Digital Learning Environments Summer 2014

Georgia Southern University

Damon Johnson
Online Learning Unit Collaboration 101: Online Collaboration Repositories
https://www.schoology.com/course/127514259/materials
Reflection
Development of this assignment prompted me to revisit and incorporate elements of all the
previous courses in this program into a deliverable unit of instruction. Learning theories had to be
considered; alignment of objectives with delivery methods and universal design were important
(Instructional Design); design principles learned in Web Design had to be taken into account; and it was
very necessary to intentionally integrate the technology in delivering content and not think of
technology as a stand-alone tool.
I used the Key Assessment (KA) from Instructional Design (ID) to guide the design of the online
module, but found that after the module was in a draft state, I needed to go back compare each
generative strategy, objective, and assessment in the online module with the original plan. At times,
they were out of sync and updates had to be made to the online module. It was at these times that I
realized my pre-revision work in those particular areas encouraged utilization of tools, but not
necessarily integration of the technological tools to produce a learner outcome. Along that same line, I
had to adjust the rubric for Module 3 when I realized I set a target score for learners, but didnt let them
know how to achieve that score (Note the difference in the rubric in the KA vs. in the Online Course
assignment).
More significantly, I had to adapt my ID module to a K-12 audience, as in Instructional Design I
was allowed to use corporate learners (consumers of corporate training) as my target. I found it helpful
that the goals of instruction were already aligned with Georgia Performance Standards for Technology
Education, even though those outcomes were initially developed for adult learners. Generally, I asked
myself the question how do you take this module and make it K-12 applicable? The Peer Review
feedback was extremely important for this task.
Though Im not an educator, I really liked Schoology.com and wonder if educators are using it to
a noticeable degree. It is very user friendly, and has so much free feature-functionality that instructors
are allowed to focus on content more than administration of the online module of bells & whistles. The
tool has a lot of those built it. I do work in I.T. with many software applications, and find Schoology to
be professional-class. I have not done much in GoView that did not appear to be an option in Schoology.