Over the past seven weeks, I have found this
course to be extremely challenging at times, mainly due to the time
constraints. Having to learn a new application within a week and then try to
create a product worth sharing with colleagues has been very hard to do. I also
found it difficult to make instructions that I could actually use with my
teachers and students with the limitations on software that could be used. For
example, not being allowed to use screen casting or screenshots really narrowed
my choices for instructions to design. These limitations forced me to choose a
topic that did not require the use of a computer to complete. It was
frustrating to have to change topics during the second week so that I would be
able to complete all of the required projects for the class.
Although the journey has been difficult, there
are some things that I have learned. Immediately in the course, I learned how
difficult it is to create an instruction set for students without the use of
any text. I found that text helps add some detail to a visual instruction set
that pictures alone may not be able to produce. In addition, I learned how
important it is to provide instructions using different media forms to support
the different learning styles of students. But the one item I enjoyed learning
about the most was how to use Adobe InDesign. I can see what a powerful tool
this can be in designing future training tools for the teachers and students in
our school district.
The course did leave some empty gaps in my
learning that I would like to further explore. During the fourth week when we
created audio files, I could not get them to embed correctly in a PDF file. I
could not find any videos to teach me how to do this. I would love to learn how
this can be done. I would also like to learn more about how to use the Adobe
products. With the time limits on this course, I was not able to delve into how
to use each application. The main thing I want to learn more about is how to
create effective online courses for students. I have designed and managed
online course for professional development in our school district, but feel
that more guidance on enhancing these courses would be beneficial.
So as I reflect back over this course, along
with the learning, there are still areas that are a bit hazy to me. First, I
still cannot grasp the importance of drawing images as opposed to using screen
shots or still photo images for producing a good instruction set. So many of
the instructions I design pertain to computer software or Internet sites that
an actual picture seems to be a better solution for creating clear
instructions. In addition, I found that when I go back to use one of the Adobe
products, I cannot remember how I created the files needed for class. I spent
hours working on the projects, but the actual skills to using the applications
were not acquired. There was just not enough time to really grasp the full
essence of the Adobe products. I look forward to going back and learning more
about these applications so that I can use them as I design trainings for
teachers in the future.
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