My first course in the Learning Design and Technology Master of Science degree program was EME 6055 Current Trends in Instructional Technology with Dr. Sanghoon Park in the fall of 2018.  As the culminating assignment of the course, we were asked to choose an emerging instructional technology which we found particularly interesting, and then conduct research, gather resources, and design and present a PowerPoint slide presentation. We would then present this using  Screencast-0-Matic to produce a screencast video posted on YouTube. The topic we chose had to reveal our vision for a future classroom or training, explain how it might be used, discuss its benefits,  express any potential concerns, and offer recommendations for its implementation.

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In EME 6055, I encountered the idea of Open Educational Resources for the first time, and I was astounded to see the amount of material freely available online. My first concern about OER as a viable resource was whether the quality of such content would be accurate, current, and academically rigorous enough for common and widespread use.  My research revealed how much those concerns were unwarranted! Although there are limitations to what Open Educational Resources can offer, and often there is initial institutional resistance to them, both students and educational institutions can benefit from the accessibility and cost savings of using such freely available materials. 

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What would I do differently now? I would have liked to create a narrative PowerPoint presentation and posted it here; unfortunately, this webhosting service does not support it.  This project was completed in my first semester as a non-degree seeking student, which was before I enrolled in the MS program. Discovering OER was a powerful indicator of the potential of online learning in an inequitable and networked world. This initial interest lead to a decision to pursue this degree in Learning Design and Technology. It remains a strong memory for me.