Marlon+Wade's+Page


 * HPT-Based Solutions **

** Background **

The Agnus Dei Community Association (ADCA) is a community based organization (CBO), which occupies two of five floors within a former middle school building, located in the East Flatbush/Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. ADCA has offered the Introduction to Workplace Computer Literacy training program free of charge to qualified community residents for two program cycles currently. Under the auspices of ADCA’s Community Education Program (CEP), the unit staff of 9 full-time employees and 1 AmeriCorp volunteer operates the training program according to programmatic benchmarks, which have two expected outcomes: (a) workplace PC literacy skills, and (b) a minimum of 3 months FT employment within 6 months after graduation. The current staff of CEP includes the: Program Director, Assistant Director, Education Director, Academics Instructor, Technology Instructor, Office Skills Teacher, Job Developer, Intake Counselor, Program Counselor, and AmeriCorps aid.

ADCA’s mission is to serve its community residents in three ways: (a) to improve the quality of life of under-privileged and/or immigrant community residents for who English is a second language; (b) to meet the basic educational needs of community residents and; (c) to facilitate the employment of community residents and or advancement in their current employment. In a multicultural community-based context and setting, the training project is aimed primarily at underprivileged adults of the community, where a sizable percentage of adults in the geographic demographic have little to zero experience with office computer technology.

The federal government provides aid to address such problems by giving block grants to state governments. In turn, the state governments solicit requests for proposals (RFPs), open to non-profit organizations, to address any number of problems faced by different communities within the state. The CBOs that submit the best proposals are picked to receive funds from the block grants in order to address the community problems (e.g., housing, unemployment, education, etc.) specific to the RFP. These block grants have stipulations relative to: (a) what funds may and may not be used for, and (b) the expected program outcomes.

** Performance Gap **

Continued program funding is conditioned upon successful student performance outcomes, which are quantified through the use of program training benchmarks. Moreover, because CEP received low ratings (below benchmark minimums) from the program audit for two cycles, its upcoming third cycle has been put on probation. CEP must achieve at least a 62% benchmark success rate by the time of the program audit, which occurs six months after the end of a training cycle. If not, the auditors will defund the Introduction to Workplace Computer Literacy program at ADCA.

** Cause Analysis **

Although the cause analysis indicated that the low rating by the program auditors were based on poor student outcomes, the results of the analysis also indicated that poor staff performance was a major contributor to the low benchmark numbers. The participant selection process utilized by the intake staff to enroll participants in the program, combined with the low expectations for students by the instructional staff, heightened the failed program outcomes.

** Potential Solutions to Address or Eliminate Causes **

In terms of a human performance problem, three possible intervention strategies are suggested for the Agnus Dei Performance Improvement Intervention Project. The solutions are viewed in terms of three levels of cost: · The low-cost $5,000 strategy is a staff training solution. This two-week training would address the performance gap through a presentation of best practices for student selection during the intake process, and the use of time tested incentives to improve the performance accountability of both the instructors and students. Thus, the staff will gain the knowledge of how to evaluate and select the best program applicants from among all the qualified applicants. This will greatly improve the odds that program enrollees will be those who have the intrinsic motivation to achieve the learning outcomes.

· The medium-cost $25,000 strategy is a Web-based eLearning solution for 25 users/seats. This training would provide self-paced sessions conducted online. It would include: (a) technical and content related support, (b) documentation for each user license, and (c) training. Although this solution is aimed at students, the content and approach serve as instructional models for the educators at CEP to, likewise, implement educational strategies of their own. The second option presents a way to allow students to: (a) progress at their own pace, (b) receive immediate performance data and make adjustments based upon the performance data, and (c) always know where they are in their training relative to the benchmarks and desired learning outcomes. · The high-cost $50,000 strategy offers more flexibility. This solution is tailor made to correct the performance gap from program intake to exit. It includes the implementation of the program by a consultant who is familiar with implementing the same or similar benchmark training programs. The consultant will be onsite for one year, including the 3 months of the student intake process and the 9 months of training.

** Selected Intervention **

The medium-cost intervention is recommended for several reasons: (a) cost effectiveness, (b) instructional proficiency, and (c) self-paced eLearning. This option gives the most bang for the buck. It removes the prior instructional challenges faced by the facilitators because the eLearning is customizable to each student. It provides constant assessment to students so they can become active in their own learning. Also, it offers the quickest implementation of a solution. These active learning strategies are intended to involve the facilitators in doing and thinking about what they are doing (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). They also model for the facilitators how to do the same thing in their onsite instructional designs going forward.

** Justification for Intervention Strategy **

With consideration of the strengths and limitations of each solution, the low-cost option is strong because it is cost-effective. This is quite important to not-for-profit organizations. More than this, the option would provide an informative overview of reactive and proactive best practices to be applied, which would greatly help in the achievement of the expected program outcomes. It would provide a high level description to the staff on how to think about the student intake process, when to make referrals to other agencies, and ways to interpret applicant intake data beyond the scores. Further, the need for a strict dress code, conduct code, and classroom management policies will be described. The biggest limitation of this option is the lack of detail on how to implement the strategies described at a high standard. This takes more time than the low-cost solution affords.

The greatest strength of the medium-cost option is that the solution itself has all of the necessary instructional qualities embedded within it. The Office Skills and Technology instructors would have more time to facilitate learning and provide a greater level of individualized help to each student. Further, this option allows for the regular use of problem-based strategies across the curriculum. This has been shown to produce tremendous results for both the students and program outcomes. This approach would translate to better success by the Job Developer in getting student placements in internships, externships, and employment positions. This is of equal importance to overall program success as the curriculum benchmarks, and even more to the funding sources. The main limitation of this solution would be the failure of the instructors to abide by the strict policies for dress code, conduct, and classroom management. Together, they create the glue which holds together the cohorts in their endeavor to learn and become proficient in workplace PC skills.

Although the high-cost option is the best, in terms of having everything presented and modeled for CEP, its limitation is its cost. Although the consultant would be onsite to provide reactive and proactive feedback on every stage of the process from recruitment, to intake, to program management, it requires staff members to buy in to the solution, their regular attendance and input into the weekly staff meeting, and their cooperation with the newly implemented policies. This is easier said than done.

** Project Manager Responsibilities **

The success of CEP is based on three core skills: leadership, management, and teamwork. Also, the fundamental differences between leadership skills and management are complimentary not adversarial. Effective leadership and fair management create successful teams. When these are in place, then, building a winning team is straightforward. As a leader, the project manager (PM) must have the ability to inspire others, also, to follow his or her own inspirational leadership principles. In the management function, the PM should have the ability to organize and coordinate resources and processes. Ideally, the PM’s management style is inclusive of leadership skills, too. Ethical practice is a part of what leadership is. Moreover, it includes effectiveness in project management. Effective managers tend to utilize followership in their project administration. It is something more than just a part of their technical repertoire but, rather, is an aspect of their character makeup. Great PM’s roll up their sleeves and pitch in—a sure sign of leadership quality. They do everything to attain effective and desirable outcomes.