Martha's Digital Musings

  Martha Pilling LDT 504 8/24/24 My Perspectives on Digital Learning Loosely defined, digitally-mediated learning can include any learning which utilizes an online technology to mediate its students. Under that definition, distance learning, learning management systems, micro-learning through YouTube or LinkedIn, and so forth are all variables of digitally-mediated learning.  Years ago I chose to take a distance learning theater appreciation class through the University of Utah. It was terrible. I was a traditional, on-campus student, so acquiring learning resources at the university was simple. I was required to get a VHS copy of the lecture each week, watch it, converse with my classmates through email, and complete quizzes and tests on the material I “learned” through the VHS tapes. This was at the inception of email, when very few students were familiar with how to use it. I swore email would never catch on, and that it was a completely ineffective way to communicate. How ...

  Martha Pilling LDT 508 6/26/24 WOL Blog Post: Inclusive Learning Design Reflection Upon reflection of the things I have learned over the last several weeks, I can honestly say that I am sad this class has to end. I have enjoyed learning about accessibility, but especially gaining valuable insight through the empathy challenges. Through these exercises, my understanding has been enlightened, and I have learned so many new things. I now understand the need for instructional designers to understand the challenges behind accessibility- Challenges such as visual or hearing impairment, mobility impairment, and sometimes a lack of cultural responsiveness in learning experiences.  The empathy challenges enabled me to put myself in the shoes of those who may experience one or all of these challenges, and how I might navigate my design with those things in mind. For example, it is not difficult to create a website with greater readability, or ensure it has transcripts and closed c...

  WOL: Self-Assessment and Reflection Based on the results from my evaluator self-assessment, I would rate myself as a 3. Though I have gained many skills I did not have before taking this class, I still have so much to learn, and many more skills to polish and refine. Therefore, I think 3 is an accurate and honest description of my growth. This is still a vast improvement over where I started, and I am not disappointed in this level of growth. A 3 is much better than a 0 or 1, and shows development. I am not an expert, but I am also not the novice I was at the beginning. Through some tough growing pains, I have changed for the better as a team member, an evaluator, and as a student. I have discovered how to be a better team member. I have realized that I have to become more detail-oriented, because I made mistakes in my final evaluation presentation when I was discussing our data sources. I have also discovered that I need to be willing to do just about anything for the success ...

Based on what I have learned this week through the readings and the live Zoom session, and on a scale of 1 to 6, I would rate myself a 1 as an evaluator. The reasoning behind this rating is my extremely limited experience with evaluations, but especially my lack of knowledge pertaining to evaluations in relation to LIDT. Nearly all of Stevahn's competencies were new to me, though many of them made logical sense. In accordance with Stevahn’s competencies, I am strong in “Professional Practice, Remain open to the input from others, Interpersonal Competence, Use written communication skills, Use verbal/listening communication skills, Facilitate constructive interpersonal interaction, Demonstrate cross-cultural competence.” I have gained these skills through my current position as a library aide, but also through my Bachelor’s degree in English literature and my extensive background in reading and writing. Working in a school has given me a wealth of opportunities to practice communica...

 The Amazing Things I Could Do What I want to do I want to design museum exhibits for Ammon and children like him. I want to make UD (universal design) my mantra for all of my designs. Empathy will be at the heart of everything I do. I want to be the person who designs learning for those who don’t fit into a typical classroom, whether it’s because they are non-native English speakers, new parents, single parents, introverted, or impaired in any way. “ UD “defines ways of thinking about and designing environments and products that work for the greatest number of people possible” (Null, 2014, p. 12).” https://edtechbooks.org/id/designing_for_diverse_learners I want to be the person who designs learning for neurodivergent learners. I want to create culturally appropriate learning environments. I want to respect the cultures of non-native English speakers, and develop learning modules to help them learn English. I’d love to help on Native American reservations, or in southern Texas, wh...

  Do I Have the “it” Required to be a Learning Designer? Learning design is a creative process which engenders empathy for the learner at the heart of its practice. The goal of learning design is to drastically improve the nature and accessibility of learning for learners of a variety of backgrounds and instructional levels. The learner is always at the center of the creative process, and the designer engineers, creates, works, and reworks the design around the learner. Accessibility and adaptability are always at the core of the design process, and the designer is constantly learning as he or she is building and creating. “Empathic understanding is not binary, that is, it is not simply present or absent; rather, it is a skill that can be developed and deepened over time through experience and effort,” and “...the notion of an ‘average’ learner is a misnomer, and learner diversity (rather than uniformity) is actually the norm.” (Gronseth, Michela, & Oluchi Ogwi) I had a vague i...

WOL Design Project Reflection The thing that resonated most with me in developing our mock-up was the opportunity to work in a group. I learned so much from my team. At first, it was challenging working with others, because I created my own timeline, and I wanted things done on my schedule. It also took a couple of weeks to get in stride with my team, and feel completely comfortable with them. Once that happened, our teamwork was a beautiful thing. I realized I have to be realistic about my expectations from a group, about the timeline, and that I had to be bold about voicing what I needed others to help with. It actually worked perfectly when I did that. Once I realized that my team members did not mind being given specific tasks, we worked together seamlessly, and even got our mock-up turned in three days early. I have to admit that the technology was certainly challenging for me. When work started two weeks into the semester, I thought I was going to have to quit. Add learning c...