4 - Canvas LMS - English lesson - CanSpeak Talking About Food

I had decided to follow the leadership stream of M.Ed. courses when I returned to Canada at the beginning of the pandemic. I felt it would be a logical choice for changing gears and starting up my own tutoring company.  However, although I loved MDDE 605, a couple of the courses felt a little like the distance education courses that I took in 2003,  the ones which had arrived in a brown paper package at the post office. Swayed by other courses that had been more hands-on assignments, I decided to drop the leadership stream and fill the degree requirements with the fun, interactive courses where I could learn more practical skills. Distance Education had evolved and I wanted to be part of the evolution (1.7).

I guess that I value courses that prove interesting, useful, or perspective-changing. Even taking the mandatory MDDE 602, a scary research course that had felt like the equivalent of walking into a haunted house, proved very useful when I worked on my MDDE 690 Assignments (1.13).  I used quantitive research to count the time that students spoke in class and I use qualitative data in the form of student feedback forms to learn what changes they would like to see in the class.  This semester, based on the quantitive data, I have assigned participation grades based on the seconds that they speak in class. Based on the qualitative data, I am connecting more through video conferencing.

I knew that MDDE 604 would be interesting and very useful in developing online lessons. I was so excited to have the same instructor that we had in MDDE 610. I had learned so much from him and, although the course was focused on technical applications, the biggest takeaway was to not choose technology for the sake of impressing people with what you can do but rather to systematically define the needs and analyze which method would address those needs using SECTIONS analyses (2.2, 3.2).  I liked that the assignments built on the previous one so that we could understand the full process.  

So, I was quite comfortable when I realized that MDDE 604 was similarly scaffolded on previous learning. We started by making a short animation to introduce ourselves. So much fun! I chose Doodly as it looked interesting and they had a promotion on the app. However, after I purchased it, I was disappointed that much of the content had to be purchased separately and I could only use the black and white drawings.  I added some life to the animation by adding some color using the drawing tools, but the animation was more time-consuming to produce because of this. I have used Screencast-o-Matic, Doodley, and PowToons to make little animations for my students. One of the main takeaways was to make something that was timeless so that it could be used in another course at a later date (2.2, 2.5).  The animation that ai shared on the information page is one that I share with my students at the beginning of the semester. 

My students in China had been assigned a workbook that they were using, and we were having online conversations through WeChat.  I wanted to improve their learning experience, so I began the MDDE 604 course with them in mind.  When we did the proposal (Assignment 1), my plan was to enhance the online lesson that I was currently teaching (2.2). I didn’t have experience with using Canvas and I was excited about the chance to be creative and build the learning module (2.5).

The Instructional Design System that was used was the ADDIE model - Assess, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate.  Assignment #1 was a Needs Analysis and Proposal to determine the goals of our course. We then went on Assignment #2, a storyboard looking at our objectives, sample classes, and assessments (2.3). It was at this point that I started to move sideways. Could I make this course work for both my classes in China and also use it to produce the first in a series for an online class that could be used internationally? That would make my life easier, right? Wrong. (1.3) 

Of course, the realization that many applications are not available in China made this even more of a challenge (6.2, 6.3).  When the Canvas website suggested that we try another LMS for China because they couldn’t guarantee it would be accessible.  I had to question whether I would be setting myself up for disappointment by using a platform that might not work (2.7).

And, when I started to load things in Canvas, I found that there was so much content that I wasn’t sure how I could possibly include it all in the course.  From the forum, I could see that other teachers appeared to have the same problem. “Narrow it down,” was the advice and so I decided to do one of the students’ favorite subjects – food. The new title was CanSpeak – Talking about Food (2.6).

I didn’t love what I had made. If I had stuck with the original plan for my students, then it would have been better. Or if I had decided to do a sample lesson for the business, that would have worked as well. I concluded that I had to always know what audience I was catering to.

Throw in some key technical learning as I discovered how to build my first LMS, and some serious lesson planning I struggled albeit in a good way.  I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of the key components of this course was that we reviewed each other’s work and provided feedback (4.4, 4.5). Based on the google discussions and reviews (3.1), I could see how I had lost focus and realized that I needed to stick to the plan. I appreciated the feedback from the other students, and I know from editing that when we try to be a little creative, it doesn’t always go the way that we had intended. For me, getting suggestions from classmates helped me to reign in my thoughts and helped me to be more focused on the lessons. It was even harder to provide feedback on the work my classmates had done because I wanted to make it both constructive and motivating (4.4, 4.6).  When I was in film school, the instructor had talked about editing videos and “throwing away your baby” to refer to those great shots that didn’t really belong in the video. In the end, I think that my feedback was helpful (4.7) just like theirs had helped me. I had cost myself a great deal of time and had to put in a considerable amount of work to fix the mistake and implement the design (2.2). In the end, I was quite pleased with what I had done (2.5, 2.7).

I especially found that the instructor's feedback was helpful, not just the written portion, but also the video feedback that appeared to be made on Screencast-o-Matic. I later decided to incorporate this method of feedback for videos that my students had submitted. (4.4)

Having just finished doing the business plan in MDDE 605, I was still mentally engaged with starting my business.  My mind kept drifting back and forth. Could I make one course that would work for my business as well as for my current students? There was so much that I could do about the subject of food that I could just make one big course. NO! Stick to the plan.

I would like to say that I learned the value of committing to a plan. In fact, I found that my e-portfolio became more work than necessary because I felt that I had so much to share about the different artifacts and I kept changing my plan because I didn’t want to miss sharing anything. As a matter of fact, I think that I could have found the five artifacts in just MDDE 604 and 610.  

I have to remember that when I make a plan, I should mainly commit to it. Follow the system and don’t vacillate because you suddenly see a bigger picture and want to change the world in one fell swoop. Continue to be ambitious and stay flexible, but use a system to make choices and do one thing at a time (2.4).

I think one of the biggest discoveries in this course was that I truly enjoyed putting the programs together.  In a sense, it feels more like playing than working and reminded me of putting together the TV Show.  I sincerely hope that in the future, I will be able to incorporate these skills into my work.