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Becky Costello
One of the first goals I identified for my internship was regular involvement with the
Colleges Copyright Taskforce. As a member of our course development team (namely at a for-
profit institution), copyright and fair use are topics that come up daily in my role. I set a goal of
creating pre- and post-tests to assess our teams existing knowledge of copyright and fair use,
experiences.
involved in multiple aspects of their projects. My involvement came at an opportune time, just
as they were developing their Copyright Toolkit for faculty. As background, my original Mentor
suggested attending a few general webinars on copyright and fair use. This gave me the
necessary background to enter the collaboration with the librarians with a frame of reference for
I spent several hours meeting with members of their team, storyboarding interactive
copyright flowcharts, working with our media production team to create the pieces for their
website, and putting the finishing touches on their faculty resources. I achieved my goal of
creating pre- and post-tests for our instructional designers to gauge their proficiency on the topic,
which was greatly appreciated by the library team. We were able to identify gaps in our training
processes and designed follow-up training for the instructional designers based on the results of
the pre-test. The post-test indicated an improvement in our teams level of understanding.
My work on raising awareness of copyright issues in course development and design was
helped to build the relationship between our departments, which was noted in feedback from the
library team. For my involvement in this project, I was awarded a Ruby Slippers Award for
number of webinars, primarily through 3Play Media, regarding multiple aspects of accessibility
such as WCAG 2.0, video player accessibility, requirements for .pdf accessibility, and closed
development opportunities for my team. This grew to include the next piece a professional
As I completed each session, I kept a running journal of reflections and ideas for
implementation within my role. During the course of the internship, I also joined our
institutions Disability Services Committee, working directly with colleagues in areas such as
a greater awareness of the teams that impact accessibility (e.g., LMS Engineering).
One of the specific duties I identified was designing and/or facilitating relevant training
for the course development team related to these areas. In the future, I intend to integrate what I
have learned into more targeted professional development for my team. I have learned how to
discern valuable, free or low-cost, webinars from those that are simply sales pitches for
individual companies. I plan to expose our team to more of these opportunities, as well as
Designing and/or facilitating relevant training for the course development team emerged
related topics, I began to think creatively about the concept of universal design for learning
(UDL). I had studied UDL extensively in my instructional design program, and saw unlimited
I researched a number of potential guest speakers and eventually sought out a contact I
had met at a previous conference. I approached him about a potential seminar. He was
unavailable, but recommended his colleague, Doug Lawson. I met with a variety of stakeholders
on our side (compliance, course development, etc.) to verify that we would be able to actually
I worked with Doug one-on-one to develop and plan a highly interactive, half-day UDL
workshop hosted at our corporate office. We invited a member of library and learning services
leadership (Jon Mladic) to join us for the day. Upon completion of Dougs presentation, I led a
follow-up afternoon session to guide reflection on the topics we had covered and discuss the
I was very proud of the quality of this professional development for our team. I found the
planning process with Doug to be highly educational, ranging from creating the agenda to
business-end pieces such as budgeting and completing nondisclosures where necessary. Overall,
it set the bar high for future development opportunities for our team. Since his presentation, we
have continued to focus on topics that are relevant, timely, and easy to implement in our design
processes. Our leadership also acknowledged the importance of having a credible, external
The bulk of my specific learning outcomes and related duties was dedicated to analyzing
and predicting usage of existing library and learning services resources, relating student success
(e.g., programmatic retention) to online resource usage. I also set what I knew would be a very
lofty goal of integrating library and learning services resources in our course development
process.
to translate this experience into immediate application for our team. The opportunities I received
for this portion of my internship experience far exceeded my expectations. I have included brief
descriptions below. My related artifacts (see Internship Hours spreadsheet for the listing)
provide a much higher level of detail regarding the deliverables for each.
leadership to research existing programs. We created new processes that matched the needs of
the program, all of which are still in place today. The Colleges peer mentor program is unique
in its online format. Our processes from application to evaluation take into account their unique
needs.
Analysis of Peer Leader Resource Usage. I had the opportunity to examine peer leader
resource usage in Medical Terminology, one of our highest-draw and most challenging online
courses. We examined peer leader resource usage and strategized ways to better promote this
resource. We looked at the relationships between resource usage and final exam grades, as well
as final grades for the course. Based on this information, we made recommendations for
We examined the Spring and Summer reports and discussed tailoring these reports to specific
audiences (e.g., course development) so stakeholders could better use this data to make informed
decisions. I learned to identify resource usage trends and analyze each change. The depth of the
data we explored was extensive and included campus usage, breakdown within specific
CRLA IMTPC Application Process. I worked with both learning center leadership and
our compliance team to complete the application for the College Reading and Learning
extensive application and supporting documentation. The College earned the certification,
making us one of an elite group of only 54 institutions that hold this certification for both tutor
Tutor Training Outcomes. We mapped tutor training outcomes from job descriptions to
measurable outcomes. We designed a survey to assess each outcome individually for both new
Collaboration between Course Design and Library and Learning Services. Of all of my
internship experiences, this is the one of which I am most proud. I advocated for better
relationships between our teams and more integration among our processes, particularly
regarding course development. It has not been an easy task, but over the last year we have
worked to refine these processes and have built invaluable relationships. The library and
learning services teams are now fully integrated in our course development process from the
kickoff, ensuring many more opportunities to integrate learning resources in our online courses.
Online Course Improvement
Approximate hours: 15
With the goal of assessing our resources for integration in course development, I reached
out to our Hybrid Classroom Manager to discuss potential opportunities within our courses that
engaging our students and instrumental to their success, was not promoted consistently among
faculty. My collaboration with the Hybrid Classroom Manager resulted in the creation of faculty
We storyboarded and created a standard page for every course that includes a live
classroom component, and then created training screencasts for use on calls with academic
deans. The Faculty Guide to Live Classroom Delivery page includes the philosophy behind live
information and links to the Hybrid Instruction Training Guide, information about posting
follow-up and live classroom recordings, and a repository for live classroom lesson plans
(individual to each course). This created much-needed consistency in the delivery of the live
classroom component, as well as a better experience for our online faculty. As a whole, this
Consortium Accelerate Conference and chose sessions that were relevant to my internship goals.
I explored the following topics: Effective Design Model to Include Learners with Undisclosed
Disabilities in Online Learning; One Step at a Time: Creating Paths for Diverse Learners through
Universal Design for Learning; Analytics What LMS Data is Telling Us About Course Design;
colleagues); Data-Driven Course Design: Using Analytics to Create Personalized and Tailored
These sessions, in addition to the others I attended, gave me the opportunity to network
and exchange ideas with others in similar roles. In addition to supporting the learning outcomes
of my work in areas such as accessibility, I was also inspired throughout the week to push the
boundaries in my own work and think creatively about solutions to our existing challenges. If I
had the resources to allocate additional hours to this area, I would think more strategically about
What did I learn? How did the internship enrich doctoral and/or career objectives?
My goals were to advance my learning in areas such as copyright and fair use, involvement
with our Copyright Taskforce, video captioning and other accommodations, and integration of library
and learning services within curriculum and course design. I hoped to develop a better holistic
understanding of online student services, which would ultimately improve my instructional design
skills. I underestimated how much the internship experience would impact my role.
Over the course of my internship, I won an award, received a promotion, and was invited to
participate in College-level opportunities such as a green belt project. The content knowledge I
learned was absolutely beneficial. More importantly, I learned how to be more visible in our
organization in a way that is still comfortable for me. I typically fly under the radar. Despite my
extensive collaboration with other departments during my time with our organization, I am not highly
visible.
I have learned how to better leverage my strengths and advocate for things that are important
to me (e.g., accessibility, access to quality professional development, online resources). I feel more
confident in my interactions with the thought leaders in our organization. As I continue to grow, I
will focus on building this confidence and demonstrating the many ways in which my educational
The most valuable aspects of the internship experience were the ability to collaborate with
multiple teams across the organization, as well as positively impact the professional development of
my own team. Throughout the experience, I built relationship not only as an individual, but between
my larger team and others in our institution. I am most proud of the development in the relationship
between course design and library and learning services. I began advocating for better integration of
their team in the course development process at the kick-off of my internship. Today we have a
highly collaborative relationship. Although it is certainly a work in progress, both teams have
benefited greatly from the opportunity to work together to improve student learning.
I also greatly enjoyed the time I spent planning and executing a professional development
session on universal design for learning (UDL). The immediate benefits to my team were apparent,
but I am most proud of the culture it has since helped to create. I chose a topic that was important for
our role, but outside of the norm for something we would typically see as an in-house presentation.
Since then, more of my colleagues have chosen to explore related topics. A manager in our
department recently delivered a presentation on designing effective learning for students on the
autism spectrum. I believe that some of his inspiration in choosing a more personal topic came from