Prompt: Please share your best and worst experiences (no more than 400 words) of multimedia for learning.
It’s hard to imagine anyone who would be unfamiliar with eLearning and multimedia, after the COVID-19 pandemic. The pivot to emergency remote instruction forced nearly all students, teachers, and parents into the deep end of the online learning pool. It was a sink-or-swim moment and many were drowning. Like the rest of the Nation, I, too, was thrust into the realm of online learning. Suddenly the educational theories and past academic knowledge were pushed to the forefront of my mind, and our team did our best to teach faculty about Zoom, learning management systems, online course design, asynchronous learning, HyFlex learning, PowerPoint, Mediasite, TopHat, Kahoot, additional educational technology tools for active learning, and so much more.
As a trained instructional designer and the Manager of Instructional Design and Learning Development for our university’s teaching and learning center, I had to push myself to be seen as an expert in this field. Luckily, I had a previous career history in digital marketing and web design, so during the emergency pivot to remote learning, my overall familiarity with technology really helped me think on my feet. While we experienced many bumps along the road, the growing pains were necessary to significantly move the needle toward better online learning.
Today, I lead faculty education sessions on any topic related to teaching with technology. I teach a minimum of two classes each month on a different EdTech training topic. While it may be impossible to fully learn every new educational technology app or program that is currently available, I feel in many ways, that I could be an expert in this space. I recently accepted a volunteer appointment from EDUCAUSE to lead a Working Group of academic professionals looking to develop best practices in the creation of a Digital Learning Strategy (DLS). This new working group will redefine the old NGDLE framework to put in place a new strategy that leverages the knowledge gained from our collective experiences during pivot to emergency remote instruction.
It is an exciting to time be in this field.
