Multimedia
This page contains links to parts of my ePortfolio that illustrate the range of media I have used in my reflections. It also contains links that showcase the many software applications I used during the two year MSc in Applied eLearning programme. Simply click on the images below to access these links.
Range of Media
In the very first class on Learning Theories, we were encouraged to check out David Perkin’s (Harvard University) ‘threshold concepts’. I had some difficulty in searching for references to this but eventually found a link to a keynote lecture Perkins gave at the Third Biennial Threshold Concepts Symposium in Australia in 2010. During Week 1, I wrote a set of notes/reflections in a post on this class. There is a web link to the one hour video in the post:

During the second week of the Learning Theories module, I discovered the brilliant hypertextual concept map of established learning theories designed by Richard Millwood. The map was part of deliverable D2.2.1 for the HoTEL EU project. Later, in the spring of 2017, I met Richard to discuss possible research questions for my proposed Applied Project in the area of adaptive learning.

In the third week of the Learning Theories module, we looked at two major learning theories: Behaviourism and Cognitivism. After class, I wrote a set of notes/reflections in the post accessible by clicking on the image below. In the post, there is a web link to a video illustrating how Gagne’s Nine Events of Instructional Design can be used to teach a child how to make a cup of tea:

In the Week 4 class of the Learning Theories module, we debated a motion that centred on a quotation from William Edwards Deming. I took a set of photographs of the posters used by both sides in the debate. Click on the image below to see the photographs and details of the debate.

Immediately after the Tuesday morning Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module class in 01/11/16, I cycled to Dublin City University to attend a conference in The Helix. I had previously registered online for this conference entitled The Next Generation: Digital Learning Research Symposium 2016. Here is the link to Professor Mark Brown’s Conference Summary on Twitter. It was interesting to meet Professor Gráinne Conole at the conference. She gave a very interesting keynote called Research Through the Generations: Reflecting on the Past, Present and Future. I had previously read some of Professor Conole’s work, including her association with The 7Cs of Learning Design. Click on the image below for a description of the conference that also contains a couple of photographs I took while in The Helix.

It was only two months into the MSc in Applied eLearning course, but my appetite for research had already been whetted enough to begin exploring PhD options. The morning after the conference in the Helix, I once again found myself in Dublin City University (DCU) attended a Doctoral Workshop jointly hosted by the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) and the new Institute of Education at DCU. This workshop was primarily designed for prospective doctoral students who are thinking about embarking on either an EdD or PhD in the general area of Digital Learning. The two images below are links to the workshop and to my reflections on the workshop.


During the third week of the Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module, we looked at Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives that I had previously seen in Module 1 (Learning Theories). The post linked to the image (below left) contains images of Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956), Anderson’s (2001) version, and Mike Fisher’s Learning Tools version (2009). This post also contains an image of The 7Cs of Learning Design, which is a Learning Design Workshop that evolved in 2012 from an older Open University Learning Design Initiative (OULDI) project for which Professor Grainne Conole was the lead investigator.
After class, I spent an enjoyable Tuesday afternoon in DIT Aungier Street Library sourcing the 11 books on the Essential Reading List for Instructional Design. The post linked to the image (below right) contains photographs of me in the library happy to have found 9 of the 11 books! The following Saturday, my instructional design group had its second meeting (F2F) in DIT Kevin Street. This post contains photographs of our group in the Staff Room that has rooftop views of the city as well as panoramic views of the Dublin Mountains.


In Week 4 of the Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module, my instructional design group collaborated using the video conferencing feature of Webcourses (Blackboard). This post contains some of the screenshots I took of the virtual meeting.

November was a busy month for conferences and workshops! During Week 5 of the Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module, I once again found myself attending a conference, this time in the Convention Centre in the Docklands, Dublin. PDST Technology in Education, in conjunction with the ICT committee of NAPD, hosted a conference for school leaders providing an opportunity for all attendees to consider a number of whole school issues in advance of annual funding being released by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) for the Digital Strategy for Schools (2015 – 2020). This post also contains a reflection on the feedback from my Learning Theories paper (from Module 1) as well as a description of some annotated bibliographies I wrote during the weekend.
The two images below are links to my reflections for Week 5 and a description of the PDST Technology in Education Conference. The two posts contain a number of images and photographs.


For Week 6 of the Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module, I spent a considerable amount of time learning Adobe Captivate 9, which I had purchased for my Mac. I had volunteered to create the eLearning resource for my group’s project. This also involved sourcing a range of media, including free audio clips. I was mindful of copyright infringement, and found myself reading up on Creative Commons which was covered in this week’s class by Dr Pauline Rooney. The post below has a link to the The Big Bang Theory Theme Song that I used in my group’s eLearning resource on Composting. It also describes the installation of SoundFlower 1.6.6 that allowed me to record ‘pass-through’ audio from my iMac’s sound card to Adobe Captivate 9.

My final reflection on the Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module, contains many photographs, screenshots of software used, and links to media such as YouTube videos and audio clips.

Software Applications
Microsoft PowerPoint for Storyboard
I contributed to the two Microsoft PowerPoint storyboards created by my group ‘The Compostivists’. This was an assessment component of the Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module. Click on the images below to download the PowerPoint files.


Adobe Captivate 9 for eLearning Resource
I created the Adobe Captivate tutorial on behalf of my group ‘The Compostivists’. This was an important deliverable for the Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module, and it took a significant amount of time to develop. Click on the image below to view this multimedia tutorial. It is a responsive design, utilising HTML5, which means that it can be viewed on any computer or mobile device including PC, Mac and iPad.

Adobe Captivate 9 for Screencast
I created an Adobe Captivate screencast for Topic 3: Communication of the TELTA Module.

Coggle for Mindmap
I created a Coggle Mindmap for Topic 4: Motivating Students in the Online Environment of the TELTA Module.

Mindomo for Mindmap
I created a Mindomo Mindmap for the Capstone Task: Annotated Mindmap of the TELTA Module.

GAM AT for Domain Model
For one of the Domain Models I created during the Applied Project in Year 2, I used the GAM Authoring Tool (or GAM AT).

Rhumbl Maps for Domain Model
For another of the Domain Models I created during the Applied Project in Year 2, I used Rhumbl Maps.

Adobe Captivate 9 for Screencast
I created an Adobe Captivate screencast to explicate the learning outcome decomposition process as well as to explain the difficult ideas around domain modelling and adaptive learning.

Microsoft Access for Database of Syllabus Learning Outcomes
I used Microsoft Access to store the data in fields pertaining to the deconstructed, long text-based learning outcomes as well as the parsed learning outcomes.

Microsoft Excel for Listing Syllabus Learning Outcomes
The data was originally stored in a Microsoft Access database so that it could be output to Microsoft Excel. This unpacked and amalgamated learning outcomes were then arranged in rows and columns.
