My MDE Program Reflections
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot
Introduction
When I think about my experience with the University of Maryland University College Master’s of Distance Education & E-Learning (MDE) program, I am reminded of how foreign distance education was to me when I first began the program in 2006. I was aware of proctored computer-based training where an instructor would answer questions or help with computer issues, but nothing covering the breadth and depth that the term distance education references. My first class (OMDE 601) was an eye opener. I learned about the history of distance education, the role of correspondence schools and the importance of the postal system for providing a way for teachers and students to interact at a distance. I learned about radio programs and their short life many years ago and their more recent resurgence in Africa and other places where satellite is popular. The role of television in teaching for some and the use of videos to share information and provide access to more than just the students who were able to be in a face-to-face setting. More importantly, I learned that technology is not an automatic fix when attempting to address learning at a distance and it is critical to scaffold the use of technology just as you would scaffold a course and its content.
I was exposed to professors and students from around the world. I was able to gain perspective in the field of distance education and I was also able to learn from other students and my instructors about the application of distance education in their environments and their successes and what there were able to take away from their failures. Fortunately, I could also tie my experience to what we were learning as I progressed through the different courses and shared my work issues, concerns, realizations and achievements. Each class that I have taken has added something to my toolbox and I believe that my experiences in this program positioned me to take on the role that I have now where I am able to build courses from the ground up that meet the needs of a diverse workforce that is spread out all over the country where the Internet is our primary connection. My students are adults who are taking courses during non-work hours that are available around the clock using information and communications technology (ICT) to interact with me, the content and other students. We are using an internal learning management system (LMS) to enroll, track students and monitor progress and the information gleaned from the LMS is used to improve new courses and to refocus when multiple students struggle with the same concepts and ideas in a course because the LMS allows us to identify repeat viewings and multiple attempts at test taking. New courses will be blended in some cases and in others, supplemented with webinars and mininars. The key concept in all that I have described is that instead of figuring things out as I go or simply responding to management without truly understanding what I’m doing or where I’m going, my experience with this program has provided a solid foundation for me and I now operate from that foundation.
My Beginning
My first class was a disaster. There really is no other way to explain my lack of experience with online training from the student perspective, my decision to hold back and not participate because I was not sure what to say or how to say what I wanted to say, and my unwillingness to truly engage. I had recently started a new job with GE Healthcare and my focus was on my new position and the opportunities that that door had opened. I had done a lot of research on the best online schools and my criteria included being accredited of course, but it also included having a diverse population of instructors who were not solely American. I wanted a wider perspective of distance education and I wanted to learn from instructors whom I could question and who would not limit their answers to a perspective based on their experiences with distance education in one country. I wanted to understand the history of distance learning in America, but I also wanted to know more about the impact of the Open University in the United Kingdom. I wanted a better understanding of how things are done in places like Africa where access to the Internet is not automatic. I wanted to learn more about places where Internet cafés really do have an impact on access to resources and where online learning is viewed differently such as Canada or Germany, India or Asia. Overall, I wanted a global perspective on distance education and I wanted a program that included instructors who had gained their experience in different places with exposure to different viewpoints.
The MDE program at UMUC fit my criteria and although I had access to the online resources that provided tips and tricks on how to survive your first online course, I did not take advantage of that information. I went into my first class with my own assumptions and most of them were incorrect. A few of my assumptions follow:
· Because I would be able to access online learning at times convenient for myself, managing my time would be easy.
· Interacting with my classmates would be a breeze because I have friends whom I enjoy talking with and having engaging intellectual conversations.
· Instructors would be available when I needed them because they were also “free” to come and go as they pleased.
What I learned was that:
(1) Time management required that I plan ahead and book time for myself and for my studies instead of simply logging in when an opportunity presented itself,
(2) It was not enough to respond with my experiences, my thoughts or my ideas if I could not justify and/or tie those experiences, thougths and ideas with support from the course contents or research that I had done on my own, and
(3) Instructors have just as many challenges as students do with respect to time management and the work required for a successful online course. I needed to respond to the questions presented by the instructor and to at least one to two other students. Instructors needed to respond to any or all of use depending upon the situation.
Looking back, my experiences have placed me in an excellent position. When I have new students, reviewing the information about how to engage in an online course is required reading. Participation is also explained in great detail and the benefits for participation are outlined and reinforced. Instead of waiting for students to reach out to me, I schedule reminders to check in on my students because sometimes that is really all that is required to jump start a learning lurker. With my first UMUC course, I gained insight into what it means to be a student in an online class and because UMUC provided what I would call an advance organizer, I also had a window into what was required of the instructor.
At the same time that I was struggling through my first course and my first year at a new job, I was learning more than I could take in. OMDE 601 Foundations of Distance Education & E-learning and OMDE 603 Technology in Distance Education and E-learning were my first two courses and they were phenomenal. I widened my understanding of what distance education (DE) is, was and what DE has the potential to become. I also developed a much more solid understanding of the role of technology in teaching and learning and the pitfalls of new technology bias and the benefits of the ACTIONS model (Bates, 1995), it’s progression to the SECTIONS model (Bates & Poole, 2003), and the importance of using these types of design support models to ensure that technology for the sake of technology did not become the standard. To this day, I continue to reference Moore & Kearsley (2011) and Bates & Poole (2003) in my work and I continue to use both resources as justification for decisions that I make and course design ideas when needed.
As I continued with additional classes in my Distance Education Policy & Management program track, I was beginning to see that my role in learning was even more important that I had first imagined or understood. I was no longer a young college student in a 400 student lecture taking notes as fast I could and hoping that I could book time with my professor to discuss areas that did not make sense to me. Instead, I was not just learning, but experiencing learning, participating in learning and moving away from the didactic model that instilled a healthy amount of respect tinged with some fear to a model where my interaction with the content and with other students was becoming more and more vital. This change in perception and participation was identified for me in the various readings in my courses. I was comfortable with the ‘sage on the stage.’ I knew that arena inside and out and could easily operate in that space without an instruction manual. However, distance education was presenting me with the ‘guide on the side’ and this was new to me.
Distance learning was also something that was becoming more and more important to my company. Thus, evaluating my experience as a student became crucial not only for my success as I endeavored to attain a Master’s degree in DE, but it was also essential in my workspace as I negotiated within my team to create learning modules for our customers. I wanted to scaffold the learning experince so that students would be able to work on their own with enough support to create a positive learning experience. In addition, evaluating my experience as a student helped me to identify different methods that could be used to encourage student interaction with content and with their peers. This was an aha moment for me. Understanding, truly understanding that DE was not the didactic spoon feeding method that I was not only accostumed to, but comfortable in, was critical to my development in the field and my career. The educational arena was changing. In many areas, it had already changed, but as a student, I was not in front of that change nor was I even moving along with the change, I was behind the change and if I wanted to be successful in my field, I knew that I would have to embrace this change and determine how to work within this new paradigm.
The Middle
This period of my experience with UMUC was challenging. I was finally balancing work with school, but I was also not taking courses each year nor every semester because I would take the time to determine each year what the expectations were for me in my position at GE and based on those expectations, I would plan my school schedule.
When I selected courses, I was fortunate that the offerings could be tied to my work responsibilities and goals. I was able to leverage my courses to gain a deeper understanding of what would be required for successful online training implementations and projects. In addition, the coursework provided me with relevant information in the field. I was, therefore, able to employ what I was learning to projects that I was working on at the same time that I was learning new concepts. There are a few classes that stand out because of the tight connection that I was able to forge between my job and my coursework. Those classes were DEPM 604 Leadership in Distance Education and E-learning, OMDE 606 Costs and Economics of Distance Education and E-learning, DEPM 609 Distance Education Systems and E-learning, and DEPM 622 The Business of Distance Education and E-learning. These are discussed below…
Impact Courses
Each of the courses discussed below had a profound effect on my understanding of distance education and more importantly, on how I have applied my understanding of concepts and topics to my course design and build projects in my job. In some of these courses, my first response was fear because the topic was very new to me and I was not sure if I would be able to show learning in the short time that I would have in the class. In other courses, I went in ready to conquer the world, only to learn that what I knew about the topic was only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. In each of these classes, I walked away with more than I anticipated and with the opportunity to apply what I was learning to actual projects that I was working on at the same time that I was taking the course. That is a part of my MDE journey that I can identify as the icing on the cake. This has been a phenomenal program for me, but the fact that I could apply what I was learning while I was learning was more than I could have hoped for and the benefits were greater than I could have planned.
DEPM 604
Summer 2008 – Instructor, Michael Beaudoin
As I mentioned earlier, I would identify projects that I would be engaged in each year and I would attempt to take courses that could help me with those projects. Out of all of the courses that I have taken, the best connection between a course and an ongoing project was DEPM 604 Leadership in Distance Education and E-learning (DEPM 604). In DEPM 604, we looked at leadership and change management. At the time that I took this course, I was preparing to update a course that had been in use for 10 years without any updates. This was problematic because the software had changed in as many years, but the training was simply adjusted on the fly by individual instructors because the class was a two week face-to-face course at the customer’s hospital. DEPM 604 provided the information, references, support and examples that I needed to prepare for the inherent challenges in change management for this project. The result of combining what I was learning in DEPM 604 with real world job duties and responsibilities was an online multi-module course that was not only embraced by customers, but in 75% of the cases, requested not just for the application management teams, but for their end users as well.
OMDE 606
Fall 2010 – Instructor, Thomas Huelsmann
OMDE 606 Costs and Economics of Distance Education (OMDE 606) was a challenging course that was highly beneficial. Is it possible to provide a cost benefit analysis (CBA) if one does not have the numbers required to identify cost per hour or per day or per week or month? This course taught me that the answer is yes. It is possible to perform a cost benefit analysis based on hours and time needed to complete tasks, actual charges per hour, by resources available and the list goes on. I had a basic understanding of CBA, but I had never looked at CBA from the perspective of costing out a project by resources nor by time on task. By providing an in-depth look at the process of costing out a learning project, I was able to identify the key drivers for a project and to cost out a project based on the drivers most important to the decision makers in my organization. The skills that I learned in this course are skills that I continue to make use of in my current position.
DEPM 609
Summer 2010 – Instructor, Linda Smith
In DEPM 609 Distance Education Systems and E-learning (DEPM 609), we were given an assignment that provided an opportunity for me to address an ongoing problem in my organization. Using Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology (Williams, 2005) and applying it to customer concerns about their software training experiences, I was able to compare world views of students (customers) and instructors (team members). This comparison activity alone provided much needed perspective to our development team. In addition, solutions were proposed and two diagrams incorporated into the course design process for use with new customers.
The best way to describe the impact that this course had on my actual job performance is by borrowing the title of a 2006 book on leadership by Mark Sanborn, You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader. This course positioned me to operate in leadership roles within my organization even on those teams where I was simply a team member. In our organization, matrix roles were common and it was not unusual to lead one team while being a supporting team member on another team. However, no matter the role assigned, leadership of an idea, method or strategy was possible and had the potential to be just as effective as being the primary leader.
DEPM 622
Spring 2012 – Instructor, Lisa Marie Blashke
DEPM 622 The Business of Distance Education and E-learning is another course that I was able to immediately apply to my work projects as they were in process. In this class, I was also able to leverage what I had learned in OMDE 606 and DEPM 604. Part of my project was a cost benefit analysis based on time on task and OMDE 606 had prepared me to address this issue even though I did not have information on actual costs or money required per hour on task. DEPM 609 was beneficial for the project in that I understood that I had to approach the change management aspect of the project by involving change champions early in the process because any negative feedback could impact industry satisfaction scores and that would be enough to terminate the project.
This was one of the most enjoyable classes that I have taken as a part of this program because it was near the end of the program. That meant that I was going into this course with a solid understanding of key issues that I would have to address as a part of the class, I fully understand the time that I would need to put in and I planned ahead for the natural interruptions that I knew would come. This course also afforded me the opportunity to provide solid support for a project at work that I initiated. This was not a project that I was tasked with as had been the case in previous classes, but a project that I was willing to take a chance on based on the content of the course. In a sense, the tables had turned and I was now using a job opportunity to support my coursework instead of using course material and information to support my job tasks. This was another turning point for me in this program and one that I welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed. In a sense, it was a true opportunity to apply what I had learned with DEPM 604 providing support for my endeavor. This project was successful, completed ahead of schedule and had a positive impact on our customers. I cannot go into detail, but suffice it to say, learning occurred with teacher and student separate while using technology and virtual office hours to stay connected.
Changes in the MDE Program
Because I started this program in 2006, I have had the opportunity to grow with the program and to experience what for me has been new and for many others is considered normal. Two changes stand out and those are having teaching assistants (TA) and writing coaches (WC). Even though many classes were fewer than 20 people, having a TA meant that students could get questions answered by two different people who might have different, but complementary perspectives, it also meant that students could make requests for help with the technology, locating resources and creating assignment links if they were missing. Writing coaches have also been hugely beneficial. The American Psychological Association’s (APA) style guide can be confusing and the writing and grammer tips and tricks, APA support websites and the willingness to assist in researching and determining how to reference online resources, inteviews, videos, blog posts and other sources have been and continue to be very helpful and a hugely positive benefit as we all write, reference and edit our work.
Another change in the MDE program has been the demographics. In the early years, I would sometimes have a student in my classes from South America, but rarely anyone from overseas. Now, it is unusual not to have students in class who are from other countries. Having the perspectives of others in healthcare, higher education, k12 education, customer service, transportation, and the list goes on has been enlightening and an excellent teaching tool. No matter what works for one business, group, team or individual, how one applies what we have learned and are learning is not limited to our areas of expertise. As I gather resources for my final project and reread and review the data that I have gathered, I am constantly reminded that what may be new or different for the corporate environment has been tested in higher education and that there is much to learn from people who are doing exactly what I am doing in another country because no matter similar, backgrounds, experience, challenges and environments, we are still different people with different biases working in different organizations with different goals.
My Greatest Challenge
As I think about all of the positives that have come from my experience in this program, I also have to take into consideration, my greatest challenges. Above all and my continuing challenge is time management. Working, managing family activities, being a caretaker for my 91 year old grandmother, volunteering in the community, teaching finance classes to adults, teens and pre-teens, being an active parent in my youngest’s school and testing my educational theories on various friends and family members is time consuming. In some instances, I have negotiated with my employer to move into a support role during certain time periods, I have limited the activities that I am responsible for getting the kids to and from and I send out a group email letting close friends know that I will not have a lot of free time during certain 3 month periods so that I can focus on learning and applying what I am learning. Even with these various responses to the time crunch, I still have to block out time to read, review, write, reflect and consider ways to apply what I am learning. My greatest takeaway from this challenge has been and continues to be the importance of blocking time on my calendar for specific tasks.
The Next Beginning
There really is not an end to learning or to any one learning experience. Instead, there should be a reminder that a door has been opened and there are still vast areas of uncharted territory that have yet to be discovered and explored. In the time that I have been a part of this program, I have been able to create a foundation of understanding that I can be proud of. And I use the word understanding purposefully. I do not claim to know all that I can about any of the areas of study that I focused on during each course, but I can say with confidence that I have a better understanding of the various areas and most importantly, I can identify resources for further study or review if needed. In addition, there are areas of the field that are opening up that I am beginning to participate in even though they were not addressed in the courses that I took. One area includes personal learning environment (PLE) and personal learning networks (PLN). These are areas that interest me because they can be used to scaffold student learning and student support in online and distance learning. In addition, social media and informal learning are receiving more attention and in my area of corporate distance education, the American Society for Training & Development has released a new competency model (see http://www.astd.org/Certification/Competency-Model) that has also been included as a part of the UMUC MDE program.
In the distance education universe, change is constant, but it is also something that I know I can embrace. Change has been a part of this program from the beginning. I have had to change my ideas about distance education, about how I performed as an instructor and then as an online instructor, and I have had to change my understanding of the pieces and parts that make up education. As students become the directors and teachers become facilitators, as resources expand to include blog posts and videos and as just-in-time, off-the-clock, informal, and mobile accessible learning opportunities become more normal, I can honestly say that I am better prepared to experience, respond, build and design learning opportunities in these new spaces. The MDE program at UMUC made me a better student and that has made me a better teacher.
T. S. Eliot
Introduction
When I think about my experience with the University of Maryland University College Master’s of Distance Education & E-Learning (MDE) program, I am reminded of how foreign distance education was to me when I first began the program in 2006. I was aware of proctored computer-based training where an instructor would answer questions or help with computer issues, but nothing covering the breadth and depth that the term distance education references. My first class (OMDE 601) was an eye opener. I learned about the history of distance education, the role of correspondence schools and the importance of the postal system for providing a way for teachers and students to interact at a distance. I learned about radio programs and their short life many years ago and their more recent resurgence in Africa and other places where satellite is popular. The role of television in teaching for some and the use of videos to share information and provide access to more than just the students who were able to be in a face-to-face setting. More importantly, I learned that technology is not an automatic fix when attempting to address learning at a distance and it is critical to scaffold the use of technology just as you would scaffold a course and its content.
I was exposed to professors and students from around the world. I was able to gain perspective in the field of distance education and I was also able to learn from other students and my instructors about the application of distance education in their environments and their successes and what there were able to take away from their failures. Fortunately, I could also tie my experience to what we were learning as I progressed through the different courses and shared my work issues, concerns, realizations and achievements. Each class that I have taken has added something to my toolbox and I believe that my experiences in this program positioned me to take on the role that I have now where I am able to build courses from the ground up that meet the needs of a diverse workforce that is spread out all over the country where the Internet is our primary connection. My students are adults who are taking courses during non-work hours that are available around the clock using information and communications technology (ICT) to interact with me, the content and other students. We are using an internal learning management system (LMS) to enroll, track students and monitor progress and the information gleaned from the LMS is used to improve new courses and to refocus when multiple students struggle with the same concepts and ideas in a course because the LMS allows us to identify repeat viewings and multiple attempts at test taking. New courses will be blended in some cases and in others, supplemented with webinars and mininars. The key concept in all that I have described is that instead of figuring things out as I go or simply responding to management without truly understanding what I’m doing or where I’m going, my experience with this program has provided a solid foundation for me and I now operate from that foundation.
My Beginning
My first class was a disaster. There really is no other way to explain my lack of experience with online training from the student perspective, my decision to hold back and not participate because I was not sure what to say or how to say what I wanted to say, and my unwillingness to truly engage. I had recently started a new job with GE Healthcare and my focus was on my new position and the opportunities that that door had opened. I had done a lot of research on the best online schools and my criteria included being accredited of course, but it also included having a diverse population of instructors who were not solely American. I wanted a wider perspective of distance education and I wanted to learn from instructors whom I could question and who would not limit their answers to a perspective based on their experiences with distance education in one country. I wanted to understand the history of distance learning in America, but I also wanted to know more about the impact of the Open University in the United Kingdom. I wanted a better understanding of how things are done in places like Africa where access to the Internet is not automatic. I wanted to learn more about places where Internet cafés really do have an impact on access to resources and where online learning is viewed differently such as Canada or Germany, India or Asia. Overall, I wanted a global perspective on distance education and I wanted a program that included instructors who had gained their experience in different places with exposure to different viewpoints.
The MDE program at UMUC fit my criteria and although I had access to the online resources that provided tips and tricks on how to survive your first online course, I did not take advantage of that information. I went into my first class with my own assumptions and most of them were incorrect. A few of my assumptions follow:
· Because I would be able to access online learning at times convenient for myself, managing my time would be easy.
· Interacting with my classmates would be a breeze because I have friends whom I enjoy talking with and having engaging intellectual conversations.
· Instructors would be available when I needed them because they were also “free” to come and go as they pleased.
What I learned was that:
(1) Time management required that I plan ahead and book time for myself and for my studies instead of simply logging in when an opportunity presented itself,
(2) It was not enough to respond with my experiences, my thoughts or my ideas if I could not justify and/or tie those experiences, thougths and ideas with support from the course contents or research that I had done on my own, and
(3) Instructors have just as many challenges as students do with respect to time management and the work required for a successful online course. I needed to respond to the questions presented by the instructor and to at least one to two other students. Instructors needed to respond to any or all of use depending upon the situation.
Looking back, my experiences have placed me in an excellent position. When I have new students, reviewing the information about how to engage in an online course is required reading. Participation is also explained in great detail and the benefits for participation are outlined and reinforced. Instead of waiting for students to reach out to me, I schedule reminders to check in on my students because sometimes that is really all that is required to jump start a learning lurker. With my first UMUC course, I gained insight into what it means to be a student in an online class and because UMUC provided what I would call an advance organizer, I also had a window into what was required of the instructor.
At the same time that I was struggling through my first course and my first year at a new job, I was learning more than I could take in. OMDE 601 Foundations of Distance Education & E-learning and OMDE 603 Technology in Distance Education and E-learning were my first two courses and they were phenomenal. I widened my understanding of what distance education (DE) is, was and what DE has the potential to become. I also developed a much more solid understanding of the role of technology in teaching and learning and the pitfalls of new technology bias and the benefits of the ACTIONS model (Bates, 1995), it’s progression to the SECTIONS model (Bates & Poole, 2003), and the importance of using these types of design support models to ensure that technology for the sake of technology did not become the standard. To this day, I continue to reference Moore & Kearsley (2011) and Bates & Poole (2003) in my work and I continue to use both resources as justification for decisions that I make and course design ideas when needed.
As I continued with additional classes in my Distance Education Policy & Management program track, I was beginning to see that my role in learning was even more important that I had first imagined or understood. I was no longer a young college student in a 400 student lecture taking notes as fast I could and hoping that I could book time with my professor to discuss areas that did not make sense to me. Instead, I was not just learning, but experiencing learning, participating in learning and moving away from the didactic model that instilled a healthy amount of respect tinged with some fear to a model where my interaction with the content and with other students was becoming more and more vital. This change in perception and participation was identified for me in the various readings in my courses. I was comfortable with the ‘sage on the stage.’ I knew that arena inside and out and could easily operate in that space without an instruction manual. However, distance education was presenting me with the ‘guide on the side’ and this was new to me.
Distance learning was also something that was becoming more and more important to my company. Thus, evaluating my experience as a student became crucial not only for my success as I endeavored to attain a Master’s degree in DE, but it was also essential in my workspace as I negotiated within my team to create learning modules for our customers. I wanted to scaffold the learning experince so that students would be able to work on their own with enough support to create a positive learning experience. In addition, evaluating my experience as a student helped me to identify different methods that could be used to encourage student interaction with content and with their peers. This was an aha moment for me. Understanding, truly understanding that DE was not the didactic spoon feeding method that I was not only accostumed to, but comfortable in, was critical to my development in the field and my career. The educational arena was changing. In many areas, it had already changed, but as a student, I was not in front of that change nor was I even moving along with the change, I was behind the change and if I wanted to be successful in my field, I knew that I would have to embrace this change and determine how to work within this new paradigm.
The Middle
This period of my experience with UMUC was challenging. I was finally balancing work with school, but I was also not taking courses each year nor every semester because I would take the time to determine each year what the expectations were for me in my position at GE and based on those expectations, I would plan my school schedule.
When I selected courses, I was fortunate that the offerings could be tied to my work responsibilities and goals. I was able to leverage my courses to gain a deeper understanding of what would be required for successful online training implementations and projects. In addition, the coursework provided me with relevant information in the field. I was, therefore, able to employ what I was learning to projects that I was working on at the same time that I was learning new concepts. There are a few classes that stand out because of the tight connection that I was able to forge between my job and my coursework. Those classes were DEPM 604 Leadership in Distance Education and E-learning, OMDE 606 Costs and Economics of Distance Education and E-learning, DEPM 609 Distance Education Systems and E-learning, and DEPM 622 The Business of Distance Education and E-learning. These are discussed below…
Impact Courses
Each of the courses discussed below had a profound effect on my understanding of distance education and more importantly, on how I have applied my understanding of concepts and topics to my course design and build projects in my job. In some of these courses, my first response was fear because the topic was very new to me and I was not sure if I would be able to show learning in the short time that I would have in the class. In other courses, I went in ready to conquer the world, only to learn that what I knew about the topic was only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. In each of these classes, I walked away with more than I anticipated and with the opportunity to apply what I was learning to actual projects that I was working on at the same time that I was taking the course. That is a part of my MDE journey that I can identify as the icing on the cake. This has been a phenomenal program for me, but the fact that I could apply what I was learning while I was learning was more than I could have hoped for and the benefits were greater than I could have planned.
DEPM 604
Summer 2008 – Instructor, Michael Beaudoin
As I mentioned earlier, I would identify projects that I would be engaged in each year and I would attempt to take courses that could help me with those projects. Out of all of the courses that I have taken, the best connection between a course and an ongoing project was DEPM 604 Leadership in Distance Education and E-learning (DEPM 604). In DEPM 604, we looked at leadership and change management. At the time that I took this course, I was preparing to update a course that had been in use for 10 years without any updates. This was problematic because the software had changed in as many years, but the training was simply adjusted on the fly by individual instructors because the class was a two week face-to-face course at the customer’s hospital. DEPM 604 provided the information, references, support and examples that I needed to prepare for the inherent challenges in change management for this project. The result of combining what I was learning in DEPM 604 with real world job duties and responsibilities was an online multi-module course that was not only embraced by customers, but in 75% of the cases, requested not just for the application management teams, but for their end users as well.
OMDE 606
Fall 2010 – Instructor, Thomas Huelsmann
OMDE 606 Costs and Economics of Distance Education (OMDE 606) was a challenging course that was highly beneficial. Is it possible to provide a cost benefit analysis (CBA) if one does not have the numbers required to identify cost per hour or per day or per week or month? This course taught me that the answer is yes. It is possible to perform a cost benefit analysis based on hours and time needed to complete tasks, actual charges per hour, by resources available and the list goes on. I had a basic understanding of CBA, but I had never looked at CBA from the perspective of costing out a project by resources nor by time on task. By providing an in-depth look at the process of costing out a learning project, I was able to identify the key drivers for a project and to cost out a project based on the drivers most important to the decision makers in my organization. The skills that I learned in this course are skills that I continue to make use of in my current position.
DEPM 609
Summer 2010 – Instructor, Linda Smith
In DEPM 609 Distance Education Systems and E-learning (DEPM 609), we were given an assignment that provided an opportunity for me to address an ongoing problem in my organization. Using Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology (Williams, 2005) and applying it to customer concerns about their software training experiences, I was able to compare world views of students (customers) and instructors (team members). This comparison activity alone provided much needed perspective to our development team. In addition, solutions were proposed and two diagrams incorporated into the course design process for use with new customers.
The best way to describe the impact that this course had on my actual job performance is by borrowing the title of a 2006 book on leadership by Mark Sanborn, You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader. This course positioned me to operate in leadership roles within my organization even on those teams where I was simply a team member. In our organization, matrix roles were common and it was not unusual to lead one team while being a supporting team member on another team. However, no matter the role assigned, leadership of an idea, method or strategy was possible and had the potential to be just as effective as being the primary leader.
DEPM 622
Spring 2012 – Instructor, Lisa Marie Blashke
DEPM 622 The Business of Distance Education and E-learning is another course that I was able to immediately apply to my work projects as they were in process. In this class, I was also able to leverage what I had learned in OMDE 606 and DEPM 604. Part of my project was a cost benefit analysis based on time on task and OMDE 606 had prepared me to address this issue even though I did not have information on actual costs or money required per hour on task. DEPM 609 was beneficial for the project in that I understood that I had to approach the change management aspect of the project by involving change champions early in the process because any negative feedback could impact industry satisfaction scores and that would be enough to terminate the project.
This was one of the most enjoyable classes that I have taken as a part of this program because it was near the end of the program. That meant that I was going into this course with a solid understanding of key issues that I would have to address as a part of the class, I fully understand the time that I would need to put in and I planned ahead for the natural interruptions that I knew would come. This course also afforded me the opportunity to provide solid support for a project at work that I initiated. This was not a project that I was tasked with as had been the case in previous classes, but a project that I was willing to take a chance on based on the content of the course. In a sense, the tables had turned and I was now using a job opportunity to support my coursework instead of using course material and information to support my job tasks. This was another turning point for me in this program and one that I welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed. In a sense, it was a true opportunity to apply what I had learned with DEPM 604 providing support for my endeavor. This project was successful, completed ahead of schedule and had a positive impact on our customers. I cannot go into detail, but suffice it to say, learning occurred with teacher and student separate while using technology and virtual office hours to stay connected.
Changes in the MDE Program
Because I started this program in 2006, I have had the opportunity to grow with the program and to experience what for me has been new and for many others is considered normal. Two changes stand out and those are having teaching assistants (TA) and writing coaches (WC). Even though many classes were fewer than 20 people, having a TA meant that students could get questions answered by two different people who might have different, but complementary perspectives, it also meant that students could make requests for help with the technology, locating resources and creating assignment links if they were missing. Writing coaches have also been hugely beneficial. The American Psychological Association’s (APA) style guide can be confusing and the writing and grammer tips and tricks, APA support websites and the willingness to assist in researching and determining how to reference online resources, inteviews, videos, blog posts and other sources have been and continue to be very helpful and a hugely positive benefit as we all write, reference and edit our work.
Another change in the MDE program has been the demographics. In the early years, I would sometimes have a student in my classes from South America, but rarely anyone from overseas. Now, it is unusual not to have students in class who are from other countries. Having the perspectives of others in healthcare, higher education, k12 education, customer service, transportation, and the list goes on has been enlightening and an excellent teaching tool. No matter what works for one business, group, team or individual, how one applies what we have learned and are learning is not limited to our areas of expertise. As I gather resources for my final project and reread and review the data that I have gathered, I am constantly reminded that what may be new or different for the corporate environment has been tested in higher education and that there is much to learn from people who are doing exactly what I am doing in another country because no matter similar, backgrounds, experience, challenges and environments, we are still different people with different biases working in different organizations with different goals.
My Greatest Challenge
As I think about all of the positives that have come from my experience in this program, I also have to take into consideration, my greatest challenges. Above all and my continuing challenge is time management. Working, managing family activities, being a caretaker for my 91 year old grandmother, volunteering in the community, teaching finance classes to adults, teens and pre-teens, being an active parent in my youngest’s school and testing my educational theories on various friends and family members is time consuming. In some instances, I have negotiated with my employer to move into a support role during certain time periods, I have limited the activities that I am responsible for getting the kids to and from and I send out a group email letting close friends know that I will not have a lot of free time during certain 3 month periods so that I can focus on learning and applying what I am learning. Even with these various responses to the time crunch, I still have to block out time to read, review, write, reflect and consider ways to apply what I am learning. My greatest takeaway from this challenge has been and continues to be the importance of blocking time on my calendar for specific tasks.
The Next Beginning
There really is not an end to learning or to any one learning experience. Instead, there should be a reminder that a door has been opened and there are still vast areas of uncharted territory that have yet to be discovered and explored. In the time that I have been a part of this program, I have been able to create a foundation of understanding that I can be proud of. And I use the word understanding purposefully. I do not claim to know all that I can about any of the areas of study that I focused on during each course, but I can say with confidence that I have a better understanding of the various areas and most importantly, I can identify resources for further study or review if needed. In addition, there are areas of the field that are opening up that I am beginning to participate in even though they were not addressed in the courses that I took. One area includes personal learning environment (PLE) and personal learning networks (PLN). These are areas that interest me because they can be used to scaffold student learning and student support in online and distance learning. In addition, social media and informal learning are receiving more attention and in my area of corporate distance education, the American Society for Training & Development has released a new competency model (see http://www.astd.org/Certification/Competency-Model) that has also been included as a part of the UMUC MDE program.
In the distance education universe, change is constant, but it is also something that I know I can embrace. Change has been a part of this program from the beginning. I have had to change my ideas about distance education, about how I performed as an instructor and then as an online instructor, and I have had to change my understanding of the pieces and parts that make up education. As students become the directors and teachers become facilitators, as resources expand to include blog posts and videos and as just-in-time, off-the-clock, informal, and mobile accessible learning opportunities become more normal, I can honestly say that I am better prepared to experience, respond, build and design learning opportunities in these new spaces. The MDE program at UMUC made me a better student and that has made me a better teacher.