Capstone Log

Instructional Technology Department

Candidate:
Kali Alford

Mentor/Title:
Thomas Garrett Asst Principal
Kris Hale Social Studies Chair
Capstone Title: Creating Online Elective Courses for District Wide Use

Activity/Amount of Time

Date
NovemberDecember

School/District:
Riverwood International Charter
School/ Fulton County

(Please total the time after the last entry.)

Conduct research
into the use and
effectiveness of
online courses
Examine various
Learning
Management
Systems from
company
representatives
Demo with Canvas
representative
Development of
course objectives in
reference to quality
Matters and
iNACOL
Familiarization
with Canvas
platform.

PSC/ISTE Standards

Total.12 Hours

Reflection: My first immediate actions were streamlining my course goals and objectives to an appropriate format
for an online platform. This proved to be difficult as it caused me to disengage myself from activities that I had long
enjoyed assigning my students. Regardless, I began researching new activities that would be more effective for an
online course. Much of this research was conducted by reading through journal articles, but the most beneficial
aspects of the research was conducted while attending GaETC. While there I was able to talk to vendors, fellow
teachers already facilitating online courses, and Dr. Tammy Powel, the Director of Distance Education for the
College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kennesaw State. Following the phase of my research, I selected
Canvas as the appropriate LMS for my project and felt better equipped to continue developing my course.

January

Re-examine course
activities to fit and
pre-created lessons to
fit into capabilities of

Total.22 Hours

Canvas Demo

Collection and
transfer of resources
for modules 1-3.
Creation of module
1-3 in Canvas
platform

Meeting with School

membership about
online course pilot

Reflection: Following the demonstration by the Canvas representative, I felt confident that selecting Canvas was the
right decision. Having learned about basic functions I need to go back to and organize my course outline to better fit
the capabilities of modules within Canvas. This involved scanning and digitizing hard copies of readings and
handouts according to iNACOL standards. I meet with Thomas Garrett to discuss the objective of this project and
garner interest in serving as my Capstone sponsor.

February

Collection and
transfer of resources
for modules 4-5.
Creation of modules
4-5 in Canvas
platform

Usability Testing on
course modules 1-5

Contact district
humanities
coordinator

Total.....17 Hours

Reflection:
Usability testing consisted of former students who had taken the face to face and would be at least somewhat familiar
with the course content. The students were asked to work through 3 of the sample modules and note any directions,
content, objectives, etc that were unclear or confusing. The students returned valuable feedback in those areas, but
also illustrated an important point. They were unfamiliar with the program and I had not included a module to go
over basic functions. This is something Quality Matters includes in its best practices. I also had members of the
Fulton County Vanguard team go through my course looking for pedagogical errors. Such as non-measurable goals,
broken links, and non-ADA compliant components.

March

Collection and
transfer of resources
for modules 6-7.
Creation of modules
6-7 in Canvas
platform

Total.....17 Hours

Pilot testing with

sample of current
students.

Reflection:
Having received mostly positive feedback regarding my course and making corrections to the errors pointed out by
my former students and colleagues, I allowed a sample of my current students to pilot the course in lieu of in class
assignments. Following the piloting of two modules my students taking the online course score 2% higher on the
assessments than a similar sample of my in class students.

April

Collection and transfer of

resources for modules 8-10.
Creation of modules 8-9 in
Canvas platform

Total.....17 Hours

The Finished Course

presentation to school
leadership

Reflection: Having concluded the creation of my course, I presented it along with the limited piloting data to my
Department Chair Kris Hale and Thomas Garrett. They were both impressed by the project and also agreed with it
being a possible solution for the need it is addressing. From this meeting Kris Hale and I reached out Dr. Keena
Riles-Jenkins, the Chair of Humanities for Fulton County Schools. I was seeking a meeting to present my course and
propose my idea as a solution to limitation of elective courses for our high school students.

May

Meeting with
humanities office
postponed
indefinitely

Meeting with school

leadership about
implications of
online learning for
faculty

Procured Part-time
position in Office of
Distance education at
KSU

Total.....17 Hours

Reflection: I received a meeting from Dr. Jenkinss office asking to reschedule the meeting at a later date to be
determined. The Office of Instruction and Learning was amid some sort of freeze due to leadership changes.
Nonetheless, I continued to seek out ways to polish my course. Procuring a position with Dr. Tammy Powel was one
of those ways. Working as Dr. Powels graduate assistant afforded me access to KSU workshops and her expertise in
design principles. Ive been able to see the process of designing a course as well as the review process that Quality
Matters and KSU conduct on their classes. This has informed me greatly in what I must to polish my course to
increase its caliber.

June

Further polish course

with concepts of
instructional design
and technical writing

Presentation with
county Humanities
Chair and other
humanities
representatives

Total.....17 Hours

Reflection: I have scheduled a meeting on the 27th of July with Dr. Jenkins regarding my course and online elective
idea. I feel as though the work I been conducting under Dr. Powel has granted me a skill set that I think will be most
beneficial as I continue in online and blended learning.

Total Hours: (104 hours ]:

DIVERSITY
(Place an X in the box representing the race/ethnicity and subgroups involved in this capstone.)
Ethnicity
P-12 Faculty/Staff
P-12 Students
P-2
3-5
6-8
9-12
P-2
3-5
6-8
Race/Ethnicity:
Asian
Black
X
Hispanic

9-12
X
X

Native American/Alaskan Native

White
Multiracial
Subgroups:
Students with Disabilities
Limited English Proficiency
Eligible for Free/Reduced
Meals

X
X