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3 Favorite Things I Saw This Week (and Last)
[Note: I wrote this post during the last week of 2017] This was last week’s selections but is just as blog-worthy to note. So here they are: Mirai Nagasu’s Redemption Skate: How to Fail Forward Figure-skating was a huge part of my life when I newly relocated to the USA. How “huge”? A rough measurement would be to take a count of the number of Winter Olympics’ women’s berets I own. Thus, when the US Figure-Skating (FS) Championships came on TV last Friday, I was riveted to the screen; although I…
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Creating Online Assessments for the First Time
This is a post that needs to be written as it is a F.A.Q. — one that I often get. Even when I’m not directly asked to address this, many instructors would appreciate having this range of assessments upfront when they are creating online assessments for the first time. Some of the questions I get asked are: What type of assessment can I create? How should I create them? Why should I create this assessment and not that? How do I measure …? So, I’ve put together some information, especially for first-time online instructors,…
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Instructional Design Consulting: Teaching the How and Not Just What
Scene: Dental Clinic Not one to enjoy dental trips, my anxiety grew as I waited to be worked on. The dental assistant had me x-rayed (again, to ensure the insurance company would pay for it) and inserted a tent-like contraption into my mouth. The dentist arrived, injected the gums near my ailing tooth with novocaine, and proceeded to drill and probe while her assistant poked different pieces of equipment into my mouth. Gosh, how could one’s mouth hold up to so much prodding and stretching? Overwhelmed, I raised my left hand to signal to them…
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Get me to OLC Innovate 2018 on Time!
The OLC Innovate 2018 Call for Proposal deadline is this Wednesday November 1. I’m rushing to get my proposal written with a graduate assistant this weekend. Doing this reminds me of my virtual participation this year via Virtually Connecting. I had not blogged about it, but it is a moment worthy of cherishing. In 2017, I wasn’t able to be in New Orleans because I had just returned from a Coursera Partners’ Conference. I wrote a bit about my virtual session and left it at that. When I received a…
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The Hundred is There: Sunday Play
A hundred, always a hundred ways of listening of marveling, of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream. – Loris Malaguzzi Note: It took me 3 Sundays to finish this. I’m not liking the medium as much as pastel because it was hard to get the values and hues right. But it was fun. So I’m not going to beat myself down. I didn’t paint the ring – it was too complex, or maybe…
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20 Minutes of PD Time
Two days ago, I was reminded by Thomas Oppong in a LinkedIn referral by Arianna Huffington to schedule 15 minutes of personal development time into my weekly calendar. I do that almost daily, but I don’t spend too enough time reflecting on what I’ve curated. This week was a fairly good week in that I had time to gather a number of learning nuggets and spend a bit of time painting/doodling (see next blog post). Thanks goes to: @JennBinis; @hj_dewaard; @ProjectZeroHGSE; @ShelfieTalk; @SN-Hangout for the learning nuggets. This was sketched by…
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DesignFix for the Week of 9-11 to 9-17-17
This weekend, I took time off to do the important — sharpen the saw (Covey’s 7th habit of highly effective people). Here’s what I found on the internet on productivity, designers and design ideas. Why Deep Work Helps You Get More Done in Less Time As a fan of Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital World, I’ve come to appreciate more and more the need to disconnect periodically. Srinivas Rao, author of Unmistakable: Why Only Is Better Than Best, discusses the importance of intense focus. Try…
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How I Manage Multiple ID Work Projects
Today, I’ll answer a question I’m often asked as an instructional design (ID) professional: “How do you manage multiple course projects under your charge?” If you are looking for a panacea, there is none. I believe everyone figures out a way that works best for him/her. When I have limited time, I simply tell the person asking that I have to be very organized. With a bit more time, I’ll elaborate on my response to this question. Here’s what I do to become very organized in order to juggle multiple projects of high…
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In Dying We Live: Thoughts on When Breath Becomes Air
When Breath Becomes Air written by Dr. Paul Kalanithi is a magnificent book. It’s so powerful and deep that it made me want to write about it. As some of you may know, not many things or ideas can move me to blog these days due to my hectic schedule. Thank you, Dr. Kalanithi. I first came across his book in 2016 when I was at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Singapore. I started reading the first chapter there and knew that I would buy this book and finish it. It took more…
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Crafting a Learning-Centered Syllabus
Every course design is philosophy and belief in action. –Manifesto for Teaching Online, written by teachers and researchers in online education, University of Edinburgh 2011 [This was first posted in Engaged Learning blog, another blog I maintain for work. This is a companion blog post to the eLearning Bulletin Board Poster on the 4th Floor of Wohlers Hall, College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The poster is an abridged version of what a motivational syllabus looks like. It is intended to serve as a discussion stimulus only.] As instructors,…
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Quick Tips to Writing Effective MCQ Items
Writing MCQs or Multiple Choice Question assessment items is a regular part of my professional life as an educator and learning designer. In working with many TAs (teaching assistants), instructors have asked me questions about writing MCQs, guidelines that could help these budding teachers write better MCQ items. I knew that there was a need for me to document some tips on writing effective MCQs. In February, a POD Network listserv subscriber asked for resources on writing effective MCQs. Several subscribers generously shared some very helpful resources. It’s the end of June, almost, I’ve finally found the…
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“Beautifying” Slides
I have some resistance to that phrase, hence the inspiration for my reflection today. It carries some connotation that the work is meaningless (this may not be the intent of the speakers) and that is not what I’m doing or my intent. Part of my job as an online ID involves reviewing slides that instructors use in their videos. My review entails looking at all dimensions of slide design, not so much the content, but I try to check if the phrasing is understandable to me, the outsider. At times, I create icons and graphs that don’t…
