The document describes a formative evaluation of the Plan B career exploration program. It details reviews by a subject matter expert, one-on-one student evaluation, and small group evaluation. Feedback indicated that instructions needed to be more specific and materials broken into smaller sections. Revisions included adding more steps, rewriting questions, and moving materials to an online platform. Further revisions suggested analyzing interest inventory results with professionals and providing long-term student access to resources.

1. IU 5: The Formative Evaluation
The Plan B Program: Career Exploration and Planning
Goal Statement
The instructional goal of the Plan B Program is to provide student learners with the knowledge, skills,
and tools, to perform career exploration research and develop a basic career plan. After completion of
the program, the students will be able to describe what their primary field of interest is and demonstrate
the capacity to build a revisable career plan to reach their intended career goal.
Overview
In under-performing schools, the terms “at-risk” and “disadvantaged” have been used interchangeably
to describe many African-American male students. Many of the schools that they attend suffer from a
myriad of socioeconomic issues that range from decentralization and expansion to the outer suburbs, a
dwindling tax base, limited civic involvement, underdevelopment, mediocre leadership, and an eroded
value of education through negative peer pressure. In Dekalb County Georgia, which is in the
metropolitan area of Atlanta, the graduation rate is 78%. The overall graduation rate for the state of
Georgia in 2008 was 75.4% (Georgia Department of Education, 2008). What happens to the students
that did not graduate? How do we address their needs and bring them into the new economy. My
proposed approach is to reach the student learners in eighth grade, while they still believe that they
have possibilities for the future. The Plan B program is a career exploration and planning roadmap for
“at-risk” students that provides practical activities and skills for the youth to identify areas of interest
for a future career or trade.
Evaluations
I. Expert/Professional Review
II. One-on-One Evaluation
III. Small Group Evaluation
I. Expert/Professional Review
1. Introduction – The Subject Matter Expert (SME) has a doctorate in Educational Leadership and
a Masters in Computer Science. The SME reviewed the steps of the process and made the
following observations.
2. Subject Matter Expert Review Summary. The following table shows the SME's comments and
instructional designer response of each of the major steps of the Plan B Program.
Steps SME Observations ID Responses

2. 1a. Enroll in the Learning Need brief description of Zimbra The SME was looking for more
Management System at what is it used for Email and specifics with regard to the intent
http://edtech-online.com/moodle collaboration of the program. I stated that the
for the Plan B Program. previous IUs addressed the issue
but concurred that
1b. Request a Zimbra Account
from the administrator at
frank@msg.frankthornton.info
2. Perform a student assessment. Need permission from parents I will add a sample waiver of
Complete the Student Survey probably consent to the lesson for liability.
3. Complete the Skill Inventory Need link I will add the file to Moodle
and list your current skills and where it can be accessed with a
talents. Click Skill Inventory to click by the student.
access the file.
4. Complete the Interest Need Link I will add the file to Moodle
Inventory to the best of your where it can be accessed with a
ability. Click Interest Inventory click by the student.
to access the survey.
5. Open your browser and search Need to say search for jobs or I will clarify the instructions for
the following websites. career choices of interest; it this element of the lesson. The
seems that some instructions objectives needed to be more
www.dol.state.ga.us need to be added to meet step 6 specific.
www.careerbuilder.com expectations
www.careerjournal.com
www.usajobs.opm.gov
Open your word processor
application and perform a print
screen of the home page for each
in a document and save the file
with the name PLANB-URLS.txt
to the briefcase in Zimbra.
6. Open a new document in n/a n/a
Microsoft Word and list the
applicant requirements for the
top career choice from your
Interest Inventory.
7. At a local or regional Search online various local or I will rewrite the language to
institution, perform the research regional Schools education make the instructions more
of the admissions requirements admission requirements precise.
of your top career choice.
Bookmark the website in your
browser. Print the page through
the CutePDF application and

3. create a PDF file with the name
admissions. Add the admissions
file to the Zimbra Briefcase.
8. Login to Zimbra for access to n/a
your documents in the Briefcase
and begin to complete the Career
Plan template. Click Career Plan
to access the file.
9. Click the Course Survey link Need Link. I will add the file to Moodle
to complete the end of course where it can be accessed with a
survey. click by the student.
Subject Matter Expert Synopsis
The feedback from the Subject Matter Expert gave me insight that I need to break out more of the steps
of the lesson. As an instructional designer, I fell into the trap of thinking that information presented
was straight forward and I missed a few steps. As a result, I changed the environment of the
instructional materials from PowerPoint to Moodle where the environment is clean and easy to follow.
In addition, I added an instructional avatar to provide brief instructions for the lesson. The foundation
of the Plan B program was strengthened by this activity.
Immediate Revisions
• Increased the number of sub-steps in each procedure.
• Re-wrote questions to include more specific instructions.
• Changed the access of the instructional materials from PowerPoint to Moodle
Long-term Revisions and Considerations:
• The SME suggested that I add a description of the activity before the table since he did not have
the benefit of reviewing the previous IUs.
II. One-to-One Evaluation
1. Introduction – The instruction designer made modifications to the course based on the Subject
Matter Expert. Plan B Program was tested by two students that met the prerequisites student
received a brief overview of the Plan B Program.
2. One-to-one Evaluation Summary – The following table shows the observations of the student
and my response for each of the major steps in the training.
*The student learner will perform the steps of the instruction with minimal assistance by the
instructional designer.
Steps Observations My response

4. 1a. Enroll in the Learning Student had difficulty registering Due to the confirmation
Management System at for the class in Moodle. He had problem. I created a separate
http://edtech-online.com/moodle problems with the email email account for the special use
for the Plan B Program and login confirmation step of the process. in the program and performed
to the system. the confirmation.
The request of the Zimbra
1b. Request a Zimbra Account account and installation of
from the administrator at CutePDF will become pre-
frank@msg.frankthornton.info training activities.
1c. Download and install the
CutePDF application.
2a. Prerequisite – The student The student had no problem with The survey took about 20
learner must receive verbal performing the Student Survey. minutes for the student to
permission to proceed with the complete.
lesson.
2b. Perform a student
assessment. Complete the
Student Survey.
3a. Complete the Skill Inventory The student added hobbies in This activity took about 7
and list your current skills and addition to his skills in the minutes for this student. A
talents. A skill or talent that you assignment. student that has difficulty
would like to acquire in the next identifying his talents make write
two years is acceptable as well. very few skills or sit in
contemplation. I will move this
3b. Click Skill Inventory to activity before the Family
access the file. Survey.
4. Read the Interest Inventory to Omitted At this juncture, I ended the
the best of your ability. Click assignment because it had
Interest Inventory to access the exceeded the time limit of 30
file. minutes. As a result, I broke the
tasks into separate activities in
more manageable chunks to
accommodate accuracy and the
attention span of the student.
This becomes the first
assignment in Part 2 of the
training.
5a. My Top 3 Interests – What Omitted Conducted in Part 2
are your top 3 career or trade
interests? Write them on your
scratch paper.

5. Note: If you do not have three
career interests, then that is not a
problem. You will work with one
or two.
5b. Open a new internet browser
and search the following
websites for a least one job
posting per interest.
www.dol.state.ga.us
www.careerbuilder.com
www.careerjournal.com
www.usajobs.opm.gov
5c. Open a new document in
your word processor application
and perform a print screen of
each job listing in the browser
and copy them to the new
document.
5d. Save the file to the Desktop
with the name PLANB-URLS.txt
5e. Upload the file to the
briefcase in Zimbra. (optional)
6. My Choice - Open a new Omitted Conducted in Part 2
document in Microsoft Word and
list the job skills for your top
career choice from the Interest
Inventory.
6b. List the company name, its
city and state, title of the job,
starting wages (if applicable).
7. Research – If additional Omitted Conducted in Part 3
education or training is needed
for your top career, then find a
local college or trade school that
offers the program that you need
for your career interest.
7b. Research the admissions
requirements and program costs

6. to attend of your top career
choice.
7c. Bookmark the website in
your browser. Print the page
through the CutePDF application
and create a PDF file with the
name Admissions.
7d. Add the admissions file to
the Moodle or the Zimbra
Briefcase. (optional)
8a. Career Plan Template - Login Omitted Conducted in Part 3
to Moodle/Zimbra for access to
your documents in the Briefcase
and begin to complete the Career
Plan template.
8b. Click Career Plan to access
the file.
8c. After you have completed the
template, save the file. The
syntax is your first initial, last
name, and PB101 at the end. (i.e.
fthorntonPB101.doc) Upload the
file to Moodle/Zimbra
9. Click the Course Survey link Omitted Conducted in Part 4
to complete the end of course
survey.
One-on-one Synopsis
After the initial Subject Matter Expert analysis, I made adjustments to the wording of the instructions
to provide more specifics. Also, I added the lesson plan to Moodle. In the One-on-one evaluation, the
student had problems getting his account confirmed to enroll for my class. If you make a mistake with
the email address, then you will not be able to get it changed and resolved unless you contact the site
administrator. The next lesson learned was that the overall training needed to be broken down into
smaller chunks to accommodate the student learner with cognitive overload and a short attention span.
Immediate Revisions
• Perform moodle pretest to determine the skill level of the student in the learning environment.
• Provide a brief training overview of the capabilities of Zimbra through web sharing in
Elluminate.
Long-term Revisions and Considerations:
• The training will be broken into smaller chunks for the learner to benefit cognitively.

7. III. Small Group Evaluation
1. Introduction – The instruction designer made modifications to the course based on the One-
on-one evaluation. Plan B Program was tested by two students that met the prerequisites of
the program and they received a brief overview of the Plan B Program.
2. Small Group Evaluation Summary – The following table shows the observations of the small
group evaluation and my response for each of the major steps in the training.
Note: The instructional materials were modified from PowerPoint and moved to the Moodle
site. The Plan B instructional materials can be accessed at http://edtech-online.com/moodle.
Steps Learner’s Observations My response
0a. Request a Zimbra Account Nothing needed. n/a
from the site administrator at
frank@msg.frankthornton.info
0b. Download and install the
CutePDF application.
0c. The student learner must
receive permission to proceed
with the lesson.
1a. Enroll in the Learning Nothing needed. n/a
Management System at
http://edtech-online.com/moodle
1b. Choose the Plan B Program
under the K-12 section.
1c. The login screen is divided
into two sections. Go to the right
side “Is this your first time
here?” and click the Create new
account button at the bottom.
1d. After creating the account,
you will receive an email to
confirm the enrollment in your
Zimbra account (i.e.
student@msg.frankthornton.info
).

8. 1e. Click the enrollment link and
goto the login page http://edtech-
online.com/moodle to begin the
lesson.
2a. Perform a family assessment. The students had no problem The survey took about 20
Complete the Student Survey. with performing the Student minutes for the student to
Survey. complete.
3a. Complete the Skill Inventory The students had no problem The Skill Inventory took an
and list your current skills and with the Skill Inventory. average of 4 minutes. In the
talents. A skill or talent that you future, the student will review
would like to acquire in the next the Interest Inventory in this
two years is acceptable as well. section before proceeding.
3b. Click Skill Inventory to
access the file.
4a. Click Interest Inventory to Part 2 - Next Lesson TBD
access the file and Save it to
your desktop.
4b. Upload the file to your
Zimbra Briefcase.
4c. Review the Interest Inventory
before beginning Part 2 of the
activities.
5a. My Top 3 Interests – What Part 2 - Next Lesson TBD
are your top 3 career or trade
interests? Write them on your
scratch paper.
Note: If you do not have three
career interests, then that is not a
problem. You will work with one
or two.
5b. Open a new internet browser
and search the following
websites for a least one job
posting per interest.
www.dol.state.ga.us
www.careerbuilder.com
www.careerjournal.com
www.usajobs.opm.gov

9. 5c. Open a new document in
your word processor application
and perform a print screen of
each job listing in the browser
and copy them to the new
document.
5d. Save the file to the Desktop
with the name PLANB-URLS.txt
5e. Upload the file to the
briefcase in Zimbra. (optional)
6. My Choice - Open a new Part 2 - Next Lesson TBD
document in Microsoft Word and
list the job skills for your top
career choice from the Interest
Inventory.
6b. List the company name, its
city and state, title of the job,
starting wages (if applicable).
7. Research – If additional Part 3 - Next Lesson TBD
education or training is needed
for your top career, then find a
local college or trade school that
offers the program that you need
for your career interest.
7b. Research the admissions
requirements and program costs
to attend of your top career
choice.
7c. Bookmark the website in
your browser. Print the page
through the CutePDF application
and create a PDF file with the
name Admissions.
7d. Add the admissions file to
the Moodle or the Zimbra
Briefcase. (optional)
8a. Career Plan Template - Login Part 3 - Next Lesson TBD
to Moodle/Zimbra for access to

10. your documents in the Briefcase
and begin to complete the Career
Plan template.
8b. Click Career Plan to access
the file.
8c. After you have completed the
template, save the file. The
syntax is your first initial, last
name, and PB101 at the end. (i.e.
fthorntonPB101.doc) Upload the
file to Moodle/Zimbra
9. Click the Course Survey link Part 4 – Next Lesson TBD
to complete the end of course
survey.
Small Group Synopsis
The small group evaluation was a little more difficult because the learners were not as expressive in
their comments. This may be the result that the students did not have the opportunity to complete the
total program with the time allotment. I think that this evaluation would be better suited after all
activities are completed for the Plan B program.
Immediate Revisions
• Manage the expectations of the student learner throughout the process and keep them motivated
with humor and fun.
Long-term Revisions and Considerations:
• Professional Support - The Interest Inventory will be reviewed by a professional to analyze the
career areas determined in the survey.
• Provide accessible training resources after the training for the students to have access to for
three to five years.
Conclusion
The lessons learned from this exercise have been invaluable as I continue to refine the instructional
units, which I plan to pilot with more students in 2011. We all need to have a Plan B and sometimes C.
The target audience for the training needs to start preparing for their future. In the eighth grade,
students are trying to find out who they are and the beginnings of what they want to be in life. The
Plan B Career Planning & Exploration program facilitates the process of self- analysis, goal
identification, and preparation for the future. After a student completes the program, he should be able
to kick start his dreams into action and implementing a plan to reach success. If the career goal
changes along the way, then the student will have the capabilities and tools to revise the plan to achieve
their goal.