"Reflection about EDTC 6020"

Over the past five weeks this class has kept me very busy. EDTC 6020 is my third online course towards my MaEd-IT. I am really glad I only took EDTC 6020 during the summer II session. I took two classes during the spring semester and was teaching full time, but for some reason this class seemed more demanding. Probably because of the 5 week time frame. Anyway, I learned a lot from this class. Upon entering this class I felt very confident, but once it began I was a little intimidated. I had difficulty with the chapter summaries and some of the ID pieces. Another thing about EDTC 6020 is the whole Instructional Design Process. As a veteran technology facilitator and teacher I do many parts of the ISD process already, but have never really looked at it from a Instructional Designer's point of view. When I teach, I typically look at the NCSCOS, decide on a lesson, and then I deliver the instruction. This class helped me realize that I should put more emphasis on analyzing the learners prior to instruction. In my classroom I do various things, such as interest inventories, but that isn't the same as doing a learner analysis for every lesson or unit I teach. Obviously, teachers are very very busy and the reality is we cannot do a formal instructional design for every lesson, but this class has shown me various ways to improve my instruction. My ultimate goal is student achievement and this class has given me some tools to enhance my classroom learning environment.

The part of the class I enjoyed the most was using all the online tools. Before this class I was familiar with blogs, but had never created one. Next year, early on I will have my students create their own blogs. This will be a great communication tool for myself and my students. Another part of this class I benefited from was the connecting process to practice. It was helpful to have real world scenarios that related to the chapters. I also found the ID insights and professionals in practice helpful. Without these two I would have been very lost. Overall, this class opened my eyes to the instructional design process and how it works. Also this class helped me recall and revisit theories I studied 10 years ago in undergrad. Lastly, this class was challenging but worth it.

P.S. Hope some of us will be in other classes together. I will be taking two online courses in the fall. Enjoy what is left of summer everyone!!!!!!!