My role is to design the allocation of the sections and modules on the course page in order to simplify access for both faculty and students. This role is providing insights from the students’ perspective to the faculty. And I will customize the best interface connecting students with faculty.

My thoughts regarding the course design are based on the observation that sometimes students may lose some marks or fail to catch up with the progress no matter how hard they have tried; knowing that they would not have a chance to make it up is really upsetting. From the course designer’s perspective, accordingly, one way to keep students motivated even after they made mistakes and lose marks is to offer opportunities to make it up, e.g. allowing them to get some extra marks by putting in more effort to do some bonus tasks. This strategy always works out pretty well for me when I was on the learner’s side.

As the first week of training is approaching to the end, my understanding of the role that the Academic Technology Scholars play in this remote learning program is enhanced. If I turn myself to a student’s point of view, I would definitely appreciate a course design which has a clear and consistent structure for its learners to follow; also, a good course design will encourage its learners to be more involved, more collaborative, and more connected with each other as they are also a part of the learning environment themselves.

-Yilin