The notion of a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) was first introduced by Jim Collins back in 1994 in the book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. Collins and many others since have used the notion of a BHAG to help define a visionary type goal that is more strategic and emotionally compelling rather then being simply tactical.
While you don’t have explicitly to use the term BHAG in presenting your course goal you should use the focus of the BHAG in your design and development to ensure that your goal is strategic and emotionally compelling enough to speak to where you students will be after the course. The goal should focus more on who the students will be or become as a result of the course and not just focus on what they will be able to do.
Whenever you are using a backward design model and are working within an outcomes based education (OBE) framework a clear focus on who you want the learner to become at the end of the course will help you to clearly articulate the course outcomes—which should focus on what the learner needs to do to get achieve the BHAG.
In the Applied Digital Learning (ADL) program students develop an innovation project that they work on throughout their time in the program. In contrast EdTech students only have 4 courses in the ADL. To help you with the adjustment to the ADL program and to deal with the authentic learning opportunity/project focus of the ADL we have put together the following resources specifically for EdTech students.
EdTech and Educational Leadership students will need an innovation project to work on for the 4 courses you are taking in the ADL program. The Leadership Project that is part of your practicum log can/should be used as the project in the ADL courses. It will add 20 hours to the overall Internship/Practicum Log so you need to pick a project/topic that fits under the Leadership umbrella and that you can then build on in each of the ADL courses. You have control over the choice of the project/topic and we encourage you to use the Choosing your Innovation Project section below to help you decide on what you can do. If you have spent any time at all in an instructional environment you can easily see many things that may need to be fixed. Focusing on fixing one of these problems is a good start for your innovation plan project. The ADL Why & Principles page provides the theoretical background for why authentic projects are so important for what we ask you to do in the program.
The ePortfolio (eP) is another very important component of ALL ADL courses. You will need an ePortfolio to complete all of the assignments in each of the courses. We suggest creating one with a simple tool such as Wix or WordPress. Both applications have lots of video help. You must include a blog page on your site, so Google Sites is not typically recommended because there is no built-in blog page. The Minimalist Fundamentals of ePortfolios section below will point you to the same resources that ADL students use to create ePortfolios.
Hopefully, the following information we have put together will give you a better idea of the how, the why, and the what you are heading into. In every course from the ADL program, there are facets that you will be able to include in the practicum report.
What to Expect from the ADL
The Applied Digital Learning (ADL) at Lamar University is designed with and uses constructivist principles that make it different from traditional programs. We believe that it is important to more than talk the constructivist talk and actually walk the constructivist walk have moved beyond the rhetoric by a creating significant learning environment (CSLE) in which we give learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (COVA).
To better understand the CSLE+COVA vs Traditional table comparisons in the video please take a few moments to review the full tables and explanations found at:
How the ADL is Different and What That Means to You
You will NOT find checklists, progress bars, completion status checks, competency or activity-focused rubrics, quizzes, and other related lower-order thinking or behaviorist tools or methods that will help you to check a completed activity off a list in the ADL program. The post Why I Don’t Use Checklists, Progress Bars & Other Activity Monitors will help you to understand and work through the constructivist and outcome-based education foundation that we use in the ADL.
Change in Focus
Shifting your focus from traditional information and content-focused instruction to using authentic learning opportunities, summed up as projects, will help you to make the adjustment to the ADL program. You can view Part B of this video series and explore additional resources that will help you with your Change in Focus.
Minimalist Fundamentals of ePortfolios:
I make the argument that ePortfolios can and should be simple to understand and, more importantly, simple to create and maintain. Especially if we keep the academic and scholarly jargon down to a minimum and focus on what we need to know and do to effectively use ePortfolios to enhance learning. Dwayne’s Minimalist ePortfolio Fundamentals
Why Do You Need to Have an Innovation Project?
In EDLD 5315 you will be asked to create an action research plan to measure the impact of your innovation project. Being able to effectively measure the impact of a learning innovation project is a key responsibility of all educational technology leaders.
In EDLD 5317 you will be asked to create a podcast or long-form video and a publication about some aspect of your innovation project. As educational technology leaders, we need to be able to share how others can bring out an effective change in the learning environment. Being able to promote these enhancements to learning is an essential part of our professional responsibility.
In EDLD 5318 you will be asked to create an online or online blended course that will be related to your Innovation Project. If you consider the above example moving your Professional Learning online would be a great option that will benefit you and your learners.
In EDLD 5389 you will be asked to create a Professional Learning Plan/Strategy that will be based on your Innovation Project. Once again we encourage you to look to your organization and consider what needs to be improved or enhanced. The remote teaching that most people have resorted to because of the pandemic doesn’t work that well and you may want to look at how you can move from remote teaching to blended learning; this would be a great innovation project that will require considerable professional learning.
Blended Learning Resource we use in the ADL:
Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2014). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. John Wiley & Sons.
Course Design & Fink’s 3 Column Table
The online course you will be asked to create in EDLD 5318 will require the development of a course map that will take the form of Fink’s 3-Column Table. Consider the following video to help you develop the course map for the course you will be putting online. Even though I refer to EDLD 5313 where ADL students have the opportunity to develop their course maps this applies to the course map you will be asked to develop for EDLD 5318. Also note that the development of the course map was one of six activities students addressed in EDLD 5313 and this task can be accomplished in over a few hours. Once you are familiar with the process you can develop a course map for an existing course in very short order so this is a very useful tool to learn how to use.
4 Keys to aligning outcomes activities & assessment – There is an easy way and a difficult way to work through Fink’s taxonomy and the 3 column table – please take my advice and use this post and use the easy way.
Mapping Your Learner’s Journey – It is our responsibility to guide our learners through their personal development journey and help them take ownership of their learning.
Why Create Significant Learning Environments – Are you looking at the bigger picture or have you intellectually stepped far enough back to see the full learning environment?
Why you need a BHAG to design learning environments – Use a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) to help define a visionary type goal that is more strategic and emotionally compelling rather than being simply tactical.
Learners will effectively apply an innovative teaching practice by collaborating with colleagues to evaluate their impact on learners and design and model authentic professional learning (PL) activities that are active, have a significant duration, and are specific to their discipline.
Learning Outcomes:
Aligning learning outcomes with activities and assessment:
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activities
Assessment Activities
Foundational
Learners will evaluate the challenges with existing PL efforts and analyze and apply the key principles that make up effective PL.
Reflection & Discussion
Media
Required and Supplemental Readings
Case Studies
Reflection & Analysis
Discussion
Application
Learners will communicate and promote the need for effective and alternative PL.
Reflection & Discussion
Media
Required and Supplemental Readings
Reflection & Analysis
Discussion
Presentation/Video
Integration
Learners will develop authentic PL and supporting resources that are specific to their discipline, their classroom, program, or other specific circumstances.
Reflection & Discussion
Media
Required and Supplemental Readings
Reflection & Analysis
BHAG 3 Column Table/UbD
Schedule/timeline
PL Plan Outline
Discussion
Human Dimensions/Caring
Learners will analyze and assess the different roles and responsibilities in the implementation of effective PL in collaborative and self-directed settings.
Reflection & Discussion
Media
Required and Supplemental Readings
Discussion
PL Plan Development
Modeling, Collaboration & Self-directed Learning
Learning How to Learn
Learners will locate, evaluate, and compile web-based resources, experts, and communities that will help them to develop and deploy effective PL.
Organize and present the strategies and plans developed in the course modules into a cohesive approach.
Please Note: The DLL Program has evolved into the ADL program which starts with EDLD 5305 in Spring of 2021. Many courses like EDLD 5305 are very similar so we will be using student examples from the DLL program and will be adding new ADL student examples as the program progresses.
How to Succeed in the ADL
If you haven’t already reviewed this page and the related links you owe it to yourself to spend the 30 minutes that it will take to see how to really do well in the DLL.
New Culture of Learning
Creating Learning Significant Environment – EDLD 5313 Week 1 Assign Tips
Organic Learning – we need to create an environment in which the learner can do the learning, grow and flourish.
Opening Up Spaces for Answers – Why we run EDLD 5305 the course on innovation planning before we run EDLD 5313, the course on creating significant learning environments
Four keys to understanding learning theories – Regardless of where you land in your thinking about learning the fact that you are thinking about learning and how learning works means that your learners will benefit.
Foster Inquisitiveness Rather than Rebuild It – When we focus on the right answers instead of starting with questions we not only extinguish our learner’s ability to question, inquire and innovate we create an environment of rewards and punishment that fosters fear in the learner when they aren’t able to regurgitate the right answer.
What are the best ways to study for the test? Read this review from Scientific American to see which techniques accelerate information retention and which techniques are just a waste of time. While the introduction to the article suggests that the focus is on learning the reality is this article focuses on how to improve information transfer and test achievement. Unfortunately, some folks equate this with learning–but it is not.
4 Keys to aligning outcomes activities & assessment – There is an easy way and a difficult way to work through Fink’s taxonomy and the 3 column table – please take my advice and use this post and use the easy way.
Mapping Your Learner’s Journey – It is our responsibility to guide our learners through their personal development journey and help them take ownership of their learning.
Why Create Significant Learning Environments – Are you looking at the bigger picture or have you intellectually stepped far enough back to see the full learning environment?
Why you need a BHAG to design learning environments – Use a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) to help define a visionary type goal that is more strategic and emotionally compelling rather than being simply tactical.
COVA+CSLE Mindset vs Traditional – Comparison of the COVA+CSLE Mindset and Motivation with the Traditional Teacher-Centered Approach
Mindset – Overview of Dweck book, site, and related videos and resources
Fixed Vs Growth Mindset = Print Vs Digital Information Age – This notion of adapting to a constantly changing environment is also important when we consider our move from a static print information age to the dynamic digital information age.
The notion of a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) was first introduced by Jim Collins back in 1994 in the book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. Collins and many others since have used the notion of a BHAG to help define a visionary type goal that is more strategic and emotionally compelling rather then being simply tactical.
