Overview
This self-paced online course consists of three modules that navigate learners to create their community engagement plan. The estimated learning time is 6-8 hours, and the course completion is 1-2 weeks.
The course production project follows ADDIE and Learning Design Thinking models for the overall structure. The contents are based on Constructive and Andragogy theories. The instructional strategy is mapped out with Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction to plan learning experiences. With Dick and Carey’s model, all objectives, activities, and assessments are strategically aligned with the course goal.
This is a capstone consultancy project of the M.S. in the Instructional Design and Technology program at the University of Maryland Global Campus in the summer of 2023.
Analysis
Analysis of the problem and identified learning solution are addressed in the design document.
Following ADDIE for the overall structure, the design document breaks down the process into phases, and the contents are updated throughout the project period.
Project Management
The project management plan outlines the essential concerns of the course production.
The project goal is to produce a self-paced online course that navigates applicable stakeholders on planning community engagement for the long term.
Accessibility
For the online learning platform potentially reaching many people worldwide, planning for accessibility in the first place is an important practice.
This course ensures a minimum of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level A, which satisfies ADA compliance.
As a quick reference for visual accessibility, I attached a color contrast to the brand board.
Design & Development
As I produced a sample storyboard, I started to structure a skeleton prototype on Canvas LMS because I needed to see the appropriate amount of text and visual assets on a page.
Challenge:
I wanted to avoid flat walls of text.
Solution:
I organized the information hierarchy and contained content in tabs when they were predictable types of information. To develop a layout on Canvas LMS, I worked in the HTML editor to change the frontend UI.
Evaluation/Calibrate
Quality Assurance:
QA checks were conducted multiple times before submitting each deliverable to the client.
The overall course was evaluated with the OSCQR 4.0 Course Design Review Quality Course and Teaching and Instructional Practice (QCTIP) scorecards from the Online Learning Consortium as its industry-standard benchmark. In addition, the Course Evaluation Checklist v2.0 from Canvas will cover the best practice levels.
Usability Test:
Another occasion the prototype received valuable user experience feedback was from a focus group. In addition to the client, a few test users were involved during the prototype phase to hear from different perspectives.
This 3-minute video has audio.
Implement
Log-in Credentials:
To log in as a guest user, please use the email and password provided. https://learn.canvas.net/login/canvas
Email: wagarden6@gmail.com
Password: LDTrytestuser
You will find a couple of courses on the dashboard when you log in. Go to “Community Engagement v3”.
After checking our course, please log out from the guest user account. This allows another reviewer to log in after you.
Focus areas
I see systems holistically that translate learning environments as interconnected ecosystems thanks to my environmental literacy background. In the realm of learning, I identified two focus areas of “what” holds everything together for a designer: science and art of learning design.
The first focus relates to the science of learning data analytics. With widespread generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) uses in our daily lives, I see the potential of personalized learning platforms with predictive AI and the Experience Application Programming Interface (xAPI). Although AI and data-enabled technologies can support the learning process, human learning still demands tension between uncomfortable efforts. With guiding lights toward mastery, learning designers are responsible for calculating in “productive struggle” (Greenberg, 2021, p. 20) to embed strategies to deepen human learning. With empathy for learners behind the data points, providing challenging tasks and adequate scaffolds are binding threads in the learning environment.
The second focus is the art of balancing between meeting learners’ needs and managing production efforts reasonably. Accessibility and inclusivity are becoming a common practice. However, baking in them takes proactive planning, and developing layers of accessibility is time-consuming. I strive to simplify complex ideas into digestible portions with tangible forms and aesthetically sound presentation. On the other hand, aspects of accessibility and inclusivity of the materials paused me often. While the industry’s interactive and immersive technologies are catching up with the accessibility guidelines, they are still at the infant stage of meeting every learner’s needs equally. One of my next growth areas is to concisely condense information without inundating the content with walls of text. I envision that learning designers and emerging technologies working together will seamlessly support Universal Design for Learning integration.
Reference:
Greenberg, S. S. (2021). Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways (First edition). Ten Speed Press.
More about this project
The full course description is available in my academic portfolio, linked here.