This course was an eye opener to me. I have had over 9 years experience working in education, all of it within online education. I have filled many hats, facilitator, student advisor, program manager, coordinator and developer. But I had not ever been formally trained in the in’s and out’s of teaching for adults. I loved the books that were required for these courses and found that they were very in-depth and will be an excellent resource as I advance in my career.
The class was a bit intimidating at first since I do not currently teach and I do not have too much experience writing learning outcomes or designing courses and I thought this was going to be a great disadvantage for me. But it was completely the opposite, I found I had so much to contribute to the class and I was excited to complete all the assignment. It is always a benefit to me to be able to reflect on others work as well. I love being able to see how other people see an assignment and I find great value in the learning experience.
This class also helped me see our students in another light since I was able to see just how much thought and work goes into each class. You need to consider the needs of the students, ensuring that the lessons match the learning outcomes and if you make any changes as you go you need to make sure you are considering how it will affect the overall course design and any other assignments. It is quite a task and I look at my faculty and realize just how much time and work goes into creating a course. I have to consider I only created one lesson, not an entire course.
My career goals are to hopefully become an instructional designer. So this class has given me an excellent foundation of how a class should be developed, so when I am able to make a career move I can take the information learned here and be able to assist the faculty with ideas and guidance on how their classes should be built.
This was a very well put together informative class!
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