Hi Everyone,
It is always wonderful to teach a vibrant class of people from so many different backgrounds! I loved seeing your childhood photos and music videos and I have enjoyed reading personal stories. Thank you so much for sharing. They helped bring a little more of “you” and what you do and help us connect in a different way ;).
As your introductions illustrate, there are many shared motivations for joining in this course including being able to stand on the theory as you do you the practice of learning design, exploring how to move hands-on learning to an online or multi-modal delivery, supporting instructors and working towards access and equity which is exactly where the precursor (distance education) of this work was grounded. Craig’s comment captured this tension so nicely “"our field often proposes innovations without checking what came before — it sounds like a knowledge management problem” (Watson, 2026, para. 2) ** see the bottom of this note for how to reference this in APA formatting.
I hope you are enjoying the introductory activity and that someone is putting together the spotify playlist for when you cross the stage at convocation! We’ve got quite a mix of 80s synth (Matt's The Spoons), Bryan Adams, Nirvana, blink-182, Pink Floyd, Dolly Parton, Deee-Lite and of course, a spontaneous D&D group that has formed as well. It is lovely to have so many folks with such varied backgrounds and to have several who are in transition between what you do and where you might go after your graduate work. That is exciting!
By now, nearly all of you have submitted your introductions. Well done! We should be bringing this activity to a close by this weekend, so please take a few moments to post if you haven't yet, and to read and reply to others posts – I guarantee they will make you smile!
Next on our schedule is activity #2 (complete the blog post by Aug 30th) where you are invited to read and reflect on Weller's writing – the Introduction up to and including 2001. Be sure to check out the Unit 1 description of this activity as there are links to a serialized audio book as well in case that is easier for you right now. This activity comes early to also help ensure that your Wordpress and Feedly sites are in order. If you are having any trouble getting the RRS feed sorted you can check out this guide and of course, just let me know if you are having any issues.
I am looking forward to seeing your responses to Weller's writing. Please know that I read everything that you post, but I am going to be intentional on when and how to reply. I try to balance giving space to peers to respond prior to adding my own commentary. I also might wait to see the broader conversation to highlight areas of interest, connections, or differences in perspectives between blog posts instead of entering early and moving conversations in particular directions.
I know that you all come to this course with a diverse wealth of knowledge that add value to our course discussions so even though I do look forward to sharing my thoughts and perspectives in response your reactions, I am excited by the prospect of all of us learning together.
In responding to your peers, you might find the "FY3" approach helpful in guiding your replies. A colleague describes this approach as involving responses which could:
- Amplify - Give a further example to support the point being made and move the conversation forward.
- Clarify - Ask a probing question to ensure you clearly understand the point being made.
- Diversify - Respectfully offer an alternative perspective to enrich the conversation.
Finally, please remember that there are individuals in the course that you may be new to you and there may also be familiar faces that you may have not had a chance to interact with yet. I encourage you to venture out and engage with people you don't (yet) know.
As always, please don't hesitate to let me know if you have questions or concerns.
Have a great weekend
ahead and we will speak soon.
Ciao,
Elizabeth
Writing Tip - How to cite a Moodle discussion post
From WriteAnswers at RRU https://writeanswers.royalroads.ca/faq/199235
Author, A. [username]. (Year, Month Day). First twenty words of the discussion forum post in italics and sentence case [Discussion forum post]. Moodle. https://moodle.royalroads.ca/
· In-text citation: (Author, year, para. X if appropriate)
So in the example used above where I quote Craig, the reference would be:
Watson, C. [Craig Watson]. (2026, 08, 27). Hi Zubeida, I like your point about looking back and recognizing patterns. Looking through old photos for this activity, I [Discussion forum post]. Moodle. https://moodle.royalroads.ca