Cindy Hanks - Internship Log and Reflective Journal

Date Time Hours Reflection

5/5/14 12:00 p.m.
to
1:00 p.m.
1 Initial planning - Spoke to Dr. Vicki Rath, President and CEO of 21st
Century Learning Solutions by phone, who introduced me to the
company. We talked about goals, expectations, and tasks. She wanted
to give me a good variety of tasks to enable me to understand the
course development process. I spent time putting together my
proposal/contract on a Google doc per what we talked about. We then
communicated by e-mail over time until the document was clarified.
5/23/14 8:00 p.m.
to
9:00 p.m.
1 I finalized the contract/proposal to verify that all parts were complete.
I then submitted it as my initial practicum assignment.
6/4/14 9:00 a.m.
to
4:00 p.m.
7 At my initial meeting, Dr. Rath introduced me to the course
development process and we discussed how 21st Century Learning
Solutions uses the ASSURE model. There are other institutions that use
a course development model that involves the faculty in a much greater
way. Dr. Rath asked to me review the planning document for a
psychology course for a graduate program at the Institute for the
Psychological Sciences, a Christian-Catholic online school. My task was
to work on finding resources and professional journal articles for
module 0 and module 2 within the planning document. I must admit I
was a little overwhelmed by the initial visit, as I felt somewhat out of
my element. Course development tends to be a lengthy, yet valuable
process.
6/5/14 2:00 p.m.
to
9:00 p.m.
7 I signed up for Yahoo Messenger, which is the forum we discussed using
during the times I would work remotely. Because I live two hours away
from the office, it was decided that I would work many of my hours
from my home, while keeping in close contact with 21CLS. On this day,
I pulled journal articles from the online library and created a document
of my research to be added to the course planner. I provided links to
the PDF format for the articles. Most articles were obtained from the
school's online library, while others were obtained from reliable online
sites. I must say that this is a lengthy process, as the goal is to find just
the right article for the objective, and sometimes that tends to be a bit
difficult.
6/6/14 9:00 a.m.
to
4:00 p.m.
7 After a follow-up meeting that Dr. Rath took part in with the client, she
requested that I begin finding "digestible" articles on the ills of social
media. Apparently, the program director felt that there wasn't enough
connection with the concepts, readings, objectives, and discussions.
She also mentioned that we needed to add articles about "baggage" for
week 4, since there were not any readings on that yet. This is the point
in time where I began realizing how this is a "back-and-forth" process
during the course planning phase.
6/10/14 5:00 p.m.
to
10:00 p.m.
5 Another need that Dr. Rath had for the psychology course was a
request for me to find journal articles about being successful as an
online student. Because I am enrolled in online learning, this topic was
a fairly easy one to research, as being successful in an online
environment is something very important to know during the initial
stages of a course.
6/11/14 9:00 p.m.
to
4:00 p.m.
and
7:00 p.m.
to
10:00 p.m.
10 I met Dr. Rath at 21CLS to continue researching for the psychology
course planner. During my time in the office, I began the day with
looking for resources called Tips & Tricks for Online Learning or Success
Strategies for Online Learning - something that offers insights and
resources that could be of use. I was also asked to flush out the Take to
Work Section for each week of the course. This is a section in the
online course that is not assessed, but focuses on ways that the
psychology students can apply what they are learning to their original
work. During the last half of the day, I spent with Dr. Rath on a
conference call observing a summit meeting with Walden and Laureate
personnel. After this 4 hour meeting, I was able to see more how the
course development process works, and how much time it really takes
to create quality online curriculum. At the end of the meeting, I
created a Media Used document/table for the PSY course.

Notes: Walden University has a small media budget to work with, so
they discussed borrowing media (or repurposing media), so as not to
have to reinvent the wheel. The course that we discussed during this
summit meeting is the last course (a 6-week course) in the particular IT
program prior to graduation.

The people involved in the summit meeting were faculty members,
administrators, a Laureate representative, a media expert, Dr. Rath and
myself.

The course development model used is one that involves lead faculty in
a greater way than the ASSURE model.

The team members talked about making sure that the learning
outcomes flow through to the university's outcomes and the unit
outcomes must link back to the program outcomes.

The two main functions of the course are as follows:
1. The students will develop a project.
2. The students will gain practical knowledge in how to find a job
and further their professional responsibilities where they will
develop a professional development plan.

There were two main topics within the course, and there was a concern
about the flow of which topic should come first and which one should
conclude the course. Since this is the last course in the program, they
wanted to ensure that the course flowed properly and left the students
with an effective closure.


Because part of the course dealt with career development and creating
a professional development plan, the team members discussed
assigning the students a mock interview to submit. They decided on
using PowerPoint as the medium.

They initially have a discussion-based assignment on this particular
module. They decided that they wanted to incorporate a peer review
scenario for this mock interview, so they discussed the option of
removing the discussion and adding the peer review of the PowerPoint.
My thought was, "Why not do both by uploading the PowerPoint
interview into the Discussion and have the peers review them." Dr.
Rath must have read my mind, because she presented the idea to the
team, and they liked the idea. Hmmm.

The meeting concluded at the end of the fourth hour. The team
decided that they would meet again at a later date to continue the
process.

According to Dr. Rath, because the course development model involves
the faculty in a greater way, this type of summit takes less time in the
long run. I was amazed how much intricate work goes into developing
a course. I am looking forward to being a part of each step of the
process.

For the last two hours of the day, I returned home and worked on the
Take to Work assignment.
6/16/14 7:00 p.m.
to
9:00 p.m.
2 At my previous meeting at 21CLS, Dr. Rath asked me about my
background in education and wanted to know if I had ever taught
elementary mathematics. When I told her "yes," she smiled and went
to her office. I knew that my role was about to change. Sure enough, I
got an e-mail introducing me to Dr. Becky Rogers.

I connected with Dr. Rogers via Yahoo Messenger and she sent me a
link to a TDC course to review to check out the "language" and media
used in this type of course. I spent a couple of hours at
http://21cls.com/tdcmaster/section/ familiarizing myself with the
content of the course site.
6/18/14 10 a.m.
to
4:00 p.m.
6 I met Dr. Rogers at 21 CLS to begin work on a course development
project for a course that is designed for future teachers on how to
teach elementary math. Because my degree is in elementary
education, and because I have taught both elementary and middle
school math, I served as the SME (subject matter expert) during this
task, which, for the most part is what I worked on for the remainder of
my internship. I began this day reviewing narrative that had already
been started, but needed much tweaking and reorganization, which
required much more content than had already existed.


6/19/14 12:00 p.m.
to
8:00 p.m.
8 Because Dr. Rogers normally works remotely, and because my travel
time is a 4-hour round trip, we decided to have me work remotely for
this project. I was available by phone and by Yahoo Messenger, and we
took full advantage of each. I spent this day working on the narrative
and finding links/media resources for week 4's module. It was decided
that each week would involve a discussion about a problematic issue in
education, a teaching strategy, and subject content.

The issue for this particular module was making the shift from simple
computation to problem-solving strategies and teaching students how
to apply what they have learned where they are able to transfer the
knowledge to new situations. The teaching strategy I discussed was
authentic instruction, specifically problem-based learning. The math
concept I created a narrative for covered exponents and order of
operations.
6/23/14 9:00 a.m.
to
1:00 p.m.
and
2:00 p.m.
to
7:00 p.m.
9 I worked remotely and continued working on my narrative for week 4,
expanding what was there, adding resources and media possibilities.
This is truly an intricate process which involves much research and
evaluation to make the language flow precisely, avoiding absolutes, and
finding just the right resources to match up with the content.
6/24/14 10:00 a.m.
to
6:00 p.m.
8 During the process of updating the week 4's module document, Dr.
Rogers and I e-mailed it back and forth. She would proof it then send it
back with comments, which I would then correct...hence, the "back-
and-forth" continues.
6/30/14 10:00 a.m.
to
2:00 p.m.
4 After receiving the document back with comments for revisions, I
continued working remotely on the narrative for week 4. During the
revision phase, I realized that it seems never-ending, yet necessary.
And it must be understood that when asked to make corrections, one is
to not take this personally, as it takes many eyes to come up with a
quality course.
7/2/14 2:00 p.m.
to
10:00 p.m.
8 I spent this day continuing to work on the week 4 document.
7/3/14 9:00 a.m.
to
2:00 p.m.
5 Prior to the 4th of July holiday, I revised the document and sent the
document once again to Dr. Rogers for yet another proof.
7/7/14 10:00 a.m.
to
9:00 p.m.
11 While awaiting the results of the week 4 document, I went ahead and
began working on the narrative for week 5. The issue that I chose to
discuss during this module was parental involvement in mathematics. I
found some great articles that specifically spoke about how parental
involvement tends to alleviate the stresses and anxiety involved in
learning mathematics. The teaching strategy I discussed was authentic
instruction, specifically project-based instruction. The math concepts
were algebraic thinking, finding patterns, multiplying and dividing by
powers of 10, variables and algebraic expressions.
7/8/14 10:00 a.m.
to
8:00 p.m.
10 I continued finding resources and developing content narrative for
week 5's module.
7/9/14 10:00 a.m.
to
7:00 p.m.
9 I continued finding resources and developing content narrative for
week 5's module. Throughout all of my remote work, I was in constant
communication with my mentor, Dr. Becky Rogers. I was grateful to be
able to work remotely as it saved time and precious money.
7/10/14 1:00 p.m.
to
9:00 p.m.
8 I continued finding resources and developing content narrative for
week 5's module. I made arrangements to work in the 21CLS office on
my next day's work.
7/11/14 9:30 a.m.
to
3:30 p.m.
and
7:00 p.m.
to
11:00 p.m.
10 I reported to the 21CLS office for this assignment. We decided to
switch gears and give me some experience to work on some actual
media production, specifically narrated PowerPoint and screencasts for
week 4, where I had previously completed the narrative. I spent time
learning about the different screencast options on my iPad, specifically
Educreations, Screenchomp, ShowMe, and Explain Everything. I
learned that the first three were fairly simple and straightforward, with
very little learning curve. Explain Everything intrigued me because of its
ability to upload documents, as well. I will be using one of these apps
to create at least one screencast for week 4's module. For the
remainder of the day, I worked on looking over the revised document
and cleaning it up for submission.
7/12/14 9:00 a.m.
to
5:00 p.m.
8 I spent this day working on screencasts for week 4's content.
7/13/14 9:00 a.m.
to
5:00 p.m.
8 I spent this day working on a narrated PowerPoint for week 4's content.
7/14/14 9:00 a.m.
to
5:00 p.m.
8 I spent this day finalizing my screencasts and narrated PowerPoint for
week 4's content. I also continued working on week 5's narrative and
will turn in the completed projects to Dr. Rogers by Tuesday, 7/15/14.
7/16/14
and
After
n/a n/a I have offered to continue working on unfinished projects for Dr. Rogers
until at least the end of the week in order to help her complete week
5's narrative.
Description of the course developing process:
I discovered during my journey through my time at 21st Century Learning Solutions that the course
development process is a never-ending task. There is considerable time spent creating and revising, and
revising, and revising...It is definitely a career that requires patience, flexibility, the ability to not take
correction personally, but to see it as part of the process, because no one sees everything all the time.
The team approach to course development is the mentality that I noticed as a positive take-away from my
experience at 21CLS.

In the beginning stages of course development, a meeting takes place between the faculty representative,
the course developer, and others of necessity. This is the time where they come up with titles, courses,
etc. The subject matter expert (SME) is then identified and becomes an integral part of the course
development process. At some point, a summit meeting is held, which could happen over a period of
days. This is the point where they set the format for the course. They are able to get together to put key
points into an organized format. The subject matter expert then looks over textbooks and chooses the
one that will be used during the course.

During the summit meeting, 8 weeks of coursework is identified and weekly objectives are set. This is the
point where discussions are created, applications are decided upon, and ideas for media are discovered.
After the summit meeting, the course developer takes over, the course planner is created, Bloom's
taxonomy is taken into account, and resources are found. Library and outside resources are researched,
and a project assignment is created.

Throughout the course development process, there is a lot of "back-and-forth" movement between the
course developer and the other people involved in the process. Once the course planner is approved by
the school's administration and "powers that be", a scope and sequence is created, "fluff," rubrics, and
introductions are added, and the course then goes into online production.

In order to be a course developer, one must have a love for flexibility and organization, and the ability to
always be willing to revise, revise, revise. It is truly an intense, yet relaxed atmosphere, where creative
juices are constantly flowing. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have taken part in this internship
experience at 21st Century Learning Solutions.