Introduction
After growing up in Middle Georgia (and no, everything south of Atlanta does not qualify as South Georgia), I attended the University of Georgia for my undergraduate studies with a major in Telecommunication Arts and a minor in History. In my third year at UGA, I was hired as a student production assistant at the Center for Teaching and Learning. Upon graduating in 2006, I was hired as a full-time employee at CTL. While there, I had the opportunity to work with UGA faculty on a variety of instructional projects including training materials, promotional content and event coverage. Perhaps the highlight of my time with CTL came when I worked alongside Dr. Maurice Daniels to create a Telly award-winning, full-length feature documentary on the life and accomplishments of Donald Hollowell, the attorney who helped facilitate the first black students’ enrollment at UGA in the early 1960s.
While working at CTL, I also worked part-time with a company called Daktronics to support UGA’s live sporting events. Our job was to produce live video content for the videoboards at the University’s sports venues. I started in 2006 as a grip/camera operator and quickly climbed the ranks to the point where I was directing the football productions for an audience of over 100,000 fans. In my time with Daktronics, I had my first real opportunity to train new employees on the finer aspects of live productions. I noticed that people seemed to grasp their job responsibilities quickest when they were “thrown into the fire” and allowed to learn on the job. After my experience in my Masters program, I now understand why hands-on learning is so important. I was seeing the 70-20-10 rule before my very eyes, without even understanding it.
In 2014, I left CTL to join UGA’s Office of Online Learning as the lead of the media development team. My appointment to that office also coincided with my enrollment in the first online cohort of the Learning, Design and Technology Masters program. My work with OOL and my studies in LDT meshed incredibly well - I was working in online education at my job and experiencing it as a student academically. I was really living and breathing online learning almost 24 hours a day for 2 years. The experience in the LDT program prepared me for increased job responsibilities at OOL, which you can read about in my Reflection Statement here.
While working at CTL, I also worked part-time with a company called Daktronics to support UGA’s live sporting events. Our job was to produce live video content for the videoboards at the University’s sports venues. I started in 2006 as a grip/camera operator and quickly climbed the ranks to the point where I was directing the football productions for an audience of over 100,000 fans. In my time with Daktronics, I had my first real opportunity to train new employees on the finer aspects of live productions. I noticed that people seemed to grasp their job responsibilities quickest when they were “thrown into the fire” and allowed to learn on the job. After my experience in my Masters program, I now understand why hands-on learning is so important. I was seeing the 70-20-10 rule before my very eyes, without even understanding it.
In 2014, I left CTL to join UGA’s Office of Online Learning as the lead of the media development team. My appointment to that office also coincided with my enrollment in the first online cohort of the Learning, Design and Technology Masters program. My work with OOL and my studies in LDT meshed incredibly well - I was working in online education at my job and experiencing it as a student academically. I was really living and breathing online learning almost 24 hours a day for 2 years. The experience in the LDT program prepared me for increased job responsibilities at OOL, which you can read about in my Reflection Statement here.
Professional Objectives for the Future
My professional goal is to one day run my own media team that focuses on creating engaging, high-touch instructional content. I envision a team of highly-skilled individuals with their own specializations (graphics, video, animation, writing, etc.) all working together to create instructional content of the highest degree. Ideally, this team would exist in a department within the University System of Georgia, as I believe there will be a growing need for such content within the field of higher education for many years to come. In my time as UGA’s head administrator for Kaltura, a media hosting and management platform, I have seen the use of video in online education skyrocket beyond belief. For example, many faculty teaching online now are asking their students to post short video replies in the discussion boards of eLC, UGA’s learning management system. Just a few years ago, activities like this would have been unheard of in higher education, and faculty need support to continue these innovative approaches to teaching.
Experience with the LDT Program
My experience with the online LDT program was a favorable one overall. I found the instructors to be generally very prompt in responding to communication within the stated protocols of the courses, and my interactions with my classmates was outstanding. I can easily say that I have connected with some of my classmates on a personal level and that these connections will stay strong for many years. I look forward to bouncing ideas off of them and following their careers! By far, one of my favorite aspects of the program was the asynchronous portions of the course material. As a husband with a full-time job and as a father of two children, I was initially concerned about the workload of enrolling in a Masters program. However, being able to work on my coursework at times convenient to me really made the program manageable - I simply needed good time management skills (and a loving wife willing to take the kids out of the house every now and then so I could concentrate). I do think the program could be improved if more of the courses were designed and delivered completely asynchronously - having to rush home after work to sit in my bedroom in a synchronous online class whilst my children wanted to play/talk with me became rather strenuous after 2 years. Continuing on the thread of improving the program, I would like to see more instructors teach. As I write this in late June 2016, there are currently 8 faculty listed on the program’s website. However, only 3 of them ever interacted with me (and none of them women). I believe a diversity of voices is key to effective teaching and learning as we can only make the best decisions for ourselves and our learners when we hear from as many experts in the field as possible.
Personal Vision and Philosophy
I am of the opinion that there is no “right” way to learn. What works for one person does not necessarily work for the next. As a result, I believe it is my responsibility as an instructional designer to present as many avenues for student success as possible. When approaching a learning objective, I try as often as I can to create many paths to achieve that objective. For example, this past year I worked with a faculty member at the University of Georgia to develop a learning activity focused on ecosystem preservation. The faculty member initially wanted to assign her online students to write a multiple page document on ecosystem preservation in the town in which they live. While I let her know that this was a great idea, I also encouraged her to allow students to create video essays and reports on the same topic to demonstrate their understanding of the material. I loved seeing the creative content the students produced (both video and writings alike!). The technology tools available to faculty and students today opens up online education to an entirely new world of possibilities. However, we cannot lose sight of the value of the personal connection between instructor and student. I see the most value in this relationship when I think of it as an apprenticeship - the wise mentor gently guiding the student into learning opportunities that will benefit him/her for the remainder of a career.