I had no idea what to expect when I signed up for this class. I knew I enjoyed online learning, and I was excited to learn “how to do it right”. I am so happy with all the content we learning this term and I am excited to bring it into action.

My course prototype at the moment is on my wish list for the School of Radiation Therapy. I chose this topic because I believe it is something that should be incorporated into the current curriculum. I used the Canvas LMS, as it is simple, straightforward, and fairly similar to Brightspace which I have experience with. I kept the course design simple. Each week of the course covers one module. Each module has three sections: Didactic material, Extra resources, and Assessments. I am hopeful that this will be incorporated into the RT curriculum. Now that I have the first two modules done, it will be easier to get some buy-in from those who need to be convinced that this is a good thing to do. I am proud of my final course prototype, I feel it is conducive to adult learning while keeping the students engaged.

And well, if it doesn’t become a reality, I still have a new toolbox of skills to bring to my current class that I teach.

I appreciated the way Katia guided us through the process and how it fostered a comprehensive creation process. The ADDIE model, while not the only model available, served as an example of how to use a framework to guide the development of a project through to creation.

The creation was a multistep process using the ADDIE model. The ADDIE template provided by Katia guided the creation of my course profile.

The model puts the course into context by thinking about who the learners are and what are their needs. Creating course objectives from the outset provided direction and helped focus the content and keep the learning content on track. Thinking about the instructional approach then took us to the next step of how is the content going to be delivered.

I felt my course profile in the end was robust and considered all the required elements. Once we had chosen the LMS platform, I felt it was quite straightforward to create the shell and other elements using the course profile.

Once that was done, I appreciated delving into the finer details of online/blended teaching such as community building, interactive content, AI, and accessibility. To be honest I had never considered any of those four elements to any great detail before this class. Sure, I had built in teacher-student interactions as relationship-building strategies, but not with a focus on building a class community. I can see how this approach contributes to class engagement, not only theoretically, but I have seen it in our class, as encouraged by Katia, especially through Discord. I did enjoy the breakout rooms as well, and appreciate the learn by example approach that Katia takes to this class.

While there were some growing pains with learning how to create interactive content, these solidified the lesson in how to create, and the result showed the why. Adding this extra dimension to the course content not only promotes engagement, but it offers yet another way to showcase the course content. The AI content was an eye opener for me and I learned that instructors and content creators can take advantage of these new tools. I also realized it is fruitless to fight against it with the students. Important conversations need to be had at the beginning, laying down my expectations of the use of AI in the classroom, as well as professional integrity and what that means. I wrote about this in this blog post.

Accessibility is important, and in my small classroom, personally, it means addressing the different learning styles and asking the students “What do you need from me to help you learn?”

Having the opportunity to provide and receive feedback is a great way to promote growth. As I said in my blog about feedback, it sparks creativity and improvement.

You can visit my course prototype screencast here. Thanks for watching!

Thus concludes the pursuit of my Educational Technology and Media Masters Certificate. Thank you Katia and classmates and best of luck to you on your future endeavors. Special congrats to those who are done their degree! Cheers!

Here is my Summary of Learning. My last assignment of my Masters of Education, woot woot!!!!!

And that’s a wrap! Thanks to my EC&I 834 classmates for the feedback, camaraderie, and support over the semester.

Below is my Summary of Learning – I touch on the Bates continuum, adapting available programs to ‘create’ our own LMS, AI, and the importance of community.

Click to view my Summary of Learning, created in Canva!

…& that’s a wrap! Well for now. In a way, this also feels like the beginning as I definitely plan to further explore everything I have learned throughout this course. I look forward to creating more online learning content to use in my practice!

I am thrilled to (FINALLY!!!) share my course prototype final submission! At the beginning of the semester, I definitely did not anticipate the amount of time and effort that would go into this project, but seeing the finished product was worth it all!

– THE BEGINNING –

Once upon a time there was a brave educator, set out on an adventurous journey to create an incredible blended learning course….

For my course prototype, I created two online learning modules to transform my (in-person) grade three, ELA fairy tale unit, into a blended unit. I chose ELA 3 for a few different reasons: 

1 – I LOVE teaching ELA, especially the fairy tales unit. Also, students enjoy this topic, so the initial engagement is already there!

2 – I have taught this unit before. Considering the technology side was brand new to me, I thought being familiar with the unit content would be helpful (it was).

3 – ELA requires a lot of language considerations, to support young learners and ELL learners with reading, writing and speaking, all of which technology can help with – assistive learning options, choice of verbal or written response on my platform, repetition of content as needed and individual work pace are a few key features that support student learning.

4 – In practice, it’s my next ELA unit, so I am able to put these online modules to the test! I will soon be trialing these modules with my current group of learners.

My unit is blended and will take place synchronously, during the school day. Students will access the learning modules on Seesaw, a platform they are familiar with, using our school shared devices. All other online materials needed within the modules (Lumi, Storyboard That, instructional videos, Youtube read alouds) are easily accessible, on Seesaw, and are free.

I am thankful for the beginning steps of this process, as my detailed course profile and thorough ADDIE model planning, helped start this unit with a very strong foundation. Initially, I focused heavily on my desired learning outcomes, to ensure these modules would be useful and relevant for my teaching practice and support the ELA 3 curriculum. To read more about my course planning, see my initial course prototype blog post: Once Upon a Blending Learning Course!

Or, feel free to access the following links:

BLOG POST – Introduction to Course Prototype (Profile & ADDIE included): https://edusites.uregina.ca/teaganbryden/2024/02/08/once-upon-ablended-learning-course/

Course Profile Google Docs link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q0k1an7taH8IGfL6NxULnQ8gpMVDi3t9BeEotwCQngU/edit

ADDIE model Google Docs link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dw_l7O7cnbFb7-bz_ioZ1_o9yGiRCPVX1J6vqjy7f5k/edit

– THE MIDDLE – 

The galiant educator faces many challenges throughout her journey including: online interactions, LUMI, peer feedback, equity/access, AI, and a fire-breathing dragon!

She persevered.

The weekly EC&I 834 course content was extremely helpful to my online module creation. 

Learning about the importance of interaction and community in online learning had not been a consideration of mine. Especially because my blended unit is taking place in class, within a mostly in-person unit, I hadn’t explored the ways I was going to maintain our strong sense of classroom community as students moved to work through the online modules independently. See my full blog post reflection on ‘Maintaining Meaningful Interaction in a  Blended Learning Course’ here! I explore how I can use Seesaw to maintain meaningful interactions student-to-teacher and student-to-student! As well, using Lumi, receiving peer feedback, managing course accessibility, and considering AI use, were all helpful experiences or considerations and really pushed my course prototype to be the best it could be. Read my full blog posts on these topics here:

BLOG POST – Online Learning Interactions (Use of Seesaw): https://edusites.uregina.ca/teaganbryden/2024/02/15/maintaining-meaningful-interaction-in-a-blended-learning-course/

BLOG POST – Lumi Experience & Module One Creation: https://edusites.uregina.ca/teaganbryden/2024/02/28/module-one-with-lumi-a-work-in-progress/

BLOG POST – Response to Feedback & Equity Considerations: https://edusites.uregina.ca/teaganbryden/2024/03/25/fabulous-feedback-access-equity-online-prototype-considerations/

BLOG POST – AI & Education: https://edusites.uregina.ca/teaganbryden/2024/03/28/ai-is-ok-considering-the-potential-impacts-of-generative-ai-in-my-course-prototype/

– THE END –

The daring teacher was ultimately successful in her quest to create a blended unit! Although, her exciting adventures in the land of blended and online learning do not end here…stay tuned.

I am extremely proud of how my course prototype turned out! My two modules are on Seesaw, via activities, making them very accessible and easy to follow for my learners. I used Canva for design enhancement and was able to embed links to other resources as well as include live assessments right in Seesaw. Check out my modules here:

 Module 1 (Seesaw Activity link): https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?prompt_id=prompt.35665086-846e-42c0-be61-530a03a79816&share_token=7AF4F0PMTNuryNXo6m8e_g

Module 2 (Seesaw Activity link): https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?prompt_id=prompt.75f13dc3-cb4a-4d1a-81ae-2209bc52c747&share_token=VRwOryvUQd2C8T3wbsLmbA

To provide some context to this blended unit, I created a unit plan on MS Teams. As my course is blended, this outline displays the in-class learning that will be happening before and after the online modules, to give a full picture of the bigger unit! As MS Teams is not accessible to those outside my division, I reviewed this in my final course walkthrough video.

Final Course Walkthrough: https://app.screencastify.com/v3/watch/FMLunpdw346rCW1HG4Bx

I would love to hear your thoughts on my course prototype and I’m excited to see yours too. Thank you for a wonderful semester of learning.

– Teagan