Week+3+Assignment+Part+3.3,+Reflection+on+EDLD+5368

__Reflection on EDLD 5368, Instructional Design__
This was one of the most frustrating courses I have ever taken. The problem was not with the assignments, the readings, or anything to do with Lamar. In my experience Schoology, the host of our online class, was dreadful. There were major issues with not being able to add students. The bottom line was none of my enrolled students were able to access my class! But having said all that, I learned a lot about creating an online course. I also have a much greater appreciation for the online courses in this program.

Self-Assessment

When I created this online course I realized how many different components were required to make it successful. I needed to not just deliver content, but make the learning interactive. This required creating a place for blogs and wikis, as well as a way for students to contact me with questions. I needed to have built in formative and summative assessments. Plus I needed a way for students to upload work and receive feedback on their scores. I had used all these components in taking online courses before, but having to design it from the ground-up required lots of time and organization. When I compared what I knew previously about online courses to what I learned it was a bit of a letdown. My final product took lots of work and time, but still seemed lacking after comparison with courses I have taken.

Learn as a Learner

Because my colleagues at my school site were going to be my students, I really wanted the course to be impressive. I used multimedia such as video, photos, podcasts, and screencasts. I incorporated as many web 2.0 technologies as I could to make it interactive. I used the constructivist model (Learning Theories Knowledge Base, 2010) and backward design (McTighe, & Thomas, 2000) to design the class. My own personal assessment was that even with all that work it wasn't that great. Now if I were a student taking it as my first online class, it might have seemed better. But when I compared it to other online classes it seemed lacking. My Lamar colleagues were helpful as we were all having problems with Schoology. Sometimes I would think that it was just me, that I must be doing something wrong. Then my fellow students would send an email, or make a post about how much trouble they were having.

Lifelong Learning Skills

In the future, I know that I will need to continue to learn and explore online courses. I would actually like to develop my own online class someday, as long as the course-ware is much easier to use than Schoology. Schoology wasn't a total waste, it just felt like beta software with some good ideas and a lot of bugs. Working with other educators in taking these courses, along with the interest in online courses in general, make me want to continue to explore web 2.0 and it's use in learning (Solomon, & Schrum, 2007).

References

Learning Theories Knowledge Base (2010 March).at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010 from http://learning-theories.com McTighe,J., & Thomas, R.S. (2003).Backward design for forward action//. Educational Leadership,// 60(5), 52-55 Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). //Web 2.0: New schools, new tools.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.