Final Reflection

My enrollment in the MALDT program has itself been a pivotal moment for me. I say this because I began this program at the same time my agency was moving from distance learning as a necessity to distance learning as the new paradigm. I spent the first three months of the government shutdown due to COVID converting two brick and mortar courses to distance learning courses. This was not an easy task given my minimal training in instructional design, but I managed to redesign a 5-day and a 15-day course to be delivered virtually. Now more than a year later, distance learning is here to stay regardless of the COVID environment, and I want these courses to be so much better. I could not have selected a more opportune time in my professional career to be in the MALDT program.

Throughout EDU 642, I continually looked for ways to incorporate what I was learning into the courses I teach. The greatest challenge I had was using instructional media and developing products that could be used to enhance learning in an agency with strict network security policies and procedures. For example, the simple incorporation of a YouTube video is nearly impossible and requires special permissions. I had to look at ways to make better use of the tools I can use, such as Blackboard Learn and Adobe Connect, or use instructional media outside of class for things like formative assessments/reviews and team building. Looking back at what I learned and produced during these past seven weeks, I believe my courses will be so much better, and more importantly, adult learners will be much more engaged.

One way I can ensure learners will remain engaged is to carry Mayer’s principle of redundancy into my teaching. From my introduction to Mayer’s principles during week one of EDU 642, I have been spending my days at work updating course slides so they are not so busy. By busy I mean slides with graphics and text, plus my narration when I am instructing. My eyes and head hurt when I look at slides like this now. I can only imagine how learners in my courses must feel, especially when attending training virtually for three weeks over a video teleconference. My goal by the new year is to incorporate more graphics and less words on my lesson slides and incorporate multimedia in a way where PowerPoint slides are no longer the primary tool I use to convey concepts.

Part of my educational philosophy when I began the MALDT program included my being flexible and willing to adapt my training programs for adult learners to ensure learning is meaningful for all. This part of my philosophy still holds true, but my being a learner in EDU 642, an asynchronous on-line course, has provided me a greater understanding of what it means to be an adult learner in a distance learning environment. During these past seven weeks, I have been hesitant, unsure of myself, and uncomfortable at times. I had to take a step back or pause, completely change a product/assignment, and definitely reach out for more guidance from the instructor than I probably would have if this were a face to face course. The learners in my courses are no different than I. I need to take into account my experiences and multiply them twenty-fold to account for the feelings of the 20 learners (on average) in my class. If I truly want learning to be meaningful for those 20 learners, I must not only incorporate what I am learning in the MALDT program, but also remember all those feelings as I set a schedule, assign a group project, present course material, interact with learners, have learners interact with each other, etcetera, etcetera.