That's a wrap!

Honestly, I was perplexed on how I would be continuing my learning journey. Would I simply return to the same old bad habits, or try and incorporate new techniques that I have learned along the way? That feeling lingered until I had an opportunity to review a poster that a friend was creating for an upcoming social event. I found that I immediately had many comments to make on how it could be improved (maybe she didn't want my help after all - ha!). From looking at the colour scheme, contrast, font choices and size, to the language used and the amount of text. I was able to use what I had learned in class to hopefully(!) help her out and make the poster more appealing. After all, like everything nowadays, you need to entice your readers to delve a little bit deeper, your viewer to hold their attention a little bit longer, in hopes of engaging the audience to interact with the materials. It is a rare occurrence to be able to immediately put all your new found skills into practice, and it was certainly a marvel to realize how much I did indeed learn over the past 7 weeks.

The things that stand out for me are:

1. The group project. I had such a fantastic team to work with. It was a rewarding experience, and helped to set the tone for the rest of the class. Although I might suggest that you consider moving it back one week. Two people in our group didn't even join the class until we were already done our project, and we all felt a bit sad that we missed the opportunity to work with them.
2. The hang outs. Online learning can be very isolating without any live interactions. These hang outs added a lot to the class. My classmates were very engaged with the topics and contributed to a rich and vibrant conversation.
3. The section on graphic design. I think I gravitate to visual elements, so this section was particularly interesting to me. 

Next steps:

1. Register for the Writing for Engagement course in the winter term. Then finish up the certificate program as soon as possible thereafter.
2. Continue to learn about engaging my learners through a variety of modes and mediums.

Creating an ePortfolio

Well that was a learning experience! The last time that I had to create an ePortfolio was when I was completing my MLIS at Wayne State University in 2012. That ePortfolio was part of a larger assignment that was teaching us about html coding and ftp. 

This time around, I thought I would use it as an opportunity to learn more about the functionality that was recently made available to faculty, staff, and students at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. Learning objects can be added as they are completed from any course page + you can reflect on the item. You can also add any item to your ePortfolio that is not associated with the Brightspace course. Adding items was easy, although tagging was not necessarily intuitive and took me a couple of tries to figure out what I was supposed to do. 

From there, I endeavoured to make the ePortfolio publicly available. A lot more trial and error here, until I finally gave up and asked for help. Then I didn't fully read the instructions, so a bit more frustration ensued. Ultimately, users need to create a presentation of their ePortfolio which can then be shared. Within the presentation, you can organize and add pages. On the pages you can add content. You can also create a theme for the ePortfolio, which essentially turns it into a resume type item. 

I am glad that I had a chance to experiment with this functionality, as it will be a part of our LIFT program, and as such, it will be important for me to know what we are asking of our learners. 

The Importance of Academic Integrity

"Today I am going to give you two examinations, one in trigonometry and one in honesty. I hope you will pass them both, but if you must fail one, let it be trigonometry, for there are many good [people] in this world today who cannot pass an examination in trigonometry, but there are no good [people] in the world who cannot pass an examination in honesty".

Madison Sarratt (1891-1978), dean, Vanderbilt University. Source

Great quote from Alvin Toffler

 

The Power of Storytelling

I attended the hang out on October 20 which featured a special discussion on storytelling. My key takeaways from this session were the importance of conducting research in advance in order to add authenticity to your story, and power to your words. 

This book was recommended by the presenter - Story Design: The Creative Way to Innovate by Denise Withers 

If we think about it from the big picture, storytelling could involve looking for patterns in data and then deciphering what the patterns tell us. 

From a learning and teaching perspectives, we may consider what behaviours we are trying to change and how would a story fit into that narrative.

Finally consider how to craft a story, and what its structure would be. 

BTW - I did purchase a book that was recommended in a previous class, The Science of Storytelling. I am really looking forward to reading it. 

PPT for the win!

I love when you think you know everything there is to know about something and you walk away with several things that you learned. 

This happened to me while I was watching a video for class on elements of graphic design. The three items that were new to me are: 

• Use the eyedropper option under the home menu, theme colours. You can use this option to match colours that you find on the web. This is an ideal for covering items that you do not want such as logos on an image.  This option will allow you to match to the background as well.
• Layers - arrange layers instead of bring to the front, etc. as this option is more precise
• Use https://accessibleweb.com/color-contrast-checker/ to check colour contrast

Elevator Pitch - Presentation Redesign

Project: NIO Microteaching Exemplar Session

We offer a new instructor orientation 3 times a year. The facilitators in my department are responsible for 5 sessions of the 3-day program. The learning outcome for the program is 'explain the components of a lesson plan'. The sessions that we cover include icebreakers, elements of a lesson plan & creating a learning outcome, microteaching exemplar, engaging learners and providing feedback. I have taught the orientation twice this past year, and felt that the exemplar session was not as successful as it could be.

The session that I have redesigned is an exemplar on microteaching. Microteaching is the main assignment for the orientation. Each participant is tasked with providing a 15-minute lesson using all components of a lesson plan, but in particular, an active learning technique. When we have offered this session before, participants were confused on what was our lesson, and what was an example of the microteaching session. Watching the learner's microteaching sessions in August, it occurred to me that it would be lovely to highlight a past learner's work in future iterations of NIO. The choice of program would also make it easier to distinguish the content from the example. 

The redesign has a past student come into the classroom and deliver the 15-minute microteaching session, and then the class dissects the lesson. We tried it like this, just last week, and learner feedback was very positive. Learners identified the elements of the lesson plan, and were also less intimidated to create their own session. 

Week 5 Discussion Posts

Q1. After adding to our group page on tools and resources, which one did you try out? How was it?

I am a huge fan of Canva. I use it to make PPT presentations, images on the postcard templates and Twitter posts. I am lucky enough to have the premium version of this software, so I access to all of the good stuff. This is probably the tool that I use the most in my work. I like that I can collaborate with people in my organization. The files are easy to add to Brightspace. I think the templates are interesting and engaging. It is also a very versatile software, so you can easily upload your own stuff if they do not have what you are looking for. 

QR code monkey is useful for including digital resources on a print format, such as a poster. https://www.qrcode-monkey.com/. Pro tip - always doublecheck that your QR code works.

I use https://niram.org/read/ to calculate the reading time of websites, journal articles and other text based items. I add this information for my learners before linking to an article in Brightspace.

Finally, I use Camtasia for video editing. I have been using this software since 2010 and think it is the most intuitive video editing software there is. It is easy to use, and have a huge list of functionality and features that make it worth every penny.  

Q2. Though there are no formal discussion questions this week, the floor is yours. What do you want to talk about? What questions do you have based on this week's topics/themes?

There are so many great tools out there, but I would add that all of this is useless unless you make a concerted effort to apply the Universal Design for Learning principles and make the items accessible. For example, captioning video, adding transcripts, and supplying alternative formats (i.e.: PDF and a Word file). UDL moves your items from decorative to functional. 

Reflection on Week 5

If you are interested in the basic principles of graphic design, you will enjoy this video. 

  

The video reviews the concepts of space, line, colour, texture, and placement or layout. It also goes over the positions of power, or the four points in any image that the eye automatically scans. 

Week 5 also discussed the use of Canva templates. I use Canva all the time. I add PPT presentations and images to my online courses. One thing that I have gotten into the habit of doing is adding the transcript below the item, as well as adding descriptive alt text. I truly believe that learning experience design is useless if it is not accessible to everyone. Applying the UDL principles is vital to any and all learning objects. 

During the week, I reflected on the design decisions that I made in online courses. For example, whenever possible, I set up links to open in a new browser window. For me, this makes it easier for the learner, as they can easily return to the content from the course without losing their place. They can also leave the tabs open if they want to refer to that content later. I also centre all of the videos the page. Perhaps because this helps draw the learners eye to this important content as does not fall in line with the rest of the text. I insert a Canva image to break up text, I include alt text, and add an accordion fold with the text transcript below the image.  Finally for consistency, I try to highlight content in a similar fashion throughout the course. Pink aside boxes for readings, grey framed box for instructions and teal aside boxes for reflections. I hope that by doing that, the learners know what will be expected of them just by the visual clues on the page.  

Week 5 also spoke about the use of stock images in a course. I use Unsplash for images that have a Creative Commons licence. Copyright is an important consideration here, so make sure that you use images that do not require attribution, or reference them correctly. 

I also really enjoyed this video. Especially what he had to say about telling a different story, one without songs, a peaceful village, a love story or a villain. He asks us to tell a different story, while making sure that the audience invested in the arc of the main character, whether or not they like them. How can you make your audience care? 

Finally, we covered the importance of video editing. I use Camtasia to edit my videos and then Kaltura to publish them. I add captions and try to add chapters. I think it is important to not just share the recording from your class, but record a condensed version of the lecture with the sole purpose of creating the reference copy. That way viewers of your video do not need to skip through class discussions and things that are not relevant to them when they are viewing it asynchronously. 

Ed Tech

I have been thinking a lot about week 5, which focused on graphic design elements and education technology tools. This is a topic that I am very passionate about as it is ripe with potential inequities. The digital divide was exacerbated during COVID when all learners were forced to rely on digital technology to access every component of their courses. Some learners faced incredible barriers due to these technology requirements. Space and sharing amongst households was also an issue for many. In my house, if a video game was being played in one room, it seriously effected my Zoom meeting in another.  

The other aspect of ed tech that I would like to note here is that as educators we need to be aware of what we are asking our learners to do. Are we going to use this tool throughout the semester, or only one time? Did we review the terms of use, and understand how our learners information is going to be used and stored? Is it supported by our institution? Are there privacy concerns?

Couple of examples here:

• My institution has a specific list of software that they support for operational or educational use. We are welcome to use other tools, but are essentially on our own if we need assistance. Fair enough! As a member of a support department, I try to model best practice and choose, whenever possible, tools that are supported by my institution.
• I try to be mindful of not choosing a tool, just for the sake of having a tool in my class. I start with the outcome, the content and then choose a tool if appropriate or necessary.
• I am concerned about privacy and storage of data, and as such have decided against the use of certain tools. 

Recently, I was responsible for adapting an existing course on ed tech. The main assignment for the course asks learners to analyse a software choice from the perspectives of functionality, ease-of-use, support, equity, safety, and ethics. I believe it is good task for instructors as it forces them to think about the consequences of their choice of software. 

Week Four Discussion Posts

Q1) What’s the one thing that stood out to you from this week? One key idea? Strategy? Something that either validates what you are already doing, or has transformed the way you are approaching your learning experiences.

Storytelling as an active learning technique is so powerful because "your brain remembers pictures first. It then remembers the emotional context, and finally, it remembers language" (Stevenson, 2016, para. 4). There is a connection between the emotion, the image and then the language. This connection equates to the learner being able to successfully recall the key premise of the story or presentation. 

I am fascinated by the components of recall and memory in effective learning experience. How storytelling can improve memory because of the emotional connection to the information that is being shared, is an important concept for instructors to remember.

Storytelling is an excellent way to incorporate Indigenous Ways of Knowing into your curriculum. 

Q2) This course has a bit of a bias towards the digital side of experience design. But what about the physical world? What about the “Offline” space? How do we begin to reimagine this environment? Have you seen any good examples or strategies for transforming the classroom?

I think it is very important to transform our physical spaces so that they meet Universal Design for Learning principles, such as aisle space, accessibility and movement around the space. This is a difficult  question to answer though, as my mind immediately goes to the work that we have been doing to incorporate technology into our classrooms. 

And perhaps we also need to ponder, are we ever truly offline anymore?

Q3) Have you ever encountered a learning experience where storytelling made all the difference? Share your story.

I recently attended an Office of the Treaty Commissioner session on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The presenter was an incredible speaker and shared her personal story of residential schools. The images and information that she shared will haunt me for a long time. She kept repeating "can you even imagine" - such a simple and powerful statement. 

It is important work and I was incredibly grateful to be a part of the session.

Reference

Stevenson, D. (2016, July 26). Storytelling and brain science: This is your brain on story [Blog post]. https://www.td.org/insights/storytelling-and-brain-science-this-is-your-brain-on-story

Reflection on Neuroscience

As I was making my way through the materials for week four, a couple of points stood out. I have captured them here for future reference or review.

Alvin Toffler, in his book Rethinking the Future states that "the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn" (para. 20).

Gottfredson, C., & Mosher, B. (2012, June 18). Are you meeting all five moments of learning need? [Blog post]. https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/949/are-you-meeting-all-five-moments-of-learning-need

This resource focuses on effective learning strategies to retain and recall information. 

Weinstein, Y., Smith, M., & Caviglioli. (n.d.). Six strategies for effective learning [Blog post]. The Learning Scientists.  https://www.learningscientists.org/downloadable-materials/ [CC BY NC ND] 

The reason why storytelling is so powerful is that "your brain remembers pictures first. It then remembers the emotional context, and finally, it remembers language" (para. 4). There is a connection between the emotion, the image and then the language, or the point of the story or presentation. 

Stevenson, D. (2016, July 26). Storytelling and brain science: This is your brain on story [Blog post]. https://www.td.org/insights/storytelling-and-brain-science-this-is-your-brain-on-story

Reflection on Learning

Apparently there is no such thing as learning preferences. But for argument sake, let's say there were. I have definitely discovered that I find audio to be very challenging. This is interesting to me because I am a huge fan of audiobooks. I rarely read a real book. I listen to books before going to bed, when I can't sleep in the middle of the night, on the road, and while I am cross stitching. 

Audio in a course, without the accompanying PPT slides that tell me what information to focus on is proving difficult. Perhaps, I am an old school learner, where I want to know exactly what the expert thinks I should know. Perhaps, I am from the generation, that wrote down every word on the slide and then just regurgitated it on the exam. What did I retain, probably not much. 

Perhaps I need to reflect on my reliance on PPT.

Week Three Discussion Posts

Q1. This is the..uh.. third question I ask every client when kicking off a project: "What does success look like for you?" Often times, it's the same ol' "We want them to like it" or "People took the training" (whatever the hell that means), but every once in a while I'll get an honest answer. It's an incredibly simple and deceptive question when you really try to answer it honestly. Look deep into your own environment's experience design and ask yourself: What does success look like? What does success look like for your (various) stakeholders? How will you know this learning intervention succeeded?

Success looks different for each project and is completely dependent on its purpose. In the past year, I have been responsible for creating two online modules that will be mandatory for all new permanent full-time faculty. Here success would be engagement, motivation, and the ability for the learner's to apply what they have learned. In other words, have they achieved the learning outcome? The online modules include a number of assessments, discussions and a final project; the module is pass/fail based on the completion of all of these items. There is a final evaluation of the course as well.

I also am responsible for producing one-off professional development sessions. Success would be attendance. Were people interested enough in the topic/description to attend the session. Then I would question whether the material was valuable, applicable and useful? We do send out evaluations here as well, which ask for feedback on the session, along with ideas for further offerings. 

Q2 a) What's a data point that you currently work with and what can it tell you (and not tell you) about your learners or the experience you have designed?

This is an interesting question, as I am not directly involved with any data points. All of this work happens behind the scenes by an administrator and I am not responsible for the creation of the surveys nor what happens with the information that the data gives us. 

I believe we measure attendance, engagement in Zoom session (whole session, half session, etc.), and then the evaluation survey (rating out of 5, comments, key takeaway, going further [learn more about this topic]).

Q2 b) What's a data point that you would like to collect (assuming unlimited resources/permissions) and what could it tell you about your learners or the experience you have designed?

It would be very interesting to do an environmental scan of polytechnics in Canada and then compare those results to our institution. What are we doing well? What are the areas that we could improve upon.

Q3. This week, we took a look at the LX Canvas. Between Plaut's model, the CUBI model and the LX Canvas, which one do you prefer and why? 

LX Canvas is intuitive, user-friendly and can be immediately applied to my work. It is set up much the same as the lesson plan template that we use at my institution. It poses the important questions that need to be pondered in order to create a thoughtful, organized, and meaningful learning experience. 

Reflection of Group Assignment

In the opening week of U of T's Learner Design Experience course, learners working in small groups were tasked with compiling a list of 5 things that create an ideal learning experience. It was important to provide a rationale for each item, as well as a reflection on the items that were not included on the list. 

The conversation was easy, and consensus was achieved immediately on four out of the five items: inclusion, engagement, interaction and relatable. We discovered that we may have chosen other words to describe an ideal experience, but when we began explaining why the characteristic was chosen, we quickly realized that we were talking about the same concepts. 

But what would that fifth item be? It was suggested that integrity should be included on this list, as presenting information that is valid, accurate, trustworthy is a foundational value of most post-secondary institutions. When integrity is modeled by instructors, learners can see first hand how they can include ethical practices in their own work. Our conversation was fascinating. We all came from different industries, but could all provide examples of how integrity was necessary in our fields. 

This assignment was also a good opportunity to be creative. We came up with the analogy of building your own burger, with different components of the burger representing items on our list. 

Week Two Discussion Posts

Q1. Looking back at Plaut's model for Learning Experience Design, which "plane" do you struggle with the most? Which one do you see as the hardest to implement into your own environment? Which one are you good at? Which one is your true blind spot in design?

Many post-secondary institutions spend a lot of time thinking about strategy, discussing what to do and how to do it. Conversation, planning and preparation are all well and good, but action is a key aspect of implementation. It is important to act before some of the strategic elements are no longer relevant or the motivation of the stakeholders has dwindled. This is a form of organization paralyses.

I personally struggle with big picture thinking, and spend the majority of my time focused on the smaller elements. This would include not adequately blueprinting a course, before I begin the creation phase. I often create as I go without a clear vision in place.

I excel at interaction. I enjoy interacting with learners online or in-person and have no problem encouraging dialogue, participation and engagement in the learning experience. 

Q2. What's one thing you wish you knew about your learners? How could you find it out? What's an experiment you can do within your environment to better your learners? It can be as high-tech or as analog as you want it to be. The goal is to find out something new about your learners. Share your experiment.

I wish I could discover why the faculty in my institution do not seem to be interested in our Technology Enhanced Learning Community of Practice. We have tried to offer the sessions several different ways, offered at different times throughout the day and have tried a wide variety of topics. We did not have any participants throughout the 2021/22 academic year until we offered a session hosted by an external speaker that was advertised as part of a larger series. 

This year we are sticking with the lecture series idea and are making the sessions openly available. 

I would like to survey the faculty at the end of this academic year to find out what they are interested in and how we could better meet their needs. I have a hunch that faculty do not want to join a community of practice on educational technology because they feel that they need to be an expert on the subject, instead of just being curious.

Q3. Why discuss something when you can DO something? : )  Here's the task: Build your own learner persona. I leave the format open as long as you cover the major sections of one, based on our readings this week. This is something *cough* *cough* you could even put in your ePortfolio down the road. When done, put that persona in our community folder  and we can all check it out. After you have completed one, what was something new that you learned from the process about your learners?

What I learned from this exercise is that there is a lot of information that I am not willing to share about myself. I am also highly suspicious of online tools that want personal information. I question what they will do with that information, how it will be stored, and why they need it. In class, this type of exercise reveals what types of questions we need to ask, and what is not relevant when we are seeking information about our users. For example, surveys that ask for information that is irrelevant and/or questions that do not supply enough options to select from (binary options, instead of a spectrum).

Recommended Reading:

Plaut, A. (2014, Feb 10). Elements of learning experience design [Blog post]. Medium. https://medium.com/@andreplaut/elements-of-learning-experience-design-1a5327ce2569

Week One Discussion Posts

Q1) What do you notice most about today's learner? What makes them unique? What's the biggest challenge they present to us in how we build learner experiences today?

I think there is a notion that our learning materials have to be quick and grab the learner's attention immediately, but I have seen my own children watch videos on YouTube that are ridiculously long and frankly ridiculous. I would argue that it is about engagement and motivation. If they are interested, they will watch the whole thing. I would also argue that they do not need to be interested and engaged in every class that they take. Some are just necessary to fulfill the requirements.

In my experience, new learners in post-secondary are not interested in online learning at all. Many of my friends' kids are starting university this year. They are horrified that they are stuck back online, or avoiding these classes at all costs. They want to be in classrooms, and interacting with peers.

Q2) As educators, we are accustomed to wearing lots of hats. But in light of the modern learner, what are the new hats we now have to wear?

I think it is the balance between the LMS and in-person presentation of content when we are in blended learning environments. We need to consider what is necessary, how it is delivered and why? Otherwise, you are doing a disservice to both learning environments.

The other thing that I would point out is that an online class never ends. Discussion boards are overwhelming, because conversations continue and there is a never ending supply of unread posts. There is so much content. When I was completing my undergraduate degree, the class was 3 hours a week and that was it. Done. Blended or online learning can make time management very challenging.

Q3) How do you define "LXD"? What does it mean to you?

The connection between Pedagogy, Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Assessment, UDL, Academic Integrity, and Indigenization. Looking at all of the various lens and perspectives to provide a positive learning experience.