At the start of this internship experience, I was asked to craft a set of desired learning outcomes for this experience.  As this second semester comes to a close, I revisit those goals to reflect upon my growth and provide a brief statement about my on-going learning in this internship.

1. To increase knowledge and understanding of instructional design principles and best practices.

I had the opportunity to explore designing and observing a group activity for online learning;  I also had the opportunity to work on enhancing the design of a previously delivered certification course to try to in corporate principles of andragogy, community of inquiry, and critical thinking as I worked to move it from ANGEL to Blackboard.  I tinkered with ideas for designing in learning modules, by topics, and by tasks – all valid approaches to design, but each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks.  There is also the unique caveat that sometimes a course needs to be designed to be delivered by any one member of a team of individuals – all of whom may have different delivery instructional styles and different ideas on facilitation and where the balance lies between supporting student construction of knowledge through social interaction and expert guidance or apprenticeship to clarify misconceptions and misunderstandings as well as to lead learners toward learning and consolidation of key principles and capabilities.  For me, facilitation is critically important to maximizing student learning and satisfaction, but I also recognize that to do it well requires time that may not be available to instructors these days.  As for design, I think I have come to the tentative conclusion that the key is to examine alignment between desired outcomes, content, and learning activities.  This is not a new concept for me, as that was a big take away from my early learning in IDD&E over 20 years ago.  The idea that emerges now however is the multiplicity of valid options (not just one “correct” approach) available to solve instructional problems and the need for intentional leveraging of the affordances of each.  Making intentional choices about which limitations to accept and which to avoid, examining potential content and technologies critically, and varying activities to make learning accessible to the widest range of learners is the essential foundation for design.

2. To increase proficiency in varied technologies related to online teaching and learning (such as, proficiency in LMS platforms and troubleshooting, use of webinar platforms, creating/updating websites, and development of learning objects/instructional media).

This semester I had the opportunity to build in the Blackboard LMS.  It was a great chance to explore and apply some of what I had learned in the first semester about Blackboard in a real hands-on, embodied way.  I learned the limitations and affordances of the LMS as it pertained to the visual layout of the design as well as the functionality of the LMS features and learning activities.  Blackboard’s environment demonstrates some pedagogical assumptions that may or may not match individual instructor’s assumptions and goals, nevertheless, it is the environment in which the instructor needs to function.  It’s an interesting dilemma.  What drives instruction – the LMS or the pedagogical beliefs of the instructor?  This kind of goes back to what I wrote about facilitation and designing a course that needs to be delivered by any one of a team of people.  Nevertheless, I digress.  I have learned to build content and manage the content collection; create discussion forums and manage the discussion board; set up self/peer reviewed assessments; set up and manage the grade center; and quite a bit more.  I hope to have the opportunity to deliver a course at some point so I can learn about other LMS features that support managing enrollments, interaction and communication – i.e., announcements, messages, and other administrator level things.

3. To gain insight into the practical reality of online teaching and learning and to learn about innovative solutions to practical issues encountered.

Helping with the delivery of the last certification course gave me some perspective, especially in observing the participants’ interactions during the group project.  Again, noting benefits and drawbacks and the role of facilitation.  Students were also asked to share reflections on the experience and I think this was critical because it really underscored that the activity had benefits and drawbacks and that no one activity is likely to meet everyone’s preferences.  There aren’t really black and white solutions to instructional matters in the online environment, but there are options and perhaps creating options is a good way to go to ensure that there is something for everyone.  For an online environment, communication is critical to meeting student needs responsively; designing for that communication is as important as planning on facilitating in a way that gets students to open up.

4. To develop a flexible, collaborative approach to working with designers and instructors that supports their efforts, generates comfort, and promotes a safe community for exploration and co-construction of effective approaches for meeting online teaching goals.

In working on the redesign of the certificate course and its move to Blackboard, I had a unique opportunity to feel out these waters and to experience the act of collaboration in a new way.  I haven’t had that many opportunities to work collaboratively, having spent a lot of time homeschooling and self-employed.  However, in this project I was working with the course as laid out by another individual and was quite conscious of the personal investment inherent in that.  Truth is, any recommendation I make can be viewed as criticism in the negative sense and I was rather concerned about that potential.  My intent was to try out potentials and try to enhance the already strong ideas to incorporate the key principles of critical thinking and community of inquiry as espoused here at SLN.  I found it stimulating and exciting, but worried about appearing critical in a negative sense.  I found it helpful to bring that out directly and speak to the personal aspect so that collaborative efforts and budding friendships could both flourish.  I do hope to have continued opportunities to collaborate in a way that allows me to contribute, but also to learn; to recognize that there are many valuable perspectives and how integration of perspectives can lead to outcomes that no one party would have envisioned; and to develop open honest work styles that allow for all to feel valued as products/projects are completed effectively.

5. To contribute to, and support the efforts of, SLN through completion of work on target projects related to the Education Services provided by SLN.

This semester, my main contributions were to help design and facilitate the last four-week course in the ID certification sequence and to recreate the first course in the sequence for its upcoming deployment in the summer.  I am hopeful that these efforts have helped the organization and the Ed Services staff to meet their goals.

 

This internship has been a very rewarding experience that will inform my decisions as I go forward into instructional design work and/or online teaching related to my field of study in education – reading and literacy.  Thanks to SLN and everyone there for this learning experience and for making me feel integrated into the organization.

I have always been one of those people who likes to know as much as possible about whatever I’m doing so I can do the best job I possible can.   I am learning though that in the age of technology in which we live, new technology – both hardware and software – seem to pop up daily, and older technology disappears (or at least is treated as obsolete) just as fast.  How are people and organizations to function?  I really feel that technology is the big equalizer these days.  No matter how well you know your field, you can be brought to your knees by the technology.  In that regard, I kind of like it.  I think it reminds those in positions of expertise what it feels like to be the novice.  I think it reminds us as a people that we are all really just people with the same basic vulnerabilities.  But I digress…..

My point is really about being able to flow with the tide of technology, to dive in and swim even if you don’t quite know where the next wave is coming from or where it will take you to.  In this internship, I have been given the opportunity to explore the Blackboard Learning Management System by helping move a course from the ANGEL  LMS to Blackboard.  I was able to explore ways to redesign it within Blackboard to leverage the functionalities offered by Blackboard to enhance the goals and objectives of the original course.  I was provided a wide range of latitude to explore and given the access needed to re-create the course for the organization.  The content and discussion prompts of the original course remained the focus and foundation for the redesign. I was able to explore how to create and work with a content collection, how to set up discussion forums and the discussion board, how to utilize self and peer assessment for assignments, how to set up and manage the grade center, how to build different kinds of content, and so forth.  I’ve gained alot, but I know that it will quickly change and Blackboard will issue updates or another LMS will emerge that gets taken up in  a feverish way.  I’ll have to avoid being afraid of not knowing everything about it.  I’ll have to embrace learning as I go, exploring, experimenting, and appreciating the missteps along the way.

For me, this was a great way to engage in thinking about the pros and cons of various design ideas, to experiment a little with the tools provided in Blackboard, and to gain some hands-on knowledge of the functionality Blackboard  does (and doesn’t) allow.  I am looking forward to other opportunities to continue to build my knowledge and skill with LMS, both on the design side and the actual instructional side (i.e., facilitating or teaching a course).  As a doctoral student, one of my goals is to teach online at some point, and all of these experiences with SLN are helping me feel more secure about my success when that time comes.

Yesterday, I participated in two webinars on Quality Matters.  The formal program website is at www.qmprogram.org .  The webinars I attended were SLN’s  QM program.  In any case, the webinars were vibrant spaces.  Why?  Was it just a question of the people who happened to participate on this day?  Was it something about the activities were asked to complete?  There were some application activities that required some independent examination of materials followed by discussion through the chat area in the webinar.  The exchange of view points and deep thinking that was occurring, the genuine interest in understanding, and a sense of having our sleeves rolled up and connecting on the intellectual level over the material, was invigorating.  I think some people wonder if you can get that kind of engagement through webinars – the answer is clearly yes, but it is not something I have often experienced on the webinars that I have attended.  I think usually it is difficult to get that level of engagement.  Perhaps it was the group of attendees and their vested interest; perhaps it was the facilitator of the webinar and his skillful injection of social presence along with the cognitive challenge of the application assignments.  It is difficult for the facilitator to know if the attendees are engaged or not and this participatory activity made that engagement visible.  The conversation in the chat area was evidence of that as was the variety of people who took control of the screen and mic to illustrate and explain their points.  I think that was a very important facilitative move – to give over control of the webinar to attendees.  It makes them more active in the process and I think makes for a more dynamic environment in what could be a rather sterile environment.  Two very successful webinars and participatory activities that really got me engaged, not just tasks to get through and tolerate.  I wonder what it was about those activities that brought about genuine connection and investment where often such experiences feel contrived and lacking in authenticity.  That must be it, the authenticity.  The activity did place attendees in authentic courses to play the role of reviewer which is what the course was designed to trained, so the participatory activity, while a simulation, was about as close to the actual experience as you could get.  Hmmm….  well designed, well facilitated, well attended.

Just a quick entry to keep my thoughts on how I’ve been shifting my stance in life.  I am finding that the interning experience has prompted a shift toward a genuine learner stance, toward the idea that failure IS an option and a good learning experience, that risk-taking in learning is a GOOD thing, that trying new things without fear of mistakes is freeing, that sharing feedback with/from colleagues can be a non-threatening space.  These have always been part of my philosophical stance, but are now becoming part of my lived experiential stance, and it feels good.

I have been working on a redesign of certification course here at the internship.  The course is due to run again soon and we needed to move it to Blackboard anyway, so I have been the freedom to try out some redesign ideas.  I have confidence and misgivings, but it is an experiment based on theoretical ideas and may appeal to some users very much and may be disconcerting to others at first.  I think I will set up a back up plan – just in case – but I think with attentive facilitation and support it can be a successful approach for a short-running course like this one.  I hope most find it to be an intellectually challenging, stimulating, and satisfying experience.  It’s been tons of fun for me so far!