in the middle, there is eh… wires crossed.
In the data below, I am trying to focus students’ attention to the contrast of the discourses in the beginning and end of the article; what Claire described as ‘having its wires crossed’. The set of data below starts with me asking how women are represented at the end of the article (i.e. in terms of fulfilled motherhood) in comparison to the beginning, where women were first described in terms of ‘ladette’ behaviour out to ‘destroy men’, and in the paragraph following that, where they are represented in terms of their consumerist lifestyle. Claire and Emma disagree in their interpretation:
G: … je zei eerder het is een vreemd eind van de tekst heel anders… de vrouw wordt aan het eind totaal anders beschreven dan aan het begin. Hoe wordt ze anders beschreven?
Emma: een beetje zielig.
G: Wordt ze als zielig beschreven? Vanuit wie gezien? Vind jij dat ze zielig is of vindt de schrijver dat?
Sarah: wWt betekent zielig?
G: Pitiful, iemand waar je medelijden mee zou hebben.
Claire: Maar de vrouw op het eind zegt… eeh ja, ‘mijn relatie gaat nu al vijf jaar hartstikke goed: dat is echt heerlijk’. Maar het is… wennen… ‘zeker voor vrouwen van mijn generatie’. Dus voor haar, zij is een andere vrouw, ze heeft geleerd en nu ...alles gaat goed, nu heeft zij een man en een kind en zij heeft… ja…
[Claire and Emma talk at the same time, but I think Emma says]:
Emma: Dus hij heeft toch eigenlijk wel bereikt wat het doel was waar al die vrouwen naar streven.
G: ja maar dat is de psychologe dus...
Emma: ja, maar dat is dus het man-en kindverhaal.
Translation
G: … You said before that the text has a strange end… very different… at the end the woman is described very differently from the beginning. How is she portrayed differently?
Emma: a bit ‘zielig’ [pitiful].
G: is she described as pitiful? From whose perspective? Do you think she is pitiful or does the author think that?
Sarah: What does ‘zielig’ mean?
G: pitiful, someone whom you would pity.
Claire: but the woman says at the end: … eeh [she quotes] ‘yes, my relationship has been going really well now for 5 years and that is really wonderful’, but it is… getting used to… ‘for women of my generation’. So for her, she is another woman, she has learned and now… everything is going well, she has a man and a baby and she has… yes…
[Claire and Emma talk at the same time, but I think Emma says]:
Emma: so he has achieved what the aim was of all those women.
G: Yes, but she is a psychologist so...
Emma: Yes, but that is the husband and child narrative.
Emma does not take my question as an invitation to describe what that particular representation was, but she momentarily steps outside the classroom discourse of text analysis and uses a personal voice by making a value statement: the women (as described at the end of the text) are to be pitied. Claire disagrees with that particular value judgment; after all, she says, the woman in the text describes herself as happy. She has learnt [from her therapy] and now everything goes well. Claire further quotes from the text itself, saying that women of her (i.e. the female psychologist’s) generation have ‘had to learn’, but now ‘everything is going well’. Claire is trying to find evidence in the article to describe this particular discourse, but Emma responds to Claire by switching the focus from the text and the portrayal of women in that last section, to the author: ‘he has achieved what the aim was for all those women’, and she concludes by saying: ‘that is the ‘husband and child narrative’’, which she explained earlier as the way that women are seen as reaching fulfillment only through motherhood. So Emma seems to suggest that since the article finished with this particular representation, this shows that the representation of women as fulfilled by their relationship and ‘happy motherhood’ is the ‘solution’ or most important discourse of the article: he [the author] achieved what all those women want. Emma looks at the text from a critical ideological perspective; she critiques the intensely traditional view of women finding happiness only in marriage and motherhood, but in this critique, she is not considering any of the other discourses and representations. The discourse or representation of women as taking on the ‘male’ characteristics of achievement and success, she did not mention.
Claire is much more prepared to see the text in its complexities of conflicting discourses and is still struggling to make sense of the text. Emma is not. She is sure of her interpretation.
5: Conclusion Le
The focus of this first lesson was to look at text on a textual level and in relation to the immediate context. What emerged was that, even at this level of looking at text, many different interpretations are possible. The range of answers students gave to the first question about the content of the text showed how complex and ambiguous such a question is. Indeed, I take a view that text interpretation is a process in which readers use their experiences and lifeworld knowledge to give meaning to the text, not to extract pre-existing meaning (see Chapter 3). However, that does not mean we should allow for a limitless number of interpretations in pedagogical activities. I believe, along with Wallace (2003: 16) that we can talk about a range of ‘preferred readings’ of text. The answers to the question about content showed that students do not look at text in a disinterested way. Even if students try and stay close to the text in their answers, they still inscribe meaning, they ‘evaluate’ the text, and see it in relation to its context in relation to its effect on the world; e.g. the text is about women who have a male identity, the pressure to be ‘perfect’, or about how women ‘use’ men, or, in total contrast, that women only gain happiness through having a stable relationship and a child: what one student called the ‘husband and child narrative’.
This may show that seeing the text as stable, which is in effect the assumption underlying questions such as what the text is about, is an artificial and ambiguous task.
Another significant aspect to emerge from the data of this first lesson is that in ascribing meaning to the text, students tend to focus on only one of the discourses within the text, rather than seeing the text in its entirety and with a complexity of multiple discourses. Critical thinking merged with critiques of ideology in some instances. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/2%3A_Lesson_1%3A_Text_as_Text/4%3A_Discussing_Te.txt |
Of the group of 6 regular students Sarah and Andy were not present in this lesson, but two exchange students from the Netherlands, Yasmin and Marijke joined this class. I had invited them to create a dialogic space in the classroom as well as an intercultural element in which students could discuss various interpretations and relate to other texts which drew on similar or significantly different discourses. Because I wanted to introduce the idea of ‘Dutch articulation’, i.e. what I perceived to be the intensely traditional discourse on women, I also thought the presence of the Dutch students might add an extra layer of interculturality. To ensure the Dutch students were prepared for this class I had given them a few articles we had discussed during this block on gender, and the framework for analysis that guided our discussions. I had also briefly discussed with the Dutch students the issue of ‘cultuurtekst’ and I had given them a photocopied handout of a few pages from a book by Maaike Meijer, in which she discusses the notion of cultuurtekst. This meant that the Dutch students were more explicitly prepared for this class on a theoretical level than the regular students of the class, as these had not received the text by Maaike Meijer. As I explained in Chapter 4, I had not been explicit throughout the course about its underpinning theories, as I had assumed, partly based on previous experiences in other classes, that students would not appreciate theoretical discussion or information as part of a language class.
To prepare the regular English students for this particular class I had asked them to complete a homework task. This task was to write down their answers to the cultuurtekst section under point 5 of the analysis for the framework we used (see appendix). These questions were designed to get students to recognize which discourses underpinned the text, and asked how the topic and subjects in the text were talked about; how the reader seems to be addressed; which discourses or intertexts they recognized, and whether these were in any way conflicting with one another. All of these questions asked for specific references to linguistic points of vocabulary or grammar to explain their answer. Sarah was the only student who had not carried out this piece of homework. Emma had given her own interpretation to the task and rather than treating it as an academic and analytical exercise she wrote a spoof on the original text as if it was an article in a glossy women’s magazine.
3: Lesson 2: Cultuurtekst
The aim of the second lesson was to discuss the text as ‘cultuurtekst’: text as a cultural construct through discursive mapping. I had wanted to draw students’ attention to the prominence of particular discourses in the text, and how these took on an aura of ‘truth’. The issues of representation had surfaced in the first lesson, but I wanted students to recognize the cultural locatedness of the text, i.e. the different discourses and values, and to see whether the range of different discourses added an extra layer of meaning to the text.
The lesson moved from eliciting some initial responses from the Dutch students to discussing issues of representation: how maleness and femaleness were constructed and what particular values, intertexts, and discourses were recognizable. Finally, we moved to the question of whether this issue is talked about differently in England and Holland; in other words, was there a Dutch articulation? By the exercise of discursive mapping, as well as looking at ‘Dutch articulation’, I asked students in effect to look at both a ‘generic’ and a ‘differential’ level of language and culture (see Chapter 3).
After the short discussion around the initial responses of the Dutch students, I had asked students to do an exercise in pairs to look specifically at how men and women were represented in the text and to make a list of words and expressions which showed that. The aim of the exercise was to encourage students to see these different discursive formations by looking at the language used. By doing the exercise I hoped to make the (conflicting) discourses visible. After this exercise, we looked at the text in sections by which I hoped that the students would recognize the different voices with which women were represented. So far in the first lesson, only Claire had picked up the issue of the different representations. In the second lesson which I discuss below, students were ‘dialoguing’ more with one another and responding to one another’s comments than in the previous lesson.
On the whole, the Dutch students took a fairly equal part and the English students were not particularly more interested in what the Dutch students had to say in comparison to themselves. The Dutch students were perhaps a little reticent and less likely to respond as this was a new group and also a new way of looking at texts. The English students felt very comfortable in their comments about how things were ‘done’ in the Netherlands; as they had lived there during the year abroad, they felt their observations were valid.
My role during this lesson was less fore-grounded than in the first lesson. Whereas I asked questions to initiate discussions, responded to students’ answers, and asked students to elaborate on certain points, on the whole, I took a background role. Students were dialoguing and engaged in the discussions, frequently without any prompting from me.
I did not use the questions on the framework explicitly, as it had become clear during the first lesson, that working our way through the framework rigidly stopped the flow of the discussion. Nevertheless, there was progress in the lesson as I had the framework questions in my mind, and through the discussions, the notion of discourses and values in the text were gradually made more explicit by the students. However, this process did not take place neatly in a linear way and also led to misunderstandings amongst students as they sometimes were more interested in discussing the issues which were thrown up as a result of having highlighted the discourses, rather than seeing the text as the microcosmos in which these discourses were reflected and recreated. It turned out that the presence of the Dutch students helped to make the discussion more focused. I will start with the latter point below, and then move on to discuss how students engaged with the text and its underpinning values in an increasingly intercultural and ethnographic manner. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/3%3A_Lesson_2%3A_Cultuurtekst/1%3A_The_Progress_.txt |
My expectations of the role of the Dutch students had been that the English students would be more to the point in their answers, because they had experience of discussing texts in previous classes, albeit not using an explicit framework. As it turned out, it worked the other way round. The inclusion of the Dutch students in the lesson immediately raised the level of discussion, as their responses prompted more dialogic responses from the other students.
In giving their first responses to the text, both Dutch students straight away took an evaluative stance to the text and considered, without being prompted, what might lie behind the stereotypical representation of women in the text:
G: Wat is jullie eerste reactie op de tekst... puur persoonlijk en waar ging de tekst over naar jouw gevoel?
Yasmin: Heel herkenbaar, ja. Als je naar programma’s kijkt als ‘Sex in the city’ en ‘Ally McBeal’ dan gaat het echt daarover. En dit artikel, ja dat was niet iets nieuws... ik herkende alles.
G: Je herkende, wat precies?
Yasmin: Nou zeg maar die hoger opgeleide vrouwen die een man wil om haar leven, zeg maar, compleet te maken en dat lees je ook in tijdschriften als Cosmopolitan en normale kranten ook en dergelijke, voorgekauwd spul was dit... ja dat heb ik heel vaak gelezen.
Translation
G: What is your first reaction to the text… purely personal reaction and what was the text about, you feel?
Yasmin: Very recognizable, yes, when you look at programs like ‘Sex in the city’ and ‘Ally McBeal’ then it is really about that. And this article, yes it was nothing new… I recognized everything.
G: You recognized what exactly?
Yasmin: Well, those well-educated women who want a man to make their life, well, complete. You read that also in magazines like ‘Cosmopolitan’ and also normal newspapers, hackneyed stuff this was, yes I have read this often.
The dialogue continues:
Marijke: Dat was mijn reactie ook wel. Om nou te zeggen… ja, ik herken het natuurlijk ook wel, ik heb ook artikelen gelezen dat je ook over al die series op tv over vrouwen...
Claire: Ja, dat stereotiepe ook.
Marijke: Ja en als ik dan denk van... ja, ik herken het omdat ik er vaker over heb gelezen, ik herken het niet als verschijnsel in de maatschappij... ik heb dit soort vrouwen nog nooit gezien. Ja, eigenlijk vind ik het een beetje belachelijk dat mannen vernielen, ik vind dat heeeel kinderachtig. Zijn er echt vrouwen... is er een hele beweging van vrouwen die dat soort dingen serieus doen?
Yasmin: Ja, je leest er wel verhalen over, maar gebeurt het ook op grote schaal? Ik ken persoonlijk niemand die zo is.
Translation
Marijke: That was my reaction as well. Well… yes, I recognize it, of course, I have also read articles like that and all those series on tv about women…
Claire: Yes, the stereotypes…
Marijke: Yes and when I think… yes, I recognize it because I have read about it more often, but I don’t recognize it as a phenomenon in society… I have never seen these women. Yes, actually I think it is a bit ridiculous... that ‘destroying men’ thing, I find it veeeery childish. Are there really women… is there really a whole movement of women who are really doing that kind of thing?
Yasmin: Yes, you read about it, but does it really happen on a large scale? I personally don’t know anyone who is like that.
Yasmin first responds by saying she recognized the issue of highly educated women who want a man to make their life complete. But she immediately made explicit that she recognized the ideas by having read about them in glossy magazines as well as in ‘normal’ newspapers. So Yasmin located the article in an intertextual relationship with global media discourses. The Dutch students were not just criticizing the article for using stereotypes (although they did that too), but they were at the same time relating the article to the wider issue that these stereotypes indeed existed and were not only recognizable, but were hackneyed (Yasmin). This was a collaboration: Yasmin initially felt that the article portrayed something very recognizable, but Marijke takes her point further; she recognizes the stereotypes because she has read about them so often, but she considers that these stereotypes do not relate to reality. Marijke, then, separated the ‘cultuurtekst’ (the underlying ideas in the text) from actual reality.
During the next exchange, Emma considered what could be behind the creation of such stereotypes in the media, and how these ideas could become dominant, considering they do not relate to reality. And again in the ensuing dialogue, a collaboration takes place between Emma and one of the Dutch students, Marijke, who helped to make a more explicit link with the cultural context of the article:
Emma: Misschien dat soort benoemingen dan, van mannen – of vrouwen vernielers, misschien is dat ooit een keer gezegd als grapje, en is dat gewoon opgenomen in de maatschappij en is dat opgenomen door mannen, of ja, door wie, en misschien van daar is het een verschijnsel in de geschreven... eh pers geworden, want ja, ik denk, ja, er zijn vaak genoeg vrouwen inderdaad die toch gewoon gelukkig zijn om alleen te zijn en die inderdaad op een beetje fun uit zijn, die wel eens een man versieren. ‘t Is niet zozeer dat ze een man willen vernielen, maar net als mannen, die willen verder niks... (onverstaanbaar)... ja, en daar houdt het dan mee op.
Marijke: Ja, ‘t kan ook best wel dat je... want het is natuurlijk een heel interessant onderwerp, iets zoals dit, dus als je er ook maar een klein beetje aan ruikt of iets opvangt wat een beetje in die trant zit van vrouwen die een man gaan vernielen, dat klinkt heel interessant en dan kun je daar ook een prachtig artikel over schrijven wat al die mannen ook als een gek gaan zitten te lezen... ik bedoel, ‘t blijft gewoon een ontzettend interessant onderwerp, man versus vrouwen.
Emma: Ja precies, kijk wat een man doet, als een man uitgaat en een vrouw versiert, nou dat is gewoon normaal, niemand kijkt daar van op, maar als een vrouw dat doet, dat wordt nog steeds gewoon beoordeeld.
Marijke: Misschien is dat dan wel de waarde of het beeld dat je eruit kunt halen, hè, dat ‘t van vrouwen niet… dat ‘t niet bij ons beeld van vrouwen past om uit te gaan en mannen te versieren.
Translation
Emma: Maybe that those kinds of labels: ‘destroying men/male-bashing’ or women, maybe that has been said once as a joke and that label has just been taken over in society and taken over by men or yes, and maybe from there it became a phenomenon in the press, because yes, I think there are often enough women who are indeed just happy to be on their own and who indeed are out to have some fun, who would like to get it off with a man, not that they want to destroy a man, but who just like men... and who do not want anything more than that (inaudible) and… well that’s all there is to it.
Marijke: Yes, it is also possible that you… because it is of course a really interesting topic, something like this, so if you sniff at it only a little or if you catch something in the sense of women who are going to destroy a man, that sounds very interesting and then you can write a wonderful article about it which all those men are going to read like mad… I mean, it remains such an interesting topic: men versus women.
Emma: Yes, exactly, look what a man does… when a man goes out and gets it off with a woman, that is just normal, it is expected. But when a woman is doing that it is still being criticized.
Marijke: Maybe that is the value or the image you can recognize, that it doesn’t fit in the image we have of women to go out and pick up a man.
Emma’s initial suggestion that the description of women as ‘mannenvernielers’ (‘destroyers of men’/’male-bashers’) had come into use purely by accident, through a joke that then became part of an accepted notion in society, does not consider in any way its social or cultural origins, ideologies or power relations. Emma’s suggestion does not really refer to any previous knowledge or experience either, it seems. It is an attempt at explaining an existing and recognizable discourse as not located within a particular socio-cultural context, but as a chance happening. Marijke then takes Emma’s suggestion on board, but instead of accepting Emma’s version, she locates the emergence of ‘labels’ within the commercial text-producing environment; the magazine needs to attract readers, and gender relations, after all, constitute a very interesting topic, Marijke says.
Emma builds further on this and this time she does make a link with the socio-cultural context. She relates the representation of women as being sexually aggressive to cultural conventions: what is ‘normal’ behaviour for a man is not deemed acceptable in a woman. It is Marijke who makes this even more explicit and brings this back to what the text then might signify as a whole; that ‘chasing men’ is not part of the acceptable image of women in our society. Marijke is already referring to discourse here: the implicit conventions and assumptions of how women should behave.
So Emma, even though she thought she was agreeing with Marijke, approaches the text initially from a perspective outside society. Marijke tries to formulate it from a socio-cultural perspective and tries to engage with the values underpinning the text straight away, which Emma then responds to. The students then are starting to engage with the notion of how gender is constructed in the article; they have started to ‘map’ the discourses through their dialogic interaction. In the set of data I discuss below, Claire takes the mapping of discourses further still. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/3%3A_Lesson_2%3A_Cultuurtekst/2%3A_Role_of_the_D.txt |
The fairly heated exchange below shows the very different approaches between Emma and Claire in terms of conceptualizing text and context. Claire was discussing the particular fragment in the text [1] (which Emma and Claire had also disagreed over in Lesson 1), which she said was being stereotypical. Claire had just mentioned that she thought these stereotypes consisted of women being represented as having masculine traits:
G: En jij vindt dat mannelijk. Wat is er mannelijk aan?
Claire: Ik vind dat mannelijk want de vraag die ik citeer over seksueel rendement... voor mij is dat heel mannelijk, want ik vind dat dat is hetzelfde als de vrouwen in het eerste voorbeeld en dus voor mij is dat eh hij doet een eh ‘t franse woord ‘rapprochement’ eh ja...
[er wordt gelachen]
Claire: Wat is dat in het Nederlands of Engels? ‘t Brengt dat eh...
Marijke: Toenadering.
Claire: Ja...
G: Hij brengt die twee dingen bij elkaar.
Claire: Ja.
G: Maar hoe...wat is er nou precies... hoe komt het dat dat op elkaar lijkt... het feit dat vrouwen eerst worden beschreven met wat ze dragen... designer clothes, cellulitisvrij... getrainde billen...
[er wordt gelachen]
G: Je zou kunnen zeggen dat daar een soort...
Claire: Op zich is dat mannelijk want...
Emma: Neeeee! Waarom?
Claire: Ja, dat hele...
Emma: Als je succesvol bent, bent je dan mannelijk als vrouw?
Claire: Nee, maar...
Emma: Maar dat zeg je dan.
Claire: Nee, ik vind dat als je dat vind belangrijk, ja ik vind dat een beetje mannelijk.
Emma: Dus jij wil gewoon onderdanig blijven aan een man en met geld...
G: Emma, Claire zegt volgens mij niet dat dat mannelijk is, maar dat de schrijver het presenteert als mannelijk, dat de maatschappij dat zo vindt.
[door elkaar praten en lachen]
Claire: Maar wanneer je een lijst maakt met alle dingen... ik...
Emma: Hij beschouwt het als mannelijk.
Claire: Ja, als je geen namen hebt, als je zegt dat hij eh Maarten en zijn drie vriendin eh, vrienden, dan voor mij is dat misschien niet zo, ja, misschien niet die billen
[er wordt gelachen]
G: Nou, die billen zijn wel belangrijk natuurlijk. Waarom zijn die...
Claire: Seksueel.
G: Omdat hij toch de vrouw daardoor als seksueel aantrekkelijk neerzet.
Emma: Dus als ze dan dit allemaal hadden maar toch die cellulitis dan was er toch niet zo...
[onverstaanbaar door het door elkaar praten]
Claire: Luister... dakterras of balkon, ja vlot karretje, ja niet die cellulitis, hoe zeg je dat voor mannen, is dat eh... hoe zeg je...
sommige studenten: Sixpack.
Marijke en Yasmin: Wasbord.
Claire: Wasbord, ja make-up niet, maar koelkast met zalm en champagne en die job met uitdagende perspectieven, ja voor mij dat kan mannelijk ook...
Eve: Typisch zo’n bachelor...
[…]
G: Dus het is... de vrouw wordt beschreven in die succesvolle... economisch succesvolle termen en het prestatiegerichte... eh hij zegt ook op een gegeven moment eh... hij definieert het mannelijk zijn als eh prestaties verrichten... op blz... ik weet niet zo gauw.
Marijke: Ja, op blz. 49 aan het einde... ‘zo bouwen ze een door het leveren van bepaalde prestaties’.
G: Ja, inderdaad, [ik herhaal het]... is een mannelijke identiteit, ja dus met andere woorden, prestaties leveren is een mannelijke eh karaktertrek.
Emma: Ja, dan ben ik het met je eens dat het inderdaad zo gepresenteerd is, maar...
Claire: Ja, ja. Emma: Maar...
G: Ja, je bent het niet eens met wat ie zegt.
Emma: Nee.
Translation
G: And you find that male? What is male about it?
Claire: I think that it is male because the question which I’m citing about sexual gain for me that is very male. I think that that is the same as the women in the first example and this for me he is doing... eh the French word is ‘rapprochement’ eh yes...
[Laughter]
Claire: What is that in Dutch or English? It brings that...
Marijke: Approach.
Claire: Yes.
G: He brings those things together.
Claire: Yes.
G: But how... what exactly... how come that that looks like one another... the fact that women are first described by what they wear... designer clothes, cellulite-free trained buttocks
[Laughter]
G: You could say that there is a kind of
Claire: In a way that is male...
Emma: Noooo… why?
Claire: Well, the whole…
Emma: When you are successful as a woman, you are being male?
Claire: No, but…
Emma: But that’s what you then are saying.
Claire: No, I think that if you find that [kind of thing] important yes, I think that is a bit male.
Emma: So you want to remain submissive to a man and with money…
G: Emma, I don’t think that Claire is saying that it is male, but that the author presents it as male, that society thinks it is male.
[Students talking and laughing]
Claire: But when you make a list of all those things… I…
Emma: He thinks of it as male.
Claire: Yes, if there wouldn’t be any names given… eh Maarten and his three friends, then for me [it could be about men]… well, perhaps not those buttocks
[Laughter]
G: Well, those buttocks are important of course… why would they be…
Claire: Sexual.
G: Because he is portraying the women still as being sexually attractive.
[…]
Claire: Listen… roof terrace or balcony… yes, trendy little car, well, not the cellulite, how do you say that for men…?
Marijke and Yasmin: Six-pack.
Claire: Six-pack, yes, not the make-up, but the fridge with salmon and champagne and the job with prospects… yes, for me that can be male.
Eve: A typical bachelor…
[…]
G: So, the women are described in those successful economically successful terms and focused on achievement… eh… he also says somewhere… eh… he defines being male as eh… achieving… on page… I don’t know…
Marijke: Yes on page 49 at the end: ‘that’s how they build a… by achieving things’.
G: Yes, indeed. Achieving… is part of the male identity, yes, so in other words I repeat what was said is a male characteristic.
Emma: Yes, then I agree with you that indeed that is how it is presented, but…
Claire: Yes, yes.
Emma: But…
G: Yes, you don’t agree with him.
Emma: No.
Claire and Emma had discussed the same text fragment (the one about designer clothes etc.) in the first lesson, and they had both agreed that it represented a negative view of women, but they had each interpreted it differently. Emma had seen this fragment as representing women as superficial, being only interested in clothes and make-up, whereas Claire had seen it in terms of the representation of an ‘ideal’ that women would need to live up to. Those interpretations were forgotten now, and both Emma and Claire seem to agree that in this fragment women are described as being successful, having achieved a certain status due to these materialist possessions.
Claire notes that this particular representation of describing women in terms of success is gendered: success is represented as a male characteristic. But Emma does not seem to recognize that Claire is making a statement about a representation in the text and she assumes that it is Claire’s own opinion that success constitutes a male characteristic. Emma steps outside the meta-communicative style of the classroom discussion and seems to forget we are engaging in the pedagogic activity of analyzing a text. She feels so strongly about this that she almost launches a personal attack on Claire: ‘Dus jij wilt gewoon onderdanig blijven aan een man en met geld…?’ (So you want to stay submissive to a man and with money…?).
When I am trying to build on Claire’s point that the way that the women are presented is almost in male terms, and when I try and articulate that in terms of economic success and a focus on achievement (which the author later in the article explicitly defines as being a male characteristic), only Marijke latches on by pointing out where in the text this is said. Only then does Emma agree that, yes, this is an issue of representation, but states yet again that she doesn’t agree with the view that success could be seen as a male characteristic.
Emma then seems to firmly remain outside the article, not trying to understand the text as discursive formations, but responding to the statement almost as an item for debate. Claire, on the other hand, is trying to understand the text fragment in the context of the article itself and link it to its socio-cultural environment. By doing so, Claire is moving away from looking at the text as a product and is starting to see the text as cultuurtekst, i.e. the discourses which underpin the text. Claire made use of her socio-cultural knowledge to come to this analysis and took on a position of critique. But, paradoxically, Emma’s strong criticism of the text using her personal experiences or views, formed a hindrance to a position of critique as she saw the text in relation to a discussion about content, not a discussion about discourses. Claire saw this fragment in terms of culturally located ways of presenting male and femaleness, Emma saw this as a statement of truth and she drew the discussion on to personal terms. This might suggest that a strong emphasis on personal experience, which is not being reflected upon, can be detrimental to being critical and even be stereotype confirming.
However, as a result of the interplay between theory, data, and my own reflection, I realized in the later stages of this study that Emma’s response to the text cannot be solely explained by her taking a position outside the text. It was precisely her emotional response to Claire’s pinpointing of the particular discursive forces in society which represent success and independence as the prerogative of men, which alerted me to the fact that Emma was engaging with the text, and more so with Claire’s responses to the text, in a critical way, critiquing the ideologically motivated content, and how a truth-certainty is maintained about gender. Her emotional response was directed at these particular discursive understandings, even if she mistakenly believed that Claire personally held that particular view. Through asking Claire directly whether she would like to remain dependent on a man and his money, Emma brought both the personal and political domain into the classroom. Since I felt uncomfortable with the emotional and passionate tone of the discussion, I intervened, without giving this personal political element a chance to develop. However, the next set of data shows a moment in the class where that did happen. It shows that students’ engagement with their personal experiences can indeed be a step towards a critical engagement with the discursive forces of the text-producing environment. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/3%3A_Lesson_2%3A_Cultuurtekst/3%3A_Reading_from_.txt |
The fragment below shows that instead of being a hindrance to engaging with text meaning, referring to one’s own experience of the world could indeed aid the process of being critical in problematizing the text, and being intercultural. The personal and cultural can combine to aid students to become intercultural readers. When the exchange below took place in the lesson, I felt at the time that the discussion had moved away from the text and that students used the text merely as a vehicle for a discussion about the topic. My aim throughout the lesson had been to get students to focus on the text and to point to the language in the fragment to prove their points, so I was initially disappointed that discussions like the one below developed, even though I recognized the value of having debates like this. Looking at the exchange now, I think it shows that students did have a meaningful and intercultural dialogue by collaborating in their interpretative discussion and making use of their personal experience. In doing so, they were critical from an inside as well as an outside perspective. Students were both intercultural in the sense of understanding the complexity of culture (cf. Blommaert, 1998; Holliday et.al, 2004) and they were ‘being intercultural’ (Phipps and Gonzalez, 2004) in trying to understand the ‘other’, in this case ‘the male’, in relation to their own experiences. Students tried to understand the text and its underpinning discourses; they also critiqued, as a group, these discourses, which in turn led them to look at their own situation in a different light again.
Claire: Maar we zeggen één ding en we denken een ander ding. Ik denk dat ik heb hetzelfde probleem, ik zeg altijd ik kan doen wat ik wil, ik kan carrière hebben of niet, wat ik wil, maar ook in mijn gezin [mijn eigen familie, GQ], ze zegt altijd, wanneer is het huwelijk, wanneer komt de kinderen en dat is een heel, ja, ik vind het heel moeilijk en ik denk dat dat is een normaal probleem van vrouwen in deze tijd, ja de... hoe zeg je dat?
G: Ja de rol, de veranderende rol.
Claire: Ja, de rol, je kan alles zijn of niks zijn, maar het is moeilijk om een balans te vinden.
Marijke: Ja, blijkbaar vinden mannen dat ook heel moeilijk dat ze niet goed weten wat ze nou van een vrouw moeten verwachten en dat daarom zo’n artikel ook gepubliceerd wordt omdat dat daarop ingaat van wat voor wat willen vrouwen nou eigenlijk en hoe zitten ze in elkaar...
G: En wat willen ze zelf?
Emma: En wat willen mannen?
G: Ja, precies dat bedoel ik.
Emma: Willen ze een hoer hebben of een moeder?
G: Een hoer en een madonna.
Claire: Ja, een hoer in de slaapkamer en een moeder in...
Marijke: [lacht] Ja, in de huiskamer of zo...
[door elkaar praten. lemand zegt]:
In de keuken
G: Ja, inderdaad. Zit er ook iets in van jaloezie? Dat de vrouw...
Claire: Alles kan hebben.
G: ...een bedreiging vormt? de man is nu zijn positie kwijt als degene die presteert, mannelijke identiteit is het leveren van bepaalde prestaties.
Claire: Dat is het feministenidee dat ik heb de laatste tijd ook met mijn Franse professor zo gepraat. Zij zegt dat sinds het begin van de tijd, mannen hebben een probleem, want vrouwen kunnen de kinderen hebben en mannen niet en dus mannen hebben vrouwen eh ‘repressed’?
Marijke: Onderdrukt.
Claire: Onderdrukt... enne nu vrouwen kunnen een carrière hebben en een huis en een baan en ze kunnen alleen wonen als we wilt, ja we kunnen alles doen en dat is een grote probleem voor mannen en ze weten niet wat ze willen en ze moeten denken...
Marijke: Maar dan zou je kunnen zeggen dat dit artikel… juist die nadruk op de carrièrevrouw die, zeg maar, helemaal de plank misslaat, een bescherming is van hé , het is altijd van ons geweest om een carrière te hebben en om te presteren en nu doen die vrouwen het ook, maar kijk eens naar ze, ze kunnen er niks van, ‘t gaat helemaal mis met ze, dus om dat ook een beetje te beschermen van ‘ja, maar het is toch ook een beetje van ons’, want, ja, al kunnen ze het wel… toch niet zo goed als wij.
G: ja, dus wat spreekt daar dan…, als we dat dan bijvoorbeeld vergelijken met Liesbeth Wietzes artikel van de man als dinosaurus, de mannen hebben hun positie verloren, ze zijn meelijwekkende wezens geworden, eh het was een heel extreme visie van haar, ze bracht het heel extreem, omdat het polemisch bedoeld was, maar herken je daar misschien iets in, zeg je, ja er is een bepaald maatschappelijk verschijnsel niet zozeer het maatschappelijk verschijnsel zoals hij het beschrijft over die agressieve jonge vrouwen, maar is er een maatschappelijk verschijnsel dat mannen, of vrouwen ook, in de war zijn, niet meer precies zoeken zoeken naar…een andere vorm…
Emma: Ja, ik weet het niet, het is heel moeilijk, maar ik ben niet in de war, als vrouw zijnde heb ik geen probleem dat ik ook een carrière wil en desnoods kinderen en getrouwd zijn.
Marijke: Maar denk je dat dat gaat lukken ook als je dat allemaal wil?
Emma: Dat weet ik niet en als het niet lukt, ok, daar heb ik ook geen probleem mee.
Claire: Maar ik denk ook dat de vrouw niet kan accepteren dat het ok is om geen man te hebben. Er is een…
Emma: Vrouwen kunnen dat niet accepteren?
Claire: Nee, de maatschappelijke mensen, ja, vrouwen, ik denk dat het misschien is het... het is dom, want ik weet dat zonder man kan ik gewoon functioneren op een normale wijze.
Marijke: Ja…
Claire: Ja, er is misschien een soort idee en…
Marijke: Maar er is toch ook een soort restant van dat hele traditionele dat je toch ook een, dat je toch het idee hebt dat je een man nodig hebt en als je dan ook kijkt naar ‘Ally McBeal’ en al die series, je zit er toch ook op te wachten dat ze eigenlijk een vriendje krijgt?
Emma: Maar is het ook niet zo tegenwoordig dat er voor mannen een beetje een nieuw concept is dat zij gewoon een vrouw nodig hebben voor eh eh ‘companionship’?
lemand zegt Gezelschap.
Emma: Gezelschap, want mensen als wezens, ik denk zijn niet bedoeld om alleen te zijn, man of vrouw, ‘t maakt niet uit. Misschien is het dan voor mannen, misschien moeten ze een hoofd er…
Claire: Get their head around it.
Emma: Ja, het idee dat die mogen ook kwetsbaar zijn, die mogen ook zeggen, ja eigenlijk wil ik best wel een vrouw.
G: Ja en denk je dat dat hier ook enigszins naar voren komt?
Emma: Nee.
[er wordt gelachen]
Translation
Claire: But we say one thing and we think another thing. I think I have the same problem, I always say I can do what I want, I can have a career if I want and what I want. But also in my family, they always say, when is the wedding, when will you have children, and that is, yes, I think that is very difficult, and I think that that is a problem of women these days, yes, the… how do you say that?
G: Yes, the role, the changing role
Claire: Yes, the role, you can be anything or nothing, but it is difficult to find a balance.
Marijke: Yes, apparently men also find it difficult that they don’t know what to expect from a woman, and that is why an article like this is published because it discusses what kind… what women actually want and what makes them tick.
G: And what they want themselves?
Emma: And what do men want?
G: Yes, exactly that is what I mean.
Emma: Do they want a whore or a mother?
G: A whore and a madonna.
Claire: Yes, a whore for in the bedroom and a mother in
Marijke: [laughs] Yes, in the living room
[Talking and laughing. Someone says]:
In the kitchen
G: Yes, indeed. Do you think there’s an element of jealousy? That the woman
Claire: Can have everything.
G: ...forms a threat? The man has lost his position as the one who achieves success; male identity is [seen as] achieving success.
Claire: That is the feminist idea. I also talked about that with my French lecturer. She says that since the beginning of time men have a problem because women can have children and men can’t. That’s why they have ‘repressed?
Marijke: Oppressed.
Claire: Oppressed… and eh… women now can have a career and a house and a job and they can live on their own if they want. Yes, we can do anything we want and that is a big problem for men and they don’t know what they want and they have to think…
Marijke: But you could say that of this article… especially the emphasis on the career woman who has got it all wrong [in her private life] is a protection of… eh… this has always been our [domain] to have a career, to achieve, and now women do it as well, but look at them, they go to pieces, so to protect that a bit as well, yes, this is also ours… because even though they can do it, they can’t do it as well as we can.
G: Yes, so what can we if we compare that for instance with Liesbeth Wietze’s article ‘the man as dinosaur’, men have lost their position in society, they have become sad creatures… it was an extreme view… she presented it in a very extreme way because it was intended to be polemical, but do you perhaps recognise something that there is a phenomenon in society, or no not a phenomenon the way he describes it about aggressive women, but a phenomenon that men, and women as well, are confused, don’t know exactly… are looking for new ways…
Emma: Well, I don’t know, it is very difficult, but I am not confused, as a woman, I have no problem with the fact that I want a career and possibly children, and be married
Marijke: But do you think that you will manage it, if you want all of that?
Emma: I don’t know, and if I won’t manage it, then that would be fine too.
Claire: But I also think that the woman can’t accept the fact that it is ok not to have a man.
Emma: Women can’t accept that?
Claire: No, society… people, yes, women, I think that… maybe it is… it is silly, because I know that I can function normally without a man…
Marijke: Yes…
Claire: Yes, maybe there is a kind of idea and
Marijke: But there is still a remnant of that very traditional… that you still have the idea that you need a man and also when you look at ‘Ally McBeal’ and those TV series… you are waiting for them to finally get a boyfriend?
Emma: But, is it also not the case that there is a new concept for men that they need a woman for eh eh [she says in English] ‘companionship’?
lemand zegt: Gezelschap.
Emma: Companionship, because people as beings, I don’t think they are meant to be on their own, man or woman, it doesn’t matter. Maybe it is then for men, they need to get their head…
Claire: Get their head around it.
Emma: Yes, the idea that they can be vulnerable as well, that they can also say: Actually, I would quite like to have a woman [female partner, GQ].
G: Yes, and do you think that this comes across in any way in the text?
Emma: No.
[Laughter]
The classroom exchange above occurred at the point in the lesson straight after I had guided students through the different representations of women in the article. I had wanted them to consider how these different and conflicting representations, i.e. women as ‘aggressive hunters of men’, as ‘excessive lifestyle consumers’, and as ‘mothers,’ created a different layer to the text. Claire answered by relating these different representations to her own life and suggesting that women may think or say they have the freedom to be what and who they like to be but, that in reality, they are under pressure to conform. So she implied that whilst women might think they have all they want, they are nevertheless strongly influenced by expectations of society, that is to say, the discourses which are enacted by their friends and family. It is difficult to gain a balance between those discourses, she seemed to say. Claire was thus reflexive in her answer.
Marijke then made an explicit link with the article suggesting that men clearly find it difficult to balance these various changing expectations women themselves and society have. Emma then turns the discussion towards men: they don’t know what they want: a whore or a mother. She elegantly (and perhaps unwittingly) brings two discourses in the article together; that of the sexual representation of women in one of the early representations in the article and the end of the article, which could indeed be termed the madonna-discourse: the traditional mother.
The discussion amongst the students then becomes political: (suppression of women throughout history), and psychological (envy of women’s reproduction abilities) before it turns personal again about whether students themselves think they can combine the different roles of being a career woman with that of being a mother. Finally, Emma talks about relationships between men and women.
At this stage in the lesson, students were not any longer trying to make sense of the text. They had made the text their own and were collaboratively creating meaning, in trying to relate the text to their own reality and their own experiences. As I said, my initial feeling during this exchange in the lesson itself was that they were almost ‘hijacking’ the text. Cooke and Wallace refer to this as ‘talking around a text’ when a text carries ‘too much meaning in a personal experiential way’ for the students to maintain the required distance to stay ‘on task’. Students wish to ‘make meaning in different ways’ than the questions asked by the teacher (2004: 109). But looking at the data, students are doing more than merely talking around the text. They are discussing the issues which arose from the text as a critique of society and highlighting the power differentials that women still face. The style of meta-communication had indeed changed from analytical talk of standing outside the text to a dialogue and collaborative style of talking, referring to personal experiences, as well as discourses in society. In fact, students are even quite explicitly referring to the issue of discourses. Claire calls it een soort idee (a kind of idea), which Marijke specifies as een soort restant van dat hele traditionele… (a remnant of the very traditional…). In this discussion, then, students are using the insights gained through the text analysis, taking these further in a discussion using both the ideas that were gained through the classroom activity of the text analysis, relating these to their own experiences, before applying these ideas which had been gained through a more personalized discussion, back to the text. This way they were seeing the text as cultuurtekst, in terms of its conflicting and multiple discourses: the expectations of being successful and independent versus the expectations to be married and have children, which Claire highlighted as being part of everyday reality for women. They also saw the conflicting discourses of ‘the whore and the madonna’, as Emma phrased the expectations of men towards women, which indeed highlighted the way the article had represented women.
By using the dialogic space, students collaborated to engage in both discursive mapping and in discussing how they themselves were affected by these expectations and discourses in society. Students were engaging through ‘languaging’ (cf. Phipps and Gonzalez, 2004), or ‘dialoguing’, as I call it, using the article as a starting point, but then conversely relating their discussion again to the article. They referred to a range of personal experiences to engage with the text, from giving examples of their own experience to relating the discussion to other academic discussions (e.g. Claire referring to a literature class in French), and students talking about their expectations for their own future.
The personal here helped to engage students and make them see the cultural and social significance of the article. Marijke particularly brings the discussion back to the article. She also queries Emma in her confident statement that she will have no problems integrating being a woman with having a career. She makes it personal and at the same time queries underlying assumptions, both in the text, but also in the attitude of the students themselves.
By standing both inside and outside the text and through dialoguing, students were able to use the personal to be intercultural. They were intercultural at a generic level: recognizing the cultural values embedded in the text and the complexity of society of which this text is a product. However, the lesson also addressed being intercultural at a more specific level and local level. I conceived of this as Dutch discourses, and I turn to this next. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/3%3A_Lesson_2%3A_Cultuurtekst/4%3A_Lifeworld_Kno.txt |
Even though the topic discussed was transcultural, and certainly not specifically Dutch, as mentioned, I felt this particular texts showed what I called Dutch articulations in the text. Students had indeed recognized the global, or at least western, the relevance of the text and made intertextual references to American and English soaps and films. I asked students whether they felt that this issue would have been written about in a similar way in an English magazine aimed at men. As I describe in more detail in Chapter 4, my own interpretation had been that the extreme traditional positioning of women as needing to find fulfilment through motherhood, would not have been acceptable in an English publication, not even in a men’s one. This discourse was made more acceptable by another discourse which also carried a Dutch flavour: that of therapy and self-development, which, I thought, would equally have been out of place in an English magazine aimed at men.
In the fragment below I am trying to bring this discussion into the foreground. The exchange student, Marijke, responded as I had expected, saying that this kind of discourse certainly does not surprise her, but the regular students of the class did not seem to want to pursue this line of analysis. As in the previous set of data, they ‘talked around the text’ and focused on the difference in conventions in how people talk about relationships: what can you say and what not? The students are relating it to previous knowledge and experience gained when living in the Netherlands. Marijke took on the role of ‘learner’ about English culture. The discussion which I had hoped to kick-start on whether there was Dutch articulation to some of the discourses employed, became a content-oriented one, based on personal experience, or at least what they had inferred and observed about differences in relationships in England and the Netherlands:
Claire: Ja, maar ik moet zeggen ik heb in MH in Engeland gekijkt wanneer ik was in Waterstone’s en MH in Engeland is niks te doen, of er is een klein artikel over seks maar al andere artikelen zijn over sport en health hoe je kan een betere sixpack hebben.
G: Ja, wasbord dus.
Marijke: [lacht]
Claire: Ja, en een betere… ’deze schoenen voor voetbal’.
G: Niets over relaties.
Claire: Nee, niets over relaties.
[…]
Marijke: Maar denk… dan wat je ook zei dat over MH dat het alleen maar over sport gaat, dat praten over relaties, dat dat niet helemaal kan, dat dat te open is?
Claire: In Engeland het kan niet ja, ik denk dat in Engeland je kan het niet publiceren in een Engelse mannelijke publicatie.
G: En dan met name het vrij serieuze over relaties en het therapeutische gedeelte…?
Claire: Nee, nee want ik denk dat in Engeland we praten niet over deze soort dingen, want ik denk mannen, maar ook vrouwen praten niet in dezelfde manier over seks.
Emma: Nee.
Claire: In Nederland is het heel... je hebt 6 mannen en 6 vrouwen die woont bij elkaar en misschien ik weet het niet, praat je over seks en dat soort dingen.
Marijke: [lacht]
Claire: Maar je praat over relaties.
Marijke: Ja, dat gaat.
Claire: Maar ik denk in Engeland ik praat niet met mijn vrienden over mijn relatie behalve dan in een meer generale manier.
Translation
Claire: Yes, but I have to say, when I was in Waterstone’s I had a look, and in MH in England there is nothing, or just a small article about sex, and all other articles are about sport and health… how you can have a better ‘sixpack’…
G: Yes, ‘wasbord’.
Marijke: [laughs]
Claire: Yes, and a better these shoes for football.
G: Nothing about relationships.
Claire: No, nothing about relationships.
[…]
Marijke: But do you think, that what you said, that MH is only about sport, that talking about relationships that it is not possible/acceptable, that it is too open?
Claire: In England you can’t do it, yes, I think that in England you can’t publish it in an English publication for men.
G: And then particularly the fairly serious tone about relationships, that therapeutic part?
Claire: No, because I think in England we don’t talk about these kind of things, because I think men, but also women, don’t talk in the same way about sex.
Emma: No.
Claire: In the Netherlands it is very… you have 6 men and 6 women who live together and maybe, I don’t know, you talk about sex and that kind of thing…
Marijke: [laughs]
Claire: But you talk about relationships.
Marijke: Yes, that is…
Claire: But I think in England I don’t talk with my friends about my relationship except in a more general way.
Claire had taken an intercultural stance by looking at an English version of Men’s Health for comparison. Her analysis, that it did not contain anything about relationships, was taken further by Marijke. She was interested to what degree you could infer whether there is more of a taboo on talking about relationships in England than in the Netherlands. The exchange is perhaps a little essentialist in its focus and conducted at a very general level, but I had encouraged that by my initial questioning about ‘Dutchness’. Whilst the dialogue was not leading to discourses in Dutch society regarding women, that I had scaffolded the discussion towards, the dialogue was nevertheless intercultural. An interesting side effect was that the intercultural dialogue was taking place in both directions: the statements about English society made by Claire, led Marijke to ask further questions. Interesting is that the English students were more confident in their observations about cultural difference. Marijke did not focus on cultural differences and, in her interview ,she said she had no idea what ‘Dutch values’ were, as she, as a native speaker, had never thought about it in those terms.
The students may have taken on an intercultural stance in the sense that they were thinking about the issue of the wider cultural context in the Netherlands and Britain, but they were not extending this to continuing the position of critique of discourses. Nevertheless, the students were reflecting; Claire used both the evidence of what she had inferred from the article and something which Marijke had said earlier on in the discussion and then related it to her own experience. On the other hand, the discussion did not rise above the level of stereotypes, and students were not aware of the fact that they were colluding in stereotypes.
I then aim to bring the discussion back from the ‘talk around the text’ to the pedagogical task at hand, i.e. looking at the underpinning values in the text and whether these could be said to constitute a Dutch articulation. I want to find out from Marijke whether she feels the underpinning values in the text are in any way ‘recognisable’ to her:
G: [question directed at Marijke] Wat vind jij, heb je het gevoel dat… komt dit op jou vrij herkenbaar over, dat je deze waarden in een tijdschrift hebt of vind je dat ook vreemd, als je tenminste in ogenschouw neemt dat dit tijdschrift op mannen is gericht?
Marijke: Ik vind het niet vreemd dat ze iets zoals dit publiceren. Ik heb niet het idee dat dit heel erg buiten de toon valt van wat er verder in Nederland te lezen is, nee.
Claire: Dit is een normaal artikel in MH in Nederland.
Marijke: Ja, niet dat ik MH lees, maar… [lacht]
[…]
Eve: Er is veel meer vrijheid in Nederland om te schrijven wat jij bedoelen wat jou mening is, veel Nederlanders geven hun mening zoveel makkelijker aan dan Engelse mensen. Het is meer sociaal acceptabeler om te zeggen wat je voelen over hoe het dan is, want dat is jouw mening.
Claire: Je hoeft niet te vragen over hun mening want ze zegt het…
[door elkaar praten]
Emma: Maar dat [Nederlandse, GQ] mannen makkelijker over gevoelens praten of makkelijker dan Engelse mannen over gevoelens praten, dat kan ik je wel vertellen. ‘t Is echt tanden trekken soms.
[…]
[door elkaar praten]
Claire: ...over seks ik denk dat seks is niet zo problematisch en een soort idee. In Nederland er is meer sex education op school, je bent jonger, ‘t is meer…
Emma: Het is gewoon in Nederland.
Claire: ‘t Is normaal, het is topical.
Eve: De Engelsen vinden het zo moeilijk om over seks te praten.
G: Actueel.
Claire: Ja, actueel en in Engeland het is taboe.
Emma: Het is alledaags bijna in Nederland, niet dat iedereen de hele dag over seks praat, maar…
[door elkaar praten]
G: ...maar hier in deze tijdschriften kom je dat toch ook tegen in Engeland, in Cosmopolitan heb je toch ook een heleboel seks.
Emma: Ja, maar dat is…
Claire: Dat is niet…
Eve and Emma: Dat is voor vrouwen…
Claire: Ook het is over goede seks…
Emma: Ja, maar dat is ook echt niet…
[…]
Claire: Ze zegt dat seks is niet altijd perfect en het gaat niet altijd goed en dat in relaties zijn er momenten dat je hebt problemen, maar in Engeland is het altijd, ja je moet, hoe zeg je ‘orgasm’ in het Nederlands?
Emma: Orgasme.
Eve: Het is elke keer, ja je moet een multiple orgasm…
Claire: Ja, precies.
[lachen en door elkaar praten]
Emma: [onverstaanbaar]… seksueel
Claire: Ja, ze moeten over seks praten in een soort closed of, ja, het is een soort perfect idee, ja en je praat over dit perfecte idee, maar het is alleen maar…
Eve: Alleen maar de ‘beautiful people’.
Claire: Ja, en je bent niet in hetzelfde soort...
Marijke: Het is niet persoonlijk?
Claire: Ja precies, het is een soort ideaal
Translation
G: [question directed at Marijke] What do you think? Do you have the feeling that… does this come across as fairly recognisable… that you find these values in a magazine, or do you find that strange as well, considering this magazine is aimed at men?
Marijke: I don’t find it unusual that they publish something like this. I don’t think this is very different from other things you can read in the Netherlands. No.
Claire: This is a normal article in Men’s Health in the Netherlands.
Marijke: Yes, well not that I read Men’s Health, but…
[…]
Eve: There is more freedom in the Netherlands to write what you think, what your opinion is, so many Dutch people give their opinion so much easier than English people, it is more socially acceptable to say what you feel, to say how it is because that is your opinion.
Claire: You don’t have to ask their opinion, because they say it.
[Students all talk at once]
Emma: But [Dutch, GQ] men talk more easily about their own feelings than English men talk about their feelings, that much I can tell you. Sometimes you really have to pull it out of them.
[Students all talk at once]
Claire: …about sex I think that sex is not so problematic and a kind of idea in the Netherlands, there is more sex education at school. You are younger, it is more…
Emma: It is normal in the Netherlands.
Eve: The English find it so difficult to talk about sex.
Claire: …and in England it is taboo.
Emma: It is almost everyday in the Netherlands, not that everyone talks about sex all day, but…
G: But in the magazines here in England, in Cosmopolitan there is also a lot of sex.
Emma: Yes, but that is not…
Claire: that is not…
Eve and Emma: That is for women…
Claire: And it is about good sex…
Emma: Yes, but that is not really…
[…]
Claire: She says that sex is not always perfect and it doesn’t always go well, and that there are moments in relationships that you have problems, but in England, it is always, yes, you have got to… how do you say ‘orgasm’ in Dutch?
Emma: ‘Orgasme’.
Eve: It is every time, yes, you must [have] a multiple orgasm…
Claire: Yes, exactly.
[Laughter and everyone talks at the same time]
Emma: Yes, it is very extreme… [not audible]
Eve: [not audible] Sexual.
Claire: Yes, they have to talk about sex in a kind of closed, or yes, it is a kind of idea about perfection, yes, and you talk about this ‘perfect-idea’, but it is only…
Eve: Only beautiful people.
Claire: And you are not in the same [league?]
Marijke: It is not personal?
Claire: Yes exactly, it is a kind of ideal.
Marijke indeed feels the values reflected in the article are similar to those in other publications in the Netherlands, which might suggest there may be a Dutch articulation to some aspects of the text. My question was aimed at discourses in the media, and Marijke’s answer does indeed focus on this. However, the students did not follow up on the representations in the media but instead continued the theme of attitudes of ‘openness’ in attitudes and communication, which the discussion around the text had thrown up for them. In comparing these attitudes between the Netherlands and England, students followed essentialist notions of national cultures. Eve’s general observation that Dutch people have a direct style of communication is applied by Emma to different communicative behaviours between English and Dutch men when it comes to talking about feelings. She seems to make use of her own personal experiences by emphasising: ‘that much I can tell you’.
From that point, the discussion starts to focus on sex, but Claire relates this to her cultural knowledge of the Netherlands. She suggests that because there is sex education at schools, it is easier for people to talk about sex. However, rather than just making an observation, using her cognitive schemata, she touches on a more complex point; she says that talking about sex is ‘a kind of idea’ (een soort idee). Claire seems to suggest that because sex is talked about from a younger age at school, it becomes part of culture, almost like a discourse. The other students do not pursue the more complex point Claire is making, but they confirm the fact that talking about sex is just more common in the Netherlands.
When Eve focuses on the comparative element (‘the English find it so difficult to talk about sex’) both Emma and Claire confirm this, but I feel that the students are colluding in a stereotype. I want them to query this further and I counter their comments by stating that there is a lot of talk about sex in English magazines as well. This leads students to consider the way Dutch magazines write about sex compared to English publications, such as Cosmopolitan. It is Claire again who considers these differences and she suggests that Dutch magazines will write about sex in the context of relationships and that they would also focus on the fact that sex is not always perfect. English magazines (i.e. Cosmopolitan), on the other hand, write in a ‘closed way’ about sex, as if sex should be perfect all the time; it is not about personal experiences, but an ‘ideal’ to live up to (Eve: ‘multiple orgasms’). Again Claire comes close to suggesting that there are different discourses surrounding sex, i.e. conventions in talking about sex and the assumptions and expectations which surround it. Also interestingly, Claire focused again on the pressure that glossy magazines exert to conform to the image of an ‘idealised’ lifestyle, which Claire mentioned a few times in relation to the article in Men’s Health.
Whilst I had wanted to focus on Dutch articulation and discourses in the Men’s Health text, students changed that focus to a comparative one, looking at the differences in the Netherlands and England in communicative styles in the way people talk about feelings and about sex. Whilst partly I felt students were colluding in stereotypes, they also, Claire, in particular, attempted to relate both their personal experience and their cognitive and lifeworld knowledge to reflect on these differences.
I felt slightly uncomfortable about discussing issues comparatively, as this so easily leads to an unproblematic confirming of national stereotypes. Of course, I had encouraged the comparative stance in trying to make students consider the idea of a Dutch articulation, but articulation focuses on discourses, rather than on the ‘facts’ of people’s behaviour, which is how the discussion was developing. On the other hand, students were reflecting on their own experiences when they had been in the Netherlands during their residency abroad. Whilst I think students were in danger of over-essentializing their experiences, Claire points towards a way in which topics like these could be debated in a more constructive and intercultural way, with students reflecting critically on their own experiences. She hints at the fact that there are discourses, which she referred to as ‘kinds of ideas’, surrounding sex, which may differ from country to country (or indeed from social group to social group), because of historically developed attitudes, or indeed, as Claire suggests, because of the educational curriculum, which is a powerful conductor of values and discourses. Focusing on discourses rather than the ‘facts’ of people’s behaviour, allows for a more comprehensive and problematised view of the notion of possible national articulation.
In comparing the two different sets of data, i.e. the one where students were engaged critically in mapping discourses and were discussing these on a transcultural basis, the data set above relating to Dutch articulation, in contrast, reverted the topic onto a national level. These different data show the tension between these perspectives, transcultural and national, which I think are part and parcel of language teaching which takes into account the complexities of language and culture. Both sets of data showed students engaged in ‘dialoguing’ about issues related to culture, language and clearly to students’ own lives. The data also show the importance of collaboration in the meaning-making process. The fact that one set of data showed students taking a more complex stance to the topic in hand, and a more essentialist approach in the second one, also shows that the context of the discussion is important. This context was partly created by me by asking students to focus on Dutch articulation. But students themselves also created the context together. If one student introduced a different perspective, i.e. Eve in the last set of data introducing the notion of differences in communication styles between the English and Dutch, then others were prepared to follow that line of conversation. In doing so, students showed responsibility and engagement towards one another in their discussions, as well as an intellectual curiosity towards new and other perspectives. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/3%3A_Lesson_2%3A_Cultuurtekst/5%3A_Dutch_Articul.txt |
What emerges from the classroom data is that the personal experience and reflections of students, the collaborating and dialoguing together in class is as important as the analytical activity of looking at the text from the various perspectives encompassed in my framework. In the first lesson, students took a greater distance towards the text, took on an outside position, and seemingly approached the task of discussion as a traditional pedagogic activity, where a ‘correct’ answer is expected. Generally speaking, it was not until the second lesson, when we looked at the cultuurtekst perspective when students started to take a more dialogic approach to the text, relating the text to their personal experiences, which in turn influenced their interpretation of the text.
Over the two lessons, the discussion in class became more ‘dialogic’ as the lessons progressed, both in relation to the text - students engaged with the text at various levels, but also in terms of class discussion - students initially answered my questions directly to me, but soon started to respond to one another and collaborated (or clashed with one another on a couple of occasions) in interpreting the text. On the whole, it could be said that students’ understanding of the text gradually moved from the level of text as a product, to text as cultuurtekst, recognizing underlying values. However, this was not a neat and linear progress. There were significant learning moments, but students’ understanding of the discourses in the text remained frequently at an implicit level. At times, it also felt that students had negated their earlier understanding of the text. Students used a variety of approaches to interpreting the text and these approaches also differed from student to student.
There were occasions where the students were intercultural in their attempts to understand the text from the inside, i.e. engaging with the cultural meaning of the text in relation to their own lived experiences. They also tried to understand and critique the values contained in the text. In that sense, students were ethnographic and engaging. However, students did not reflect on their own interpretation of the text, so as such they did not make their own reality ‘strange’. This was not surprising, as I had not invited students to be reflexive. I only conceptualized the notion of text ethnography and its reflexive aspect as a result of this data analysis. Students did, however, take a position of critique as they reflected on the ideological underpinnings of the text and its representation of normalizing the discourse of women being soft, gentle, caring, and dependent.
Interestingly, the deeper insights by students occurred when they moved away from the exercise of text analysis and made the discussion their own. The ‘talking around the text’ became the most dialogic, insightful, and even academic discussions of the two lessons, where students recognized the power structures that regulate women’s personal life choices in terms of career and motherhood.
Whilst in the first lesson, students conceived of the discussions at the ‘text level’ as a more traditional learning task, responding to questions and tasks, in the second lessons students created their own dialogic space in which they collaborated to talk around the text, which at times also took on elements of discursive mapping. Students moved from particular interpretations and readings to other ones, even if these seemed to be conflicting. In doing so they created their own changing, what I call, ‘context of discussion’, a shared experience of learners engaging in the task of making sense of a text, mapping discourses, and relating it to their own experiences. Students’ readiness to engage in different interpretations or articulations showed their responsibility to one another in the classroom discussions. The dialogic space in the classroom gives rise to a fluidity of the ‘context of discussion’, opening up opportunities for sharing experiences, for expressing thought in a continuing shifting exchange of ideas, emotions and experiences.
The notion of Dutch articulation did not lead to any insights or, even considered discussions. The Dutch student, Marijke, did acknowledge that the discourses in the text were recognizable in terms of what was published in the Netherlands, but this point was not taken up further by anyone. I think in retrospect, the notion of articulation would need to be developed further as it is at a very subtle level that this takes place. The evidence from the classroom discussion suggests that the idea of a national articulation leads to uncritical comparisons and feeds into confirming stereotypes. However, one student did introduce an interesting notion, by implying that ways of talking about a topic, such as sex, can be nationally articulated to a degree, depending on to what degree it is included and how it is talked about in education.
Nevertheless, I believe the tendency to confirm stereotypes shows how careful we need to be in focusing on national patterns. Even if there may be a Dutch articulation in texts, or indeed discourses, this is only a particular tendency at a particular time and in a particular environment. Such an articulation is only one of various other articulations and of other discourses. Since students had difficulty making sense of the multiple discourses, or voices in the text, and had a tendency to interpret the text only in the light of one of these, focusing on a ‘national’ articulation carries with it the risks of confirming or creating new stereotypes which should probably not be tackled until students have a fuller and more balanced understanding of the complexities of national identity. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/05%3A_Tensions_in_the_Classroom/4%3A_Conclusion.txt |
This book explored an approach to language and culture teaching as part of a general language class, which I called the cultuurtekst approach - a way of reading texts as culture. The underpinning rationale for my cultuurtekst approach is that language and culture are complex, and that teaching language as if both language and culture are stable notions creates a distorted representation of the cultural and social reality of people’s lives.
The study on which this book is based consisted of a deeply reflexive process, which originated in my disquiet with contemporary language teaching practices at the time I started my study. This reflexivity consisted of a constant interplay between ideas and practice. On the one hand, I reflected on theories of language, culture and of pedagogy in order to develop the approach. Conversely, in looking at how students responded to my approach I reconsidered the theoretical premises on which language teaching practice is based, including my own practice. I developed notions such as ‘being a text ethnographer’ and ‘Dutch articulation’, and utilized the notion ‘discourse mapping’, as an important rationale of the cultuurtekst approach as a way of being a critical intercultural language user. The reflexive process of looking at my own practice was a profoundly uncomfortable one. In listening word for word to my tape recorded lessons and looking at transcripts of these over and over again, I was confronted with everyday failings, such as not picking up on points students made, cutting off students, misinterpreting comments, leading discussions too much, or not leading them sufficiently and many other of these awkward deficiencies, which most of us are probably liable to as teachers. More significantly, however, because of what at times seemed to be only embryonic understandings and, perhaps more worryingly, because of the resistance shown by one student, Sarah, in particular, I started to doubt whether my approach was a worthwhile addition to teaching methodology. Was my contribution to the development of a new paradigm in fact worth exploring further?
However, in this micro observation of my own teaching, I became aware of two things. First of all, after the discomfort of potential failings, either in actual teaching or the methodology, was dispensed with, I realized that neither learning nor teaching is a linear and straightforward process. During the lessons, it was exactly the hesitations, the ruptures, the discomfort in students which indicated valuable learning moments, much more so than the occasions where confident answers were given. Equally, it was when students responded in personal ways, rather than in distant, seemingly objective intellectual ways, that real engagement took place. Moreover, it was the resistance of Sarah in particular, which pointed not to the failing of this approach, but to the fact that I had, in her words, not gone ‘far enough’ with it. An important conclusion then is that whilst students had taken a step towards discourse mapping, interculturality, and understanding the complexities of culture and being a text ethnographer, what was lacking was precisely the consideration and reflection on students’ own subjectivities. And by extension, it was through my reflections on my own subjectivities, my own teaching, and the discomfort I had felt, that I was able to progress in my own lessons to open up more space for personal engagement.
Before I come back to this later in this chapter, I summarize and conclude the findings of this study here, relating these to the theoretical concepts I developed, before discussing how this contributes towards thinking about a new paradigm of language teaching which fits in with the current demands of preparing students for their future complex mobile lives, linguistically, culturally and personally. In discussing the findings, I will also refer to significant data from student interviews, which indicate these learning moments and processes. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/06%3A_Conclusion-_Embracing_Tensions/1%3A_Introduction.txt |
For the purposes of this book, I have looked in detail at the classroom data I collected during my study, and which I analyzed in Chapter 5. I am not affording the same amount of time and space to the interview data in this chapter as I did to the classroom data in the previous one, because the interview data were intended particularly to triangulate the classroom data. In this final chapter, where relevant, I refer to some of the interviews to illuminate some of my research findings in greater detail. In doing so, I focus on only two students, Claire and Sarah, particularly because of their contrasting views.
Out of all the students, Claire had engaged most with the conflicting discourses in the Men’s Health text and with the cultuurtekst pedagogy. In the interviews, however, Claire showed that she was still struggling with the concept of cultuurtekst to some extent. Yet her conceptualization of cultuurtekst in relation to her own lived experience added substantially to my own interpretation and theorization of cultuurtekst for language pedagogy, as I will show below.
Similarly, Sarah’s responses added significantly to my understanding of how students can engage with the idea of cultuurtekst and how their assumptions of what communication is, have a bearing on how they conceive their language learning. Moreover, it also helped me to locate the further conceptualization of cultuurtekst pedagogy in a philosophical context. Even though Sarah had not been present during the second lesson, which was part of the analysis of the previous chapter, I have still opted to refer to data of Sarah’s interviews here, because her resistance to my approach offered valuable insights into her learning experiences in relation to my pedagogy, and indeed has consequences for my reflection on how to take this pedagogy forward.
To understand the depth of Sarah’s resistance, I need to point out that a few weeks into the course Sarah had approached me to ask whether she could be excused from attending the classes and just take the course on a self-study basis. She did not like the course because of its focus on ‘style’ in relation to the audience and purpose of the text. As the data show, Sarah had not even started to engage with the notion of discourses. It has to be remembered here that, as I mentioned in chapter 4, I had at the start of the course used the term ‘style’ in order to refer to ‘routinized ways of talking’ about certain topics, as that seemed a more acceptable notion to students because of its more obvious link with the idea of improving one’s language skills in the class, rather than the term ‘discourses‘. But the idea of people adapting their language use in different situations had had a profound effect on Sarah. She suddenly felt that she could not communicate effectively anymore with people because she was worrying and wondering about what to say and how to say it, whereas before that would have come automatically. The idea that people use different kinds of languages in different situations, that people ‘switch codes’ was very unsettling in a psychological way. In fact, she mentioned at the time, ‘it had rocked her to the core’; it made her feel that, on the one hand, she could not trust people anymore to say exactly what they meant and that on the other hand, it made her very self conscious about her own use of language in English, both in writing and speech.
We managed to resolve the conflict between us by agreeing that Sarah would attend classes and do her homework, but that she did not have to participate in class discussions if she did not want to. After a few lessons, Sarah started to participate fully in class, but it always remained clear that she continued to be resistant to this approach. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/06%3A_Conclusion-_Embracing_Tensions/2%3A_The_Student_Interviews.txt |
The overall question I attempt to answer in my study is ‘How do students engage with the cultuurtekst pedagogy?’ The sub-questions in relation to the two lessons in which the Men’s Health text was discussed were: ‘What different levels of reading do the two perspectives of text and cultuurtekst yield?’, and whether students make the journey from ‘text’ to ‘cultuurtekst’. In answering both these questions, I was particularly interested in whether students would recognize the complexity of the discourses at the cultuurtekst level of reading, whether these different levels of reading would also relate to different levels of criticality, including that of engaging with the text as a text ethnographer, and finally, whether students recognized any Dutch articulation in the text.
Below, I discuss the ambiguities between text and cultuurtekst which emerged both from the classroom data and the interviews, and how this linked to criticality as well as, in the case of Sarah, views of communication.
2: From Text t
As I showed in Chapter 5, over the course of the two lessons students gradually moved from seeing the text as ‘text’ to seeing text as ‘cultuurtekst’. However, this progress was not neat and linear, and there were considerable differences between students. Understanding of the text at a cultuurtekst level seemed to be incidental - occasional nuggets of insights, which students would not necessarily build on later. It became clear that it is not easy to separate the different ways of reading as students move in and out of different positions towards the text. It also became clear that we cannot separate reading a text for its content, structure, and immediate context as a stable entity separate from cultuurtekst, because students invested the text with cultural and social meaning, even when reading the text at the textual level, as was the case in the first lesson. However, despite attributing meaning to the text, at the textual level of reading, students did so in the light of only one of the discourses reflected in the text. During these discussions, some students stayed close to the text and aligned themselves with the text or the author, but others went beyond the text and were indeed aware the text was showing representations, rather than facts. Moreover, in the first lesson, students talked in a very confident manner about their analyses, as they seemed to interpret the task to be one of a traditional language classroom: that of assuming a ‘correct answer’ was required.
Discussing the text at cultuurtekst level in the second lesson, on the other hand, did seem to give students more insights; students became less confident in their voice as they interpreted the task as needing more careful consideration. It is the hesitancy with which students try out ideas as part of dialogic group discussions, which I considered to be important learning moments. Questions which assume a correct answer do not allow any space for dialogue, engaging with other ideas, or for reflection. In the lesson focusing on the text as cultuurtekst, there was more ‘discussion around the text’, and students used these discussions to re-interpret the text in the light of what had been said. Again there were considerable differences between students. There were occasions where students showed an intercultural stance in their attempts to understand the text from the inside, i.e. engaging with the cultural meaning of the text in relation to the context of text production as well as engaging with their own lived experiences. Interestingly, the deeper insights by students occurred when they moved away from the exercise of text analysis and made the discussion their own. The ‘talking around the text’ became the most dialogic, insightful and, even academic, discussions of the two lessons, where students critiqued the power structures embedded in the text, i.e. those that regulate women’s personal life choices in terms of career and motherhood. Moreover, by relating their experiences again to the texts, students were also becoming aware that the text was making ‘claims to truth’.
Claire
Whilst tentative conclusions after the second lesson pointed to a deeper engagement with the discourses in the text, the interviews with the students showed that some of the learning of the cultuurtekst lesson had not necessarily been transferred. Claire, for instance, had shown the most understanding of and engagement with the discourses in the text during the lessons, including the conflicting ones, and had recognized these to be culturally significant. During one of her interviews, however, she took a different view; that these conflicting discourses showed a lack of clarity and poor argumentation. She showed her unease with the notion of cultuurtekst as she describes the process she followed in reading the text.
First, she reads the text as a language learner making sure she has understood all of the vocabularies, then she reads it for content, critiquing both the stereotypical representations in the text as well as empathizing with the women in the text who are dumped by their lover for a younger woman, before addressing the text at cultuurtekst level:
Claire: When I did the, well, what I tried to do was read it for the vocabulary so that I understood it fully because it was annoying to leave (…) and then read it again on the train without writing anything and without having read your [framework], and then it was that I started to see the kind of… I find it very patronizing, em, there are lots of sentences that I don’t like, the whole cliché, cliché thing, you know, oh her true lover left her for a younger woman. Well, you know, that’s quite a horrible thing to have to deal with, you know, you don’t have to be patronizing about it.
But then, when I read it with, what I did was when I needed to write out the text that you wanted for the cultuurtekst question, I wrote down all the questions that were asked and then I read it each time so I went through it thinking, how are women portrayed here or how are the people in this story portrayed, and then kind of underlining a word and using some of the things that I saw, and the more I read it, the more I realized that it’s not a very, well, that the argument isn’t very good because it sort of skips from one thing to the other, and it never actually says anything, it kind of moves around and around this point but it never makes any statement about, you know, or conclusion.
Claire’s representation of her process of reading is significant for various reasons. Her reading at the content level is not just a ‘preferred reading’, looking at the position from which the text asks to be read (see Chapter 3), but her response to the text in this phase of reading was one of both critical and personal engagement. On the one hand, she critiques the stereotypical, patronizing, and mocking approach of the text. But at the same time, she responds from a personal perspective: she talks with a voice of empathy with the women who are being dumped by their lover for a younger woman. In my own framework of reading, I had not taken account of this personal engagement which was also a significant point to emerge from my classroom data. But whilst she is critical of the text in terms of its ideological stereotypical representations of women, her critique here occurs at the content and textual level of reading. She sees the final cultuurtekst level of reading as an academic exercise, answering the questions about representations. Rather than this resulting in a firming up of the critique of discourses, it led her to a more traditional perspective of reading: being critical of its poor argumentation.
It seems then that her view of cultuurtekst carries within it a traditional view of text as containing stable meaning and text as a product. This dual view of text could be the result of giving students a framework which carries within it these two views. Critiquing representations is for Claire achieved through an engagement with the content from the perspective of people being represented in the text. She tries to inhabit the place of the ‘characters’, as it were, and to see the world momentarily through their eyes.
However, later on in the interview, she comes back to the distinction between text and cultuurtekst more specifically and this time she relates the notion of personal experience and interest with the idea of cultuurtekst.
Claire: […] because we talked about it as a cultuurtekst not just necessarily as an article, because as an article you can take it apart.
G: Right
Claire: You know, but as a cultuurtekst it’s very interesting, because it, you know, it talks about a cultural phenomenon, which you know, and I found the way it used, you know, because if you think, you know, I don’t read many things by men, so I think that’s quite interesting and, you know, yeah. No, I found it a very, I thought yesterday was really good fun, I really enjoyed it, because it was, you know, especially as you’re talking about something which is actually quite interesting for someone my age, you know, talking about politics or economics is something that is not so relevant to me now, em, but social values, sex, things like that, is quite a sort of, that is something I would realistically discuss with a friend, you know, you’re not kind of making a you know, fake situation.
G: Well, it’s very much part of life and society.
Claire: Exactly
Claire sees text, or ‘article’ as she refers to it here, as a product you can analyse, ‘you can take it apart’. She juxtaposes this with reading or discussing the text as cultuurtekst, which she interprets now as ‘talking about a cultural phenomenon’ you can relate to and engage with as you would in your everyday life: ‘it’s something I would realistically discuss with a friend’.
Whilst in the first fragment she indicates that the academic cultuurtekst exercise of looking at the way women were represented, made her realize the text was not a ‘good text’ in the traditional sense, Claire’s conception of reading as cultuurtekst is quite different. Here she relates cultuurtekst not as an academic exercise looking at representations, but as reading as a ‘communicative experience’, relating the text to one’s own (or other people’s) experiences. For Claire, this happened particularly when discussing the text in class. It was this communicative experience as dialogue which personalized the cultuurtekst phase of reading. Whilst Claire does not mention it in this fragment above, this experience becomes intercultural if the text is produced in an environment, and is about a social group, the reader is not familiar with. By relating the text to everyday lived experience and reflecting on that, Claire is reading, at least to some extent, as a text ethnographer. With Claire engaging with the text as a reader for her own interests, a topic she can relate to and would realistically discuss with friends, her description of the process of cultuurtekst seems to parallel the dialogic spaces which opened up in class when students engaged with the text by ‘talking around it’. Reading ‘as an experience’, and classroom discussion as a real-life activity, not a ‘fake situation’, as Claire called it, might then provide students with an opportunity to see things from different perspectives.
In summary, in her retrospective engagement with the text in the two sets of data above, Claire employed various positions of criticality. She had critiqued the text from a liberal humanist conception of critical thinking. From this perspective, the text did not stand up to scrutiny as a ‘good text’. She also employed ideology critique. From this perspective, the text consisted of stereotypical representations. And furthermore, Claire employed also a personal level of critique; she critiqued the text, as it were for its misrepresentations and mocking approach, as if the women in the text were characters of flesh and blood with whom she could empathize. Through inhabiting the represented characters, she saw the world temporarily from their perspective. An approach in reading which is not unlike the idea of sympathetic imagination with is afforded in literature.
Sarah on the other hand, read the text in a very different way, one which is more distant and from a liberal humanist perspective. However, as we will see below, personal engagement also played a role for her, but in quite a different way from the way that Claire engaged with the text.
Sarah
Sarah rejected the notion of cultuurtekst quite strongly and she had not engaged with the idea of discourses. It must be remembered, however, she had not taken part in the second class where we discussed the text at a cultuurtekst level. In one of her interviews, when I ask Sarah what the notion ‘cultuurtekst’ means for her she says she feels it is to do with lifestyle. She distances herself from this particular genre, or ‘cultuurteksts’ as she perceives them because they are ‘manipulated’ and written for specific audiences.
Sarah: So I don’t, so for me it’s em it’s quite clear when I read an article in a newspaper or a or a em whatever piece in a lifestyle magazine, that it’s that it’s just em that it’s quite, well, manipulated for a particular audience to try and appeal to a certain type of em frame of mind.
G: Mm.
Sarah: And I don’t, I don’t like the idea of em of em being so manipulated, so I’d rather not read them.
Sarah thoroughly dislikes the idea of being manipulated through language. As she had said to me at the start of the course, she had previously always thought that people were ‘honest’ in their communicative behaviours and stayed true to themselves by speaking the same way regardless of who one spoke to or what one wanted to achieve.
With relating cultuurtekst particularly to the genre of lifestyle texts, Sarah may think of cultuurtekst as linked to ‘low’ culture; the popular mass media, which may contradict Sarah’s own sense of culture and identity. Later in the interview when asked what kinds of texts she does read, she says that she prefers to read books, ‘founts of knowledge’, and would much rather learn about topics in class that are personally interesting to her, such as, for instance, Erasmus, rather than ‘these cultuurteksts’.
What is interesting is that Sarah considers lifestyle publication as the same genre as newspapers. Her dislike of texts being manipulated is less geared to critiquing ideology, it would seem, then to an ‘ideal’ view of communication, as she makes clear below.
But the process of having discussed texts in class according to the questions in my framework for analysis, had led her to reflect deeply on the nature of communication. Her resistance to the course was not only caused by the fact that the texts seemed to be manipulated, or by her sense of identity as a reader who wants to read texts of a certain academic, or perhaps literary, standing, she also worried about how as readers you can interpret texts ‘correctly’. For her the issues of ‘trust’ and ‘honesty’ emerge. As a reader you not only need to be able to trust a writer not to manipulate you, conversely when you write you need to trust your readers to interpret your text the way you intended:
Sarah: So you can, so you can, not only does the writer make choices and so structure a text that it says what he wants to say, but also a reader by interpreting it in different ways understands it differently, so that’s why the whole idea of, that’s why I think you get lost, anything you read or you listen to or anything, any kind of communication, there’s such a lot of room for error, just because em if you are going to interpret it one way or another and you mean it one way or another.
G: Yeah yeah.
Sarah: There’s so much potential to em confusion.
G: Yeah.
Sarah: Despite it being what you might call a better communication, it doesn’t mean, I don’t know a good communication has got to do with listeners as well as speakers or readers as well as writers.
G: Yes, yeah.
Sarah: And you can’t, and so to, so you have to rely on your audience and so that’s why if you’re going to, if you think you can manipulate them, well if they can’t rely on you, em I suppose (…) so I think the whole trust thing is that you read a, it would be nice to be able to read a text and em for them not to be playing with you and it depends on genre so if you, I don’t know, if you’re like criticizing things and don’t mind reading crap then you can quite happily read different things that I wouldn’t be able to read because I, I don’t know, I don’t like that so…
G: Right, okay.
Sarah: Does that make any sense?
Sarah is clearly trying to make sense of very complex ideas about communication which the course has made her think about. Firstly, she is very much aware of the complexity of the process of a communicative event and the important role the reader has in interpreting a text. Secondly, she contrasts what she knows is happening in communicative events with what she feels ought to happen.
To start with the first point, Sarah realizes that in communicating, not only does the writer need to make linguistic choices, the reader also has to be able to decode those. Whereas in earlier comments, Sarah seemed to hold on to a view of text as stable and universal, here she is introducing the importance of the reader’s interpretation. However, Sarah sees the reader’s role as a potential problem, since there is such a large potential for error and misunderstanding. Sarah assumes that the writer has a particular meaning which the reader must interpret ‘correctly’. This fits with Sarah’s interpretation of the Men’s Health text in class, where she tried to align herself with the author (as I described in Chapter 5). Sarah’s view of communication accords with that of the structuralist model - a view of communication which many students hold subconsciously, that in sending a message in a communicative event the message has to arrive exactly as the sender had intended it.
Sarah sees the relationship between the audience and the writer or speaker as one of trust. As the reader, you need to be able to trust the writer that he is not going to manipulate you. Sarah seems to hold to a view of ‘ideal communication’ which is similar to one of the maxims of Grice’s cooperative principles: that of being truthful. Sarah’s view of reading is one of text as ‘text’ and not as ‘cultuurtekst’. Her criticality is rooted in the liberal humanist view of ‘critical thinking’, rather than seeing text in relation to contexts.
Whereas we saw that for Claire discourse critique was achieved through relating the text at a personal level and looking through the perspective of the women who were represented, seeing them as real characters as it were, for Sarah it worked the other way. She resisted the course, precisely because of the effect. She felt uncomfortable because discussing texts brought to the fore the different personalities and backgrounds of students in the class:
Sarah: But I realize that, well, it’s a course with a clear aim and a clear method to follow up, but at first I found it difficult because I don’t like, I don’t like it.
G: Right, well tell me a bit more about…
Sarah: So if you read the specific, anything, any kind of specific text we looked at, em, say, I don’t know, it maybe depends on generation or em background or anything, like, so different people will read the same text in a different way. It could be a way of finding out about the person I suppose by their interpretation of it, I suppose you can’t really get away from that can you?
G: Yeah, no.
Sarah: So em unless it’s a subject that really doesn’t affect you personally, then you can’t really leave your own background or ideas behind. And so although you, although you’re just discussing one text, if you read it with different people like we did, you’ll see that it meant different things to different people, say em that text about [London] or something, em, we did quite near the end […]
G: Oh right, yes.
Sarah: Yes, so that said something different to, I suppose we looked at it all in different ways, Andy, Emma, and I suppose our class was quite good because, for this course, because you couldn’t get probably six more different people, all next to each other in the same class.
G: Did you find that useful? Did you feel that em there was a dialogue going on between you as a class, and was that beneficial?
Sarah: Well, I did think that em it’s quite interesting because if you just forget the texts but look at the class, I think that em for whatever reasons, in the end, people identified with each other differently than at the beginning.
G: Was that with one another or with the texts?
Sarah: Yeah, with one another, and I actually think it might have to do with probably to do with the course because it was so much based on discussion and interpretation […]
Sarah’s experience in class of discussing texts with the other students showed her that the texts meant different things to different people. We saw earlier that Sarah has a strong notion of correct interpretation. But what Sarah finds significant here is not whether people’s different interpretations are valid, but that people’s interpretations say something about who they are. The way you interpret the text says something about your identity. Sarah turns it around: not only does your experience, your lifeworld knowledge inform your interpretations, it also reveals who you are.
As Sarah makes this point in the context of citing an example of what she did not like about the course, we can surmise that Sarah feels uncomfortable about the idea of revealing something about herself. Reading a text the way we did in class, has a challenging aspect because it forces students to engage and show something of their personality and experience with other people. Sarah may be worried about giving too much of herself away by interpreting a text.
An interesting notion emerges from this. Whereas the previous set of data pointed towards the fact Sarah holds a stable view of communication, in the data above, by making a link between interpreting a text and what it reveals about someone’s personality, Sarah comes closer to a social view of language and communication. She acknowledges that there are multiple interpretations of a text, depending one’s experiences and even personality. Even if Sarah deploys the notion of personality and identity as unchanging, by seeing a strong correlation between interpretation and who you are, in this set of data she is holding an almost dialogic view of text.
Even though the lessons stopped short of making a more explicit link between students’ interpretations and their experiences and lifeworld knowledge, including discourses they have been familiarized with, Sarah already made this link. Although for Sarah this link was less in terms of social knowledge, but rather related to a stable individual identity.
In the next set of data, Sarah makes the link between personal experiences and communication more explicit. Whereas in earlier data she may have felt uncomfortable about unintentionally revealing things about herself, below she states quite explicitly the connection between individual personalities and communication:
Sarah: But we’re talking about communication, communication is (…) so you could say it’s endless, so yes, it’s endless because em em there’s superficial communication and there’s all different types going on at the same time and so if you’re talking about communication, to really talk about communication, you do have to ask all those big questions so and we haven’t done that, so that’s why well…
G: Ah okay, so you feel that’s what you would’ve liked to address more.
Sarah: I suppose, okay I suppose, it didn’t occur to me before but now we’re talking, I suppose, there are other aspects of communication, em, that we haven’t talked about at all, so…
[…]
G: And what sort of questions are they? What sort of questions would you have liked to have addressed?
Sarah: Well. I suppose em if you’re talking about communication, then yes, ways, genres are quite safe em types of text where you look at em a text and say where’s it from and what is it called and all the, that’s kind of safe, and when you go down into and then you can, then the problem is that that’s when it gets personal and so if that hasn’t occurred to other people then fine, so then if you really wanted to know about what somebody is writing and why, and then you’d have to go sort of it would also become em em, it would have to do with individual personality and em yeah, I don’t know.
Sarah feels the course should have gone deeper and further in addressing the ‘big questions’. The course had stayed at a safe level, talking about ‘superficial communication’ and genres and ways of writing. These big questions, Sarah suggests, relate to the individual; they are about finding out what somebody is writing and why. Whereas I had designed the course to address those questions about what is communicated, how and why at a social, political, and cultural level, Sarah felt these questions should be explored at a psychological level: what influences an individual to communicate in a particular way and to what degree this is related to personality. Rooted in a view of language as stable and communication as expressing individual thought, Sarah’s view contrasts with my aim to look at language at a social level. Nevertheless, my intention as I set out in the first chapter had been to rearticulate aspects of the liberal humanist paradigm, particularly the idea of expressing thought. Even though in Sarah’s experience these views clashed, it is precisely in the dialogic space in the classroom, where students were expressing thought both as a collaborative social activity and conceptually in relating language to its cultural discursive contexts. Whilst Sarah was worried about revealing too much of herself, it would precisely by trusting the communicative other which would make dialogic relations possible.
So for Sarah, the personal was an extra analytical layer to lead to insights into why we as individuals communicate the way we do. For Claire the personal helped her to be critical of the text partly as a responsibility to the women represented in the text: she spoke with a voice of empathy. For Claire, the personal also had an ethical perspective: during class, she had also shown concerns with the injustice of stereotyping and gender inequality.
Sarah also showed an ethical stance but for her, that was located in the use of language: not obfuscating arguments and making sure that readers could interpret correctly what you as a writer wanted to convey. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/06%3A_Conclusion-_Embracing_Tensions/3%3A_The_Research_Findings/1%3A_Introductio.txt |
The process of critical engagement with the ideas in a text, as I have found through analysis of my data, is partly occasioned by students reflecting on their own experiences. I have called this process ‘being a text ethnographer’.
Being a text ethnographer, I contended in Chapter 3, is looking at text both from an inside and an outside perspective. However, I do not conceive the inside perspective as trying to understand the text from the perspective of the author or even of the intended audience. Helping students to engage with otherness in a text is more likely to come about in engaging with ideas within the text. Ideas, moreover, which do not have to be understood and agreed with, but can also be critiqued from their discursive and ideological perspectives – their claims to truth. However, the research findings showed that the richest moments of engaging with texts and the ideas embedded within were those moments where students abandoned the text temporarily and related the ideas to their own life, their experiences, and their knowledge about society. It is this aspect of ‘engaging with’ which comes close to being a critical intercultural language user. The most intercultural moments were then largely instigated by the students themselves.
However, despite this engagement, students stopped short of reflecting on their own interpretation of the text and their own culturally located position as a reader. So as such they did not make their own reality ‘strange’. This was not surprising, as I had not invited students to engage with that level of reflexivity during the classes. In fact, I had only conceptualized text ethnography as a result of this data analysis. This notion of reflexivity as part of reading a text as a text ethnographer is an area for further theoretical development.
4: Dutch Artic
Mapping discourses is not only a critical activity. It is also a way of conceiving of the relationship between language and culture at a generic level, rather than the one language, one culture relationship which has influenced much of national focused language teaching. Cultuurtekst forms this bridge between language and culture; it is the space where different meanings can be created and recreated. It reflects as well as constructs culture, the latter through discourses. These discourses reflect transnational concerns and ideas, and so do not limit looking at cultural environment as a national process. Yet, due to historical processes and structures in society, which are formed along national lines, these discourses, I contended in Chapter 2, may take on a national articulation. As I explained, I do not mean that a national articulation relates to essentialist practices, behaviours, or ways of conceptualizing our world around us, but rather that certain accentuations may be more prominent, or more acceptable in public discourse in certain social and cultural environments, including national ones. These articulations are not stable in themselves, but can also be rearticulated in different contexts and over time. This Dutch articulation is not a feature of all texts, but it seemed prominent in the text I used for this study, in its very traditional gendered perspective on women and the implication that their natural roles are to be mothers and wives.
As Chapter 5 showed, students did not recognize the Dutch articulation that I had identified in the article, as they felt this text could have been written in the same way in an English publication. They saw the text not in a national, but in a global perspective. Students recognized instead the global intertextual references of British and American soaps and films. Marijke, one of the Dutch exchange students, was the only student who had been prepared to consider the notion of a Dutch articulation, although she phrased this very carefully. The text, she said, was not incongruous with other things published in the Netherlands in certain social environments. However, none of the other students pursued this notion of a Dutch articulation.
In class the notion of Dutch articulation did not lead to any significant insights, except confirming stereotypes. The notion ‘backfired’ as it were. In the interviews, students were more prepared to consider the notion, although Claire and Sarah saw this in different ways. Claire tried to understand texts from the context in which they are produced, whereas Sarah saw Dutch articulation as related to the content of the text: a text about Dutch culture.
Claire: And that is always going to be problematic and I suppose in a way I’m much more aware of Dutch texts and the cultuurtekst behind them because I actually have to research and I have to read it with my eyes very very open and see all the different things and I think to myself, well, I don’t understand that, is that because that’s a cultural thing, is that a cultural difference or is it just because I don’t get the grammar or whatever, whereas in French and English I don’t tend to think about that.
Claire is aware of her position as a culturally located reader. Being an intercultural reader, i.e. not being the intended audience, actually helps in understanding the cultural articulations of a text, Claire suggests, as it forces her ‘to read with her eyes very very open’. As a bilingual speaker of English and French, she does not have to think in the same way when reading a text in those languages as when she is reading a Dutch text. Being a foreign language reader then makes you stop and think and be more reflective about the text. It helps you to stand ‘outside’ the text and consider the particular cultural meanings.
Claire: But I do think that it’s a, it’s an interesting way of looking at a piece, especially if for instance, I mean it’s always interesting to look at other cultures, but to look at your own culture, to look at an English text written by an English person for an English audience, and to look at the analysis, you know, look at the way it’s written, em, I do, I tend to do that a lot more than I look at the actual culture and the discourses behind it and the, it’s affected by other things, em, I don’t tend to look at the culture because it just seems natural to me.
G: Yes.
Claire: And I suppose one of the things that I’ve learnt in the last year is that to look at it from someone else’s point of view, in a way, and so when I write I try and think about other people, but also when I read I try and think about well gosh, how are people going to interpret that or how are they going to understand it.
Claire explains that when reading English texts she does not look at ‘the culture’ or discourses because they seem natural to her, whereas, she seems to suggest, she does do that with Dutch texts: ‘it is interesting to look at other cultures’. She then explains that what she learnt from the course is writing from a reader’s perspective. By linking these statements, Claire seems to be saying that her awareness of discourses and culture is helpful in addressing people from different cultural groups. So Claire sees her responsibility towards her own readers then also in intercultural terms in the sense that when she writes, or even when she reads, she almost tries to ‘step into the shoes of the other’, by imagining how they will interpret the text. Claire is seeing being intercultural in an ethnographic way: a sympathetic imagination of the possible reader.
Sarah on the other hand interpreted Dutch articulation as the content of text about a culture, which was only significant and valuable when treated in a comparative way:
Sarah: Well, I think em because we sort of mentioned that before, haven’t we, and that what I said em em was that you can only talk about em a sort of certain way of doing things in one place or another if you compare two, so where you’ve got a text say for example the nostalgia text or the text [about London], for example, that’s where you’ve got a Dutch person in an English context, so when you’re comparing two, then it might be more obvious, where as if you are just looking at the text, so if it’s like a Dutch text about, just in a Dutch, in Dutch society, say like the what was it, the text, the Men’s Health or other lifestyle magazine or whatever, it’s not comparing Holland particularly with any other country.
G: No.
Sarah: So I don’t really, I think it depends on the content of the thing, not in terms of what it’s saying but em whether it’s Holland as opposed to something else, if there’s, if it’s like comparing or there are two contexts, but it did say, didn’t it in the [London text] it was saying that this is different in Holland or something.
Sarah interpreted my question about recognizing a particular Dutch articulation in the text as asking whether we can learn anything about Dutch culture, i.e. ‘Dutch ways’ of doing things. She feels that any specific Dutch aspect will come through only if the text is about a Dutch person in an English context or vice versa. So Sarah assumes that any understanding or insight into Dutch society from a text relates to the content of the text, rather than the way the content is written, reflecting underpinning cultural values, ideologies and discourses.
It is in retrospect not that surprising that students did not engage with the idea of a Dutch articulation in the way I had intended, i.e. as a discursive articulation in a particular historical national context. The concept of ‘discourses’ is complex enough for students to consider in its own right, and Sarah had not engaged with this notion. The idea of a ‘flavour’ or articulation of a discourse is indeed very subtle, and for students to recognize this would require them to be enculturalized in a range of discourses in various areas of social and cultural life current in both, and possibly other, countries.
Intertwining a cultuurtekst approach focusing on discursive mapping in global perspectives, with an approach that highlights cultural particularities in the form of looking at Dutch articulations, is one of the tensions that underpin this study. This study showed that dealing with this ‘national dilemma’, as Risager phrases it, is not easy in the classroom.
Finally, in terms of comparing the two students whose interview data I discussed in this chapter, it may be tempting to conclude that Claire was more successful as a student engaging with this pedagogy than Sarah, as Claire’s engagement was more in line with my intention. However, Sarah’s discomfort had led her to go through the greatest transformation as a learner. In turn, it led me to realise that discomfort is perhaps a necessary process in education. Being intercultural, and trying to engage with other ideas, will mean stepping outside the familiar. It is about exploring the possibilities of who we can be, and how we can relate to one another. It is not only about being intercultural, it is also about being human. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/06%3A_Conclusion-_Embracing_Tensions/3%3A_The_Research_Findings/3%3A_Being_a_Tex.txt |
The study on which this book is based has been born out of and marked by tensions and ambiguities. These tensions were present from the very start of the study and were part of the context in which it took place – a traditional university which was characterized by a strong adherence to the liberal humanist paradigm in language education, but operating in a wider context which emphasizes instrumental aims.
Tensions were also located in the actual pedagogy itself. Looking at texts as products, employing an approach to criticality which is rooted in the liberal humanist paradigm, i.e. that of taking critical distance, conflicts with the cultuurtekst level of looking at texts. The latter employs a poststructuralist critique, looking at multiple discourses in texts, which I referred to, following Pennycook (2001), as ‘discursive mapping’. This means looking at texts as a meaning-making process, whereby the cultural contexts of both the text producing environment, but also that of the reader, have a bearing on the interpretation. The tensions between these two perspectives led to some confusion where students critiqued the text on the one hand for its ideological positioning and on the other for its poor argumentation and structure.
I already referred earlier to the conflict embedded in my pedagogy of the centrality of discourses in the cultuurtekst approach and the concept of ‘Dutch articulation’. This particular tension led to students referring in discussions to wider global contexts and intertexts and their personal experience on the one hand, yet reverted to national stereotyping on the other.
These tensions, conflicts, resistances, and seeming incompatibilities not only formed the backdrop of the study but also inform my conclusion and point to the way forward. I am arguing that the different perspectives on text, educational philosophies, and criticality are not necessarily incompatible as such. After all, ambiguities are part and parcel of students’ everyday realities. They live with diversity, with supercomplexity, with cultural, linguistic, and philosophical tensions. One of the important conclusions of this study then is that language teaching needs to embrace these tensions if it is to develop pedagogies which acknowledge cultural complexities on the one hand and the existence of cultural patterns on the other.
In Chapter 1, whilst rejecting the tenets underpinning the liberal humanist paradigm, i.e. the assumptions of objectivity and truth, and its denial of humans as being, at least in part, shaped by cultural forces, I argued for a re-articulation of some of its concerns. These were located, I contended, in 1) the idea of criticality and intellectual engagement in language classes, 2) the notions of morality, which I interpret here as a concern for others, and 3) the importance of Self.
I have discussed the different perspectives on criticality in detail throughout this book as one of the tensions which I am embracing. The concern for others is an element which I did not purposefully include in my pedagogy, but it emerged naturally as students engaged with the text and its fictional characters in discussions. This concern for others also emerged in students’ writing as they showed an awareness of the other they were addressing. In a similar vein, the emphasis on Self and individual agency emerged, as students themselves engaged with the text and with one another explicitly referring to their own personal experiences.
In this way, the three elements which I highlighted contributed to and fed into one another. This criticality embedded in the cultuurtekst approach was then partly achieved through the intellectual engagement with the text and through a consideration of the analytical questions I had asked in class and the framework I used. However, it was equally the personal engagement as a group, the more intimate dialoguing with one another and relating the discussions to themselves that led to this criticality. The dialogic space in the classroom which students created themselves, opened up an imaginative, personal and intimate human perspective through which collaboration and exploration of ideas took place. In doing so, students showed empathy and placed themselves into the shoes of others and into their future imagined selves. It was through sympathetic imagination that critical interculturality started to take place. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/06%3A_Conclusion-_Embracing_Tensions/3%3A_The_Research_Findings/5%3A_Conclusion%.txt |
Because of the time which has lapsed between the data collection and the completion of this study, my pedagogy has since had time to evolve as I reflected on the implications of my findings. After the initial data collection, but before the analysis of the data, I responded particularity to the resistance shown by Sarah. I also felt that the overt critical analytical stance of my pedagogy could irritate students as their main aim for this course is to improve their language skills, i.e. they do not feel they need to learn how to analyze a text. As a result, my initial response was to tone down my cultuurtekst approach, so that discussing texts in class is not seen as explicit ‘text analysis’, but instead as ‘talking about the text’, which is part and parcel of conversations building up linguistic skills. My cultuurtekst pedagogy initially became even more implicit than the one I described in this book.
However, since I have analyzed the data and completed the study, I have come to the conclusion that rather than making my approach less explicit, I should make it more so. In order to deal with the tensions thrown up by using conflicting perspectives in class, I should embrace rather than avoid them. Indeed, when looking at texts and carrying out tasks, I now explain explicitly from which view of text and criticality we are operating; whether we are looking at text structures, whether arguments are convincing and whether we focus on writing solidly argued texts ourselves, or whether, in contrast, we are engaging in discursive mapping. I do not tiptoe around the notion of discourses any more, but address these explicitly in class, if relevant. My pedagogy is still one of explicit heteroglossia; we read texts from a large variety of genres - each text including multiple voices and discourses - which we analyze whilst discussing the issues thrown up by these. This way, students adapt their writing more consciously to a variety of readers, drawing on discourses more consciously and explicitly.
The personal in language learning also needs to be embraced more explicitly. I now ask students on occasion to relate their own experiences to the texts we read and the tasks we do in class. I also ask students to reflect on their own interpretations of texts and how these relate, not only to their particular set of experiences but especially to their understanding of these experiences in relation to discursive forces. Moreover, I ask students to be reflexive about their own writing in relation to their own and the other (culture’s) context: why they have written a particular text in a particular way. Bringing the Self into students’ language tasks like this, resonates with the point that Sarah referred to in her interview: that the course should look at what makes individuals communicate the way they do. So far, I have only included this reflexivity as part of class discussions, but in future, I will embed this more thoroughly in the syllabus by asking students to write down these reflections in diaries.
Being explicit to students about the conceptual framework I use is not an insignificant point. It goes against the expectations students have about what a language class should be. Moreover, the concepts which are touched upon are possibly also in conflict with students’ views of what language, culture and communication are, and how they interrelate. Provided students feel they are at the same time gaining practical language skills, being open to students about the concepts and conflicting perspectives can avoid resistance such as shown by Sarah. In the end, it was not so much the fact that my course addressed notions with which she disagreed, it was the fact that I did not address these issues more explicitly and in further depth. If you touch on issues of communication, ‘real communication’, she asserted, you can’t leave issues hanging mid-air.
Even though my cultuurtekst pedagogy took a global perspective from the start, the notion of a Dutch articulation brought the nation back into focus. This particular notion, I showed, proved not to be that useful, and to be fully exploited also needs to be used explicitly for it to make sense to students without it leading to stereotyping. However, I have since only referred to the notion on very rare occasions. Indeed it has become almost an incidental part of my pedagogy. Students themselves tend to take cosmopolitan perspectives in class, as one of my examples of such a task below shows.
By linking students’ experiences with practical language tasks we can create opportunities in class for communicative encounters where students can engage their own beliefs and belongings to imagine themselves to have a real impact on the world – creatively and responsibly with an interest in and concern for their communicative partners.
Example
My study consisted of only two lessons out of a whole year-long course where I focus on reading and awareness-raising. All the same, I have observed that that awareness of how language and culture interrelate also benefits students’ language skills, as they will learn to think about and consequently adapt their own language use as part of showing responsibility in communicative events.
Claire had said in one of her interviews that when reading in the foreign language, she was ‘reading with her eyes very very open, – with an alertness to cultural connotations. I am arguing that in using the cultuurtekst approach, students apply this awareness to the way they communicate in general – with an alertness to cultural connotations and to how relations are constructed discursively. I discuss here two examples of tasks which I am using now in my pedagogy where students write or speak ‘with their eyes very open’.
Whilst I reject instrumentalism in its focus on skills at the expense of personal development, ethics, and engaging with criticality, that does not mean that language classes cannot include work-related tasks. My examples below use work-related contexts and I illustrate how my approach differs from functionalist skills-based teaching. In instrumentalist-oriented language classes and textbooks, the task of giving an oral presentation, for instance, tends to be accompanied by advice on structuring, how to introduce and finish a presentation, and by providing some useful phrases. In a cultuurtekst-oriented approach, preparing students for an oral presentation could indeed include some of these aspects (after all, students need to know the conventions before they can choose whether they want to deviate from these or not), but emphasizes particularly the relational aspects of positioning themselves towards the audience. This means a reflection on how they are creating and conducting relationships. It is through evoking the personal that students can start looking at communicative situations critically.
In my advanced language class, I start preparing students for an oral presentation by asking them to reflect on their own previous experiences, either in a personal social sphere or a work environment where they have had to present information. This led to considerations of how their previous holiday jobs, for instance, such as working in the visitor center of London Zoo or being a tour guide for Dutch tourists in Notre Dame in Paris, had been instances where they had to consider and make decisions on their positioning of others, as well as their positioning of themselves towards their imagined ‘clients’. In this process, students recollected situations in which they had to make on the spot decisions on how to present information in ways that could be understood and showed concern for their communicative partners.
The next stage of this particular task is to look at other presentations found on the internet and students try and imagine themselves in the role of the intended audience. How do they feel they are being positioned as an audience? Do they feel they are treated with respect? How does the context inform the presenter’s style? Has he/she taken note of their possible viewpoints and previous knowledge? Are there particular assumptions which are underlying some of these presentations? When students prepare their own presentations in a work context of their own choosing, they try and get under the skin of the imagined role they have set for themselves and also that of their imagined audience, so they can decide what to present and how to do so. Elsewhere I describe how students engage creatively with this task from a position of justice, equality, and respect for one another – how they utilize their cosmopolitan empathy. They do not address an imagined monologic other, but a complex one which necessitates them using multiple voices (Quist, 2013). Their presentations feel authentic and do not employ the bland ready-made style which tends to be found in coursebooks using vocationally-oriented language tasks.
Another example in my current course is the task of writing emails or letters in a work-oriented situation. Students start by reflecting on uncomfortable writing situations they have experienced where they were unsure how to address their addressee or what tone to adopt. The writing task I give them has a clearly described context of relations, e.g. they have to imagine themselves to be the Head of a school who writes to parents to explain particular changes in the structure of the school. Students consider what tone to use, how to position themselves as the Head, and how to position the parents. Students then read out their finished work in class and receive feedback from the other students, who imagine themselves in the position of the receivers of the text. Students often comment on whether the text is too authoritarian to their liking or conversely too hesitant in its tone, and differences in opinion about this are discussed. Frequently, this leads to hilarity as students, unsolicited by me, start to relate these different styles and indeed discursive constructions, in this case, to do with education, to the individuals who wrote the texts. They often joke about whether this tone fits with the perceived personality of the text writer. In engaging in tasks such as these which combine the personal and the critical in very practical language tasks, students create dialogic spaces where they can discuss in intensely personal and intimate ways why they have chosen the communicative styles they have been using. This comes close to what Sarah had said she had wanted to gain from the classes.
My pedagogy is still evolving, but by reflecting on discourses, multiple voicedness, and on interpersonal and intercultural relations, we do not only offer chances for students to being intercultural, but also to being human - to use their sense of responsibility towards, and engagement with, others. This can be applied to all manner of genres and tasks using all manner of language varieties and purposes, from academic to journalistic to creative writing – all of which invite students to reflect on conscious linguistic choices and encourage experiencing the communication process. These reflections also bring to the fore the fluid process that communication is; it brings a realization of the changeability of communicative situations, the ‘ruptures’, the fragility of our own positions, and of text as culture. It also engages students’ cosmopolitan attitudes using their sympathetic imaginations (Quist, 2013).
7: Towards a T
The practical examples of the language tasks above, which combine an ethical, individual as well as a critical perspective with vocational concerns is not meant to be a simple marrying of liberalist and instrumentalist approaches. The accentuation of cosmopolitan and ethical concerns which may have found its origin in the liberal humanistic paradigm transcends that particular philosophical perspective, and can just as easily be taken on board by the poststructuralist critical perspective of discursive mapping.
The seeming incompatibility and tensions which underpin this study in the perceived philosophical conflicts in many of the concepts I have been advocating is perhaps not as much of a problem as is sometimes assumed. In this I am reminded of the term Romantic Conceptualism, an art scholarly term, described in 2006 by the Dutch critic Jan Verwoert to refer to conceptual art. The two terms are not as incompatible as they seem. Conceptual art, whether installation, video, or performance, is often associated with a cold intellectual approach to art and rigorous attention to the simplicity of form. However, many conceptual art pieces do in fact frequently draw attention to the actual processes of producing meaning, relying on memories and expression of emotion. The conceptual is thus being romanticized. In a similar way an intellectual engagement with text, language and writing can draw on the actual processes of meaning-making and include personal reflections, creativity, a concern for others, and relating one’s own every day communicative experiences to the wider cultural forces.
We are at the turning point of another shift in language teaching. One which affords a greater role for personal stories and self-exploration. The call for romanticism as a new paradigm has been mooted by Ros i Solé and Fenoulhet (2013) who propose a ‘Romantic turn’ in language learning, emphasizing an engagement with learners’ subjectivities, emotions and an acknowledgment of the discomfort of interculturality.
In the seeming incompatibility of the personal and the critical, I am reminded of the traditional Sufi image which Elif Shafak (2011) conjures up of the upside-down tree, extending its roots in the air. Its life force, its cultural environment, is provided by the arc of the vast blue sky full of the promise of possibilities. In a similar way, our students feed on this vastness to create their own stories as they go about their journey: critical, accepting, adopting, adapting, making choices, and creating their own stories of belongings. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/06%3A_Conclusion-_Embracing_Tensions/3%3A_The_Research_Findings/6%3A_Pedagogical.txt |
This book is based on a classroom study exploring a particular intercultural approach to language teaching at university aiming to develop students into critical intercultural language users. I call my approach the ‘cultuurtekst’ - text as culture – approach, a term which I have borrowed from the Dutch literary critic, Maaike Meijer (1986). I had conceived of this approach as a result of reflections on my previous teaching, students’ engagements, and the newly developing theoretical area of intercultural communication in language and culture pedagogy.
In this book, I am mapping the territory of language teaching at university and coining new concepts on the way. As the study took me over 10 years to complete – with various interruptions along the way, it represents a professional journey as a lecturer of Dutch at one of Britain’s traditional universities at a time when ideas about language and culture pedagogy were developing fast. This has not been an easy professional journey; the pedagogy which I was developing at times met with resistance among the students and ran counter to language teaching approaches employed by colleagues at the institution where I worked. Moreover, the data I collected, consisting of transcripts of my classes in which we discussed a particular text and interviews with students, were marred by ambiguities and if anything, seemed to point to a failure of my approach.
My initial conclusion, therefore, was that intercultural communication is infinitely more complex than a ‘cultuurtekst’ approach, or perhaps any other particular method of language teaching, can effect. Secondly, that attempting to develop students’ critical awareness and language competence would need an even clearer conceptualization coupled with a more considered pedagogical approach.
Some years later – and this is where conducting this study over a longer period of time than initially anticipated has produced unexpected benefits - I looked at the data again. This time, I looked at the data from an ethnographic perspective and not with the idea in mind of how ‘successful’ the approach had been. Instead, I focused on what happened in the classroom, how the students engaged with the text and one another, and what the significant dialogic moments in class had been. Something interesting emerged. In the earlier interpretation, I had seen students’ interpretations of the text based on personal experience as a weakness; students had failed to analyze the text using the language of analysis based on concepts of culture and representation. Instead, it emerged that it was precisely the moments where students brought their personal experience and interpretation to bear upon the text that the most dialogic and intercultural moments occurred. These were the moments when students applied their ‘self ’ to the text, where they tried to respond to the text and explain it to others - the moments when students were ‘struggling for meaning’. As a result, I coined the phrase ‘being a text ethnographer’ to account for the way that students can engage critically and reflexively with a text from an ‘inside’ as well as an ‘outside’ perspective.
The study itself and the development of my approach was born out of dissatisfaction with existing instrumental approaches in language teaching which were – and indeed still are - prevalent in existing language materials and in many discourses surrounding language learning in general and in the field of Dutch language teaching in particular. Yet, I worked in a context - that of a Modern Language Degree at one of Britain’s traditional universities, where to a large extent traditional discourses about language learning were dominant. As a result, there was a general assumption at the institution where I worked, that language teaching was synonymous with the grammar-translation approach, and language classes were strictly separated from the ‘content’ classes addressing ‘culture’, which was generally conceptualized as ‘literature’, or – occasionally - as ‘film’. The generally accepted aim of language learning was, and in some cases may still be, that of reaching ‘near-native speaker’ competence.
The tensions and conflicting pulls between these almost opposing forces and discourses within language learning form the background to this study. In chapter 1, I argue that neither paradigm in language education, i.e. the ‘traditional’ liberal humanist on the one hand and the instrumentalist on the other, can provide a satisfactory framework for language teaching in the context of a Modern Languages degree; a context, in which students are prepared linguistically, culturally and personally for the complex lives in an era of mobilities. Whilst neither paradigm is sufficient in its own right, I argue that one of the aspects of the liberal humanist paradigm, which is worth rearticulating for language learning, is its focus on criticality and intellectual engagement. However, the notion of criticality provided by that paradigm, the idea of taking critical distance to gain objectivity, provides a limited view of criticality. I point to Pennycook’s (2001) notion of ‘mapping discourses’ as an alternative view on critique to be taken in the language classroom.
In chapter 2, I further discuss the conflicting perspectives on the concepts of culture and of language that are often assumed in language learning at university. In discussing the relationship between these two I point to the dilemma language teachers face when wishing to emphasize the complexity and transnational perspectives, whilst at the same time being charged with looking at the particularities of the language and culture being studied. I conceived of the latter as ‘national articulations’ in globalized discourses.
Chapter 3 focuses on the notion of intercultural communication and discusses three different approaches in language education: those of Kramsch, Byram, and Guilherme. In discussing these approaches in relation to the framework of criticality and complexity set out earlier, I set out where and how I build on particular aspects within each of these approaches, including Blommaert’s argument for ‘boundary-crossing’ in intercultural communication. Following Phipps and Gonzalez’s (2004) view on ‘being intercultural’, I explain how the notion of ‘cultuurtekst’ provides a way of being intercultural and being ethnographic when reading texts.
Chapter 4 forms a bridge between the theoretical chapters and the discussion of the data. Here, I set out the context of my study, the conceptual framework of my ‘cultuurtekst’ approach based on a pedagogy of heteroglossia and multiple discourses, the syllabus of the fourth year language class in which I adopted this approach, and the methodology of my study.
Chapter 5 looks at the data from two lessons out of the yearlong language course. In these lessons, we discussed a particular text from Men’s Health, following the framework for analysis which I created based on the idea of ‘cultuurtekst’. During the first lesson, we discussed the text at a ‘textual’ or ‘product’ level, looking at content and argumentation structures following a liberal humanist perspective of critique. During the second class, we discussed the text at a ‘cultuurtekst’ level, creating a dialogic space in which the students started to engage in ‘mapping discourses’. In looking at what different ways of reading the two perspectives on text yielded, it emerged that these two levels of text analysis are not easily separated. Even when looking at text at a product level, students ‘went beyond’ the text and engaged in critiquing the text for its ideological positioning. Equally, looking at the text as ‘cultuurtekst’ at times became confused with critiquing the text from the liberal humanist perspective, as not constituting a ‘good argument’. The second lesson did, however, bring about much richer dialogic moments where students took on occasion an intercultural stance in engaging with the ideas in the text and with one another. The significant findings in these data were particularly how students brought their own experiences and previous knowledge to bear upon the text.
In chapter 6, the concluding chapter, I discuss the general findings of my study and I include interview data to see what approaches to text students had taken and to what extent they had used critical perspectives. I focus on two students in this chapter: Claire, who engaged readily with my ‘cultuurtekst’ approach, and Sarah, who resisted it throughout the year. Whilst it might have been tempting to classify Claire as the ‘successful’ language learner, as she was reading ‘with her eyes very open’, as she said in one of her interviews, it was in fact Sarah who made the biggest transformation as a learner, as she had to adapt her view of communication and language as a whole. She also provided me with insights into how prior views of communication that students hold affect their learning in class. Moreover, the interviews also showed that the rich moments and understanding of discursive mapping which had occurred during the class were not necessarily transferred in their reflections on the course as a whole.
In this final chapter, I also examine the tensions brought about by working with conflicting views of text, criticality and education embodied in a pedagogy which aims to emphasize cultural complexity on the one hand and cultural particularities, through the notion of ‘Dutch articulations’, on the other. I conclude that these seeming incompatibilities are part of the everyday realities of students anyway and I argue for positively embracing these tensions. A greater level of explicitness about the theoretical assumptions underlying language and culture will provide students with the theoretical tools needed to reflect on these tensions. I further point to the importance of engagement with personal experience in the language class. I argue for pedagogies of engagement rather than the purely rational and analytical. These are pedagogies where students can explore their own relations and sense of belongings in our globalized, complex, and cosmopolitan societies.
Whilst this study looks particularly at reading texts, it is set within the context of a general language class and my proposals for future pedagogies assume reading is embedded in the interrelated network of other activities that take place in class.
It is through the self-examination aspect of my study - looking critically at my own practice - that new theoretical understandings emerged. However uncomfortable these self-examinations are, this book is implicitly also an argument for a pedagogy which not only encourages the learner to engage in self-reflexive activities but conversely for the teacher to do the same. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Reading_With_My_Eyes_Open%3A_Embracing_the_Critical_and_the_Personal_in_Language_Pedagogy_(Quist)/Introduction.txt |
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1.01: Introduction
General Outline
• Legal Mandates of Research-Based Practices
• Limitations of Traditional Methods for Determining What Works
• Benefits of Using What Works
• How to Use This E-Book and Associated Materials
Serving students with disabilities in secondary education classrooms can be rewarding and challenging. The students can exhibit a wide range of disabilities, from mild speech impairment to students with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. In the 2014 – 2015 school year, more than 3 million students between the ages of 12 and 21 were served for a disability in public schools (United States Department of Education [DOE], 2016). Within the state of Kansas, nearly 27,000 students between the ages of 12 and 21 received special education and related services. The primary student disability served in the state of Kansas is specific learning disability (SLD) with approximately 42% of all students with disabilities between the ages of six and 21 being served in this category. The next highest category of disability served is speech language impairment (SLI; 14% of students) followed by other health impairments (OHI; 13% of students), developmental delay (DD; 9% of students), autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities (both at 6% of students) and emotional disturbance and multiple disabilities (both at 5% of students). The remainder of disability categories make up a small proportion of students served for disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) in Kansas.
As discussed by Hallahan, Kaufman, and Pullen, (2015) the study and instruction of students with disabilities is more similar than not to instructing students without disabilities. They note that, in general, students with disabilities are closer to average than they are nonaverage in many aspects of daily life. Indeed, the IDEA (2004) specifically states that a child with a disability who receives special education and related services, must be a child whose education is impacted by that disability. In other words, these children are those students who have a disability that impacts their learning. Therefore, the students may appear average in most respects to their same aged peers, but require additional supports to benefit from education. It should be noted however, that an education does not necessarily entail their academic performance but may include things like social and emotional learning. Indeed, only specific learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities require that the student have academic deficits.
As stated previously, the education of students with disabilities should not be wholly dissimilar to the utilization of evidence-based practices to teach students without disabilities. In recent decades, the field of education has followed the fields of medicine and psychology in the identification and validation of evidence-based practices to promote the utilization of best practices by teachers (Cook, Tankersley, & Landrum, 2013). In some cases, these practices are mandated within the schools to ensure students receive the best instruction, particularly those students who have in the past received a subpar education.
1.02: Legal Mandates of Research-Based Practice
Utilization of evidence-based practices is more than just lip service by researchers seeking to make a quick buck. Indeed, evidence-based practices have been called for, investigated, and disseminated in the field of education through initiatives initially brought forth to combat the underachievement of readers across the country. Much of this was spurred by a report undertaken by the National Reading Panel, a group of experts in literacy from across the country, in 2000 (National Institute of Child Health & Human Development [NICH], 2000). The assessment by the panel was that too often many struggling readers were simply not taught to read utilizing validated approaches. In turn, the United States Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) which, among other important issues, mandated the use of research-based practices by teachers to improve the literacy of struggling readers. To identify, validate, and disseminate these practices, the United States Department of Education created the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, which is primarily tasked with disseminating grant monies to researchers, and disseminating information about practices to practitioners through its website the What-Works-Clearinghouse (WWC). Currently, the WWC houses information about a wide variety of intervention practices across disciplines including: reading, writing, mathematics, science, behavioral interventions, and social skills training (WWC, n.d.). When the NCLB was reauthorized, it was renamed the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA), in many respects to distance itself from the negative connotations of the previous act. The ESSA uses the term evidence-based practices thusly:
Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘evidence-based’, when used with respect to a State, local educational agency, or school activity, means an activity, strategy, or intervention that—
1. demonstrates a statistically significant effect on improving student outcomes or other relevant outcomes based on—
(I) strong evidence from at least 1 well designed and well-implemented experimental study;
(II) moderate evidence from at least 1 well designed and well-implmented quasi-experimental study; or
(III) promising evidence from at least 1 well designed and wellimplemented correlational study with statistical controls for selection bias;
or
2. (I) demonstrates a rationale based on high quality research findings or positive evaluation that such activity, strategy, or intervention is likely to improve student outcomes or other relevant outcomes; and
(II) includes ongoing efforts to examine the effects of such activity, strategy, or intervention.
It should be noted that compliance with the evidence-based practice standards mandate applies only to those state education agencies (SEA) that have agreed to receive federal funding under the act. States are not, and have never been, required to comply with either the NCLB or the new ESSA standards. The requirements (e.g., highly qualified teachers, reading achievement standards, state assessments) imposed on states are only imposed if the states agree in exchange for receiving federal funds.
A second federal law which requires utilization of evidence-based practices specifically for students with disabilities is the IDEA. Under the IDEA, all special education and related services provided to a student with a disability, must be based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practical (20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(IV)). Guidance from the Department of Education further clarified that:
States, school districts, and school personnel must, therefore, select and use methods that research has shown to be effective, to the extent that methods based on PRR are available. This does not mean that the service with the greatest body of research is the service necessarily required for a child to receive FAPE. Likewise, there is nothing in the act to suggest that the failure of a public agency to provide services based on PRR would automatically result in a denial of FAPE. The final decision about the special education and related services, and supplementary aids and services that are to be provided to a child must be made by the child’s IEP Team based on the child’s individual needs. (USDOE, 2006, pp. 46663–46664)
The term peer-reviewed research is a little bit more ambiguous, and is perhaps intended to be that way owing to few practices enjoying a wide research base in special-education. In addition, the phrase, “to the extent practicable” means that the service is within the scope and means of the school district. Though, if it is determined that the practice is not feasible (e.g., would unreasonably deplete funds), it allowed the school district an “out”. Yell, Katsiyannis, Losinski, and Marshall (2015) point out that another stipulation in the law is that schools are not bound to use the practice with the largest research-base, only that the practices that they use are based in research. Table 1 provides a listing of resources to check on the evidence of specific practices. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/STRIVE_at_UA_Little_Rock/Business_Partner_Information.txt |
There are several limitations to utilizing methods in practice based on traditional practices. Most often teachers new to the field receive instruction in methods and characteristics within the college setting and receive instruction on practice by engaging in some sort of practicum where students learn under the tutelage of an experienced teacher. Because teachers are learning what to do in the classroom from teachers who are “experienced,” we could potentially see practices in the classroom being utilized for decades without change. For example, if that experienced teacher were to only engage in professional development that fit a narrative that coincided with her beliefs, changes in that teacher’s practices would likely be little over the course of their career. Thus, a beginning teacher learning from an experienced teacher who fit the above description would likely learn practices that may not coincide with what are determined best practices today. Schools, in general, change course as easily as an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. It is likely that much of the resistance to change comes from the traditions of experienced teachers or administrators who mentor new students. Therefore, practices that have been around for decades may still be utilized in classrooms even though research may document their ineffectiveness.
An example of this phenomenon can be witnessed with the frequent use of modality instruction. Modality instruction (learning styles) refers to instructional strategies that make use of a student’s predisposition to learning through different means (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic; Kavale & Forness, 1987). This theory holds that if we can assess the student’s ideal learning style, then teaching to that modality will increase the students achievement. However, Kavale and Forness conducted a research synthesis three decades ago and found that modality instruction did not result in increased learning of students. Regardless, modality instruction continues to be used by practitioners and even taught in some teacher preparation programs as a best practice particularly when trying to address the needs of students with disabilities (Landrum & Landrum, 2016).
Another example of practitioners continuing to use practices that have little evidence is the use of sensory integration therapy with children with autism spectrum disorders. Sensory integration therapy (SIT) is based on the work of Jean Ayers (1972). SIT posits that providing specific sensory input can lessen the person’s response to those inputs and the behaviors that are thought to be linked to those senses. Common forms of SIT are weighted garments, therapeutic brushing, compression (including wrapping the subject), fidgets (hand fidgeting bags), and hug machines. Research suggests that sensory integration therapy continues to be one of the most widely used therapies for students with autism spectrum disorders and other sensory issues (Lang et al., 2012; Losinski, & Ennis, 2016). This, despite volumes of research attesting to SITs lack of efficacy in reducing any of the symptoms it has been claimed to help with (Losinski & Ennis, 2016). Indeed, there have been studies where the behaviors of interest increased rather than decreased. One of the most cited and popular heroes of this methodology,
Temple Grandin, was involved in a study in the 90s investigating the use of her hug machine (see link hug machine) on the symptomology of students with autism. This study was one of the only known studies utilizing this machine, it did find positive results, however the methodology in the study was so poor and there were so few participants that we can’t draw any conclusions from it (see Edelson, Edelson, Kerr, & Grandin, 1999). Despite lack of research, this machine is sold to parents and schools at a price tag of nearly \$10,000.
While these cases may be extreme, they nonetheless show the difficult proposition of getting practitioners to utilize research-based methods. The methods described above are commonplace in schools and are utilized unquestioningly by practitioners of all experience levels. In many cases practitioners believe that these methods are working for the student, however very often progress monitoring data is not taken in a reliable and valid fashion. In the end, practices like these do little to help students improve in their education, and potentially waste instructional time that could be better used to improve outcomes for students with the most severe disabilities.
Websites With Research-Based Practices
www.pbis.org
The Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is devoted to giving schools information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective schoolwide disciplinary practices. The website is sponsored by the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education.
www.intensiveintervention.org
The mission of the National Center on Intensive Intervention is to build district and school capacity to support implementation of data-based individualization in reading, mathematics, and behavior for students with severe and persistent learning and/or behavioral needs.
www.rti4success.org
The mission of the NCRTI is to provide technical assistance to states and districts and build the capacity of states to assist districts in implementing proven models for response to intervention. The website is sponsored by the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc
The What Works Clearinghouse is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It is a central source of scientific evidence for what works in education. The website is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
1.04: Benefits of Using What Works
In contrast, there are a plethora of interventions that have been shown to improve student work through rigorous research. As mentioned previously, the What Works Clearinghouse is a repository for interventions that have undergone extensive research and a process of review to determine their effectiveness. Utilizing the two previous examples as a starting point, we will examine how research based interventions have been shown to increase student educational outcomes.
First, we examine the educational methodology of learning styles. Landrum and Landrum (2016) discuss an alternative instructional methodology that has a robust research base to pull from and guide practice. The alternative they discuss is instructional choice. Instructional choice is when, “… the student is provided with two or more options, can independently select an option, and is provided with the selected option.” (Jolivette, Stichter, and McCormick, 2002, p. 28). Lane and colleagues (2015) described the types of choices as across-task (e.g., choosing the order of tasks to be completed, or which to complete from a list of options), and within-task choices (e.g., asking the students to choose materials for task completion, providing choice of environmental variables like where to complete the assignment). Further, they discuss the large number of studies that have shown choice to be an effective and easy intervention to improve student engagement and achievement.
With respect to stereotypical behaviors, Losinski and Ennis (2016) suggest that function-based interventions are a more research-based approach than sensory integration approaches. Specifically, changes to antecedent variables have been shown to reduce the occurrence of stereo-typical behaviors. For example, adjusting the setting of instruction that may increase anxiety in the student may help to reduce those behaviors. Further, research has shown that many stereotypical behaviors may help the student to cope with different stimuli or may soothe the student. In either case, examining the antecedents and consequences that maintain that behavior may allow the practitioner to determine interventions based on those variables and select replacement behaviors. For example, Losinski, Hirsch, Cook, and Sanders (in press) found that antecedent exercise can reduce these stereotypical behaviors in students with low functioning autism, particularly as compared to SIT.
Examples of interventions shown to be effective for students with disabilities are many, and it is more a matter of determining the specific need of the child and matching it with interventions specifically for that child that is needed. Very often teachers apply a one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with students with disabilities. However, it is imperative that practitioners utilize data to inform their decisions and seek out those inventions that have been shown to help.
1.05: How to Use This E-Book and Associated Mat
This e-book has been written specifically for teachers working with students with disabilities in the 6th through 12th grades. This text has been designed to be used with online modules that will help students explore the various ideas within it. In general, each chapter will outline a specific problem, then introduce evidence based solutions for those problems. Online content will include modules, assignments, and quizzes to further students’ knowledge. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/01%3A_Introduction_to__Research-Based_Practices_in_Secondary_Special_Education/1.03%3A_Limitations_of_Traditional_Methods__for_D.txt |
General Outline
• Background on Curriculum-Based Measures
• Using Curriculum-Based Measures
• Creating Curriculum-Based Measures in the Content Area
• Making Data-Based Decisions
Since the passage of the No Child left behind act of 2001, focus on student achievement has become a major issue within education. Parents and legislators have discussed both the need for improvement of student performance and the inordinate amount of time spent testing students (Layton, 2015). In response to growing concerns over the amount of time spent testing, the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS; 2015) conducted a study of 66 large school districts and found students spent 20 to 25 hours of instructional time per year on standardized testing in grades three through 11. This study further described that the average student will take approximately 8 standardized tests per year in reading and math and three formative exams in at least two subjects. In response to this report, the United States Department of Education (USDOE, 2015) released an action plan that, among other things, suggested that students should spend no more than 2% of instructional time taking assessments and that the clear majority of assessments should be tied to improvement in student learning. These sentiments were reiterated in the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) and a brief published by the USDOE in 2016 which called for reducing test time and implementing fair and more innovative tests.
Special Education has, in many respects, become synonymous with the assessment of students. Indeed, one of the mainstays of current special-education practice is utilizing data to inform the goals in a students’ individual education programs (IEPs), to inform instructional practices, and modify them as necessary. In addition, the current focus on preventative measures based on a response to intervention (RTI) approach, though generally a school-wide assessment system, was largely born out of special education (See Figure 1). Specifically, RTI was initially proposed as a method of providing early intervention and identification services to reduce the number of students being falsely identified as learning disabled (LD) due to poor instruction and a flawed assessment approach (IQ-achievement discrepancy).
It could be said, then that RTI initiatives and special education could be blamed for at least some of the increased amount of testing conducted in schools. For example, these models ask that universal screening measures (USM; also referred to as benchmark assessments) be delivered to students three times per year to determine those students who are at-risk for learning, social, and/or behavioral disabilities (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2005; Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006; Lane, Ennis, Kalberg, & Carter, 2007). These universal screening measures (e.g., Dynamic Indicatorsof Basic Early Literacy Skills [DIBELS] and Measures of Academic Progress [MAPS]) are meant to be brief measures to determine skill level. However, because some of these measures (e.g., DIBELS) require individual student testing by the teacher or para professional, they can become laborious and time consuming in an already full teaching day.
What is RTI?
The RTI framework has since been expanded to include three-tiered models of prevention that include behavioral and social emotional systems. With this expansion, acronyms have exploded to describe similar constructs: RTI, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), positive behavioral intervention and supports (PBIS), and comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered models of prevention (Ci3T). In most cases, these acronyms are synonymous and simply reference utilization of a three-tiered model (see below) of prevention where Tier 1 (approximately 80% of students) is universal instruction; Tier 2 (15% of students) are students determined to be at-risk and receive small group instruction, and Tier 3 (5% of students) are those needing specialized instruction, or special-education. Thus, for the sake of clarity and ease of understanding, this text will use the term RTI to describe the threetiered models of prevention broadly, not just its oft limited use to describe assessment of learning disabilities. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/02%3A_Curriculum-Based_Measures__to_Inform_Learning/2.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Students At-Risk
When students are shown to be at- risk on a USM, interventions are suggested and applied and the students’ progress is monitored more frequently (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2005; Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006; Lane, Ennis, Kalberg, & Carter, 2007). These more frequent progress monitoring measures are termed curriculum-based measures (CBM; Deno, 1985; Fuchs, 2004; Fuchs, Fuchs, & Hamlett, 2015) because they are intended to sample the curriculum for the year and show students’ progress on that curriculum. The utilization of universal screening measures and curriculum-based measures are more in line with what the US Department of Education (2015, 2016), the CGCS (2015) and the ESSA (2015) described as necessary. Specifically, USMs, and especially CBMs, require little time to implement, especially when compared to state and district assessments, are innovative, fair, and, most importantly, are designed to be used to inform instruction and monitor the implementation of interventions (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2005; Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006).
As previously discussed, CBM differs from more traditional, criterion-referenced testing of students where teachers measure the students’ command of specified objectives or skills (Fuchs et al., 2015). Fuchs and colleagues expand upon the disadvantages of this type of testing by noting the laborious nature of creating additional forms of tests each time a student passes an objective. Next, the reliability and validity of teacher made tests is not known and thus may not show an accurate measure of the students’ performance. Finally, utilizing mastery of a criterion as a benchmark may result in a situation where a student masters the skill in anticipation of the test, but does not achieve automaticity with the skill.
CBM contrasts from criterion-referenced testing in that it samples the entire curriculum, or expected learning, for the entire year (Fuchs, 2004). By doing this, teachers are given valuable information on the rate of growth of the child as compared to others in the group, classroom, school, and in some cases, national norms. There are two primary types of CBM assessments. The first involves conceptualizing a task that is associated with skills necessary to complete a specific area (Fuchs, 2004). An example of this type of measure is oral reading fluency, which has been shown to be associated with translating letters into sound, making connections between words and sentences, and reading comprehension (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001). The second type of CBM utilizes a sampling of the curriculum or the skills necessary to complete the curriculum. An example of this are math CBM assessments where each test has a different sampling of problem types from the year’s curriculum (e.g., subtraction, addition, multiplication, fractions). This differs from the earlier criterionreferenced tests in that the CBM assesses all skills in each assessment, rather than just the one learned in the past unit.
You may be saying to yourself, “Hold-on, they’re all going to fail at the beginning!” I would then reply, “sort of.” Yes, we would expect that they will not do as well on the assessment during the first of the school year as they would at the end. That’s the whole point! We should see growth throughout the year, so they should start at the bottom of the scale and by the end, be near the top of the graph (see below) with a nice pretty line showing improvement that you can show to the parents of the child, your principal, your significant other, your dog, whomever to show that you’re an awesome teacher! The second, and most important thing is this: There is no failing in CBM. These are not for grades; they are formative assessments that show us if what we are doing is resulting in student performance. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/02%3A_Curriculum-Based_Measures__to_Inform_Learning/2.02%3A_Background_on_Curriculum-Based_Measures.txt |
CBM is a powerful problem-solving tool that allows educators to make informed decisions regarding the instruction of students who are at-risk. As noted earlier, CBM are not used for grades and are not quizzes, rather they are means for collecting data on students and monitoring their progress. Though a majority of the research on CBM involves the early grades, CBM can be used throughout the schooling process. The remainder of this chapter will focus on the utilization of CBM in grades six through twelve.
AIMSweb
easyCBM
EdCheckup
STEEP
Selecting an Appropriate CBM
The first consideration when utilizing CBM is deciding which measure to use. There are a great many measures to choose from, and developers who have tested the reliability, test-retest reliability, and validity of these measures (See Figure 2). Many of these measures come with a price tag, however many do not, and some can be developed by the teacher. However, it is important that when deciding on a measure, the teacher take the following into consideration.
First, teachers should determine the specific set of skills for the student to master in the subject over the school year and decide on an appropriate CBM covering those skills. A set of measures (probes) should cover the existing curriculum across the school year (Deno, 1985). Next, it is important for each probe to measure the same concepts with the same difficulty. For example, in a set of math probes covering the school year, each probe may consist of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It is also important that enough probes are developed so that students do not remember the questions being given. For example, easyCBM (2014) generally has 10 to 12 measures for each grade level and construct of examination (e.g., passage reading fluency). Many of the measures listed in Figure 2 will also give an idea of the type of measure appropriate for certain grade or ability levels. However, it is up to the teachers to make individual decisions based on the students’ ability and curriculum. Fuchs, Fuchs, and Hamlett (2015) outlined another use of CBM that seems obvious but is not utilized enough by teachers. That being: utilizing CBM for the construction of goals in the students’ IEP. A key feature of progress monitoring is not only to chart a students’ progress, but also to track that students’ achievement against a predetermined goal. For example, it would be impractical, and a waste of information and time, to monitor a students’ progress without knowledge of what would constitute adequate progress. Is improvement of one word per week enough in the fifth grade on a measure of oral reading fluency? Two words? No improvement? How do we know what to make of this information we’re gathering, if we don’t know what progress should be achievable?
A number of methods can be used to determine an appropriate goal. Perhaps the most common would be to use benchmarks developed by the specific maker of the CBM assessment. For example, let’s look at Timmy’s graph. On a measure of oral reading fluency (ORF) in the Fall, Timmy read 123 words correct in one minute. After determining he was at-risk by scoring below the 25th percentile, CBM probes in ORF were delivered every week. Once the third week is assessed, we determine Timmy’s baseline score by utilizing the median score for the last three probes. The score was 122. We then consult the benchmarks for the students in grade 7 and find that by spring, a score above the 25th percentile in ORF would be > 136 words read correctly in one minute. Thus, we can set a goal of more than 136 words read correctly in one minute by the spring. We then draw a line from the third week starting at the median score (122) and rising to the end of the year and ending at 136. This represents Timmy’s goal line, and we can monitor his progress against this goal visually by charting his future goal.
Another method for determining rate of progress is to consult the literature and determine normal rates of progress based on national norms. According to Fuchs and colleagues (1993), students above the 5th grade should make approximately ½ words of improvement per week. Thus, if we take Timmy’s median score of 122 and assume 30 weeks of school are left, we would add 15 (30 weeks x .5 words per week) to Timmy’s score ending at a goal of 137.
Using CBM to Inform IEP Goals
One of the cornerstones of providing a student with a free appropriate public education is the individual education program (Yell, Katsitannis, Ennis, Losinski, & Christle, 2016). The IEP is the document that describes the needs of the child as well as the services the child will receive to meet those needs. However, as Fuchs and colleagues describe, the IEP should not be inundated with an inordinate amount of goals, particularly within one content area. This was reiterated by Bateman and Linden (1998) who suggest that if several skills are missing within one area, a better solution is to write a broad, overarching goal with objectives meeting each of those skills. CBM meets both of these objectives by allowing a number of skills in one content area to be measured within one quick, reliable, and easy to use assessment. For example, oral reading fluency has been shown to be areliable indicator of overall reading proficiency. Therefore, for some students it could be utilized as a broad reading goal that captures all the requisite skills needed by the student in reading.
To develop a goal utilizing CBM, one would utilize the same approach discussed earlier, however instead of determining how many weeks are left in the school year, you would substitute the number of school weeks in one academic year. This number is often 36 weeks, or 180 schooldays, though some school districts may provide more than the 180-day school year.
When to Administer CBM Probes
Decisions about when to administer CBM probes depend on a number of factors. The first factor is based on the measure itself and how much growth could be seen over time. For example, with oral reading fluency in the third grade we could expect to see one and a half to two words of growth per week. Therefore, weekly administration of this probe is appropriate. However, with many math measures growth over a week would be much smaller, and therefore it would not be appropriate to measure so frequently. Another factor to be considered is the number of students to be tested and the schedule of the teacher. Some of these probes, particularly math and reading comprehension in the later grades have group or online administration. While at the early grades, letter sound fluency could only be administered by the teacher one-on-one. Most CBM measures acquired from the company or research institution (e.g., AIMSWEB, easyCBM) will list the appropriate amount of time between administrations for each measure. A rule of thumb for the frequency of administration of CBM probes is every two weeks, but not less frequently then every three weeks. Administering probes every two weeks allows enough time between probes to monitor growth, but does not allow so much time to pass that we miss an opportunity to adjust instructional approach.
Administration of CBM Measures
Careful administration of CBM probes is necessary to ensure that effects other than those tested are minimized. For example, it is necessary to make sure that whatever scripts are read beforehand are read in their entirety each time. This ensures a standard approach to the assessments, and also minimizes the risk that the student may forget certain aspects of the assessment. Additionally, it is vital that the setting, time of day, and instruments used are as consistent as possible. Considerations of these contextual factors will help to ensure that student scores on these measures are not varying based on outside influences. For example, a student with ADHD who takes medication, that is not an extended release (XR) form, in the morning will likely score very differently in the afternoon than they would in the morning.
Most CBM probes come with a standardized administration protocol that administrators are to use each time the assessment is given to a child. This would depend on whether or not it’s done one-to-one, in a small group, or taken on a computer. In the following, we will describe common administration techniques for CBM probes that are likely to be given to students in secondary schools as well as scoring procedures.
Directions and scoring of oral reading fluency
The first consideration with oral reading fluency is that it must be given individually. The passages selected for the student should be based on those passages that the student is expected to read fluently at the end of the school year. Once passages have been selected, a copy of each is given. One to the student and one to the teacher. The teacher will also need a timer and something to write with.
1. Place a copy of the student passage in front of the student.
2. Place a teacher copy on the clipboard so the student cannot see it.
3. Say:’ When I say begin, start reading aloud at top top of the page. Read across the page. Try to read each word. If you come to a word you do not know, I’ll tell it to you. Be sure to do your best reading. Do you have any questions? Begin.’ (start the stopwatch)
4. Follow along on the teacher copy as the student reads and put a slash through any incorrect words.
5. At the end of one minute, say ‘thank you’ and mark the last word read with a bracket (Hosp, Hosp, & Howell, 2007, pp. 36-37).
To score the CBM, count the total number of words attempted, then the total number of errors. Subtract the total number of errors from the total words attempted. Words misread initially but corrected within three seconds are scored as correct.
Directions and scoring MAZE CBM
Unlike oral reading fluency, maze passages can be administered to a group. Maze passages should be at the level of difficulty that the student is expected to achieve by the end of the year. These passages should be at least 300 words with 42 deleted words (with three replacements in each). Maze passages can either be downloaded pre-constructed, or materials from school can be scanned in and entered into a Maze generator at interventioncentral.org. As with oral reading fluency, the teacher will need a stopwatch. Directions are as follows:
1. Place a copy of the student passage in front of each student face down.
2. Say: ‘ When I say begin, turn to the first story and start reading silently. When you come to a group of three words, circle the one word that makes the most sense. Work as quickly as you can without making mistakes. If you finish the page, turn the page and keep working until I say stop. Do you have any questions? Begin. (trigger stopwatch or timer for three minutes)
3. Walk around the room to monitor that students are only circling one word per set and not skipping around the page.
4. At the end of the three minutes say ‘Stop. Put your pencil down and turn your sheet over.’
5. Collect all the student sheets. (Hosp, Hosp, & Howell, 2007, pp. 43)
Scoring of the Maze CBM is conducted by referencing the examiner copy and counting the number of errors in the student copy. Specifically, count the total number of responses attempted in three minutes. Then count the number of errors, and subtract the number of errors from total attempted.
Directions and scoring of math CBM
Math CBM can be administered either as a group or via computer. It is recommended that the first-time math CBM is administered, students take three equivalent assessments in a short period of time (e.g., over three days) with the median score being used as their baseline. Once again the teacher should have a timer and the directions. Directions are as follows:
1. Place a copy of the student sheet in front of the students.
2. For single student say, ‘ The sheets on your desk have [ addition, subtraction etc.] problems on them. Look at each problem carefully before you answer it. When I say ‘please begin,’start answering the problems. Begin with the first problem and work across the page. Then go to the next row. If you cannot answer the problem, mark an ‘X’ through it and go to the next one. If you finish a page turn the page and continue working until I say ‘thank you.’Are there any questions? Please begin.
3. Once you say ‘please begin,’ start the countdown timer (set for two minutes). At the end of two minutes say ‘thank you’ and have the students put their pencils down and stop working. (Hosp, Hosp, & Howell, 2007, pp. 104)
For math CBM, we score the correct number of digits in the answer rather than the correct answer because it is more sensitive to change. For example, say Timmy wrote an answer of 143 for an addition problem, but the actual solution to the problem was 133. Timmy would receive two digits correct on this problem (1) and the second (3). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/02%3A_Curriculum-Based_Measures__to_Inform_Learning/2.03%3A_Using_Curriculum-Based_Measures.txt |
Developing CBM probes for the content areas is a slowly evolving field due to the heterogeneous nature of the different content areas. For example, science, particularly physics, may require more math knowledge than world history, which may require more reading skills. Thus, determining an approach to measuring student growth over time is a difficult task. However, researchers have, in the last 15 or so years, begun investigating this issue. Specifically, researchers have investigated three different types of CBM to be used in the content areas: reading aloud from text, maze completion, and vocabulary matching (Espin, Busch, Shin, & Kruschwitz, 2001). The more robust of these measures is vocabulary matching, which has been shown to predict performance on criterion measures within the classrooms in social studies, sociology, psychology, and geography (Espin et al., 2001; Espin, Shin & Busch, 2005). However, maze comprehension passages may also be a viable alternative (see above).
One of the major deterrents of utilizing CBM in the content areas may be the time it takes to create measures for each of the subject areas. However, in many cases this would be akin to prepping for a class, where much of the labor is conducted once for each course. In the following we will describe how to create CBM measures based on a vocabulary matching framework as described by Espin and colleagues (2001).
1. First, terms should be collected from the text, teacher lectures and notes, resulting in over 100 to be used in the generation of probes.
2. Next, randomly select 20 to 22 terms from the list. Two additional terms are used as distractors.
3. Once you have created 20 alternate forms, alphabetize the terms vertically on the left side of the page, the definitions will then go down the right side of the page in random order.
4. To deliver the probes in a group:
• a. Place a copy of the student’s form in front of each student facedown
• Say: ‘When I say ‘begin,’ turn the paper over and begin working. Match the words on the left with their definition on the right. When you’re satisfied that you know the correct answer, write the number that corresponds with a word on the blank next to its definition. Remember, there are more words then there are definitions. If you finish the page, turn the page over and remain quiet until I say ‘stop.’ Do you have any questions? Begin.( trigger stopwatch or timer for five minutes).
• At the end of five minutes say ‘thank you’ and have the students put their pencils down and stop working. Walk around the room to monitor that students are matching words to their definition by writing the number of the word next to the definition.
2.05: Section 5-
So, we’ve collected all this data on our students, now what do we with it? Indeed, the collection of data is meaningless without utilizing the power of it. For example, Stecker and Fuchs (2000) conducted a study with students with mild disabilities who each had a learning disability, to determine if decision-making based on CBM was better than decision-making without. Specifically, students were matched based on equality on certain variables (e.g., age, functioning).
CBM measures of one of the students in the matched pair. The second student received the same change in instruction as did the one who the teacher monitored. Results of the study showed a significant improvement in criterion tests for those students whose instruction was being changed based on their data as opposed to changes made without regard to the student’s performance. In essence, students whose performance was monitored using CBM outperformed those students whose performance was not being monitored. Implications of this study, and others like it, should be obvious: monitoring student progress and making decisions based on that progress are imperative. Thus, the remainder of this chapter will be dedicated to making decisions based on CBM data.
As seen in Figure \(2\), two vertical lines are added to the progress monitoring graphs. These vertical lines note when an intervention was put into place, and are called intervention lines. This gives us a handy way to determine when interventions were put in place and if enough time has passed to make another decision. These lines also allow us to utilize graphs during parent teacher conferences to show parents and other members of the team what interventions are being applied and the effect of those interventions.
Now, how do we know when to draw those lines? There are two main rules that can be used to make decisions on when to adjust instruction. The first rule is simple: “four strikes, move on!” In other words, if the student’s scores on four consecutive probes do not exceed the goal line, an intervention change is warranted (Hosp, Hosp, & Howlell, 2007). Notice in Figure \(3\), Timmy’s score on four consecutive measures did not exceed the goal line even though they were close. In this case the intervention was changed. The second rule for making these decisions is a little bit more complicated, but perhaps more sensitive. This rule makes use of line slope (goal and actual) to determine whether an intervention change is warranted or no. To determine actual slope, divide the student’s scores into 3 equal sections (See Figure \(4\)). If the number of scores is not divisible by 3, put three at the beginning and 3 at the end with the uneven number in the middle. Next, select the median of the first set and the median of the second set. Draw a line from the end of the 1st set (at the median on the Y axis) to the end of the second set (at the median on the Y axis; red line). You would then determine whether or not the student’s actual line will meet or exceed the goal line (blue line) or, if it will not, an intervention is warranted (Hosp, Hosp, & Howell, 2007). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/02%3A_Curriculum-Based_Measures__to_Inform_Learning/2.04%3A_Section_4-.txt |
General Outline
• Issues Related to Serving Students in an Inclusive Environment
• Co-teaching to the Rescue!
• Peer-mediated Instruction
• Strategy Instruction
The issue of inclusion (serving students with disabilities in the general education setting) in education has been debated for over four decades and continues to be a contentious subject (Kavale & Forness, 2000). Kavale and Forness argue that much of the debate has been informed by well-intentioned members of the public and research community who rely on a moral argument as opposed to one based on evidence. Fuchs & Fuchs (1994) describe the inclusion effort as having a “romantic appeal” (pp. 303) wherein the general education classroom will be welcoming and effective for all students through properly implemented Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and specialized instruction (special education) will be wholly unnecessary. Efforts by parents and advocacy groups in the late 1980s and early 1990s lead to increased pressure to include students with disabilities in the regular education classroom under the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) mandate of the Educationfor All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (EAHCA; now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). However, the LRE, like much of the federal legislation on education, contains ambiguous wording, and does not specifically speak to a preference of either full inclusion or a continuum of placements.
Subsequent court cases on the topic, however have generally ruled in favor of a continuum of placements (CP) over full inclusion (Yell, 1995; Yell & Katsiyannis, 2004; Zirkel, 1996). Specifically, that the decisions made are on an individual basis, and determined by the benefits of the integrated setting versus the segregated setting. However, inclusion versus CP is not the prescient issue, the education the child receive is (Kauffman et al., 2015; Kauffman & Badar, 2014; Kauffman & Hallahan, 1995). Consistent with the IDEA, the placement of the child is made after the special education and related services that allow them to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) are spelled out in the child’s individual education program (IEP). Yell and Katsiyannis go on to summarize federal guidance as the following: “It is not appropriate for IEP teams to make placement decisions based on the following factors: (a) category of disability, (b) severity of disability, (c) availability of educational or related services, (d) availability of space, or (e) administrative convenience” (pp. 31). Thus, suggesting that a school that is inclusive may be denying the student the ability to receive the services they require to receive a FAPE.
Least restrictive environment
In general.--To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily (20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(5).
3.02: Section 2-
A key phrase from the legislation to keep in mind is this, “…only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily” (20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(5). What does satisfactorily mean? This kind of verbiage is unfortunately a part of legalese and makes the provision of a FAPE problematic. Indeed, as this chapter is being written, the United States Supreme Court has heard a case (but has not issued a ruling) that asks essentially how much progress a student is to achieve (Forest Grove School District v. Student, 2016). At this early stage, it appears the justices of the court are leaning towards a ruling in favor of the parents, even though the district contends that the small progress the student was making is in line with the language in the IDEA and the seminal FAPE case Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley (1982).
What is satisfactory progress and can it be achieved for all students in the general education setting? The debate being held in the Supreme Court in the case mentioned above, is between “more than trivial” (the district’s definition) and “meaningful” (the parent’s definition). As previously noted, the court is leaning in favor of “meaningful.” So, what does the research say about inclusive environments and whether or not they can deliver meaningful benefits to students with disabilities?
Kavale and Forness (2000) describe the efforts on both sides of the reform struggle and the dearth of evidence to support either full inclusion or a continuum of services. Though, in the few studies covering this issue, they indicated a continuum of services that fit the needs of the child has been shown to be more effective. Upon closer examination, they found that’s students with high incidence disabilities (learning disability, emotional disturbance) made smaller gains in the inclusive environment than their nondisabled peers. In essence, the achievement gap continued to grow in the inclusive environment. Interestingly, students with low incidence disabilities (intellectual disability) maintained growth curves equal to nondisabled peers in an inclusive environment. Further, a synthesis of randomized control trial studies by Fuchs and colleagues (2015) showed that scores for at-risk students on math assessments were significantly higher at post-test for students receiving state-of-the-art math instruction delivered in a small-group setting, as opposed to those receiving “inclusive” math instruction in the general education classroom.
Well, the good news is that specialized instruction delivered by trained staff in small groups is effective at narrowing the gap between students with disabilities and their nondisabled peers (Kavale & Forness, 2000; Fuchs et al., 2015). It does not, however, speak to the full inclusion of all students regardless of their needs either legally or regarding their achievement.
Due to the advocacy efforts of the aforementioned organizations and researchers (e.g., Stainback & Stainback, 1985) and misinterpretation of key aspects of legislation, inclusion is here and likely will be for some time unless key stakeholders (e.g., you, your administrator) seek out the research to inform the most effective instruction of students with disabilities. Until that time, it is very likely you will be faced with providing instruction, or assisting in the inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. Indeed, previous research has noted problems with inclusive practices as a whole and a disconnect between the views of classroom teachers’ and the those of school administrator (Cook, Semmelb, & Gerber, 1999). Cook and colleagues suggest that administrators tend to have an “optimistic” (pp. 206) view of inclusive practices, which may be incongruous with the views of the teachers who have to work under this model.
The key takeaway from all of this, and the law, is that special education is individualized instruction. Universal design for learning is a great concept and will likely help students of all ability levels achieve, but it is not necessarily the global fix for all students (Fuchs et al., 2015). Through careful progress monitoring (as described in Chapter 2) it would be relatively straightforward to determine if learning in an inclusive environment derived satisfactory achievement as compared to when learning in a small-group setting with a trained special educator. For example, it may be that in a well-structured and functioning co-teaching environment, a student with disabilities may demonstrate achievement consistent with gains made in a resource room, in which case, the inclusive setting would be the preferred placement. While the research may be lacking specific investigations comparing inclusive settings to special-education settings, there are a great number of studies that elf-regulated strategy instruction. In general, the descriptions included here are an overview as some of these strategies will be documented later in the book in moredetail have been conducted in an inclusive setting that may be able to inform a selection of best practices for the setting. The remainder of this chapter will discuss three broad strategies for including students with a variety of disabilities in the general education classroom: co-teaching, peer-mediated instruction, and self-regulated strategy instruction. In general, the descriptions included here are an overview as some of these strategies will be documented later in the book in more detail. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/03%3A_Strategies_for_Working_in_a_Co-Teaching_Environment/3.01%3A_Section_1-.txt |
Aside from applying a UDL framework, one of the most oft used practices for including students with disabilities in the general education classroom is co-teaching (Murawski & Swanson; 2001). The term co-teaching is a shortened version of the term cooperative teaching coined by Bauwen, Houcade, and Friend (1989) which is intended to be a seamless practical fusion of general and special-education. This system would provide educational programming to all students within the general education setting.
According to Cook and Friend (1995) co-teaching is tantamount to a marriage, or at least a modern day marriage, where both the general and special education teacher have equal authority and work in tandem to support all students. True co-teaching, within their definition, assumes that both teachers are equally responsible for the learning of students in planning and delivering instruction, and also assessing student progress. The general education teacher is thought to be the content area specialist, while the special education teacher is the instructor who is a specialist in facilitating access of the content to the students.
According to Murawski and Swanson (2001), co-teaching has enjoyed extensive attention in the educational literature through anecdotal experiences and suggestions for implementation. However, they also note that empirical research on the efficacy of co-teaching on the achievement of students with disabilities is sparse at best. Within their review, they noted that co-teaching had not been systematically investigated through any well-designed experiments, though the variable effects of the small body of research were in a positive direction. Again, this does not provide evidence that co-teaching does not work. Rather, like many other educational initiatives that make their way into classrooms (e.g., Accelerated Reader), it’s impact on student performance has not been thoroughly investigated.
A review of the qualitative research conducted by Scruggs, Mastropieri, and McDuffie (2007) showed the teachers involved in co-teaching generally supported the practice. However, concerns noted were difficulties with coordinating planning time, addressing the skill level of students, and professional training in co-teaching. Once again, many of the issues were attributed to variability in meaningful support from administrators. They also describe at the dominant form of co-teaching investigated has been of the “one teach, one assist” variety, even though this model may not be as impactful as others. Additionally, the special education teachers were often relegated to a supportive role, rather than a teammate with equal power. Finally, it was observed that many special-education techniques recommended in the research (e.g., self-monitoring) were not often utilized by the special education teacher in the inclusive environment.
This information begs the question, is co-teaching a poor model, or could it be the golden ticket that postmodern researchers and advocates have been looking for? Theoretically, a co-teaching model that utilized the recommended strategies has the great deal of face validity which is why administrators are so keen on the development of this framework.
Recommended Co-teaching Strategies
Friend and Bursuck (2009) describe six models of co-teaching that teaching teams may utilize to support the inclusion of all students. Of course each of these models presupposes administrative support and commitment to teachers working on an equal level with respect to planning lessons, providing instruction, and assessing student progress. Co-teaching is doomed to fail without the commitment of both teachers, and administrative support.
One teach, one observe
In this model, one of the teachers leads students in large group instruction, while the second teacher collects data. This model of co-teaching is obviously the weakest in utilizing both teachers to the benefit of students. It is likely that this is also the most often used model of co-teaching as it describes the dynamic of one teacher (content area specialist) “teaching” while the other teacher is viewed as more of a teacher’s aide. Aside from being not very effective in utilizing both teachers to their potential, this method also would seem to be a waste of money.
One teach, one assist
Similar to one teach, one observe this model defers instruction to one teacher while the other teachers circulate around the classroom offering assistance to the students in need. Once again, this appears to be the type of model that Scruggs, Mastropieri, and McDuffie (2007) describe as often used and limited in effectiveness. Again, the assist role could be easily filled by a teacher’s aide, and is not likely to result in the delivery of special education related services as required by the child’s IEP. This is likely the most common model of co-teaching because it works into the paradigm of the content area specialist being the teacher of the class, in their classroom, and the special education teacher is there just to help.
Teaming
A more effective approach to the two previous approaches is teaming. In this model, both teachers work to deliver the lesson at the same time. This could be done through providing opposing opinions in a debate, illustrating different ways of solving problems, or pausing throughout. For example, the content area teacher can describe how to work out a problem in math, and immediately afterwards the special education teacher could just describe different strategies to remember how to perform the operation (e.g., mnemonics). Of course, both teachers would have to describe their roles ahead of time, and have a strong enough relationship to allow each to have their say.
Parallel teaching
Parallel teaching describes a situation where the room is separated into two sections. Students are paired with one of the two teachers thus allowing for smaller group instruction and hopefully increase student participation. Obviously, this technique would require planning due to the logistics of room rearrangement, noise levels, and content mastery.
Alternative teaching
Alternative teaching suggests that one teacher (the content specialist) teaches to the majority of students, while the other teacher (special educator) takes a small group of students to help with access to the curriculum. They could also perform curriculum-based measures in this framework, teach strategies for remembering concepts, and help students understand concepts that they may have missed. Essentially, alternative teaching is a method forproviding resource room supports within the general education classroom.
Station teaching
The final co-teaching method involves dividing instruction into three non-sequential components, or stations. The class is then divided into three small groups, with teachers at two of them and the final used for independent practice. Students would then rotate from station to station gaining pieces of knowledge from each station that is combined at the end of the lesson. As with parallel teaching, station teaching would involve a great deal of planning beforehand, and would be subject to logistical constraints of the classroom.
Obviously with the requisite amount of planning and buy-in from the teachers, it is easy to see how co-teaching could be an effective method for delivering instruction. For example, one teach one observe would be handy with respect to delivering curriculum-based measures to students. Station teaching could be very effective at certain times and in certain subjects (e.g., science) where hands-on components are involved. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/03%3A_Strategies_for_Working_in_a_Co-Teaching_Environment/3.03%3A_Section_3-.txt |
According to Mastropieri and Scruggs (2001), providing meaningful education to secondary students with disabilities in an inclusive setting is particularly challenging. As discussed earlier, the major limitations of discussing inclusionary practices is the relative dearth of research regarding inclusionary practices for students in inclusive settings. However, there have been a number of important investigations within inclusive settings that may help us to describe inclusive best practices. For example, there have been a large number of studies discussing self-regulated strategy instruction to improve achievement of students in reading and writing (Losinski, Cuenca-Carlino, Zablocki, & Teagarden, 2014; Reid, Lienemann, & Hagaman, 2013).
Peer-mediated instructional strategies are another set of practices that enjoy a wide research base in reading and math at all levels and for students with a variety of disabilities (Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathew, & Simmons, 1997; Mastropieri and Scruggs, 2001; McMaster, Fuchs, & Fuchs, 2006; Ryan, Reid, & Epstein, 2004). These strategies have been mainly discussed within the general education classroom as a means of differentiating instruction for students of all ability levels. Thus, the utility of the strategies to support the inclusion of students with disabilities is strong.
Peer-mediated instructional strategies are complementary teaching strategies that utilize students to help facilitate instruction and increase engagement (Maheady, Harper, & Mallette, 2001; Utley, 2001). According to Utley, peer-mediated instruction may be an effective strategy for enhancing academic achievement, improving interpersonal relationships, and improving behavioral issues. These findings has been corroborated by various researchers (Fuchs and Fuchs; Mastropierri and Scruggs) in a diverse number of settings and content areas. Often these interventions pair a student with disabilities with typical peers, though larger groupings consistent with cooperative learning have also been utilized. Additionally, utilizing peer mediated interventions though time-consuming at the beginning may result in allowing the teacher to become more of a supportive role or facilitator, thus allowing the teacher to focus on student to maybe having particular problems and need additional instruction. Within structured environments, and carefully planned groupings peer-mediated instruction can increase opportunities to respond, and behaviors specific praise, two strategies that have been shown to reduce behavioral problems and increase student achievement.
While there are numerous variations on the themes within peer-mediated interventions, researchers have defined four broad categories: class-wide peer tutoring (CWPT; Greenwood, Delquadri, & Carta, 1999); reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT; Miller, Barbetta, & Heron, 1994); peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS; Fuchs, Fuchs, Phillips, & Karns, 1994); and class-wide student tutoring teams (CSTT; Maheady, Harper, Sacca, & Mallette, 1991).
Note BOX
The grass is not completely green, however, as Maheady and colleagues also describe increased noise levels, more teacher preparation, and increases in behavior problems for certain students particularly if groups were not carefully considered based on student personalities. There are also instances where students would rather work alone, (your author is one of those people), and students who may take advantage of limited adult supervision to either coerce other students to do their work for them, or get everyone off task (See Levi).
Class-wide peer tutoring
In an attempt to address limited opportunities to respond in the general education classroom, researchers at the Juniper Gardens Children’s project developed the Classwide peer tutoring strategy (Maheady & Gard, 2010; Maheady, Mallette, & Harper, 2006). When developing the program, Delquardi and colleagues (1983) wanted to ensure that they answered calls for a program to help students with disabilities in the classroom through a program that would help all students, and not burden the teacher with more work by using preexisting materials within normal instructional time and supplement current practices. CWPT can be used across a variety of subject areas each with its own unique procedures. For example during reading comprehension, the tutee will answer who, what, when, where questions from the tutor.
Teacher duties
CWPT is conducted daily and 30 minute sessions for each subject area. At the beginning of the lesson teachers instruct students over new material, then instruct students to get out their materials and for those students who would be moving to move to the new area now. Next, the teacher instructs the student groups to set up materials and get ready for the first 10 minute session where one student will act as tutor and the other as tutee. For the remainder of the time, the teacher circulates throughout the classroom helping pears as needed awarding extra points for exemplary tutoring, and keeping track of the time. At the end of 10 minutes the teacher signals students to switch roles and continues as before.
Student duties
For each correct response, the tutor rewards the two teams with two points. In the event of a incorrect answer, the tutor stops the student and provides the correct answer. The tutor write down one point for the correction. Finally, the tutor and tutee total up the points awarded and adds them to the team point sheet. For more information on CWPT see Greenwood., Delquadri, & Carta, (1999).
Reciprocal peer tutoring
Similar to classwide peer tutoring, reciprocal peer tutoring was developed in the 80s as a means to utilize students as instructors, and increase student opportunities to respond through carefully planned sessions. Students are paired in same age dyads and follow a scripted 30 minute session. Peer tutoring sessions comprise 20 minute sessions where students take turns tutoring for 10 minutes and acting as the student the others 10 minutes. This tutoring session is then followed by a worksheet assessment takes approximately 7 to 10 minutes. Students are awarded points for successful work in tutoring sessions and assessments, and thepoints are then applied to larger teams.
In RPT math, the teacher provides the tutor with flash cards containing a problem on one side, and answer + directions for solving on the back (Fantuzzo, Davis, & Ginsburg, 1995). Once time has started, the student tutor provides the problem to the tutee who works out the problem on a standard sheet of paper. The process for providing tutoring follows a four-step procedure (try1, try 2, help, try 3). In the event the student gets the first problem correct, praises delivered followed by introduction of another flash card. If the answer is incorrect, tutor moves to try 1 where the tutor explains the process of solving the problem as described on the back of the flash card. The student then tries again (try 2), if wrong, the teacher is called (help) to provide coaching, and the student tries again (try 3). Following tutoring sessions for each child and the assessment, students results are compared to their goal for the day. If the student met the goal, the day is considered a win. After five wins are achieved in the pair, students receive a predetermined reward.
Peer-assisted learning strategies
Owing to earlier successes like CWPT and reciprocal peer tutoring, Fuchs and colleagues (1995) developed Peer-assisted Learning Strategies (PALS). A key difference within the PALS reading program are specific strategies to improve reading comprehension (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Kazdan, 1999). These strategies in particular lend themselves to use in the upper grades, and in different content areas. PALS is conducted within the student’s normal classroom and is introduced through a series of training lessons conducted within the normal class time (Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes, & Simmons, 1995). The 6 to 10 introductory lessons last between 30 and 60 minutes and describe teacher roles, student roles, and leads students through each of the three main strategies so that they may maintain a certain amount of fluency with the strategy.
Once training has finished PALS is implemented three times per week during regular reading instruction. Lesson sessions include dyads with one high-performing and one low performing student. Determining the pairing could be done by the teacher either using their judgment on a ranking system, or utilizing scores on a universal screening measure (e.g., DIBELS). Ranking of the students should follow a process where the class is split in half based on the rankings in the highest ranking student from the better performing half would be paired with the highest-ranking student from the lowest scoring half. Materials used for reading should be determined based on appropriate level for the lower reader. Additionally, the higher performing students would assume the role of the student first with the lower performing students assuming the role of the teacher. This allows the higher performing students to model appropriate reading skills.
As with reciprocal peer tutoring the class is split into two teams, and points scored from each dyad for correctly conducting one of the skills are added to the total team points. The teacher also moves about the room providing help and awarding points based on correct cooperative learning. Team and pair assignments are adjusted every four weeks to allow for students to be given the opportunity to work with other peers.
Partner reading
The first PALS strategy, partner reading, is designed to increase reading fluency.
Each student reads aloud connected text for 5 minutes, for a total of 10 minutes of sustained reading. The higher-performing student reads first; the lower-performing student rereads the same material. Whenever a word-reading error occurs, the tutor says, “Stop. You missed that word. Can you figure it out?” The reader either figures out the word within 4 seconds or the tutor says, “That word is __ . What word?” The reader says the word. Then the tutor says, “Good. Read the sentence again.” Students earn 1 point for each correctly read sentence (if a word-reading correction is required, 1 point is awarded after the sentence is read correctly) and 10 points for the retell. After both students read, the lower performing student retells for 2 minutes the sequence of what occurred in the text (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Kazdan, 1999, pp. 312).
Paragraph shrinking
Paragraph shrinking is a reading comprehension strategy that is designed to help students learn to summarize text quickly. Utilizing the same text as the previous strategy:
Students read orally one paragraph at a time, stopping to identify its main idea. Tutors guide the identification of the main idea by asking readers to identify (a) who or what the paragraph is mainly about and (b) the most important thing about the who or what. Readers are required to put these two pieces of information together in 10 or fewer words. When the tutor determines that a paragraph summary error occurs, he or she says, “That’s not quite right. Skim the paragraph and try again.” The reader skims the paragraph and tries to answer the missed question. The tutor decides whether to give points or give the answer. If the error involves more than the allotted 10 words, the tutor says, “Shrink it.” (As with each PALS activity, tutors formulate their own responses to questions in order to provide corrections; there are no answer keys.) For each summary, students earn 1 point for correctly identifying the who or what; 1 point for correctly stating the most important thing; and 1 point for using 10 or fewer words. Students continue to monitor and correct reading errors, but points are no longer awarded on a sentence-by-sentence basis. After 5 minutes, the students switch roles (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Kazdan, 1999, pp. 312-313).
Prediction relay
The prediction relay builds on concepts detailed in paragraph shrinking, however within this strategy students are looking at larger blocks of text, making predictions about what is likely to transpire, then proving or disproving those predictions.
The activity comprises four steps: The reader makes a prediction about what will be learned on the next half page; reads the half page aloud while the tutor identifies and corrects reading errors; (dis)confirms the prediction; and summarizes the main idea of the half page. When the tutor judges that a prediction is not realistic, he or she says, “I don’t agree. Think of a better prediction.” Otherwise, the word-reading and paragraph summary correction procedures are used. Students earn 1 point for each viable prediction; 1 point for reading each half page; 1 point for accurately (dis)confirming each prediction; and 1 point for each component (i.e., the who or what, what mainly happened, and 10 or fewer words of each summary. After 5 minutes, the students switch roles (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Kazdan, 1999, pp. 313).
3.05: Section 5-
Research has suggested that one of the issues of students with disabilities in the educational environment is that they lack an effective command of strategies used by strong learners (Reid, Lienemann, & Hagaman, 2013). For example, Stone and Conca (1993) described that students with learning disabilities knew fewer strategies and used them less often than typically developing peers. Research has also demonstrated that strategy instruction can make meaningful improvements in students with a variety of disabilities and across a range of subject areas (Cuenca-Carlino, Freeman-Green, Stephenson, & Hauth, 2016; Losinski, Cuenco-Carlino, Zablocki, & Teagarden, 2014; Reid et al., 2013). Reid and colleagues also describe how strategy instruction may help to undo much of the learned helplessness that impact students with disabilities and teaches them that through the use of effective strategies success can be achieved.
Traditional strategy instruction also termed self regulated strategy development (SRSD) encompasses six stages of development to learn effective strategies. Methods for learning and internalizing strategies to promote self-regulation (i.e., self-talk, goal-setting, self-monitoring) are implanted within each stage. The use of mnemonic strategies help students learn and memorize the specific strategies. The phases of SRSD include:
Phase 1
In the first phase, the teacher helps the students in developing and stimulating background knowledge. This is accomplished through developing pre-skills, teaching specific vocabulary and discussing models of similar work.
Phase 2
Phase 2, also described as Discuss it, involves teaching the strategy including the mnemonic that goes along with the strategy, mapping out certain models with graphic organizers, reviewing the models, establishing benefits of the strategy, and finally discussing where and when to use the strategy.
Phase 3
The Model it phase comes next. In this phase, teachers instruct students how to use self talk, model thinking aloud, practice self and peer scoring, learn how to graph, and set goals.
Phase 4
Phase 4 is described as the Memorize it phase where students internalize the mnemonic and corresponding strategy. In this stage they also memorize and personalize self statements.
Phase 5
The fifth stage incorporates collaboration with peers, and facilitates fading up supports. The stage uses collaborative practice, which may include something similar to reciprocal peer tutoring to engage the student help them practice the strategy.
Phase 6
The final component and SRSD asks the student to work independently. The stage asks the student to self regulate independently and fade self instruction from out loud, or written down statements, to utilize strategies in your head.
Summary
Inclusion is a contentious model of delivering instruction to students with disabilities. The factions on either side of the debate are very committed the idea that their ideology is the correct one. At this time, the research and the law would suggest that developing truly individualized programs for students before determining the child’s placement is in the best interest of the child. Unfortunately, those pushing for a fully inclusive environment are advocating for placement-first decisions without individualization or data to back up their assertions. Even more unfortunate is that the inclusive model is likely going to become more pervasive rather than less. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/03%3A_Strategies_for_Working_in_a_Co-Teaching_Environment/3.04%3A_Section_4-.txt |
General Outline
• Issues Related to Student Behavior in the Secondary School
• Mentor-based Intervention
• Behavior-Specific Praise
• Pre-Correction
Student misbehavior and issues of classroom management have been a pervasive problem in American public education (Maag, 2016) with punishment-based behavior management practices in schools being the go-to system since colonial times (Gershoff, Purtell, & Holas, 2015). For example, 19 predominately southern states currently still allow corporal punishment (e.g., paddling, spanking) in schools as a discipline practice, with more than 160,000 instances occurring in the 2011-2012 school year.
The more alarming aspect is that prisons have outlawed the practice for nearly a half century, and a person who physically punishes a dog or other animal may be subject to criminal proceedings.
Another frequently used practice is disciplinary exclusion (e.g., suspension, expulsion, time-out). In the 2011-2012 academic year, 3.45 million students were suspended out of school, with students with disabilities being suspended twice as often as their nondisabled peers (United States Department of Education [USDOE], 2016). This too has been criticized for its inability to deter misbehavior, and leads to children growing further behind academically (Dear Colleague Letter, 2016). In a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the United States Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), gave guidance to schools on the utilization of disciplinary exclusions and their effect on students with disabilities. See the Note for a description of IDEA’s rules on disciplinary exclusions. More interestingly, is that OSEP clarified the rules for disciplinary exclusions more broadly than simply a suspension and included “A pattern of office referrals, extended time excluded from instruction (e.g., time out), or extended restrictions in privileges” (pp.13). Essentially, if the student spends a large amount of time out of their instructional setting for disciplinary reasons, even if it’s in another teacher’s room to calm down, and there is a pattern to these removals, a denial of a FAPE may be occurring.
Note BOX
§300.530 (b) School personnel under this section may remove a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct from his or her current placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for not more than 10 consecutive school days (to the extent those alternatives are applied to children without disabilities), and for additional removals of not more than 10 consecutive school days in that same school year for separate incidents of misconduct (as long as those removals do not constitute a change of placement under §300.536).
§300.530 (d) (1) A child with a disability who is removed from the child’s current placement pursuant to paragraphs (c), or (g) of this section must—
1. Continue to receive educational services, as provided in §300.101(a), so as to enable the child to continue to participate in the general education curriculum, although in another setting, and to progress toward meeting the goals set out in the child’s IEP; and
2. Receive, as appropriate, a functional behavioral assessment, and behavioral intervention services and modifications, that are designed to address the behavior violation so that it does not recur.
Also, see: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx...2e422a12b58e5& mc=true&node=se34.2.300_1530&rgn=div8 | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/04%3A_Strategies_for_Improving_Student_Behavior/4.01%3A_Section_1-.txt |
As suggested earlier, a common misconception of these strictly punitive methods are that they may serve as a deterrent to other students, and minimize re-occurrence of the behavior. However, there is little data to support these assertions, and more to suggest they do more harm than good (USDOE, 2016). For example, studies have shown that disciplinary exclusions can lead to juvenile justice involvement and academic failure (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2013; Hemphill, Toumbourou, Herrenkohl, McMorris, & Catalano, 2006). Additionally, coercive disciplinary practices (e.g., corporal punishment) can lead to higher rates of mental health related issues, substance abuse, and the carryover of these practices to subsequent parenting (Byford, Abbott, Maughan, Richards, & Kuh, 2014; Smokowski, Bacallao, Cotter, & Evans, 2015).
The concept of coercive punishment acting as a deterrent may be valid when discussed in light of the 80% of the population who generally obey societal law and convention. Indeed, research suggests that 85 to 90% of students will not display significant behavior problems throughout their schooling. However, for 15 to 20% of the population, these punishment practices provide little in the way of a deterrent and do little to reduce the occurrence of the behavior in the future. For example, remember Timmy?
Timmy it’s one of the 15 to 20% who would much rather be at home, suspended or not, than in reading class. Therefore, suspending Timmy acts as a reward not as a punishment. So we need to consider whether our discipline practices are only supposed to work for the 80% of students who act right anyways, Or if we should tailor them to the 15- 20% who don’t. After all, the same 15-20% in school are also the people who are not horrified by the prospect of spending time in jail. If we don’t provide services for these students in schools, it is likely that jail is not too far off.
PBIS to the Rescue!
Current trends in educational reform are seeing a shift from the utilization of punishment-based behavior management practices, including those that utilize corporal punishment, to those favoring a preventative approach. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1997 and again in 2004 specified that in the event a student’s behavior impacts their learning or the learning of those around them, schools should consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBS) to address the behavior. This does not mean that schools can’t use aversive interventions, or those that utilize punishment, only that positive interventions be considered first. Additionally, federal law like the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015) have components written into them that would provide grants to states for implementing measures to improve school climate.
As discussed in Chapter 2, much of the current work on improving schools utilizes a response to intervention framework (RTI). The behavioral component of RTI works very similar to the academic where Tier 1 involves universal screening and core competencies delivered in the general education classroom. Tier 2 involve more systematic data collection and generally a target intervention delivered in a small group setting. Finally Tier 3 would include individualized instruction or referral to special education. Not coincidentally, the RTI pyramid aligns with the normal curve suggesting that 15 to 20% of students in tier 2 are those lying below two standard deviations below the average. When superimposed (1\) over the “normal” curve, we can see the RTI tiers should be looking at the 17% of students following below “average”.
The remainder of this chapter will discuss three strategies to support student behavior in the classroom. The strategies discussed include: Check-In Check-Out, Behavior Specific Praise, and Pre-Correction. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/04%3A_Strategies_for_Improving_Student_Behavior/4.02%3A_Section_2-.txt |
Interventions based on utilizing positive peer and/or adult support are powerful tools for shaping misbehavior of students. Indeed, much has been made and discussed in the literature regarding teacher behaviors and their effect on student’s behavior and achievement (Lane, Wehby, & Cooley, 2006; Wehby, Symons, Canale, & Go, 1998). Thus, utilizing teachers in a roll that shifts them from an authoritarian figure to a mentor may repair relationship patterns that have been pervasive throughout the child’s schooling. There are a variety of mentor-based interventions, each being variants on the same theme. Check-in, Check-out (Crone, Horner, & Hawken, 2003) is perhaps the most widely known of the teacher mentor programs. Check-in, Check-out (CICO) is generally used as a Tier2 intervention within a school wide RTI framework. Progress toward schoolwide or individual behavioral goals is monitored utilizing daily behavioral progress report cards (DPRs). These DBRs are also used to reinforce daily behavior both at school and home. The system has been successfully used in a variety of settings including elementary (Campbell & Anderson, 2008), secondary (Lane, Capizzi, Fisher, & Ennis, 2012) and residential (Ennis, Jolivette, Swoszowski, & Johnson, 2012) and with a variety of students from nondisabled to students with intellectual disabilities (Boden, Ennis, & Jolivette, 2012).
CICO utilizes five steps: check in, receive feedback, check out, home component, and return to school. Before implementing CICO, it’s important to select teachers/mentors that both “buy into” the program and to have some perhaps positive connection to the child. This program is a great opportunity to include teachers of elective classes, like art and band, into larger school climate issues. Athletic coaches are also valuable resources in this type of program, as they often act as a mentor to students during athletic seasons. Next, comes training of the mentors and identification of students through office discipline referrals or universal screening measures. Once the training and identification of suspense is completed students are paired with the mentor and begin with the following steps. The final step is to decide on the format of the daily progress report. Alternatively, Schools could utilize an online program like ClassDojo, which is an online form similar to the DPR that would also allow parents to sign in and check the progress of the student throughout the day. An additional bonus to utilizing an online form is that it would prevent stigmatizing the student by forcing them to carry a note around all day. Levi would not do that.
Check In
During check in, students meet privately with their facilitator (adult mentor) to discuss daily goals and strategies to reach them. Facilitators give students their DPR and remind them to behave in a specific manner to meet their daily goal(s), which will result in a specific reinforcer. Check in takes place at the beginning of the school day, in private, and lasts 10 to 20 minutes. (Boden et al., 2012, pp. 34-35.)
Receive Feedback
The teacher for each class on the student’s schedule provides verbal feedback at the end of class regarding the student’s DPR goals. The student receives a numerical value on a scale of zero to 2 based on his or her performance, and the teacher places that number on his or her DPR next to the corresponding behavioral goal. (Boden et al., 2012, pp. 35).
Check Out
During check out, each student individually meets with his or her facilitator in a private location to review the DPR at the end of the school day prior to dismissal. The facilitator provides the student with positive feedback and discusses whether or not the student met his or her goal. If the student met his or her goal, he or she receives a SWPBIS reinforcer or reinforcement based on the function of the student’s behavior. The facilitator and the student then discuss possible strategies to avoid problem behaviors in the future. The facilitator reminds the student to take his or her DPR home and have a family member or guardian sign it (Boden et al., 2012, pp. 36).
Home Component
The home component of CICO consists of a family member or guardian reviewing and signing the DPR. They may discuss with the child the strengths and weaknesses during the day and how to make improvements in the future. The home component should be a positive experience for the student (Boden et al., 2012, pp. 37).
Return to School
During check in the next day, students turn in their DPR. Students might receive a reinforcement if they return the DPR with a guardian’s signature, and receive reinforcers based on the school’s SWPBIS plan or on the function of their behavior (Boden et al., 2012, pp. 37-38). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/04%3A_Strategies_for_Improving_Student_Behavior/4.03%3A_Section_3-.txt |
As noted with the mentor-based program, strengthening the teacher student relationship has been the subject of a great deal of writing and research (Wehby et al., 1998). These types of interventions including behavior specific praise (BSP), opportunities to respond (OTR) and high probability commands (high-p) sequences all rely on teachers changing their behaviors in order to shape the behaviors of students. Children who exhibit behavior problems often have a contentious relationship with teachers which limit their access to the curriculum by reducing their opportunities to respond to academic tasks. Additionally, teachers tend to ignore students with behavioral challenges compared to typical peers which leads to a cycle of students acting out and teachers either ignoring the student, or reprimanding them. The key to breaking the cycle is increasing positive interactions between the teacher and student.
One of the key more efficient methods of improving student behavior is behavior specific praise. BSP describes statements that explicitly reference the behavior that the child is being praised for (Sutherland, Wehby, & Copeland, 2000). Sutherland and colleagues described that teachers who praise students frequently and specifically have lower incidences of behavior problems within their classrooms. BSP is an intervention that can be used in both tier 1 and tier 2, is low-cost and powerful. It is suggested that teachers try to maintain a rate of four positive to one negative statements toward a child who may have a history of behavioral problems (Myers, Simonsen, & Sugai, 2011).
Key components of utilizing behavior specific praise include: (a) the praise statement must be linked to the behavior, (b) is sincere, (c) reflects the student skill level, (d) is the evaluated for effectiveness, and (e) the praise is for effort not ability (Haydon & Musti-Rao, 2011).
Lane, Menzies, Ennis, and Oakes (2015) describe seven steps and implementing behavior specific praise in the classroom.
Evaluate Current Rates of Praise
The first issue to look into when trying to increase rates of any teacher behavior is collecting data on current baseline instances of the behavior. In this case we are wanting to look at the use of general and specific praise statements delivered in the classroom broadly and towards the student whose behavior we are trying to improve. There are a variety of ways we can collect this data, perhaps the most unobtrusive and easy way is to utilize technology and either audio record or video record 10 to 20 minutes sessions over a few days. You could also have another teacher or paraprofessional collect this data, However the addition of other adults in the classroom always confounds variables with the classroom.
Identify Target Behaviors
The second step is to identify those behaviors we want to reinforce. In this case we want to improve the on-task performance of Willow (see Willow sheet). We want to be specific about these behaviors, therefore we are going to praise Willow anytime her head is facing in the direction of the teacher, or she is working on the assigned task.
Observe the Student
In order to know if any intervention is working we need to utilize data. Therefore, it’s important to note Willows attention to task consistent with our target behaviors. We suggest using something like the daily behavior reporting system (DBRS; Chafouleas, Riley-Tillman, & Sassu, 2006), or a similar system like the above-mentioned class dojo.
Provide BSP
Once we have a reasonable baseline on Willow’s attention to task (3 to 5 data points over consecutive days), we can begin utilizing BSP to determine if it works with Willow. Remember, Willow is used to being left alone and believes you don’t like her considering most of the interactions you’ve had have been negative. Thus, there maybe some pushback at the beginning, but it is important to persevere and developing and more positive relationship.
Monitor BSP
Similar to evaluating current rates of praise, It’s also important to monitor the delivery of BSP. For example, we maybe following us carefully crafted script however our delivery still seems sarcastic, insincere, or mean. Therefore, we should either have another adult monitor our use of the praise statements, or utilize the recording techniques that were discussed previously. It’s also important that we note if our ratio of using behavior specific praise to general praise has increased.
Seek Student Input
The final component here is seeking input from the student. Willow may not like the fact that you are now paying closer attention to her, and also increasing attention from her peers. Therefore, it may be in the best interest of Willow for the two of you to come to an agreement on how BSP statements can be delivered without embarrassing her. For example, a hand signal could we developed for the teacher and the student that signals the praise statement.
Note
When your author was in high school, he did not take compliments well and anytime his mother tried to praise him he became annoyed. This happened when he did well and she praised him, or when he did poorly, and she tried to make him feel better. After much deliberation, the two came together and decided that under both positive and negative circumstances, the proper praise statement was, “Mickey, you suck!” This tradition has continued for more than two decades and is just as effective now as it was in the 90s! | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/04%3A_Strategies_for_Improving_Student_Behavior/4.04%3A_Section_4-.txt |
The final behavioral strategy that we’re going to discuss is termed pre-correction. Precorrection is typically thought of as a Tier2 intervention, though its utility as an individualized intervention is also sound (Colvin, Sugai, & Patching, 1993; Ennis, Scwaab, & Jolivette, 2012). Pre-correction is a preventative strategy that has been shown to reduce a variety of problem behaviors through a systematic process (Colvin et al., 1993). While it may be that simply discussing with a student prior to a possible problem situation may alleviate disturbances, Colvin and colleagues describe pre-correction as a seven step process.
Identify Context and Target Behavior
Similar to conducting any behavioral intervention, pre-correction first step is to identify both the context for the behavior and the predictable behavior in that context. So, the first step in the process is to conduct a brief structural behavioral assessment (Losinski,Maag, Katsiyannis, & Ryan, 2015). This assessment would look at specific contexts where the behavior is more likely to occur, much like a functional behavioral assessment, but without data collection on maintaining consequences of behaviors. In essence, we would be looking at the specific times of day, location, and other variables when the behavior is likely to occur. For our illustrative purposes, we are going to discuss Willow’s inattention in math class, and drawing mean pictures of the teacher. The context of the situation is math class, specifically when Mr. Zeller is there.
Define Expected Behavior
Obviously, Willow drawing pictures of Mr. Zeller during math class is not a good thing. Therefore, we need to identify the acceptable behaviors during math. In this case, we will be looking for Willow to refrain from drawing pictures of Mr. Zeller, and attending two assigned tasks. You might say not drawing all, but in this instance we may wish to go with baby steps, and settle for not taunting Mr. Zeller. In some instances, the school may have school-wide expectations for certain areas (e.g., lunch room rules), and those expectations can be substituted for the expected behavior.
Modify the Context
Modifying the context may be the most difficult part of precorrection. Much like the structural behavioral assessment described earlier, to the extent appropriate, changes are made to the context to increase instances of pro-social behavior. As Ennis, Schwab, & Jolivette, 2012 describe, “For example, if a teacher examines classwide data and notices that there are high levels of problem behaviors while using manipulatives in the classroom, he or she can reorganize how manipulatives are stored, ensure there are enough for everyone to have their own set” (pp. 41). With respect to Willow, aside from being able to change her schedule so that she is not in Mr. Zeller is class anymore, we would need to be creative on how exactly to change the context. One idea may be to change Willow’s seat to the location provides more or less supervision. Without going through the entire structural behavioral assessment, however these changes would be guesswork. It should be noted, however that the structural behavioral assessment process while laborious is more likely to come up with contextual variables that can be manipulated to improve the student behavior.
Practice the Expected Behavior
The next step in the process involves providing opportunities to rehearse the expected behavior. This could be accomplished through the teacher reviewing the expected behavior, have the student convey that they understand what is expected, and provide an opportunity to demonstrate that they can accomplish the expected behavior. This could also be an opportunity where video modeling (see Losinski, Wiseman, White, & Balluch, 2016) could be used to reinforce the expectations that are to happen in the classroom.
Reinforce the Expected Behavior
Obviously reinforcement of the expected behavior is contingent on the student’s utilization of the preferred behavior. According to Ennis et al., (2012), reinforcement could be delivered on a daily, weekly or even a monthly basis. Teachers should discuss with the student what an effective reward would be for them. In the case of Willow, lots of mascara, black lipstick, and drawing pads. It might also be that we would allow Willow extra time drawing if she demonstrates the expected behaviors.
Provide Prompts for the Expected Behavior
This is the part of Pre-correction that coined the term! In this step we create a plan to remind the student to engage in the expected behavior. According to Ennis et al., (2012), this could involve a system of least-to-most prompts, where the intensity of prompts is increased concurrent with the student failing to demonstrate the expected behavior. In Willow’s case, we would discuss with Willow prior to math class what the expectations are for math class. The prompts are intended to remind the student of the expectations of the new situation before entering it. In this way they are able to cognitively rehearse their successes before entering the context.
Monitor Progress
As with the use of the other behavior management strategies detailed here, progress monitoring is a central part. It will always be important to determine if this intervention is paying off, or if modifications need to be made to it. Additionally, certain methods of reinforcement may necessitate keeping accurate records so that reinforcement could be given at later time. For example, if Willow were to earn a piece of illustration board and a broad tip Prismacolor pen for exhibiting appropriate behaviors over five consecutive days, an accurate measurement system that she is aware of would need to be in effect. Again, the daily behavior report system could be utilized in this fashion.
Summary
The methods detailed in this chapter reflect state of the art, low-intensity interventions that are effective in reducing problematic behavior. It should be noted that none of these are guaranteed to work for every child, however they allow teachers in the secondary schools validated starting points with which to address, common student problems. It should also be noted that they do not have to be used in solidarity. Indeed, the three interventions discussed herein could easily be worked into a single behavior intervention plan where BSP and pre-correction are used within a check-in, check-out home note system. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/04%3A_Strategies_for_Improving_Student_Behavior/4.05%3A_Section_5-.txt |
General Outline
• Case Study
• Issues Related to Transition
• Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction
• Self-Directed IEPs
The start of this chapter is going to follow a different course by beginning with a story. Rick (name is changed) was a student of mine when I was a high school art teacher in Florida. At this point in time, I had already been a teacher of students with emotional disturbance (ED) in a self-contained setting and had moved on to teaching art. Because as we all know, artists are emotionally disturbed, so I figured I’d be able to hit a wider selection of the ED community.
I had a reasonable understanding of special education practices, but clearly not enough.
5.02: Section 2-
But I digress… At the age of five or six, Rick was a typically developing child who happened to have abnormally large calves. Sometime during his sixth year, he pulled a muscle in his calf and it never healed. He was later diagnosed with muscular dystrophy (MD), a progressive disease which results in the muscles wasting away. By the time I had met Rick, he was a 10th grade student who was bound to a wheelchair and had only slight use of both hands. As is the case with persons with MD, his brain continued to function normally and he was a very bright student and artist.
Throughout his time with me, I accommodated his disability by altering his desk and work area, and any art supplies he would choose to use. He also had a full-time paraprofessional who helped him with every-day tasks like sharpening pencils, using the restroom etc.. The accommodations that I was giving him, though not required in his IEP, were sufficient to help him access the art curriculum. I along with most members of the school, accommodated Rick’s needs as best we could without the formal IEP meeting, because he was a good kid and obviously needed assistance. For one reason or another, I was never asked to attend one of Rick’s meetings, so was not aware of the contents of the IEP.
Though I was never aware of the contents and implementation of the IEP as a whole, one vital piece, particularly for someone like Rick, that was obviously missing was a meaningful transition plan for when he graduated. I was not aware until near the end of his senior year that the contents of the transition plan written for him did not include assistance with applying for colleges, and more importantly negotiating the transition between services provided by the school and those that would be necessary to allow him to live independently. There was no reason that Rick should not have attended college after graduation, provided he knew how to negotiate the health system and how he could care for himself. However, the transition plan did not account for these things, and no services or training were provided to help Rick believe it possible to do these things. As a result, one week after graduation Rick was moved to an assisted living facility because his family did not have the means to care for him, and did not know how to get the services that he needed. Two years later, Rick died in that assisted living facility of complications from pneumonia.
5.03: Section 3-
Transition and Students with Disabilities
Outcomes for students with disabilities are particularly dismal compared to non-disabled youth despite efforts to include students with disabilities in the general education curriculum and laws to provide for post-secondary transition (e.g., IDEA). According to the National Longitudinal Transition Survey 2 (NLTS- 2; Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, & Levine, 2005), in the four years after graduation only 58% of youth with disabilities were employed full-time. Regarding post-secondary education, 45% of youth with disabilities were enrolled in some typeof educational system within four years of leaving secondary school. Further, only 25% of these youth reported living independently (on their own, not with parents/guardians) after leaving school.
Local school districts have been required to provide transition plans to students with disabilities since the 1990 authorization of the IDEA. Amendments to the act in 1997 and 2004 resulted in a results-oriented plan that facilitates movement from K-12 education to post-secondary intentions. Currently, under the IDEA, transition plans are required to be in the student’s IEP when the child turns 16. As with all federal laws, States are allowed to provide more services, but not less. For example, States could require transition plans at the age of three, but not at the age of 17, because postponing until 17 would provide less services to the child rather than more. Thus, Kansas has adopted a requirement that transition plans be implemented in the IEP when the student turns 14 years of age.
Providing for meaningful transition goes beyond simply stating a plan but has been linked to a student’s self-determination (Shogren, Wehmeyer, Palmer, Rifenbark, & Little, 2015). Self-determination is a broad concept referring to a student’s disposition as revealed through operating as the “causal agent” (Wehmeyer, 2015, pp. 20) in their life by establishing their own goals and trajectory of their existence. Decades of research have concluded that students with disabilities operate with less self-determination than their typically developing peers, which then leads to poorer transition outcomes post-schooling (Shogren, Palmer, Wehmeyer, Williams-Diehm, & Little, 2012; Shogren et al., 2015; Wehmeyer, 2015; Wehmeyer & Metzler, 1995).
This can be seen in the limited number of students with disabilities who live outside the home following school (Wagner et al., 2005). Additionally, recent research has shown positive results of interventions to increase the self-determination of students with disabilities that then leads to encouraging post-secondary transition outcomes. These interventions have included a focus on (a) student involvement and educational planning, (b) access to the general education curriculum, (c) goal attainment, and (d) positive employment and community inclusion outcomes (Shogren et al., 2012; Shogren, Wehmeyer, Palmer, Forber-Pratt, Little, & Lopez, 2015; Wehmeyer, Palmer, Lee, Williams-Diehm, & Shogren, 2011). Therefore, when we speak to improving student transition outcomes, a key component is improving the student’s self-determination. The remainder of this chapter will be devoted to strategies designed to improve the self-determination of students with disabilities and include students in their individual education programs that will hopefully ensure outcomes for students like Rick are not the norm. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/05%3A_Strategies_to_Support_Post-Secondary_Transition/5.01%3A_Section_1-.txt |
As discussed previously, self-determination is a major component of post-secondary transition, thus, this section will discuss an intervention that has been used to improve the self-determination skills of students with disabilities with a great deal of success (Shogren et al., 2012). The method is called the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI; Wehmeyer, Palmer, Agran, Mithaug, & Martin, 2000). The SDLMI, according to Wehmeyer and colleagues, includes four important features of self-determined behavior: (a) acting autonomously (choice making), (b)self-regulating behavior (having control over actions), (c) acting in an empowered manner (feeling and acting capable), and (d) behaving in a self-realizing way (internalizing the effect of the actions one takes). While we cannot go into specific detail of the SDMLI model in this chapter, we will describe processes for how teachers can supportstudents in learning and using self-determination skills, setting meaningful goals, working towards goals related to academics and transition, and achieving better outcomes in post-secondary life.
Participant Roles
Roles for the participants in the SDLMI differ from the more traditional roles happening in the classroom. For example, the teacher switches from the leader of the class, to a(n): (a) facilitator who provides support, rather than acting as an authority figure, (b) instructor who provides resources to the student, and (c) advocate who provides support and collaboration with the student (Wehmeyer et al., 2007). The student transitions from the typically more passive role to a more active figure it in their education. It would be expected that the student works in collaboration with the teacher to attain whatever goal they are working on. Obviously, the amount of autonomy the student can take in this process would dependent upon the skill level of the students, but the main goal is to allow the student to have as much control and independence in the process as possible.
SDLMI Necessary Vocabulary
Problem – something that keeps people from getting what they want (such as getting a driver’s license; a problem might be passing the state driver’s test if you cannot read the test).
Discuss examples of problems that are not just “bad things” (for example, life holds many different problems one must solve—like learning to complete homework assignments, how to manage one’s time effectively, how to find a job, where to get transportation for getting around town).
Barrier – something that stands in the way of getting what you want; something that blocks your progress (I want to succeed in math class, but I don’t know how.)
Goal – something you set out to do, something you work to make happen. (Wehmeyer et al. 2007, pp. 16)
The Three Stages of the SDLMI Model
SDLMI is comprised of three stages, containing four student questions each, to guide the student through the development of the plan. The first stage is designed to help the student define actionable goals. The second stage, assists the students in developing an action plan to meet the goal. Finally, the last stage involves selfevaluation of the student’s accomplishment of the goals that they developed (Wehymeyer et al., 2007). While much of the process is directed through the student answering specific questions in a formalized manner, it is important to try to maintain a conversational approach rather than handing out worksheets and having the students fill them out. Additionally, teachers should try to ensure that the student is using the first-person-singular (e.g., “I will eat at Arby’s”) when they are describing the process to ensure that they are thinking about them self when doing developing the process. Similarly, it is important to provide only as much support as necessary, as one of the primary features of this model is to counter-act learned helplessness and have the student build self-efficacy.When attempting to teach the students how to use the SDLMI model, it is perhaps beneficial to start with smaller, short-term goals so the student can experience the methods and give them opportunities to succeed. This could be done through setting a goal that can be accomplished within a month’s time, or shorter, such as a unit assignment in class (Wehymeyer et al., 2007).
Stage 1: Goal Development
One of the first things we need to do when teaching the SDLMI model is identify the goal (Wehymeyer et al., 2007). As suggested earlier, when coaching how to use this model focus on a short-term goal. Suggestions could be: (a) how to search the internet to find information on a topic, (b) how to find job resources, or (c) how to find local entertainment.
In this first stage, the overarching question is: “what is my goal?” and student questions to guide this include,
1. What do I want to learn?
2. What do I know about it now?
3. What must change for me to learn what I don’t know?
4. What can I do to make it happen? (This is the actual goal for which a plan will be developed in Phase 2.) (Wehymeyer, et al., 2007, pp. 19).
When conducting this stage with the student, it is important the teacher take a supportive role. It is Okay to ask open-ended questions and slightly change the questions in order to elicit a response. If the student comes up with a number of ideas, help the student prioritize goals and make decisions about which takes priority. Next, label the goals in the order of priority (students should be supported in writing down their answers). Finally, as they go through each of the questions, facilitate discussion of the possible barriers and problems associated with a specific question. For example, let’s say that we are working through this model with Timmy. Timmy is interested in learning how to utilize the internet to find information about a topic in his science class. Timmy is semi-proficient with a Windows PC environment where he only uses Google Chrome to browse the internet. The school computers are Mac and do not have Google Chrome installed on them. Under question two, “What do I know about it now?” (Wehymeyer et al., 2007, pp. 19) Timmy could describe how he knows how to use the internet on his home computer, however barriers that would affect his ability to attain this goal would be learning how to use: (a) the Mac environment, and (b) the Safari browser.
Stage 2: What is My Plan?
The second stage of the SDMLI model involves formulating a plan to meet the goal described in stage one. Another set of four questions guide the student’s development of the plan,
1. What can I do to learn what I don’t know?
2. What could keep me from taking action?
3. What can I do to remove these barriers?
4. When will I take action? (Wehymeyer, et al., 2007, pp. 23).
The first three questions in the sequence lead the student through a system of thinking about the goal and determining their present level of performance or baseline. For example, in the Timmy scenario we were just describing, an answer to question five could include watching a video on utilizing a Mac-based environment.
Next, he could identify his propensity to procrastinate, or inability to find a video to show him how to use it. He could then describe how he could schedule times into his day to ask the librarian/media center person to help him find resources on using a Mac. Question eight is then answered once the preceding questions have been answered.
The teacher’s role in each of these questions is, again, to facilitate the student in problem solving a scenario that would allow him/her to meet their goal. When helping the student to address methods to utilize in creating the action plan, preference should be given to the use of student-directed strategies (e.g., self-monitoring, self-evaluation), rather than those necessitating someone else delivering instruction. For example, with Timmy, we did good in having him establish a schedule, however some of the plan requires the media center person to aide him. Perhaps we could have led him to a scenario where he would’ve scheduled a time to get on a PC and find a tutorial on using Safari on a Mac. However, this gets into the adults tell him what to do, rather than Timmy acting as the causal agent conundrum that we are trying to avoid.
Stage 3: Self-Evaluation
The final stage of the SDLMI model is the self-evaluation phase where students ask themselves, “what have I learned?” (Wehmeyer et al., 2007, pp.26). The four questions in this stage can be separated into two categories. The first two questions address whether, or not, the student has been effective in achieving his/her goal, while the second two questions determine whether future action needs to be taken.
1. What actions have I taken?
2. What barriers have been removed?
3. What has changed about what I know?
4. Do I know what I want to know? (Wehmeyer et al., 20017, pp. 27)
Within the self-evaluation component of the SDLMI model, teachers should help the students evaluate their progress, not only towards meeting the goal, but also in relation to where they started, taking note of any and all progress that has been made. With regard to the final two questions, one of three possible outcomes should be documented: (a) the goal has been achieved, (b) progress has been made, but the goal has not been achieved, or (c) the goal has not been met. In the event the goal has not been made, students can either revise the goal (go back to stage 1) or the action plan (going back to stage 2).
When discussing the final stage with the student, teachers should help guide the student towards making a decision that is right for the circumstances. For example, in Timmy’s case, though it’s entirely likely that Timmy will achieve this goal, in the unlikely event he does not, teachers should help him examine whether or not the goal was relevant to his needs or if a new action plan is the right option. | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/05%3A_Strategies_to_Support_Post-Secondary_Transition/5.04%3A_Section_4-.txt |
Complementing self-determination, self-directed IEP’s (Martin, Marshall, Maxson, & Jerman, 1996) are a powerful way to fully embody the ideal of making the student a causal agent in their life, specifically regarding their education and post-school trajectory. The IDEA specifically lists the participation of the student in IEP meetings “whenever appropriate” (§614(d)(1)(B)(vii)). It is generally accepted that the field of special-education would take the phrase whenever appropriate to be an inconclusive statement, meaning the student should only be excluded in limited circumstances. Further, the regulations of the IDEA state that, “The LEA must invite a child with a disability to attend the child’s IEP Team meeting if a purpose of the meeting will be the consideration of the postsecondary goals for the child and the transition services needed to assist the child in reaching those goals” (34 CFR 300.321(b)). Therefore, according to federal mandates, the child must be asked to be included in the IEP meeting no later than at the first meeting of the IEP that will be in effect when the student turns 16 years of age (14 in Kansas). Unfortunately, the meaningful inclusion of students in the IEP process has been consistently poor (Arndt, Konrad, & Test, 2006; Powers, Turner, Matuszewski, Wilson, & Phillips, 2001; Van Reusen & Bos, 1994). While the student may be present during the meeting, their involvement often only involves asking what they want to be when they grow up and other transition related items. However, research has begun to examine the impact of teaching students to direct their IEP meetings in order to more fully include them in the process (Arndt, Konrad, & Test, 2006). It doesn’t take a great deal of research to come to the conclusion that a student who is involved in the crafting of their IEP will likely buy into the program that is being developed for them, and also understand the services that are to be provided for them and why.
The Self-directed IEP (Martin, Marshall, Maxson, & Jerman, 1996) is a program developed to help facilitate student involvement in the IEP meeting. The program consists of 11, 45-minute to one-hour lessons, that sequentially guide students through the IEP process with a focus on students leading the meeting. The program includes a teacher manual, student workbook, and two videos that show the process utilizing a fictitious student (Zeke) as an example. Once again this section of the chapter is not intended to be an exhaustive guide as the full materials can be accessed through the following site: http://www.ou.edu/content/ education/centers-and-partnerships/zarrow/choicemaker-curriculum/choicemaker-selfdetermination-materials.html.
The Self-directed IEP model follows a model-lead-test method of teaching where the teacher, or other person (in this case video example), models the behavior, students are lead through practice of the behavior, and finally students are assessed on their ability to perform the behavior. Each lesson follows a set pattern including: (a) review of previously studied material, (b) preview of the current lesson and necessary vocabulary, (c) video that models the current method, (d) mock situation for practice, (e) workbook activity, (f) teacher demonstration, (g) and finally, a chance for the student to demonstrate the learned material (Martin et al., 1996).
Lesson 1: Begin Meeting
In the first part of this curriculum, students will learn how to begin the meeting by introducing themselves and stating the purpose of the meeting. This first lesson provides an overview of the purpose of the meeting and what an IEP is. It is also important at this point to discuss an appropriate tone of voice for the meeting and the importance of eye contact.
Lesson 2: Introduce Everyone
Next up is teaching students to introduce the members of the IEP meeting. It’s important at this point to describe both who is in attendance, and also the necessary team members and their job duties when conducting an IEP meeting. Necessary team members and their respective roles are outlined in the Figure 9. It is important that the student describe who completes each role in his meeting, and is able to describe their job to others.
Required Members of the IEP Team
Individualized education program team.--The term `individualized education program team’ or `IEP Team’ means a group of individuals composed of--
1. the parents of a child with a disability;
2. not less than 1 regular education teacher of such child (if the child is, or may be, participating in the regular education environment);
3. not less than 1 special education teacher, or where appropriate, not less than 1 special education provider of such child;
4. a representative of the local educational agency who--
• is qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of, specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities;
• is knowledgeable about the general education curriculum; and
• is knowledgeable about the availability of resources of the local educational agency;
5. an individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results, who may be a member of the team described in clauses (2) through (6);
6. at the discretion of the parent or the agency, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child, including related services personnel as appropriate; and
7. whenever appropriate, the child with a disability.
Lesson 3: Review PLAAFP
For this step, students will need a copy of their current IEP. Teaching students about goals requires discussing the concept that goals need to be measurable and measured. For example, a goal stating, “I want to be a rapper when I grow up” is not really measurable considering the ambiguity of what constitutes a rapper and the term grown. It could be said that if the kid tries to rap, then he’s a rapper. We have no way of knowing. Martin et al., (1996) suggest having the students write down one or two of their current goals and discussing the actions they would take in order to meet their goals. Additionally, students should take note of whether or not they believe they have completed these goals and how to amend the goal if necessary.
Lesson 4: Ask for Feedback
The next lesson has the student respond to feedback from others regarding their goals. The word feedback in this sense more accurately describes the concept of progress monitoring. For example, students should discuss and describe how progress towards their goal is going to be measured and by whom. Finally, students should describe how this information is presented both to the students and their parents.
Lesson 5: School and Transition Goals
In addition to annual educational goals, students will also be tasked with developing their transition goals. According to Martin et al., (1996), transition has four main areas: (1) Education, (2) Employment, (3) Personal, and (4) Daily living. Educational transition outcomes include high school classes, trade school, community college, and university. Employment goals would be discussed for both short-term and long-term career aspirations. Personal transition would include things like hobbies, relationships, and overall health. Finally, daily living includes daily living skills, transportation, and living arrangements. When developing goals in these areas, it’s important to choose goals with interests, and limitations in mind. Students would then write down examples of their interests along each of the four categories, and their skills and limitations related to those interests.
Lesson 6: Ask Questions
A fundamental component of being a self-determined person is the ability to ask questions to increase understanding. Thus, a key component to the Self-directed IEP program is ensuring that the student is able and empowered to ask questions to help guide the process. Once again, we will want to engage the student in practice sessions that allow the student to practice using a polite and respectful tone of voice. To frame this in a class session, the teacher may give sample statements that may be heard in an IEP meeting such as, “Rick needs to improve his ability to advocate for himself.” In the event the student doesn’t know the meaning of the word advocate they’ll likely become lost in the conversation and their interest may spiral downward until they are sitting passively at the meeting while others discuss their goals.
Lesson 7: Deal with Differences of Opinion
This is likely going to be one of the more difficult tasks in the IEP process, and may be one of the key reasons students are not often included in the IEP process. Indeed, it may also be one of the reasons why parents are not truly included to the extent appropriate in the IEP process. Unless the student is empowered, the opinions and directives of the LEA side of the team may go unchallenged. To help with dealing with differences of opinion, the authors suggest using the mnemonic “LUCK.”
Listen to and restate the other person’s opinion.
Use a respectful tone of voice.
Compromise or change your opinion if necessary.
Know and state the reasons for your opinion (Martin et al., 1996, pp.80).
The strategy helps students to negotiate and advocate for themselves. Role-playing this strategy in a wide variety of situations can you help the student, not only in the IEP meeting, but also in daily interactions.
Lesson 8: State the Support You’ll Need
This section has the student review the goals they have been constructing and determine what they feel are the necessary supports to achieve those goals. As practice, students should look at two of their existing goals and make suggestions for what would help them accomplish them. Students should start with a perfect world scenario, where they have all conceivable resources at their disposal. That shouldn’t be misconstrued to mean that students drift off into La-La-Land and say that someone else should do everything for them. These services should be grounded in reality and with the aim of encouraging student accountability and efficacy.
Lesson 9: Summarize Goals
Towards the end of the meeting, students will summarize the goals that have been agreed upon by the team. To aid in this, students should practice summarizing the main points in each of the four transition areas: Education, employment, personal, and independent living. Students will work in pairs to summarize existing goals in preparation for doing so in the meeting. By summarizing the goals, students are able to reiterate and check for of what the team has agreed upon.
Lesson 10: Close Meeting
You may have noticed that there are other parts of the meeting that have not been covered here. The emphasis of the student-directed IEP is to help the student take initiative in their education by helping develop the goals and services needed to meet those goals. However, some things that are not discussed within this curriculum include the necessity for extended school year, transportation issues (though this could be discussed within related services), and other issues that arise in IEP meetings. The Self-directed IEP curriculum next has the student practice closing the meeting by reiterating their goals and thanking members for their attendance and input.
Lesson 11: Work on IEP Goals Throughout the Year
Finally, students develop a plan for attending to, and working toward their goals throughout the year. Suggestions for this include creating a folder that has their goals listed on it, and also having students selfmonitor progress towards their goal. There really is no point in doing the first 10 steps of the curriculum without a concerted effort to work this final stage throughout the duration of the IEP.
Summary
Meeting the transition needs of students with disabilities, particularly with regard to affecting the post school outcomes, requires that students become self-advocates, and as Wehmeyer et al (2000) states, become the “causal agent” (pp. 440) in their lives. Improving student self-determination has been shown to be a key factor in school and later outcomes for students with disabilities. One component or strategy of helping students become that causal agent is to meaningfully include them in the IEP process. Of course, this implies that schools and school districts are amenable to changing the format of their IEP meetings to allow the stakeholder to be the leader, rather than the district. However, the best interest of the child is in them being as empowered as possible in their education! | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/05%3A_Strategies_to_Support_Post-Secondary_Transition/5.05%3A_Section_5-.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Issues Related to Reading
• Improving Fluency & Vocabulary
• Improving Comprehension
• Reading in the Content Area
Reading is a necessary component of developing a meaningful connection with society (Pullen & Cash, 2011). Thus, developing reading skills is one of the most vital developmental constructs to ensure a child can access society. Unfortunately, approximately 40% of students have difficulty in reading, and 80% of students with learning disabilities experience difficulty with reading (Mercer, Mercer, & Pullen, 2011; National Center for Educational Statistics , 2005). The impact of low achievement across the country in reading prompted policy makers to address this problem first through a report developed at the behest of Congress by some of the leaders in the field of reading (National Reading Panel, 2000). This document was used as the basis of the passage of the No Child left Behind Act of 2001 (now the Every Student Succeeds Act, 2015) which instituted a reading first initiative that strove towards the lofty goal of having all children in America able to read by the third grade. Further, as discussed in Chapter 1, it instituted guidelines for evidence-based practices that are to be used to teach students to read so that the high number of students with reading difficulties or disabilities might be reduced by providing high quality instruction that is based on science.
6.02: Section 2-
The National Reading Panel report (2000) forms the foundation of much of what we understand about the reading process and how to effectively assess and provide instruction in reading. Reading is a complex task that may be broken down into two primary areas: decoding and comprehension (Pullen & Cash, 2011). Within those two broad dimensions, there are five components typically associated with reading those are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. However, it is generally understood that the two primary areas are intertwined and that fluency at decoding influences a students ability to comprehend written text. One of the big reasons for this is that if a student has issues with the decoding process they are using a lot of metacognitive processes making it difficult to understand what is being read. For example, if the student has difficulty understanding or decoding individual words their ability to make sense of text will be severely limited.
We discussed progress monitoring in the form of curriculum based measurement in chapter 2, and we’ll touch upon it again here. Because decoding is such a large factor in reading achievement and the ability to comprehend text, assessing and specifically teaching methods to increase decoding are of large import (Pullen & Cash, 2011). With this idea of increasing decoding in mind, Pullen and Cash suggest placing an emphasis on assessing and instruction in decoding nonsense words. In most cases, publishers of curriculum-based measures have developed measures that test students on their ability to decode nonsense words in much the same way as letter naming probes. They further discuss two methods for being able to decode words, the first being a process of decoding each letter in sound form and assembling those letters together. The second process involves a process much like whole word processes, or site words, where the students visually matches the printed word and associate that with a word in memory. Nonsense words don’t allow for the second process, therefore emphasizing the ability to decode these words leads to improvement in phonological processing and decoding.
Students who have difficulty with reading comprehension and word recognition make up the most common form of reading difficulty (Pullen & Cash, 2011). Research suggests that the students difficulties could be attributed to core deficits in phonological processing, naming speed and orthographic processing, or “the ability to form, store, and access orthographic representations” (Stanovich & West, 1989, p. 404). The most common deficit among students is phonological processing which regards the ability to access the sound structure of words by understanding that individual letters have corresponding sounds and that the sounds together form words. The second characteristic, naming speed refers to the ability to look at the written letter or phoneme and process it’s associated sound. Finally, orthographic processing deficits reflect the ability to perform the previous two tasks and associate them with concepts within working memory.
Pullen and Cash (2011) describe effective reading intervention for students with difficulties as a process of fortifying the links of the chain. If one of the links of the chain, for example naming speed, is not strong, the entire chain is weak. In other words, the student will have difficulty in all areas of reading. Thus, it is important even at the later grades to continue to work on building a student who has difficulties in reading’s core reading foundation. We will next briefly focus on the five primary areas of reading and recommendations from the national reading panel on how to intervene.
Print Awareness
Print awareness is described as letter knowledge, knowledge of the text on the page being read from left to right top to bottom etc. (Pullen & Cash, 2011). Print awareness is generally attained through children accessing books with adults.
Note
I suggest reading Being and Nothingness (Sartre, 1956) to children at an early age so they can begin questioning their existence and hopefully create some heavy neuroses.
Phonological/Phonemic Awareness
Phonological awareness, or the ability to associate sounds with written letters, is the foundational skill of reading. According to the National Reading Panel (2000), phonological awareness instruction is not predicated on a more is better attitude. they recommended small group instruction of just a few minutes a day, perhaps 20 hours per school year, is more than adequate to improve the skills. They also suggest that teachers should focus on no more than two strategies to improve the skills. Suggestions include blending to form words, segmenting words and phonemes, adding or deleting phonemes to make new words and substituting phonemes to make new words (Pullen & Cash, 2011).
Phonics
Phonics is generally described as the ability to decode print (Pullen & Cash, 2011). As previously discussed, the ability to decode is integral to reading achievement. According to Pullen and Cash, direct instruction of phoneme-grapheme relationships in a set sequence provides practice for the skills, for example using manipulatives. According to the national reading panel, two years of phonics instruction should be enough and can be delivered and a variety of class sizes.
Remember Willow? Well, it turns out she was identified as gifted in kindergarten, and was in a gifted program for much of her Elementary and middle schooling. Was she actually gifted? That’s debatable. Turns out her mom was a big advocate of marathon sessions utilizing manipulatives (flashcards) from the time she was 18 month old. Thus, by the time Willow was 3 ½ years old, she had a mastery of the alphabetic principle and was able to decode text on second and third grade level.
Her mom was able to brag to everyone on Facebook how advanced Willow was compared to hersame age peers. However, is highly unlikely that Willow was actually gifted or advanced but was, rather subject to rigorous direct instruction from a very early age, which accounted for her ability to decode better than her same age peers. Unfortunately for Willow and her mom, by about the third and fourth grade her peers caught up, and Willow was burnout.
6.03: Section 3-
Fluency
Fluency is indicated by being able to read from text precisely and with expression at a familiar pace (Pullen & Cash, 2011). Fluency is highly associated with reading comprehension, which is understandable considering that the ability to read words easily unburdens working memory which can then allow those cognitive processes to make sense of the text (Laberge & Samuels, 1974). The National Reading Panel (2000) describes two main methods for improving student fluency. The first, guided oral reading has the student read a passage orally a number of times to another person, this could be a teacher paraprofessional or student, and the student receives feedback. Pullen and Cash make a distinction between guided oral reading where a student would be more one-on-one and round robin reading where are each student in the class reads aloud from a short passage. The other strategy is independent silent reading, however it is unclear if this strategy is effective and the National Reading Panel suggested that the time used for independent silent reading would be better used on another strategy.
Vocabulary
While being able to decode words fluently is a strong predictor of overall reading achievement, if the student does not understand the words that they are decoding it is virtually impossible to expect that they would be able to make meaning from what they’re reading (Pullen & Cash, 2011). Thus, vocabulary instruction is a key component to helping students become more engaged with the text they are reading. According to the National Reading Panel (2000), increases in vocabulary instruction lead to increases in overall reading comprehension. Repetition, exposure in multiple contacts, and learning in situations that utilize diverse vocabulary all help students acquire vocabulary. While students may acquire most vocabulary through indirect means like listening to adults, through conversation and television, direct instruction is more useful for important or novel words.
6.04: Section 4-
Comprehension
Reading comprehension is obviously the end goal for all reading instruction. However, reliable and valid measures of reading comprehension have remained elusive to the field. Take for example the proliferation of motivational reading programs like Accelerated Reader™ or Reading Counts™. These programs ask students to read books on a certain lack style and take comprehension quizzes from those books. However the quizzes for these books have not been tested or validated making them no better than typical teacher made tests. Regardless, teachers continue to use these measures and programs as a means to both determine the students grade and their progress within reading, neither of which are recommended. Instruction in comprehension can take many forms including graphic organizers and strategy instruction (Pullen & Cash, 2011). | textbooks/socialsci/Education_and_Professional_Development/Special_Education_in_Secondary_Schools_(Losinksi)/06%3A_Strategies_for_Improving_Student_Outcomes_in_Reading/6.01%3A_Section_1-.txt |
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