Building Bridges

Success begins with a single step towards a goal. When I registered for EDU 658, it was with a great amount of trepidation and fear.  I had attempted the course last year and failed miserably due to several health issues that prevented active participation.  Though there was a very valid and logical reason for my failure, I had a very illogical concern that I was somehow cursed and would bomb this course a second time.

I never said I was a logical person, but I rarely admit to being wrong either...

Ok.  I didn't bomb the course a second time.  In fact, I think I did fairly well.  I learned a few things from my previous attempt at the course, and I learned a TON of great things during this iteration.

Lessons from Long Ago (Last Summer)

As I stated previously, I attempted this course last summer.  Due to health issues, I had to request, and was granted, an incomplete.  Asking for an Incomplete was Mistake #1. An incomplete is a great tool to be used sparingly.  I, however, am an out-of-sight-out-of-mind individual.  Once I rolled into Fall Semester, I was all about those courses (while still trying to maintain my health). EDU 658 was not a priority.  I tried to work on it, but as with all graduate work, Yoda said it best, "Do or do not, there is no try."

 My lesson from Mistake #1 was that an Incomplete should be avoided whenever possible.  I am not entirely convinced I could have avoided that particular instance, as the health issues took a considerable amount of time and brain power to deal with.  I still wish I could have finished the course during the regular session instead of taking the Incomplete.

While it is debatable as to whether Mistake #1 could have been avoided (perhaps I could have focused more during the semester and just completed the course? Doubtful, but there are those that would say I could have), Mistake #2 was entirely my fault and was the ultimate result of my abysmal failure.  What was Mistake #2, you ask?  Simple: Lack of communication with my instructor.

That's right.  I, the girl who had "talks too much" on nearly every report card as she was growing up, failed to communicate with my instructor.  I believe I emailed her less than half a dozen times through the course of the semester and the following time allowed for the Incomplete.  In online classes, communication is vital to success.  Emailing the instructor, synchronous meetings, phone calls, etc should take place weekly just like with regular face-to-face classes.  I dropped the ball and paid the consequences. Lesson learned.

Mistake #3 was not so much a mistake as it was just a pure learning experience.  My third mistake was attempting to design a class that I really had no business designing.  As an Adult Educator, I have taught nearly everything under the sun: Algebra, Biology, English, History... If you had to take it in high school, I've taught some portion of it to adults working on their High School Equivalency (GED®, HiSET®, TASC®, or Adult High School Diploma).  That is just the nature of Adult Ed.  So I decided to create an online version of a Math class that I had taught previously.  The problem is that Math is not my strong suit, and I am much better teaching it in person than I am in an online format as I tend to talk things out and work one-on-one with math students.  Trying to put that in an online format did not work and it was evident from the moment I attempted to create my Blueprint.  I'm glad I learned this lesson- don't attempt to build a course dealing with a subject that isn't your favorite/strong suit. 

Lessons Learned This Summer

This summer has been very different.  I have been fully engaged in learning and developing during this round of EDU 658, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it!  I have learned some great things about design in this course, and I would like to share some of it with you.

Listen to your Rice Krispies: We all have those inner monologues with ourselves.  Should I do this? What if I do that? Can I really get this done? The list goes on. It is important to listen to yourself, as well as follow design and instructional principles, when developing an online course. Listening to your Rice Krispies means following

your instincts and incorporating what you know understand about design and learning into your course. It also means being in tune with your intended audience.  If you are unsure of the audience, you have no idea what will appeal to them and keep their attention.

Last summer I attempted to design a course I knew I would not like (as I mentioned earlier).  This year I went with a course that was much closer to my heart, a course that was more about guiding students in a particular path- the path to college in a course called Bridges to Success.  This made design so much more fun and, in many ways, intuitive, because I wasn't forcing myself to create material I did not even want to look at, let alone create more of it.  I could clearly picture what I wanted them to know and how to guide them through the course.

Understanding design and learning principles is another part of listening to your Rice Krispies.  These concepts guide creation and implementation of the course.  Without being guided by these principles the course ends up a mess.  Knowing principles such as ADDIE or SAM or Universal Design for Learning can actually help you out of a jam in your design process.  Looking back over these principles and others really helped me when I was not quite sure what type of assignment to create to inspire or assess learning.

The last part of listening to those Rice Krispies is knowing your audience.  A course designed for elementary students will look vastly different from a course designed for college students.  Likewise, a course for adult basic skills learners will look very different from a course designed for graduate students.  Even though they are both adults, the needs are very different.  It is important to consider all these things in design.

Communication is Key:  This is really a continuation of a lesson learned from last summer about communication.  This summer, I made sure to maintain contact with my instructor.  And guess what?  I was more successful!

Last summer, I felt isolated and uncertain of everything I was doing.  This feeling resulted because I failed to email and communicate with the course instructor.  I even failed to attend the class synchronous meeting, leaving me even more isolated from my classmates.

This summer, however, I maintained almost constant contact with my instructor.  What a difference this made!  Through this communication by email and web meetings, I learned exactly what I needed to do for assignments, what I needed to correct, and what to look for in the future.  We even shared several anecdotes of our teaching experiences! This connection created a much better experience for me.  I felt more engaged in the learning process because I was more engaged in the learning process.

Designers Just Wanna Have Fun: Designing a class is fun.  It involves an interesting mix of knowledge and creativity to create and design a class that is engaging to a variety of individuals.  While you know it is impossible to please everyone, you still try to create a learning environment that will appeal to as many as possible.  This requires skill and a bit of pizzazz. 
 
Creating the material for the class should not be drudgery.  If it is, you are doing it wrong.  If you are dreading putting the material together, imagine how your students will feel going through the material.  Students want to be engaged in learning, and this is required even more so in the online learning environment.  

As online instructional designers, it is our duty to not just throw out the information to the students.  We must invite them into the learning process.  We do this by creating relevant and practical materials that promote individual learning while maintaining a the feel of a group environment.  This delicate balance allows for students to feel like they are part of a community yet able to learn at his/her own pace.  And, again, it is vital that these processes be fun!

Step by Step: As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, success begins with a single step towards a goal.  To be successful in EDU 658, I had to take several individual steps toward my goal.  Some of the steps were difficult only because I had to "learn the hard way."  Though I was not successful in my first attempt at this course, I still learned quite a bit.  Those steps taken last summer lead to an enriched learning experience this summer.  I suppose that means that last summer was not a complete failure.  It lead me to where I am now.  I was a single step towards my goal and well worth it.

We have to remember that, though we are instructor/teachers, we are also students ourselves.  Online course development is an ever evolving field, therefore we are constantly learning new information, principles, and practices.  This too involves a continual movement forward, step by step towards new goals.  As we move forward, we help our students continue to move forward as well.

The End of this Post but the Beginning of My Online Teaching Journey:  This has been my longest reflective post thus far in my journey towards my Master of Science degree in Online Teaching and Instructional Design.  Perhaps because I had a bit more to reflect upon because I had two experiences to compare.  No matter the reason, I feel that I have learned a tremendous amount about my own style and what I need (and need to do) as a result of taking this course twice.  The content (design principles, how students learn, etc.) was important and I need it for my work; however, sometimes the most important lessons are those that help us to improve ourselves.  Those are the types of lessons I take with me from this course.

I would like to end this by sharing to of my favorite examples of success.  These two graphics depict what success means to me, and I hope that these images are useful to others as well...