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Final Project Reflection

How has each course contributed to your personal and professional development as an instructional designer? Describe your most outstanding personal triumph in each course.

1- Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership Through reading the Robert Greene book, Mastery, I was able to envision my path as a master in my own field of study and learn from the great masters of previous times. In the process of envisioning my mastery journey, I realized that it would take a great deal of effort and commitment to complete. My most outstanding personal triumph was simply the start of the path and committing to the journey.

2- Strategies for Learner Engagement This course introduced me to strategies that can keep learners engaged and how a community practice can enhance your professional network while learning. By learning about Cognitive Load Theory and Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction I was able to embed these concepts into my work. My most outstanding personal triumph was learning how to use Adobe Illustrator to a level that I felt comfortable with.

3- Visual and Verbal Communication in Instructional Design During this course, we learned about the value of receiving and delivering critical feedback for the purpose of professional growth. It isn’t always easy to receive criticism, so framing the purpose of criticism allows us to take advantage of it instead of being hurt by it. My most outstanding personal triumph was being able to combine audio and visual information into a custom presentation about renewable energy.

4- Corporate Training and Motivational Development This course was one my favorites because we created informational videos for a mock corporate client that required us to shoot in front of the camera. Learning about lighting, camera angles, picture-in-picture and advanced video editing is a skill that I will put to use in the future. Along with video editing and filming, we learned about motivational theories that keep learners involved and motivated to participate. My most outstanding personal triumph was getting out of my comfort zone and in front of the camera.

5- Instructional Design and Evaluation Through this course, I learned that working with a team of designers is an impactful and practical way to work on instructional design projects. For this course, we formed two teams and tackled a design project. My contribution to the group was creating a videogame mockup that was meant to train a corporate audience. During this course, we also studied models of instructional design, including ADDIE and Rapid Prototyping. My most outstanding personal triumph was learning how to create professional mockups for clients.

6- Digital Media and Learning Applications Bringing digital media to life through animation was the focus of the project for this course, and I created an animation for 5th grade students about the life cycle of a butterfly. While creating animations, we also studied how different learning applications can be applied to different learning scenarios. Knowing how to apply theory to different audiences is a key skill for instructional designers. My most outstanding personal triumph was learning how to use animation software.

7- Music and Audio for Instructional Design Without any previous experience in audio engineering, I was thrilled to be able to record, mix and use audio recording software to create audio learning experiences. I used knowledge and skills from this course in the rest of my courses at Full Sail because I found a passion for audio instructional design. My most outstanding personal triumph was through finding this passion and being able to apply it in other areas for both professional and personal objectives.

8- Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design Once again, we returned to the spotlight in front of the camera for a how-to project with a focus on filmmaking for instructional purposes. We also spent a great deal of time creating and modifying a storyboard before filming. Thinking about and planning through a storyboard helps to give direction and focus to a project. My most outstanding personal triumph was creating an engaging and fun video about how to make a banana piano.

9- Game Strategies and Motivation This was one my most favorite courses and the instructor was great at helping us to see the value of learning through games and how gamification can be a motivational tool instructional design. We created video game concepts and low-tech game concepts that were meant to teach a subject and be entertaining. Thinking about game mechanics and motivational factors was a challenge that I felt very comfortable with. My most outstanding personal triumph was through creating a game concept for students to learn about renewable energy concepts with a Minecraft like game.

10- Learning Management Systems and Organization Any instructional designer knows that content and media has to be organized in way that is functional and useful to learners. The most common way to arrange online learning content is through an LMS. We took a look at some of the most used platforms and designed mock courses for different learners and different learning styles. My most outstanding personal triumph was being able to apply what I learned directly to my professional work where I had to design a custom course for k-12 educators.

11- Media Asset Creation In this course, we designed project elements for our final project that included an interactive infographic, an informational video and a game concept. Using all of the skills and knowledge from previous courses I created professional examples that were meant to be used in an 8th grade science classroom. From thinking about motivational strategies, instructional design models and learning theories, I created media assets that fit the challenge and beyond. My most outstanding personal triumph was being able to take the professional assets to create a portfolio that showcased by best work.

12- Instructional Design and Technology Final Project Adding content to my portfolio and updating my resume to reflect my most recent accomplishments was beneficial for me so that I can start to show my new talents as an instructional designer. This course has also given me an opportunity to receive feedback form my peers about the quality of the content on my portfolio. My most outstanding personal triumph was being able to finalize my professional portfolio; and I am even getting responses from other professionals and employers.

How well were you able to utilize the concepts and techniques you learned from the program (theories, systems design, interface styling, and the creation of multimedia content) as you designed, developed, and implemented your Final Project?

For my final project, I developed a plan of design based on theories of action and learning that would best meet the needs of my audience. I chose to design for 8th grade science students and knew that I would have to match learning theories that would engage and motivate 8th grade learners. I used the rapid prototyping process to create each of my designs by starting with a rough draft, then creating a template followed by polishing the design with the needed content.

When thinking about how 8th graders might engage with the content, I considered the cognitive load of the learners, how they would be engaged and what would motivate them to stay involved. Along with these concepts, I also create assessments to gauge the performance of the learner and the media.

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Media Asset Creation

1) In what ways has your identity as an instructional designer changed during the previous months? How well have you met the goals that you set for yourself in the timeline that you created in the Mastery course in your first month as a graduate student?

Over the past eleven months at Full Sail I have learned many new skills in the design and pedagogy of Instructional Design. These skills have even helped me to land a new job. For the past several months I have been the Chief Instructional Technology Strategist for a national nonprofit organization that focuses on creating learning opportunities for traditionally underserved students. After each course, I have been reflecting on the goals that we set forth during month one. Each month I have found that I have exceeded my goals and have learned things that I didn’t even realize I would be learning. Ross (2013) says that personal branding is about “helping people understand who you are, what you do, and whom you serve” (understanding personal branding para. 4). One way that I was able to do this was through my TEDx San Antonio talk that I gave about my work technology education.

2) What media assets have you created during the previous months that will best demonstrate your areas of expertise and support your personal brand? Describe your uniqueness and value and list your areas of expertise.

From game design, video production, audio engineering and graphic design, I have created many portfolio friendly pieces that demonstrate a well-rounded understanding of instructional design principles. Of the many assets that I have created, I am most proud of my video production and graphic design work. Because of my rich background in the field of education, I have ample knowledge of how instructional design directly effects student learning, especially in the K-12 education sector. As an advocate for digital technology in classroom, Instructional Design was an obvious fit for my higher education.

 3) How will you continue to develop your personal brand as a means of achieving mastery in the future?

 Building on my vast personal brand of being a leader in the field of education technology, I will continue to build a brand that grounded in what I have learned in the Instructional Design and Technology program. Ross (2013) says that “your personal brand helps people know, like, and trust you” (measuring your success para. 7). You can see evidence of how people like and trust my brand through my two major media channels, Twitter and Linkedin. To measure the effectiveness of your brand, Ross (2013) recommend that you use “qualitative and quantitative measurements to measure growth” (measuring your success para. 1). This is something that I have been trying keep track of over the past few months and have worked to increase my number of Twitter followers and recommendations on LinkedIn. To increase growth, I have been engaging in conversations and reaching out to others in the field.

Reference:

Ross, L. T. (2013, November 4). Personal Branding Basics [Lynda.com online course]. Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Personal-Branding-Basics/126618-2.html

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LMS Reflections

1) Should instructional designers be required to be industry certified to practice in the profession? Why or why not?

As the field of Instructional Design continues to grow, it must be regulated much like other technical fields that require technical skill and knowledge in education theory. According to EdSurge writer, McNeal (2016) says that “instructional designers act broadly as shamans who guide educators and institutions through the world of digital learning” (para. 4). It may be bold to call instructional designers shamans, but it points out that there is a gap between the educator and the technology, which I where instructional designers step in.

Dempsey and VanEck (2012) seem to be concerned with the variety of different terms that are being used to describe the field. (p. 286) From instructional design, instructional technology, educational technology and others, the field seems to encompass a large variety of terms that describe the multitude of functions that I instructional designer does. Because of this, its seem only natural to create a singular certification for this group.

2) Explain why continuing education in instructional design and technology is important, and how you plan to continue to develop your technical skills to remain competitive in the field.

In each month we reflect back on the concept of mastery and must understand that learning continues even beyond mastery and that even masters will continue to learn and refine their craft. Just like educators are required to participate in ongoing professional development, instructional designers should also continue with professional learning that is ongoing.

Due to technological changes and updates that occur on a regular basis, instructional designers must stay current with the most recent advancements and changes. McNeal (2016) says that “as instructional designers work to improve learning outcomes, they’re constantly continuing their own education” (para. 10). To stay competitive and relevant in this field, you must stay current with the ever changing technologies that support learning.

3) Considering how quickly eLearning theories and practices have evolved, and in anticipating more changes in the future, how will you ensure that you as an instructional design professional will keep abreast of future changes?

Learning theories and pedagogy has not actually changed much, but what has changed is how people interact with systems, platforms and eLearning communities. It is important for instructional designers to have a strong foundation in instructional methods, theories and pedagogy as well as having a strong foundation in the technical skills needed to develop quality eLearning materials.

While describing what it takes to be a good instructional designer, McNeal says “we try to teach students skills and theory, and apply theory to practice to prepare them for being ed-tech leaders” (para. 9). To keep up with ongoing changes in the field, it is best to join a community of practice and attend conferences and professional development that advances the knowledge of the practice. Even while in school I am a joining different communities of practice and making plans to attend workshops and conferences in the field.

Reference:

Dempsey, J.V. & Van Eck, R.N. (2012). E-Learning and instructional design. In Reiser, R.A. & Dempsey, J.V. (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. (pp.281-289). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

M McNeal. (2016, March 29). So you want to be an instructional designer? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-03-29-so-you-want-to-be-an-instructional-designer

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Gamification

In my very first Mastery post, I briefly wrote about one of the masters from my field, Seymour Papert, who sadly happened to pass away during this course. I am greatly influenced by his work and contributions to the field of educational technology and to the epistemology of constructionism. Papert’s work has gone on to influence the creation of LEGO Robotics and Minecraft, both of which encourage gamified play. During my project for this course, I designed a video-game and a board-game around an open source version of minecraft, which was fitting to the circumstance surrounding Papert’s death and the coincidence of this course.

According to Gilbert (2015) “Papert suggests that we learn by doing and this can be achieved through what he called hard fun… which is at the core of most gaming experiences” (p. 99). Hard fun is the process of tackling hard concepts but through being motivated by the intrinsic fun of the play or the game. Games that keep your attention are both fun and and challenging leading to increased engagement.  I kept these ideas in mind during this course when designing my games and considered how the learner would benefit thorough the fun of the challenge.

Shute, Rieber and Van Eck suggest that “well-designed games are a potentially powerful vehicle to support learning, particularly in relation to competencies not currently embraced by our educational systems” (p.320). Gamified learning has been slow to adopt in education settings, mostly because of the fear or lack of understanding about the nature of learning through games. I hope that I will be able to take what I have learned in this course and apply it to my professional career in education.

Some of the gamification concepts and strategies that I considered for my games during this course include designing for maximum engagement and motivation by providing a challenging multiplayer design that makes learning come to life. I was able to translate these ideas into two different game concepts that both had a theme of learning about renewable energy production. See the pictures below of the game concepts.

Reference:

Gilbert, S. (2015). Designing gamified systems: Meaningful play in interactive entertainment, marketing and education. Burlington, MA: Focal Press

Shute, V. J., Rieber, L. P., & Van Eck, R. (2012). Games and learning. In R. A. Reiser, & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 321-332). Boston, MA: Pearson

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Film-making

1) Boling and Smith describe two different views of the design process—scientific/processcentric versus exploratory/artistic. How do each of these views relate to your experience in planning, designing and producing an instructional video? Refer to the article with specific examples to substantiate your position.

When setting out to take on a project that requires media design, it is important to have a plan to follow. This plan can be highly detailed and scientific or it can be more loosely defined and artistic. For me, I think that I prefer to strike a balance between these two concepts. Taking logical and defined steps to complete a process is very scientific in nature and to have a logical process when producing film helps to keep a complicated process more defined and managed. However, the logical process should not impede the artistic and aesthetic nature of filmmaking.

Boling and Smith (2012) say that “instructional designers are designers of materials, but they are also designers of experience” (p. 361) In my profession, I coach teachers on innovative learning practices and I like to describe lesson planning as creating learning experiences. Just thinking about the process in a creative way helps to give new meaning to a logical process. Aesthetics are important to people and the artistic value of a process should not be lost to the scientific logic of that same process.

2) Referring to Dewey’s explanation of aesthetics, explain the ideal aesthetic experience for the learner when watching an instructional video. How did aesthetics factor into your work during this past month in creating videos for instructional purposes?

Dewey’s view of aesthetics as described by Boling and Smith (2012) say that aesthetic “experiences are those that are immersive, infused with meaning, and felt as coherent and complete” (p. 361). Dewey was famous for his literary works describing art as an experience and how humans interpret art from multiple views. When creating my video this week, I want to create something that was fun and informative that might interest people enough to try out what I was showing. One way that I was able to create a fun aesthetic was to start my video in a non imposing way by sitting in front of the camera as if I were just having a conversation.

I also used a fun and exciting video game background music track that played along through out the video. At the end of my video, there is a final take of me eating one of the bananas from my instructional piece. It was just enough to giggle at and created an easy and fun atmosphere. I think that I was successful at creating a fun, but instructional video by adding humor, music and style.

3) Considering the implications of emerging views on the nature of design, what changes do you think may occur in the instructional design field regarding instructional videos in the future? How will you prepare for these changes?

Instruction has changed over the years and has always adapted to new changes in media and delivery. Video instruction has become a major way that many people receive instruction, especially with the rise of self-produced video content that is readily available on YouTube, Vimeo and other similar video platform services. Both in my personal life and professional life, I often search for instructional videos online and refer other people to them for information and instruction.

According to Boling and Smith (2012) “over the last fifty years, a tremendous of effort has been invested in systems-based process models to guide instructional design work” (p. 358). These efforts have evolved because of the ongoing and continual refinement of the field of instructional design and technology. New media, new delivery systems and access to wider audiences are all contributing factors to the changes and developments to the field. To prepare for these ongoing and upcoming changes, staying informed and aware of new practices, medias and technologies will ensure that any instructional designer can stay on top.

Reference:

Boling, E., & Smith, K. M. (2012). The changing nature of design. In R. A. Reiser, & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.),Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 358-366). Boston, MA: Pearson

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This is a photo of a pop filter that I made from a sewing hoop and some tissue paper. It worked well and was able to filter out the “P” sounds that I was having trouble with in my early recordings.

Reflect: Learning how to engage learners with audio has been a very interesting thing to study during this course. From the technical side of audio engineering to learning about instructional design pedagogy using audio, I have been able to produce some great projects. Working with Garage Band and learning about audio engineering has been very useful to me and I have even started to use this knowledge professionally.

Inquire: In order to fully master my skills in audio engineering, I would like to expand what I learned in Garage Band at take it to the next level with professional recording software. As I started working through this course, I had never used Garage Band, but I am now very confident with using the software and intend to use it further.

Suggest: After using Garage Band a few times I was able to use the software easily, but one area that I would like to learn more about is the the Equalizer function. I have found that knowing more about different frequencies and their effect on sound would be very beneficial. I intend to learn more about frequencies and using the Equalizer function to advance my skills in audio engineering for use in instructional design.

Elevate: I hope that we are able to use more audio production in future classes because we have found that adding audio to instructional design can be very powerful for the learner.  When producing audio in the future, I will be able to take what I learned about creating a space for audio recording and how to record a decent sound with a decent microphone.

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Digital Media & Learning Applications

Below is a screenshot of animation that we created during this course and is an example of learning object that is meant to engage 5th grade students.

Describe the functional architectures that you studied and created in this course. During the Digital Media and Learning Applications course we studied the intersection of theory and practice by applying theory to tour projects. The functional architecture of the projects that we created were applied to the many learning theories and practices that we discussed. According to Dempsey and Van Eck, “By functional architecture, we mean the various functional entities and components involved in an instructional system and the collaborations and interactions among them” (as cited in Reiser & Dempsey, 2012, p. 283). Taking the functional architecture of learning systems to the 21st century has been aided by the use of goal media and social learning platforms. Dempsey and Van Eck go on to say that, “many current and future learning systems will emphasize shared experiences features” (as cited in Reiser & Dempsey, 2012, p. 283). 

How did your interactions with your community of practice help to make the learning experience more meaningful? My peers have been a valuable part of my learning experience and they have been extremely helpful to me. Back in our first course together, we formed a Slack group and have been helping each other, providing support and have created a professional community of practice. Each week we discuss the learning objectives together and host join.me sessions for help on projects and technical issues with software. 

What knowledge, concepts and theories did you take away from the course that you will be able to apply to future projects in your role as an instructional designer? 

Constructivism: Learning about constructivism from Piaget to Papert was very interesting to me because I have studied Papert’s work as it relates to students using computers for learning. According to Hoadley and Haneghan, “social constructivism focuses on the learner as a participant in a sociocultural process of learning” (as cited in Reiser & Dempsey, 2012, p. 60). 

Situated Learning: Hoadley and Haneghan describe the theory of Situated Learning by saying that "the conditions in the learning setting should be as similar as possible to those that the learner will encounter in the real world” (as cited in Reiser & Dempsey, 2012, p. 58). I think that situated learning should be what educators strive to create for leaners so that learning is relevant in the context of the situation in which learning is taking places. During this course we also watched several videos where learners were engaged with content because of the setting and environment in which learners were placed. 

Scaffolding: Hoadley and Haneghan describe scaffolding (through literacy education) by saying “Students take turns using strategies to comprehend text. Initially the teacher models these strategies, and over time students take the lead practicing them” (as cited in Reiser & Dempsey, 2012, p. 56). Scaffolding is a method that can be employed by instructional designers in a variety of settings to engage learners while they work through more complex ideas.

  Reference: 

Dempsey, J. V., & Van Eck, R. N. (2012). E-Learning and instructional design. In R. A. Reiser, & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 281-289). Boston, MA: Pearson 

Hoadley, C., & Van Haneghan, J. P. (2012). The learning sciences: Where they came from and what it means for instructional designers. In R. A. Reiser, & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 53-63). Boston, MA: Pearson

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Instructional Design and Evaluation

1) What did you learn from the reading assignment about the field of instructional design that you were not previously aware of? Why is this important to your goal of achieving mastery and your future as an instructional designer? 

 For this assignment, I chose to read Chapter 21, “Instructional Designers and P-12 Technology Integration” because I have been working in public education for over 10 years and plan to continue working in public education. I have worked as a teacher, technology interventionist, for state agencies, startups, nonprofits and on national implementation projects around public education as it relates to STEM education. From reading this chapter, one thing that that stood out for me was the “technology implementation gap” which is an extremely important topic for me, as I work specifically in the area of broadening participation and providing access to technology for all students. 

Reiser and Dempsey (2102) point out some concerning statistics about technology gaps by saying “education is ranked as the least technology-intensive enterprise among fifty-five U.S. industry sectors” (p. 213). The research also goes on to say that “high school graduates are entering today’s workforce deficient in most of the twenty-first-century knowledge and skills needed to achieve successful careers” (p. 212) This really makes me question the priority of education by U.S lawmakers and political offices. 

The current Presidential Administration has made many efforts to decrease the size of the technology integration gap by funding new initiatives, openly supporting science and technology and by leveraging congress to make fundamental changes to to the No Child Left Behind Act. This sentiment rings true in the technology industry and many large corporations like Google, Facebook, Apple and Oracle are funding technology integration programs in public schools. We need to see more action from U.S. lawmakers and political offices to close the gap and provide students with the technology education that they need to be successful in the future.

 2) If creativity in instructional design refers to the use of special human talents and imagination in generating original ideas, how did you use your creativity to expand your work beyond the limitations imposed in this month’s design projects? 

This month I had a great opportunity to contribute to our group project by creating a prototype of an app using an easy to use software called Scratch. I found a blank iPhone template and a few other digital assets for the graphic design and then I used the Scratch programming environment to program a few triggers that make the prototype app look like a real app. The other member of my team took the app and embedded into a really great looking animation. 

 I was also able to create a series of posters about Instructional Design Theories. We made several complimentary posters that were meant to briefly explain a theory with supporting graphics and I chose a themes that carried on through each of the posters making a seamless continuity of design. 

 3) List at least 3 main takeaways from this course and how they may apply to your monthly milestone and long-term goals. How will you use what you have learned in this course to continue to learn and improve your work as an instructional designer? 

 One of the things that I have enjoyed the most from this month’s work was our group-work project where we broke up into two teams, a Consultant Team and a Design Team. Instead of each team members only contributing to their specific task, each team ember contributed to the overall success of the project. To me this is the most real-world learning experience that you can have.

 Another takeaway from this month’s course work was learning about the history of Instructional Design and Instructional Media through creating a historical timeline of events with dates, graphics and information about important milestones in the industry. Seeing how far things have come and learning about some of the contributors was fascinating and interesting. Learning about the history of a subject can help you understand where things have come from and where they might be going in the future. 

 The last takeaway from this month’s course work was being able to look at Instructional design from different perspectives, such as, thinking about a project from the Consultant team and from the Design Team. It is valuable to be able to understand both client and partner relationships. All three of these takeaways relate to my goals and milestones as a student in this program and will help me meet the rest of my goals and milestones. 

References: 

Reiser, R., & Dempsey, J. (2002). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

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Corporate Training and Motivational Development Part 2

What does Kolovou discuss and/or demonstrate that you could have applied to improve your presentations during this course?

Much of Kolovou says directly relates to the work that we have done throughout this course and it relates to almost every presentation or video production that I will be working on in the future. One particular area that I could have improved on is what Kolovou calles Strategic Eye Contact. Kolovou (2014) says that “Confident and respectful eye contact, depending on the culture and your surroundings, can be another asset for successful speaking” (Strategic eye contact 0:02). During my recording, I used a teleprompter and set directly behind my camera and sometimes you can tell that I am not directly looking at the camera.

Another area of improvement for me was my use of gestures and hand movements. I really wanted to maximize the space that I had available to add graphics and picture in picture effects, so I shied away from too many gestures. In retrospect, I wish that I would have extended my arms out as if I was pointing to the on screen graphics, like a weather person does on the news. Kolovou (2014) says that When you interact with slides projected behind you, practice so that you reach out to point to the slides but you're still heart to heart with the audience” (Smart use of space 1:12).

Lastly, I could have also improved on the delivery of my opening remarks instead of doing a simple introduction. Originally, I wanted to keep it simple, but I really enjoyed some of the opening remarks and stories that my peers were able to pull off. Kolovou (2014) says “what you choose to open and close with will progressively engage your audience…Open with a quote, a relevant and impactful fact, a statistic, or even a tagline from the morning's newspaper” (Opening and closing strong 0:37). I think that opening with a quote or anecdote about Seaside would have been a better introduction.

Referring to the readings from your books, what key factors would the graphics in your presentations address in communicating the data/information effectively?

The use of graphics and illustrations plays an important role in conveying a message and the videos that we produced in this course offer a multimedia approach to communicating data and information. According to Peters (2014) “research shows that there are advantages to providing more than one educational graphic on the same topic. These are often called multiple representations, and they can be anything from graphs and equations to photos and video” (p. 108). In describing the transportation options for the Seaside community, I used several different form of media from audio, video, graphic and animation.

It has been shown that all types of learners can benefit from visual learning such as video, graphics and illustrations. Reiser and Dempsey (2012) share that “in eleven studies… the versions with visuals promoted better learning” (p. 313). Even if you traditionally learn better through audio, learning with visuals can enhance your understanding. As a visual learner myself, I agree that visuals can really enhance and increase understanding.

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My Experience & Expectations Moving Forward in Learner Engagement

In this image, the shuttle has just begun its long journey into space. With full momentum and thrust it will eventually penetrate the outer limits of Earth’s atmosphere on its way to space. However, in this captured moment the shuttle is in its infant stage of launch and is closer to the ground than its final destination. This image reflects my feelings in my journey through this program in Instructional Design & Technology. In my last week of my second course I feel like a shuttle blasting off, only in slow motion. Much like the shuttle, I know that there is a ground support helping me along the way and that all I need is already onboard with me as I propel forward.

 Timeline Achievements:  

In my timeline of expectations, I listed the goal of “Learn to use engagement strategies to keep learners interested in content through creative use of technology.” Now at the end of the course I feel that my goal was met and exceeded leaving me with practical knowledge and tools for engaging learners in multiple ways. It was great to be able to learn about instructional engagement strategies and the immediately put them into use on the project. Along the way we studied about motivation and according to Dempsy and Reiser (2002) “motivation is an internal construct embed in personal experience and expectations.” (p.91) I agree with the authors’ description of motivation being internal and have found that understanding more about motivation will help continue this journey. 

Unexpected outcomes of the course: 

Before starting this course I wan only vaguely familiar with how to use Adobe Illustrator and now I feel like a much more rounded user. Sometime you just have to jump in and start using software to learn all of the nuances and segments. Using the Lynda.com tutorial was helpful because I was able to learn from a professional designer and follow his workflow. Since learning more about the software I have already put my skills to work in a professional setting by live-tracing a .png file to update a customer’s logo and embedding into a professional report. 

What changes are needed to ensure success in the program?

 I feel that the only change that I need to make in order to ensure success is to make time that is dedicated to school weekly and then follow through with my plans. I am working fulltime and have several ongoing projects, a family and very little down time for anything else. Taking time now will pay off in the long run and I will be able to feel accomplished and balanced. So far I am very impressed with the program and I am learning and applying immediately through the projects. For future success I will take a look at the syllabus and plan out the whole month in advance and setup my Google calendar with time for homework, reading, projects and go-to meetings. 

References: 

Reiser, R. (2002). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed., p. 38). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Prentice Hall. 

Shuttle Launch Image (n.d) Retrieved January 29, 2016 from https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/oct-5-1984-launch-of-history-making-sts-41g-mission

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Here is the link to view my Mastery Journey Timeline http://www.slideshare.net/MarkBarnett3/mark-barnett-mastery-timeline

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This week I am inspired by a TED Talk from Maker Media creator Dale Dougherty about being a Maker. I was recently accepted to speak at TEDx San Antonio about the Maker Movement in Education as it relates to access and equity. Watch the video, here is the link: https://www.ted.com/talks/dale_dougherty_we_are_makers

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Here is a link to my LinkedIn, I have already been using LinkedIn professionally and find it to be a valuable tool that I go to weekly.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/makermark

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This week while reading “Mastery” by Robert Greene, I was reminded of a quote by my favorite poet, Charles Bukowski.

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I used canva.com to create a custom logo for myself. On Twitter I have been using the personal brand of “Maker Mark” and I work professionally in Maker Education and promote Makerspaces in schools. With Canva, I can easily go back and edit the colors in a vector format.