F.I.T.-Group Project Reflection

This course activity seemed to flow quite easily based on the required text reading and practicum in our IT 6135 FIT assignments. Our group consisted of Michele R., Velda, and myself. The team project consisted of breaking the required components of the presentation and following paper into manageable parts based on our individual observations and experiences within our assigned facilitation training. After a few brief face-to-face brainstorming and discussion sessions, we were off and running. Since we all enjoyed different aspects of the FIT component, and brought different strengths to the group, we divided the work accordingly. 

For my part, I began to reflect on the IT 6135 course activities from the beginning, as to what seemed to make sense and those aspects which confused me. As the weeks progressed, I found myself thinking about which activities would work for this course, and those that would not. The readings seemed to point to some that had potential. With this in mind, I approached my two colleagues with suggestions for new activities that I found would accentuate the IT 6135 experience and improve my own understanding of the readings and content in our course (IT 7130). Next, I carefully selected strategies and E-learning activities from Bonk & Zhang, that reflected different stages in Salmon's Five-Stage model. 

Our team did not seem to struggle with the content or requirements of the project, other than the usual time constraints endemic to working adults with families! Among the noted aspects of the project that were somewhat challenging was what secondary resources to include in the written portion of the assignment, if any. Perhaps, a more descriptive requirement in the course syllabus might have assisted us in this endeavor, or we were just overthinking the content. Another noted feature of this project was the ability to hand in the written report a week after the presentation, which was greatly appreciated. 

Overall, I found this project to be quite useful and one aspect that I think would also help in future IT 7130 courses, would be to have some time to "tinker" within the Blackboard LMS course design features. This would allow us to see some of the constraints, tools, and workable features that would bring to light many of the E-learning activities within the context of IT 7130 course components. Basically, this could be included as part of this assignment since we are already assembled in groups. Additionally, we could present the team project in Bb to highlight our suggested improvements or new activities.

Brad.