Week 13 Blog

After a learning curve that was based in the new Learning Management System (LMS), I have pretty much completed my course.  I did enjoy the challenge of having to learn a new LMS and how to work inside that system.  I have allowed me to really use an LMS to create a course and see the positives and negatives of having that type of structure to use.  It has really made some tasks that I struggle with extremely easy, like online discussions, and made some more difficult, like giving students some freedom in how they complete assignments.  This can still be done but takes some more planning than the less structured digital assignment platform, Google Classroom.  In a blended learning environment, a true LMS might be a bit much for the teachers that I serve.  In a totally online environment, it works well.  The course that I am designing, it a totally online course that uses the LMS in a variety of different ways.  It works for that type of design really well. 

The implementation discussion will start next semester.  I plan on presenting the course at a meeting before the winter break.  I want to try to roll this out to a select group of first-year PISD teachers this spring so they can help refine the course.  New hires start their technology orientation sometime during March.  If we are going to use the course, I would like it to be ready for the first teachers that complete their technology orientation. 

Week 11 Blog

I was able to sit down and get the modules completed this week.  I am still developing the course evaluations right because that feedback is important to set up the refining of the course that will happen once it is launched.  I was a good bit behind the development.  I wanted to be completed a bit earlier.  I had to rethink some of the assignments to fit in the Canvas learning management system.  Once I got a good handle on how I could structure the courses and looked at some the UNT courses that I have access to, I was able to understand the structure a bit better.  There are still some things that I would like to tweak as far as how I structure the course but I am not sure how I would make the changes.  I might add a test module and try some different ways to display the content.  I know as a learner how I like the modules structured but I am not the only learning type.  I am thinking about creating these sample modules and having some colleagues and my high school students look at the structure to see what they think.  It never hurts to get as many outside opinions as I can. 

The biggest challenge I have faced is the learning curve for Canvas.  It is structured in a specific way and gives you certain page types that you can use for your development.  That structure is great to help get your content to learners in a certain way, I just had to think inside that structure instead of delivering the content in the best of multiple platforms.  I have learned that all projects will have some troubles on the way.  It does not matter if you are working on something that you have done many times before, you never know what will happen during your development.  You could run into some outside work issues that will take up your time and energy.  Those issues must be dealt with and you must complete your work.  I had that issue and found that focus has been difficult to maintain.  I have had to work through that to keep developing this course and getting it completed. 

I feel my strengths are in setting up a linear course.  My thinking is very linear and it moves from one step to the next.  I know that I can work through that type of course and set it up properly.  I need to work on staying on my deadlines and working through any adversity.  I have been too easily distracted and had to really focus on completing this when I should have developed it at a more deliberate pace. 

I have really enjoyed setting up the course and I hope to keep developing it for the rest of this semester to get something set up that will be useful and that my district can adapt to help all of the new hires we have to add each year to keep up with our growth.

Week 10 Blog

Designing this course has taken me more time than I expected, but doesn't every project.  I am really having to think about the way I want many of these tasks to work.  A lot of the course is turning out to be the dissemination of information and very little student interaction or creation.  I do not like that.  I am having to go back in and put a bit of a twist on the parts that are informational and try to move some of the creation tasks in between.  I am thinking of adding in some modules to break it up and give the learners some more skills in G Suite for Education.  The skills will be very basic but they could potentially help make the beginning of the year much more simple.  I am probably going to add in a Google Forms module to help with any early data gathering or quizzes the teachers might want to create. 

I will be able to meet my deadline.  I really enjoy the task of tweaking the modules to engage the learners more.  I am hoping that my tinkering does not take me down too many more rabbit holes and I can really make some decisions to complete the modules.  It seems that as soon as I sit down with an idea, something comes up that takes me down a design decision hole.

I have been talking about this course to some of my superiors at my district.  They are open to the idea of trying it out with some sample teachers to see if they think it would be useful.  If so, it might be something that we roll out on a much larger basis.  Even if that does not happen, I am going to get some feedback from some teachers that would be willing to help me refine the course for the sake of my education.  I really look forward to hearing the feedback from people taking the course as learners.