Choosing the research question for my final project was not an easy task and certainly it took two months of working on my literature review to realise that I could not justify how I could enhance current research and consequently I changed my research to the following question:

“What effect would an elearning resource informing young adults in an Irish Community Training Centre of the impact of their digital footprint have and how would it change the way they behave online into the future?”

 

In today’s society the use of mobile technology by young adults allows for access to the internet anytime anywhere removing the obstacle of time and location, this is how mobile technologies have become embedded into the routines of everyday life.  With young adults engaging with Web 2.0 applications which they are increasingly at risk of leaving a digital trail that in some cases they are unaware of.  The purpose of the development of the elearning resource is to empower young adults to make informed decisions about the type of digital trail they want to leave behind.

 

Within my current employment I have observed the impact that social media has on learners in their personal lives.  Young adults share information online in a flippant manner without any thought of the trace that they are leaving behind when they engage with digital environments.  They lack understanding that the digital footprint trace that they leave behind paints a picture of who they are to the world and a lot of this information is not always appropriate for public consumption.  I have chosen early school leavers as the target group for this research and training because if young adults are made aware of their digital footprint at an early stage of engagement this will allow them to make valid decisions on the information that they share online into the future.

 

To assist with the development of the research topic I used a heuristic device to assist with the in-depth details of this research.

​

1. What do I want to investigate?

I hope to establish that young adults who engage with using the elearning resource will be more informed of the impact of the digital trail they are leaving behind.

2. Who do I need to consult before doing my research?

• Training centre management

• Training centre staff

• Participants

3. Which issue will I focus on?

I will focus on informing young adults of the impact of the digital trail they are leaving behind.

4. When will I do my research?

I will work on my research at night time when the house is quiet.

5. Where do I find my resources?

• Library

• Internet

• Books

6. Why should I choose this piece of data?

To examine the awareness that young adults have of the impact of their digital trail especially in a world where they are engaging in technology and have access 24/7.

​

To develop an elearning resource alone was a new experience to me as this would be my first attempt which I wanted to be successful therefore I spend the months of July and August of 2015 developing a storyboard to assist in the development of the elearning resource in September.  I used this time to research the best approach to use for the target audience and choose to use an interactive multimodal approach for the development of this artefact to assist learners in learning the topic by accommodating as many different learning styles as is possible.

 

After much research I chose to use Articulate Presenter as the tool to develop the elearning resource not by choice but because I had used up all of my numerous trials of other software.  When I finished developing the resource I found that I could not upload the resource online as the published resource did not produce a .swf file.  With discussion with another learner within my year and my lecturers we came up with a possible solution.  I managed to download another trial of Articulate Storyline and convert the file, with further enhancement to the resource I was finally able to publish it and upload the resource to a web server.  I then wrote out the questions that I would use for the online surveys and chose to upload them using a google form to gather the data from the research.  Both the elearning resource and surveys were both uploaded to a specially designed website for the research participants to access.

 

I learned a lot from this process,

1. Write down the learning outcomes for your resource.

2. Sketch out each window and what interaction will be included using storyboarding.

3. Review your storyboard when it is completed.

4. Ensure that you have access to the software required for the development of the resource.

5. When you have created and published your first draft of your resource check the resource and make any required changes.

6. Get a second party to use the resource and make any recommendations that may further enhance the resource.

7. Make your final changes then publish and upload as we can over analyse the information within.

​