Barbara Solomon EDET 755 - Dr.

Smyth June 31, 2013 Course Site Reflection

As a member of The Innovative Explorers group, I am proud that we collaborated well in designing the framework for our Blackboard CourseSite project. In the development of our course, Alternative Methods of Reading Core Audiences: An Exploration of Online Media Tools, we used our time efficiently. I believe we developed the assignments and activities for this online course as fully as possible in the short time provided. We established 8 weeks as the length of our course and developed appropriate curriculum for that time frame. Content modules were completed individually; however our group followed a basic design aesthetic for the layout. Each unit began by providing background information regarding the media tool, direction for the completion of readings and a directive to post original and response reflections. Our content was enhanced with visual and auditory elements as well as supplementary resources. Goals and objectives were available within the syllabus and individual learning assignments. An e-journaling component was a common thread throughout each of the units. One formal survey assessment and multiple graded activities were included. A grade scale and rubric was included for student use. I feel that the course could have used a few more assessments of varying types, such as a simple multiple choice to validate the readers understanding of material. It would have been nice to include activities involving the tools themselves, such as creating a class or group Facebook accounts for practice with the product interface for multiple types of content. I was very pleased that our content was presented in phases or manageable smaller units. Students experienced plenty of opportunities for synchronous and/or asynchronous interaction. Because I have run into communications issues in accessing Adobe Connect meetings myself, focus or a class activity remediating students regarding the collaborative use of that tool would be a helpful addition to the curriculum. We incorporated several of the built-in components offered by CourseSite. Students viewed assignments via the assignments page, access the syllabus from the Introductory page, and took note of announcements via direct emails and the course home page. The student discussion board was used extensively as was the ejournaling site. Various discussion threads were developed for course help as well as reflection purposes. While I believe that it was essential, considering the short assignment window, to parse the responsibility for content between group members, I found it difficult to remain

consistent in our presentation of materials. For example, the assignment directions, choice of verbiage and sentence structure are clearly different for the four modules Wikispaces, Twitter, Facebook and e-Journaling. I suspect the differences were a bit confusing to the students. Also, it was incredibly frustrating when trying to get the font type and font sizes to match between and among posted assignments. I believe that given more time, the site would have been much easier to navigate and better use could have been made of the extensive tools available. While we worked very well collaboratively, sometimes our timing was a bit off. The majority group discussion took place via group emails. With the group on varying schedules for availability, sometimes duplication of efforts occurred. When the course was scheduled to open we quickly determined that we hadnt enrolled our students or prepared a welcome message for them. The oversight was quickly handled, but I do wish that our students introduction to the course had been smoother. I participated as a student in the Breaking Design course. I was very impressed with the groups preparedness in welcoming their students. The site was clean of extraneous page navigations, simple, and easy to navigate. The specifics of each assignment were clearly stated and uncomplicated. I especially liked that the expectations, grading information and due dates for each assignment were clearly posted with the assignment itself. The group used embedded links well and resources were readily available. I found the external resources such as the materials on color theory to be interesting and succinct. I felt comfortable in posting my thoughts and responding to other students posts. The instructor feedback was valid and thoughtful. The course was not designed to include collaboration on an Instructor class scale, nor did the course include varying assessment types. However, I love the course evaluation and wish we had included one for our course site as well. I believe the greatest strength of the Breaking Design course is its simple visual design and focused content.