Reflections on CUIN 7376

Before starting the course CUIN 7376: New Tools for Creating Online Educational Materials, I was hoping to be able to learn and apply some new cutting edge technology into my courses I teach at Houston Community College. I feel that the new-age online learner is one that gets easily distracted during lectures or may need more stimulation as if they were in a face to face classes. I was teaching an online class at the same time I took CUIN 7376, so I was able to directly apply the knowledge I learned from CUIN 7376 to the class I was teaching at Houston Community College.

I would like to think that the resources I learned to utilize really had an effect on student success and engagement. RADR 2333 is our Advanced Imaging Modalities course and was a course I felt that could benefit from injecting new online learning resources into it. I believe that one resource we learned (the gathering student data assignment where I created a google form survey) allowed me to obtain student data at the beginning of the class and compare it to the end of class. I was able to create a thought provoking assignment for students on flipgrid with the data. The students were to compare their thoughts on which they were interested at the start of the class to what they thought after given information and lectures at the end of class.

I also think the creation of the mindmap (assignment 2) and infographic (assignment 3) really work well to illustrate points that I made in our synchronous lectures. Some students may not be too keen on just lectures, so providing other resources such as the mindmap and inforgraphic gives students another avenue to learn and remember the concepts we go over in class.

I think my understanding of Online Educational Materials hasn't changed - I was always for incorporating new materials into my class. The avenue that this course provided me was my chance to actually spend time to learn and create materials. With the busy duties of being a clinical coordinator for our CT program, serving on district-wide committees, as well as school and family at home - I did not have time to devote to creating materials. With a school class that was literally creating materials that I always wanted to try, it was such a perfect opportunity.

With the effects of COVID-19, and the moving of all of our radiography classes to Face to Face, we faced challenges as a program to covert a traditionally face to face program to completely online. I would like to think through the efforts of this course and learning new educational tools - I have made a difference in my student by providing a good transition from F2F to online. We will get the results of our class survey on the instruction and instructional materials at the end of the summer - so I can fully understanding the students viewpoints on how the class was offered with the new instructional resources I learned.

On one of the district committees I serve on with the Chief Academic Officer and Vice Chancellor for Academic Instruction - the point was brought up how the COVID crisis will affect instruction moving forward. The consensus amongst the upper leadership of our institution believed that online education is not just here to stay, but that there was even room for it to growth. In the community college setting where students need flexible access to instruction - the growth potential for online instruction is monumental.

In closing, I leave the quote below:

No matter what happens to the future of education and its transition to online - educators must realize that this isn't a process that occurs overnight. Planning and implementation of resources, such as the resources we learned in CUIN 7376, must be done to achieve exceptional online instruction. I am thankful for the things I was presented in this course - these materials I learned to utilize will have a great impact on how I move forward with teaching my online classes in the future.

-Chris

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