Learnet E-learning Multimedia Project - Assignment Example

Learnet E-learning Multimedia Project Abstract How often have you heard it said that planning is waste of time? No sooner is the plan completed than someone comes along to change it. These same naysayers would also argue that the plan, once completed is disregarded and merely put on the shelf so the team can get down to doing some real work. To people management, we mean the planning activity that involves deciding on the types of people in form of resources that are required to fulfill the requirements of the project. In other words the types of skills and number of workers we need to complete the project (kwysocki, 1997). At this stage Learnet College’s Learnetdesigns project administration has assigned me a task of writing a report on the business, legal, managerial and creative factors that need to be identified when managing a multimedia project. This report will help in the long term planning and implementation of this e-learning project. This new multimedia educational application when completed then it will be embedded in the intranet of “Learnetboard” and be used to support an e-learning related module. Whenever we talk about the methods involved in the project management we normally refer those methods towards the management of people as well as resources. The management of people is the management of workers. Management of people guides us about the roles and duties that a worker can perform in a project for making a project successful. It also guides management what type of staff should reserve for a specific project. How management will take advantage of skilled workers to making a project successful? (Kerzner, 2003). According Definition of Project Management by (Yamal, 2006): Project management is a series of techniques and methods that is applied to complete the project. These activities, techniques, and methods include planning, estimates of cost and resources, and work activities for getting the required results. Excellent planning and up to date management is very important part of Governmental Infrastructure projects. So the planning for Government Infrastructure projects comprise a sequence of goals and restrictions for instance fewer time frames for the completion of project. With the help of suitable technology and well plans, the management of infrastructure projects can be improved (Yamal, 2006). Learnetdesigns e-learning multimedia project College has aim to provide the virtual learning environment called ‘learnetboard’ to its students here the aim of the new technology incorporation in to College’s old learning style is to enhance the students Learning capabilities and provide then required educational material at any time and place. 1 First of all I will explain the legal and creative factors for Learnetdesigns e-learning project managing a multimedia project. I will explain the legality of the project. Why we need to create and precede this project? What will be advantages that can be gained from this new technology incorporation with the old style of learning? I will explain all those factors and advantages that support these new e-learning styles. Children are unable to transfer what they learn in classrooms to real-life situations, and conversely, often do not bring the practical solution strategies they use outside of school into the math classroom. Part of the problem can be attributed to predominant, long-standing traditional developments in teaching. Traditionally, teachers have been dispensers of knowledge, who tell students what they need to know so they can find the exact answer. Instructional concepts often are broken down into procedural steps, stripped of superfluous complexities, and practiced through rote drill-and-practice activities. Within this learning atmosphere, students are encouraged to work autonomously on practice activities designed to help each student realize mastery of the predefined concepts, information, or procedures. Learning is measured by the successful completion of a test. Unfortunately, understanding where this learning fits into everyday life is generally not part of the practice activities or test. A closer look reveals that the activities students typically engage in during mathematics lessons lack context do not reflect situations children actually encounter, and are tightly linked to procedural explanation processes. The truth that students cannot shift procedural information learned in school to other situations concerns advocates of educational reform (Finney et al, 2002). In this report, we utilize a multimedia system called Learnetdesigns e-learning multimedia Framework to provide the exemplary practices. Rather than providing a single practice. The classes were developed under the metaphor of visiting a classroom. Thus, the notion is that teachers can observe an entire class, not just decontextualized vignettes. Furthermore, an acceptable method is not provided; rather, we present three perspectives on each class-these perspectives comment on the moment-by-moment activities and are on hand at the same time as the teacher is visiting the class. Thus, our goal is to present models and perspectives to maintain the teacher's inquiry process, thereby avoiding the dilemma of providing methods in a constructivist in-service development. Learnetdesigns e-learning multimedia project provides distributed learning and mutual learning apply computer and communication technologies to allow students and instructors to take part in learning activities anytime and anywhere. While distributed learning provides an environment where resources can be shared and dispersed students may participate in learning, collaborative learning puts more emphasis on providing a shared workplace for students to interact and learn through assistance. Both types of learning technologies offer a complementary display place not only for traditional students to conduct additional learning activities out of the classroom, but also for working adults or other no regular students to learn according to their own schedules.2 Distance learning provides not only handiness to the students in terms of time and space, but also efficiency to the educators, supporting more students, timely updates of contents, and online assessments. However, sociological and educational considerations, such as meeting in person, threats from the experienced professor, the thought of people-centric learning, and efficient assessment, are leading us to rethink distance education. The study of the no significant difference phenomenon indicates that distance learning can accomplish a similar education routine as traditional education. In this section I will try to elaborate the managerial prospect of this Learnetdesigns e-learning multimedia project. Here we have to provide the multimedia support for the following given educational areas: Here before discussing the management prospect of this project I will provide a little introduction about it. In above sections I have completely defined its whole purpose and Introduction. It is enhancement of existing e-learning ‘Learnet College’s intranet. Here we have to manage all the factors for the successful completion of this project. Below I will discuss one by one: First we have to completely study the whole project, we have to look at what needs to be done in the early stages as you consider whether a project is feasible and, if so, what broad outline shape our e-learning project should take. These actions will be able to assume to cover up such normally known ‘life cycle’ basics as ‘feasibility’, ‘conceptualization’ and ‘initiation’. It provides a frame work for the project to the point at which we have started to consider the detailed structure and planning for how our project will look and be delivered. Next we study its Project feasibility: from time to time as an early part of a project and sometimes previous to the project begins, we have to take a feasibility study of the e-learning project. Here we check if the overall aims that we have can be implementable. In other words we will find out that the problems that can be hurdle for us have here we also have to plane to resolve them.3 Then we will define the main goals, means what will our project do, or which type of advantages we can have from it. Like take a look at the main goals of our e- learning site: The e-learning multimedia project after completion will be imbedded to the intranet of the Learnetdesigns, here it will provide: Information regarding e-learning Examples, lectures and quizzes to reinforce learning Access to further information about e-learning e.g. e-learning books, references Project objectives: Here we will state the main objectives that are very important to the achievement of our e-learning project because they provide course and motivation. By this we are able to make detailed planning of main concerns that are possible. Like our main priorities are to facilitate the students and teacher to enhance there learning capabilities and provide them an easy and effective access to knowledge. Then we have to state the environmental and organizational factors for this e-learning project. Here we have to keep in mind that our project does not exist in isolation. We have to manage an environment that can external as well as internal. Then we also have tackled all issues regarding these factors. Example of this can be: we have to hire the software development team for our project implementation, and then we have to manage and regularize the team’s matters and working. One of the main concern and basic motive behind any project is its Cost/benefit analysis (Finney et al, 2002). Here we have to do a deep study, if our purposed project would be able to provide us such things that can enhance the collage reputation, its educational style and method, students and teachers learning capabilities and lot more other factors. This analysis will guide us to the right way for the successful completion of the e-learning project. It will be essential to assume a review of the likely costs concerned in a project to explore the alternatives and select the most cost effective of these (Boddy, 2002). One method for doing this is discounted cash flow that is also known as DCF to calculate the net present value or the NPV (Najjar, 2000). Here in this section I will suggest the main Key stakeholders regarding this project .Projects engage many people who have a ‘stake’ in the conclusion of the project (Boddy, 2002). In our project we have decided this, because it will help us to design and manage the new project. We have designed the interface, materials, educational data and other things on the site. Before putting and designing such things we need to know about our stakeholders. We have students and teachers of collage, who are the main stakeholders. But any distant learner is also able to get advantages from our site. Its lessons include seminars and lectures and distance learning modules like a most universities. Any new enrollment can also have interaction with the site. So we have kept in mind while designing this all because these people directly involved in the project. Then we have addressed the main risks and main limitations. Such that remote connectivity mobile devices issues, here guidelines can be considered from a few perspectives, a number of important issues discussed User interface design: In addition, interactions should be consistent and simple, for example, by assigning each button to a fixed function consistently. Scrollbars should be avoided (Finney et al, 2002). Limited media selection: If video is used, a fitting resolution and format should be selected. The size and details of a picture or drawing should be decipherable. Similarly, the amount of words used on a screen or a page should be limited (Finney et al, 2002). Performance and hardware: The resolution of video or image preferred should meet the concert of hardware and communication channels. In the extreme case, the sequence of navigation should be considered with the caching strategy of a mobile device, so as to guarantee both performance and QoS (Finney et al, 2002). The above guidelines are considered from the technology perspective. Pedagogical issues should be further investigated to ensure the usability of contents. Now I will discuss the business factors regarding this project. I will discuss the main business issues and guidelines regarding the business factors. Designer must rapidly explore, compare, and communicate numerous behavioral design ideas early in the design process. Unlike hypermedia, web, and user interface design, multimedia design focuses on creating a unique user experience through the coherent use of attractive content, engaging interaction, and time based information display. To gain a better understanding of the imaginative multimedia design process and the challenges a designer faces when confronted with a this new e-learning project regarding business point of view, we have to keep in mind the following things: 4 Here we have to choose a better and business market related tools for Sketching Early Design Ideas: Regardless of the domain, a designer almost always sketches her initial design ideas on paper rather than using a computerized design tool. A paper sketch can be made quickly (unimpeded), is portable, and allows a designer to be ambiguous, imprecise, and vague (Finney et al, 2002). On the other hand, a paper sketch does not support modeling, simulation, or automated critiquing of the sketch, all of which a computerized tool can support. To combine the advantages of paper with the advantages of a computerized tool, an electronic sketching tool interprets a designer’s ink strokes in order to build a semantic representation of the sketch. Using this semantic representation as input, a variety of rules and computation can then be applied. Electronic sketching tools have been built for user interface and e-learning web site design. Next we have to plan the better and efficient implementation of our e-learning project, where we have to put the plan into a working site. Here we have to keep in mind, the better management of resources.5 At the end we have to plan the successful completion of this project that includes a cost benefit analysis, and site implementation testing activities. It is part of business planning to prefer a superior and business market related tools for Multimedia Design (Finney et al, 2002). To offer design advice to a multimedia designer, built a design tool with an embedded critic for reporting attention focus conflicts within a multimedia application. Because the tool was designed specifically for awareness focus, a designer cannot make use of it to explore other dimensions of the multimedia design space such as spatial layout or interaction. However, an attention focus critic may be an important addition to our design tool. Anecdote, and its successor MediaDesc, are multimedia design tools providing some support for the early exploration of a design idea. These tools prop up the premature design process by enabling a designer to produce a collection of annotated storyboards and then connect them with navigational links or sequence them in time. The tools also support several views of a design as well as an outline, timeline, scene, link, cast, and play view. Through these synchronized views, a designer can explore design alternatives at different levels of abstraction (Finney et al, 2002). Then we also have select appropriate tools for Multimedia Authoring: A multimedia authoring tool facilitates the accomplishment of an application by providing abstractions for illustration and of time outline, media playback, and user interaction. Examples of authoring tools include HyperCard, Director, Author ware, and Grins. Although an authoring tool offers a designer communicative power and elasticity, the associated programming language or metaphor is often too not easy to learn and make use of, overly focused on building a final form application, and constraining in that it forces a designer to design within that language or metaphor (Najjar, 2000). These limitations were confirmed in the surveys and interviews we carried out. Furthermore, the reported limitations of using an authoring tool early in the multimedia design process are consistent with the reported limitations of using a user interface prototyping tool such as Visual Basic early in the user interface design process. These tools are design tool, not a prototyping tool. These tools are targeted for the premature period of multimedia design, when a designer’s ideas are still irregular and evolving. These tools enable a designer to rapidly explore the behavioral dimensions of the design space early in the design process. Once an acceptable design emerges, then a prototype of that design can be built, if desired (Najjar, 2000). Here we have to keep in mind regarding using a Synchronization Model as a Design Tool, because it is the basic need of effective business issue handling. A synchronization model is a formal technique for specifying the temporal relationships among media objects within a multimedia application as well as the effects of user interaction on those relationships (Najjar, 2000). Although a synchronization model is appropriate for the arrangement of a multimedia application, it is inappropriate for the design of a multimedia application. Synchronization models provide inadequate hold up for modeling innovative user interaction, which is required for an innovative multimedia application. Also, in order for a specification to be executable, it must be both precise and complete. However, early in the design process, a designer needs to be ambiguous, imprecise, and vague. From our previous research in multimedia synchronization, we learned that solving the problem of synchronization specification is different from solving the problem of more effective application design (Finney et al, 2002). Conclusion In this report I have provided the main steps for the effective multimedia project management. I have also discussed the main issues and concerns regarding the implementation of our e-learning project. I have discussed business, implementation, feasibility, planning, several other project planning and implementation. We have to concentrate on the main concerns regarding the project risks so that the effective completion of the project can be obtained. References 1. Finney, A. & England, E. (2002). Managing Multimedia Project Management for Web and Convergent Media. Addison-Wesley. 2. Boddy, D. (2002). managing projects: Building and leading the team. Prentice Hall. 3. Burke, R. (1999). Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques. Wiley. 4. kwysocki, (1997). Effective Project Management. McGRAW Hill. 5. Kerzner, Harold. (2003). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 8th Ed., Wiley 6. Chamoun, Yamal. (2006). Professional Project Management, The Guide, 1st.Edition, Monterrey, NL MEXICO: McGraw Hill. 7. Najjar, L.J., (2000). Multimedia Information and Learning. J. Educ.Multimedia and Hypermedia, 5, 129- 150. Read More