Two years ago, I created an infographic highlighting the main events in the history of distance learning (left column) and corresponding quality efforts (the right column). In light of new developments, I took some time to update this visual resource.

Click the infographic to get a pop-up version with zoom capability.

A high-resolution PDF version is available here, at no cost; simply honor the Creative Commons license.

Many family members, colleagues, and friends reached out to congratulate me on the completion of my doctoral journey—thank you! Some asked what kind of doctor I am now. Here is best way I can think of explaining it.

It is true; I am a doctor. Yet not a doctor doctor. Just a doctor of education. I do not take the temperature of patients or listen to their heart and lungs with a stethoscope. I just try to understand what causes complex problems in colleges and universities and then try to eliminate those causes in collaboration with experts in the field.

I focus on online education because it allows equal access to learning, regardless of where you live and when you have time to study. My heart is in encouraging quality in education because we have the awesome responsibility of bringing up Alex’s generation (my son, who is about to turn 11)—the generation that has to fix the local as well as global problems we feel today and to stay ahead of the unpredictable problems we will face in the future.

I am a doctor of education. I am a simple servant, humbly contributing to making the path smoother for my son, for your daughter, for all of our children to benefit from quality education that adequately prepares them for a world of rapid change. To help them trust their intuition and learn to tap into their infinite potential. To help them be reflective, healthy, and happy. To help them look for the solution to all problems within themselves. To help them make a meaningful contribution to our collective future.

Thank you and God bless! 🙏🏼

In the infographic I created, I wanted to highlight not just the main events in the history of distance learning (left column) but also the fact that  efforts toward quality distance-education have always accompanied each stage of this evolution (the right column).

You can click the infographic to get a pop-up version with zoom capability.

In my previous blog post, I introduced the notion of certain “nutrients” or vitamins being beneficial to your course’s health. In this post I’ll focus on the powerhouse vitamin G.

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In my earlier blog post I suggested that there are people vitamins and course vitamins. You know what “people vitamins” are — your A, Bs, C, D, K, etc — nutrients that contribute to your body’s well being. Now allow me to explain what I mean by “course vitamins”.

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If you go to your primary-care physician to have a conversation about how you can reach optimal health levels, you’ll most likely hear that you need to take your vitamins. The human body needs Vitamin A for vision and immune support, B vitamins for energy and red blood cell support, etc.

I’d like to make the radical proposition that if you were to go to your course’s “primary-care physician” (a.k.a. your instructional designer) to have a conversation about how to keep your course “healthy”, you’d also hear about essential vitamins.

So what are these essential course vitamins? What effects do they have on courses? And how do you “give” them to a course? For these answers and more, check back in with my blog.

As the semester comes to a close, grades are on everyone’s mind. Here are a few useful resources:

• Enter Grades (Video Tutorial, 2’39”): this video demonstrates how faculty enter grades in D2L
• Final Grades in D2L and Pounce (my article from August 6, 2015): this article goes over how to:
  • release your final grades (calculated or adjusted) to students
  • report those final grades in Pounce.

The following message is adapted from a communication by Mr. Jeff Galant, ALG program manager:

August is Adaptive and Authoring Software Month for Affordable Learning Georgia! This free web event series:

• is intended to support the new Textbook Transformation Grants category for interactive course-authoring tools and software
• involves both the creation of new materials and radical transformation of existing OER.

The companies are as follows:

• Boundless Learning: August 9, 2016 @ 12pm-1pm — Register Now
• McGraw-Hill Education: August 19, 2016 @ 12pm-1pm — Register Now
• Norton Digital Solutions: August 10, 2016 @ 12pm-1pm — Register Now
• Realizeit: August 18, 2016 @ 11am-12pm — Register Now
• Skyepack: August 24, 2016 @ 12pm-1pm — Register Now
• SoftChalk Cloud: August 17, 2016 @ 12pm-1pm — Register Now

See full schedule of events @  http://www.affordablelearninggeorgia.org/events/adaptive_authoring

See archived and upcoming events  @  http://www.affordablelearninggeorgia.org/events/training

Today, as we commemorate our nation’s signing of the Declaration of Independence, claiming our independence from Great Britain (ironically – a nation about to claim its own independence from the European Union), I feel deep gratitude for the privilege of being a citizen of our great United States of America.

There are many kinds of independence but the one I’ve been contemplating lately is independence of fear. When I moved to Augusta to take my current job, a friend had sent me off with the advice to live fearlessly. I did for a while and then forgot… As I was trying to recapture what it means to not be afraid (so that I may remember it for myself and pass it on to my son and hopefully inspire those around me), I found threefold inspiration this 4th of July weekend.  As the proverb goes: ask and you shall receive! Continue reading →

Dear all,

I am back in Augusta and will resume work next week (Monday, 6/27~). Hope you have a great weekend and go ahead and start scheduling for any appointments you need with me. Looking forward to assisting you!

Warm regards,

Georgianna

Dear Augusta University clients and colleagues,

I am currently out of the country, on a business/research trip to Asia. I will return at the end of June.

While I am away, here are some ways in which you can get the assistance that you need:

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Due to the high demand for meetings to work on the transition from this semester to the next, and drawing inspiration from  daylight savings, I am temporarily reducing the base duration of meetings from 1 hour to 30 minutes.

This will allow me to see more faculty clients in a day. If you feel we need more meeting time, you have the option to add 30 or even 60 minutes to our 30-minute base when you make the appointment.

I hope you will enjoy the prompter service. Let me know what you think!

Well, t’is the end of one semester and close to the beginning of another. Here are some ways in which I can help (besides designing Tshirts like this one):

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Looking for fresh ideas as you are (re)designing your summer course(s)?

• Come chat with me over a cup of tea (or coffee).
• Browse through the articles I curate on my Scoop.It! page.
• Contribute your fresh ideas as comments to this blog.

Happy designing!

Geo

The question I still hear on a regular basis: “What is instructional design?”

The answer, as one of my colleagues and great teachers likes to say,  is always “it depends”. In this post, I will try to demystify instructional design (also known as systematic instructional design). Continue reading →

As we move the clock forward and enjoy the longer days the season brings, we are also temporarily sleep deprived, which can negatively affect our attention. Here are some tips to help you make a smooth transition both at home and in the classroom.

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Once upon a time, textbooks consisted of printed pages bound between two hard covers. Then textbooks became digital, with rich media and interactive elements. Then publishers started adding digital assets to the digital textbooks, in the form of PowerPoint presentations, glossaries, exercises, and exams. Can there be more? Yes, a new type of smart book is emerging. One that can think for itself.

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Today I just bought an audio book on my phone. That is such a long way from how my relationships with books started! Continue reading →

Happy President’s Day everyone! In my family, this year began with a visit to Washington, DC, where we immersed ourselves in our nation’s rich history. Here we are, at Lincoln memorial. Continue reading →

Wishing you joyful winter festivities and happy designs for the new year! I have a number of gifts that I hope will bring you holiday cheer. Read on to learn more!

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Brightspace by D2L (or D2L for short) is getting better and we’ll have access to the improved version as soon as December 19th! Here is a sampling of the improvements:

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In this second part, I’ll go over the “right brain” which represents the unique modules specific to your course. Continue reading →

This tutorial walks you through the process of adding faculty members to the course you direct.  Continue reading →

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The D2L Spring 2016 courses are now ready for you to populate! As you get started working on your course(s), consider the following tips:

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This is a fun exercise we go through each semester. I love the fact that it allows us to integrate our left and right brain – after all, every course needs a bit of logic and a bit of creativity! In this first part, I’ll go over the “left brain” which represents the standard modules—basically modules that can benefit every single course. Continue reading →

Dear colleagues,

I am beginning to do some research into student-to-student interaction in online courses.

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If you came across some really good research articles and/or resources on this topic, kindly share them with me at glaws@gru.edu. I’ll compile all the research and summarize it in a future blog post.

Thank you!

Georgianna

Education is definitely an investment and funding that investment is not always easy. Just recently, I heard of a student who had to drop an entire semester’s worth of courses because his funding did not come through. I am so saddened by that…

So then the question becomes:

How can we make education more affordable?

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With the end of the semester in sight, the topic of final grade is on everyone’s mind. Here is a quick reference guide for most everything you want to know on regarding submitting final grades in D2L and Pounce.

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Looking for fresh ideas as you are (re)designing your Fall 2015 courses?

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As a designer and/or instructor, I am a lot more accurate and efficient whenever I use course-development plans. What do I mean by “course-development plans” you ask? In a nutshell, such a plan specifies what happens in the course, in what sequence, and for what purpose. This document is built early on (in the instructional-design stage in the ADDIE model) and acts as a guide the course production and post-production. Continue reading →