I used to think failures and mistakes were the worst thing that could possibly happen. I strive for perfection when I design something or do anything for that matter, but quickly learned that it’s not always possible. Failures are a part of the learning process and mistakes happen (some are even out of your control).  Now, I think about my mistakes/failures and try to figure out a way that I can learn from it and turn those errors into a positive experience. One of my biggest weaknesses is in regards to time management. I used to get overwhelmed with a lot of assignments due all at once, and that would cause me to rush through a lot of my work (resulting in sloppy, unfinished projects, papers, tests, etc.). I’ve started to accept the fact of failure recently, when taking courses with Dr. Vallera because she encourages failure and puts way more focus on the actual process of learning and designing. I think that plays a big part in learning how to grow as a student and professional because when you have a Professor who doesn’t expect you to be perfect all the time, but rather, encourages students to embrace our mistakes as an opportunity for reflection, that helps promote the learning process. I am able to take my time going through the different learning tools, theories, and strategies, to fully open myself up to new ideas, knowing that I can explore these things on my own terms. The reflection part is key because when mistakes are made, I can take a step back and understand where I went wrong and think about ways to improve for the future and hopefully not make the same mistake twice.

For this week’s task, my partner and I decided to use Google sites to create our learning management system. Before this week, I didn’t even know that Google offered this type of tool (which after learning about it, doesn’t surprise me one bit since Google has everything..). That being said, this was my first time using Google sites and I found it to be very easy to understand as a beginner. You can easily customize the site to fit any needs of your audience by incorporating videos, text, pictures and any google suite tool (docs, slides, sheets, forms, charts, maps, etc..). I really enjoyed designing the site and would love the chance to explore it further and even try to develop a Canvas site. I think learning management systems online are very unique because depending on how its organized and developed, it can appeal to a wide variety of groups/audiences and can be tailored in an engaging & meaningful way. As always, it’s important to evaluate the needs of your learners first to find a learning environment that enhances their understanding. Going into this program, I was nervous about taking online courses because in the past, I have not found them to be rewarding or engaging in any way.  However, after taking two online courses now, I’ve learned that it truly depends on how the course is designed that makes all the difference. Collaborating with my peers, working on hands-on activities, watching videos, and having choices about the material I engage in really impacts my learning in a positive way.

The ASSURE model “E” is for Evaluate and Revise which aligns fairly well to this week’s activity by evaluating the impact of the teaching on student learning. This week was a great opportunity for me to explore Qualtrics to build a survey/assessment. It’s such a great tool to use and you can make it as simple or elaborate as you would like. I can definitely see myself using Qualtrics in the future for my job because it’s such a versatile assessment tool to gather real feedback from students or peers.  Right now, my department uses Survey Monkey for our seniors as an “exit” slip where they provide us feedback and we evaluate whether our department mission/objectives were met based off the student responses. We use the data that we collect to try and make our curriculum follow the demands of the students. Now that I was able to explore Qualtrics deeper and I feel comfortable using it, I really would like to use it instead of Survey Monkey. 

The fifth step of the ASSURE model is to “require learner participation” which is something that I think needs to be done throughout every other step and throughout the whole process.  For an activity to be effective, students should be engaged in the material that the instructor is teaching.  I don’t think this week’s activity really aligned to my model as well as the previous activities we’ve done. This week was focused a lot on feedback and iteration, whereas the ASSURE model focuses on learners participation in the learning material.  The sixth stage of the ASSURE model “evaluate and revise” is the stage where gathering student feedback is present to see if objectives were met and whether their learning experience was positive or negative. However, I can see a few connections because in order for the learners to participate, they need to be actively engaged, which requires them to fully appreciate and value the lesson. I think by gathering feedback BEFORE revising the lesson is important and this is where I don’t fully agree with the ASSURE model. In order to “fix” or improve the lesson, you need to take the students’ opinions and viewpoints into consideration to construct an effective and engaging lesson. This week’s activity left out the requirement of student participation because we didn’t come up with a plan/layout of how exactly that could be done to engage students in both the class level and individual level.

I really enjoyed this week’s activity of choosing an instructional object and diving deep into evaluating and analyzing it. The hardest part for me was choosing the physical material that I wanted to explore. Since I don’t have any of my own lesson plans, I resorted to the internet/google :).  I wanted to explore something that I am familiar with and have a good amount of experience with, which is what lead me to the topic of personal/professional development! I choose to look at a lesson plan for resume writing for students. It was a topic that I feel very comfortable with because I have taken classes before (in high school & undergrad) about how to write a good resume and a cover letter. I also have applied for MANY jobs after graduating college, AND managed to get a job at Lehigh, so clearly I must have done something right when writing my resume to land job interviews and ultimately a job.

The lesson plan I evaluated had fairly clear, but simplistic learning objectives. However, I think the objectives were lacking when it came to including the conditions and the criteria (which is what we learned in a prior activity). The instructional objectives were that students will: (1) learn the purpose of a resume, (2) review the basics of resume writing, (3) create their own resume and (4) request and collect letters of recommendation. The objectives of the lesson did not include a condition or a “situation in which the learner is to perform the behavior” which could have been as simple as “After the lesson and independent practice, students will…”. In addition, the objectives did not include a criteria for evaluation to see how well the learner is to perform the behavior such as rate, frequency, duration, etc… However, I do believe the instructional objectives laid out in the lesson aligned with the material discussed.

KSABs: In terms of the knowledge to be learned from the lesson, the instructor discussed the elements and key components of a resume such as: skill (ability to do an activity or job well, especially because you have practiced it); Experience (knowledge or skill that one gets from doing, seeing, or feeling something); Occupation; Qualification (ability, characteristic or experience that makes you suitable for a particular job/activity); and References (a person who knows you and is willing to describe and usually praise you to support when you are trying to get a job). In addition to the necessary elements to structure your resume: heading, objective, education, experience, activities, summary of skills and references. The instructor organized the lesson very well and allowed for discussion of all the key points in the beginning during “direct instruction”. A portion of the lesson was reserved for “guided practice” where the instructor could assist the students in gathering information and inputting it into a resume template. After the students practiced, they then were on their own to create their own resumes, while the instructor monitored them. So the skills and abilities that they are learning are writing a good resume, using the resources and material the instructor provides. Skills are the capabilities developed through hands-on experience, which was provided in order to write a “winning” resume, while the instructor supported and assisted them. The students are receiving the training and experience they need to create an observable product. While creating the resumes, an individual needs to think about how to describe oneself (skills, experience, qualifications, activities) and how their opinions/views can be turned into a professional resume and usable product. In a resume you need to “sell yourself”, so I think that can play into the behaviors part of the KSABs. They are required to observe themselves and think about their accomplishments and behaviors that employees might be looking for.  I think this lesson plan was organized well and provided all the necessary information in order for the students to accomplish the goal of writing a resume.

The ASSURE model- third stage “S” is to select strategies, technologies, media and materials.  This is when the instructor should connect the audience to the objectives. Exploring multimedia development in alignment with the ASSURE model can definitely help increase engagement and interest in the classroom.  I think this week’s activity aligned well with this stage of the model because developing and incorporating multimedia into your lesson can support the instructor. I explored Adobe Spark to create a video this week and it was pretty easy to use. This was my first time using Adobe Spark and I thought it would be a good idea to become familiar with something new. I can definitely see why others use it a lot to create logos, videos, pages, etc. Adobe Spark allowed me to use audio, videos and pictures to tell a story which is what I did to deliver the information. Although the delivery of information was mostly instructor-centered, I believe the activity that the learners can do as a result of the video is more hands-on and student-centered. I’m glad I got the chance to try something totally different and discover a new tool that I can use in the future!