Session 5 - Completion of the Group Project - I do not like them Sam I am, I DO NOT LIKE Green Eggs and Ham

Hey All,

My Contributions
This week was certainly an interesting one for me. I communicated with Mikko, Ebony and Limin regularly throughout the week and Mikko, once again, got us off to a great start after the synchronous meeting with Dr. Newberry in his role as Dr. Hunziker. 

So, armed with a better purpose and understanding(or so I thought...) of what we should do this week, I set about creating 2 documents. One to help us better divide up the team roles so that everyone REALLY had a fair chance to contribute this week and the second to get us started developing our concept for the course from what the professor, students and content would need so that it was true to his course and his vision. 

At the top of the second document I started us off by selecting the following; a really identifying passage from the sample syllabus that seemed to define what was most important to the professor:

Thinking historically means many things.  For our purposes, it means recognizing changes and continuities over time; understanding the complex relationship between historical events, historical context, and human culture; interrogating and critically interpreting both primary and secondary sources; constructing interpretations of one’s own based on analysis of historical evidence; and using historical knowledge and insight to gain a better understanding of the present. In this course, we will think historically by entering into a dialogue with the past and some of its more interesting personalities while at the same time reflecting on what the past can teach us about our world today.

After that I gave several ideas and asked several questions in regards to the needs of the learner, professor and content to get us started in our planning. 

My responsibilities document had given control of leading the team to Mikko for steps 3-5 of the 11-step process, Ebony steps 6-8 and Limin steps 9-11 so having started the team, I sent of an email describing the documents, their purpose and attempted to clarify the project and team expectations. 

Then Chaos ensued. What I had thought was clear was incredibly unclear. 

Happily, Dr. Newberry stepped in and got us back on track.

I had a medical emergency with my son and my wonderful group was able to take our project from what was previously shared to a state of completion in a relatively short amount of time. 

I read through their amazing document, asked questions for clarification, they answered my questions and then submitted.

What have I learned?

So, you may ask, "what have I learned about instructional design thus far?" Well, I think that instructional design is a fantastic process. It's an art form that can be practiced by many people in varied styles. The greatest thing about it is that every one can articulate a solution in their own personal style and while I wouldn't go so far as to say that they'll address the situation equally, many of them would. That's great!!!

What else have I learned? I received a paper back in my other ETEC class and my only criticism was that I had too narrow a focus onto instructional design for education. So, I've also learned that instructional design isn't just for teaching at a school, but that I personally couldn't care less, for myself, about the other applications. 

I had the opportunity to work with an AMAZING group in the development process and it was incredibly stressful. I'm in these courses for the knowledge that I can gain for myself and for the applications I can make to my own practice. I am SUPER excited about creating my own elearning course to open up wider opportunities to math students in my school and possibly my district. I think there are some amazing opportunities here for me to bring professional development for teachers by teachers to an entirely new level. 

If I never plan an elearning course of employee development for Zappos, or plan an online organic chemistry class for the University of Maryland or any other application outside of my chosen realm of expertise, I'll be just fine.

Cheers,

Michelle