Detailed design of an instructional course.

1. Running Head: Axtell_DDReport 1
Axtell_DDReport
Sarah Axtell
Oklahoma State University

2. Axtell_DDReport 2
Executive Summary
The College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology (CEAT) houses several
different departments. There is approximately 4000 Faculty, Staff and Students that are a part of
CEAT. The IT department within CEAT (CEAT IT) is made up of five full time employees, one
part time employee, and ten student employees. CEAT IT is expected to provide IT support
services to all of CEAT, including Outreach and Extension Programs.
CEAT IT is a fairly small department considering the number of users they support. It is
a very face paced environment, where new employees are expected to learn quickly. This type of
environment can sometimes lead to a lack in proper training in certain areas. The student
employees, also known as student techs, are expected to interact with various levels of
customers. The different levels are: students, staff, faculty, and administration. Each level of
customer comes with different needs but they all should receive the same level of customer
service and professionalism. In the fast paced, learn as you go environment, professionalism and
customer service training gets placed on the back burner until it is needed.
As a student employer there is a duty to raise up and train the next generation of
employees. It is important that employers put forth the effort and the training to not only prepare
the student for the job they have been hired for, but to also train them and prepare them to go
into the workforce and be a good employee. The purpose of this course is to provide training and
resources to teach the student techs how to provide top level, professional customer service. This
course will be independent study while the students are at work to ensure open communication
and available resources. This course also incorporates on the job learning.

3. Axtell_DDReport 3
Needs Assessment
I currently work as an IT Specialist for a college on the OSU campus. As an IT Specialist
I provide technology support to Faculty, Staff and Students. This requires interacting with our
customers through written communication and verbal communication. I have a strong
background in customer service which makes me the expert on customer service in this
assessment. As an IT Specialist, I supervise ten student workers who also interact regularly with
customers in various ways.
The problem I need solved is a “felt need” as described by Morrison, Ross, and Kemp
(2007) in Designing Effective Instruction (p. 34). I do not have any data to compare to, but I
want to improve my student worker’s customer service. Most of the students we hire have never
held a professional job or any job that requires a high level of professionalism and customer
service. The students have not gone through any formal training on the subject either, which is
why I believe that this problem can be solved by instruction.
Learner Analysis
The ten student techs for the course are adults over the age of 18, who are undergrad,
grad, and doctorate students who work in CEAT IT. The student techs usually do not have any
formal customer service or professional training and have most likely only held one or two pre-
college jobs. The students are self-motivated and generally prefer to do research on their own
with support as needed. The students do have base knowledge of the support required by the
customers. Students also have foundational knowledge of the college. The teacher has received
training in the content in previous jobs and is competent in teaching the content.

4. Axtell_DDReport 4
Context Analysis
The environment in which the course will be held is an office setting. The course will be
completed on an individual basis as time allows. The student techs will be expected to maintain
business as usual while they watch the videos and read over the resources. Bi-annual all staff
meetings will take places where students can ask questions and/or provide suggestions for the
training or other ways to handle situations.
The necessary step to accomplish the desired performance is video training as well as
educational articles. The appropriate instruction would also include training tickets, or training
interactions where students can practice their newly learned customer service skills and
professional communication skills. The course will include an evaluation of their current skills
and their learned skills after the training to determine the successfulness of the training.

5. Axtell_DDReport 5
Course Map
Objectives
The main goal of this course is to teach students how to provide top level
customer service and understand professionalism in the office. Students will be college aged
student employees in the CEAT IT department.
1. Objective #1: Students will be able to create an email addressing the subject matter in
a professional manner.

6. Axtell_DDReport 6
a. Description of Practice: First, students will be provided a list of faculty and
staff to familiarize themselves with in order to understand who their recipient
is which will allow them to structure their email appropriately. Next, students
will watch training videos provided online over communications, customer
service and professionalism which will allow the students to see examples and
understand the different types of communications and their importance.
Finally, students will be given a quick reference guide of do’s and don’ts of
communication for the students to refer to for words and language to use in
their email.
b. Assessment: The students will write and respond to emails in order to practice
their skills and be evaluated on what has been learned.
2. Objective #2: Students will use the L.A.S.T. method for problem solving to address
customers as issues arise.
a. Description of Practice: Understand the L.A.S.T. approach to problem
solving and how to use it. The L.A.S.T method of problem solving is to
Listen, Apologize, Solve, and Thank. Students will view a hand out over the
L.A.S.T. approach which will include scenarios and how to properly apply the
problem-solving technique. Students will solve customer service issues using
the L.A.S.T. approach on their own. Students will be provided practice
scenarios for them to work through by themselves. This will allow the student
to practice what they might say before the assessment activity.

7. Axtell_DDReport 7
b. Assessment: Students will participate in role playing scenarios with the
instructor where they will be assessed on their ability to solve the issue using
the L.A.S.T. approach.
3. Objective #3: Students will understand the basics of customer service in order to
provide better service to our customers.
a. Description of Practice: Interact with various customer types in a courteous
and service-oriented manner. Students will be provided customer service
training videos and handouts that will teach the basics of handling customers.
This will give students a foundation to build their customer relation skills.
Students will participate in role playing scenarios where they will practice
their newly learned skills.
b. Assessment: Students will be assessed by the instructor during customer
interactions. Feedback will be provided as needed. This will allow the
instructor to see the improvement in the student’s skills while giving the
student the ability to practice what they have learned.
Developed Activity: Object #1
The activity that is fully developed is for the first objective. Students will be able to create an
email addressing the subject matter in a professional manner.
Objective Create an email that addresses the subject matter in a professional
manner.
Instructional Methods Students will engage in direct teaching via videos and independent
practice scenarios.

8. Axtell_DDReport 8
Practices 1. Students will be given access to a shared network drive with a
list of resources, including the instructional videos.
2. Students will watch the videos and read over the resources
3. Students will practice responding to email scenarios
Aligned Assessment Students will be assessed on their responses to email submitted by
“secret shoppers”.
Delivery Method The mode of delivery will be computer-based. Media used for
instruction will include free training videos found online and a
handout of communication do’s and don’ts. Resources will be stored
on a shared drive which is accessible by all. Students will respond to
dummy email sent in by a secret shopper which will then be evaluated
by the instructor. Feedback will be provided as necessary.

9. Axtell_DDReport 9

10. Axtell_DDReport 10
Implementation
The course will be taught by myself. I am the student tech supervisor and will
provide the shared drive access where I will post all the videos and handouts. I am supported by
another technology specialist as well as a handful of other full-time employees should I need
assistance. There is also a training development department at OSU that is available if I need
help developing any more resources or delivering content. As this course is self-paced and
accessible anywhere with an internet connection, I am not sure what unexpected problems there
might be. However, if problems arise we will be flexible. Any changes made to the course will
come through me. I will communicate clearly with the students on any changes that are made.
Evaluation
The final evaluation will be comprised of several things. At the end of the course
students will be given a short quiz. The quiz will contain questions and scenarios pertaining to
each objective. This will be delivered via the shared drive as a fillable PDF. Students will submit
back to me in an email. This part of evaluation will tell me what they learned. This part of
evaluation will also tell me about the behaviors they have learned as they tell me how they would
handle different scenarios. I will also get a better idea of their newly learned behaviors by
analyzing the assessments at the end of each objective.
Students will be asked to complete a feedback form on the course. I want to know what
the students thought of the course and if they see room for improvement. This will be delivered
immediately after they finish the course and will be expected to be returned within one week.
The survey will be delivered through Survey Monkey so that the responses can remain
anonymous. This task allows to me gauge their reaction to the course.

11. Axtell_DDReport 11
Finally, I will compare and analyze all the results from their assessments, the
quiz, the survey and their behaviors for a month after the course. Using this information, I will
determine if the course was successful and make changes as needed. I will also ask the fellow
department employees to weigh in on their impression of the course’s successfulness based on
the interactions they witness the students having with customers.