Reflection Paper

When beginning the course design document, I had a very clear vision of what I wanted to
create. As I began completing activities and reading the text, I realized that what I thought was
clear vision was only a sad under developed idea. I quickly realized that my topic was far too
broad and would not fit within the organizational structure of online learning. As I read more
about breaking content in module and offering learning opportunities to meet the needs of my
target audience, my topic almost seemed insurmountable. I knew I wanted to focus on online
learning and I wanted to create a course around fictional writing, but being a classroom teacher I
under estimated the amount of planning and organization that online learning entails. It seems so
effortless as a student in an online class, but course design was far more complicated. I
committed to online learning, narrowed my topic to romance writing, and underwent several
drafts before it came together in what I hope is a logical fashion.

Throughout the course there will be several intrinsic motivations, or goals. Each module will
end with the completion so a relevant component of the learners final fiction novel. For example,
the module on character development will end with the learner completing a character trait check
list for all of the charters within their writing. This will engage the learner and promote
motivation to continuing working though the course and writing the fictional novel. Behavioral
theory focuses on extrinsic motivation or rewards. This is also built into the course through one
on one time with the instructor reviewing the learners fiction piece, or additional assistance in
publishing the fiction piece outside of the course. The reward system is not the only component
to motivation found within the course. Keller (1983) founded an ID model for motivation that
has additional components of interest, relevance, and expectancy of success. All of these things
are present in the course through the use of literary examples and the use of fictional novels that
have been successful as case studies. Students will analyze these fictional works as a means for
improving their own writing which will highlight the potential for success from novice writers,
demonstrate the relevance of key components within their writing, and demonstrate the
relevancy of learning these skill in order to write effectively.

This course is specifically geared towards adults and will be based on the principles of
andragogy, adult learning theory. To accommodate those principles this course is self paced and
allows the learner to skip ahead and quiz or review content they may already know or spend as
much time as required for content they are unfamiliar. Time is a primary concern for adult
learners, based on adult learning theory, it is important that the information is relevant and
timely. Many adult learners can thrive independently however some may require additional
support and encouragement. To accommodate both types of learners this self paced course also
has established office hours from the instructor where student can seek one on one online support
through skype or video conferencing, or group support through conference calling. Decision
making is also a necessary component of adult learning theory as well as cooperative and mutual
assessment. In this course students will develop their own fiction idea and draft the story
however they see fit within the parameters of a specific genre. As the instructor I will offer
guidelines for the student to accept or challenge within their writer, and they will also have peer
review assessment components where a mutual cooperative environment will be readily
available to provide feedback. This also creates small group learning communities which allows
learners to interact comfortably while sharing their writing, which is another vital component of
the adult learning theory.

Through the learning theory teach back assignment I realized that I truly align and identify
with theories geared toward online learning, in particular Experimental Theory and Minimalist
theory. They also take into account the needs of adult learners. In my classroom I am a proponent
of project based learning, which is also evident in my course proposal. My course ends with the
completion of a romance writing project. In the experimental theory, leaning is self-initiated by
the learner, and is based on the needs and wants of the learner. Learning is significant to the
learner because he or she has a desire to learn the information and seeks specific resources to
learn what is required. I firmly believe that desire and motivation are the key factors to learning.
When learners pursue education to acquire a skill they are intrinsically motived to succeed and
see value in the content they are learning. Not only is the theory is learner centric, it is also
dependent upon personal involvement. Since students are learning information they deem as
important and necessary they learn in a different fashion than if the information was required.
This learning theory is equal to personal growth and change. When working with adult learners
this idea of the ability to grow, change and succeed is vital. Another important component of
adult learning is that information must be relevant which is another focus of this learning theory.
Since this is a learning centered theory, they teachers role is to facilitate learning which is think
if important for all learners to create independence and accountability, but it is also desired by
adult learners which makes it ideal for my course.

By far the most challenging aspect of the project was the task analysis. While in theory
understanding the necessary components of a course seem clear, especially if it is a topic you are
passionate about, it is quite daunting. One of the most important elements to adult learning
theory is the idea of time and relevancy. When creating the task analysis and considering learner
characteristics I really had to define and consider m instructional goal. The tendency was to
cover several topics because it seemed to naturally fit, but the minimalist learning theory shows
that using the prior knowledge of the learner is very effective. In turn I whittled away several
extraneous layers of content from my task analysis because it was likely that a learner taking this
course would either already know or could easily research on their own, Being thoughtful about
how the content would effective the learner was complex task yet vital to course development
and it is easy to see why it is so crucial to instructional design.

Instructional design is a process is wildly different than my initial expectation when beginning
the course. In many ways, ID is a science. There are so many nuances to consider when creating
a course and instructing learners of all ages. The several theories and models all have a place in
the education but finding where they fit, how to identifying and utilized them effectively is
something else entirely. While the process is clear and linear, it is also circular. Design decisions
that seem solid and founded in research and theory at the beginning of the process quickly
became irrelevant the more I moved toward task analysis and enabling objectives. Every choice
must be purposeful and every step is heavily integrated into one another even though it may not
seem so at first blush. However, its this connectivity that makes instructional design to vital.
Learning has to be a purposeful process and go beyond passive retention. By making these
extremely thoughtful design decisions the learning is greatly improved, effective, and purposeful
which is the overall goal of all educators and designers.

In my current teaching position I will use experimental learning to design an independent

research project allowing student to learn what they feel is important. The cornerstone of
experimental learning is personal, social research problems which I often use when designing
projects, such as the create your own protest project my students recently completed. Best
practices dictate that student choice plays a valuable role in their learning. When I design
projects, I often give students a choice, which in turn always results in better projects. Minimalist
theory is in many ways being applied to the current classroom. Students are expected to have
prior knowledge from previous classes and grade levels. One of my project design principles is
to make the project realistic and meaningful. If students are given a task with clear relevancy to
the real world and their future, then will have greater buy-in. Many high school students are
unmotivated or unengaged because they are forced to sit through instruction that holds no
relevance or that they are overly familiar with. When students are immersed into the learning
taking their skill set and prior knowledge into account, they will learn faster and better.

The most valuable concept I have learned throughout this course was enabling objectives. I
feel as though I have been writing objectives for my entire career. But it wasnt until this course
that I realized how specific and purposeful that process was to creating effective instruction
Creating the entire CDD was the most valuable activity and the best and most fun component of
the CDD was the module 2 activity where I was able to express my vision for the course. It was
empowering to expand on an idea that was so personal to me.