Design Pattern Swap

I selected a learning environment that is a little bit out of the ordinary.  It was from an experience I had last spring rafting the Grand Canyon.  It fits as a learning environment because there was a pre-trip requirement that were conducted online and of course the trip itself was an experiential learning space.

Online Asynchronous

• Information [text, video, testimonials, online resources]
• Application
• Self-introductions and goals [asynchronous discussion]
• Q/A – Dialogue

Experiential

• Information
• Dialogue
• Practice
• Feedback
• Evidence

Link to my Pinterest LEM patterns
https://www.pinterest.com/tfairless/lem/

Client Discovery Focus Board

I was asked to join a committee tasked with revising the LUCO program.  The committee includes former LUCO members and leaders in LUCO. 

The committee met for the first time in early October.  I observed early in the meeting that the eight members bring an energetic energy and passion for leadership initiatives at UCO.  The diversity of experiences, backgrounds, talents, and goals will both accentuate and complicate the revision process. 

Below are my notes from the first meeting using a Focus Board.

Exploring Design Layers in Learning Environments

The Learning Design Team’s primary responsibility is to assist faculty as they design online, hybrid and self-paced online courses.  The completed course design projects are evaluated using a quality rubric that consists of core elements and five additional sections.  With the goal of passing the evaluation process with a minimum of 90%, the instructional designers attempt to provide support that will make the design process simple and efficient.   In order to provide consistent resources and information, the team is building an online resource to provide the resources for each section in the rubric.  The outcome is the production of the online resource – Course Design Guide.

The strategy used to develop the resources considered the needs faculty have from the moment of first interest in designing a course, to the application process, and concluding with submitting the finished project for evaluation.  Consideration is given to providing just-in-time resources, reducing duplication of resources, eliminating or at least reducing differing interpretations of the evaluation rubric. 

The system includes face-to-face meetings to communicate needs and expectations, continued asynchronous support in the form of email and shared electronic resources, and continual updated content for the Course Design Guide.

The experience has an impact both on the faculty involved in the course design projects as well as members of the instructional design team.  The ability to reference consistent support materials is an important part of the design process.  We have also discussed the potential impact it could have for the faculty evaluators.  They sometimes struggle to apply the rubric outcomes to the assigned course evaluation.  The Course Design Guide can provide the additional explanation they need to properly evaluate a course.

Interviewing for Understanding

I interviewed a friend that teaches Fundamentals of Public Speaking at the University of Arkansas.  It is a hybrid class that includes the majority of course content delivered via the LMS, an optional Experiential speech lab for practice and feedback, and a classroom experience for speech delivery, group discussions, and exams.

This is the Understand Guide I prepared following the interview followed by the model. 

I shared the guide notes and the model with her and we were able to identify several areas of improvement.  Although the lab provides feedback to the learners, the instructor specific feedback is low.   The instructor is very involved in the online and classroom discussions but does not have many opportunities to provide feedback prior to the assessments. 

Design Pattern Notebook Templates

Part I

I created a section in my LEML notebook and added many of the patterns I found useful.  The patterns have been very helpful as I am meeting with faculty and need a quick reference to supplement our conversation and planning.

 

PART II

I chose five patterns to share as each has a particular application in a current project.

Creating Diagnostic Models

I used the Understand Guide to process revisions for the FACS 3633 online course.  It is a course that is undergoing changes to move to a new textbook. The format of the course works well but minor changes may needed to the sequence of items in the course.

Milissa,
Thank you for the feedback on my previous diagnostic model.  I would to provide a brief narrative for the current design of the course.

The course is online and each module begins with an overview which includes objectives and highlights of the chapter(s).  It is followed by the lesson content [currently designed in Softchalk].  The student then moves to a group discussion that focuses on the content from the chapters.  The instructor provides individual feedback after the discussion relating to the quality and quantity of the posts.  The student can move from the group discussion to next part which is a video.  It is not necessary to wait on the instructor feedback from the discussion.  The student submits a reflective paper and the instructor provides feedback.  The module concludes with a summary of the previous module and includes group feedback with several individual references to quality work.

Understand Interview Reflections

I choose a course from the Khan Academy on how to decide to buy a home or rent a home.  The course includes four modules [renting vs buying, mortgages, home equity and personal balance sheets, and the home buying process].  Each module contains multiple topics.  The first topic addressed the following four subtopics. 

At first glance, the LEM looked very simplistic and as I discussed the model with others the overall impact or evidence was questionable. What would a learner truly know or be able to do at the end of the course.  

Further investigation into the design of the Khan Academy adds multiple layers of learning opportunities.  It becomes less about a summative assessment as the evidence and more about building formative assessments and understanding via demonstration, peer support and coaching.  I found it interesting that Khan has incorporated Google Education.  There are several layers supporting learning such as an optional classroom support [synchronous environment] and the use of many Google apps for extended [asynchronous] interactions.