This master thesis within ICT and learning addresses a standing problem within the AMU system (adult vocational training) around the rejection of prospective students because of the cancellation of courses. Vocational schools require for economic reasons a certain number of students to complete courses, and schools have a need to offer individual students flexible learning opportunities, for example, in an open workshop, as an alternative to classroom teaching.
In an open workshop the participants are signed up for - and independently conduct training within - different course subjects simultaneously in the same physical space. The teacher conducts only limited blackboard teaching but takes instead a supportive role as facilitator. At this time a number of educational institutions offer IT courses in an open workshop as an alternative to open classes with traditional blackboard teaching, but the challenge - as is the purpose of this thesis - lies in the development of e-based courses within the 'soft' disciplines as opposed to, for example IT and accounting courses.
My hypothesis is this: How can I remediate a vocational course for adults to be implemented as e-learning in an open workshop?
This master thesis is a product-oriented design project grounded in a constructivist theoretical framework and a hermeneutic understanding and it aims to describe and discuss an HCI-based iterative design process around the development of a product: An e-course in conflict management for sales people designed and developed through the life-cycle
model's four phases of needs analysis, design, development and test/evaluation of the product. In connection with each of the four phases I use empirical data in the form of 1) existing and relevant data and 2) data created for the purpose through interview and questionnaire.
In the last part of the thesis I analyze and discuss the empirical data and my findings within a theoretical framework based on among others Piaget, Hermansen, Kolb, Illum Hansen, Wahlgren and Maslow, whom I aim to involve to qualify and legitimize my e-course as a motivating learning resource suited for the Danish area of vocational training for adults.