It looks like we are the same crew from LRNT 523, I’m looking forward to working with and learning from all of you again. As most of you know my background is in nursing but I have been working in post secondary education for almost 8 years now. My transition from nursing to education was rocky to say the least, joined a team of two who, like myself, had no experience in education to restart a defunct program. We had no training and had to get the program up and running in two weeks, we managed but it was rough… and then Covid 19 hit. Initially I copied, begged, borrowed and stole design elements from other faculty from different programs to get through the first year or two of teaching. What I did worked but I didn’t know why or how it was working, just that it did.
Now through on the job learning and by completing the provincial instructor diploma program (PIDP) through VCC I understand and appreciate some of the elements that go into instructional design, although by no means am I an expert. I am most familiar with Blooms taxonomy and Boggs as these are what is primarily used at our institution and what was used in the PIDP program through VCC.
Through this course I’m hoping to learn more about different instructional design theories and tools so that I can bring that knowledge back to my nursing program. We offer the theory portions of our practical nursing programs online to encourage enrollment from surrounding communities, we moved to this model during the pandemic and as such it was done rapidly without forethought. I feel we have been limping our program along because “it works” and our students meet their licensing requirements post graduation. I don’t want the program to just “work” anymore, I want to design a program that is engaging and meets the needs of our learners, with that in mind I’m so very excited to take this course.
Cheers,
Callan
Hi Callan!
I can definitely relate to learning how to design courses through experience rather than formal training. I’ve been developing and revising curriculum for adult learners for years, and much of what I’ve learned has come from figuring out what works, what doesn’t, and making adjustments along the way.
I also found it interesting that you mentioned your online nursing curriculum works but could be more engaging. I think that’s an important distinction. Just because something works doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t room for improvement.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this course helps us connect what we’ve already been doing with instructional design theories and models!