The path to now:

In this program I have been able to complete a wide variety of courses and attained new skills, knowledge and practice in putting these concepts into action. I began this program with the course Intermediate Web Development during the summer of 2017. The course was very fast paced as there was three credit hours of work crammed into two months. Having been out of academia and in the work force for three and a half years, this was quite the wakeup call. I found that fast paced first course (despite how difficult it was) really helped me get into the mindset I needed for the courses to come. Each course had its own challenges and trials, but each one helped build foundations for the next. Very few classes were of totally new concepts although they delved much deeper into the concepts and increased my knowledge base and experiences. Those courses are the pillars that will help round out my skill set for future endeavors. From beginning to end, this program has been pushing me to be better and given me a strong footing to stand on.

 

What I learned:

The “hard” skills I learned were using different management programs and styles and the requirements to write an effective grant and research proposal. I also learned how to take what I envisioned for a website and create that idea into a visual reality using coding. I became proficient evaluating successes and failures in projects, designs and other formats. I practiced taking lessons from large concepts to smaller objectives, then rebuilding them into a cohesive, comprehensive learning experience. Of all of the coursework I completed throughout this journey the most important skills were gained through the authentic experiences required by my instructors. I have engaged in the struggles of completing projects in an online setting all the way to understanding the parts of a research proposal to exploring and evaluating the literature, finding what has already been studied, divining the significant data and extrapolating the pieces of gold to include in my proposal.

 

As my current profession is in law enforcement and security, I have worked to adapt all projects and assignments to be something I could apply in my everyday job. For some assignments this was rather fun and on the “simpler” side. I took existing policy and would adapt it to the assignment (such as the T.O.R.N.A.D.O. project). Other assignments were very difficult as I had to think outside of the box to determine how I could apply the project to my current job (such as the grant proposal). When applying the concepts and practices provided by this program, relating them to my field and observing how these ideas related to my classmates and their lives, I have discovered that everything I have learned, experienced, practiced and mastered can be applied to any topic with careful and thoughtful designing and execution.

 

A concern I had prepared for in this program was the inevitability of working in groups. I prefer to work on my own as I can be the one to design a project or program to my specification, work at my own pace, and ensure everything is as I want with the assignment/project before submitting it for evaluation. With a group there are other people’s opinions that have to be heard and addressed. Their ideas have to be shared, evaluated, accepted, revised, or rejected. Agreements and happy-mediums have to be met so no one is excluded. Those issues can be time consuming at best and create a “Picasso” of a project at worst. Throughout the semesters of work in this program, I had both good and bad group project experiences. In some projects my ideas were for the most part excluded, where in other projects I was the driving force behind successful completion of the assignment. With all that in mind, I did also get to partake in one perfect group where we created the UDL guidelines project. This team worked together equally on all aspects of the projects, finding our individual sections worked well together and flowed perfectly. We had extremely effective and efficient communication and all team members were on the same page at all times. That team experience is how I will strive to work in groups from now on. It has opened my eyes to view team projects and work as less of a burden and more of an opportunity to truly achieve something great with other people.

 

 

Where to go from here:

When looking back at the program, I have lots of instances of great success, and others of great trials. I have developed a respect for team projects and expanded my toolbox of skills to develop effective, successful on line learning experiences. I have acquired the knowledge and practices of how to assess, collaborate, design and develop projects from scratch, or to improve existing programs. My long-term goal is to develop a company derived on evaluating, advising and enriching future clients so I may support their goals. This course of study has given me the confidence to step out into the world with my head held high, and begin the long walk to achieve that goal.