_US Army Photo by Edward N. Johnson
This week I drafted the project goal, need, materials, and approach sections for the Project Charter.  The team met our dead line ahead of time and embedded the document to our website last night. 

The project charter will be provided to Dr. Gikas and Dr. Murrell for approval before we begin the design and development phases of the project.  Developing the charter helped our team understand the big picture, identify and tackle obstacles to project initiation.  The charter is an important document because it provides a clear goal for the project, identifies expectations, constraints, key persons, etc. 

Drafting the charter gave me the opportunity to create a document that I had not previously created.  If I should work on design projects in the future (as a consultant or with a company) it will be important to understand the key components of the charter how this process works. 

To do this work, I have utilized an online ‘to-do’ list and task sheet in Google Docs. I also located and read through a few examples from previous semesters.  The process was efficient and I would likely take a similar approach in the future.  Ideally, the process would not take as long now that I have a better understanding of developing a project charter document.

We are also learning to communicate effectively, work as a team, set and meet mutual goals.  These skills will be extremely important in moving forward with a career in instructional design. Project tasks do not exist in isolation – everything is interdependent.  I can imagine that a team with strong skills, commitment, and excellent communication will do well.  Conversely, a team lacking in any of these characteristics may stumble or fail.  

Our team is pretty honest.  We have listened to the advice of prior students and we are speaking up and making note of concerns etc.  We are trying to work ahead where possible.  I took a look at the Analysis report and we started planning ahead for next week.  We pinpointed missing information/data and wrote questions for Dr. Gikas related to the performance expectations and discrepancies and learner analysis.  Since we may be using new software, keeping up with the project plan and WBS for the first time- getting ahead (or not falling behind) is important to all of us.  Having examples for each phase of this process is really helpful.

_ I met most of my peers face to face for the first time this week.  It was interesting to finally match names with faces and gain a quick understanding of personalities and skill sets prior to forming teams for the ID project this semester. 

We were assigned a few but looming tasks:

1. Divide into two teams
2. Choose a project manager
3. Choose a semester project from a list of client proposals
4. Develop a team name and website
5. Develop an individual website or blog
6.  …along with all of the other typical grad school things such as read chapters 1-3, think of questions, etc. 

 this week…
our team talked, chatted, designed, texted, read, read some more and tweeted (or hooted #idt7095).

As a group, our members are interested in eLearning.  We chose to design a training unit for new online faculty at the University of Memphis.  We are excited to be working with Dr. Gikas and the other distance learning staff at the U of M. 

Our team name is Tri-State eDesigns because it represents the three team members and our home locations.  Upon reflection, it is a great name.  We are dealing with significant barriers of distance, rural locations (terrible Internet service), busy families, etc.  Yet, the three of us have one goal – to rock this project!  We are determined, hardworking and we will work together to make this design project great.

In class, we decided to host our website in Google Sites.  Since I enjoy “building” I immediately went home and started to work on the webpage.  Although, we did not decide as a group that I would take on this responsibility, it worked out well and the site is organized efficiently.  An important feature of Google Sites is the capability of having multiple contributors to the website.  Each of our team members was able to edit text and other content as needed.  Additionally, the site works seamlessly with Google Docs and we were able to embed a spreadsheet to keep up with tasks and a to-do list for recording notes to the group.

Our group also tried a few methods for “long-distance” communication.  We were able to conference call and use the Google+ messenger for three-way communication.  We are also using Google Docs to collaborate on our upcoming tasks and meeting with the client.

Although the initial onset of the project has felt rushed and a bit like we were all thrown together, it has been a quality learning experience.  Our team was forced to pull together and figure out how to make this team and project work.  Communication will play a key role in the success of this project and I believe we have done well in finding ways to communicate effectively.  I can also see how all of our learning in this IDT program will come together to support what we do as a group.  I am thankful to have had previous experience with Web2.0 tools, web design, and project design.  Each of our team members has valuable leadership and design skills to contribute to the group.  This week we have helped each other with small tasks… and I think we have set a good tone for the rest of the semester.

Thursday we will meet with Dr. Gikas to establish a plan for moving forward with the project.  We will discuss her goals and expectations as well as preferred method of communication.  Afterward we will start to work on the project charter.  We will need to set clear goals for the overall task and then smaller goals for each individual.  It will be important to have clear expectations and understanding before we begin to work on this initial phase of the project. 

I am excited to work as a team – I often work alone and feverishly to try and perfect my work.  Since instructional design is often completed as a team effort in corporate settings, I am eager to see how this goes.