UNT / SABRE PROJECT (4250) – Fall 2006
Objective:
Evaluate, develop, and make recommendations for a SABRE APS training course.
Description:
After participating in an instructor-led Sabre APS training course, student teams should evaluate the course. Students will then move forward with the project by designing and producing a new course curriculum that uses a blended learning methodology (one that favors electronic copy rather than traditional print and online communication / teaching rather than face-to-face instruction). Teams will have access to a SABRE SME (Subject Matter Expert) and access to relevant software applications, but the topics selected do not require extensive airline or system experience. Airlines customers / employees would be the target audience.
Examples of Potential Sabre Projects (APS Training Courses):
§ Authoring Sabre (creating online FOCUS reference material)
§ Sabre Employee Profile Record (creating sign in authorizations and system access perimeters)
§ Sabre Online Reports (statistics regarding passenger bookings, boardings, system usage, and other information).
Note from Sabre:
We would really love to have the UNT Technical Writing students view our courses and content with a “fresh” perspective. We are moving toward an electronic rather than print-based paradigm, and a distance-learning rather than face-to-face teaching model, and we are looking for great ideas and methods that we can implement to effectively (and efficiently) make this transition.
TENTATIVE TIMELINE FOR THE SABRE / UNT PARTNERSHIP PROJECT Fall 2006
Sep 21st: Project initiation and Brant Deranger’s detailed presentation to the students at 7:45 PM. 4 student groups (4-5 members on each group) will be working on 4 APS training courses. Instructor would provide students with a checklist about possible situations when WBT might sound feasible. Students would have the opportunity to map the checklist following the APS course at SABRE.
Sep 21st - Sep 28th: Based on Brant Deranger’s presentation, student groups would work on building an initial draft of the questionnaire / checklist for audience analysis /needs analysis / performance analysis. Instructor would provide help developing the questionnaire / checklist.
Sep 28th: 3 hour workshop on APS training courses at SABRE. Allow .5 hours for students to ask questions based on checklist / questionnaire prepared. Class starts at 6 pm.
§ Details about audience, needs analysis and adult learning theories posted on the class website.
§ Details about the instructional design theories and processes posted on the class website.
§ ATTN Sabre SMEs: Please provide students with hardcopy / CD-ROM for APS course content.
Sep 28th – Oct 5th: Students spend time studying the ID theories posted on the class website. Individual groups would then start working on initial drafts of storyboarding to structure the course content for their respective APS training courses.
Oct 5th: Map content storyboarding with audience and needs analysis.
Oct 19th: Students have completed the initial organization and layout of the course content as HTML pages (low-fidelity prototyping). Students have used Dream weaver / Flash for the purpose.
Oct 26th: Students performing a usability testing in class based on the low-fidelity prototype (alpha-testing) – Peer Review – SABRE representative requested to be present at 8:30 pm.
Oct 26th - Nov 2nd: Students preparing a final draft of the course content through editing and reorganization, based on the initial usability testing.
Nov 9th: Students preparing a recommendation report suggesting SABRE about the information design theories and processes, the alternatives (if any) and prospects for future development.
Nov 16th: Final Presentation at UNT. Question / answer session followed. Representatives from SABRE present.
***** Last minute changes might be necessary. Please check the class website.