Assignment 1: Community contributions

This includes contributions to our weekly synchronous discussion, community backchat on Mattermost, Hypothes.is annotations, introductory video posted to Flipgrid/Brightspace, as well as a minimum of four WordPress posts documenting learning throughout the term. The following prompts may be used to guide your WordPress posts:

  • A brief introduction, a little about yourself (program of study, year, life experiences you want to share), and why you are interested in learning design? What experience do you have with learning design and how might you explain your process of designing learning experiences?
  • Describe your best structured learning experience. It may be in a formal K-12 or higher education school settings, apprenticeship, or experience through your own teaching. What made it memorable and worth writing about?
  • Describe your own experience teaching or learning in the context of learning theory (behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, social learning, connectivism). What theory best describes your belief around how learning takes place?
  • Compare and contrast your experiences in face-to-face and online learning environments. What is only possible when face-to-face and what is only possible when online? What are the shared elements from both a face-to-face and online learning experience that create meaningful learning? Discuss with examples from your own experience learning in face-to-face and online contexts.

You may deviate from this list of prompts for a more personalized learning experience if desired. Please reach out to me on Mattermost to discuss options.

Assignment one is to be completed individually by each student.

 Due: ongoing through the term. | Value 15%

–> Note: For assignments’ 2, 3, and 4: EDCI 335 learners, work is done in groups of four. For EDCI 565 learners, assignment two is done individually or in groups of two where synergies are possible.

Assignment 2: Learning Activity Design Proposal

The Learning Activity Design Proposal is an opportunity to sketch out your plan for the final project and gather feedback before proceeding with assignment four. You can submit the proposal as an audio/video file (5-8 minutes tops) or as a written document (1-2 pages).

The proposal may be guided by the following key questions:

  • What is the learning outcome or goal of the activity?
  • What is the learning context, who are the learners, what design constraints impact your teaching space (online or F2F)?
  • What is your plan for the learning activity? This can be a rough sketch in the proposal.
  • How might you present your design (visualization, lesson plan, etc.)

Due: February 22 | Value 20% | Please submit the proposal directly to Michael via email or using Mattermost. 

Assignment 3: Learning Design Presentation

This is a chance to share your learning design project with the glass through a 10 minute presentation. You are welcome and encouraged to engage the audience with a learning activity (using a talk structure or educational technology) during the presentation or even run the group through elements of your learning design project, if feasible. These presentations are scheduled to begin in the first week of March and will be conducted during our weekly class time.

Similarly to the final project you can orient your presentation around the following key questions:

  • What are the learning outcomes or goals of the activity?
  • What is the scope of the design (program, course, lesson, concept)
  • What is the learning context, who are the learners, what design constraints impact your teaching space (online or/and F2F)?
  • What academic literature and research can be found in relation to your design?
  • What teaching and learning activities, resources, and assessments make up your design?
  • What learning theories apply to the activities and assessment you include in the design?
  • How do students interact with each other, with educational content, and/or with the teacher?
  • How do your learning activities, resources, and assessments align to your learning outcomes or goals?
  • How is the activity sequenced, what important milestones do learners reach along the way, where are the opportunities for formative and summative feedback?
  • How do ensure the design is accessible and affords flexibility to all learners?
  • How will you know if the design was successful?

I encourage you to design an interactive activity for participants to engage in during your presentation. You will have access to Zoom (breakout rooms, screenshare), Mattermost (polling, chat), WordPress blogs or bring in your own tool for use. You may also assign tasks to be done in advance of the presentation, for example, reviewing a reading or video, contributing to a brainstorming activity, signing up for a technology tool to be used in the presentation, etc. These tasks should be communicated clearly to your peers and provided one week in advance of the presentation date.

A rubric for this assignment is available here

Due: presentations will be conducted in March. I will seek volunteers for presentation dates or draw randomly | Value 20%

Assignment 4: Learning Activity Design Final Project

The final project builds upon the proposal submitted for assignment three, incorporating the feedback provided from your instructor and peers. This project requires that you apply what you have learned about principles, theories, frameworks, and/or technologies to develop a plan for a learning experience. You are strongly encouraged to base this upon your own teaching or research context, in either planning a future lesson, or exploring a current practice in more explicit theoretical depth.

The final project has two parts: a design document that provides the underlying rationale for the experience; and, either a description of, or if practical, an actual learning product/experience (e.g. learning design plan for a class or workshop, interactive tool, self-directed video).

The design document should is no fewer than 2,000-2,500 words equivalent to 8-9 pages double spaced. If you feel the need to go longer in order to follow your inquiry please feel free. You are encouraged to use graphical representations of your design and and relevant theoretical constructs.

The design document may be guided by the following key questions:

  • What are the learning outcomes or goals of the activity?
  • What is the scope of the design (program, course, lesson, concept)
  • What is the learning context, who are the learners, what design constraints impact your teaching space (online or/and F2F)?
  • What academic literature and research can be found in relation to your design? I am expecting a brief (1-2 page) literature review related to the design approach, theory of learning, learning design model, etc.  This section should include independent research conducted beyond the course readings specific to the intervention described.
  • What teaching and learning activities, resources, and assessments make up your design?
  • What learning theories apply to the activities and assessment you include in the design?
  • How do students interact with each other, with educational content, and/or with the teacher?
  • How do your learning activities, resources, and assessments align to your learning outcomes or goals?
  • How is the activity sequenced, what important milestones do learners reach along the way, where are the opportunities for formative and summative feedback?
  • How do ensure the design is accessible and affords flexibility to all learners?
  • How will you know if the design was successful?

The actual learning product, set of resources, or description of a learning activity may take on many forms, or simply be a description of the resources if hosted in a password protected space such as Brightspace or Google Classroom.

A rubric for this assignment is available here (Updated!)

Three examples of past projects from a previous MEd cohort can be found here

Due: April 1 | Value 45% | Please submit the proposal as a Word Document directly to Michael via email or using Mattermost.