My journey through T127: Teaching and Learning Lab Practicum started last year when I did not make it in to the Spring 2022 session via lottery. I was very eager to take the course. It had been recommended to me by several of last year’s LDIT cohort and I had been impressed by every member of the TLL I met.
It was also the only course that reminded me of the work I had actually done as an instructional designer in the past: a fusion of the technical and creative; focused on problem-solving, translating the vision of SMEs, and collaborating on a cross-functional team.
Now that the semester is reaching an end, I am filled with a kind of regret. Not for having taken the course, but because I want more. The semester went so quickly. Personally, my days were so full I barely had time to breathe. Looking back at my notes from the first couple weeks, I can see the care I took, taking time to process the readings, letting myself go down rabbit holes, and supplementing my notes with infographics. As projects picked up, my notes became efficient, focused on capturing the big idea. I was in more of a survival mode.
Still, every week’s topic was of interest to me. I looked forward to see how we would tackle the ideas as a class. During the asynchronous sessions, I was impressed that the activities were just as engaging – signing up for and evaluating MOOCs and creating a digital badge. I cited the ds106 cMOOC we learned about in my other course when asked to redesign an online learning toolkit.
I’m also having a hard time letting go of the simulation project.
Running the user test was a rush! Seeing the roles we had painstakingly gone back and forth on – what to emphasize, what to cut, how to make sure a point of tension would emerge between these two roles – come to life for the first time was thrilling. I distinctly remember the moment when the Project Manager proposed a 3 month timeline and the Faculty Member genuinely balked, saying “What? I just don’t understand why it would take that long?” I couldn’t stop smiling.
There’s so much rich data that Lauren, Majo, and I collected that we simply did not get to go through. I keep thinking of the next iteration, what we could change, what I would propose we try out.
In the other blog post and my capstone analysis, I gave some more general recommendations about using Viewpoint for simulations. However, I would love to keep iterating and really apply some of what we learned for this specific simulation of the TLL Learning Design Kick-Off Meeting. Off the top of my head:
- Don’t assign roles randomly, but base assignment on learner personality
- Have participants message each other before to take more advantage of Viewpoint’s affordances and address the main concern that the TLL team did not feel aligned prior to meeting the faculty member
- Give more time for TLL to form a cohesive team, perhaps meet for a full hour beforehand and draft rolling agenda
- Give more time to debrief
- Introduce some kind of coaching/instant feedback
- Run an approximation of a RCT where half of participants get paper handouts and half use Viewpoint
- Find another way to introduce metacognition since multiple participants said the metacognitive survey was too distracting and broke immersion (even though that was the goal)
- Remove observer role and have teaching team observe instead for formative assessment
I wish I could keep iterating on the simulation. I wish I had been able to spend more time with my classmates and learn about their projects. I wish I had signed up for office hours more. I wish I could do it all over again.
While I never felt confused about the learning goals, content, or the simulation project my team was working, I became quite confused about the capstone and analysis document towards the end of the semester. Because our project was unique, the directions about using what we learned from the project to design a piece of a learning experience were almost exactly the inverse of what we had done: we had designed a learning experience and learned from that process!
Once resolved, it was very straightforward to write the analysis document. I remembered exactly the readings and videos I wanted to refer back to. Plus, the rolling agenda we used in our team meeting made it easy to think back to certain decision points and the development timeline.
I know I’m not the only one at HGSE who has a tendency to take on too much. Everyone shares the experience of drinking from a firehose.
While my first feelings when reflecting on my learning journey in T127 were regret for not being able to slow down and savor each moment, I can also look at the other side of the coin: gratitude.
This semester, I was not only able to run a simulation about learning design through collaboration with two talented colleagues…hopefully while giving my classmates at least one valuable insight about learning design to carry forward into their careers; I also gained the knowledge to speak confidently about design choices ranging from video length and production value to alternative credentialing; I began populating a portfolio I’ll be excited to share; and I documented a design process that I can talk about for hours (and have photographic evidence of.)
I did all this while TF-ing a course for the first time; successfully designing and running a workshop uniting two student organizations; applying for and receiving a grant; creating a physical learning object almost every week in my digital fabrication class (including a dream toy for one of the children I work with), holding down two part-time positions, and attempting to enjoy my first year of married life.
Not many people get to experience so much! I am grateful for my classmates and the teaching team. I will take my regret to signify that this is exactly the kind of community and the kind of work that I need to pursue.
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