Reflection
Applying the AECT Standards and the Competencies and Skills for Instructional Designers
Examining my work for evidence of the AECT Standards has been a revealing experience. It has confirmed the complexity of many of the assignments and the variety of skills and knowledge they each required. Many of the artifacts in this portfolio reflect a cluster of these standards and their indicators, so it was challenging to narrow it down. I have chosen my favorite work products to share here and identified the standards which they each reflect. The Eagle Eatery is the most comprehensive project of the portfolio, and while I have included here, its high quality stems from the hard work of three other students who worked with me.
As a team, we maximized the end product by taking advantage of each member’s strength; Samantha had experience in illustration and animation, Destin had a great deal of Storyline 360 experience. Daniel was a science teacher, so he was our subject matter expert and was responsible all the narration and instructional content. I had some Storyline 360 experience as well, but not as much as Destin and Samantha, and I learned a tremendous amount from them. I focused on the formative and summative assessment tasks and the steps needed to produce specific instructional or motivational feedback to student responses. I was also responsible for locating audio sound effects and music soundtracks, converting and editing those files, and adjusting their placement and timing in the game. I managed a group calendar and sent meeting announcements and reminder emails. We shared editing and revision tasks, and we communicated via email, group texts, and video conferences twice a week. Overall, though, the team overlapped in responsibilities and each of us had some contribution to make in every aspect of the project. We received specific and guided feedback from our instructor and our peers, and we addressed every criticism with an appropriate revision. Most revealing was the first and second round of testing with Daniel and Destin’s current students, and we were very pleased with their reactions and insight.
The applicable AECT Standards for each artifact appear on its artifact webpage, and you can hear a discussion of how it reflects these standards in the Video Tour. The relevant Competencies and Skills for Instructional Designers are referenced there as well. My understanding of the role of the instructional designer has grown exponentially in the last two years. In my past experience, I designed curriculum in isolation for the students in my own classroom, or in some instances worked with other teachers within my own discipline to create and share resources. As an instructional designer, I will be part of a team effort with professionals in a variety of roles: subject matter experts, technology specialists, course instructors, graphic designers, learning management system specialists, and project managers, to name a few.
Project Examples: Artifacts and Experiences
Compiling examples of my learning experiences in this program for this portfolio required that I be selective and particular in my choices. In the case of several of the Competencies and Skills for Instructional Designers, I had practice with simulations or scenario-based tasks to emulate a needs assessment, for example, but those tasks are not included in this portfolio. For example, the skills of assessing budgets and evaluating training programs have been hypothetical and in the classroom context. Every course in this program exposed me to new perspectives and provided the opportunity to experiment with a variety of software tools. Much of my time was spent in each course learning enough of a necessary software program to be able to complete a media project, design a flowchart, or create a storyboard. It would not be an exaggeration to argue that the cumulative projects in most courses addressed nearly all the AECT Standards, but for the sake of time and brevity, I have identified those which most connect with both the AECT standards and the skills and competencies expected of instructional designers.
As each semester passed, my understanding and abilities expanded in so many areas. The work in this digital portfolio reflects some of the essential topics and themes of the MS program: learning design, application of learning theories, history of instructional technology, pedological strategies, project management, the sociological influences of technology, learning motivation and gamification theories, video production, podcasting, and web design. As a graduate student, I encountered online learning management systems for the first time, especially Canvas; in an instructor role, I designed a learning module in Canvas as well, and it was interesting to view this LMS from the instructional side of things. Other new experiences included video conferencing and synchronous class sessions using Blackboard Collaborate, Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Google Hangouts. I explored the functions of Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, PIXLR E, and Canva, and learned how to create a flowchart in Lucidchart; cloud computing has become standard practice for me through file sharing programs and storage accounts with Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, Adobe Cloud, and OneDrive. In other courses I designed my first website with HTML using Brackets and Visual Studio Code, learned how to use a file transfer protocol (FTP) program, FileZilla, and played with a variety of web browsers I never before knew existed! Among all of these new technologies, however, the most exciting aspect for me as an educator has been the discovery of a multitude of educational software and educational games available online, as well as exploration and research about the instructional possibilities of innovative technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
Several of the technologies new to me have been included in the artifacts in this digital portfolio. I had such fun learning about and creating a mini-module on Metaverse and AR and sharing it with my peers on Canvas. I have gathered folders full of bookmarks of online educational technologies I plan to use in my own future practice. My discovery of Open Educational Resources presented a universe of resources to use with my students and as sources for lessons and instructional content. I was surprised and pleased to discover that my own experience as a teacher-trainer could be adapted into a technology project management unit, and it was interesting to approach the task from a management standpoint. The media projects I have selected came from Dr. Hatten's Interactive Media course, and notably it was Dr. Hatten's insistence that the topics of our podcasts and videos be personal and reflect our interests which helped motivate me even more -- and this also lessened the intimidation of being inexperienced with audio and video production.
In addition to exposure to technologies that can support and enhance learning, the MS in Learning Design and Technology program has provided numerous opportunities for collaboration with peers and instructors both in-person and virtually. This collaboration considerably enhanced my own learning and introduced me to fellow educators who share similar enthusiasm about instructional technology. While collaborative tasks can be challenging, they also mimic the work of instructional design teams, which is one of my evolving career interests. Indeed, some of the best work I have done has been in collaboration with others, and one of the strongest artifacts in this portfolio is an educational game designed by a group of three fellow students and myself. Through the process of adapting and transforming an established face-to-face science lesson into a completely computer-based instructional module, I have realized how much work these programs require. The end result was made better by the contribution of different people with different backgrounds and levels of experience. I could not have made this educational game on my own, and this in itself was a valuable lesson.
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