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Capstone Project: Part III Lessons Learned  

EDTC 6332 Practicum in Educational Technology

Juanita R. Martinez

This course was very well structured and provided the necessary information to meet all the requirements.
 

     The lessons I learned while, enrolled in the course EDTC 6332 -Practicum in Educational Technology were to acquire the understanding on how to construct my Capstone project. The Capstone /Practicum project is composed of several parts: Part I:  The Project Proposal, Part II: Design Document and Instructional Solution, and Part III: Lessons Learned. The instructional package also included weekly Reflection Reports and a Midterm Debriefing and Final Presentation. Each of these parts represents a vital part of the instructional package.

     In Part I the lessons I learned while creating my proposal was to create a solution to a need or knowledge gap at my place of employment.  This task was difficult at first, not really sure I knew of a knowledge gap that I could try to create an Instructional Solution for. I did a bit of research and spoke with a few of the software specialist at the district. It was then that they recommended the Teams grade book training amongst other software trainings. I proposed to create an instructional unit on TEAMS the grade book software adopted by the Donna Independent School District as this was clearly a knowledge gap that I would be able to work with and I felt comfortable enough being I could play the part of content expert. When writing the proposal I knew it had to be clear and to the point with the proposed instructional solution. When submitting my proposal idea, I was relieved to know that I did have a solid idea that would work and was approved. The problem with my written proposal was the way my idea was worded.  Trying to make corrections to my proposal I was informed to make changes in part II instead of changing my part I proposal.

     In Part II- the lessons I learned were the importance of time management, the creation of the Design Document and Instructional Solution, were more overwhelming than I had anticipated. When I first started and looked at what I would have to create and in such a short time period.   While creating both parts of this section I quickly realized that I was required to input a lot more time and effort than I thought I had to. I had to do research, meet with the technology director and devote more time than I had scheduled to the actual completion of my Design Document. Although I didn’t really struggle much with the Instructional Solution, I quickly realized that the work was time consuming and tedious.  I learned that I really enjoyed the creation process of the Design Document and Instructional Solution websites, designing and putting them together. One of the other main lessons I learned in this part of the instructional package was not planning and accounting for the unexpected. This could have been detrimental to the scheduled tasks. I was not able to foresee, how much time was necessary to complete both parts of the project, until I immersed myself into it. I now understand the length of time that would be necessary to complete and manage an instructional design project. Retrospectively, the lessons learned through the creation of the Instructional Solution were a welcoming challenge. Editing video and piecing everything together, utilizing several software was the biggest of the challenges. Utilizing familiar software was my first option however, not all software provide all features needed so several software were needed to create the desired results.

     The Lessons Learned section is basically a recollection of all the weekly Reflection Reports I have written throughout the semester. The reflections were a little confusing at first, as I didn’t understand the need for them. I felt it was a something extra that did not need to be writen. However by the third Reflection Report I was really glad they were there as I caught myself looking back and seeing what I had completed and what I still needed to continue working on. It was then when I realized the importance of the reports. They were necessary for the whole thing to come together. The Reflections provided a useful track of records. I was able to record my progress, along with updating my calendar by following the week’s tasks. This was ingenious to me as, it provided me with a road map of the events to come. This was exactly what I needed to see in-order to be able to accomplish the project in attainable steps. The Reflections also made me recollect my experience during that week and had me reevaluate my thoughts.  The progress of the project became achievable in small increments versus to looking at the whole project as a whole, the break down allowed me to gradually piece my project together.

     Throughout my enrollment in the course EDTC 6332 -Practicum in Educational Technology I attained very useful knowledge that will impact my career. Creating this instructional package was an eye opener, after the entire semester, I now see the bigger picture. In Part I the lesson I learned was, creating a solid solution to a need or knowledge gap is key to a successful proposal. In Part II I essentially learned that with the production of the Design Document, and the Instructional Solution, time management was the most important factor. Throughout the progression of the course the weekly reflections provided many learning opportunities for me to grow from. Creating the Instructional package for the new teachers at the the Donna Independent School District on the TEAMS grade book software.  This training has provided me to the opportunity to complete all the requirements necessary for the completion of this course. I have been able to create all the vital pieces necessary for a fully functional Capstone /Practicum project that will be used with the new teachers.at the Donna Independent school District. As all the pieces to the puzzle all fit in together they all create one final Instructional package that will be utilized to close the knowledge gap for the instructional need necessary to get through this course successfully.