MS ePortfolio - SOE Credential Office

This project was part of the Practicum (ETEC 6920) course, which covered two separate practicums.

The 4 Canvas courses are aimed at solving pressing issues experienced by the Credential Office; in particular:

informing students of credential requirements to complete throughout the program
streamlining the collection and archiving of student documentation for CTC accreditation
keeping program coordinators and content area advisors informed of individual student progress
communicating with a large selected group of students at once

They are aimed at four different credential programs offered at the School of Education: Multiple Subject, Single Subject, Special Education, and Preliminary Administrative Services credentials.

Canvas courses are only available via screenshots due to FERPA (see sample below).

The process

Since I completed this project early on during my Master's program, I used SAM, which was one of the first models we studied in ETEC 5000. I needed a model that would allow me to rapid prototype, test, and implement a new system in a matter of a few weeks.

Preparation

I gathered resources from different available PowerPoint presentations and the CTC official website. I estimated deadlines to ensure that requirements were evenly spread throughout the academic year to avoid cognitive overload, then planned the Announcement postings and other logistical details. I had thorough conversations with the Director and the Credential Analyst II to ensure all details were captured.

Iterative Design Phase

In this phase, I designed the flow of each course (since each one has different requirements and different deadlines), aiming for easy navigation, accessibility, and clarity. I had to test the modules' architecture, the resources' organization, the assignments' details, and the general sequencing of the course multiple times to ensure a correct and logical user experience.

Iterative Development Phase

Lastly, I developed the homepage, the assignments, the FAQs section, the announcements, set up the SpeedGrader, and prepared visual instructions for future iterations to be easily replicable through a step-by-step process. I then proceeded to test it with the Credential Analyst to ensure accuracy, made the necessary adjustments, and repeated the assessment.

Rollout

After several iterations, the courses were ready for rollout at the beginning of this academic year. As of now, this process has brought student requirement completion before program conclusion from 54% to 73%, while reducing the Credential Office tracking, archiving, and email communication workload by two-thirds.

Canvas Course Preview

Below you can see some screenshots from the course.

Student Experience: The learning experience starts with a Welcome Page providing basic information for navigation. The sidebar menu was kept minimalistic, as the explanation of each requirement is included in the Assignment itself. Through the "Grades" section, students can see at a glance, at any point during their program, any missing requirements, together with the instructions to complete them.

Credential Analyst Experience: The CA can manage multiple course requirements through their Canva Dashboard. The top of the dashboard allows for a quick look at the "To Do" section of recently submitted documentation.
For each course, they can access the Gradebook and see all students at once, or individually, communicate with them one-on-one, or "by missing assignment" (in one click, only students missing a certain assignment will receive the targeted communication). For easier iteration in future cohorts, there are two unpublished pages with details for the Admin (CA) on how to set up the grade book correctly and a page with all the announcement templates to be set for the incoming AY.

View the Slideshow in .ppt format

What I learned

The repetitive nature of SAM, especially spread out across 4 similar but different courses, left room for several errors that needed to be addressed
The agile, iterative approach facilitated rapid prototyping, leading to the required fast results expected
In retrospect, SAM appeared somewhat less organized than other models, though it offered greater creativity and flexibility (especially for fast projects)
Never underestimate scope creep when working for someone!
Designing the resources for the instructor is a mini-course in itself, to which a needs analysis and evaluation must be done to ensure that the course can be successfully carried out.

⬅️ Previous Project

🏠︎ Back to Design

Next Project ➡️