Beginning of Course	End of Course
Formulate sets of learning objectives and achieve these in the technology-dependent educational environments	By designing all of the modules of my proposed course, I was able to establish the learning goals. I was struggling to come up with these at the start of the course as I wasn’t exactly sure what the course would be about.
Explore the effectiveness of course setup and the impact of specific plugins on learning outcomes	I was able to explore the Eliademy LMS in detail which was great as I had never even heard of it before. I further learned a lot about how functions of LMS can enhance or be detrimental to learning.
Gain specific skills and approaches for using WooTheme’s Sensei plugin for WordPress for an online course I am designing for adult learners	While not able to access the Sensei plugin, I spent a lot of time researching what features are available and related to the course I designed.

 

Newly Developed / Improved Technological Skills

• ADDIE Model for selecting LMS
• Trends in LMS (could they be obsolete soon?)
• SELECTIONS Model for choosing technology tools
• Competency-based learning
• Chickering 7 Principles for Good Practice
• Intrinsic / Extrinsic motivation
• Ongoing formative feedback
• Game-Based Learning (I used Dilemma 44 as an example in my course
• Integrating Social Media into my course
• Choosing a Creative Commons label

 

Designer/Ascetic Preferences and Instructional Values

Web-­based training encourages self-directed learning by allowing students to:  

• Select only the content they need  
• Skip content they don’t need  
• Define their own unique paths through the content  
• Explore related links during training

 

Learning Units:

• Emphasizes main points and tasks  
• Conveys relationships among instructional elements, as well as main points and tasks  
• Appeals to learners’ pretraining knowledge and skills  
• Reflects as much as possible how the skills and knowledge will be applied post­training  
• Progresses at a reasonable pace, in a logical order

 

Balancing linear and non-linear learning paths

• Standardize the entrance
  • All students start in same module
• Minimize the links
  • Allowing learners to self­-select the order of modules or learning units
  • External links should keep student on same page
• Maintain consistency
  • Establish routine
• Orient the learner
  • Show student progress

 

Value of Course Components

Reading materials  4/5

• I found the articles to be relevant to the course content
• Sometimes too many articles – may be better to choose fewer and focus on them more in-depth
• More multimedia options (e.g. videos) would be great

 

Discussion themes and questions  2/5

• I did not do a very good job posting my articles each week
• I find it nearly impossible to read everyone’s posts – perhaps video responses or meetings would be easier
• Answering the questions help me process ideas learned in the readings

 

Individual and group project work  4/5

• I did not learn anything in my group assignment 1
• The participants had finished almost all of the project early and I was left to make final edits and format
• I didn’t understand the evaluation of a single platform as one cannot truly understand it until it has been used in context
• I learned a lot designing my own course as it was an authentic project that I am passionate about
• I wish I had completed my work on time to gain feedback from my peers and the instructor

 

Range of LMSs for experimenting with and creating course projects  2/5

• My last two schools have had a mandated LMS – so exploring others does not apply to me
• I liked learning about selection models in case I would need to do this in the future, but perhaps there is no future for LMS
• I found the articles on instructional design, motivation, and incorporating ongoing feedback much more applicable – LMS functions are simply a way to facilitate effective pedagogy