Course Design and Delivery

The Creating a PositiveLearning Environment course is a good mix of Learning Design and DesignAlchemy. Learning design considers the need of the students whenplanning the content and the content delivery model (Sims, 2014).Design Alchemy considers each element of the course through the needs ofthe student (Sims, 2014). The course meets student learning needsthrough a wholistic approach to the content presented (learning design)and interactive components which provide a simulated experience (designalchemy). The combination of the learning design and the design alchemyprovide school leaders and future school leaders with access to contentand practical application of the content should a violent event eruptin the school setting he/she leads. In this course the learner isengaged through multiple modalities providing a strong design approachto the course.

Course Sustainability

Course sustainabilitycan be measured through three areas: resource management, educationalattainment and professional development and innovation (Stepanyan,Littlejohn, & Margaryan, 2013). Th Creating a Positive LearningEnvironment is offered as part of a Walden degree program. The fundsbrought to the project through student enrollment has allowed theuniversity to invest in quality updates to the course which keep thecontent current demonstrating quality resource management (Stepanyan etal., 2013). Student success in the course and in the degree program istracked and demonstrate sustainability through educational attainment(Stepanyan et al., 2013). The content in the course is pertinent to thework school leaders are doing. The learning experiences lead tocontinuous improvement in principal leadership skills demonstrating thesustainability measure of professional development and innovation(Stepanyan et al., 2013). As a student in this course, I can see thatit demonstrates the ability to be sustainable over time based on thethree elements of resource management, educational obtainment andprofessional development and innovation.

Need to Address Sustainability in eLearning

The idea ofdeveloping eLearning experiences can be approached in a nonchalantmanner without consideration for the long-term sustainability of theproject. When this happens programs and courses die off due to lack upupdated content or budget (Stepanyan et al., 2013). Developers must payclose attention to resources, educational obtainment and professionallearning as key elements of sustainability in order to have long-termimpact on the field. Researchers have determined that a qualityorientation can positively influence the educational obtainment factorof sustainability (“Impactof Online Orientation for First-Time Online Students on Retention,Academic Success, and Persistence – Dissertations & Theses @ WaldenUniversity – ProQuest,” n.d.). All of these elements indicate a need for developers to pay close attention to sustainability.

References

Impact of Online Orientation for First-Time Online Students on Retention, Academic Success,

and Persistence – Dissertations & Theses @ Walden University – ProQuest. (n.d.).

Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://search-proquest-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org

/pqdtlocal1005747/docview/1969128804/previewPDF/1E06CB5F6AFE436CPQ

/6?accountid=14872

Sims, R. (2014). Design alchemy: Transforming the way we think about learning and teaching.

(Vol. 8). Switzerland: Spinger International Publishing.

Stepanyan, K., Littlejohn, A., & Margaryan, A. (2013). Sustainable e-Learning: Toward a

coherent body of knowledge. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(2), 91–

102.

For this discussion board posting, I analyzed the RSCH 8310 courseusing the seven elements of the Design Alchemy framework (Sims, 2014).The inclusiveness element was achieved through use of the contentmaterials themselves. Qualitative research takes a look at a diversityof people and ideas so those were explored over the duration of thecourse. Learning for RSCH 8310 was active in the sense that we wererequired to practice each stage of the coding process as we learningabout it. The learning itself was rather passive but we did have anopportunity to try out each of the techniques that we learned aboutusing sample experiences. We were required to start the course with aproblem that we were seeking a solution to and then all of our effortsin the class were geared towards that issue or problem so theproblem-solving component of Design Alchemy was met. Since weestablished the problems on our own, we provided our own context forenvironment, culture,motivation, needs, and situation (Sims, 2014). Oneof the Design Alchemy pedagogical elements that was not very strong inRSCH 8310 was the collaborative work area. Outside of discussion boardpostings, which aren’t really very collaborative to start with, we veryrarely interacted with our classmates on project or tasks. Creativitywas another area that seemed rather weak in the context of this DesignAlchemy framework. While we were required to generate our own codes forthe sample activities that we did, most of the assignments and taskswere fairly structured and did not leave much room for creative input onthe part of the student. The final area of the framework is enablingemergence of new knowledge and understanding and learners left thiscourse with a deeper understanding of the qualitative research approachand how to use this lens to design a research study. The RSCH 8310course scored four and a half out of seven using the Design Alchemymodel.

Sustainability of RSCH 8310

There are three main domains of sustainability in eLearning: resourcemanagement, educational attainment, and professional development andinnovation (Stepanyan, Littlejohn, & Margaryan, 2013). RSCH 8310appears to be a cost-effective and efficient delivery method forqualitative research practices. Staff workload is low since there areonly a few major assignments over the scope of the course andinstructors are not required to develop new resources during theduration of their term as instructor. All of the course materials,readings, and media pieces are already in place and linked to thecontent of the class. Educational attainment is partially met due to thefact that the new information gained during the course is usable andapplicable to upcoming work in the EDPD 8900 course. There are someconcerns with the placement of this course near the end of the coursesequence so student retention and participation rates are lower than inprevious RSCH courses. This course has some ability to adapt to changeas new qualitative research methods come into common usage and mayeasily be updated to include new texts and media pieces as they becomeavailable. While not high, the overall sustainability of RSCH 8310through the three components listed bt Stepanyan, Littlejohn, &Margaryan (2013) is acceptable.

Sustainability in eLearning

There are various elements to be aware of when discussionsustainability in eLearning ecosystems. These include human and social,technical, environmental, and economic aspects. The needs of theindividuals within the eLearning system have a strong impact on theoverall sustainability of these eLearning environments (Alharthi &Spichkova, 2017). These social and human impacts are being mediated bythe overall increased comfort and experience that people have withinteracting in online environments and the more globally diversecommunities of learners that they are communicating with (LaureateEducation, 2014). With new communication technologies coming intoexistence and the development of educational technologies like games andsimulations, there is a growing need for sustainability in eLearningecosystems.

References

Alharthi, A. D., & Spichkova, M. (2017). Individual and social requirement aspects of sustainable elearning systems. arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.06433.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014). Anatomy of eLearning: Conceptual framework [Interactive media]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Sims, R. (2014). Design alchemy: Transforming the way we think about learning and teaching. In J.M. Spector, M. J. Bishop, & D. Ifenthaler (Series Eds.), Educational communications and technology: and innovations (Vol. 8). Cham, Zug, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Stepanyan, K., Littlejohn, A., & Margaryan, A. (2013). Sustainable e-Learning: Toward a coherent body of knowledge. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(2), 91-102. Retrieved from the Walden Library Databases.

3.

At my institution, we formally review courses on a cycle. We try toschedule reviews after a recent teaching of the course so people’s mindsare fresh. Our cycle provided for each core course in a program to bereviewed once every three years. Reviewers include faculty, outsidersfrom our Advisory Committee, which can include people from the industryor with whom we have formed strategic partnerships, and graduates fromour or competitive programs who hold the same degree and who arepractitioners in the field. Student and faculty feedback from coursesurveys is also presented as part of the course review process. Thefocus of the review is on the currency and relevance of the curriculumand whether the learning activities meet the objectives for the courseand have transferability to the role of a DBH on an interdisciplinaryteam.

Design and Delivery of a Course

We recently completed a review of one of our behavioral interventionscourses on chronic and comorbid conditions (It’s called Biodyne II) andrevamped its curriculum and learning approaches based upon thatreview. Using Sims’ seven elements of Design Alchemy as a guide, I’llnow reflect on that process and the resultant design of the course. Ibelieve that our approach to reviewing the course was inclusive, as itdrew from a wide range of stakeholders. A gap was identified in onearea (not enough activities that demonstrated a DBH’s ability to consulteffectively with the medical team) and as a result, a collaborative,long-term project was developed for students to fill this need. Thebasic project is now to hold a simulated shared medical appointment withpatients and a medical provider. All of the course’s main assessmentsnow form components of this project. Students are free to choose thesubject of the shared medical appointment as long as it includes abehavioral health component and a chronic/comorbid component. They workcollaboratively as peer review teams and then to hold a simulatedmedical appointment where they rotate roles – patient, provider, DBH.This taps into their creativity and also helps them to see the sharedmedical appointment through different lenses. As many of our studentscome to us from specialty mental health, this exercise will help them tosee that as a DBH, they can play a critical role in addressing apatient’s medical and behavioral needs, as well as being a supportivepartner to the medical provider. They will hopefully see themselvesemerging not as specialty mental health providers, but as part of themedical team. I feel that this new approach to the course meets theelements of Design Alchemy.

Three Elements of Sustainability

Three elements must be considered when determining the sustainabilityof elearning. They include resource management, educationalattainment, and professional development ( Stepanyan, Littlejohn, and Margaryan, 2013).One of the developments I am quite excited about is in resourcemanagement. We decided a few weeks ago to make a much greatercommitment to the idea of textbook affordability. As a result, ourlibrarian has been placing copies of textbooks on reserve for studentswho choose not to purchase them, and we eliminated one textbook from thecourse, choosing instead to pull readings from a textbook that studentsalready owned but were not using to its full potential. As many coursereadings as possible come from our library and are inserted intocourses via permalinks, which never change. However, there are areaswhere I do feel we could trim costs and process even more. I as theinstructional designer am a resource, so I’m definitely interested inways that I can reduce the time and work it takes to get a courseready. I am not thinking of the redesign that occurs after a review somuch as the re-use of a course during those times that we are notreviewing and revamping. We are guilty of putting too much specificinformation down in our assignments; that example on readings forinterviewing techniques that Sims shared in Table 3.3 in Chapter 3,regarding sustainable v. unsustainable design was a direct hit (2014, p.36). My team will be meeting about that very shortly, thanks to thatreading.As far as educational attainment, I believe the low resource costswill play a role in that since there is a clear link between the cost ofmaterials and student success, with students often choosing to not buythe textbook, which can result in poor grades or sometimes evenwithdrawal from the course or program (Florida Virtual Academy, 2016).Lastly, there is professional development and innovation. Stepanyan,Littlejohn, and Margaryan opine that sustainability can be viewed as a“commitment to continuous improvement and adaptation to a constantlychanging environment” (2013, p. 97). I see this occurring in ourcourses, but it’s definitely an area to work on where our faculty areconcerned. Our faculty is actually very small and entirely composed ofadjuncts. Although we have tried to establish a community of practiceamong them for the purposes of providing professional development onboth eLearning and the field of behavioral health, it has not beensuccessful — despite the fact that we developed our plan based upontheir input about what they want. We schedule monthly meetings thatinclude either a training on an eLearning component or an item from thefield, but turnout is abysmal. I don’t think we need research to tellus what is obvious, but here goes anyways: “Many academics report beingtoo busy to prioritise exploring new approaches to teaching andlearning” (Gunn, 2010, p. 96). The most successful thing we have donewas to give everyone a stipend to use to fly in for a day of in-persontraining. We had nearly 100% turnout and the event was a roaringsuccess. However, it is not sustainable from a cost perspective and wehad to jettison the idea for this budget year because we just didn’thave the money. However, it’s clear that this element of sustainabilityneeds to be prioritized.

The Need for Sustainability

Asking oneself, “Is this sustainable?” is a solid framing questionwhenever a new initiative or approach is considered. One of the itemsthat I really like about my very small institution is that we’ve allswallowed the Kool-Aid. Every single one of us gave up a successful joband career path at other, well-known institutions to bring this schoolto life. As such, we have a real “work harder! We’ll just make ithappen! No obstacle is too great! If we’re knocked down, we’ll justget back up!” mentality, especially amongst those of us who have beenthere from the time the school was concepted. However, in the past yearor so, I’ve felt a change in air. That energy is flagging a bit. Newemployees don’t feel the same way, and I feel it even in myself, and I’mone who has been there since Day One. Several of those who came onboard in the beginning have left in the past year, and there are onlytwo of us Originals left at this point, which says something, doesn’tit, about our own personal sustainability. I’m much more interestednow in working smarter, not harder, and so this particular moduledoesn’t have to work very hard to make its case with me.

Florida Virtual Campus, Office of Distance Learning and StudentServices. (2016, October 7). 2016 student textbook and course materialssurvey (Rep.). Retrievedhttps://florida.theorangegrove.org/og/file/3a65c50…

Gunn, C. (2010). Sustainability factors for e-learning initiatives. Research in Learning Technology, (18)2, 89-103. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ893355.pdf

Sims, R. (2014). Design alchemy: Transforming the way we think about learning and teaching. In J.M. Spector, M. J. Bishop, & D. Ifenthaler (Series Eds.), Educational communications and technology: and innovations (Vol. 8). Cham, Zug, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Stepanyan, K., Littlejohn, A., & Margaryan, A. (2013). Sustainable e-Learning: Toward a Coherent Body of Knowledge. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(2), 91-102.