Well, here I go again. Preparing to do something I have never dreamed of doing before. I am about to embark upon my first experience with usability testing. Finding tasks that would give me a user experience in interacting with my course has been challenging. The hardest part has been avoiding biased language and providing too many instructions.
My Usability Testing Notes and Observations Log is the last step in my prep work development process.
Ready, set, it is usability testing time!
Reflecting upon this first course, I know there is too much content to cover.
Would a longer duration or a multi-course approach work best?
What I envision is a 15-week course that is broken up into three five-week classes. I hope shorter courses will be less overwhelming to learners. This approach would allow me to narrow in on each course’s focus.
Completing a cumulative final exam with a minimum score and advisor review may serve as a mandatory advising pass for the following semester by demonstrating their learning through formative and summative assessments for the entire 15-week term.
Students with questions or advisors with concerns would allow for more meaningful and enriching advisor-advisee interactions.
Always right on track with my projects and interests, EDUCAUSE strikes again with this timely review on 9 Ways to Help Students Use Technology to Get the Most Out of College.
Talk about right on time and right on topic. I am attempting to address all nine points in my Advising 101 Instructional Design.
What is your course about?
My course is about onboarding students to college life. The course aims to explain what an advisor is and what they can do to help students. The course outlines the student’s responsibilities in their college experience and within the advising relationship. The course helps students understand university policies and procedures, including support information like success services.
How does it fit into a program?
Advising falls within both enrollment management and student success arenas. Advisors become the centralized hub of information and referrals, which primes advisors as excellent facilitators of the learning process through an advising course. Each major falls within a college department, and there are a variety of program needs based on those differences.
What is it that excites you about this course?
My excitement about this course is two fold. First, the opportunity to help learners become self-motivated learners and to take control of their academic pursuits. I am excited that learners will learn how to navigate the college experience with skills they can apply to life. Secondly, I am excited for advisors to collaborate and combine their knowledge into resources for advisees to grow and learn. There is a future possibility of learners collaborating and supporting one another through both peer-advisors and collective discussions, which is very exciting to consider.
What are the non-negotiable elements of the course?
The advising course must relieve advisors of the information transfer aspects of the advising relationship. Advisors are discouraged and overworked by the sheer number of advisees they must see each registration cycle. Limited time for advising appointments, high turn-over rates, and low-morale among the department effects learners experience and advisors expertise. Through this advising course, advisors will be able to direct learners to resource and free their advising interactions to become life changing relationships that enhance both the learner and the advisors lives.
What are some secondary elements you want to fit in?
I see now that this advising course has the opportunity to help students find their purpose in life and stay connected with their long term goals and motivations for coming to college. All to often when the coursework gets challenge or we face personal obstacles we can decide that college isn’t for us or we weren’t really interested in that topic. I think helping students self-actualize by working through the reflection of their college growth, learning, and challenges can help today’s learners embrace the learners mindset.
ETC:
Sincerely I would like for the advising course to become a place that gives students the choice of delivery method, time of day, social interaction (or lack-thereof), and limits hesitation to ask questions they might perceive as silly or common knowledge to others. I also believe that there is amazing opportunity for learners to support one another and form collectives of support.
Wow! What a resource! Module 3 – Learning Outcomes
And this one! Appendix 2: OCAV’s Undergraduate and Graduate Degree Level Expectations
My innovation plan was born out of a desperate desire to increase student motivation to seek the information they need to be successful in their academic pursuits. When I began the ADL Program, I was advising for a few online graduate Master of Education programs (including this one). I kept having students miss critical deadlines and requirements due to their lack of information. It was not that they did not have access to the information that was provided, published, and available; instead, it was a lack of inquisitivism that prevented them from even beginning the search for understanding.
Revisiting the process and learning I undertook with the facilitation of Dr. Kelly Grogan while creating significant learning environments, I keep looking for ways to align outcomes. What are my desired outcomes? I want learners to be autonomously motivated.
In my typical form and fashion, I begin my studies by reviewing, reading, and note-taking through the resources provided in my program coursework. Inevitably, I search for Learner’s Mindset discussions on the topic and/or YouTube videos on key concepts, terms, or goals.
This source resonates with me and can serve as a reminder to all of us as we endeavor to create significant learning environments.
Jon Stolk recommends that we remember to utilize the following:
He continues by stating that “when students feel these things (choice, trust, acceptance, encouragement, care, dialogue), there are extremely strong positive correlations to a bunch of the stuff we say we care about (self-efficacy, metacognition, active help-seeking, creativity, task value, peer learning, and intrinsic motivation)” (TEDx Talks, 2015).
Therefore, I intend to keep these in mind as I prepare to outline my plans for an online learning course’s instructional design. I keep hearing Dr. Harapnuik telling me to focus on the learning.
TEDx Talks. (2015, November 5). Creating autonomy-supportive learning environments | Jon Stolk | TEDxSMU [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxlFzrfdqa4
Backward design…
How extremely humbling to realize that I am finally at the point where I am creating my innovation idea. Everything I have been learning through the program on how to help develop my team through professional learning and ways that these resources can contribute to significant learning environments both equip me with resources and leave me overwhelmed at the reality of this authentic opportunity. I really do have an opportunity to revolutionize advising within my organization.
Now, I get to build my course, my ubiquitous resource, my example of revolutionary advising for learner and advisor alike.
If you are taking EDLD 5318 Instructional Design Online Learning in the ADL Program – How are you feeling in your learning process?
I, for one am still stuck at the starting line – “perfection is the enemy of the good” – has me not even having done my introduction discussion, since we were invited to create that utilizing video resources, I think I want to really plan out my introduction so that it can become a piece of the final product at the conclusion of this course. As a result, I’m thinking that the normally simple piece of each course requires more thought, time, and reflection as a piece of this course’s learning puzzle.
I am going to reach out to my learning community and see if we can plan a collaborative session to brainstorm and discuss our plans. I will share my process as I work through this first Instructional Design assignment in hopes of helping you through your learning process too.
While reviewing this weeks content for discussion in the ADL Program‘s EDLD 5318, Instructional Design Online Learning course, I heard the term “naval-gazing.” I had to back up the video, replay it, die laughing, and then search for the meaning and origin of the term.
How have I made it this far in life without ever knowing about this Ancient Greek term (principle of Omphaloskepsis)?!?!
Now here are a few interesting observations.
I have watched this video several times, taken detailed notes, and connected thoughts several times before, never noticing the phrase.
I had to exercise and embrace the Learner’s Mindset to even seek additional information.
I could not help but draw parallels to my learning process throughout the ADL program. Without even realizing or recognizing it at the time, I was detailing the same fundamentals addressed by this discussion in the recent interview I was honored to participate in about the Learner’s Mindset.
Somebody pinch me. I must be dreaming!
I have spent hours and hours watching Learner’s Mindset Discussions. Never would I ever have dreamed I would be in one! What a dream come true to sit and visit with two inspirational educators.
I am giving myself a score of 97 out of 100
Crediting Core Group Members: Annababette Diemecke, Ashleigh Carter, Kristin Winzer, Patrick Rodriguez, and Valary Patterson
Crediting Collective Members: https://advising.blog/collaborations/
Since I am not pursuing the accelerated path to program completion, I do my best to welcome new members to the learning community and help foster connections for others interested in similar projects. Many of us have stayed active in our collaborative group through a Google Drive and a GroupMe chat, both of which I host for the group.
Our learning community is committed to supporting one another. I have witnessed the power of the collective as members with no common classes come together to troubleshoot a website issue or clarify an assignment. Anytime, day or night, someone is willing to give support. I am excited to help foster that learning environment for myself and my classmates. I always ensure that I provide helpful feed-forward to my core collaboration group and all the members of the ADL Collective GroupMe chat.
I continue to refine, revisit and revise all prior assignments throughout this course, and this session pushed me to look objectively at my innovation plan. Learning about action research, struggling through writing challenges, and putting everything together into the final compilation continues to make this experience authentic. I can see my innovation coming to life. I am prepared to implement the strategies learned throughout.
I dissected the assigned course readings and pursued my information on the topics of this session. Specifically, throughout my literature review, I continued to deepen my learning on my topic as I followed links from cited sources.
I always met the course activity deadlines and posted discussion prompts and replies in hopes of engaging in a dialog about the action research process.
I engaged in every opportunity presented by hosting Zoom sessions and attending all class meetings and office hours. I engage in chat threads to review assignments, clarify questions, and provide support. I always cite source material in blogs and discussion postings. I have actively shared additional sources of information on the topics we study to offer breadcrumbs to my classmates and future ADL students and to further my understanding. I have truly embraced the learners’ mindset.
In the simplest terms? The Learners’ Mindset
Embracing the opportunity to learn even more about my innovation plan worked. Completing my second literature review was an immense learning experience overcoming fears and self-doubt.
Sharing my writing struggles through blogging was also helpful throughout the learning process. As I worked through learning about action research, I blogged about the experience and my thoughts on narrowing my topic. I see the benefits of doing the work and evaluating the learning process.
The support given and found throughout the ADL Cohort Collective GroupMe chat is still the most humbling thing to witness. I created this group chat after losing all the members of my first learning community. Out of a desperate need to find myself a learning community, I founded a support group that I hope will continue long after I complete the program.
The semester had an unusual survival feel to it. I found myself craving the discussions and interactions my classmates and I have had over the last several semesters. I am trying to determine if the course material had everyone deep in the research process or if it was the time of the year keeping everyone busy with work and family commitments.
I kept giving support and encouragement by checking in with community members. The term seemed detached, collectively.
We still came together when a member needed help, but there were fewer in-depth conversations about our projects. Again, likely because of the nature of academic research and writing. I would have liked to experience more discussion on each course component. We had a few Zoom sessions and worked through assignments, but I missed learning with my classmates at the level we had in the past.
The Advisor That Cares 