The course I have created this semester is Mental Health Studies 20. It is created on Moodle and is delivered asynchronously. I have taught Mental Health Studies 20 in the past, in a blended learning environment, face-to-face with technology-enhanced learning. Mental Health Studies is a course with sensitive content and is best delivered in an environment that encourages discussion, allows for reflection and has the teacher’s support. My challenge during this process was creating an online class incorporating all three elements.
The course creation process involved creating a course profile using the ADDIE Model. The ADDIE Model provides a framework and a five-step course creation process. I enjoyed using the model as I began to build my course. The framework provided guidance and made me reflect on my course’s “why’s”. I will definitely be using ADDIE as my guidance in all of my future course creations.
As I started creating my course, I focused on incorporating activities encouraging student engagement and interaction. As a way to foster interaction and collaboration, I am going to try using Discord so students can ask questions, post resources and share content. At the start of each unit, I included a Journal entry activity in which students will be asked to respond to prompts that are related to the topic. Students will be required to respond to other students.
For me, the most challenging part of the course creation process was having classmates review my work. As I noted in an earlier post, I tend to be highly self-critical, which makes it difficult for me to share my work (and vulnerabilities) with my classmates. However, the feedback and comments I received were incredibly helpful and most appreciated.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating a new course. In the past when I have created content, I never used the ADDIE Model to guide me through the process, nor did I think about key components such as accessibility or AI. These considerations have enriched my approach and broadened my perspective on instructional design. Moving forward, I am eager to continue integrating these principles into my future projects to create more inclusive and impactful learning experiences.
Here is the link to my Final Course Prototype.
