I began the ITEC program in the spring of 2015 and found an incredible learning community. I have been very pleased with the courses and each class seemed to relate and build on the previous. This helped me see the vision and focus of the program. The instructors have been great online facilitators and have provided much needed feedback to help me increase my performance. I have seen my participation and quality of writing continue to increase and I attribute much of that to the quality of courses and feedback from instructors. I have also been continuously excited about the relevancy of the program in my professional teaching career. I continue to discover principles and methods that I can use in my daily seminary lessons.
In hindsight, I would have liked to see more implementation of the ePortfolio in each course. I have had some courses refer to it but only one has had some assignments be specific artifacts that I have attached to a program pillar. While some of the program pillars overlap, I could have used some help refining my goals and maybe having some course directed goals that align with the pillars. It would have helped if each instructor, advisor or both could play a bigger role in this process. I know how beneficial it has been thus far to have an advisor help me plan my course timeline and it could be similarly valuable to have more integration and guidance on the ePortfolio, even if it was just encouragement to attach in-course artifacts.
As expected, my goals continued to grow with time in the program and I have been satisfied with the association I have had with classmates and instructors. I have been able to collaborate and learn from other students. This has helped my learning philosophy mature and I feel more confident and comfortable with all aspects of instructional design. Overall, I have discovered that this program has much to offer; it has been challenging, relevant and rewarding.