OTID Reflection

Final Online Teaching and Instructional Design Reflection! Hooray!!

What have you learned about course design and planning? 

While finishing up the requirements for the MS in OTID I learned a great deal about prior planning in regards to course design. In the process I also learned that I am not a planner on "paper" by nature because I found I very often change my plans, design, concepts etc when I am actually in the building stage of design. 

I completely see the benefit for both the client and designer when having pre-planning documents. This is an area I want to continue to work on because sometimes in the planning stage I cannot see the design in my head until I start working in the online learning environment. 

I realize with the changes that were made to the OTID program in the last 2 years I have been given a great advantage for not only designing for education purposes but also for the business and nonprofit professional settings. Terms like Gantt Chart are not often used in educational design planning and I now feel I am better suited to design in many professional settings no matter the content. 


How close was your final product to your planning document? 

My final Accessibility Training was actually very close to my planning documents in terms of layout, however, there were a few content pieces that I changed and decided to elaborate on more once I saw the visual aspect of it in Canvas. I found that once I started designing this training that it could become a very large training and had to really only highlight big items for the purposes of time. 

What new technology, if any, did you find yourself using to complete your module(s)? 

I didn't utilize a lot of new technology because I specifically focused on digital tools that had accessibility statements like Thinglink, however, I did learn a lot about new HTML codes and how to apply them to making your online learning environments accessible to all learners. I found myself getting more comfortable with HTML codes and design layouts and using them when creating each module. 

What lessons have you learned from this experience in applying what you have learned? 

I learned that HTML is very tedious. I also learned more about accessibility in the online learning environment to help make myself more knowledgeable as well as more versed to help any clients I may design for so that their online learning environments are legally accessible to all participants. 

What would you do differently?  

I think I took on a very large project with my accessibility training and have really only touched on the big topics. There is so much more that could and should be discussed within the training and I can very well see this training becoming a full semester (or at least 8 week) long course. I know I need further direction and editing eyes to help me with this process. 

What would you add/delete/expand upon? 

I would most definitely expand on the examples of accessible content and provide more opportunities for reflection for participants to look at previous content they have designed and see how they would change it to make it more accessible. 

I also think I would break up each of my tabs into different modules so that "accessible text" is it's own module with examples, "accessible tables" is it's own module with examples etc. I researched and researched and think there is still so much more that could be added to really help a designer understand accessibility in the online learning environment. 

What was the most difficult/easiest component to craft? Why? 

The design process and actually building the content was not difficult because of my experience working with designing courses in Canvas, however, finding really good examples of accessible content OR actually creating the accessible content proved a bit more difficult. I wanted to show a variety of bad, good and better accessible content and it really was a task trying to show case and highlight the best examples.  

What makes you the most proud?

I am proud to be finished with the program. I am proud to have completed this MS (even though it took 4 years) while working, moving to two different states due to my husband job, having a 3 baby and finally completing this during a Pandemic. I have worked in the online learning environment for 10 years and have trained 100's of teacher to be effective online educators but I am very proud to have planned, designed and created an entire training myself that was not 100% knowledgeable of all items before starting. In the process of this training I taught myself a great deal about accessibility but also realize there is still so much more for me to learn!

Methods For Online Teaching And Learning Takeaways...

EDU 654 has been a rewarding yet challenging experience. This course has fallen right in the middle of the COVID -19 Pandemic which added an immense amount changes, stress and pressure to our normal day to day lives. With a new normal being implemented, there are several items that I learned regarding building a training, working with a virtual partner, managing every day household tasks including: homeschooling 2 older children, keeping a very wild toddler alive and how important and useful virtual learning is for all.

Three Learnings From The Course

1. The most helpful items that I learned about during this training creation was how to create buttons, tabs and navigation links in Canvas. These skills proved to be incredibly useful and something I will be able to use again and again in my future instructional design opportunities. The buttons were so easy using a website call DaButton Factory. I loved how you could customize color, size etc. to match whatever color scheme or design element you were looking to add to your training. 

Creating tabs was also a very huge part of designing our training. My partner and I wanted to make sure everything looked very clean, streamlined, accessible and easy to navigate. Creating tabs in Canvas was the best way to do this to avoid unnecessary scrolling. I used the information below to help me create my tabs and add additional ones where needed. 

Creating Tabs in Canvas

Learning to add navigation links that met the needs of my training was something else I researched. Since this was a training a normal course syllabus was not needed but I did want to provide a training agenda/overview so participants knew what to expect going into the training regarding time commitment, prerequisites, etc. 

Add A Tab To Your Canvas Navigation Bar

2. The most frustrating learning experience in the course was seeing just how tedious it can be when working with HTML code within the tabs. I am used to working with HTML and embedding HTML code as needed but I usually do most of my editing in the "Rich Content Editor" mode. During this training I primarily worked in the "HTML Editor Mode" and this was time consuming and tedious because if I messed up an / of > it would change the entire layout of my tabs. If I used "return/enter" my information would be placed under my tabs and not in them. I did this once and completely changed the lay out of one of our tools and I had to go back through all the HTML and carefully find where I messed up a code. This was new to me and while it was frustrating and tedious I learned a lot and am now much more comfortable with my designing abilities and being able to perform more tasks with more tools. 

One area that really helped me was the Canvas Instructional Designer group. Within this group there were lots of questions and other designers helping each other out as they design in Canvas. I think it is a great resource for any one that is doing design work. 

Canvas Instructional Designer Group

3. Being in a virtual setting, it can be more challenging to work with a partner. During this course I worked with a wonderful partner that was able to contribute a lot to our training design as well as learn a ton about designing on the fly. My partner has a business/Nonprofit (BNP) background. Because I do not, and am only used to designing for educational settings, I learned a lot about how trainings can be used in the BNP setting. We worked well together and met weekly through Zoom to discuss our progress and divvy up topics. She would pick up on tasks that she knew she could handle independently and let me handle tasks that I was familiar with. She was able to teach me areas of the BNP world I was unfamiliar with and I was able to teach her a lot about digital tools and designing an online training. Our partnership worked so well that we are planning on working on some future consultant projects together on a professional level. 

Example of a fun digital tool I introduced to my partner! Bitmoji!

My Plans To Integrate Three New Ideas Into A Training Or course I Facilitate

1. Accessibility is a passion of mine regarding online learning. My culminating graduation exercise will be to create a training to show how to make online learning accessible for all types of learners. This will mostly be geared towards businesses that want to get more involved in online learning but may not know how to design a training that does not unintentionally discriminate against any of its employees. I have found that when working with adult learners, many may have never been officially diagnosed with certain learning disabilities. This could cause them extreme anxiety when having to be involved in an online learning environment. To help prevent this I want to demonstrate easy and effective ways to make trainings more accessible. 

I did a lot of work with closed captioning and transcripts when working in this EDU 654 course as practice for my practicum and will continue to work on my skills with transcripts and closed captioning on future courses/training I create and/or facilitate. 

Example of video I created with closed captioning is below. For a larger view please visit: Canva Overview

Video created by C Daugherty using Canva, Quicktime and Youtube. 

2. Another plan I will integrate more in the future is the use of Thinglink. I have worked in online education for 10 years and have trained new online educators for the past 5 years on the best practices in online learning. One tool I always highlight is Thinglink because of its versatility but I notice I rarely use it in my own courses. As educators we can get into a rut of using things over and over until they are no longer relevant and I learned I need to work more with my variety of digital tools. Thinglink was one digital tool that my partner and I highlighted for EDU 654 and I saw so many ways  to incorporate this for my K-12 students, adult learners and in professional trainings for BNP. An example of one I created for higher ed is below. 

For a larger view please visit: Higher Ed Thinglink Example

Created by C Daugherty using Thinglink. 

3. Finally, I plan to pay more attention to social, cognitive and teaching "presence" to make sure all three are balanced and included in all of my future design and facilitation opportunities. I was already using these three methods in my online courses, I just didn't know the official terms and how they related to each other.  From a previous blog, I discuss these items and HOW and WHY they are important in the online learning environment.  There are some great resources located within the blog as well on these three types of "presence". 

Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence In Online Learning

My Personal Professional Development Plan. How I Plan To Keep Current On Technology And The Best Methods For Online Facilitation And Instructional Design

As an educator, to stay current our learning must never stop. I have several professional development plans I will continue to work on to hone my skills in online learning and instructional design after I graduate from this program this summer. 

1. I plan to work with a Higher Ed Disability Coordinator on accessibility in the online learning environment. I already have contacts and names of professionals that can help guide me in additional ways to make sure the courses/trainings I design will be accessible for all learners. This will include K-12, higher ed and nontraditional adult learners.  I want to be a well versed designer that can bring many skills to the table when working on a professional design project. 

2. I will be working more this summer to learn about SCORM and Articulate Rise. These are two tools that are utilized a lot in the design world and are often a required skill when interviewing for instructional design positions. I want to at least have a small working knowledge of each when designing. I already have a lot of experience utilizing them in my online courses but I want to be able to design them myself. 

3. At this time I am also signed up for an online PD for english learners through ENACTED. This training will be self paced but will introduce to some great ways to help me with my ELL learners and the technologies available to help them succeed in my online courses. I believe I will gain some great skills that will help other learners and this training should go hand in hand with my accessibility research as well. 

4. Finally, I have a webinar I have saved to view on helping create accessible trainings for adult faculty. I think this webinar will give me some additional design tools to add to my tool belt and make me a more marketable designer for many instructional design projects. I will continue to keep an eye on MOOC trainings through the Friday Institute  and other organizations as well. These types of trainings allow me to continue to earn CEUs to keep my teaching license current.

Accuracy Matters: Accessibility in Faculty Created Video

These are just my short terms plans for continuing my professional development because I already have access to all of the above but I will continue to research additional trainings that I can be a part of to help grow my instructional design and online learning capabilities.

References

Each resource is linked within the above information for further exploration. Please feel free to explore all BLUE and GRAY links for more information on the topics discussed. Enjoy!

Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence In Online Learning

If you have never heard of the term "presence" in the online environment then you may not realize some of the strategies you use as an Instructional Designer are actually implemented to create "presence" in your training. To have a basic understanding lets look at what this term means. In 2006, D. Garrison first presented the idea of three types of "presence" that should be present in an online learning environment: Social, Cognitive and Teaching presence. Please view the video below to get a basic understanding of each term and how it can apply in the online environment.

Video created by C Daugherty using Prezi Video.

To view in a larger window please visit: What Is Online Presence? 

Each of these three terms can and should be implemented into an online training environment for maximum effectiveness. This shouldn't really come as a surprise, but can be tricky to balance depending on the training, audience and information being presented.

A few examples of how I incorporate a social, cognitive and teaching presence in both my online classroom and the adult professional learning course I facilitate are below. If you notice one or more "presence" are used in conjunction with one another to help create a more well balanced training experience. 

Social Presence:

The very first thing my students see when they log in their online course is my instructor information. I connect my profile image with my contact information so they know I am a real person. This also helps them when I use audio/video feedback through the course to connect a voice to a face.

I encourage my students to set up profile images in canvas as well so I can make connections with them and their work. Additionally, I build relationships with my students through various communication methods to alleviate the "virtual distance" that they may feel when they are first enrolled in an online course.

Canvas has many social presence tools built in like allowing the profile images to be uploaded and canvas messaging. Additional tools I use to create a social presence in my classroom are: Padlet, Remind and even in some cases Twitter chats can be used in real time! 

Image taken from my course and modified using Powerpoint

Cognitive Presence:

For the teachers I work with, cognitive presence is a huge component to the training. We offer very specific assignments that require the teachers to reflect on current face to face teaching practices and how they will change and/or apply these practices in the online classroom. 

Additionally, assignments are offered to increase their awareness of how to meet the needs of all learners in the online classroom. One such assignment involves the teachers going to the misunderstood minds interactive activity. This activity allows the teacher to see first hand what certain students may struggle with when diagnosed with certain learning disabilities. The teacher must complete the activity and then answer a set of questions that not only makes them reflect on how they have approached this before but how they will change and adapt their methods in the online classroom.

Example of questions used to confirm the importance of this activity and  promote reflection from their own teaching practices: 

1. What activities did you choose to complete? What were your responses? Your reactions?
2. Does your experience change the way you might view students who need IEP/504 modifications?
3. What differentiation techniques might have helped you when completing these activities?
   (You can be specific about one activity)
4. What modifications might have helped?
5. Reply to at least two other TnT posts

If you have never tried the misunderstood minds activity before, please take a moment and look through the activities. It is truly a remarkable and eye opening experience that allows you as the instructor to see exactly what may be happening with a struggling student. 

Image taken from my course and modified using Powerpoint

Teaching Presence:

For my students and the teachers I train, very personalized feedback with additional instruction is offered over various mediums. Padlets and google surveys are used to help with a social presence in the beginning of the training but also help me to understand my audience for a teaching presence purpose. 

I utilize several of the Canvas tools built into our courses like audio/media comments and Canvas messaging to deliver direct instruction and additional help, review, expansion on topics being covered. The example below shows how I connect written reminders with audio comments for each student. I am combining communication methods with direct instruction via audio reminders. 

Additionally, I use many various external digital tools like screencast-o-matic, Prezi (as demonstrated above), animoto, telegami, etc to deliver very direct instruction and personalized feedback. 

Image taken from my course and modified using Powerpoint

References

Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. and Archer, W., (2001). Assessing Teaching Presence in a Computer Conferencing Context.  Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5 (2), 1-17

Establishing an Online Teaching Presence. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.duq.edu/about/centers-and-institutes/center-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-and-learning-at-duquesne/establishing-an-online-teaching-presence

Garcia-O'Neill, E. (2016, January 15). Social Presence In Online Learning: 7 Things Instructional Designers Can Do To Improve It. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/social-presence-in-online-learning-7-things-instructional-designers-can-improve

Garrison, D. R. (2019). Online Community Of Inquiry Review: Social, Cognitive, And Teaching Presence Issues. Online Learning, 11(1). doi: 10.24059/olj.v11i1.1737

Morrison, D. (2014, February 10). Critical thinking in the Online Classroom. Retrieved from https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/critical-thinking-in-the-online-learning-classroom/

Synchronous and Asynchronous Facilitation

When designing and implementing an online training you should examine the different types of facilitation that you would like to incorporate. As a designer, you have the option of using asynchronous facilitation, synchronous facilitation or a combination of both. The type of facilitation and methods that you choose to use will largely depend on the audience AND the information that is being presented. Why is the type of facilitation important when designing and ultimately implementing your training? I believe this comes down to your overall goal: a successful training with engaged participants that will take the material you present and apply it in real life applications.


If we break down the two types of facilitation you will notice that one involves real time live communication with your participants while the other one offers methods to collaborate but not together at the same time. Please take a look at the infographic below to see what each type of facilitation is and how it can be used in a training with various digital tools.

Infographic created by C Daugherty using Canva. 

For an additional expanded view of the infographic above please visit: Asynchronous and Synchronous 

You may ask yourself...synchronous or asynchronous? Which one is better?  Is it really a competition between the type of facilitation or do you have a goal to have a balance of each for an effective online platform? All trainings may not be able to incorporate both styles and this factor is partly determined by your audience as discussed above (and in a previous blog post). 

For example, the online high school courses I instruct have all asynchronous facilitation that is built into Canvas, however, I have weekly synchronous contact via phone or text to allow for questions during built in "office hours". This allows me to answer real time questions about the material if needed but students are not required to attend live instruction with me. 

On the opposite spectrum, I also train teachers that want to become online educators. While their training material is uploaded in an asynchronous format, I do require a weekly live meeting (on Monday evenings) to discuss the upcoming coursework, provide examples using presenters, and offer Q and A for that week's material. This has proven to be a necessary component of their training since certain rigorous expectations are to be followed and these synchronous meetings allow a better understanding of expectations and best practices. 

How can you make Synchronous Facilitation interactive and engaging?

If you have the opportunity to provide synchronous facilitation via live instruction there are several digitals tools available to enhance your instruction. These tools are designed to engage and help your participants become actively involved in your presentation. One such tool is Nearpod. The following video briefly explains and demonstrates this useful platform as well as ways it can be used in an online synchronous facilitation environment! Enjoy!

Created by C Daugherty using screencast-o-matic 

If you have trouble viewing the video above please visit: Nearpod Example

If Nearpod looks like a digital tool you may be interested in implementing you might considering exploring the following resources: 

Engaging Virtual Learners using Nearpod

10 Ways to Use Nearpod in the Classroom 

6 Ways to Transform your Next Presentation

Information in above infographic gathered from:

McClelland, L., McClelland, L., McClelland, L., McClelland, L., Brock University, Waterloo District School Board., … Waterloo District School Board. (2019, June 28). 4 Tools for Synchronous Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from https://tophat.com/blog/synchronous-teaching-tools/

Differences in Synchronous and AsynchronousFacilitator Skills

References and additional resources regarding asynchronous and synchronous facilitation:

Kontos, F., & Henkel, H. (2008). Live Instruction for Distance Students: Development of Synchronous Online Workshops. Public Services Quarterly, 4(1), 1–14. doi: 10.1080/15228950802135657

Higley, M. (2014, July 2). Benefits of Synchronous and Asynchronous e-Learning. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/benefits-of-synchronous-and-asynchronous-e-learning

Lawless, C., O'Neill, E., & McGarry, O. (2019, August 6). Synchronous vs Asynchronous Learning: Which is Right for your Learners? Retrieved from https://www.learnupon.com/blog/synchronous-learning-asynchronous-learning/

Course Design: Why Knowing Your Audience Is Crucial

Have you ever participated in a training where you went into the training with a mind set of "have to" instead of "get to"? Was the information being presented relevant to you and your needs? Perhaps if the training had been more tailored to you as audience member then you would have found it more engaging and worthwhile? We've all participated in professional engagements we were less than thrilled about, however, do you want participants to feel that way about YOUR training/course? I am pretty confident the answer to that question is NO. As an instructional designer you want to create an effective training/course that will be relevant, motivating and interesting to all of your participants. 

When creating content no matter your professional field, whether it's marketing, entertainment, education, etc understanding your audience is the first step to making your content relatable and successful.  WHY and HOW you do this effectively is critical. 

You want your WHY to be simple...engagement and retention! Hamilton College addresses that a  presenter should want the audience to feel that the presentation is personalized just for them. You want your training to match the participants' interests and needs (Wrench, Goding, Johnson, & Attias, 2017). You should draw your audience into your presentation! The end goal of completing your training is to have your audience grow in their knowledge of what you presented and be able to apply it in real life applications.

Check out the short video below to get an idea of WHY understanding your audience is a critical first step in course design.

Knowing Your Audience on Biteable. Created by C Daugherty for EDU 654

Having trouble viewing the video above please visit: Knowing Your Audience

Now, lets look at HOW we understand our audience when designing content.  The video above briefly mentions "getting to know" your participants. But how can you do this? To make your training more effective one strategy is conducting a learning analysis of your audience. This may take some time to complete. The Compass for SBC suggests conducting an audience analysis 3-4 weeks before you create/present content to allow enough responses to be collected.   

The article below looks at how to do this in the e-learning community and has some great strategies for implementing this first step in content design.

HOW TO DO AN E-LEARNING AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

One strategy I use whenever I am getting to know a new cohort of teachers is an introduction Padlet similar to the one below. Each Training Teacher is asked to complete this upon starting the training. Now, keep in mind this step is completed after the course design so although the training is already being implemented I am able to tailor my feedback, communication etc based on some of the answers I receive on the introduction Padlet.

Created by C Daugherty as an example for "Knowing your Audience" https://padlet.com/coston_daughert/mly9qzba6fqfdj20

For additional ways on how to effectively navigate the "understanding your audience" step in training/course design check out the links below. I believe you may find some helpful tips and strategies for tackling this step. 

How To Create An Effective Training Program: 8 Steps To Success

6 Compelling Reasons Why You Should Know Your Learners Better

Audience: Introduction and Overview

References: 

Wrench, J. S., Goding, A., Johnson, D. I., & Attias, B. (2017). Stand up, speak out: the practice and ethics of public speaking. Boston, MA: FlatWorld.

How to Engage Your Audience and Keep Them with You. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/oralcommunication/guides/how-to-engage-your-audience-and-keep-them-with-you

How to Do an Audience Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.thecompassforsbc.org/how-to-guides/how-do-audience-analysis