INTRODUCTION

Hello there! My name is Katie Schultz and I am happy to welcome you to my ePortfolio Capstone project. Before we dive in, let me tell you a story, so you can get to know me a bit better.

I never really had a clear idea of what I wanted to be. I grew up thinking that my dream career would find me as long as I followed my interests. Having grown up on a farm in rural Alberta, this meant pursuing my love for animals by enrolling in the University of Alberta’s Bachelor of Science specializing in Animal Biology. Although I learned so much from this program, I graduated with a sense of disorientation. My knowledge and skills did not seem applicable in the real world and available, relevant jobs were far beyond my level of qualification.

After a few years of working several jobs that I could never envision as a career, it seemed that my only option was to go back to school – but for something that would prepare me for a career. Because I didn’t want the knowledge from my first degree to go unused, I enrolled in an after-degree in secondary education with a major in biology.

I quickly developed a keen interest in the subject of learning. I was particularly taken with the power of an educator to influence learning through varied approaches and designs. However, when I completed my Bachelor of Education in 2014, I knew that teaching high school was not for me. The job included too much behaviour management and I took too much ownership for my student’s achievements – a student’s lack of success was my personal failure. I am aware that this perspective is distorted and self-destructive, but nonetheless, I chose not to become a teacher. Putting myself in that situation would not be good for me or my students.  

So, here I was again, trying to figure out how I could apply my university education to find my career. I knew I loved education (without direct interaction with students) and, at the time, I was working at a job that was quickly revealing my aptitude for technology. I began researching careers developing e-learning for adult learners, like skills training and professional development. This would be perfect for me! I’d get to exercise my skills with technology and understanding of education and learning. And since my audience would be adults, I could let them take responsibility for their own learning and I wouldn’t have to carry the entire weight of their achievement.

I applied to the Master of Educational Technology (MET) program at the University of British Columbia. Although I did not doubt that I would be accepted, I was nervous. Taking this program would mean uprooting my (and my husband’s) life, and moving to a new city in a new province. In the end, I was accepted and we moved. But unfortunately, after taking a few courses (Table 1) I found that the program was geared heavily towards primary and secondary educators and lacked content specific to Instructional Design. This was not what I wanted, so I began to search for a program that would be a better fit for me. I wanted a program that would teach me about designing training so it could be consumed by learners, wherever and whenever it suited them. I wanted to learn about educational psychology and how the adult learner is unique from a child or adolescent. And most of all, I wanted to learn what I needed to know to become an Instructional Designer. I absolutely did not want to end up with another degree that left me feeling unprepared to apply for a real job.

This is how I came upon Athabasca University’s Master of Education in Open, Digital and Distance Education (MEd) offering a focus in Instructional Design. What appealed to me most was that the courses offered content that was both task-specific (Table 1: MDDE 604 and 618) and academic (Table 1: MDDE 602 and 619). I felt this variety would prepare me for the day-to-day tasks I would encounter as an Instructional Designer and ground my practice in learning theory and evidence-informed design.

Shortly after enrolling in my first course at Athabasca University, I acquired a job as a Learning and Development Advisor at SafeCare BC, BC’s continuing care health and safety organization. I am certain that I would not have been offered this job if my resume did not reflect being a current MEd student. I am so grateful for this serendipitous timing, as it allowed me to put all of my learning to use at my new job. The ability to immediately apply my learning in-context has been vital to my acquisition of the MEd core competencies and, as such, most of the artifacts I will analyze in this ePortfolio, come from my job. Together these artifacts demonstrate my growth as a graduate student and as an Instructional Designer.

---

THE ARTIFACTS

---

As you will see in my artifact reflections, my ideas and understandings evolved throughout the program. I will start at the beginning – with my first major master’s essay – when I had little understanding of what I was getting into. I thought I knew what educational technology meant, but I had no idea of the breadth of the field. I thought I knew the direction I wanted for my career, but I didn’t realize the vastness of my options. And I will end where I am now – with a project that I finished just recently. I feel like I know so much more now and yet, I know that there is still so much more to learn.

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this reflective capstone project as enlightening as I do.

Table 1. Course schedule for my Master of Education program

Course	Term	Institution	Notes
MDDE 619 Trends and Issues in Instructional Design	Fall 2020	Athabasca University
MDDE 617 Program Evaluation in Distance Education	Spring 2020	Athabasca University
MDDE 618 Instructional Project Management	Winter 2020	Athabasca University
MDDE 604 Instructional Design in Distance Education	Fall 2019	Athabasca University
MDDE 602 Research Methods in Distance Education	Spring 2019	Athabasca University
MDDE 601 Introduction to Distance Education and Training	Winter 2019	Athabasca University
ETEC 565A Selection, Design and Application of Learning Technology	Winter 2018	University of British Columbia	Credited towards MDDE 610
ETEC 510 Design of Technology Supported Learning Environments	Winter 2018	University of British Columbia	Credited towards an elective
ETEC 512 Applications of Learning Theories to Instruction	Fall 2017	University of British Columbia	Credited towards MDDE 603
EDST 503 Foundations of Adult Education	Fall 2017	University of British Columbia	Credited towards MDDE 611