I think I went into this assignment feeling too confident after the completion of the Introductory Module. My initial plan was to design all the content for Unit 1 of the course, which would have included the listening component, pronunciation component and the end-of-unit task. I realized that this plan was too ambitious given the timeframe I had to work with. This was a good realization that despite my intentions online content does take quite a bit of time to develop effectively, especially when the developer is new to LMS. I decided to focus on Part 1 of Unit 1, the listening component, and to develop this more fully.

The listening component of Unit 1, proved to be a lot of work. I tried to work strategically starting from the learning outcomes and developing content that would scaffold students sufficiently for the tasks. I was able to explore a lot of digital tools and decided on Videoscribe and Emaze + Camtasia for the instructional videos that I created. I used Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/) and Negative Space (http://negativespace.co/) for pictures available under creative commons licensing. I also got experience using lots of new tools on Blackboard to build content such as the testing tool, discussion board, voiceboard, Mashups, and embedding different types of content (PDF files, photos, audio files, etc.). I also learned more about how to create different kinds of learning paths using modules and content folders.

That said I did at times find it very frustrating and limiting designing content on Blackboard. I felt it was very hard to design enough activities that promoted authentic interaction between students and between the instructor and students. A tool like Voicethread (http://voicethread.com/) would have enabled students to connect with the content and each other in a more dynamic way. I know that there is a Voicethread plug in for Blackboard, but many institutions like UBC do not provide this tool. I don’t like the design of the Blackboard Test/Quiz tool especially for ungraded practice activities. It feels very slow and clunky to navigate through the test format. I think in the future I would probably have my practice activities hosted on another site and have students access it via a link.

Overall, this was a great experience and despite some frustrations, I learned a lot and particularly enjoyed the design aspects of this project.

Click here to my the project documentation for the content module.

I found this assignment to be challenging and exciting. It was my first experience designing a course on a LMS. I chose to use Blackboard, since the college where I recently started working uses this LMS exclusively, and in the future I will likely need to create and modify online content for course delivery. The college is very interested in exploring new learning technologies and modes of delivery. I could imagine a fully online course, or at least course component, being of interest to the ESL department in the near future.

Through this project, I had the opportunity to learn about Blackboard tools and get a better understanding of the limitations of many of them, especially in terms of having students complete group language production tasks. I am used to using more open platforms, so it was a challenge to design activities suitable for this environment.

The readings related to instructional design helped me more fully understand the backward design approach, how to develop very clear and measurable learning outcomes, how to design educative assessments that are well aligned with the outcomes, how course activities must prepare students to succeed in the assessments, and more importantly how to actually apply this knowledge to a course. I also gained an understanding of how to use storyboards to organize content in more logical ways online and different ways to structure learning paths. I based the course loosely on a course I am currently teaching, but the more I read, the more I my online course veered away from what I am currently teaching.

I now feel much more confident making decisions around instructional design and actually creating courses. I really look forward to working on the content module next.

Check out my introductory module project documentation here.

This assignment was my first experience working on a fully online collaborative group project. I learned so much through this process. At first it was somewhat intimidating working with group members who were much further along in the program than I was, but it ended up being a great motivation for me to learn a lot and learn quickly.

I invested a great deal of time researching the differences between proprietary, open-source, open and cloud-based LMS platforms and better understanding the complexities surrounding platform selection. I can now talk about LMS in a much more informed way and gained a very good foundation for how to go about selecting a LMS. I gained more confidence working with others in this field and felt I was able to contribute equally.

In terms of collaborative work in general, I also learned more about the need to have a clear meeting agenda to maximize efficiency in meetings, the importance of responding quickly to messages from other members, how to negotiate in terms of dividing work,  dealing with misunderstandings, and the need to adapt to changing group dynamics.

Overall, it was a great learning experience and somewhat changed my mind about group work. I learned much more working in with this group than I would have been able to learn on my own. It provided better focus and by having diverse opinions, and negotiating and discussing things along the way, we were able to come up with a much more informed and well thought out final assignment.

Check out our platform evaluation here 

Please join me as I take off on a journey of discovery in ETEC 565a.