Jenny in Florida Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Thanks, I feel slightly better getting that off my chest. Just in case anyone is interested, following my pathetic "maybe this is all a giant mistake" post from earlier in the semester, I wanted to say that I no longer feel quite so desolate about school. One of my two classes has turned out to be almost fun (although whether I've actually learned anything from it is an open question), and the other became manageable once I found a way to function in my team that kind of plays to my strengths. (Essentially, I have become the group's editor.) Grade-wise, I'm doing very well in both, although maintaining that has cost me several nights of sleep so far this semester. However, I continue to be frustrated and incredulous about the disorganization and confusion that passes for course design, especially given that I'm enrolled in a graduate instructional design program. In the course that I'm almost-kind-of enjoying, not one module has been completed in which I haven't had to reach out to the professor and/or her grader because of a broken link to some reading we are supposed to do or some video we are supposed to watch or because the assignment instructions include references to applications that are no longer available or to course components that don't seem to exist. They also seem to be re-organizing the course on the fly, re-ordering assignments as they go. I've been told that they are doing this in order to "front load" easier assignments earlier in each module, which is great, except that the assignments as originally written sometimes seem to depend on completing them in the original order, and the instructions are not being updated or changed along with the due dates. Today's example that has me kind of tearing out my hair: This course is about using multimedia as part of designing education and training. There are two assignments for this module. Looking at them in the order in which they appear in the course, the first one has us authoring some kind of multimedia training about an app we have to select from a list. (I'm not even going to mention the fact that the "instructions" for this assignment consist of a rubric, a bulleted list of 14 requirements and restraints and a table with the names and brief descriptions of six authoring tools we might want to use to complete the assignment. What's missing? Any actual instruction about how to author multimedia generally or how to use any of these specific tools.) This assignment, although covered first in the course materials, is due in a little over two weeks. The second assignment requires us to create two pieces of interactive content using a specified free, online tool. The instructions say that these two components must "relate" to the multimedia training we have already created and that we need to embed them in that package before submitting them. The instructions also say that we are to look at the website we created in the last module (which required us to create a "professional" website promoting ourselves as instructional designers) and determine where these interactive components might best fit. We are told to choose the two activities "for the website," but also to "embed them into the multimedia project contained on the website." Remember, please, that the subjects for both the website and the multimedia project are assigned and are not the same. I've read these instructions several times, now, and still can't figure out what it means for the interactive components to "relate" to the multimedia training project AND to "fit" on my website. And I have no clue how I am supposed to turn in the interactive components that are supposed to be submitted as part of the multimedia project if the interactive components are due two weeks before the multimedia project. (And that is setting aside the fact that, realistically, most of us haven't even chosen a topic for the multimedia assignment, given the fact that is isn't due for two more weeks, let alone gotten far enough into the planning of it to have any idea how to incorporate interactive components we need to have completed and submitted in two days.) Oh, and did I mention that the whole kit and kaboodle is supposed to become part of the e-Portfolio that is actually part of the next module but is due to be uploaded to our website next week? (Yes, next week, making the e-Portfolio due a full week before the multimedia authoring project that is supposed to be part of it.) Yes, I have touched base with other students on the class chat board. Others seem to be as confused as I am, and no one has yet posted a reply that makes all of this make sense. Yes, I have e-mailed the professor and her grader to ask for clarification. However, we are coming off a weekend, and campus is closed today for the holiday. So the earliest I might hear anything is tomorrow, which means I really can't afford to waste today (my last day off before the assignment is due) waiting to hear back from them. I have printed the instructions for all three assignments and the calendar showing all of the due dates and have them spread out on my dining table trying to figure out some way to approach this. No luck yet. I am friends with a few of the instructional designers in the department in which I work, and they did not believe me when I started talking about how unbelievably poorly constructed these courses are . . . until I started actually showing them the materials. Ugh. Sigh. Sorry, I suppose I just needed to vent (and scream) a little. Anyway, if anyone else is having similar experiences and wants to share or vent here, I promise I will be incredibly sympathetic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Sorry about the mess. That sounds really hard to deal with. My issues are not with the teacher, the textbook or the way she is teaching. My issue is with my classmates. Last week the kid sitting next to me brought his Dungeons and Dragons books to class. He worked on creating a new character during class. The kids behind me are fond of talking over the teacher about all manner of things that are not Japanese. And the worst crazy... the kids in front of me set up a laptop and played video games during class. At least the video gamers and the role playing game kid were quiet... This is the biggest reason I don’t like attendance requirements. I wish these kids would just not show up if they didn’t want to be there. At least it is unlikely I will have to deal with them in Japanese 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 Wow. I guess that one small consolation of taking online classes is that I don't have to witness my classmates behaving that disrespectfully. My team does have the one member who just doesn't engage with us for two weeks at a time, including the last two weeks, when we were working on an group assignment that had to be submitted by last night. But I guess just not showing up and not doing any work and leaving your team to clean up your mess is marginally better than playing video games or talking over the professor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I can't remember if I told the story here already, but I had a kid VAPE in the middle of a test- in class. I scolded him like I was his mom. This same guy sleeps through half of the class. Jenny, that sounds very frustrating. I've run into a number of very vague assignments over the years. IME vague generally means that if whatever I pull together, as long as it's well-done, the prof is usually pleased with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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