Reflection
Rationale for Choosing this Artifact
For my second artifact, I have chosen an assignment from MDDE620: a paper titled Qualitative Evaluation of Articulate Storyline 2. For this assignment, I explore an educational technology that promotes interactive learning.
My learning goals include wanting to broaden my experience and ability to use technology and to explore teaching activities and facilitation methods to benefit both the learner and the facilitator. I feel this artifact demonstrates one of my steps toward fulfilling these goals.
Artifact Two
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Download Artifact 2.docx
Artifact 2.docx Details
- Tuesday, 26 May 2020 [48.6KB]
MDDE620 Assignment Description
Evaluate some aspect of an actual educational technology product - software, hardware, support system, orientation or training program, etc. Describe your assessments standards, rationale and procedures, and how you would report the results of the assessment so that it would receive maximum attention and support within the organization, and would be useful to those involved in making improvements.
Why MDDE620
MDDE 620 is a course Athabasca University offers for credit towards Master of Education in Distance Education. When deciding which course to take between MDDE 610 Survey of Current Educational Technology Applications or MDDE 620 Technology in Education and Training, I chose the latter to expand my knowledge and awareness of education technologies and to also gain “direct experience with specific technologies in actual educational and training use” (MDDE620, 2019, para. 1). I have always had an interest in technology, especially educational technologies. I was hopeful that my direct experience with educational technology during the course would strengthen my knowledge and increase my skillset to better equip me to coach and mentor my instructional team on educational technologies and how to incorporate them into their own facilitation.
Inspiration
Research Methodologies and Recommendations
In the beginning of the course textbook, Bates (2005) purports that ‘to make good decisions…about technology in education, we need to understand the relative educational strengths and weaknesses of different technologies, and what needs to be done to use technologies effectively” (p. 2). This passage resonated with me and underpinned my research tactics for this assignment. To ensure I had an in-depth look into the technology, I took a systematic approach to thoroughly investigating Storyline 2. I familiarized myself with the product information, scrutinized consumer reviews, and reviewed posts in the community forums. In further efforts to ensure I was well-informed regarding the product, I also joined E-Learning Heroes, an online community discussion and idea-sharing forum set up by Articulate.(1.4) In order to really experience the technology and gain first-hand knowledge of its ease of use, “I conducted [an] assessment through a personal trial of Storyline 2 by creating a self-directed e-learning presentation” (Derksen, 2016, p. 4). As I trialed the capabilities of Articulate Storyline 2, I considered the strengths and weaknesses with a pedagogical lens. In critically evaluating the relevance of the information, “I used a combination of the ACTIONS evaluation framework (Bates, 2005) and the Educational App evaluation platform developed by Lee and Kim (2015)” (Derksen, 2016, p. 2) to ensure I considered all of the data my investigation uncovered before making a recommendation of the product.(1.5) The ACTIONS evaluation framework provided a list of areas to examine and questions to consider in order to evaluate the technology. I used the list of questions Bates (2005) provided to initiate my investigation, assist me in focusing my research areas, and examine the findings; I determined the value related to both cost and pedagogical benefit, long-term effectiveness, weighed out any advantages and disadvantages in both distance delivery and as a formative assessment tool, before concluding that Articulate Storyline 2 is a valuable educational technology.(3.4, 5.5)
Before recommending this technology to my staff, I approached the department head and discussed the Storyline 2 program with the educational specialist in both the Teaching and Learning (TAL) and Information Technology (IT) departments. While there was agreement that this was an exciting product, the cost was a prohibitive factor and therefore it did not meet all organizational needs to move forward with a recommendation; I could however recommend Storyline 2 for use during the free trial period.(6.3, 6.4) Throughout this process, I gained an appreciation for the importance of having performed a thorough investigation of a product or issue and the ability to expertly articulate your request, as well as the ability to discern the difference between ‘need’ and ‘nice to have’ when seeking operational support within an organization.(6.3)
Storyline 2 Self-directed, E-Learning Presentation A Labour of Love
The personal experience of creating an e-learning presentation using Articulate Storyline 2 was a labour of love. While the platform was for the most part simple to use, I was on a tight timeline. I did not know the program at all and therefore needed to educate myself on how to create a presentation. I have a tendency to go ‘all in’ or perhaps even ‘go overboard’ (and not just with clichés), therefore I would not abandon my goal of experiencing the product firsthand. While “the platform is intuitive and [had] an interface similar to that of PowerPoint” (Derksen, 2016, p. 7), I did have some moments of frustration, especially related to how long it took me to complete the tasks I set out for myself. To assist me with using the program, I found resources that included self-guided tutorials that helped guide me while I created the presentation; however “I found I needed to view the videos multiple times to fully comprehend the process” (Derksen, 2016, p. 9).
I included multiple means of representation in my presentation in hopes of engaging all learners; I “incorporated video, audio, text, and interactive components [into the presentation] to perform learning checks” (Derksen, 2016, p. 4) and enhance student interaction.(2.5, 2.7) I documented in the assignment that “I found the…free-form quiz questions were time-intensive to create” (Derksen, 2016, p. 8); this was an area of frustration due to time constraints.
I feel that promoting the use of online technologies can help instructors see the value in adopting interactive programs and encourage them to adapt their facilitation to include a variety of curriculum delivery strategies. Therefore, as part of my role at work is to coach and mentor my fellow instructors, I shared my multimedia Storyline 2 presentation with my team. I encouraged them to work through the material which directly related to the program curriculum and complete the quizzes to experience firsthand the value of interactive, self-directed presentations for student learning.(3.5)
As part of my research and to obtain a different viewpoint, I solicited feedback from my coworkers on the ease of use and level of engagement they experienced when using the interactive tool. I created simple questions for them to answer regarding their experiences as a learner and opinions as an instructor of the platform.(1.3) The questions were formulated based on the ACTIONS framework (Bates, 2005) and the work of Lee and Kim (2015) related to educational apps.
References
Bates, A. W. (2005). Technology, e-learning and distance education (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Derksen, L. (2016). Qualitative Evaluation of Articulate Storyline 2.
Lee, J., & Kim, S. (2015). Validation of a tool evaluating educational apps for smart education. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 52(3), pp. 435-450. doi: 10.1177/0735633115571923
MDDE620. (2019). Master of education in distance education (MDDE) 620: Technology in education and training. Retrieved from https://www.athabascau.ca/syllabi/mdde/mdde620.php
