LMS+Reflection

=LMS Reflection=

Design Choices
In terms of content, I think we did our best as a team to make the site as easy to navigate as possible. The goal for the course was fairly straightforward, have our learners understand the proper guidelines and be able to make an effective presentation on their own. Text instructions are provided, along with video instructions, PowerPoint presentations, and examples. We did our best to include a wide variety of material for our students to use. All of the external links are available to the learners and relate to the goals of the course. I made sure that all of the learning goals are supported by relevant content. When it came to making the instructional resources, all of the videos and presentations on the site are both embedded on the site, and have links to where they are posted online. The course information and syllabus are both posted on the site as well as in pdf and word doc format, giving the students the option of how they want to view the information. It is all accessible to the students, and have been tested by the instructors for accessibility issues. For assessment, the site includes a number of discussion boards on articles related to PowerPoint Presentations. There is also a project for the students where they create there own PowerPoint presentation. They are given the option to choose their own topic, as well as how to present it, allowing for various ways to present their PowerPoint. In order to provide learner support, the email addresses for all four instructors are provided as well as a discussion board for the students to post questions. Any questions or concerns the students had we responded to in as timely a manner as possible. The site was made to be as easy to navigate as possible, with all of the links properly labeled and named. I make it clear which links on the site will lead them to external material, and proper headings are use, with all the colors contrasting with the backgrounds. To keep the students interests, various images and videos are included throughout to keep their attention. It was made to be easy to browse as well as informative.

Experiences with Blackboard
I had a number of experiences with Blackboard, both good and bad. I found Blackboard easy to use, and relatively easy to add things. I could edit anything I wanted on the site, and Blackboard allowed me to even adjust the settings to pages when needed. The site made it easy for me to create Wiki pages for the course, set up discussion boards, and post information. I could change or add to the course as I saw fit, and once I figured out how to embed videos onto the site I could add a great deal more to the pages. There were of number of frustrations I had with the site, particularly when it came to editing information on the pages. I could not simply paste a picture on the page, I had to go through a whole process of saving it beforehand, placing my cursor in the correct location, then select the option on the tool bar to paste the picture, and browse through my folders to find it. This became especially frustrating for me because the site was acting up. Sometimes when I post information it would look fine and then when I selected the submit option text information and pictures began to appear out of order on the page. I went back in, the information was back in its correct order, I resubmitted it, and it appeared correctly. I still have no idea what caused it to act up like that. Then, whenever I edited the text on the page images would disappear and I would have to go through the process of re-posting them. It really says something when it is easier to embed videos on a site than it is to post a darn picture.

Experiences with the PowerPoint Design Course
I believe that we succeeded in creating an effective way to educate people on proper PowerPoint design. The difficult thing was making sure that we had all of the necessary materials to set up an effective course. Given the timeframe we had, I believe we accomplished that task rather well. Also, given the fact that my fellow teammates did not have much experience with PowerPoint Design themselves, I was impressed with how quickly they caught on in order to aid the team in creating this course.

Experience as a student in the course "Introduction to Web 2.0: An Introduction to Web 2.0 for the Classroom"
From what I saw of the site, it was well-organized, well-designed, and informative. I found the activities that I participated in appropriate and engaging, and can clearly see the effort that the instructors put in this site. The instructors sent messages in a timely manner, and even participated in the discussion board. It was nice to see that the instructors were active in their own course. I enjoyed learning on this site because I had little difficulty in finding what I wanted, and the goals and tasks of the course were made clear.