HMTT 6003: Instructional Technology Development Tools

Making a basic website while employing HTML, Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Dream Weaver and FrontPage tools was a great achievement for me as I had never tried my hands on such a thing before. I not only learnt to use these tools to set up a website but also got familiar with the website architecture and aesthetics like choosing the appropriate layout, background colours, font attributes, like size, style, colour etc. Moreover, I successfully learnt to host the site on the web. My website that I developed in this course was about the profile of some of the professors that have developed courses for the Virtual University of Pakistan (my current workplace). This website can be accessed here Presently, the students of this university do not have access to the profile of their professors which I believe should be provided to students. A lot of empirical research shows that familiarity among online students and their knowledge providers is important, as this familiarity creates goodwill, association and overcomes anonymity in virtual online classes; all of these are considered critical elements towards fostering a quality online learning experience. I hope to integrate professors profile pages on the existing course website of each course on the university’s LMS.

Furthermore, I have acquired basic skills in the aforesaid web publishing tools and along with the experts from the academic team, graphics and Information Technology department of my university I plan to develop learning objects and interactive e-content that can be used to enhance and foster the learning  of the university’s students. 

HMOA 5403: Online Assessment Methods

In this course, I have learnt the dynamics of online instructive assessment, its usefulness as well as the issues, constraints and challenges it faces. Moreover, I have been trained to devise ways to curb the potential problems that may come up in the online assessment paradigm. Also, I have realized the significant difference between summative and formative assessment and the value of the later. Assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning process however, online assessment is a sensitive issue as accrediting bodies as well as students and potential employers, which are an important stakeholder, all over the world and particularly in Pakistan are concerned about the online assessment methods. In a way, a sound online assessment method would help garner the trust and acceptability of online learning among these stakeholders. There is growing trend towards online assessment in Pakistan as this research paper reflects. At my university (where I work) the online assessment method has grown quite sound over the years. A presentation of this method is provided here which was given by the vice-chancellor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) however; I still believe that I can contribute towards making it more efficient and better. I aim to do this by regulating the amount of assessment that should be given to students, the refinement and evaluation of the already prepared question banks, training the academic staff about plagiarism detection and prevention, development of rubrics, designing inclusive assessments and the need for prompt and constructive feedback to students. I have realized and demonstrated skills in these areas which are reflected by artifact HMOA 5403, HMOA 5403 artifact 2, and HMOA 5403 artifact 3.

HMDD 5603: Design and Development of Interactive E-Content

In this third semester course I developed skills to conduct a through needs’ analysis of the target audience for whom the e-content has to be prepared and am now able to document the same in clear and concise way. It is really necessary to carryout a detailed needs analysis of the audience before designing and developing e-content. I am also capable of developing appropriate learning outcomes based on Bloom’s taxonomy as well as stating them and the course outline clearly and explicitly. This and all of the above skills are demonstrated by this artifact in which I focused on plagiarism sensitization project for the tutors and students of an online learning university.

Moreover, through empirical studies provided in this course I learnt that there are varying learning styles and it is most effective if in interactive e- content is designed and developed that caters to multiple learning styles. Right away, I plan to convert all of the static e-learning content and the e-student handbook which is currently static-text hosted on the university’s website into interactive e-content. 

HMLC 5303: Learning Communities and Social Pedagogical Networks

In this course I learnt how the web 2.0 tools can be used in learning settings to form communities, networks and connections among learners while bridging the geographical distances and time-zone differences. I also got know how of the three underlying learning theories: communities of practice, networked learning and Connectivism as well as the differences and similarities among them. This is presented in this artifact 1. Moreover, I realized that in addition to the commonly used learning management systems there is another more student centered and personalized learning environment. I explored that while learning with and from others, the learning could still take place in a very personalized and tailored environment where learners can be enabled to set goals for their own learning and direct their own learning pathways. In this regard web 2.0 tools like blogs, RSS fields, social book marking and networking sites can be used to access people and resources. I learnt to design PLE and used LAMS which is a revolutionary new tool for designing, managing and delivering online collaborative learning activities, as a platform for it.  Besides, I got awareness about the ethical issues in using social software and web 2.0. Artifact 2 demonstrates how I accomplished this.

I intend to introduce the concept of PLE to the academic staff of my university, so that the tutors build learning and sharing networks among the online tutor community of the university as well as access and connect with the plethora of knowledge and resources on the internet to share with them and broaden their learning about online instruction.

HMIC 5503: Managing Intellectual Capital

Through this course, I acquired a thorough understanding of the idea of knowledge-based economy, intellectual capital, intellectual property rights and gaining competitive advantage through learning and knowledge creation. By now, I fully appreciate their importance and my understanding of these concepts and their importance is presented through artifact 1 and artifact 2. I further realized that the way to prosperity in today’s competitive world is to make learning and knowledge creation the core businesses of an organization. Knowledge and intellectual capital yield long-term competitive advantage and thus should be harnessed. In this regard the characteristics and requirements of knowledge workers have to be acknowledged; which is reflected through artifact 3 .


I deeply gained insight into how knowledge-based economy is significantly more important than the resource-based view of economy; and recognized further that even the technological advancements are backed by knowledge. Thus, organizations should invest in intellectual property and gain completive advantage which now resides in the intangible assets. Along with this, artifact 4 and artifact 5 embody my deep comprehension of the importance, nature and facilitation of on-going organizational learning, how it should be planned and implemented; as well as enabling knowledge sharing which has a synergic effect. Moreover, artifact 6 presents my analysis of an industry case. Based on the work of this course, coupled with my prior training in this field during my MBA I am now fully capable of designing strategies for knowledge sharing among the work force, organizational learning and developing human as well as relational capital of my firm.

HMLT 5203: Applying Theories of Learning to Instructional Technology

In this preliminary course I learnt a lot about various groups of learning theories: behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism as well as explored Connectivism. Through discourse analysis with course mates and course facilitators, individual reading I gained in depth understanding of the principals, similarities, differences and finally their application in the context of the evolution of instructional technology. It is essentially this course that enabled me to analyse which learning theories are primarily employed in Pakistan education system. It is my understanding that in Pakistan, we should move from cognitivism to social constructivism, as a first step and make use of the various readily available online learning support tools to make the online learning more effective.  In this course we learnt together about various online learning support tools and resources and their underlying learning theories. This was a discussion forum exercise, where all the members chose an example of a tool or resource that supports learning. I selected Learning Object Materials (LOMS), this artifact shows the details. Other tools (and their learning theory framework) about which I got to know through the work of my colleagues were wiki, blogs, podcasting, moodle, visual ranking tools, webquest and open course ware.

Apart from this I conducted a critical analysis of the Connectivism; which is supposed to be a new learning theory in the digital age and stated my position on it. This is presented by the following artifact. Further still, I learnt to apply the learning theories and the ARCS model of motivation in an instructional setting. I presented a report on it in the joint project for the first semester

I will help my university to design learning and make use of the web 2.0 tools to augment online learning that is grounded in the theory of social constructivism and thus make a paradigm shift from the passive, individual learning of students.

HMIR 5103: Research in Instructional Design and Technology

In the course, Research in Instructional Design and Technology, I developed skills to identify the key elements of research reports as well as to technically and critically examine them. This artifact demonstrates these skills. This set the ground for the other two research related courses in the programme and I equipped myself with the essential knowledge and skills to locate, cite and address essential parts of a research article.  I also learnt to design and develop an online survey through the software, surveymonkey.com, which I used later in my capstone research project to collect data. The artifact in the HMCD 6304 course displays this skill. Additionally, I got familiar with the research that has been, and continues to be, carried out in the field of instructional design and technology. I also learnt to locate emerging tools and technologies that are being used or have the potential to be used in online instruction. In this regard, I located a research article on massive multiplayer online role-playing games and discussed it thoroughly. This discussion is presented here.

In Pakistan the research culture and practice is slow to develop and the students lack research report elements and methods and citation styles. From my understanding and learning through this course, I aspire to design and develop an interactive online manual which prepares students to become familiar with the elements of research report elements, how to locate authentic, reliable and credible research articles and most importantly how to cite them so that they could be saved from the plague of academic dishonesty –plagiarism.