This was the first time I used Canvas and the second time I built a course. And the first one I did entirely alone. In my eyes this proves to me that all the effort I put in studying towards my MET Certificate was worth it. A year ago I did not know what pedagogy was, not to mention Powtoons or Snagit.
As regards my learning arch for the course I built for Assignment 4, it was organically related to all other assignments and tasks I performed in this ETEC course. In the last 2 months I sort of grew into building this test course.
I wanted to build a course on research-policy communication that would target PhD students and young post-docs. The Flight Path made me ponder this idea and further clarify it. Assignment 2, with its case study, helped me develop ideas around the importance of the target group, its expectations, readiness and teaching context (Reeder et al 2004, Aylward 2012). I also drew from Bates SECTIONS model, although I realized it was probably meant for bigger on-line programs than my small-scale, almost indie course.
I knew my course needed to be short, maximum 6 weeks, divided in 3 modules. It also needed to be a non-credit course, more in the field of professional development, because post-docs, and very often PhD students, are not registered in the credit coursework or are not supposed to do it anymore after some point in their programs. Considering my audience, I also knew it should start with a more academic module and finish with a hands-on module. For Assignment 3&4 I focused on the second module, which was envisioned as a transitioning place in the course. It was supposed to be less academic but still not fully hands-on. My digital story, as I explained in my reflection video, could not be seen as a self-standing course material, but rather a different way the same story is retold in a more traditional, academic way in the same module. The two ways of delivery of the same message was important to me to make my students with academic background realize the pros and cons of the two communication approaches for themselves.
I also used more video form youtube, I created another animated presentation and even recorded three interviews with an expert to use it in the module. In the end I used only one recording and put it as an audio recording because 1) the video did not work well in Camtasia suit (I am not a professional filmmaker and made a mediocre use of my camera) ; and 2) I realized some of the remarks were redundant or repetitive. I decided to use that audio recording to kick off the discussion because I found it quite controversial.
In the process I learnt three new software tools (Canvas, Camtasia and Spark), including their Chrome bugs and remedies.
I am not stopping on Module II of my course, I will continue working on it.
Aylward, M. L. (2012). “Migration, Minorities, and Learning: Understanding Cultural and Social Differences in Education.” In International Handbook of Migration, Minorities and Education, edited by Z. Bekerman and Th. Geisen, pp. 189–93. Amsterdam: Springer Netherlands.
Bates, A.W.(2014) Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning, UBC.
Reeder, K., Macfadyen, L. P., Roche, J., & Chase, M. (2004). Negotiating cultures in cyberspace: Participation patterns and problematics. Doctoral dissertation, Vancouver: University of British Columbia.