JHMI Internship: Looking Forward (to Phase 3)

     Although I am still on schedule, I feel that I could actually be ahead.  Some things which have held me back include slow PC performance (as mentioned earlier), and establishing a look and feel for the course that I am comfortable with.  I must admit, I am a bit of a perfectionist so I’ve been changing things quite a bit which has also used up a good amount of my time.  My motivation behind this was that I’d rather implement the majority of changes now in one module, rather than across nine down the road.  However, now that I have a template in place for my remaining modules, the rest of development should ideally run quicker.  Not to mention, this being the first course I’ve ever formally developed, I think requiring more time than usual is expected.  Furthermore, with more practice, the skill should come more naturally and will allow me to output quicker. 

     That being said, for Phase 3 (10/31 - 11/11) my goals include developing my remaining eight modules and publishing/packaging them on my local machine.  Depending on how long this takes, I will then try to import them online via the LMS (this is actually scheduled for Phase 4). 

     Additionally, as mentioned last week, another task formerly on the schedule which I have not been required to complete is some type of formative evaluation (e.g. survey).  I’m not exactly sure of the reason why, but I think it may have something to with the fact that the course will not actually be used until after I leave.  Another issue could simply be that the benefits of going through formative evaluation don’t outweigh the time/cost involved (especially when there are many other courses waiting to be developed); another important point to keep in mind for future ISD work.   At any rate, again, I feel it would still be a beneficial learning experience for me to take part in so I hope to discuss with my onsite adviser about finding a way to possibly do some local field testing.  This will ideally generate valuable user feedback which can help identify problems and make the solution more effective.  Perhaps the SME is another resource that can be tapped into to aid in this effort (either by providing testers and/or acting as a tester himself).