rpencefullsail

[rpencefullsail]

Reflecting on my creative trek along the Mastery Journey Trail

This has been quite the journey, and I hope to capture even just a snippet of it in this final post. This journey is not one that I took alone. Along the trail, I was accompanied and supported by my wonderful family, my incredible cohorts, colleagues, friends all over the world, and an amazing group of inspiring, intellectually stimulating and creative group of instructors!

1) How has each course contributed to your personal and professional development as an instructional designer?

Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership (January 2018)

Helped me to transition into what it means to achieve mastery level

Helped me to learn about others who have attained Mastery over the centuries, and through their stories made connections with traits that I wanted to embody as a part of my journey

Gave me the skills I needed for masters level writing expectations

Developed professional leadership skills

Helped me to build a personal branding presence in the world

Pushed me to learn graduate-level academic research and tools through course required activities.  

These skills started me on a path toward Mastery in my field, and helped me to better identify where I would be heading on the journey.  

Strategies for Learner Engagement (February 2018)

Through research and projects, this course helped me to learn about Instructional Design, the history of the field, and the Instructional Design models of ADDIE, SAM, Rapid Prototyping, and Gradual Release

I designed visual information posters using Piktochart and Photoshop to illustrate these models that would engage the viewer with use of creativity and visual design principles

I learned about adult learning theories, andragogy, and what to consider when building learning experiences for such a target audience

As a cohort, we were introduced to the RISE Review Model for the first time, which became a welcome piece of my Mastery Journey practice, pushing me to delve deeper to help others and myself reflect on our designs and decisions we made with their development.

Visual and Verbal Communication in Instructional Design (March 2018)

I was able to apply visual design principles to the development of an infographic.

This course helped me to develop my skills in delivery of instruction across different audiences.  It benefitted me by helping me master visual design skills to create appealing tools to use with professional development and student learning.  

Through this course I learned to value the live sessions even more than I already had before, as I found opportunity to discuss topics at greater length with my professor and delve deeper into the topics each week.

I learned how to critique the designs of my cohorts, and with this critiquing learned how to also use this as a way to reflect on and improve my own works. I learned how to “find the story in data” and visually designed my infographic accordingly. I was introduced to Color Theory, and became fascinated with the subject, which I made time to discuss further with my instructor on the side. We went more in depth into typography and visual literacy, learning the principles of graphic design.  As a part of the course work, I was pushed to design an interactive and visually appealing presentation that was designed with animation and audio integrated in. This added to my skill set with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design, and Apple Keynote as I created visuals for the presentation and the presentation itself. I remained persistent and thoroughly enjoyed the creation and iterative processes we went through to reach final submission of our projects. As a part of this project, we learned the principles of instructional writing and created effective instructional narration for our presentations. I learned that there were different narrative styles that could be employed when composing instructional narration. Additionally, we learned how to use audio and text together, or just audio itself to aid and engage the learner. We also learned the difference between an infographic and a presentation - and how to design and when it’s best to use each one.

Corporate Training and Motivational Development (April 2018)

Throughout this course I learned:

how to research and utilize the research to build my credibility at the same time deliver quality content for learning

to start with the “POW” and to section out presentations to keep the audience engaged

about the importance of keeping a unified look throughout a presentation

to design and develop presentations according to a target audience

how to add and use graphs in the presentation aiding the learner to visualize the data and tell the story

to be precise in my presentation in order to adhere to time requirements for best engagement

to be meticulous with timing of animation and text in order to keep the modality effect or multimedia principle in mind

I gained greater confidence in my abilities as a presenter as we learned about how to design and develop presentations. I applied these strategies both in my workplace and abroad as I created presentations to better engage educators in professional development experiences.

I was able to help my audience enjoy their learning as much as I enjoyed sharing it with them.

Through the research and reading, we looked at how learning is visual. I created graphics to include consistency and tell a story. Additionally, I was smart with color, leveraged white space, hierarchy, de-cluttering, and accessibility.

Instructional Design and Evaluation (May 2018)

During this class, and through a real-world scenario, my cohorts and I learned how to best design a training needs analysis. We worked hard to further develop and improve a training needs analysis brief based on the strengths and drawbacks among 4 common Instructional Systems Design (ISD) models, knowledge learned from our assigned reading, knowledge gained from peer reviewed research, and feedback from my peers. Through this process, I learned how to select a certain ID model according to the target audience, developed learning outcomes, an action plan, and assessments. Writing ABCD Objectives proved to be challenging, but as we worked together, I developed a better understanding on how these were to be formulated.

Throughout this course I delved deeper into:

ID models

designing an educational game that would engage and assist the learner in their process

the difference between summative and formative assessment, and how to incorporate both as a part of the TNA

data planning and how it plays a role in the training needs analysis

putting into practice skills acquired like storyboarding and the creation of an instructional video

training preferences and different cultures, which I found to be a fascinating subject as well as important to keep in mind when designing learning experiences

Researching the background of each component of the TNA in order to back up decisions being made and provided a highly credible document

Digital Media and Learning Applications (June 2018)

Through this course I learned:

how to define what a learning object is

about digital video as a learning object

how to develop measurable learning outcomes to go along with learning object

how to develop different types of assessments and put them into practice over the course - traditional and authentic, as well as learned their benefits and limitations

to code and design with Angular JS and used the software Brackets to develop an interactive online quiz

While this last part was challenging, I love to code, and because of some past coding experiences was able to pick up the language pretty quickly as well as the interface and creation came quickly. I also learned to tap “the community brain” at times when I got stuck in areas of image development - and learned how to best import vector drawings to be used in the project.

Creating the video presentation of the learning object alongside the video was also challenging, and pushed me in new ways to develop a side by side video in Adobe Premiere Pro, something I had never done before.

Music and Audio for Instructional Design (August 2018)

This turned out to be a course where I really took my creativity to new places! First learning to fix and comp audio, I learned to correct technical issues using cutting, volume automation, compression, graphic equalization, and panning.  I learned skills in Garageband and used aspects of the program that I never even knew existed.

Through the production of a Grimm’s Fairy tale music story, I learned to create using narration,  dialogue, sound effects, and music to communicate the message of the story while engaging and motivating the learner. As an additional challenge, I moved into Adobe Audition to finish this project, where I learned a completely new program to produce a high quality piece. I attempted to, rather than focus in on a specific target audience, appeal to a variety of audiences’ interest.  In doing so, I was looking for a wider appeal. In working on mood, I aimed for a humorous, satirical rendition of a story, helping the listener to sympathize with a character often seen as the antagonist in the original story. The sounds that I selected, helped to enhance this humor, and music to add to the feelings I was attempting to bring about in the listener.  All of the sounds were downloaded from Audioblocks.com where you can find royalty free music, sound effects, and loops.

I learned to create a combination of a personal and dramatic narrative, incorporating both a conversational style at times toward the audience, and then also the dramatic telling of the story. I also thought about how to make the story more memorable, adding in sound effects that might be familiar reminders to the human ear, while intertwining some of the aspects of the original story within as well and shortening the telling. This also led to the importance of the soundscape that would support and surround the narrative to help the listener “understand the context and the relevance of the information being delivered simultaneously” (Carter, 2012, p. 56).

I worked on acoustics, using a sound booth to capture the best audio recording I could. This took reflection, absorption, diffraction, diffusion into consideration, and created optimal conditions (Dittmar, 2012). I continued to use the same microphone and pop filter to avoid plosive sounds and maximize the quality of the narration I wanted to capture. I chose to do close milking in this case as I wanted the audience to feel they were in the story alongside the character. I looked for the environmental sounds to come from the sound effects and music I would add in later. To improve upon my ability to listen and distinguish areas I needed to adjust the volume automation, EQ levels, and more, and upon the recommendation of the instructor, I invested in a pair of Sennheiser HD280PRO Headphones. Throughout the editing process, I utilized these headphones, while still remembering to listen without the headphones allowing the sound to breathe and make sure the recording carried well.

For the final project, I designed and developed music and audio tracks to add to an existing silent video for the purpose of adding instruction and engaging learners by connecting music and audio with visual information. I learned how to create a full music and audio production with use of voice talent beyond myself, as well as to enhance vocals with presets in Adobe Audition.

Through the process, I learned to create an edit decision list (EDL) to help lay out timing of narration and scenes. Again with creativity at my side, I focused on the second set of stories within the audio production to appeal to those that enjoy the mysterious or unexplained, or sitting by a campfire listening to ghost stories being told. From the beginning, the listener is invited in…if they dare. As an instructional designer, I worked to engage the audience and keep their attention throughout using these compelling stories with music and sound effects. I melded history into these stories in order to make them feel more real to the listener. I worked with the voice talent to have the narration feel spooky in its presentation, as well as a Southern accent when spoken in first person. The recording space included Adobe Audition, a sound booth along with the same microphone and pop filter to avoid plosive sounds and maximize the quality of the narration I wanted to capture, and Sennheiser HD280PRO Headphones to listen to audio for final production purposes. For the narration, I normalized all to -0.1 dB, then worked from there with volume automation. Additionally, I experimented with the speech volume leveler, as I was looking to have a similar control as taught in Garageband with the EQ Analyzer and ability to set the range for vocals.

Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design (September 2018)

Through this incredible course, I learned how to apply the power of storytelling in instructional video to engage and motivate learners. I had to apply principles of pre-production to create a project storyboard - which I completed using photography to capture different camera angles and position, planned out lighting, wrote narration for each scene, and considered props/materials that might be needed.

Through the reading and research included in this course, I learned how to use of autonomy, conflict, and story to effectively engage a target audience. I worked to include ways to encourage the learner in their process, as well as try to find ways to add in elements of surprise/delighters to direct people’s moods in a positive direction. I thought about how I could do this through audio as well as visual design. I made a point to think about how I would help draw the learner in through different shots. Whether through a close up to give a more intimate connection with the actor, a medium shot to show emotion and body movements, or full shot to give the viewer a sense of location/setting, I wanted to make sure to engage the learner and help them become a part of the story.

In order to accomplish this, I learned to:

work with video and narration to create a story that supports an instructional module on the topic of conflict resolution

keep to time restrictions for projects

how to create a story to engage learner

utilize SMEs for my process when producing and creating the story to teach about conflict resolution

edit, taking a film from rough-cut to intermediate cut to fine cut, with post production processes as well

push myself to film with 3 different camera angles and different shot lengths, as well as used green screen and added chroma keying to my set of skills

apply learning theory to the previous version of a video to find areas for improvement

As a last piece in the course, I learned to apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to the subject of video compression. I was able to articulate how compression has an impact on video quality and file size. I also grew to better understand what compression artefacts are. I learned what the recommended resolution, bitrate, and frame rate are for the different devices, as well as five different ways to make videos smaller without losing quality. With additional research I found there are two types of compression, spatial (intraframe) and temporal (interframe) compression (Video Compression, TechQuickie, 2014, 01:24). Spatial refers to working with .jpeg, or applying compression only to individual video frames. With temporal compression, the process works with redundancy and breaks down the video and images into 8x8 pixel blocks of .mpeg. It was incredible to think about the technical skills I was being able to master as well as the knowledge I was gaining.

Game Strategies and Motivation (October 2018)

This course was full of fun, camaraderie, and collaborative learning. Through research I delved into the differences between Gamification versus game-based learning. I made the choice to design a Breakout game-based learning experience to best engage learners. The activity I developed was geared for a middle school course that would engage students in coding, robotics, and computer science. The game followed a distinct storyline that engages learners in activities to help them learn content, skills, and behaviors needed for a robotics unit. A blended learning approach was used to engage students both in online and offline activities to “Break out and save the world!”

As a part of the process, I learned how to:

design and develop a game-based learning plan including learning outcomes, rules of engagement, storyline, conflict/challenge, interaction with environment, and feedback opportunities to aid the learner(s).

produce a video presentation of the game-based learning activity

The video provided a walk-through demonstration of the game plan and summarized the concepts of game-based learning, gamification, and game strategies. The project included storyboarding for planning of the video layout, and then final design, development and production of 2-3 minute video.

Learning Management Systems and Organization (November 2018)

Having worked with numerous Learning Management Systems (LMS) over the years, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this class. I was pleasantly surprised and put to the test to develop and design an LMS for a middle school coding and drones course I was teaching at the time.

I found that there was much more to understand including:

functional architecture,

how to choose technics that could be used in the course,

how social learning and interactions can play a part, and

that it is important to consider both elemental and synthetic learning outcomes, as well as authentic, real-world connections to help support the learner’s construction/development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Dempsey & Van Eck, 2018)

Through projects, we learned how to develop and design:

a graphic organizer to map the layout of units to be covered in the LMS

a learning management system to be used to deliver a course, and present the learning management system through a video.

a survey to provide evaluation of the LMS’s instructional qualities and effectiveness

using Canvas, Schoology, and Edmodo

interactive assessments for the course and embedded them within the course

Media Asset Creation (December 2018)

In this course, I explored the power of a variety of media assets that are available to instructors and corporate trainers in developing online learning products, in-class presentations, and corporate learning modules. Specific techniques were examined regarding how to create the best media for a project, while also taking into account the limitations of delivery methods and technical ability. The first task, and definitely not the least, was to develop a TNA. We were allowed to choose our own scenario, or to pick from a series that were offered as examples. I chose to create something that would be useful with educators at my school, but might also prove to be useful for others beyond our walls. This caused me to revisit our previous experiences with TNAs, with the first task being to design the learning outcomes. I revisited the ABCD model we had been taught many months ago in our Instructional Design and Evaluation course, as well as thought through how to make the learning outcomes measurable, something we had gone into great depth in our Digital Media and Learning course not so many months before.

When it came to designing the Media Assets, I used storyboarding techniques that we had also been introduced to in the Instructional Design and Evaluation course, and expanded upon in our Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design course. This helped me in particular to map out the Instructional Video, and the video I produced to “sell” the educational game I designed. My filmmaking and editing skills, as well as audio and music skills enhanced the assets that I was able to design. I thought about and found ways to create an engaging story as a part of the videos I designed. I also built on my skills and challenged myself with the software I used to design these videos - Keynote, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Audition and Adobe Premiere Pro. For the Interactive infographic I designed to aid the learner, I pushed myself to learn and added further skill to my repertoire with Adobe XD. I found that my experience designing web pages, the skills I learned through the Digital Media and Learning course, as well as the typography and graphic design skills gained through the Visual and Verbal communications course, that were revisited and useful throughout so much of my coursework, came into great use here.

The skills that I had gained over the past number of months like how to work with deadlines, how to get and give feedback, as well as how to adhere to video time limit requirements all served me well on this endeavor. I truly realized how far I had come both personally and professionally.

Instructional Design and Technology Final Project (January 2019)

This course gave me the time to look back. It arched the story back to the beginning of it all, helping me to reflect on all that I had accomplished, but also the importance of reflection. Additionally, I developed a sense of how to create a professional presence in the world through creation of a project portfolio, resume, and the written word. I learned about trends in the world of designer portfolios, and looked at ways that I could apply this to my own portfolio. My instructor encouraged me to push myself to learn how to animate gifs for use in my portfolio, something that I was finally able to accomplish for my Adobe Portfolio. I also appreciated the instructor’s feedback on ways to improve upon my portfolio. This caused me to revisit design principles as well. Resources that I had learned to find through EBSCO, Lynda.com, websites, and my technical skills toolbox that I have developed over this Mastery Journey came into full play as a part of this experience. I was also able to learn of trends in instructional design, as well as professional resources available for IDs (i.e. publications, conferences, professional organizations, etc.) that I could call and count upon for the journey that now lies ahead.

2) How well were you able to utilize the concepts and techniques you learned from the program (theories, systems design, interface styling, and the creation of multimedia content) as you designed, developed, and implemented your Final Project?

From the very first task, as I shared in my writing about the Media Asset Creation Course, I found myself revisiting previous experiences within the IDTMS program. With the TNA, I revisited the ABCD model for developing learning outcomes taught many months ago in our Instructional Design and Evaluation course. Additionally I thought through how to make the learning outcomes measurable, something we had gone into great depth in our Digital Media and Learning course. When it came to designing the Media Assets, I used storyboarding techniques that we had also been introduced to in the Instructional Design and Evaluation course, and expanded upon in our Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design course. This helped me in particular to map out the Instructional Video, and the video I produced to “sell” the educational game I designed. My filmmaking and editing skills, as well as audio and music skills enhanced the assets that I was able to design. I thought about and found ways to create an engaging story as a part of the videos I designed. I also built on my skills and challenged myself with the software I used to design these videos - Keynote, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Audition and Adobe Premiere Pro. For the Interactive infographic I designed to aid the learner, I pushed myself to learn and added further skill to my repertoire with Adobe XD. I found that my experience designing web pages, the skills I learned through the Digital Media and Learning course, as well as the typography and graphic design skills gained through the Visual and Verbal communications course, that were revisited and useful throughout so much of my coursework, came into great use here. The skills that I had gained over the past number of months like how to work with deadlines, how to get and give feedback, as well as how to adhere to video time limit requirements all served me well on this endeavor.

3) Describe your most outstanding personal triumph in each course.  Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership (January 2018)

My greatest personal triumph in this first course was to learn the lesson to keep moving forward. That everything I would do and experience was a part of the learning journey, and that it was of great importance to take time to reflect and make connections with how I would evolve in the months ahead.

Strategies for Learner Engagement (February 2018)

For the final weeks of this course, we were immersed in a real-world experience, taking on the role of being an Instructional Designer team at the same time as be a project sponsor team, and collaborated with cohorts as a part of the process. This was invaluable to me as it not only challenged my design skills, but also helped me to develop a collaborative relationship with my cohorts Jenny & Devin that would only become stronger as the months would continue. Additionally, this challenged me to find and learn how to collaborate in multiple ways. Through the use of shared Google Docs, Google Hangouts, discussion boards, and Piktochart, my cohorts and I found new ways to be in communication and overcame the additional challenge of being in two different time zones. While developing a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) for the first time, something that was quite challenging, we learned the importance of each component, and because it was broken down into an iterative process we were able to continue to grow while we were developing the TNA.

Visual and Verbal Communication in Instructional Design (March 2018)

The infographic I created and developed for this course was done in Adobe Illustrator, a program I had some experience with, but I found myself being challenged and developed newly heightened skills with element creation and design. Through perseverance and intention, I found great satisfaction when I was not only able to do what was being instructed, but added in creative components of my own making.

Corporate Training and Motivational Development (April 2018)

When it came to the last project where we had to be filmed, I was challenged speaking in front of the camera, I was used to being the one behind the camera. I can barely remember how many takes it took to get things right. Again, I kept with it, and managed to put together a quality video presentation. These experiences and skills helped me grow even more than I could have thought as a presenter and speaker. They also helped to prepare me for experiences to come in the summer as I presented a session at the International Society for Technology in Education Annual Conference in Chicago, and two workshops at the Apple Distinguished Educator Worldwide Institute in Austin. Not to mention the pleasure it gave me to utilize the knowledge to develop a seminar for middle school students in the fall.

Instructional Design and Evaluation (May 2018)

I was truly intimidated when we first started out with this course. How was I going to possibly produce a document that might be up to 24 pages in length, have everything that was required, and do it all in such a short period of time? What I was amazed by was how well planned out everything was, and how like clockwork I was able to check off each component. The biggest challenge proved to be writing learning objectives using the ABCD model. As my cohorts and I worked together, I developed a better understanding of how these were to be formulated. I also looked to the instructor for feedback on the side, and thanks to both efforts was successful in completing the learning objectives.

Digital Media and Learning Applications (June 2018)

I think I was most challenged by the Angular JS, but because I love to code and because of some past coding experiences I was able to pick up the language pretty quickly as well as the interface and creation came quickly. I applied prior knowledge to help me troubleshoot and problem solve. I also found it beneficial to tap “the community brain” when I got stuck in areas of image development - and learned from Devin how to best import vector drawings to be used in the project. Creating the video presentation of the learning object alongside the video was also challenging, and pushed me in new ways to develop a side by side video in Adobe Premiere Pro, something I had never done before. I looked to Lynda.com to aid me in overcoming this challenge, as well as Youtube. It was incredible once I was through it to see all that I had learned and accomplished through these efforts.

Music and Audio for Instructional Design (August 2018)

Challenging myself to be creative took time and effort. I wanted to have the audience identify with the character and to tell a compelling story. I wanted to appeal to a broad audience of those who are interested in stories, lore, and storytelling along with those whose curiosity is peaked due to sci-fi or fantasy shows like Once Upon a Time, often adding twists on an old story. Humor also had a part to play, this is something that can act as a good hook, but also is a great way to keep the audience engaged. I as an instructional designer, wanted my learners’ attention and to keep it. As Peters mentions, “on the one hand because they’ll learn better and on the other hand because they’ll enjoy the experience more” (Engagement and motivation, Peters, 2014).I learned about Carter’s Four Principles and took them into account as I designed the audio projects.

Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design (September 2018)

There were definitely a few challenges that arose during this course. The first was the fact that while filming, I had difficulty with lighting in my initial cut. I also struggled with how to angle the cameras in such a way that the green screen would remain constant in the background for what I hoped to swap out for great scenes of space, or planet surfaces that would match my topic of creating a lightsaber out of everyday items found around your home. On top of this, it was during the Jewish Holidays (I’m Jewish), and time for filming was tricky. Somehow though, I magically made things come together, worked on the camera issue with the help of some colleagues I work with in our digital media lab at school, and managed to pull together something to be pretty proud of. I was able to learn quite a bit on my own about chroma keying, and adjusting for shadow to get the best experience on film. Incredible! I loved what I was doing and learning, and it just made me want to do that much more!

Game Strategies and Motivation (October 2018)

I found that the storyline came very easily for me in this course, as well as the game concept, but I was challenged with how everything was going to be connected from one stage to another. I had designed games in the past, but I wanted to take things up a notch, keep things really creative. I was given creative license by the instructor, something that helped me to spend more time on the challenge, something that I needed in this case. When all was said and done, I walked away with an exciting game that I was able to put into action in my classroom immediately, and gave me great satisfaction to see how I could use it to engage my students in a way that actually took them further in their learning.

Learning Management Systems and Organization (November 2018)

During this course I found myself struggling with the concepts at first. I took time to draw out a diagram that would help me better understand what I was talking about and how interconnected the different concepts were. I also worked hard to look deeper into Schoology where I would be developing my LMS, watching additional material from Schinkten that helped me to connect what I was learning about from the readings to the actual eLearning environment. As I worked to respond to my cohorts, I took it upon myself to look at additional resources that would help them in their processes and in turn helped me to delve deeper to make additional connections to the content. I found that by keeping a good attitude, and getting the work done and making sure that the contribution and effort I made would be helpful to my cohorts and my own process I was able to overcome these challenges.

Media Asset Creation (December 2018)

One of the biggest challenges that I faced during this course was how different two points of view could be. I learned just how important it is to have someone else view your work and give you their take on it. When I first designed my interactive infographic, I was pretty proud of all that I had accomplished having never used Adobe XD before. Also, in order to design the asset, I had revisited some of the components in Malcolm Knowles’ Six Principles of Andragogy (Toister, 2014). I needed to help learners know that they are responsible for learning decisions (autonomy), while helping them acquire specific skills, knowledge, or abilities through the exercise, and to keep them as intrinsically motivated as possible (Toister, 2014). Autonomy is associated with positive learning outcomes, feeling of competence, persistence, and creativity. This also can motivate the learner as they are motivated by being able to make their own choices (Peters, 2014). I wanted to make sure to build in autonomy from the first page where learners can choose the path of working on Make-a-Map activity, or Make-a-Movie activity. I was aiming to make it so that learner would be able to revisit steps if they needed to, or move around as they liked to explore more, versus a direct path only giving them one way to go. This could confuse learners though, as I learned through feedback I received from the instructor. So I rethought how I could make this clearer, and decided to create a homepage that would explain options for how learners could proceed. The instructions suggested that learners could continue step by step (follow the numbers to know where to click), or choose to go back a step if need be or return home. Creating this approach improved the interactive infographic while also taking into consideration how adults learn. 

Instructional Design and Technology Final Project (January 2019)

I think my most outstanding triumph in this course was how I was able to revisit all that I had learned over the course of my Mastery Journey, breathed in all of the lessons learned, compiled a high-quality and professional portfolio, as well as learned how to create a visual resume! I could hardly believe that I had reached this point in my Mastery Journey...I had conquered the Hillary Steps to look out from the top of Mount Everest, and came to the realization that the sky is not a limit but the space in which we can soar and venture on to new and exciting adventures that await us, and I feel prepared to move forward. I am truly honored to have been able to experience the journey that I have so far, learned all that I have, with the cohorts I have, and developed connections that will last me a lifetime and bring incredible learning experiences into being!

References

Carter, C. (2012). Instructional audio guidelines: Four design principles to consider for every instructional audio design effort. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 56(6), 54-58. doi:10.1007/s11528-012-0615-z

Dempsey, J., and Van Eck, R. (2018). E-Learning and Instructional Design. In R.A. Reiser & J.V.  Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.) (pp. 229-236). New York, NY: Pearson

Dittmar, T. (2012). Audio engineering 101: A beginner’s guide to music production. Burlington, MA: Focal Press. Retrieved from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/audio/9780240819150

Peters, D. (2014). Interface design for learning: Design strategies for learning experiences. San Francisco, CA: New Riders. Retrieved from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-design-and-development/9780133365481

TechQuickie. (2014, August 3). What is a Codec as Fast As Possible. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/GhWki9a7s18

Toister, J. (2014, August 23). Instructional design: Needs analysis [Lynda.com online course]. Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Higher-Education-tutorials/Welcome/170069/187003-4.html?autoplay=true

#fullsailuniversity #Mastery #Masteryjourney #instructionaldesign #IDTMS

[rpencefullsail]

Drone Edventures - A Learning Management System Reflection

For this reflection process, I used the RISE Model for Self Reflection to guide what is shared here.

Reflect 

Developing a learning management system for a coding and drones course was quite the undertaking. Having broken it down into different components through projects and taking an iterative process approach proved to be helpful as I went about developing and designing this project. Starting with the Mindmap, I immediately wanted to get creative, working within Keynote to create a snapshot of what would be included within the course including content, technics, synthetic and elemental learning outcomes, learning objectives, as well as assessments that would check for understanding and apply new knowledge in different ways. I considered what knowledge the target audience might have coming into such learning and prepared for both the new and experienced eighth grade student learner or educators wanting to learn how to code, build, and fly drones. I found that while I was out to be creative, what was my initial draft turned out to leave things to question for others. So while keeping things still creative, I took in the feedback and developed a navigational map that would better demonstrate how the course would flow from start to finish. I have found over the months that I have been in this Masters program (and beyond) that it is extremely important to get feedback. What you may initially deem comprehensible, someone else may see completely differently, and by valuing and taking into consideration this alternative view, it can lead to better success. I found that as I continued with the coursework, from project to project, the more that I worked to keep this mindset, the further and more engaging I could design the content to be.

I found myself struggling with some of the concepts at first. I took time to draw out a diagram that would help me better understand what I was talking about and how interconnected the different concepts were. I also worked hard to look deeper into Schoology, watching additional material from Schinkten on Lynda.com that helped me to connect what I was learning about from the readings to the actual eLearning environment. As I worked to respond to my cohorts, I took it upon myself to look at additional resources that would help them in their processes and help them to delve deeper to make additional connections to content. The only challenge I faced was time to get the assignments completed, something that is not a usual occurrence for me. I did overcome this only by keeping a good attitude, and getting the work done and making sure that the contribution and effort I made would be helpful to my cohorts and my own process.

This process of creating a module and having it tested by my peers was incredible. I have  designed modules in the past, but have not had the opportunity to have them reviewed before use and have had to adjust as courses have been developed. I felt that the thorough reviews of my peers left me with much to think about and digest as I continue to work forward with the course I developed. Even with having had some background with designing LMS environments, I have grown in countless ways thanks to the communication and interaction I have received throughout this process. I specifically found myself paying more attention to how I could set up an environment that would encourage interactions and social learning, and took great pride in how my students, as well as my cohorts, interacted in the environment all at the same time. I found that as cohorts, in our challenges with getting the LMS to do what we wanted it to do, we learned even more from one another.

Inquiry 

Concepts I feel I need to revisit would be functional architecture, technics, and elemental learning. Resources available to me include EBSCO, which continues to be a great resource for additional research in regard to this content. Additionally, I would look to the Association for Talent Development and their resources on learning management systems and instructional design, and look into Learning Object Repositories for additional resources.

Another area I want to delve deeper into is the fidelity of design. As I work with other educators and aim to bring this to focus for professional learning opportunities for them, I want to make sure that I am finding the best ways to bring real-life and engaging experiences to life for them. What can be challenging is how individualized this may need to be and how to consider situations that will help all educators feel that their needs have been met. There are a number of resources available through websites like Mindtools, The Joy of Professional Learning, and some additional resources through Apple and Google that I have found and want to delve deeper into as I move forward in my practice. I also feel there is much to be gained through research that others have done on the subject and can be found through EBSCO, as well as additional chapters within books like that we are using in our course and beyond. Additionally I know that there are many in the field that have knowledge to share on the subject who I could communicate with and look at resources they have developed over time.

Suggest 

If I had more time, I think I would have found additional resources about technics and functional architecture. While I feel I grasped the concepts well, I find there is always more to learn. I also think I would have liked to look at some examples of courses that have been set up by other instructional designers. I think seeing best practices in action can aid in my learning (not that I haven’t had some experience given to me through our coursework in this Masters program). Additionally, I think I could have dug even deeper into the topic of incidental learning. I believe that there is always so much learning to be had beyond the classroom, and one of the vital skills we need to afford our students is how to drive their own learning and what there is to gain from interactive learning with peers.

Elevate 

In the future, I think I would be quicker to find examples to look at, and to ask questions of cohorts (inside and outside of the program) in order to delve even more deeply into the learning. In understanding what it takes to build an eLearning environment and course, this will better inform my decisions as I work with students, other educators, and others that I train in the future. I would make sure to include and promote social learning opportunities, look at the structure of the eLearning environment from many vantage points as well as consider what will work best for my target audience. Additionally, considering both elemental and synthetic learning outcomes and their role along with the functional architecture and technics will help me to create more rich and flexible e-Learning environments, while providing connection to the world outside of these environments.

Project 1: Create a Graphic Organizer to Map Learning Management System

The purpose of this project was to develop and design a graphic organizer in the form of a mind map to display the content and organization of a learning management system (LMS) to be built. The intended target audience was eighth grade students or educators interested in coding and drones. The learning outcomes included creating a graphic organizer, critiquing peer projects, and refining and reflecting on the project. This project went through two iterations that you can see in the above images.

Project 2: Create LMS Environment

The purpose of this project was to create and develop a learning management system to be used to deliver a course, and present the learning management system through a video. The intended target audience was eighth grade students or educators interested in coding and drones. The learning outcomes included creating a learning management system, and discussing and evaluating peer projects. The system itself included opportunities for collaborative learning, elemental and synthetic learning outcomes, as well as opportunities for incidental/informal learning outcomes. 

Project 3: Testing the LMS Learning Environment

The purpose of this project was to share the actual LMS learning environment to be tested, and to provide an evaluation of its instructional qualities and effectiveness. The intended target audience of the project was eighth grade students or educators interested in coding and drones. The learning outcomes included testing the learning management system (LMS), considering the applications of learning management systems, creating a survey to help inform improvement of projects, and analyzing and reflecting on the results of the surveys. Survey Monkey, an online survey creation tool was used to create and deliver the required 10 question survey.

Link to survey

Link to survey summary data results

Feedback received throughout this project:

While everyone pointed out how creative I was in my initial design, I received feedback from both peers and instructor to create a navigational map of what it would look like when someone goes through my LMS from the first page to the last. Once I received this feedback, I was able to refine my graphic organizer to best demonstrate the flow of the LMS Course, and was successful as indicated by the instructor’s use of the grading rubric and comments. According to final grading and feedback from the instructor, he saw the improvements I had made, pointed out my success with the assessment and navigational improvements, and that all parts of the assignment demonstrated an understanding of the information and concepts presented throughout the course.

According to the feedback I received, it was recommended that in the video I should show more of the layout of the content within the LMS in Schoology, and decrease the amount of stock footage that I had utilized. Through this process, I also determined that I wanted to add in a couple of other components to better capture the content itself, zooming in to make sure content was visible. According to final grading and feedback from the instructor, it was stated that I did a great job of incorporating feedback I had received, was persuasive in my presentation, demonstrated a gain in expertise, and that the overall quality of the project was successful.

Comments that I received from cohorts and the instructor pointed out that I made some great design decisions to aid the learner through organization, use of synthetic and elemental learning outcomes, and technics included in the LMS. Peers reported that what I developed kept their motivation through critical thinking activities, collaborative activities, and the way that I utilized LMS functions to scaffold the work by requiring certain work to be completed before the learner could continue on. Additional feedback I received from both my cohorts and the instructor stated that the LMS I had developed was more robust and looked like a valuable tool not only for my school, but to share with others. According to final rubric and grading from the instructor, I was successful in demonstrating expertise in survey construction and delivery, the survey questions created were thoughtful, insightful, and effective in soliciting accurate and helpful feedback from the reviewers, and the survey questions were written in a way that fostered an effective community of practice. The feedback I received about my survey from the instructor was that in the future I should include more open ended questions to get that much more data from those evaluating the LMS.

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Taking a moment to reflect on Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design

Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design both challenged me and inspired me. Below you will find my detailed reflections on the experiences I went through as I worked on the two projects in the course.

Project One: Jedis Unite! A How-to-video for making a lightsaber out of everyday materials

Project Two: Creating a Story: Conflict Resolution

Reflect

Throughout this process of filmmaking, I kept myself open to feedback and any guidance others had to offer. For this course, I completed submissions of two instructional video projects. 

Project One spanned over four weeks, and included a three part process.

In Part 1, we learned to create and work with storyboards for an instructional video project as a means of planning and communicating the compositions of shots, as well as the concepts, content, and the sequencing of information to others prior to beginning the actual video production process. But where to begin? We were instructed to head over to WikiHow.com and take a look at some how to videos. I knew that I wanted to find something that would be enjoyable, but also provide a challenge. The topic I chose….How to build a lightsaber from everyday items found around your home. This helped me to narrow down my target audience to Star Wars fans of all ages who also like crafting. The storyboard would act as a guide for our filmmaking process, as well as was to be designed in a way that if we were to work with a crew/team, they would have ease of access to the expectations of narration, lighting, camera positioning, and sound effects and music to be used. While I had experience using Storyboards in the past, this was something new, and much more detailed. I had to think of things from a number of perspectives, as well as consider how with green screen technology I would have to set things up and still get the angled views I hoped to achieve. The planning went well, as well as the photo shoot to demonstrate the angles I would be looking to capture footage from. This led to thoughts about sound effects, music, and imagery that I wanted to include. I searched and found the imagery I wanted to use on videoblocks.com and the sound effects and some music on audioblocks.com.

For Part 2, we focused in on the editing process with the goal of producing high quality instructional videos. During this stage I learned about and practiced the process of creating a rough-cut video, then developed an intermediate cut video that would be taken into final production. This experience was full of trials and tribulations, especially in regard to the footage captured and lighting. I followed my storyboard plan, and set up cameras to catch footage, utilized family to help with camera and sound capture, and began the process of filming. While there were no issues during the process, when I went to review the footage later, I found that I was too far from the camera, and that equipment was peeking in on the edges of some of the footage and could not be removed. I also felt that the quality captured could be improved upon. I made the difficult but right decision to re-shoot all footage, to rethink lighting and angles and how best to capture what I was aiming for. In the end, the footage I captured for the intermediate cut was much better, sound quality remained excellent due to the wireless mic system I used, and now it was just a task to edit down what I had captured. For the intermediate cut, I had one other hiccup, as I was rendering from Adobe Premiere Pro in order to turn in my submission, something went wrong, and footage disappeared. I had to move forward for the submission, but I knew I would have more work to come for the fine-cut and final submission.

Then came the final part, where we learned about and practiced the final stages of the production process in creating a high quality instructional video. For this stage I would learn more about chroma keying in Adobe Premiere Pro than ever before, as well as worked to edit the video down to the time required. The timing and story turned out to be a challenge for me. When I turned to my cohorts, they gave me great ideas of how I could combine some of the video pieces in a side by side view in order to help trim the video to the time required. Additionally, I received some feedback about the title, and how a subtitle might better lead Star Wars Crafters to understand that this was a How to video just waiting for them to try out!

For the second project in the course, there was a completely different experience. Scenarios are frequently used in filmmaking for instructional purposes to help the audience understand the learning materials being presented. For this project, I worked with a series of video snippets that had already been filmed, researched the topic of conflict resolution, and organized the clips and added narration to create a story that supported an instructional module on the topic of conflict resolution. With the video provided, I felt that the focus of the topic should be that regarding individuals that were in a relationship. I did struggle for a while to think of what the story was that I wanted to develop and how it could drive the learning. I thought of how I could manipulate the film, cause pauses to bring emphasis in places to the message I was trying to share. I scripted out the narration and captured the audio in a sound booth with a high quality mic system. A cohort reviewed my initial submission and gave me the suggestion to add in short, bulleted text that would be extremely helpful to the audience. They felt it would not cause cognitive overload if it was done during the freeze-frame as dual channels could still be used to absorb the information.

Inquiry

For the first project, some of the concepts/techniques that I need to revisit would be that of how to hone my story down. I did well on most accounts, but had room for improvement in the areas of theoretical application and acquiring competencies. Length proved to be a challenge, as well as camera angles needed to be better represented within the intermediate cut. This was an area that I worked on toward the final iteration. I believe that working to trim the remaining video that I used for final submission by combining moments next to one another with use of a split screen effect may get me to a new level.

For the second project, I would want to run it by some additional reviewers/learners and get further feedback. Could I adjust the narration to help it feel less rushed? How could I keep the essence of my message and decrease the narration?

Suggest

If I had more time, I would have gone back and worked on Project 1 to further trim the film, to get it within the required time frame. I would have revisited the narration that I originally wrote and determined if there were adjustments that I could make to be more clear or precise in areas and shorten but keep the story whole. For Project 1, I received feedback on the title being a little misleading, and that if I included a subtitle pointing out that this was a How-to video it would be better. I would have taken the time to add this in and finalize the film. With Project 2, if I had more time, I would have re-recorded the narration after finding a way to shorten the narration without losing the story.

Elevate

I know there is always room for improvement in anything I do. For future projects, I will always be mindful of the amount of time editing takes and allow for a wider time frame to work on editing. This would allow time to view, review, view again, as well as get that much more feedback on ways to improve and be able to have the time to apply it. I truly enjoyed what I designed and developed, and look forward to more opportunities in the future to continuously develop and hone these skills.

#fullsailuniversity #filmmaking #star wars crafts

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Reflecting on Effective eLearning Interactive Quiz

Reflect 

As I approached this project, I was excited to learn as well as apply previous knowledge and experience I had with coding as well as with visual design. I made sure that I was open to feedback, and actively sought out feedback early on in regard to the background image design.

I did map out the work and time I was to spend on each component, and felt well prepared and proactive with each step along the way. This was especially important as I knew I was to be attending a Google Event and then getting ready to present at ISTE during the last week of this course. I was able to be successful in my efforts due to this approach, and made a point of offering assistance where I could to fellow classmates both in the online community on FSO, and outside through Google Hangout sessions we scheduled or group text messages we would send to one another. I was able to organize the questions in the order of when the information appeared in the video, complete some of the advanced objectives with the coding, and push myself further in places than I could have originally imagined.

I was also willing to take a risk in my learning when I decided to produce the video of the side by side quiz & ScienceCast NASA video. This was not something I had done before, and took the time to research online how it could be created with the Adobe Premiere Pro software. I kept at it until after much troubleshooting, I demonstrated great grit and perseverance as I learned what I needed to and was successful in what I sought out to do.

Inquire

As was discussed in our week one online course in Music and Audio for Instructional Learning, in future work I would love to work toward adding audio components to support the learning as appropriate throughout the interactive quiz. I have found through my current music and audio instructional design course how beneficial this can be to any learner, but would also be mindful that it would not overstimulate or add cognitive load to the learner in doing so. This is an area I would love to dig deeper into.

I found that I do value the collaborative learning approach, and that I am at my best when I have others to bounce ideas off of or troubleshoot code or visual design challenges. I felt pushed to a new level with both the coding and image creation through Adobe Illustrator. I always feel that there is more to learn, and that we are better together as we all bring something to the table and have a lot to offer one another in our Mastery Journey.

Suggest

With more time and resources, I would have looked to design questions and spread out the timing better in order to not feel rushed or cause interruption in the learning, and feel transitions between the video and questions were more smooth in general. I would have taken the time to try out adding in audio components and see if I could improve upon the learning experience. I would also take the time to talk with more experienced Adobe Premiere Pro users, and see how I could improve on my editing. With more time, As another option, I might have experimented with decreasing the number of questions that were being asked on the quiz.

For future students, I would recommend that they consider testing out their interactive quiz along with the selected audience, and make time for this opportunity for authentic feedback from an intended audience. Additionally, be open to what your cohorts might be able to offer. As I was open to admitting that I had tried something and hadn’t been successful, and requesting that if anyone had any ideas I was open to them, this allowed me to learn something new and give others a chance to share their knowledge.

Elevate

In learning how to design an interactive quiz, I began to see more interesting and engaging options for my students, as well as the staff I train in technology integration. I began to understand how this learning object could be re-used for learning purposes in my own classroom and for professional learning with other educators I work with. Learning the process to follow and receiving the feedback I did from the professors and my cohort, helped me to feel confident that I could be creative and better engage learners for future ventures that lie ahead.

As was suggested by the professors, in the future I would work to better align the questions with the video, offering the audience/learner the time necessary to complete the question without things moving too fast. As I was successful with the “extra” fixing it took to get the Twitter and email links to work, I would also like to review the Lynda.com videos on Angular JS and learn how to get the interactive quiz ready for mobile viewing.

Overall, I felt my project was successful in attaining the goals and outcomes set for the Digital Media and Learning course. The interactive quiz was well coded, the graphic design elements well thought out and placed, and I was particularly proud of my accomplishment with Adobe Illustrator and the final svg I was able to produce thanks to the tutorial shared by my cohort Devin. I was able to make the changes recommended by my professors and cohorts all, and look forward to taking this even further in the future.

#digitallearningobjects #fullsailuniversity #coding #bettertogether

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Digital video learning object & Interactive quiz project

To determine what questions to ask to assess learners’ knowledge from watching the ScienceCast digital video, it was important to focus on the measurable learning outcomes and whether students would attain those outcomes. The measurable learning outcomes took into account different learning within Bloom’s Taxonomy, working toward use of higher order thinking in doing so. These measurable learning outcomes and assessments used in conjunction with the digital video learning object demonstrated how they aid in student learning and acquisition of knowledge and skills.

As a part of designing this project, both the authentic assessments and interactive quiz tie into the identified measurable learning outcomes, and effectively determine whether students attained the intended outcomes. As students explore and engage in the authentic learning activities, students are given opportunities to make deeper connections with the content presented in the video. A benefit of using authentic assessments is that students know what good performance looks like, and can better develop skills and understanding needed to perform well on tasks (Mueller, 2016).

The digital media used in conjunction with this project was proven to be an effective learning object. Digital resources ranging from digital images to entire websites are now classified as learning objects. Combining animation and audio through these learning objects provide the benefit of appealing to a variety of learning styles (Gunter & Kenny, 2016, p. 216). Timing is carefully matched with text, audio, and animation components to help engage students to learn more deeply (Mayer & Moreno, 2002). These learning objects additionally account for the modality effect which states when information is provided in audio format alongside a visual aid, the learner is more likely to retain information, therefore, supporting the cognitivism branch of learning science (Clark & Mayer, 2018).

References

Clark, R.C., & Mayer, R.E. (2018). Using rich media wisely. In R.A. Reiser & J.V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.) (pp. 259-266). New York, NY: Pearson

Gunter, G. A., & Kenny, R. (2004). Video in the classroom: Learning objects or objects of learning? Chicago, IL: Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2002). Animation as an aid to multimedia learning. Educational Psychology Review, 14(1), 87-99.

Mueller, J. (2016). Authentic assessment toolbox. Retrieved from http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm#definitions 

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Corporate Training and Motivational Development Course Mastery Journal Reflection

After completing the work in the Corporate Training and Motivational Development Course in the last month, including designing, receiving feedback, and taking time to reflect, I found numerous benefits and ways that this helped to elevate my practice, and will continue to help me as I move forward in this program and as an Instructional Designer in the future. I benefited from the iterative process we went through as we pieced together the work we did, building off of each iteration as we went. As I continued working, I found myself wanting to do more. This pushed me further, and I put more into the project in the end. I made a point to take in the feedback my peers and instructor offered, as well as took the time to seek out additional feedback from co-workers and family. Some of the feedback they provided included suggestions on timing, content focus, information connecting with the audience, how to keep things interactive, and positive commentary on what was working well. I learned to look deeper into the content and my process. As Bill Nye said in his Commencement Speech in 2014, “‘If [you] go into the world ready for change, change will happen,’ Nye said, being sure to emphasize how ever-evolving the world is” and “He made the point to remind the graduating class, ‘Everyone you will ever meet knows something that you don’t. … Respect their knowledge and learn from them. It will bring out the best in all of you’” (Landry, 2014). Going through such a process, I found the feedback I received offered me a look through someone else’s eyes, opening my mind to new perspectives and knowledge in doing so.  This also taught me how to look at others’ work and offer them recommendations to elevate their work as well. I find that this sociocultural constructivist approach to learning has multiplied our experiences that much more so. “Through such conversational interactions, learners appropriate the jointly constructed knowledge that could change their own understandings” (Hwee Ling, 2010, p. 306). When I came to areas that challenged me (especially being in front of the camera), I didn’t give up. I made a point of researching solutions, tried some different suggestions I found, and broke through any barriers that laid before me. This final version came out much better, and I was happier with it compared to my original draft.  Taking the time to practice even more, I thought about positioning and eye contact, as well as timing with animations as pointed out through the peer review.  I kept in mind ways to respond effectively to design criticism and how it could uncover blind spots, challenge me, help me develop communication skills, help motivate me in new ways, as well as provide a lesson in humility (Follett, 2009).  

References

Follett, A. (2009, October 1). How To Respond Effectively To Design Criticism. Retrieved from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/how-to-respond-effectively-to-design-criticism/

Hwee Ling, L. (2010). Scaffolding and knowledge appropriation in online collaborative group discussions. Contemporary Educational Technology, 1(4), 306-321

Landry, L. (2014, May 17). Bill Nye Encourages UMass Lowell Students to Forget the Conspiracy Theories & ‘Change the World’. Retrieved from https://www.americaninno.com/boston/transcript-of-bill-nye-2014-commencement-speech-at-umass-lowell/

For the first image, the slide is meant to hook and create the "POW" to grab and keep the audience's attention.

This image was created to emphasize that two of the best known companies, both known to the audience, were now 100% powered by renewable energy sources.  By bringing the images to fill the space, this demonstrated their hierarchical importance in relationship to the topic.  

This slide and its contrasting colors helped to communicate the content, but also share data, drawing the audience's eyes to the important points to be verbalized as a part of the presentation.

This slide presented data in a way to show the growth of U.S. Solar production over the years, but also used colors to tie in with the topic of Solar Energy.

Keeping colors consistent were key design principles used to make this slide. Hierarchy was used with size of lettering, bringing the focus to 2018 and Solar Energy.

Through use of animation and familiar objects, this slide helped the audience to focus on the benefits of Solar Energy.  Keeping colors consistent, chunking information, and providing contrast allowed for ease of access to content and retention.

This slide was used to continue to build credibility of the content shared by the presenter and the presenter.  This would also provide resources for the audience to start with if they wanted to investigate the topic further. Contrasting colors were used to help draw the audience's eyes to the content.

This is a copy of the draft video submitted initially.  There are points which one can tell more practice was needed, and editing could have been better.

Final submission, music was added to bring in new sense of energy to presentation, re-filmed content, and one can tell the improvements make the difference.

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Please take a look at the final video demonstration of my eLearning module for FullSail University Masters IDT course EDM533 - Enjoy! Just follow the link here:  https://youtu.be/cREFzNWMOzw 

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This is my Mastery Journey Timeline Assignment.  While I know that the journey may change along the way at times, I am dedicated to seeing it through.  Click on the link above to see the full assignment (http://bit.ly/PenceMasteryJTA2018)

#thisisreallyhappening #FullSailU

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My Mastery Journey Logo - so excited!  Created on my own with Photoshop!  Could not be more excited by how it turned out in the end.

#newlogo #FullSail #ADE2017 #GoogleEI #fortheloveoflearning

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     I have been working on a variety of ways to make Professional Learning more fun and innovative over the past few years.  In addition, I have improved upon the personalization of the professional development I provide to other educators.  These efforts have led me to create very innovative learning sessions for the teachers at my school, and happened to lead to some recognition and further advancement.   One of the accolades that arose was when I was selected as 1 of 36 recipients from around the world last April to become a Google Innovator, and was to attend an Innovators Academy in London, UK.  I created the video above in order to introduce myself and my project goals to the other Google Innovators I would be joining in London.  

     The Innovator Academy experience was an eye opener.  It all began weeks before the Innovators Academy, where we were tasked to take our proposed project visions and taught how to test our assumptions.  As I think back, it is pretty incredible to realize just how much we were able to accomplish in just a few weeks time. Once we arrived at the Innovation Academy, I found myself amongst an amazing and inspiring group of individuals.  We spent a total of 3 days working through an intensive Design Thinking Process for Educators that aided us in bringing our Innovator Projects into focus.  While I had used Design Thinking in my own classroom with students, I experienced a deeper understanding of the process as I moved through it for my own project.  We also participated in hands on activities that I found would be useful in future trainings when I returned home.  One of the things that I truly valued from this experience was the constant message that was sent to us all...they knew that there would be times that we would fail as we moved forward with our projects, but that we needed to know that this was okay.  I have learned how to fail forward quite a bit in my lifetime, and took this message to heart knowing that I had much more to learn as things would progress.  Upon leaving the Academy, we were all individually matched with a mentor who would help us drive our project to completion over a year’s time.  

     I have learned so much through this process. I have pushed myself in new ways, and have realized when I needed to take a step back and reassess what I had proposed and retested my assumptions once again.  I have been braver than ever before, and sent in proposals to present at conferences to share about my project and the process that I have come to develop over this past year.  All of these risks I have learned to take, all of the failures I have experienced and have gotten back up and tried again have helped me in more ways than I could ever have imagined.  I am particularly proud to share that due to these efforts, I have been selected to present an Interactive Lecture about my project at the ISTE 2018 Conference in Chicago this June!

#DesignThinking #GoogleEI #FullSail #Inspiration #fortheloveoflearning

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My LinkedIN profile

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One of my Feedly Boards, along with the list of different feeds found on my Feedly Account.

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My Papaly Screenshot

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This is my inspiration, a picture I took with a beautiful view from Iceberg Lake Trail on which my family and I hiked this last summer in Glacier National Park.  While my husband and I had been to the park twice in the past 14 years, this was the first introduction for our children.  I use it as my backdrop on my computer as well.  That is my son in the picture and a little further ahead my daughter and my husband.  This hike took time.  We planned ahead for weeks to build our ability to hike long distances together.  In the end, round trip it was 11 miles in length.  The view reminds me of the beauty nature has to offer as long as we take a moment to pause and take it all in. It helps me focus on the need for balance in my life, and to remember to breathe in the fresh air, to take in all that comes my way and appreciate that which is in front of me as well as behind, but most importantly to be in the moment. How should I live life?  I make and appreciate time with family, and willing to take on the longer trails in order to be able to drink in the wonderment that can come of such efforts.

#Itsawonderfullife #FullSail #lovemyfamily #GNP #Inspiration

[rpencefullsail]

My Intention and Vision - Live a life where fun and learning go hand in hand

So why now, why Graduate School, why a Masters in Instructional Design and Technology program?  I feel like it is time for me to up-the-ante on my journey for knowledge and pursuit of excellence in my field; to push and challenge myself to learn and apply that much more in my position as an educator, PreK-12 Technology Professional Development Coordinator, as well as in my roles as an Apple Distinguished Educator, Adobe Certified Education Expert Trainer, and Google Certified Innovator and Trainer.  It has always been important for me to keep on top of emerging technologies and their impact on teaching and learning.  I want to improve my habits, learn up-to-date strategies for learner engagement, instructional design and evaluation, corporate training and motivational development, visual and verbal communication in instructional design, a variety of applications for digital media in instructional design, and find more fulfillment in the experiences of my job.  I look forward to opportunities to collaborate and learn with colleagues in my field.  I hope to discover new ways to provide more personalized professional development for those in my current school as we continue our One-to-World approach with a mobile device for every student and educator grades K-12.  I want to find new ways to improve my own practice, as I continue my role as a mentor to students using a design/engineering studio approach in our school’s 5,000 square foot Startup Incubator, where my team and I continuously develop our curriculum in coding, making, and media creation.  I believe this program will help me achieve to my goals and become a visionary leader.  Most importantly, I need to practice and model what I want to help others pursue... to engage in continuous learning at a higher level and depth.  

Five years from now, I would love to still be impacting the world of education, working with students and teachers.  I would like to travel around the world to share my knowledge and experiences, working more on a consultancy basis.  I want to continue to be seen as an innovator and a valuable member of the team at work.  I am a great collaborator, and love working with a talented team I am a part of.  I embrace how we all come to the table with great ideas and make them a reality.  I have received high praise from all I work with, and feel encouraged to go the distance with initiatives and projects I think up and/or get involved in.  I have a great balance between home family life and work - having more time and ability for us all to travel together.  I can see myself mentoring EdTech Coaches, STEAM Educators, and Makers.  I am comfortable providing workshops around the world with audiences at conferences or via consultancy efforts.  I will continue to learn always, auditing classes with Full Sail, taking my education to higher heights.  I also have elements of fun along the way in whatever I do, helping to bring and spread the enjoyment and love of life and learning wherever I go.

#loveoflearning #GoogleEdu #AppleEduChat #Intention #ADE2017 #Fullsail