6/30/2020 End of Course
I find my head spinning when I try to reflect on this course. It’s been a painful three months. When I started this course at the beginning of April, I had no idea that by this point I would have lost my mother to COVID-19, and my beloved dog to cancer just ten days later. My daughters’ pre-school and kindergarten classes and graduations, cancelled. Child-care, nonexistent. The challenges of homeschooling and entertaining small children while my husband worked from home and I put my professional life on hold. Our annual vacation to Nantucket, the one that gives me life for the rest of the year, cancelled. The tickets to meet Hillary Clinton at a local bookstore, cancelled. Black Lives Matter and looting in Providence. The sorrow. The fear. The guilt. The grief. My God, there is so much to grieve. It’s difficult to focus this reflection on just this course, when by necessity, it was the last part of my day or an entire random weekend. I’m tired.
Don’t ask me how I managed to learn these past few months, but looking back, I realize that it happened. This was my second to last class in the eLID M.Ed program and it felt like I got into the crux of what I’m here for-to learn what will help me to add value to the products and services at my husband’s eLearning and mixed reality development company. I learned ADDIE through the textbook and readings, but mostly through the peer facilitated sessions. I began to look forward to them as a way to connect with and learn from classmates.
I learned new technology and realized how important it is to me that anything I design should have substance, but also style. I figured out that my sales background conditions me to want to sell learners on learning. One way to help accomplish that is to make it attractive! For my poster project on the 5E Instructional Model, I enjoyed the challenge of learning Piktochart to make the information more appealing to learners. For the peer facilitated discussion, I liked toying around with unfamiliar PowerPoint design features to help create a presentation that would complement our session on development. When creating my learning module (design plan here), I tried using Articulate Rise for the first time and I’m really proud of what I was able to accomplish. I have a new appreciation for what eLearning designers and developers really do and by the end, found that I could add my own experience to The Benefits and Considerations of Storyline and Rise for eLearning. I also believe that I can speak more confidently about eLearning design and development in a professional setting now. I’m hopeful that the professional setting will materialize in the future.
There’s a lot I’ve taken away from this course, and I can only assume that it was a welcome distraction from an abysmal three months. The key takeaway from Models for Learning Design and really all of the courses in this program has been to remain as centered as possible on learners. To balance the needs of all stakeholders, but truly consider what it is that will help the learner by putting oneself in their shoes. As a learner, I appreciate well-designed training with meaningful content. I also appreciate when the designer applies learning science (multimedia design theory, cognitive load theory) to the visual design. The final question posed in the syllabus for this course is: “What influence should the environment have on learning design?” I'll answer it here: During a time when it’s so important to see the beauty in this world, my ID ethos will be: “Teach, but make it pretty.”