I began the M.Ed. program the same month that I started as the Curriculum Coordinator for SC AHEC. In this role, I collaborate with subject matter experts throughout the state in order to develop distance education opportunities for future and current healthcare professionals. Participating in this program has given me the knowledge, skills, and confidence to be a leader in my field of health professions education.

As demonstrated in my portfolio, I have been able to develop instructional materials and integrate educational technology in my current professional work. For example, I have used the TeamSTEPPS® projects (module and course) to offer further teamwork trainings for current and future health professionals throughout the state, and the Health Careers Program online modules developed during my internship provided a valuable resource for high school students across the state when distance education was required due to COVID-19 pandemic. I am grateful to be able to directly apply my learning and projects to my role at SC AHEC.

Skills Developed

Over the past two years, I have acquired new knowledge and skills which I look forward to continue applying throughout my life-long learning adventure. I now feel confident in my ability to develop comprehensive instructional design documentation, from the initial stages of conducting a needs assessment to the final stages of developing plans for evaluation and revision. I also feel more equipped with strategies for designing effective instruction, such as applying 6C’s of Motivation learning theory (Turner, 1995), incorporating gamification techniques (Kapp, 2012), using Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (Driscoll, 1999), applying Mayer’s multimedia learning principles (Moreno, 2010), and utilizing Universal Design for Learning principles (CAST, 2018), in order to support high levels of engagement and achievement for all learners. In addition, my technical skills have significantly improved as I have explored and utilized so many different types of educational technologies over the past two years, and I have some of my favorites listed on the Resources page.

Lessons Learned

While I have thoroughly enjoyed the program, it wasn’t without challenges and one of hardest components for me was group work. I am used to working ahead on school work, as I have always been the type of student who starts on the assignment as soon as I receive the instructions. However, some of my group members had different approaches to managing school work, and I learned to be more understanding with the different personality types, which is important in my professional work too. As I learned with my internship, team members are going to have different views and priorities, so it is important to develop a shared vision for the project, establish clear roles and responsibilities, and communicate clearly and frequently about task deadlines. In addition, I am not as creative as some so I struggled with image editing and graphic design, but I found design templates from valuable resources like Canva and Piktochart. I learned to better admit my weaknesses (like graphic design) and look for resources or team members who can help with those areas.

Leadership

As I was finishing my first year in the program, the entire world shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following health and safety guidelines, the education system was forced to transition to emergency remote learning, which presented significant challenges. Educational institutions looked to instructional designers as valuable assets to lead the way for implementation of new educational technologies and redesign of instructional materials for the online environment. Because of what I had been learning throughout the program, I was able to provide leadership and direction for how to effectively analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate distance education during these unprecedented times. Although many projects were expedited, I was able to clearly articulate the importance of following the instructional design process and help teams follow the necessary steps to ensure that we were creating quality educational opportunities for our virtual learning communities.