Overview:
The original intent of this internship was to partner with the St. Petersburg College instructional design and technology team to revise a MOOC-style course that is intended for new college students to learn the learning management system. By the time I started my internship, the executive leadership team of the college had placed a new requirement on the course, and expected it to be consolidated into less-than an hour time frame for completion, and for it to be completed during a face-to-face orientation class. Due to this unexpected turn of events, I jumped into while the team struggled in an “all hands on deck” capacity to complete the requirements of the leadership team within a 30-day period.
Thankfully, the leadership team granted an additional 30-day extension due to complexities with the software being accessibility friendly. By the end of the extension, leadership had approved the course with the removal of interactive content that had to be substituted with stagnant pages containing written instruction and picture references.
Simultaneously with this internship I had a conversation with the academic chair of the college’s Bachelor of Science in Technology Management. He suggested that they are encountering a problem with having to hire excessive numbers of adjuncts to teach intro to computer literacy courses, and it is impeding the productivity of the departments potential having to provide so many man-hours for these course that are not directly relevant to the degrees. I had suggested the consideration of a MOOC to eliminate some of these adjunct positions and need for so many course offerings, and he was enthused by the idea.
As I worked to develop a proposal for the switch to a MOOC-style course, the academic chair had put my name in as a referral for an adjunct position. I am now being credentialed to teach my first course in technology as an adjunct professor at the college.
Meanwhile, the non-credit side of St. Petersburg College had heard of the work I did in the Intro to MyCourses course and the MOOC-style course I was working on developing, and they took a great interest in my capabilities. I quickly received an email from one of the program managers in the department requesting that I apply for an open instructional designer role in their department, and that they believe I could be a great fit. Unfortunately, I had to denied this opportunity due to recently accepting my current position in the college and still being on probation as I worked towards the completion of my grant funded project. Nevertheless, there are opportunities for me in the future to advance into this career as desired, and it all begins with this internship.
1: Define success strategies of gamification
Research for Gamification
What happened regarding this?
The initial learning objective was created when I was informed that I would be taking the role as a lead consultant for the revision of a general course that is open to the entire student population to learn the Learning Management System. My original thought was to add elements of gamification to this MOOC-style course for students to be encouraged to complete it on their own, as it does not fulfill any requirements at the college. However, by the time I was brought on board, the executive leadership team had issued a directive to the instructional design team to revise the course in a specific way, limiting their resources and time allowed to develop the course. Additionally, the leadership wanted students to complete the course in less than hour so that it would be incorporated into the mandatory orientation that all students must sit through. Nevertheless, I did perform some basic-level research to prepare for an argument of converting an intro to computer literacy course to a MOOC that incorporated gamification strategies.
Why did that happen?
I like to consider higher education as a living organism rather than a steadily progressing organization. As new leadership roles are established, the college’s vision and focus can shift and effect many aspects of the college. The past year has been an organizational leadership shift as our former president retired and our new one stepped in. As a result, we are seeing our new president’s vision take place, and her vice president felt that our orientation system needed to be recreated with the incorporation of the content found in this course. Unfortunately for us, this meant consolidating a MOOC-style offering that typically took four to five hours for students to complete on their, and force them to complete it within one hour during a four-hour orientation session.
What did I learn?
From this experience, I learned to never feel comfortable that your plan will be executed exactly as envisioned. This is especially true in the context of working with higher education. The part that made it particularly challenging is that I would no longer be fulfilling my internship contract as planned, and that I was placed under an extremely tight deadline that we had negotiate. I learned that communicating realistic expectations of timelines and pulling together team resources is how we could overcome the task at hand.
How will I apply what I learned in the future?
In future efforts with the college, including my daily job, I can apply what I learned about communication and planning timelines. I will also take with me the importance of being flexible and willing to adapt to a change in a moment’s notice to meet the need of the client, or in this case, organizational leadership.
What more do I need to learn?
This event has taught me that I need to learn how to navigate upper executive leadership for the organization. While I understand the basic principles of their duties and visions, I could benefit from working more directly with them and learning how to not only deliver upon their expectations, but also predict the changes and prepare solutions ahead of schedule.
2: Demonstrate proper utilization of Web 2.0 technologies
PowToons, H5P, ThingLink, Just-in-Time Training
What happened regarding this?
Although the course did not end up the way I originally planned, it was due to a number of reasons that I will get to momentarily. As mentioned previously, the original course design and concept had to be changed to meet the executive leadership’s direction. Nevertheless, I was able to work with the instructional design team to discuss various Web 2.0 tools that they were not familiar with, including ThingLink and H5P. Additionally, I suggested that PowToon make for a great intro to each module as a brief overview of the content and expected outcomes. The team agreed to trying these techinques out, and ultimately stuck to PowToon with Endemble for close captioning and H5P for interactivity.
Why did that happen?
PowToon is great tool to increase engagement. We decided on this platform for the ease of use and appeal that it has. We designed a template for each video, and used these throughout every module. The PowToon would be used as a 30-second overview of what is to be discussed and learned from the module. Having only 6 minutes for the learner to spend on each module, it was crucial that we kept these brief and informative. We discovered that ThingLink was not universally acceptable for the visually impaired and screen reading software. However, H5P did not encounter the same problems we experienced with ThingLink, and we found that it generally was successful for screen reading software and the visually impaired.
What did I learn?
I learned the importance of consulting other stakeholders that would be utilizing the course content. Of particular interest was the Accessibility Services Team and working with visually impaired students. Having the opportunity to interview an individual who relies on screen reading software for their degree, we were able to put them through several different trials to confirm what programs worked and did not work, and what barriers they may encounter. This was an extremely valuable experience for me that I will continue to consider.
How will I apply what I learned in the future?
I learned that while I may be a consultant, it is important to remember that I may have the opportunity and need to reach out to others as consultants for the work that I am doing. I will use this knowledge in the future to not only consider perspectives and stakeholders, but also the value of confirming accessibility for all students. In the future, I will create trial pieces for the accessibility services team to test before I invest time and effort in the development of a tool that may or may not be effective.
What more do I need to learn?
There is a great deal of Web 2.0 tools available, and more are added every year. As I continue to work in instructional design and technology, I seek to learn more about these emerging technologies and how they can be utilized in instruction. I desire to learn more about the accessibility considerations and the tools that are used by these learners so that I can better identify technology would be universally accessible to all learners.
3: Evaluate effectiveness of current course
Evaluation of CGS1070: Basic Computer Literacy
What happened regarding this?
Due to the timing of the internship and the executive leadership decisions already being made, there was not an opportunity for me to evaluate the originally intended course. However, I did partner with academic chair of the B.S. in Computer Technology Management.
Why did that happen?
Leadership had a vision that the instructional design team had to follow, so the opportunity to evaluate the course was already completed and unnecessary. However, the academic chair for the B.S. in Computer Technology Management mentioned in a casual conversation that he is encountering a problem with the students who enroll in a one credit hour computer literacy course, and that the course required an excessive number of adjunct faculty to teach the course
What did I learn?
I learned that there is more to understanding a course than a simple explanation of a member of leadership. I found through the evaluation of the computer literacy course that the course relies heavily on text-based instruction and that the learners have hard time following written steps.
How will I apply what I learned in the future?
Evaluating courses can be time consuming and require multiple interviews. It was not until after viewing the content for myself, speaking with a former student, and speaking with the instructors of the course that I felt confident in addressing the concerns. In the future, I will create a strategy to implement this process rather than letting it naturally occur.
What more do I need to learn?
I need to learn how to quickly identify these problems without the need for prolonged exploration and interviews. I desire to formulate a baseline schedule of questions and processes that would help identify key information stakeholders to determine problems in the design.
4: Develop a Gamification Strategy
Gamification Strategy for CGS1070 MOOC
What happened regarding this?
As mentioned previously the original intent was to apply gamification strategies for the Intro to MyCourses course. However, due to changes in the project direction, I was not able to apply much of a gamification strategy for the course outside of badging. To address this learning objective, I incorporated it into my side project of developing a MOOC-style course in Computer Literacy. Using the UCF Library Database, I searched and developed a brief starting point for incorporating gamification into this MOOC.
Why did that happen?
This change happened as a result from organizational leadership. I discussed the potential for gamification in a MOOC with my contact that is helping me develop this MOOC rationale. After him agreeing to the potential for a gamification element in a MOOC, he encouraged me to find come up with a couple of suggestions for how to apply this strategy to the computer literacy course.
What did I learn?
I learned that there is not a large sum of information for gamification in MOOCs, and what information is available is helpful but seemingly incomplete. Nevertheless, I discovered that simple elements such as locking future modules until completing a “boss objective” of the current module can be helpful in self-paced courses. Additionally, providing a social reward such a badging or “trophies” encourages completion of course content, and can be utilized to enhance the social learning environment of a normally anti-social MOOC.
How will I apply what I learned in the future?
Moving forward, I found some relevant and useful techniques for eLearning in general, regardless of if the course is MOOC or has formal gamifications elements in it or not. I plan to incorporate in this MOOC various elements of gamification, including: A progress bar, “levels” that are unlocked as course objectives are completed, and social badges that are displayed on the learners LMS profile for completion of course content.
What more do I need to learn?
I would like to learn more about MOOCs and their potential for gamification elements. I believe we could learn a great deal from massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) in regards to social learning theory, gamification, and self-directed learning from readily available content. I desire to develop a research paper in this area, and apply it to my future course designs.
5: Design Interactive Content
Articulate Storyline, H5P, ThingLink
What happened regarding this?
The design team approached many alternatives to interactive content, including Articulate Storyline, H5P, and ThingLink as solutions to creating diverse and engaging course content. We created multiple examples for each of these before coming to a final decision.
Why did that happen?
After creating multiple options, we discovered that our LMS interfered with the functionality of caption software for the visually impaired for all three of these platforms. Despite the captioning system working in the design team’s office, we discovered that not all versions of various captioning software was effective. As a result, the team had to remove these interactive elements and provide simple written instructions with pictures.
What did I learn?
Inclusion is vital piece of higher education, especially when it comes to the creation of eLearning content. It was extremely unfortunate for the entire desire team to create these multiple different platforms of interactive content and have to remove them from the final product due to inclusivity. However, the ultimate goal of our eLearning courses is to provide a fair and readily available education. I learned that interactivity in online courses may not always be possible and that these barriers may result in reconsidering the delivery of a course.
How will I apply what I learned in the future?
Patience is a requirement in this industry. I have learned from this experience that when working with multiple stakeholders, it takes a great deal of time to vet through the possible solutions and analyze what solutions are practical.
What more do I need to learn?
I need to learn more about the different learning management systems and how each one may interact differently with screen reading software and other tools that students may use for accessibility. I will continue to grow this knowledge as I experiment in different systems and test the functionality of them for diverse populations.
6: Create Instructional Videos and Resources
PowToons, Syllabus, Course Content
What happened regarding this?
The original contact was designed for me to create new interview-style videos that would be dynamic and appealing to the targeted population, replacing the original videos that were old and stagnant with outdated information. However, given the new direction from leadership, we had to limit these new videos to 30-60 seconds, which did not make it practical to create face-to-face interviews with in-depth information. As a result, the team chose to use PowToon for its simplicity and appeal. I also had the opportunity of developing the course content, including the module summaries and the complete syllabus.
Why did that happen?
The team knew from previous courses that PowToon is accessibility friendly for the LMS, and felt it would be the best fit for the needs of the course. It was also important that we manually captioned each video as the auto-caption feature would often result in errors. The team trusted me with the syllabus design due to the recent exposure in my education and previous syllabi that I have created. The course content was a collaborative effort, with the on-site mentor and I sharing the load of module overviews, and our third member of the design team ensuring the step-by-step instructions were uploaded in the correct locations for just-in-time training and linked to the course.
What did I learn?
From this experience, I learned that having quality audio recording gear is necessary as an instructional design. I also discovered that the free PowToon is not worth using, and the new Pro and Pro+ plans can be expensive and not necessarily worth it considering the alternative options. I learned that auto-captioning cannot be trusted, and that manually captioning is time consuming.
How will I apply what I learned in the future?
In the future, I will budget more time for video creation and captioning when working with digital software. I will also invest in a high-quality audio-recording set to prevent issues with quiet audio.
What more do I need to learn?
From this experience, I have identified that I still have much to learn in regards to professional video production when using digital software and recording solutions. While I may familiar with recording video, creating digital content is a bit of a different process. I desire to learn more about different animation software similar to PowToon and learn these systems for future uses.