Final Reflection on OTL program

I am using two multimedia tools in my final reflection on the Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning.  First, this blog was used as a forum for my reflections throughout the duration of the certificate, so ending with it as my final reflection seemed appropriate. Blogs are useful tools for expressing yourself in an online forum. They also promote community since readers can post responses. Regarding building community, the certificate program taught me the importance of this, especially in an online classroom where students can often feel isolated.

Second, the Wordle attached below uses all of the words from the five syllabi we used during this certificate program. It was interesting to see where the focus was during these courses. Regarding multimedia tools, I have learned about many tools such as Wordle and used several in my capstone project. Because including only large amounts of text in a CRM will not appeal to an online classroom of students, these tools help to make the atmosphere more interesting, engaging and (often) visually appealing. Please click on the image below to see an enlarged version of this wordle.

Reflection #3- Administration and Evaluation

I appreciated learning about the differences between summative and formative evaluation. There is a time and place for each, and knowing which to choose is a skill.  Structuring the evaluation is also important, including the use of tangible, quantifiable measures.  The section on "Logic Models" was especially helpful for me.  The way the Logic Models broke down the process into easily defined, well-structured parts helped me to clarify my goals and develop a sound evaluation.

I was most engaged during the synchronous session and during our one-on-one phone call.  While taking these online courses, I've consistently found synchronous communication to be an efficient, helpful mode of learning.

I felt most distanced during the third week, while we were completing our 're-do' of the week 2 assignment.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about developing an evaluation of my program.  Building the evaluation for my e-learning initiative was great.  I believe I created an evaluation that will help me to accomplish my short-term and long-term goals.  I plan to add further evaluation to my course in the form of short (1-2 question) surveys completed periodically throughout the course.  I think this will help to keep my students engaged with me, and it will allow me to improve the course while I am conducting it.

Thank you!  

Reflection #2- Administration and Evaluation

Now that you are more than halfway through the course, reflect on the content presented and discussed up to this point. What is something new that you have learned that you can apply in a work or professional setting? 

I like the logic models, including the cheesy video by Michael Brand.  Inputs => Activities => Outputs => Short Term Outcomes => Long Term Outcomes.

My inputs => CRM access, listing in brochure, salary.
My Activities => Developing and implementing a course on undergraduate admissions
Outputs => revenue for JHU Odyssey program
Short Term Outcomes =>  Knowledge for students, a new challenge for me
Long Term Outcomes => The knowledge gleaned from my class will hopefully help my students throughout the application process, teaching the class will hopefully help me build a good reputation for myself as an online teacher, opening up future opportunities, teach the class again and again, hopefully with more and more students (scalability!)

What do you think will be the most difficult part of online program administration and evaluation to implement?

For me, I think it will be gathering enough information to create reliable results.  With such small class sizes to start, each person (or data point) will skew the results greatly.  Out of 10 students, if 1 thinks the class was terrible, my overall ranking will decrease greatly, even if the others thought it was amazing.  Over time, this will be less of an issue.  I will need to do my best to ask the same questions consistently so I can gather a lot of answers to the same questions, thereby creating more reliable data.

Reflection #1- Administration and Evaluation

Reflection Week 2

I think I have been able to apply my learning by starting to work on my e-learning initiative.  My e-learning initiative will be a survey completed at the end of my course.  The purpose of it is to determine the ways in which to improve the course for the future.  I want to ask the students about their learning and what parts of the course were beneficial to them. 

The results would be interesting to myself and others within the Odyssey program at JHU.  The Odyssey program offers non-credit courses, but my course this summer will be the first online non-credit course.  By evaluating not only the content but also the length of the course, the relevance of the topic, the CRM’s efficacy (which is Blackboard), the format of the course (with weekly assignments and a large team-based project at the end), etc.

It may eventually be interesting to a wider audience who would like to pursue non-credit programming online for an adult population.  I think we would need to survey a larger number of participants in order to publish this kind of data, but that could be done in the future.

I assume that the above plan is sufficient.  One of the team members mentioned having to create and administer an evaluation BEFORE you would teach the course.  Obviously, my plan would evaluate the students AFTER their course.  Let me know if I am off-track.

On a different note, the group work has been slow going so far, but hopefully we will connect better next week.  

Reflection #2- Instructional Design

Part I - Developing and Implementing e-Learning Initiatives- Do you plan to implement the e-learning initiative you developed? Be honest. If yes, what are some specific challenges that you foresee in implementing the initiative? How do you plan to overcome them? If you do not plan on implementing your initiative, why not? 



Yes, I am going to teach this e-learning initiative this summer.  I foresee having an unmanageable number of questions.  I also think that the questions may be off-base.  I'm worried that students will assume I will help their kids write their statements of purpose, and ask me to read over their resumes.  To cut this off at the pass, I am planning to set up very clear expectations at the beginning of the course. 

I also worry that the students will be new to online learning and assume this is a webinar-based course.  I hope to put together an 'introduction to online learning' video as an introduction.


What other thoughts and ideas do you have for developing future adult e-learning initiatives in the context of your teaching and learning environment and/or work setting?


I would like to continue using the Understanding by Design learning-centered teaching.  I would like to put together a different course that may cover the topics I listed above. In this class, I would give suggestions for applying to graduate school.


Part II- Use of Templates for Assignments- This part of your reflection is for me personally.  Each time I offer a course, I take notes throughout the experience about what works, what doesn't, and then I make revisions accordingly.  I would be curious to know specifically your thoughts about the use of templates to complete main assignments.  In our Week 4 Assessments discussion, we talked about offering choices for different formats of assessments, and the use of templates doesn't foster that.


Consider the main assignments in this course, and the use of the templates. Were they helpful, relevant, apppropriate?  Would you have preferred more freedom and flexibility?    Feel free to be as candid as you want! I am open to opinions and suggestions!


I thought that the templates were very helpful.  They laid out clearly what was expected of us.  Thank you for all of the work you put into these templates.

Reflection 1: Instructional Design Course

I have selected a topic.  This summer, I will be teaching a course entitled "Building an Elite Class" that will cover various undergraduate admissions topics.  Below is the course description:

Do you ever wonder why some students get into an elite college while others do not?  This course looks at the policies that guide elite undergraduate college admissions offices in determining which students ‘get in’ and which are rejected.  We will discuss the basic practices of an admissions officer, including territories, reading of applications, defending ‘their’ students in committee and ultimately making decisions. We will also look at what outside forces shape those practices, including the impact of the US NEWS and World Report methodology, Supreme Court cases regarding affirmative action in college admissions, and federal financial aid. 

The knowledge and skills that I will bring to this initiative are as follows: I have a 6-12 Social Studies teaching license, though I am not currently practicing.  I have been working in admissions for the past six years and have a master's degree in higher education, with a focus on US admissions. 

The assistance I need is as follows: I would really appreciate constructive feedback on this initiative because I want this class to be good.  :)  It is the first non-credit online course that has been taught through Odyssey at Johns Hopkins, and I want to inspire them to teach more online courses.


Thanks,
Briggs

Reflection #3

Think back over the last two weeks and the subjects and our related discussions. We have defined online communities and discussed how to best organize and produce high performing teams in virtual environment. Now it is time to reflect back and wrap up all of these issues into one last reflection. Consider this one as the “last reflection” and focus on both how we have defined online communities and looked at the many variations of them as well as the complex, high performing team creation.

Now, what does all that mean to you? What are the big issues and ideas you have taken away from these two weeks of discussions? Finally, how does it apply to you? What will you do with this new knowledge base?


I learned that it is important to include a sense of community and to create team assignments in online courses.  Both help create a sense of accountability and ensure that students feel wanted and supported.  To build a successful community or team, there needs to be a sense of trust, mutual respect and (hopefully) a strong interest in the subject matter and assignments.

Of course, having teams means that there can be problems with those teams!  In my own classes, I would like to set up one big project for the team to work on.  I would require them to meet synchronously regularly, because I have read in the discussions and the articles that much can be lost (including tone, body language and smiles!) when students interact with each other only asynchronously.

I understand that this class included teams with specific roles in order to emulate the process of putting together a real class, with the faculty, instructional designer, graphic designer, programmer, and help desk.  I have found that teams with specific roles work better if each participant is capable of and willing to handle their specific role. 

From my experience with online teams, I have appreciated when teachers stepped in when communication between team members was unsuccessful.  Sometimes there are issues that cannot be solved by peers.