A Little Extra to the Ordinary
When opportunity and preparation meet, the result is the successful advancement of an idea. Another way of saying this is, adding a little extra to the ordinary yields improved results. That is exactly what happened when Asset Management and Surplus collaborated on this project. Since its inception, the FIN-CAM-101 “Asset Management and Surplus Training” is taught classroom style. Completion of the class is required in order to gain access to the Asset Management and Surplus Property modules in the Financial System. The class requires a four-hour time commitment on the part of the employee/student.
The challenges that come with a classroom offering are many: scheduling instructor time, securing conference rooms, providing laptops for the students, reaching a minimum enrollment of ten students, travel for the off-campus employees. Invariably there were conflicts. This added to the stress of those in need of completing the course. Yet, imperfect as this process was it met the needs of the campus, while generating average results.
Asset Management and Surplus knew an online course would eliminate many of the challenges. An on-line offering was a very worthwhile goal, but how do we convert the material into a format that provides system knowledge and becomes a resource for day-to-day questions? The subject matter experts–with the knowledge about the system and the desire to educate–were missing the expertise in designing an online class.
Therefore, we engaged our new Lead Instructional Designer, Maria Fister. She has the expertise in taking written material and converting it to digital media with sound, videos, and easy-to-understand text. The subject matter experts gave her the existing course material and many hours of their time. She creatively designed and edited a new resource manual, tutorials and online course content. The team collaborated to review, record and test the content that Maria developed.
Sharon Brooks, Asset Management Coordinator, and Lance Newsome, Surplus Property Coordinator, recorded impressive audio tracks that flow well with the newly developed online course. The course content is concise and provides a user-friendly resource to the novice as well as the seasoned Asset Management coordinator. Watch the welcome video here.
The project team is happy to announce that cross-departmental collaboration has paid off. When subject matter experts work together toward a common goal, the outcome is truly remarkable and sometimes Extraordinary. The online course content for FIN-CAM-101 is complete and currently being tested on campus. In addition, a newly revised ”Asset Management and Surplus Manual” and tutorials are available to assist AM Coordinators on demand.
For more information and or to sign up for the course please click here.