Reflection Assignment 5/19/19

From this week’s case studies and the research needed to complete them, I can understand the theory on why we are required to do these reflection pieces, though I don’t necessarily feel that I am benefiting from them.

Responding to the specific reflections about this week:

What would I keep doing?

Right now, I would keep doing what I am. I feel that I put in the time and effort to fully research and respond to all of the assignments. I am definitely still re-learning about APA formatting and feel that I spend just as much time looking up the correct way to cite all the different kinds of references available now. Based on my life so far I don’t think this will be a valuable skill outside of the Full Sail courses but it is what it is. I will most likely keep challenging things that don’t make sense or I don’t agree with while still being a generally nice person. I will keep my priorities in place, where unfortunately this program comes after my family, work and sleep. Which would be why these assignments were so very close to the deadline and the rest realistically probably will be as well.

What would I stop doing?

I still feel there is very little I can change about my approach to school and life in general. I think it is that way for most students attending Full Sail online, we all have lives and obligations outside of school and we are doing our best to make it work because getting our degree will benefit us in some way – move us forward down the path we want to go. Short of dropping work, family, or sleep, my schedule is what it is. Perhaps if I was young again, a full-time student with no children at home and minimal bills then I would be more flexible on my time and how I use it. I am

What would I start doing?

I am going to start communicating with our instructor privately, to open a dialogue about the course teaching approach and question why the requirement for these reflection assignments now that the mandatory Mastery class is over. Perhaps it was a misconception on my part, this is different than I imaged a Master’s degree program would be and right now the best person to ask those questions to is my instructor. I am also going to ask that the word count for these reflection be reduced, not much changes from one week to the next in the same class and I feel that I am being wordy just to make the minimum where I can be both reflective and concise. Perhaps there will be an adjustment next week in the standard, I do hope so.

Link to my Mastery Journal https://rlangsmithmasteryjournal.home.blog/

Reflection Assignment

Reflecting on this week brings to mind more family activities than learning experiences. Today was mother’s day and my mother arrived on Friday from California to visit. Needless to say there was a lot of change to the regular routine with these two events that directly impacted the attention I gave my assignments. At the beginning of the week I was very focused on getting the reading and assignments done early and as the week progressed closer to my mother arriving that focus shifted, resulting in a mad dash the night of the due date. All that being said, my mother’s arrival went smoothly, we had a lot of good family time and I wouldn’t change those aspects of this week – even with the mad dash.

Responding to the specific reflections about this week:

What would I keep doing? Specific to school and this program the one thing that I consistently try to do is starting the reading and assignments early in the week. I think this is the primary thing that I will continue doing. I understand the benefits it gives me and feel that it sets me up for success for the week as well as helping me feel more prepared for the lives sessions, that I will be able to meaningfully contribute to the discussions. I also appreciate the grace period it gives me in case anything unexpected comes up – as can typically be counted on to happen, such as happened this week. Beyond that I feel that my schedule is an acceptable combination of work, family, school, downtime and sleep. Until a better way of doing things presents itself I will continue on in what I hope is the most effective way to meet all of my goals and requirements.

What would I stop doing? There is little that I would change about my process, there are a lot of moving parts in my life right now and I feel that I have maximized my time as best I can. Between family, work, school, sleep and some downtime in the garden I have very little opportunity to adjust how my time is spent. In theory I could say that I would focus more on my studies instead of working with my plants and that would be a mistake, that is my time to relax/recharge/get centered, whatever title you want to give it and I can become sullen if I remove that time. In the same vein family time, especially with my son is very valuable and won’t be changed. Perhaps stopping working thru lunch and use that as a time to review the readings or plan my evening at home. Hopefully as next week becomes more routine I will have a more clear path forward on something I can stop doing or change.

What would I start doing? Knowing that requirements on my time are not going to change much in the coming months such as work, family, school, and sleep this requires me to get creative on things that I would start doing. Because I am such a slow reader I intend to find an audio book of the assigned books for this class and listen to them while I’m at work. This will let me multi-task and maybe, hopefully, free up some of my time. I have actually been intending on doing this since the start of this program and going thru the process of finding the book and putting it on my phone has consistently gotten lost in the shuffle. I am going to use this reflection process as a reminder and kick in the behind to do it tonight so I am ready to start tomorrow trying something new and hopefully improving my learning experience.

Link to my Mastery Journal https://rlangsmithmasteryjournal.home.blog/

Inspirational post 5/5/2019

What are learners supposed to do after learning the course? Figure that out and build the appropriate interactive elements.

Tom Kuhlmann

I find this quote inspiring because it really makes you think as a designer. its not the task of designing that we are after its the knowledge to execute a task that we are imparting on someone else. Change there life? Maybe Help them change someone else’s life? who intern helps some one else? Where does it end.

Jones, B. (2018, June 27). 76 Best eLearning Quotes | Top Instructional Design Quotes. Retrieved from https://elearningart.com/blog/elearning-quotes/

Inspiration 4/15/2019

“Design Is Not Just What It Looks Like Or Feels Like, But How It Works” (Steve Jobs)

I find This quote Inspiring because it is so true for anything that a person has a passion for. We leave a little bit of ourselves in everything we do a spark of emotion some would say or a piece of our soul. The defining achievement is not this wisp as a creative spark but how its function can get under the skin of people each one breathing a bit more life into it and eventually elevating its creators immortality.



Pappas C. (2018, October 20). 10 Inspirational Quotes For Instructional Designers. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/inspirational-quotes-instructional-designers