Brandon Smith Connor Joseph Frank Bodi V261 excel project Brandon Smith Connor Joseph Frank Bodi

Problem Statement UITS IT Training recently had its staffing reduced significantly (from 13 full-time staff to 4) which has created a significant reduction in training services offered. Our job was to determine how to allocate $300,000 of additional funding by analyzing relevant survey data

What is currently offered? Develops and delivers the self-paced Canvas courses you have experienced on core technologies (Excel, Access, Web Development and Desktop Publishing). These are available to IU students, faculty and staff statewide to use for self-paced learning. Delivers live short workshops on these topics to academic classes at the request of faculty. Resells access to vended video-based learning services from Pluralsight and Skillsoft to IU students, faculty and staff at a discounted price (~$100/year).

What do the respondents want? After reviewing the survey data, it is clear that the respondents favor video-based training as well as instructor led training. Text based training is of little to no value in a direct comparison.

What do the respondents want? Many respondents also feel that instructor-led classroom training is very helpful. One piece of data to note was that the ability to ask the instructor a question in person is crucial. Reason for preferring instructor-led classroom training

How should the funding be allocated? After reviewing the data, it became clear to us that the $300K should be used to purchase a new Lynda.com license for $225K. Respondents favor online, self-paced learning, and providing Lynda services to those in the IU community free of charge is the best course of action. Reason for preferring self-paced video training The ability for users to, work through online self- paced lessons, to work at their own personal speed, is clearly unrivaled.

How should the funding be allocated? Additionally, we decided to hire another full time staff member for $75k/year, increasing the full time staff from 4 to 5. We did this because classroom training is still valuable and can provide a more personal learning experience.

What topics should IT Training be offering for free? Seeing as our plan will provide Lynda.com services free of charge to everyone in the IU community, we don’t believe that any other major services should be provided free of charge.

How many regularly scheduled training sessions should IT Training offer per year? Before the additional $300K, the team could provide 120 specifically scheduled workshops to students. The additional full time staff member we decided to employ will dedicate some of their time towards increasing the number of workshops. Online workshops are valuable according to the survey data, as many people enjoy the convenience of learning from home.

How should those be distribute between online workshops, classroom based workshops and webinars? We believe that the team should evenly split the resources to produce an equal amount of new workshops and classroom based workshops. A large amount of survey respondents value, for example, the ability to learn in a hands on environment with the help of an instructor. Online based workshops are also very helpful, so they should both be addressed.

What is the ideal length for these various instructor-led training sessions? Time Online instructor-led Classroom instructor-led 1 to 2 hours 130 210 2.5 to 3.5 hours 30 85 30 minutes or less 215 29 4 hours to 1 day 11 52 45 to 60 minutes 320 270 75 to 90 minutes 116 162 Multiple Days 34 The optimal time for all of these workshops, both online and in the classroom, is about 60 minutes. The data to the right illustrates how the survey respondents felt about the length of the instruction. It’s clear that some would enjoy a shorter, 30 minute workshop, though we believe this is too short of a time frame for instruction.

How will the program best meet the needs of the entire statewide Indiana University community? Our plan will specifically benefit the entire IU community, including all its satellite campuses, due to our investment in Lynda.com lessons. Seeing as the lessons are online, any IU student on any campus will have easy access to this form of instruction. The online workshops that the staff will create will also be able to be utilized by the entire IU community.