Beginning EDD 8008 along side of EDD 7007, I was similarly anxious and excited. The weekly coursework helped fill a gap in my formal education. Although I was aware of the three major theories of learning - behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism - I had not yet had formal education about them. This course began what would be a multi-semester reflection on theories of learning that would culminate in EDD 8124. Additionally, this course helped define technology in a pure sense; it was the first time that a book was described to me as being a technology. From this better understanding of technology, I was able to see the difference between it and media. Finally, I'd like to share an email I sent to Dr. Schlosser regarding the natural connection between EDD 7007 and EDD 8008. I wrote this email at the end of September 2005, approximately 8 weeks into the semester.

Over the past month or so an observation has been brewing inside me. Dangerous concept, I know.

This observation is based on being enrolled in both EDD 7007 & EDD 8008 at the same time. Thinking back to the beginning of both courses, the content appeared to be unique to its own course; however, since we began discussing psychology in EDD 8008, I've begun to notice myself relating aspects of both courses to each other.

For example, I my EDD 8008 Professional Conference assignment, I used the topic of Implementing Distance Education as my proposal presentation. To me it felt natural to do so. Moving forward with the EDD 7007 coursework, the next topic was instructional design for distance education. I found that quite ironic.

Also, another example of this observation has come from listening to the EDD 7007 students who are not enrolled in EDD 8008. Recalling Monday's EDD 7007 Elluminate session and your inquiry about who is familiar with behavioral objects, you reported that it was about 50% were familiar and 50% were not familiar. I've got an instinct that those who were not familiar are also not enrolled in EDD 8008. Another difference between the students seems to be apparent in their discussion postings for EDD 7007. As we've learned in EDD 8008, cognitivism is the current widely-accepted instructional practice. However, there are numerous constructivist principles present in these courses; and, as we are learning in EDD 8008, constructivism is not widely understood. I find it interesting to see in the EDD 7007 postings a strong cognitivist backing. I'd be curious to find out how many of the EDD 7007 students have been exposed to constructivist principles.

Overall, I feel it to be a great benefit to be enrolled in EDD 7007 and EDD 8008 in the same semester. I've got a strong inclination that the two courses will start to meld together into one principle from this point forward; thus, I see why the program is Instructional Technology AND Distance Education.

Coursework	Topic	Downloads
Assignment 1	This examination of ISPI, a professional association of performance improvement professionals, discusses the current demographics, explains its history, relates its annual conference(s), and describes how membership could benefit professional goals.	PDF
Assignment 2	The International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI) holds an annual conference on performance improvement. The 44th conference takes place in Dallas, Texas from April 6-11, 2006. This paper explores the conference by reviewing attendee demographics, registration costs, and the presentations for the conference.	PDF
Assignment 3	One of the many publications from the International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI) is Performance Improvement(PI) Journal. This paper explores PI by looking into its subscription, audience, staff, and content.	PDF
Assignment 4	Instructional Technology Hall of Fame Nomination: Dr. Robert F. Mager	PDF
Literature Review	Education can be a challenge for some learners. It has been explored that learner self-efficacy may be one of the reasons for educational challenges. Struggling learners in a traditional classroom environment have the instructor to turn to for immediate assistance, plus the instructor has the benefit of observing various behaviors that may be symptoms of low self-efficacy. This is not the case for non-traditional environments, such as online. Online education presents challenges to both the learner and the educator. For the learner and the educator, the educational environment and structure changes. In addition to this, much of the educator’s benefit to notice symptoms of low self-efficacy has been removed. Implementing a learner-centered (heutagogical) educational environment may offer online learners and educators equivalent means of maintaining or improving learner self-efficacy. This paper explores self-efficacy, online education, and heutagogy; then draws conclusions based on the material reviewed to the relationship between self-efficacy and online learners.	PDF