Laura Diggle

By following the four main phases of the ISD model, you can develop courses that are engaging with an appropriate level of rigor. I have a degree in instructional design and hope to use it more now that I have had this refresher on the ID process.  

A syllabus should be well thought out and arranged in a logical order. A well made syllabus can serve as a roadmap of the course and provide clarity for students and faculty. The syllabus should be reviewed frequently for corrections and compliance. I plan to schedule more frequent syllabus reviews for my department. 

Using guest speakers is a great way to show students that the objectives they are learning in the course are being applied by real people in the industry on a daily basis. Guest speakers increase engagement and help validate the students' decision to study in their current field. I plan on indentifying guest speaker sin my own courses. 

The structural integrity of a course can impact the effectiveness of the course and what learners take away from it. A poorly structured course can cause anxiety for faculty and students and risk the course learning objectives not being met. 

Tasks, timelines, and deadlines along with costs and budget are some of the main considerations when implementing program changes. If any of these elements are undefined, the chances for success are minimal. 

When collected properly, the data will not lie. Whatever the data tells us should be followed, even if it is not the outcome we wish for. Even if the data shows that a new program would be contraindicated, it may teach us things about existing programs or processes we can improve. 

There is a lot of research that must be done to show the justification for a new program. After reading this section I was reminded of how many departments we have and must consider when adding a new program. Getting the suggested list of questions to ask these departments was very helpful. 

My biggest takeaways are:

• just because a new program sounds like a good idea, proper research may show it would not be succesful
• when creating a review committee, it should be diverse with relevant shareholders
• it is necessary to know the demographics of your community 
• speak with and listen to the businesses and organizations in your community

So many times instructors fall victim to publisher test banks as a means of getting things done faster. These assessmensts are usually curriculum driven which is not the most effective way for us to assess our students. I intend to apply what I have learned from this portion of the training to develop better assessment tools that will prepare my students to perform in the real world.

The use of portfolios should be strongly encouraged, especially when you have students seeking a career in healthcare. There are so many items to maintain and organize which makes portfolios ideal for my students. I also deal a lot with accreditation and, for site visits, it is vital that I be able to shown work products for all of my students.