Models for Learning Design - Course Reflection
This was my first course in the ELID program that actually addressed Instructional Design theories and practices, so I was extremely excited to dive into the actual science of designing education - and it did not disappoint! I had been an educator for some time now and built out many educational programs for adult learners in a professional context, but I had never broken down or analyzed what I'd created in respect to design theories. My A4b module represents the convergence of what I do professionally with my own skill development as I practiced applying ADDIE to the knowledge base I already had.
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At the start of the course I had a hard time finding what I wanted to develop for my learning module and applying ADDIE outside the K-12 research pool and into adult applications. I feel like I got a step behind very early on and spent most of the quarter attempting to catch up, but despite that I still feel good about my final learning module and was able to apply so many features from instructional design into my signature assignment. I feel like I’ve created something very different from what I’d created before and much more outside the box of traditional classroom-based seminars. Using the materials from this course and thinking about alternative methods of information delivery really pushed me to create something new.
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A big part of this course was the interaction, feedback, and collaboration between peers that was worked into all of the discussion boards and projects. I feel like the act of developing your own educational module for application within your professional environment is a brilliant way to inspire a strong sense of investment in your own work. For me, this was a big factor in helping me comprehend and retain the course material and truly build out a project that I can be proud of. I appreciated how each stage of development was integrated into the discussion board assignments and allowed for peer feedback on every decision we made.