1. List the tasks youve worked on this week.

I explored several different options for my class project. After much deliberation and
investigation, I decided to go with designing instructional materials for our FYE course.
Heres the overview from my project pitch Like many colleges and universities, Middle Georgia
State University has a Freshman Orientation course. Ours is called FYE (First Year Experience)
and it's in the middle of a transition of sorts and I see an opportunity to further embed the library
(and our services) into the course itself. As it stands right now, there is a library component to
the FYE course that includes two mandatory library visits, during which time we (the librarians)
focus on specific information literacy concepts during each session. The students complete an
activity that is graded by the librarian (using a rubric that we have designed) to assess the
effectiveness of the session. Now that we have five campuses spread out all over Middle
Georgia, I would like to create supporting materials that can be easily incorporated into
Desire2Learn (our LMS) that will support both the student and the faculty. I have already
discussed this with one of the lead FYE instructors and she has agreed to act as the client in
this endeavor since she can provide useful information regarding the types of research skills
and information literacy gaps that she recognizes in her students. I'm not naive enough to think
that I can create an entire online course, but I dont think I can create a variety of supporting
materials for this class.
Additionally, there is an effort to streamline and be more consistent across the board with the
FYES course and I see this effort as falling in line with this goal.
2. Consider the progress you have made this week. Think about the concepts, issues, and
difficulties you have encountered as well as any decisions you made during the process. Mark
X on the items below that you reflected upon.
Items

Examples

X Insufficient or inapplicable knowledge or

skills

Being aware that I am not familiar with the

design process/necessary knowledge

X Related prior experience

Using previous experiences to generate ideas

for the design task

X Feelings

Being aware of my own fears and excitement

regarding the instructional design process

Attitudes

Examining the level of my commitment, openmindedness, or responsibility

Taken-for-granted beliefs and personal

values

Realizing the necessity to design my instruction

toward people with socio-economic background
to attend my design for different socio-economic
or ethnic groups

x Goals, criteria, and constraints of the

project

Having difficulty generating a list of solid

instructional goals

Client/stakeholders/users

Considering the perspective of the clients,

stakeholders, and the end users

Implementation context

Considering the economic situation of where the

instructional project will be implemented

Available time

Finding ways to allocate sufficient time to each

design task

Available resources/budget

Using appropriate tools/equipment to develop

the instructional module

Teamwork dynamic

Understanding how well you coordinate this

project within the team

Others (Please specify)

3. For each item you checked above, describe any difficulties or concerns you encountered, the
actions you took to deal with them, and your future plans in this particular area.
I have some experience with Storyline and the Adobe CS6 suite, but I definitely feel the need to
be more proficient. Additionally, I havent figured out precisely what I will be designing and
implementing for this project. Another concern is that I have no experience dealing with the
teaching side of a LMS, i.e. designing a course within a LMS. I do, however, have ten years of
teaching experience, much of which was spent working with high school and college students,
which I think will translate well into the instructional design side of this project. In related news, I
have attended plenty of online classes and webinars, so I understand what its like to be on the
student end, which I hope will translate well into the design process.

4. Other thoughts about your project or any help you need (if any)?
As stated above, I have some concerns regarding the scope and the specifics of this project.
Theres plenty of need for supporting materials for the course(specifically the library
component), but I havent figured out if I want to create a game or two, an interactive activity of
sorts, a series of tutorials, etc. I hope to discuss some of these ideas with my colleagues and
my client to determine a real need and not my perceived need. Is this the best way to narrow it
down? More importantly, how do I set up a manageable project?