OLT 578 Journal Entry 1

First, briefly describe your intended project. You can copy and paste it from your introduction if you wish. Then state the problem your design project will address. If you’re designing a new course or workshop, the problem might simply be that the course or training doesn’t exist. If you’re modifying instruction, state why. This is your first why.

Last semester was my first teaching Introduction to Computers. I was given the course last minute and I inherited an online course that is in dire need of a redesign. It is not organized very well, and the assignments seem more like busy work than actual assignments that enrich the SLOs.

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Then determine and state why the problem you’ve identified is occurring or why that problem is a problem—your second why.

The course is not organized well. The units did not follow the sequence of the book, which is a logical order. The course was out of order and left many students confused about which chapter they were working on.

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Now explain why that’s occurring (the cause) or why that’s a problem (unintended or undesirable effects)—your third why.

There are seven discussion assignments due within the first two weeks of the course. This is too many discussion assignments in a short period of time. Many of the assignments were not attempted. Then identify a fourth and fifth why if you can. The students in the course struggled to complete all the assignments. There were too many assignments due for each unit and students were overwhelmed. They skipped many assignments, resulting in a large portion of the students not passing the course.

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Now reflect on your process. Did this technique reveal any new insights for your project? Has it changed the scope, purpose, or focus of the project? Explain how or why.

This technique helped me take a more in-depth look at how the course was organized. Upon further inspection, I realized the organization issue was a result of not following the order of the book. The amount of discussion assignments due in a two-week span is unnecessary. The discussion assignments should be distributed throughout the term, giving students plenty of time to complete the assignments and participate fully. A large number of assignments made it difficult to grade the assignments in a timely manner. Grading rubrics were also not utilized for the assignments. Rubrics will help the students know how their assignments will be evaluated and give the instructor a guide to streamline the grading process.