Introduction
After careful evaluation of the current Research Administration Management at Dornsife Business Office (RAM @ Dornsife) pilot training program curriculum, the lead research administrator and facilitator determined that the program would benefit from the addition of a particularly important course: Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation Course.
- This course will prepare research administrators how to create a comprehensive account report for their respective faculty with research in consideration of key concepts, processes, and procedures.
- This course will outline the most effective way to prepare different level Account Summary Reports for faculty review and reconciliation.
- Given that this course will be accessed by research administrators at Dornsife, this course is designed based on specific learner characteristics, course objectives, and Dornsife Business Office expectations.
- The addition of a course on Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation utilizes a flipped instruction approach, requiring the use of virtual space (Trojan Learn) for the initial asynchronous portion and physical learning environment for the synchronous portion.
Instructional Needs Assessment
Insights from careful review of the curriculum with the Associate Director of Post Award Research revealed the program would benefit from the inclusion of this course on Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation not seen within the RAM pilot training program.
- Providing Opportunities for Practice and Collaboration. According to the lead research administrator and facilitator, research administrators taking any module from this curriculum are not given opportunities to practice and transfer knowledge gained and collaborate amongst their peers so they can apply the skills learned on the job. Rather, too much time is focused on building upon factual and conceptual prior knowledge and assumed to have met expectations by completing the module. Learning and motivation are enhanced when research administrators are given the opportunity to apply what they have learned.
- Promoting and Supporting Appropriate Mental Effort. After one-on-one interviews with current research administrators, the current lead research administrator and facilitator also found that they are being overloaded with on-screen information. Kirschner et al. (2009) postulate that a learner’s cognitive architecture should be a major consideration when designing instruction. Understanding that working memory capacity is limited, the design of this course aims to present information in a manner that encourages engagement and affords the research administrator the opportunity to organize information into long-term memory.
- Aiming for Success with Supporting Tools and Resources. Lead research administrator and facilitator also found that research administrators are not provided the appropriate resources for success in their role. As a result, each research administrator are left to develop extraneous types of reports. The CAR Preparation Training aims to provide materials, resources, tools, and worked examples to support uniformed and standardized approach of preparing financial reports.
- Innovation Model. The innovation model, is an appropriate choice for the creation of this course because the current RAM @ Dornsife Pilot Training Program falls short in offering such a course to better-prepare and equip their research administrators who are expected to perform at high levels and meet organizational goals. As Smith and Ragan (2008) explain, the innovation model helps address any gaps and “determines whether new learning goals should be added to the curriculum” (p. 45). As a result of identifying the need for a new course on what could be described as a crucial component and responsibility of a research administrator, the innovation model supports the mission of USC Dornsife Business Office as a commitment to their stakeholders.
Context of the Problem
Under a newly formed leadership administration, Dornsife Business Office (DBO) strives to enhance its practices to better serve their stakeholders.
The RAM @ Dornsife pilot training program is designed for the DBO that seeks to better equip research administrators by creating the conditions for optimal customer service and matched performance to high caliber research. The pilot program has identified eighteen topics critical for day-to-day operations and management of grants and have been designed as modules. Like all other modules at DBO PAR Office through the RAM @ Dornsife pilot training program, the CAR Preparation Training strives to comply with the DBO’s mission in order to provide optimal customer service to stakeholders and remain in compliance with federal and non-federal guidelines set forth by sponsoring agencies. The CAR Preparation Training aims to provide research administrators an opportunity to participate in internal professional development by offering the course through virtual space with high consideration of Universal Design of Instruction principles. (Courey et al, 2013).
- Dornsife Business Office. The design and development of the Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation Training takes place within the context of the USC DBO Post Award Research Office. DBO’s mission is to provide centralized financial and business support for over 75 departments. Leading institutional research at USC, the DBO supports over 500 highly distinguished faculty and students. It is the caliber of research, distinguished students, and faculty that makes the faculty and students with research USC DBO’s stakeholders. It is the responsibility of the research administrator assigned to a department to assist in facilitating the management of grants these faculty bring to the institution (Dornsife Business Office, 2019, para 1).
- DBO, Post Award Research Office (PAR Office). The DBO is responsible for providing Budget/Finance, Accounts Payable, Research, Accounting/Reconciliation support for thousands of accounts encompassing unrestricted, gift, endowment, agency, and sponsored research funds managing an annual sponsored research budget of $292.2 million.
- Distinguished Faculty, Students with Research, and Research Administrators. Faculty and students with research benefit from well versed research administrators. Hamilton (2012) identifies the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) keeps up with trends, changes and opportunities for research administration management by revising the Circulars in response to the ever changing and demanding development of research. Therefore, research administrators would benefit from taking this course. In turn, faculty and students with research are relieved from the administrative duties and are able to focus the majority of their attention in the actual research.
The RAM @ Dornsife pilot training program is designed for the DBO that seeks to better equip research administrators by creating the conditions for optimal customer service and matched performance to high caliber research. The pilot program has identified eighteen topics critical for day-to-day operations and management of grants and have been designed as modules. Like all other modules at DBO PAR Office through the RAM @ Dornsife pilot training program, the CAR Preparation Training strives to comply with the DBO’s mission in order to provide optimal customer service to stakeholders and remain in compliance with federal and non-federal guidelines set forth by sponsoring agencies. The CAR Preparation Training aims to provide research administrators an opportunity to participate in internal professional development by offering the course through virtual space with high consideration of Universal Design of Instruction principles. (Courey et al, 2013).
Learner Characteristics
Adult learners, the research administrator, in the Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation training are proficient in reading and are able to critically analyze as they review contracts and agreements in their role, are proficient in problem-solving, knowledge comprehension, communication, and provide stellar customer service to stakeholders.
Cognitive Characteristics
Motivation
Social Characteristics
It is the goal of each adult learner to become proficient in this area of their expertise and be able to confidently problem-solve on their own in the future. Currently, research administration roles are inherently autonomous in nature due to the variety of tasks that may be requested to perform--no one day is similar to another in research administration. However, with these set internal business office expectations and quarterly or even monthly requests, the adult learner may find it beneficial to embark on an online module at their own pace, given their high workload and level of autonomy in their current positions.
Potential issues with power, equity, and inclusion. Adult learner demographics such as gender, ethnicity, race, age, disability are taken into account when designing and implementing instruction. It is important that the instruction seek to treat all adult learners fairly while recognizing that students experience school or continuing education differently with regards to age and technological differences (e.g. digital native compared to digital immigrants). Given that younger adults are expected to navigate through this instruction faster and more easily than older adults, a self-paced module will deliberately disseminate instructions while being mindful of the social inequalities that may exist within the demographics we cater to. Furthermore, this self-pacing also supports learners with low self-efficacy with online learning. For this reason, the instructional designer will be readily available through Skype for Business should learners have any questions or concerns, as it is required by all Dornsife Business Office staff to already have their Skype for Business application on.
Cognitive Characteristics
- Developmental level. The research administrators are adults ranging from 25-55 years of age and have entered Piaget’s Formal Operational stage of cognition. In this stage, these adult learners are able to think abstractly, reason and problem solve in what Santrock (2014) refers to as peak crystallized intelligence and inductive reasoning skills.
- Ability. The majority of the adult learners have attained a Bachelor’s degree and are working or have received a Master’s degree. The learners are autonomous in that they can perform their responsibilities independently with minimal supervision while also being able to work collaboratively to execute certain projects and tasks. Although these adult learners demonstrate varying levels of computer and software skills, all are proficient at operating the basic components required to know in these roles. This includes knowing how to turn on a computer, using Windows Office Suites including Outlook, searching the web for any grant solicitations, and viewing any pre-recorded modules, webinars, and manage online meetings.
- Prior knowledge. Assessing research administrators’ prior knowledge is important to ensure the content will be germane for the development of their professional growth. At the beginning of the module, the adult learners’ anticipated level of prior knowledge will be moderate to high within the context of having moderate knowledge about sponsoring agency cap rates and limitations, to high knowledge of sponsoring agency cap rates and limitations relevant to this task. For example, the adult learners are expected to know that the current NIH Salary Cap Rate is $192,300, current Federal Fringe Benefit Rate is 32%, current indirect cost rate is 65%, and knowledge of their respective faculty’s grant portfolio including their current institutionally-based salary. These levels of anticipated prior knowledge will prove beneficial to reaching all learning objectives.
Motivation
- Self-efficacy. Confidence in the ability of performing a specific task is an important affective characteristic the learners must possess in this industry. Self-efficacy is expected to be higher among the younger adult learners compared to the older adults because of their strong ability to navigate through the online systems. However, older adult learners are expected to have high efficacy in their ability to retrieve facts more quickly compared to younger adult learners. It is important to the adult learner to increase their confidence level in their ability to navigate through an online system and increase their confidence in ability to tackle preparing and completing what could be a complex Comprehensive Account Summary Report, depending on principal investigator portfolio. Also, it is important to increase younger adults’ self-efficacy in their ability to recall important factual information (e.g NIH Cap Rates). It is for this reason that the module is designed to support the growth of self-efficacy in mastering this subject area for all adults working at Dornsife Business Office. Motivated to engage in the task, this current characteristic will prove beneficial to reaching the motivational learning objective.
- Value. Currently, learners differ in the level of value over this task. The discrepancy is that they do not have effective resources and guided worked examples to support the benefit of actually using something to achieve their goal. It is important that the adult learners find the utility value in order to achieve one of the learning objectives. Being able to utilize the materials and resources is important and will prove beneficial to the professional growth of the adult learners.
Social Characteristics
It is the goal of each adult learner to become proficient in this area of their expertise and be able to confidently problem-solve on their own in the future. Currently, research administration roles are inherently autonomous in nature due to the variety of tasks that may be requested to perform--no one day is similar to another in research administration. However, with these set internal business office expectations and quarterly or even monthly requests, the adult learner may find it beneficial to embark on an online module at their own pace, given their high workload and level of autonomy in their current positions.
Potential issues with power, equity, and inclusion. Adult learner demographics such as gender, ethnicity, race, age, disability are taken into account when designing and implementing instruction. It is important that the instruction seek to treat all adult learners fairly while recognizing that students experience school or continuing education differently with regards to age and technological differences (e.g. digital native compared to digital immigrants). Given that younger adults are expected to navigate through this instruction faster and more easily than older adults, a self-paced module will deliberately disseminate instructions while being mindful of the social inequalities that may exist within the demographics we cater to. Furthermore, this self-pacing also supports learners with low self-efficacy with online learning. For this reason, the instructional designer will be readily available through Skype for Business should learners have any questions or concerns, as it is required by all Dornsife Business Office staff to already have their Skype for Business application on.
Description of the Learning Environment
This section will discuss the available resources of the learning environment as well as the objectives and typologies conducive for the design of the Comprehensive Account Summary Report Preparation training for research administrators at USC Dornsife Business Office. The learning environment’s main objective is to accommodate as many research administrators as possible and promote peer-to-peer collaboration for far transfer in order to maximize opportunity for the learner to meet the learning objectives.
Due to the nature of the learning environment, the typologies associated with the learning environment are: formal asynchronous portion; informal synchronous portion; closed to members only; asynchronous non-adaptive; synchronous adaptive; asynchronous individual; and synchronous cooperative and collaborative.
Due to the nature of the learning environment, the typologies associated with the learning environment are: formal asynchronous portion; informal synchronous portion; closed to members only; asynchronous non-adaptive; synchronous adaptive; asynchronous individual; and synchronous cooperative and collaborative.
- The blend between virtual and physical spaces will be dictated by the flipped instruction approach of delivering the Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation module asynchronously through Trojan Learn, virtual space, followed by a synchronous in-person and virtual workshop to collaboratively work through a faded worked example.
- The asynchronous module portion will be made available through Trojan Learn and will be required to be completed before attending the synchronous portion and aimed at providing the declarative knowledge required to proceed in the synchronous workshop and complete the entire learning experience.
- The asynchronous module will be cognizant of the learner and be available with closed captioning, ready-to-download transcripts following completion of the module, standardized operating procedure (SOP) document, a worked example, and a faded worked example.
- The learning environment for the synchronous workshop is primarily a physical space. The majority of the learners are on-campus; however, there are learners that work remotely. This portion of the learning experience is non-formal and closed to members of Dornsife Business Office. The task of knowing how to construct and complete a Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) for multi-million dollar grant portfolios inherently makes this task high-stakes; however, the synchronous portion will be conducted in a low-stakes setting so as to remove negative effects towards the task and promote collaboration for best-practices.
- To accommodate the remote workers, the synchronous workshop's physical learning environment will be equipped with a tools and technology such as projector, screen, speakers, and web cameras for showing any PowerPoint presentations, videos, or other visuals to both the in-person and distant learner.
- When it is time to break out into groups, the in-person attendees will remain in their tables and work as a group through the faded worked examples, while the distant learners are sent into virtual breakout room through Zoom and assigned a designated facilitator. Depending on the number of distant learners in attendance, this synchronous portion will be adaptive; however, parts will be non-adaptive and facilitated in a standard fashion so as to remain on-time and on schedule.
- Each learner will be encouraged to bring their designated laptops. For those that do not bring their laptops, they will be paired with a research administrator that did and follow along.
- The learning environment will be a conference room with a seating arrangement that promotes cooperation and collaboration. The Faculty Hall at Doheny Library floor plan promotes this initiative by having squared tables that seat four individuals and equipped with outlets in the center of the table.
Design of the Learning Environment
The design decisions will help to ensure that the environment, both asynchronous and synchronous portion, support learners in meeting the overall learning outcomes.
Limitations
- Lombardozzi (2015) describes the collection of conducive components to provide resources, human interaction, formal learning events, strategies to build development, and opportunity for experiential practice.
- After completion of the asynchronous portion, the Faculty Hall at Doheny Library floor plan is equipped with squared tables to accommodate 4 learners, so that they can collaborate during the strategic breakout point of the workshop.
- The space between the tables, as well as the table themselves, are wide enough to support any learner with a mobility equipment or devices. All tables are positioned so as to direct attention to the screen and facilitator at the front of the room.
- This human-centered approach to designing a learning common is described by Oblinger (2006) to provide the learner an opportunity to apply information in productive and collaborative ways so as to strengthen learning as well as allow the learner to construct strategic knowledge effectively tapping into higher order cognition and far transfer.
- Oblinger (2006) posits that adaptable spaces support learners, intended activities, and possibility for change. The Faculty Hall at Doheny Library provides is set up to be flexible, provides adequate space, is equipped with welcoming and familiar attributes, allows the learner to take ownership to support their needs, is set up to have a focal point but flexible enough to promote socialization during breakout, supports remote collaboration, technology tools to support the interactivity, and provides access to power and data (Oblinger, 2006).
- As aforementioned, materials and resources will be provided during the asynchronous portion. They will be placed in the asynchronous portion to allow learners to become familiar with the worked example and faded worked example and attend the synchronous workshop anticipating to collaborate on a familiar task. Faded worked examples, although supplantive in that the first couple steps are completed, is a generative approach that promotes far transfer (Mayer & Clark, 2011).
Limitations
- Doheny Memorial Library’s Faculty Hall, although redesigned to be accessible for any learner with mobility demands, may pose a limitation. Instructions to entering the library and reach the floor where the Faculty Hall is located will have to be given and made clear ahead of time instructing learners to enter the library from the back end, take an elevator and guide them to the room at the southwest end of the library.
Connection to Academic Pillars
The University of Southern California’s (USC) Rossier School of Education has four academic pillars that illustrate the commitment to its Rossier student community. This section will discuss how the design of the learning environment for the Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation module and workshop connect with the pillars of Learning, Diversity, Accountability, and Leadership.
- Connections to Leadership. In order to capitalize on the benefits of the learning environment, careful consideration will be taken to provide research administrators with the ability to build collegial relationships during the synchronous workshop as well as facilitate managing information and resources (CAST, 2018). Leadership will be difficult to gauge during the asynchronous module; however, with the proper pre-training materials, resources, and faded worked examples, learners will be well equipped to participate and demonstrate their leadership skills when collaborating to complete the faded worked example. If I had greater access to research administrators’ time, learners would benefit from a longer open-ended discussion about what they learned, how they applied what they learned, what they would recommend to others to do differently, and share how their respective faculty member with research like their CARs to look. In sharing strategies, learners would have demonstrated the goal-directed capabilities and skills conducive to succeeding in the course. Alas, the last ten minutes of the synchronous workshop, along with the materials and resources, will aim to achieve that.
- Connections to Learning. The learning environment for the asynchronous module and the synchronous workshop for the Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation course considers many of the issues associated with a diverse group of learners. Research administrators differ in varying levels of knowledge, experience, age, and other identities. Therefore, it is important to design the environment in a learner-centric perspective that is also contextually responsive to individual differences. For this reason, the learning environment promotes learning by helping learners of varying backgrounds to connect relevant knowledge from the module and workshop while taking into consideration the potential lack of prerequisite technological knowledge and skills. The pre-assessment survey will ask a question that denote the limitations and lack of familiarity to Trojan Learn, the learning management system used to launch the asynchronous module. Depending on the respondents’ answers, pre-training materials, resources, and support will be provided to those who require added support germane to their performance before embarking on the module. The synchronous workshop will build research administrators’ confidence in ability to complete the course as well as the value for the subject area itself. Moreover, peer-to-peer collaboration promotes learning by enhancing the probability of transfer.
- Connections to Accountability. The overall goal of the Comprehensive Account Report (CAR) Preparation module and workshop is for research administrators to take initiative to implement what they learned from the module and workshop and apply it on the job. Towards the end of the synchronous workshop, ten minutes will be dedicated for a brief summative evaluation via open-ended discussion asking learners “how they will use pre-training materials, worked examples, and what they have learned and apply it in their own context.” As each learner takes accountability of their own performance in the course, they will also be given opportunities to share with their peers through collaboration other strategies they find useful when preparing a CAR. The collaborative environment in the closing, synchronous workshop will help to improve the outcomes for all research administrators.
- Connections to Diversity. As aforementioned, the learning environment is designed for the range of people who comprise the demographic of research administrators at Dornsife Business Office. A potential issue as it relates to equity is some learners may not come with the benefit of knowing how to navigate through learning management systems. To mitigate any limitations or issues of equity and power, the learning environment was designed to provide learners with the support before, during, and after instruction. Trojan Learn is a USC-wide learning management system, however, support will be available for learners before embarking on the module for any technological support, during the module should they have any questions as it pertains to the content, and after to foster the relationships built during the workshop. The Universal Design for Learning posits that issues of equity, power, and inclusion are limited when learners have been given the proper tools and resources to engage and participate (CAST, 2018). It is for this reason, as Towle and Halm (2005) suggest, that activities will be structured with choices for learners whenever possible, but guided towards achieving learning goals.
References
