Week 8 Blog

Working on this project has been an interesting process.  During my work on this project, it has been really eye-opening to the design process.  It has taken a very specific pace.  I am trying to keep up with the pace set by the course but it has been difficult to keep up.  This is because of other commitments.  The regular corporate timeline for a project like this is 3 weeks.  I am guessing that is from start to completion.  I see that timeline working but at a quick pace.  I could see one week of work taking the time to get the design document right so the first part of the assignment is really set up properly.  If this document is not correct, then the course is going to be wrong from the start.  A week to really design a good course design document would really take an attention to detail and the ability to have someone there to review and edit the document to make sure all of the possibilities are set up and all of the objects are set up towards the goal of the course.

The second part of the process would be building the course.  This part would take the most time and take the most discipline.  It can take some time to gather all of the information, resources, assignments, and media.  This task could take a while if all of the things are not already in one location.  Having to go out and find all of the resources for my course can take some time.  I know what I want each module to do but I do not know where the material is located.  I am trying to use already created resources but I might have to make some.  That is the issue that I can see in hitting the 3-week deadline.  When designing a course like this, it is important to get some feedback from other so you would need to be done with building the course in time to get a review or two.  Time would also need to be there to make changes based on the feedback that you have done.

The corporate timeline is one that can be done but would really take some focus to get all of the parts done with enough time to properly create it.  But if this was your job, and you spent your work days creating, this can be done.  It would be interesting to try to keep up with that timeline and see if that was something that could be followed.

Week 7 Post

Working inside a Learning Management System has been different than just working to create digital assignments.  Designing a course inside that system has changed the way I am approaching this course.  It took about a week to really understand the way Canvas worked and how I can create the assignment types inside it that are needed.  The LMS has given me some structure to my assignments.  It has given me an easy way to do create some of the environments like discussions that are more difficult in other environments.  It also gives an easy structure to hold all the documents in one place and allow them to open up as they are completed.  These structures are helping give the course a nice flow from one module to another. 

There have been some challenges as well.  The structures are something that is different than I am familiar with using.  This has caused some tasks to take different forms than I was originally thinking.  This mainly comes from the way the instructions are used in this platform. It works best to explain the entire module in one document and then move through the work than explain each assignment individually.  This is different but it does allow the educator to help explain the learning process to the learner and that allows the entire module to be seen as a unit. Each assignment is part of the unit and adds to the overall learning goal for that module.

I am starting to look through my feedback.  I am going to take into account what was said as I build the rest of my course.  It is always good to get an outside set of eyes on something that I am creating.  I tend to overlook things that are missing.  I read in the things that are supposed to be there but are left out.

Overall building the first part of my course has been challenging.  I enjoy learning a new environment to use and I have almost started thinking in the Canvas mode to create assignments.  I am looking forward to creating the rest of my course.

Week 6 Blog

Learning a Learning Management System (LMS) can be challenging.  In my current role, I take the official stance of the district and do not prefer and LMS.  The total of my experience with any LMS has been through UNT’s program.  During my two years in the program, I have used Blackboard and Canvas from the student side.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages but they seem rather strong. 
Learning to use an LMS is a challenging task.  You have to really think inside the flow of the LMS to set up your course for your learners to follow easily.  I am accustomed to working in an online learning system but nothing that really organizes your content like a LMS.  I really enjoy the different and the organization of a LMS.  It helps to organize the information in a better way than just using a website to give the student their assignments.  From an instructor point of view, it helps in designing the course because there are distinct modules.  This allows the course designer to set up distinct learning breaks.  These breaks can serve any function that you want them to service but the distinct breaks are there. 
This has also been a challenge.  It seems that each module is not complete even when I add all of the information that I need.  They feel like I am not allowing the student to complete the module with all of the information they need.  This is where the course evaluation can help to develop the course.  I can use the learners that complete my course to help refine it.  A good designer is never done with their course.  They are always looking to change things that need to be changed to better help their students.  This is a process that I am not familiar with this process but it is the way to create a good course.