ED-Tech 590

Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

Scentsy Instructional Design Internship Bruce Younger August 5, 2013 Beginning April 1st 2013 I accepted an offer to participate in an internship opportunity with Scentsy, Inc. as an Instructional Designer. Scentsy, Inc. is a thriving direct sales business that employs over 1100 people in Idaho, Kentucky, Texas, and overseas in Poland. As an intern, I was instantly immersed or rather engulfed by the Scentsy culture. I was shocked on my very first week to have co-workers celebrate my birthday, but that is the Scentsy culture. That culture runs through their operations, and especially in the Learning and Development team. Theirs is a culture of trust. From the first meeting to the most recent they have included me in the planning and development process as if I were a long time member of their team rather than an intern. Now to the practical information on day one I was also handed a list of expectations and learning objectives. The internship had several objectives as listed: The primary responsibility of the Instructional Design Intern is to support the Learning and Development team by assisting with the design and development of instructional training tools. The intern will also assist in creating other instructional tools such as assessments, job aids, checklists, media, etc. As I worked on projects that were assigned to me I found that the work flow was similar to those I had learned in ED-Tech 503, such as working with the ADDIE model (Analysis Design Development Implement Evaluate) (instructionaldesign.org, 2013). The process was of course real life and not the classroom. There were areas such as time constraints, budget
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ED-Tech 590

Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

concerns and for Scentsy cultural concerns, meaning not everything fits exactly the way you want it to because there is a certain way things are done at Scentsy, and I am not saying that in a bad way. Scentsy is extremely conscientious of the culture they are building. I love the fact that they want to take extra lengths to make sure what we create as Instructional Designers fit who they have hired. One area that is really difficult to overcome is the mindset that everyone learns the same way. And it is no different here than most other workplaces, it is the prevailing mindset, and the reality is that just because I have been building a constructivist mindset I have to stick with the behavioralist learning model. As an intern I cannot pursue and implement a constructivist plan, which is that not all students have either the same interests or capabilities. I like the thought, according to Philips, who asks the question should every student pursue the same curriculum (Philips, 2009), In regard to Constructivism, the answer has to be no. But that is in the classroom, and in manufacturing unfortunately you have to produce the same learning materials, a constructivist learning model may not work well. Although not all training is developed for operations, should the future provide a full time position with Scentsy, Inc. I would hope to become more involve in other areas of training within the company. Scentsy has employees across the country and overseas, distance learning will be an avenue for adventure and development and could offer opportunities to begin implementing a constructivist plan as well as develop online training which can incorporate Transactional Distance Theory principles. Scentsy creates training that is traditionally designed as Instructor Led Training; however Scentsy has locations abroad which in the long run can create large costs, Scentsy can learn to bridges this gap by developing training that is centered special procedures offer by TDT. As Dr. GoKool-Ramdoo explains Those special procedures are Structure and Dialog which allows for learner autonomy. TDT is designed to implement structure and design in a synergy that

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ED-Tech 590

Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

creates an atmosphere where elements such as participation, interaction, social, cognitive and meta-cognitive development can strive (Gokool-Ramdoo, 2008). The initial project that I was hired for was to work with Scentsys Learning and Development team and assist in the completion of a Career Development program. My role in this project was to visit the various areas of operations and interview SMEs as well as work alongside operations employees in the shipping department picking orders and packing them, learning the manufacturing processes where they create their world famous Scentsy Scent Bars or Room Spray, also I worked in the Scentsy warehouse where all of their FGI and raw materials are stored and transferred. The learning curve was enormous, but very interesting. On one hand I am learning the Scentsy culture and on the other I am becoming an operations specialist. I feel like I know the operations processes inside and out. The information I gathered helped me to create observation checklists and assessment for employees who had the desire to move up in ranking and pay. It was very fulfilling to know that I had involvement creating materials that enabled individuals to improve their lives through the career development program. A project I was asked to manage early in the internship was the planning of Learning and Developments information booth for the companys annual Health Fair. Elements required for this project were creation of display and hand-out materials. I created a banner for Learning and Development that had a word cloud of courses that were offered through the Learning Management System as well as instructor led courses. Additionally I create activities such as a trivia game where prizes were awarded for correct answers to those visiting the booth, a word search puzzle and bookmarkers. There were also job aides that were created for employees to

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ED-Tech 590

Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

keep with them as a resource to important services that Learning and Development offered. Finally I create an activity that would lead employees to the LMS. This activity was a video contest where employees would use their mobile devices to create instructional videos teaching other employees how to perform a skill. Amongst the entrants were videos that teach you how to balance a fork and spoon with a tooth pick on the rim of a glass, how to execute the perfect cannon ball dive, and a software tutorial. I was offered two other opportunities to hone my skills as an Instructional Designer. The first opportunity, which wrapped up its first beta test on August 1st, was an Essential Skills for Trainers program. The purpose of this project is to teach lead individuals in operations how to train. In the past Scentsy has simply used those who had the most process knowledge as trainers, however many of them have not had experience as a trainer and as a result do not understand the process of training other than a way to impart knowledge. This project will equip these individuals with the basic skills to become excellent trainers. The program is behavioral focused in nature and will cover areas such as context and knowledge transfer, as well as, observation and feedback. While developing this course I created my own training mantra which became the core of the course. It is a concept that is not new to anyone and is based on Lesson Level Organizational Strategies (Smith & Ragan, p. 129), I put an emphasis on three components that I feel are the framework of training and that is, Show Help Do! those three words are the constant thread that runs through the fabric of this training course. The learning that is being created is certainly Adult Learner focused and that requires a different mindset than if I were simply creating lesson plans for secondary students as I am

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ED-Tech 590

Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

trained to do. I have to look at these learners differently and have to think back on who this learning community is comprised of, which are adults. I have been told during this experience that I need to dumb things down a bit. And I agree that maybe I am a bit zealous in what I want to design, but on the other hand, I know that if I were to take smaller steps forward this learning community can grow. As I learned when studying the foundations of learning environments I have learned that these communities evolve, and as you apply different principles you can shape and form your learning community, learning communities can evolve and grow (Jonasson & Land, p. 270). The course is designed as an instructor led program, but we are planning to make the course a web based training course as well in order to reach employees who are at off-site locations. This project is expected to grow outside of operations in its scope to meet demands in other areas of the company. For this project I created a facilitators guide, a participant guide, and a PowerPoint presentation. This course is a three hour course that has a mixture of activities, learner centered lecture, and knowledge check. Through the beta test and feedback provided through a beta debrief and course evaluation that the students completed, I learned that although the students and observers felt the content was well thought out and effective, the order of the course did not flow as well as it could have. As a result I am in the process of rearranging the content and preparing for a second beta test in the coming weeks. Finally I am working on Scentsys first Workplace Violence Awareness and Prevention course. This will be a course that will be a web based training product. This project is very different for me in that this course is more than just a job aid this course will have impact on how individuals observe each other in the coming days after the content has been delivered company

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Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

wide. The content of this course basically requires individuals to watch each other and determine whether certain behaviors warrant being discussed with leadership or not. The discussion of affect aside, this project was delivered to me as a concept, and has required several hours of research from organizations such as FEMA, the FBI, and OSHA. During this research I personally felt the effects of being immersed into the world of Workplace Violence and all the concepts that surround this topic. Through my work I found myself throwing up Red Flags, whenever I saw something in public that reflected what I was researching. A brief example of this, one weekend while helping a friend move from an apartment complex there were these two young men coming down the stairs dressed in BDUs (Battle Dress Uniforms), with military gear attached, which included items such as canisters, ammunition magazines, and what looked like AR-15 rifles strapped to their chests. My adrenaline instantly began to pump as I scanned the individuals and gathered a closer look at exactly what it was they had strapped to themselves. In my mind for that instant I felt there was a serious threat, I think my friend could feel my anxiety and told me that these kids went out every weekend to play in Airsoft games. I remember thinking why do they need to parade around in all that gear? I knew the answer before the question and that was so that they could have a reaction. They almost got one! At that point I asked myself what I would do in that situation if there were an actual threat or would I do nothing because I would be perceived as over-reacting. Because of the research and my involvement with the Workplace violence project I was feeling the effect of overstimulation. All that to say, I am taking the project very seriously, I am very excited to see it to completion. At this point I am only at an outline and concept stage. The concept that I want to run through the training is Awareness + Action = Prevention. The training will be broken down into these three areas with the added area of Response this section will deal with how employees should
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ED-Tech 590

Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

respond in the event of a Workplace Violence event. This course will be designed as an eLearning event and distributed through the companies Learning Management System. The course will deal with the four types of violence (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001) I do not think with the time I have left in this internship that I will see this project through to completion, but it is good to know that I had a hand in the development of what it will become in the end. All in all this has been a great experience, I have learned a great deal about real world Instructional Design. I have learned that things can be changed even at the very last minute, and I have learned that projects can be placed on hold because key players are human and have life experiences that can cause delays. Most of all I have learned that becoming an Instructional Designer is the right career path for me it is what I will do well with in the future.

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Bruce Younger ED-Tech 590

Bibliography
instructionaldesign.org. (2013). ADDIE Model. Retrieved August 3, 2013, from Instructional Design: http://instructionaldesign.org/models/addie.html Jonasson, D., & Land, S. (2012). Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments. New York: Routledge. Smith, P. L., & Ragan, T. J. (2005). Instructional Design 3rd Edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2001, June 14). Workplace Violence - Issues in Response. Qauntico, Virginia, United States of America. Philips, D. (2009). Philosophy of education. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Gokool-Ramdoo, S. (2008, October 2008). Beyond the Theoretical Impasse: Extending the applications of Transactional Distance Education Theory. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning., 9(3).

Appendix Career Development Checklists and Assessment creation Learning and Development Health Fair booth management Creation of a Train the Trainer program Course design, Facilitator Guide, Participant Guide, Presentation material, and Facilitation Beta test Train the Trainer Development of Workplace Violence Awareness program

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