Lesson Up! (Instructional Design 1 - Dr. Yanghee Kim)
Training for those who are preparing to become full-time LDS missionaries, includes preparing lessons plans. These lesson plans serve as resources for delivering lessons to interested parties during the formal mission experience. Lesson Up! is a document that takes a student step by step through the process of creating a lesson plan. It is a 40 page guided study course that takes about 1 hour to complete. This course is visually appealing, short and succinct and effective in reaching the desired instructional goals.
Peanut Butter Sandwiches. (Learning Theory - Dr. Joanne Bentley)
It is felt by some, that the assumption made by a teacher about how students learn, informs his instructional choices when teaching a course. If this is true, then understanding the various learning theories is helpful, if for no other reason, than to broaden the thinking of how one might decide to teach. Dr. Bentley spent a week on each of over 7 different learning theories. As we prepared for each class, we were to create instruction on how to make a peanut butter sandwich. The set of instructions on how to make a Peanut Butter Sandwich was also to be annotated by the respective learning theory for the week, and it’s various key elements. . At the end of the course, we were to bind together all the learning theories and turn them in as a learning project.
Moodle and Google (Instructional Design 2 - Dr. Doug Holton)
• Google tools are online tools that serve to provide collaboration between project teams. Google Doc's include word processing, spreadsheets and presentation formats. This course in Moodle was designed to introduce high school students to each of these three tools and provide sufficient skill training to use each in a class project. Combining Moodle and Google
Dave Merrill Website (Independent Study - Merrill Website - Dr. David Merrill)
• David Merrill, noted academic in the field of instructional design, wanted to explore the feasibility of using Moodle as a delivery mechanism for a graduate class on his E3 Instructional method. This moodle site, organizes readings and instructional goals for Masters and PHD students.
Book of Mormon Home Study (Independent Study - LDS Church - Project Manager - B of M Homestudy)
• 55 Classes, 36 weeks of instruction, 4 days per week, 40-60 minutes each day.
• This course of study, in Moodle, is designed to present over 140 daily instructional experiences over a 36 week period for high school students. The course includes media and flash artifacts included in lesson and evaluation elements. It was developed online using 35 lesson designers, 10 Moodle developers, 1 Media manager, all remote from the central office, and 1 full time secretary. The course was deployed remotely on Moodlerooms, Inc. servers, and utilized in 7 countries world wide.
Moodle 101 (Independent Study - LDS Church - Project Manager - B of M Homestudy)
• Learning from the first wave of developers, it became apparent that lesson developers would be more successful creating efficient instruction if the had a basic understanding of Moodle instructional elements. This is a short course, introducing Moodle elements and providing a "sand box" where developers could modify existing elements and create their own elements using Moodle tools.
Coordination Center (Independent Study - LDS Church - Project Manager - B of M Homestudy)
• The administration of the LDS Home study course, is laden with numerous levels of administration. In the first course, it was clear that a single repository of information was necessary to provide transparency and training for all levels of administration. The Coordination Center is a Moodle course where basic information for all layers of personnel can go, not only to read what is expected of them in the delivery of the course, but also to understand what is expected of those above them, and as well as those they supervise. It is a living document where best practices are continually being gathered.
LDS Captains Courses - Teacher Training (Independent Study - LDS Church - Project Manager - B of M Homestudy)
• Most online teachers in the LDS Homestudy program, do not come to the course with online teaching experience. This course introduces them to the course and the new skill necessary to succeed.
Banded Instruction (Independent Study - LDS Church - Project Manager - B of M Homestudy)
• Banded instruction is a methodology whereby all levels in the organization can come to enjoy shared experience on the same topics, unifying them and providing for improved interpersonal communication.
Cooperative Learning (Independent Study - LDS Church - Project Manager - B of M Homestudy)
• The initial impression for many, when confronted with the idea of online instruction, is to experience an online clone of a classroom experience. Often, this foundational experience was lecture based, including very little group based learning. This presentation was designed to provide a doctrinal understanding of why group based projects are appropriate and necessary in the LDS Church environment. It was given not only to administration, but also to teachers around the world.
Workflow Outline - LDS Church (Independent Study - LDS Church - Project Manager - B of M Homestudy)
• The LDS church homestudy project, is a project that has a number of moving parts and multiple management and approval layers. The purpose this organizing document was to simplify the management of the project into three major categories, 1) Enrolling the students, 2) Developing the course and 3) Delivering the course. There is a 4th element, which had to do with Research, inasmuch as this course is a pilot project for the church. The document and its use, move the course from being behind deadline, to on deadline and into a phase of proactive planning and development that is currently months ahead of schedule for actual deployment.