To this point I had not heard mention of Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenarios (RILS) or in my professional educational and training career. The idea of developing lesson plans and sharing what has been learned through the implementation of said lessons, was unheard-of. Personally, the exposure to RILS in conjunction with an introduction to Educator Studio has initiated a new interest in curriculum development and implementation.
Through my first experience with the RILS process I have learned a few things, both about myself and the potential learners I will encounter in the future.
I have high expectations for learners with regards to technological knowledge; I must lower these expectations in order to elevate the level of student participation in this and subsequent lessons.
The content of a lesson isn’t nearly as important as a student’s ability to communicate their needs to the instructor; students appreciated being able to contact me directly with questions both technical and non-technical in nature.
(from Microsoft Word)
Students are often harder on themselves when they believe they have failed to complete the task. Constant reinforcement helped individuals to see past phantom obstacles they’d set for themselves.
With this RILS in particular, I was very happy with the outcome. Students realized that they could use both the tool/technology and the RILS procedure in other aspects of their lives. A popular thought was that LiveBinders could substitute for many of the Apps they had downloaded (or wanted) to their smartphones. We all agreed that the lesson itself was easy to manipulate to address any number of audiences.
If I could go back in time to re-implement this RILS, I would have learners share their LiveBinders with peers/colleagues to gather feedback about the usefulness of the tool and assess their ability to apply what they’d learned from this lesson.
Brief Overview: The purpose of this Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario (RILS) is to introduce a simple method for organization to professionals that manage multiple job tasks. By implementing the following into the learner’s environment the instructor will provide students with the means to multitask and complete projects from any location utilizing a single tool.
Target Audience – The target audience for this RILS scenario are mid-level adult professionals who supervise at least one other employee and who either manage more than one project or perform multiple job functions.
• The learners in this group are between the ages of 22 and 62.
• Learners expressed a need to organize their multiple job responsibilities but also wanted to minimize the number of devices/tools necessary to accomplish their goals.
• The learners already possess various levels of technological knowledge but it is clear that ease of use is a requisite for the group as a whole. They would not have much time for learning radically new techniques or skills.
• This RILS scenario will provide each learner with a personalized experience that they will be able to build on and utilize on a daily basis. The processes covered in this RILS will help learners manage future tasks both personal and professional in nature. Learners will develop time management and organizational skills that will increase their understanding of focusing on individual tasks rather than entire projects which will in turn reduce confusion and stress in the workplace.
Materials – Each student will need the following:
• Computer with Internet access
• Personal email address to register for LiveBinders.com and communicate with instructor and peers
• A personalized list of job responsibilities
• A personal calendar/organizer for reference on future goals and deadlines
Objectives – At the end of this scenario the learner will be able to:
• Analyze their work related duties to determine how to organize and plan for the completion of required tasks.
• Design an outline for their personalized LiveBinder.
• Create a LiveBinder using their analysis of work related tasks and their personalized outline for content material.
Procedure –
• Learners will create a list of daily tasks they are expected to complete within a 30 day timeframe
• Learners will then prioritize their lists, placing the most time consuming tasks toward the top of the list and tasks requiring less time constraints towards the bottom
• Learners will then sort tasks by required/desired due dates
• Next, learners will create an outline that describes step-by-step how to complete each task on their list
• Group members will then exchange their list with two other learners to verify steps are clear and easy to follow
• Learners will then organize these outlines according to their previously made prioritized list.
• Learners will visit LiveBinders.com to sign-up and register for a free account.
• After verifying their accounts students will receive a link to their first LiveBinder (titled Your First Binder).
• Learners will open this link and complete the tutorial.
• Once done with the tutorial, learners will add one tab for each of their work related tasks (tabs will be entered in their prioritized order according to students’ lists)
• Learners will then add sub-tabs for every step required to complete the task listed on each tab (If one task has 4 steps, then the learner will add 4 sub-tabs to that section of the binder).
• Learners will then go to the Tips and Tricks tab of their binders and follow the steps to share their binders.
• Learners will email a link to the instructor and at least 2 other non-group members showing their shared LiveBinder. In this email learners must provide their addressees with a description of LiveBinders and how they plan to use the tool in the future.
• Finally, group members will email the instructor with a brief overview of one fellow learners binder and include the link to that LiveBinder.
Emerging Technology – LiveBinders.com provides users with a means to organize tasks, projects and multimedia files in a central location without the need for external or portable storage devices.
Social Participation/Social Learning – Learners will connect with an audience of personal and professional peers by sharing their LiveBinders and learning experiences.
Making Connections –The learner will make connections with:
• Previous knowledge about organizational tools (i.e. meeting work related deadlines with the use of personal calendars) in order to create new knowledge (how to use LiveBinders to simplify professional organization and management).
• Leaner input (developing and designing outlines) will create an aspect of relevancy for the content in this RILS. Learners will come away from this RILS with a new method for organizing both personal and professional tasks and goals.
Create/Produce – The end product of this RILS will be a new virtual binder created by each learner.
Assessment – Each learner must meet the following requirements in order to demonstrate RILS objectives have been met.
1- Create a work related outline detailing task specific steps
2- Produce a virtual binder using LiveBinders.com that follows the task specific outline created by each learner.
3- Share the LiveBinder with fellow learners, the instructor and peers.
Reflection –
• Learners will email the instructor and peers to explain how they plan to use their virtual binder and what they thought about their RILS educational experience.
• The instructor will issue a survey and compile those results with learner feedback from their reports of educational experience. The instructor will then address aspects of the RILS process that require amendments or improvements.
The RILS process that I outlined for my students was easy to follow but slightly more time-consuming than I’d anticipated, but overall that steps were adequate in helping me to better understand how LiveBinders.com works.
The first three were simple but required quite a bit of detail.
Learners will create a list of daily tasks they are expected to complete within a 30 day timeframe
Learners will then prioritize their lists, placing the most time-consuming tasks toward the top of the list and tasks requiring less time constraints towards the bottom
Learners will then sort tasks by required/desired due dates
The next required that I create an outline that describes step-by-step how to complete each task; fortunately, I had a little help with the timeline I created earlier this month.
Next, I had my husband and a friend review my list of steps to determine if they were clear and easy to follow
Learners will then organize these outlines according to their previously made prioritized list.
Learners will visit LiveBinders.com to sign-up and register for a free account.
After verifying their accounts students will receive a link to their first LiveBinder (titled Your First Binder).
Learners will open this link and complete the tutorial.
Once done with the tutorial, learners will add one tab for each of their work related tasks (tabs will be entered in their prioritized order according to students’ lists)
Again, my AR Timeline aided in completing the previous steps.
Learners will then add sub-tabs for every step required to complete the task listed on each tab (If one task has 4 steps, then the learner will add 4 sub-tabs to that section of the binder).
This step was very tedious, but the end result was a well-organized outline for the next 9 months and essentially the entire EMDT program.
Learners will then go to the Tips and Tricks tab of their binders and follow the steps to share their binders.
Learners will email a link to the instructor and at least 2 other non-group members showing their shared LiveBinder. In this email learners must provide their addressees with a description of LiveBinders and how they plan to use the tool in the future.
Finally, group members will email the instructor with a brief overview of one fellow learners binder and include the link to that LiveBinder.
The final steps in my list were altered to complete this blog post.
Please visit the LiveBinders.com icon below to view my AR Capstone Binder.
Completing this RILS process for myself helped me to realize that even after the basic steps have been completed, this LiveBinder will continue to be a work in progress as life will introduce new obstacles and future project deadlines. This makes LiveBinders even more valuable as an adaptable organizational tool.
in my professional educational and training career. The idea of developing lesson plans and sharing what has been learned through the implementation of said lessons, was unheard-of. Personally, the exposure to RILS in conjunction with an introduction to Educator Studio has initiated a new interest in curriculum development and implementation.
Becoming an Expert in my Field 