Drexel University

Master of Science in Learning Technologies

Graduate Cooperative Education JOURNAL
EDHE 715

Amy Chacon
Week: x Two /

04/12/2016
Four /

Six /

Eight /

Lessons Learned: JOURNALING - Reflection on Purpose and Objectives

Throughout the co-op, lessons are learned and opportunities for improvement are discovered. As part of a
continuous improvement process, documenting lessons learned will help the progression of your co-op and the
project/s on which you are working.

Lessons Learned (questions to think about)

What worked well and/or didnt work well either for this project/co-op or for your project team?

What could or should be done differently?

What surprises did you discover and how did you manage them?

What co-op circumstances and/or challenges were not anticipated?

What co-op goals and/or objectives were attained this week (refer to your Final Co-op Plan)?
Note: The questions above can be used to guide your reflection and help you in identifying key learning points.
Your journal should be personalized to highlight your co-op experience. Other prompts are provided in
your syllabus.
During the first week of Co-Op II, the Choreography course was pushed back and put on hold to continue research and
redevelop the program in order to understand why the branch employees are not able to follow or implement what was
learned post-classroom. This was a huge win for our project team. We have struggled with senior leadership and helping
management to understand that we need to re-evaluate. Although there is a sense of urgency, and we have a short timeline, we are continuing to use resources, time, and money, and we need to implement the new design instead of
continuing to roll out the old material, in hopes that it might work, and then we simply give the facilitators a new book and
hope the new material has a better outcome! As an organizational designer, this is not the recommended approach to
successfully implementing anything. After many communications and presenting findings from surveys and interviews
from Co-Op I senior management has agreed to push roll out of any more branches until July 2016. I am quickly
learning through this project, that continuous communication, and perseverance is key to getting what we need and want
to make a difference. Our voices seem to be heard, and at times, a bigger voice with a senior position will over-ride what
the project team is requesting; even if it makes sense from our perspective. It would have been easier to back down and
to allow management to continue to roll out branches with the broken program. Instead, I have been persistent. It was
helpful to use prior findings, in addition to a clear plan with objectives, goals, and activities that will provide better results.
In the beginning, the pilot was 20 branches since that time, we have deployed 40 more branches, regardless of the fact
that the first 20 branches are still not following, or adhering to the course guidelines. This deployment was a directive of
senior management and took place in January. During and since our Co-Op I course, I have been part of and continue to
lead parts of the project to redesign this course, using a mixed methodology approach, with the objective of a redesigned
course based on participant feedback gathered from surveys, in person observations, interviews of management,
coaches, and employees deployed in branch. The goal is to have all branches, past and future is to consistently adhere to
the rules and guidelines of Choreography.
Now that we have more time to work on the course, and have a larger sample size, my project team has chosen 10
different branches across the region that have been through the old program since January 2016. Last week, the survey
was sent via email to the 10 branches, with a total of 52 employees. The survey is the same one that was used during CoEDHE 715 Reflective Journal

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Drexel University

Op I, and will be added to my e-portfolio under research. We have also put together a focus group that will come together
in two weeks via conference call. Our objective of these two activities is to compare the findings of the 5 branches that
were surveyed prior (from the original 20 branch deployment), and ensure that we are on the right track with our redesign.
One of the challenges that we are having, is that out of 52 employees, only 11 have sent back the survey thus far. The
deadline presented is for Friday April 15th. I will send a reminder email on Wednesday the 13th. I also plan to reach out to
management this week to schedule in-person observations, invite to the focus group calls that we will hold bi-weekly, and
to request their help with affirming the importance of the survey feedback. The plan is to ask the managers that have team
calls to mention the survey on the call this should help to ensure we are receiving the survey feedback.
Another challenge that we are experiencing is getting our managers to perform in-person observations. We have received
feedback that although managers can see the value in observations, they are pressed for time, have number goals to
achieve, and this practice is taking away from other manager activities that are a priority. It has been recommended that
our facilitators observe and coach the pilot branches. The facilitators are well versed on Choreography, and understand
the why an how this important piece of the Universal Banker program should look and feel live in the branches. We
have developed a consistent feedback form that can be used and will be reported to the project team and senior
management via email. We will also choose 2 facilitators to speak on the focus group calls to present an overview of
common findings. The plan is to have confirmation and buy-in from management by end of this week.

Co-op Highlights complete as needed to track your research

Significant Co-op Successes/Accomplishments
Project Success

Factors That Supported Success

Push back Choreography class

Presented findings from first surveys and continued

communication from team showing that newly rolled out
branches are still not following the guidelines

Senior Management buy-in

Our team put together a project plan that showed the amount
of money, time, and resources used to facilitate
Choreography

Larger sample size

Senior management continued to push for roll out of

Choreography during course redesign this has allowed for
our team to have a larger sample size for surveys,
observations, and focus groups.

Co-op Challenges and Solutions

EDHE 715 Reflective Journal

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Project Challenges

Recommended Solutions

Senior Management time dedicated to inperson observations

recommend using coaches and our facilitators to

schedule in-person observations taking responsibility off of
SM. Facilitators/coaches will report back to project team and
SM.

Time and SM support

The project group is expected to have a complete redesign

and implementation by July 2016. We will request the help of
SM to reiterate the importance of survey feedback and focus
group participation.

EDHE 715 Reflective Journal

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Drexel University