Using Technology in Adult Education: Final Project Reflection
September 16, 2017
Prompt: Reflect on your learnings from this course and personally assess performance and goal completion defined in previous courses in the program.
Part I
Most of my personal goals for ED662 were accomplished throughout the units.
- Discover technologies that can help facilitators to adult learning to identify potential cognitive learning issues and/or disabilities in learners. This goal was difficult to accomplish. It seems that the human factor is still important in making these distinctions in learners and likely won't be a process that can be automated through the use of technology in the near future.
- Identify the latest technologies that assist students with learning and/or physical disabilities and demonstrate how they work for implementation into the curriculum. I feel I was able to research and accomplish this goal in the Unit 3 assignment when comparing new and emerging technologies and their accessibility for learners with disabilities. I also reflected on how these technologies can be integrated in the concept of universal design for learning.
- Discuss up-and- coming technologies that enhance student learning and/or assist students with disabilities with staff to encourage awareness. Although this is a continuous process, I was able to communicate with colleagues both in and out of my organization on a few occasions about these new technologies. They had provided me with new insights and uses for these technologies, such as the use of SmartPens, which was exciting and interesting.
- Demonstrate how to use technology to engage students in learning without becoming a hindrance to learning. This goal was accomplished in both Unit 2 with the tutor training video and with my final project. It is also through my research in this area that I defined ways to integrate e-learning practices in and out of the classroom to help facilitate learning. This objective was also accomplished in Unit 1 through developing a pros and cons list of using certain technologies.
- Develop instructional materials to train traditional and non-traditional adult learners with current technologies in teaching and training. This objective was accomplished in Unit 4 and the final project by creating and designing the massive open online course for adult leaners in cognitive learning science and academic skills entitled "Effective Cognitive Learning Strategies for Adults." I'll be able to utilize these ideas in the workplace to further develop a curriculum for learning in medical school and begin to move towards developing an online presence with these topics.
Overall, I not only accomplished the structured requirements of the course, but most of my own personal goals for learning in the course, which pleases me.
Part II
Looking back at my reflection from the final project in ED658, I feel I have been successful in accomplishing my goal to curb procrastination by creating deadlines for unit completion for each course. I planned space for family and down time and for unit completion activities to use as extrinsic motivation tools, which have worked well. This will be an area that I will continually have to address and work on throughout the program, but am happy with my continued personal growth on this track.
I still feel my courses are going well, and when I look back to reflect on all that I've learned and accomplished so far, it's quite rewarding and humbling. I also make an effort to continuously improve and review the personal goals and mission as written in ED 658 as motivation to remind myself of what I still need and want to accomplish. I feel a great sense of accomplishment and comprehension of topics with every completed unit assignment. I feel lucky that I'm able to build upon learnings from other units and courses within the program and to integrate my learnings into the work environment to improve my career performance. I feel wholesome and empowered since joining the program and feel that my decision to obtain a Master's degree in this field was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I look forward to the next course in the program to see what other tools I'm able to add to my belt!
Timeline Goals for ED 668 - Needs Analysis and Evaluation in Adult Education & Training
- Course Dates: October 1 - December 22, 2017
- Unit 1 Assignment Submission due by October 15
- Unit 2 Assignment Submission due by October 29
- Unit 3 Assignment Submission due by November 12
- Unit 4 Assignment Submission due by November 26 or December 3
- Final Project Assignment Submission by December 22