Course Title
Microsoft 365 On the Move: From Your Office to Mobile and Back Again
Course Overview
This minicourse will teach learners how to use apps and file storage in Microsoft 365 to work seamlessly at the office, at home, and on mobile devices. Learners will be able to use Microsoft 365 apps online from various locations and devices, as well as to save files and share files with others for easy access from any of those locations or devices.
Knowledge Gap
The knowledge gap that this addresses is how users can store and work on or access their documents from various locations (mobile, office, home computer, etc.) by utilizing the app or online versions of Microsoft applications. Teaching how to use OneDrive to store and organize documents effectively will assist with this knowledge gap. Saving files to OneDrive will also assist learners at our university to easily share files with their coworkers within the organization.
Target Audience & Learner Profile
The learners I am targeting with this course are employees of the Dental School who have a wide range of experience and tenure, but are less technically savvy. These learners would tend to be older in general, but also could be younger in the case of newer hires who want to learn and may have less computer skills in a professional setting. These learners understand their job (or if new, are eager to learn about their job role), whether they be faculty members (professional dentists who also teach or serve other roles in the school) or staff members who assist with a wide variety of functions at the school. These learners could also be non-native English language speakers, so language and presentation need to be simple and clear. They have all used Office products as we have a Microsoft environment, so they have experience doing at least the basics of everyday tasks in Microsoft.
My course will interest these older, tech-challenged learners and younger learners with fewer computer skills.
Course Type
The type of course I will create in my minicourse will be a How-To, because it will teach specific tasks to learners (how to save and share files in OneDrive, how to access your files on various platforms, etc.). This is the best choice for my course because it will address my learners’ lack of skills in accessing Microsoft Office and their files from various locations. I will focus on a group of specific tasks that they will be able to do at the end of their training, and keep the lessons concise to instruct them on how to do these tasks in a simple way.
Course Modality
I ultimately decided to choose Asynchronous Online for my course modality. As I know that my target audience does have basic skills with Microsoft Office, I think this modality will allow more learners to try the course as they have time to complete it when it’s convenient for them. The facilitator will be available via email/phone if learners have any problems or issues with the course.
Offering the modules asynchronously online also allows learners to go at a comfortable pace – they can review or spend more time on sections that they are challenging, or quickly go through anything that they may already know.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
- Learners will be able to access Microsoft Word and Excel on their phone, work computer, and home computer.
- Learners will be able to create folders and save files in OneDrive, and access those files from their phone, work or home computer.
- Learners will be able to share files from OneDrive with other users in our organization.
Module Objectives
MLO 1 – Learners will be able to access Microsoft Office apps online via their computer and a phone or other device. (aligns with CLO 1)
MLO 2 – Learners will be able to create a new Word document in the online version of Microsoft Office from both their desktop computer and a phone or other device. (aligns with CLO 1)
MLO 3 – Learners will create several folders and upload files to them in OneDrive, and access them from their computer and a phone or other device. (aligns with CLO 2)
MLO 4 – Learners will be able to share a file that is stored in OneDrive (with appropriate permissions) with a co-worker. (aligns with CLO 3)
Learning Activities
For my minicourse, these are the tasks that will support my CLOs:
CLO # 1 – Learners will be able to access Microsoft Word and Excel on their phone, work computer, and home computer.
CLO # 2 – Learners will be able to create folders and save files in OneDrive, and access those files from their phone, work or home computer.
- While at your work computer, you will access the Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and OneDrive apps. You will create a basic file in Word and in Excel, and save each of these to your OneDrive.
- On your home computer or your phone, log into Microsoft 365 Copilot and use the online version of Word to create another new document. Type your name, the time of day, the device you are using to access it, and the browser you used. Save this file with a new name to your OneDrive folder. You will then repeat this process with Excel.
- On your home computer or your phone, log into Microsoft 365 Copilot and open OneDrive. Find and open the Word file you created on your work computer, add some additional information, and then ensure it is saving to OneDrive. You will then repeat this process with Excel.
CLO # 3 – Learners will be able to share files from OneDrive with other users in our organization.
- While at your work computer, you will access OneDrive and share your Excel file with the instructor.
- While using your home computer or phone, access OneDrive and open your Word document. From within Word, you will share your document with the instructor.
To ensure they can achieve this goal, I would use the following activities and content:
- A brief video showing the login process for Microsoft on a computer and a phone
- Step-by-step screenshots with voiceover of directions, encouraging learners to pause as they complete each step on their own.
- A link to a pdf with these screenshots and instructions in written format, to be downloaded or printed for reference.
- The activities are as described above. Sharing the document with the instructor allows them to know if a student has done it correctly or is having problems with some of the processes.
Assessment Strategies
Summative Assessment: Assignment
To show that they have mastered the procedures, the students will be required to access Office on a computer, take a screenshot of their login, and email it to me via the online version of Outlook. Then they will access Office on their phone/device, take a screenshot, and email it to me from the mobile version of Outlook. This is a real-world task that shows they have mastered the steps presented. This aligns with all the learning activities, as well as MLO 1 and CLO 1.
Formative Assessment: Quiz
To review the steps and ways to access the procedures being taught (accessing Office from a computer and via a phone/device), I will make a simple quiz with feedback on incorrect answers. This will help reinforce any areas the student hasn’t mastered by giving feedback to redirect to the correct answers. This aligns with all the learning activities, as well as MLO 1 and CLO 1.
Subject Matter Expert / Resources
Myself – I have solid experience using Microsoft Office, as well as several years of experience working with assisting users.
Campus IT resources – I work in the Dental School IT department, but the University of MD Baltimore main campus has a more robust IT department with some existing tutorials and guides on use of Microsoft and other software for faculty and staff. I can make sure my processes align with what they recommend, so we present the same procedures to all learners.
Microsoft Office support documentation online – I have a good grasp of how things work, but referring back to the official Office documentation will make sure I use the appropriate terminology and standard procedures to teach students.
Staff and faculty members – I will be able to use some others in my organization to test out activities and directions and get their feedback on my activities and resources. Actual users from the groups I am targeting will be able to give me a good insight into how my minicourse may work for its target audience.
Instructional Design Model
While several of the models we studied could be successfully applied to my minicourse, I think Understanding by Design would be the best way to approach the design. I am teaching learners how to do a specific set of tasks, so those would be the specific results I want to have learners achieve. The UBD process during this first stage also involves thinking about prerequisite knowledge needed to achieve goals and arranging information in a hierarchy from nice-to-know to essential. This organization would help me add scaffolding and differentiation for various levels of learners. For example, some learners don’t know how to log in to Microsoft 365 online, so I will need to include those steps. Other learners may be more advanced, so I could include some of the nice-to-know information in links for them to access. Those additional skills may not be assessed, but it will keep my more advanced learners involved and feeling like there is still value for them in the course.
The skills themselves spell out the Acceptable Evidence phase pretty clearly, so that will inform the planning and development of the experience, as well as the assessment. The backwards process of UBD will be a good fit to streamline my minicourse into something manageable for busy learners, but that will also ensure the goals defined in planning can be achieved by the learners.
Learning Theory
Andragogy and Cognitivism are the two learning theories that could help the design of activities for my minicourse. Many of Malcolm Knowles’ ideas and principles about adult learning are directly relevant to my minicourse. In his 5 Assumptions about adult learners, #4 stands out – Orientation to Learning – which says that adult learners want to be able to apply new knowledge or skills right away, and use them to solve a problem. Knowles’ 5 Principles of Adult Learning echo this, when he says that adult learners want problem-centered learning and are interested in subjects that are relevant to their lives (in this case, to use tools they can apply at work).
The activities I would use in this course would address Knowles’ Principles of Andragogy as follows: Principle #2 states that adults learn best by firsthand experience – practicing and completing tasks. Principle #3 states that adults want to learn skills that are immediately applicable to their life. The learning activities I designed are examples of authentic assessments, as they require completion of a real-world activity.
The format of a minicourse adheres to many of the aspects of cognitive theory. Cognitive load is reduced because the information is presented in smaller chunks. It also respects the limitations of short term and working memory because it’s in the format of three short videos, each based on one skill. Having the learner engage in tasks that utilize the knowledge they viewed (repeating the demonstrated steps to save files to OneDrive, etc.) can help encode the information into their long-term memory. Cognitive theory also addresses learning as elaboration – adding to our existing schemata (their current knowledge about Office365). The target audience is adults with at least moderate computer experience, who are already using some Office365 apps, so they have a pre-existing schemata on which to add these additional software skills.
By having several quick, short modules in the minicourse, cognitive load is respected, as the learner is not overwhelmed. Another example is having a pdf of Quick Tips that the learners can download for reference (available at the beginning of the course), so it’s available to use to follow along, or even while completing the assigned tasks. This would take the load off of their working memory, and by following the reference guide, they could focus their attention just to completing the task.
Digital Media
Resource 1 – Blank OER Checklist
Resource 2 – Digital Document (PPT)
Resource 3 – Audio File for Digital Document
Resource 4 – Flyer Advertising Course (includes course logo)
Resource 5 – Video Advertisement for Course
Resource 6 – Storyboard
Resource 7 – Screencast Video
Resource 8 – Module for Course
References
Colman, H. (2019, October 11). 6 Adult Learning Theories and How to Put Them into Practice. Your Digital Learning Expert. https://www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/adult-learning-theories
Pappas, C. (2013, May 9). The Adult Learning Theory – Andragogy – of Malcolm Knowles. ELearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/the-adult-learning-theory-andragogy-of-malcolm-knowles
The “Super Six” Principles of Andragogy: Take Your Program from Good to Great Institute for the Professional Development of Adult Educators. (n.d.). https://www.floridaipdae.org/dfiles/resources/webinars/033022/Webinar_Handbook_033022.pdf
Bates, A. W. (Tony). (2022). 2.4 Cognitivism. Pressbooks.bccampus.ca. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev3m/chapter/3-3-cognitivism/
Michela, E. (2022). Cognitivism. Education Research. https://open.byu.edu/education_research/cognitivismj
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