14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

DECIDE-IT

Mihaela Coman, Dorothea Lidia Caraman

SIVECO Romania, Victoria Park

oseaua Bucureti-Ploieti,nr. 73-81, Cldirea C4, Sector 1, 013685, Bucureti, Romnia

E-mail :mihaela.coman@siveco.ro

dorothea.caraman@siveco.ro

Abstract

DECIDE-IT is a Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation project which belongs

to the Lifelong Learning Programme. DECIDE-ITs main aim is to create an innovative learning method, easily used, which improves learners abilities when they are forced to take decisions in stressful situations.

Keywords decision-making, eLearning, learning by doing, stressful situations, lifelong

training

The DECIDE-IT project was funded with support from the European Commission - the

Leonardo da Vinci Programme.

The Leonardo da Vinci Programme funds practical projects in the field of vocational

education and training. Initiatives range from those giving individuals work-related

training abroad to large-scale co-operation efforts.

The DECIDE-IT project was an initiative of four partners from three countries:

1. Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISTC-CNR, Italy)

2. SIVECO Romania SA 3. Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A. (ENG, Italy) 4. EVERIS Spain S.L.U. (EVR, Spain)

DECIDE-IT considered methods initially used for training personnel managing natural

and industrial disasters, methods which will be adapted in order to be used in training

management.

DECIDE-IT educational strategy was based on experience which simulated stressful

situations without exposing learners to the risks which might be implied.

To this extent, the project adopted a combined approach, mixing classical teaching

with playing a role in a 2D environment, monitored by a virtual teacher.

14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

The project targeted 2 strategic objectives. On one hand DECIDE-IT wanted to

introduce a formative methodology to create and improve abilities related to taking

decisions in stressful conditions. On the other hand, the project targeted an articulated

strategy for promoting the suggested solution to the companies, which are the final

target of the project and to the scientific community.

The specific objectives may be synthesized as follows:

-testing the already developed system in the former project, DREAD-ED, with

small groups of managers (4-5/country) from the Romanian, Italian and Spanish

companies which participate to the final test of the product;

-identifying and implementing the necessary technological and methodological

adjustments in order to make the product more attractive and efficient for being used

inside the companies;

-checking the utility, attractiveness and efficiency of the product by the help of

60 users coming from 3 big private companies from Romania, Italy and Spain;

-marketing to identify the initial clients among the business partners of the 3

companies participating in the project;

-creating partnerships with management schools, institutions for professional

training, training units inside companies and other organizations interested in using

DECIDE-IT with their own trainees or clients or even for trading the product;

-exploring the economic and technical feasibility of a new organization,

legally independent (e.g. a spin-off, an NGO) with the mission of moving forward the

development of methods and technologies developed in DECIDE-IT, offering as a

guarantee, technical support to new business partners;

-using the website for dissemination actions in the scientific community, by

organizing events, participating in conferences, publishing articles in scientific

magazines, producing dissemination materials (brochures, posters, etc.)

The project transferred in a new working environment (the society) and a new

objective (manager), a practice and an instrument for training communication abilities

and decision making, initially made for personnel involved in managing emergency

situations.

The product was developed within DREAD-ED project, a LLP-Trasv07 project. The

analysis of DREAD-ED results conducted to the idea of a great potential for training

the instrument, which turned to be efficient even for training needs different to the

original ones.

Consequently, the partnership objective was to extend the instrument application and:

-to adapt it to the managers training needs, which is characterized by a training

demand more economic, more flexible and more efficient;

-to introduce it in the companies training programs, one of the most interested sectors in the field;

-to check its functioning on other targets.

The transfer was not only instrumental but also methodological.

For the instrumental point of view, the transfer consisted in using the game on-line, in

3 European countries different from those involved in the original project and with

different goals as compared to the ones for which it was designed and tested.

14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

Using this instrument in new countries and for new goals, will overpass the limits and

in the meantime, will develop the potential, which will lead to reaching a different

target from the original one.

From the methodological point of view, the project allowed testing in Romania, Italy

and Spain the training program in decision making process.

It is worth mentioning that the instrument can be used as a basis for the strategy as

learning by doing which overpasses the simple transfer of knowledge. A common methodological approach in 3 big companies from 3 different European

countries will allow a coherent language which will be the basis of an innovation

transfer in professional training at European level.

DECIDE-IT will also test the possibility of developing an eLearning instrument,

attractive for companies and capable of imposing on professional training market.

The trail targeted 60 managers coming from 3 big companies from Romania, Spain and

Italy which belonged to DECIDE-IT consortium.

Regarding individuals, there were some benefits easily measured in an assessment

meeting:

-acquiring new theoretical knowledge regarding decision making in normal

and stressful conditions;

-a better understanding of factors which may affect the efficiency in decision

making in normal and stressful conditions;

-trainees admitting the role of such factors in making his own decisions; -trainees admitting the aspects which ask an improvement of his own behaviour;

-improving professional perspectives;

-reducing stress and increasing his personal wellness.

Talking about the benefits for organizations, even if the are more difficult to be

measured, they are important to be underlined:

-increasing the efficiency in decision making processes;

-reducing the loss due to delays and mistakes in decision making processes;

-improving relations between decision making factors and other employees,

decision making factors and clients, decision making factors and suppliers;

-diminishing stress within the organization and improving the indicators of

The Quality of Professional Life.

The proposal for DECIDE-IT professional training was based on a combined strategy,

which integrated training in class with an on-line professional training, based on an

interpretation of a role in a virtual environment (an efficient method from the

pedagogical point of view which stimulates trainees motivation and reduces in the meantime costs and duration of training).

The experiment developed in 2 phases. In the first phase, the formative assessment,

using the system generated by DREAD-ED was tested (originally designed for

emergency situations operators) with a small group of managers. The results were used

to identify the necessary changes for satisfying the specific needs of the target group.

14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

In the second phase, the cumulative assessment, the efficiency of the adapted product

was evaluated with a group of around 60 managers, belonging to the 3 software

producing companies, participating in the project. The experiment consisted in

forming 4-5 trainees groups. Each group participated in 3 formative meetings, which

lasted half a day, a month distance one another. Such a methodological approach was

based on a preliminary analysis of the characteristics of the target group.

In each meeting, trainees group used the on-line instrument to simulate the group behaviour in stressful conditions. Each on-line game meeting was followed by an

evaluation meeting led by a tutor who identified together with the participants the

strengths and weaknesses of the game and suggested the changes in the behaviour and

communication styles.

The evaluation methodology referred to post-testing questionnaires for participants to

the test and interviews to tutors and companies representatives. The instruments would be built to get an objective evaluation, without being influenced by the subjective

perception of the tutors leading the test and which might be reproduced by another

trainer which was not directly involved in the experiment. The data was gathered and

analyzed according to the good practices for this type of study.

In brief, the project offered an innovative solution without competition, on the existing

professional training market, which corresponds to a strong need of companies.

DECIDE-IT suggested a methodology based on role-playing as a fundamental element

in developing soft-skills (e.g. training negotiations abilities).