PepsiCo Annotated Outline - Part Two -Please read instructions below

Drafting

Assignment A Short Position Paper on Business and Technology Today’s employees need to be current in their information technology skills. Given the wide range of worker preparedness and the omnipresence of technology use, training is both a necessity and a challenge. For this assignment, you will write a short paper that recommends the implementation of one trend in IT training for a specific type of business. You should support your ideas with at least two credible sources and thoroughly explain the pros—and to some extent, the cons—of the training option you choose. Questions to consider:

What are the relevant skills for the business of your choice? How do companies prepare their employees to be users of the technology pertinent to their job and the organization? Does the size of a company lead to certain choices over others?

Training options to consider:

Third party vendors. In-house training. Multimedia tutorials. Self-paced training.

While your paper should address some of the disadvantages of the training method you select, don’t write a wishy-washy piece. Your paper should have a strong thesis statement and support the training method you choose. Length: 2–4 double-spaced pages.

Instructions Click on the different parts of the learner’s work or on the numbered buttons to read expert commentary.

Drafting: Initial Rough Draft Learner Writing Sample More for less: Bitesize training

Anyone who’s ever spent hours and hours working on something—only to realize that the end product is still inadequate—knows that quantity doesn’t always equal quality when it comes to time. A lot of time can result in a horrible product, and a little time can result in a terrifict product. In the web publishing business, there is a little time to spare, as the hectic onslaught of projects and deadlines makes even the slowest day a whirlwind. At the same time, a web company presents persistent trainignc hallenges, as employees need to stay current or risk losing pace with other companies. Bite-sized training—even in increments as low as 15 minutes—can be extremely useful in helping employees at a web company stay current with technology.

In a web publishing company, there are all sorts of employyes with disntinct jobs and varying levels of technical skill. Project managers help coders, writers, image archivists, proofreaders, designers, and other professionals work together to create web pages that serve diverse customers. Though a

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proofreader obviously doesn’t require the same degree of skill as a coder, new programs and skills are frequently introduced and required. That less-savvy proofreader may need more training than the techier employers to learn the same task. Also, an image archivist will probably be a whiz with image software but possibly a novie with other types of programs. Then there are programs that everyone needs to use, such as scheduling programs or programs that log time spend on various projects.

For this type of worker, a lot of traditional methods of training are not feasible. With as many as twenty projects going on at once, no one has time to take a whole day for training, and even half a day is hard to spare. Some deadlines are weeky, others are sporadic, and many projects have a hurry-up do-it-now high-stress vibe, but then they get squashed at the last possible moment, leaving workers frustrayed. No one succeesds in this kind of business without being flexible, fast, and efficient. Training should also be flexible and designed to suit the suit the needs of employees.

Mention the other options more…like third party vebdors and in-house training. These issues are not really relevant: bite-size training isn’t about who’s doing the training—it’s about the how.

Given the multitasking, lightning fast, ten-projects-at-once atmosphere of a web publishing team, the best kind of training is bite-sized traing—and even chunks as small as 15 minutes can serve a purpose. Connect this to what? Drop it?

time they absolutely must be cut is when the paper is finished and turned in. Bite-sized training it a solution. It has been used in many different fields—perhaps the most dramatic case is promoting safety at nuclear power plants, where 20-minute electronic modules were used teach facilitate proper handling of radioactive materials (Bentley). Less dramatically, the Ford Motor Company has used 15-minute CD-Rom based modules to train employees (Stcuky, 1998) and bankers have been trained using programs that are triggered by a computer’s screensaver (Dempsey, 2001).

Find more recent sources! Integrate sources better?

Bite-sized training can exist in many settings: Bentley (2006) discusses a few of the possibilities, which are “breakfast meetings, lunctime learning events or taster sessions designed to see whether there is an appetite among employees for certain subjects.” Bite-sized training can take the form of the hippest multimedia presentation to the archaic form of a piece of paper. The key is not to overtax the dwindling attention span of workers who have 27 things to get done already. A stressed out worker won’t focus on boring training: for trainers, bordome isn’t an option.

I need to get my source in here on types of bite-sized training…then link the types to the conditions of the job as mentioned above.

How do I end this? What have I forgotten?

Expert Commentary More for less: Bitesize training Learners often forget to include a title or settle for a title that just regurgitates the assignment (like “Short Position Paper on Business and Technology”). Even in an early draft, it’s good to start thinking about titles that put your topic in a nutshell. The right title can help you focus your essay, much like your thesis statement. Hint: Use the titles in your reference list as models. Then there are programs that everyone needs to use, such as scheduling programs or programs that log time spend on various projects. Most of this paragraph comes verbatim from the second round of free-writing. Some deadlines are weeky, others are sporadic, and many projects have a hurry-up do-it-now high-stress vibe, but then they get squashed at the last possible moment, leaving workers frustrayed. You may notice that spelling errors and sentence-level problems are still being ignored by the writer: this is smart, because global issues—such as thesis, organization, and staying on topic—should be the priority at this point. Don’t spend your energy perfecting every sentence and paragraph, since not all of them will remain in the final draft. Connect this to what? Drop it? Making notes to yourself right in the middle of a draft is an effective way of making sure you don’t forget

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important issues. In-text notes to self are useful throughout the writing process: the only Less dramatically, the Ford Motor Company has used 15-minute CD-Rom based modules to train employees (Stcuky, 1998) and bankers have been trained using programs that are triggered by a computer’s screensaver (Dempsey, 2001). Since sources are now being referenced, the author has inserted in-text citations. You need to cite all information that comes from sources: If you do not, you have committed plagiarism, however inadvertently.

Notes on Initial Rough Draft:

The focused free-writing was used as the starting point of the rough draft, so many of these words and phrases should look familiar. The writer’s main purpose at this point was to develop some ideas and fill up a few pages. Like sculptors, writers need material to work with, and now the writer has 640 words to shape, cut, revise, and develop.

This is still what some writers call the unpresentable draft—it’s very rough and in flux. After one more draft, the writer will probably be ready to share his work with others and get some feedback.

Drafting: Second Draft Learner’s Writing Sample

Bite-size training: Less is more for a web publishing company

Anyone who’s ever spent hours and hours working on something—only to realize that the end product is still inadequate—knows that quantity doesn’t always equal quality when it comes to time. NFL coaches are notorious for sleeping in their office and working round the clock, yet many get fired every year, while non-workaholic golfing fanatics/coaches like Steve Spurrier are hugely successful (at least on the college level). In the web publishing business, there is a little time to spare, as the hectic onslaught of projects and deadlines makes even the slowest day a whirlwind. At the same time, a web company presents persistent training challenges, as employees need to stay current or risk losing pace with competitiors. Bite-sized training—even in increments as low as 15 minutes—can be extremely useful in helping employees at a web company stay current with technology.

In a web publishing company, there are all sorts of employees with distinct jobs and varying levels of technical skill. Project managers help cybrarians, web designers, web application developers, art directors, image archivists, production coordinators, editors, photographers, proofreaders, and numerous assistants work together to create web pages that serve diverse customers. Though a proofreader obviously doesn’t require the same degree or type of technical skill as an application developer, new skills are frequently required over time. That less-than-savvy proofreader may need more training than the tech-ier employees to learn the same task. Also, an image archivist will probably be a whiz with image software but possibly a novice with other types of programs. Then there are tools that everyone needs to use, such as scheduling programs or programs that log time spend on various projects.

For this type of worker, many traditional methods of training are not feasible. With as many as twenty projects going on at once, no one has time to take a whole day for training, and even half a day is hard to spare. Some deadlines are weekly, others are sporadic, and many projects have a hurry-up do-it-now high-stress vibe, only to get squashed at the last possible moment, leaving workers frustrated. No one succeeds in this kind of business without being flexible, fast, and efficient. Training should also be flexible and designed to suit the suit the needs of employees.

This is where bite-sized training comes in. It has been used in many different fields, perhaps most notably in promoting safety at nuclear power plants, where 20-minute electronic modules were used to facilitate proper handling of radioactive materials (Bentley). Less dramatically, the Ford Motor Company has used 15-minute CD-Rom based modules to train employees (Stucky, 1998) and bankers have been trained using programs that are triggered by a computer’s screensaver (Dempsey, 2001).

Bite-sized training can exist in many forms: Bentley (2006) discusses a few of the possibilities, which are

Transcript http://www.capella.edu/interactivemedia/WritingModule/bus30...

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“breakfast meetings, lunchtime learning events or taster sessions designed to see whether there is an appetite among employees for certain subjects.” Bite-sized training can take the shape of anything from the hippest multimedia presentation to the archaic form of a piece of paper. The key is not to overtax the dwindling attention span of workers who have 27 things to get done already. A stressed out worker won’t focus on boring training: for trainers, boredom isn’t an option.

Bite-sized learning certainly has some downsides and critics. Obviously, not everything can be taught in a short amount of time. Jo Hennessy (2006) thinks that the practice just adds more stress and leaves no time to digest what is being taught, adding that “Time for reflection is greatly under-rated during and after a learning intervention.” She goes on tosing the praises of thoughtful post-training reflection, saying:

I believe it is most beneficial to implement a blended learning intervention, comprising a range of learning techniques over a period of time, both in and out of the workplace. A combined approach will enable the best transfer of learning, so long as space to think is part of this. (20)

Hennessy certainly raises valid concerns about the already dense and stressful work day: for a web publishing company, these concerns are particularly apt. In fact, there’s a paradox here: the stress-filled work day makes bite-sized training ideal, yet bite-sized training might add to the that stress level even more. Perhaps Hennessey’s mention of blended learning points in the direction of a solution. As Donald Clark (2003) has written, blended learning is not a novel concept, but “What has given the term ‘blended learning’ a new impetus is the exciting and powerful array of web-based options that have cascaded on to the market in over the last few years. The fact that we have so many options has forced us into thinking about how we can methodically choose an optimal mix“(8).

Diverse options for bite-sized training might make the bites easier to swallow—and easier to truly digest too. References

Bentley, R. (2006). Can a little really beat a lot?. Training Magazine, Retrieved Sunday, September 24, 2006 from the Business Premier database.

Stuckey, S. (1998). Take a break for bite-size training. Dec. 4, p 32. The Engineer.

Dempsey, M. (2001). Bite-sized training chucnks for busy merchant bankers: Epsiodes reaches (sic) the trainee with a sequence of training documents over several days. Financial Times. June 6. p O5.

Clark, D. (2003). Blended learning. Epic Group Inc. White paper.

Hennessy, J. (2006). Bite-size learning—it leaves very little time to think. Training and Coaching Today. Feb. 2006. P 20.

Expert Commentary Bite-size training: Less is more for a web publishing company The title has been expanded and now has more of the feel of an academic title. NFL coaches are notorious for sleeping in their office and working round the clock, yet many get fired every year, while non-workaholic golfing fanatics/coaches like Steve Spurrier are hugely successful (at least on the college level). Using a comparison of some sort in your introduction is one way to get your reader’s attention and make them want to read your essay. Then there are tools that everyone needs to use, such as scheduling programs or programs that log time spend on various projects. Note that many obvious errors, typos, and spelling mistakes have been cleaned up. The writer has begun proofreading—even though global issues should still be the priority—as a courtesy to the peer reviewer and a step toward making the paper presentable to a professor too.

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I believe it is most beneficial to implement a blended learning intervention, comprising a range of learning techniques over a period of time, both in and out of the workplace. A combined approach will enable the best transfer of learning, so long as space to think is part of this.

Block quotes are direct quotations that are 40 words or longer. They don’t require quotation marks.

Notes on Second Draft:

This draft is certainly not ready to be turned in, but we are a long way from the initial free-writing. Ideas are being developed, sources are being integrated, notes-to-self have been moved elsewhere, and this is starting to look like a paper. Though still in the drafting stage, the writer’s work is beginning to pay off.

References The references are not in perfect condition, but most of the necessary info is here. It won’t be hard for the author to clean these up later, after consulting APA formatting guidelines.

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