EDLD+5368+-+Instructional+Design+Reflections

There are a number of benefits in educators having the knowledge and skills to design and implement online learning, as seen throughout this course and Master’s program as a whole. Online learning provides a means for implementing a more advanced degree of differentiation and individualized learning into the classroom that was not previously possible. Online learning opens the opportunities for students to display understanding through the use of authentic and project-based learning. As explained by Dabbagh (2010) this type of learning allows teachers to reach students through cognitive methods by allowing students to “communicate or transfer knowledge in the most efficient, effective manner”. Real-world application and self-directed learning through online communities also allows educators to bring humanistic methods into the classroom by allowing, as described in Learning Theories Knowledge Base (2010), “student centered and personalized [learning]…[with] the educator’s role as that of a facilitator”. Both of these approaches, which are greatly supported through online learning, allow for better understanding and a more meaningful grasp of concepts by students.

The course that I designed using Schoology will play a large part in the planning of courses for next school year. One way that this course will be used for future course development is in the methodology that was used to create it. This course was the first course I have developed using Wiggins and McTighe’s (2000) model of “backward design” and it will serve as the prototype for designing future courses using this method. Educators and curriculum specialists will be given a template for creating courses by first assessing the needs of the students, outlining the desired results of the course, creating a rubric that defines how the evidence of understanding will be assessed, and, finally, developing the learning activities and methods of teaching that will achieve these desired outcomes. This course will also serve as a model for effectively developing online courses for TAKS remediation classes. Many of the TAKS remediation classes are small in size and the students rarely receive credit for them. Through implementing online courses, a greater number of students can be in the same remediation class, regardless of which subject they need remediation in. Also, the online course will allow the school to implement the technology TEKS in such a way that students will be able to obtain a technology credit once the course is completed.

Due to the increase in the prevalence of technology in our daily lives, I feel that it will be imperative to integrate technology into many of the teacher/staff development sessions that will take place over the summer, throughout the next school year, and on into the future. I believe that this adequate technology training is crucial for teachers to be fully prepared to present effective and innovative lessons in an online environment. Being digital immigrants, many teachers do not have the intimate knowledge of the various technological tools that exist. We are also not aware of how to effectively adapt our curriculum to make it work effectively in an online environment. Unfortunately, many teachers simply upload their traditional lectures and assignments to online communities and consider this sufficient. Professional development sessions are desperately needed to give teachers the tools to create new and innovative lessons in an online format. As seen in the Sloan-C report (2009), “the most common training approaches for online faculty are internally run training courses (65 percent) and informal mentoring (59 percent)”. These techniques are also the most common form of training in my district and I feel that they are not adequate for the surge in demand for online learning. Schools and districts must branch out to other districts and states to stay on top of the most effective, research-based techniques for teaching in an online setting. After all, as online learning becomes more established and as technology continues to grow and advance, the business world will also continue to integrate more and more technology. We must ensure that we are providing our students with the knowledge they will need to be successful and competitive in this 21st century. It will become imperative that teachers expand their knowledge base to adequately keep up with the world and prepare students for their lives after school.

With the rate at which technology and the field of online learning is growing and changing, there are still some concepts that I have questions about and will continue to research and explore beyond this course. I want to further explore the use of online rubrics for grading student work. Are there sites that can help educators develop rubrics and then upload them directly in the software that they are using for their course? If loaded into an online course, can the rubric grades be kept secure enough to satisfy all FERPA guidelines? I also have questions about different types of software that can be used to develop online courses. Schoology is a good software to use, in my opinion, for higher grade levels where students already have a strong grasp of technology and more than likely use social networking sites, wikis, and blogs. However, are there more basic programs that would allow students with less technological know-how or students in the elementary and intermediate schools to better follow the lesson plans? Also, one of the largest areas of feedback I received from my students was in the lack of auditory and visual differentiation in the course that was developed using Schoology. Many of these students need larger font sizes or to have the option to have directions read aloud when working on the computer. I would like to research various programs that are available online that could help my students in overcoming some of these problems.

Overall, there are a number of strategies, techniques, best-practices, and software that I have learned throughout this course that I plan to implement and use in my professional life. I plan to increase the amount of online learning that is available in the courses offered at my school, as well as increase the number of online courses that are offered. As shown in the Sloan-C report (2009), a greater number of higher education institutions are incorporating online learning and that “public institutions (74 percent) are more likely to believe that online is critical for their long-term strategy”. Elementary and secondary education institutions must, as a result, begin preparing students for this new wave in higher education. I will also use what I have learned regarding backward design and the development of authentic and real-world projects based on a comprehensive needs assessment (Wiggins and McTighe, 2010). It is vital to the true success of our students that we begin to develop course curricula in such a way that seeks evidence of their true understanding of the underlying concepts and not just mere memorization of facts and figures. I plan on challenging teachers to develop all new rubrics over the summer that will assess students understanding through the use of Wiggins and McTighe’s (2010) 6 facets of understanding: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. Empowering our students with an education that is based on desired results of enduring understanding and not merely recitation and memorization with help prepare them for a world and work force that is continually changing and growing. References: **  Dabbagh, N. (2006). The instructional design knowledge base. Retrieved on April 14, 2010 from []
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Learning Theories Knowledge Base. (2010, March). __ Learning-Theories.com __ . Retrieved April 14, 2010 from [|http://www.learning-theories.com]

Sloan Consortium. (2009). Learning on Demand: Online Learning in the United States, 2009. Retrieved from [|http://www.sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/learning_on_] __ demand_sr2010 __  Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2000). Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Retrieved __ from  @http://site.ebrary.com/lib/lamar/docDetail.action?docID=10081770  __