"In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who will inherit the future. The learned find themselves equipped to only live in a world that no longer exists."  Eric Hoffer

I have always had a passion for training and development of adults and I finally plunged in and decided to actually learn how to do well what I had been doing seat of the pants. This page is designed to house all of my masters work over the 3 years of my masters program so that I can keep track of my portfolio of work and learn how to excel working in an online format.

If you are not one of my cohorts and have visited this page and are interested in this extraordinary educational program, please visit the OSU Remote Education Web Page. 

NOTE: This site offers most of our documents for download in Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF files are printer independent that can easily print a duplicate of the original publication using any graphics printer (i.e., laser, inkjet, dot-matrix or plotter).  To read and print a PDF publication, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed on your PC. You can download the Adobe Acrobat Reader version suitable for your system by clicking on this button.

Courses and projects

Year One, 2000-2001

Course Description: This course establishes the context of the contemporary workplace. It explores issues surrounding workplace cultures, structures, and processes as they promote and hinder organizational and employee learning and performance. This course requires adult learners to construct a design for identifying criteria for evaluating such workplace settings and for further examination of them in terms of their contribution towards being a learning community.

Develop basic skills in planning, producing, and publishing instructional websites using the following types of software: Web Editors, Image Editors, FTP Applications

Course Description: Learning Theories is a graduate level course intended to introduce and inform participants of the  major theorists who have contributed to the study of learning, in general, and to the understanding of adult learning and training, in particular. The course will examine how contemporary learning theories, models, and approaches have evolved from historical perspectives on learning and the influences of traditional learning theories. From such theoretical frameworks, participants will identify those theories and approaches which support a personal philosophy of teaching and learning and which provide application of principles and concepts in teaching and training settings.

Course Description: Inquiry strategies for analyzing organizational and individual training needs based on performance opportunities and discrepancies. The intended outcome is to gather, analyze, synthesize, and report all information necessary to design an effective training intervention in a specific context.

Course Description: Issues related to the development, implementation and implications of education and training policy with emphasis on the analysis of policy intents and outcomes. The intended outcome is to analyze and recommend improvements in education and training programs in light of related organizational, national, state, and regional policy. 

Course Description: A three credit course for master's degree students with an emphasis on the professional (teacher/trainer) as researcher. Course content consists of understanding the basic principles and techniques of conducting research studies. It includes each student selecting a topic and /or researchable question based upon his/her interest and /or area of expertise that is directly related to one/s work context. The intended outcome is that learners, upon completion of this 2-part course, not only will gain a sense of appreciation and importance of the steps involved in conduction applied and action research, but will conduct and complete an action research study. You will learn to develop the basic understanding, concepts, and processes for conduction action research. You will be able to critically read, analyze, and interpret the research literature, distinguish the fundamental differences between qualitative, and quantitative research, and assess the validity and reliability of both quantitative and qualitative research studies.

Year Two, 2001-2002

Course Description: Instructional systems theory, conceptual and procedural models. Emphasis on the role of the professional instructional designer in training systems development and instructional project management. This course is designed for instructors and trainers who are responsible for the development of programs and courses in community college and workplace settings. Using systems concepts and methods, students will learn to design outcome-based, learner-centered instructional plans at the program, course and activity level.

Course Description: Develop basic skills in producing instructional publications and resources using Adobe PageMaker desktop publishing software.

Course Description: This course is designed to take what was learned in ED 553 and our philosophy of teaching and/or training, our assessment skills as learned from ED 533, Workplace Learner needs Assessment, and our developed skills in instructional design of a curriculum or training, as learned in ED 531, and apply them through a process of instructional delivery. ED 547 prepares us to develop those strategies that will be effective in driving our instructional plan. Real life application is the intent.

Course Description: Develop intermediate skills in producing instructional publications and resources using Adobe PageMaker desktop publishing software.

Work with others to develop and use formative assessment tools to clarify context dependent or socially constructed expectations and improve learning on the job or in the classroom. Work with others to convert formative assessment tools into valid summative assessment tolls to "classify" individual or group performance. Use assessment results to create or change performance interventions.

Course Description: Develop Advanced skills in producing instructional publications and resources using Adobe PageMaker desktop publishing software.

Self-organized Learning is a graduate level course intended to introduce and inform participants to self-organized learning principles and practices for individual and collaborative work group learning. The course is meant to help  you, as a workforce leader, create an environment that helps yourself and others learn more effectively and efficiently in today's rapidly changing workplace. In order for learning to transfer and be effective, an environment must incorporate such processes as problem finding, metacognition, and self-regulation.

We will mainly study insights captured by Fritof Capra, which focuses on ecosystems under the premise that all things self-organize. Capra's premise lies behind five major principles that we will explore throughout the course.

Course Description: A three credit course for master's degree students with an emphasis on the professional (teacher/trainer) as researcher. Course content consists of understanding the basic principles and techniques of conducting research studies. It includes each student selecting a topic and /or researchable question based upon his/her interest and /or area of expertise that is directly related to one/s work context. The intended outcome is that learners, upon completion of this 2-part course, not only will gain a sense of appreciation and importance of the steps involved in conduction applied and action research, but will conduct and complete an action research study. You will learn to develop the basic understanding, concepts, and processes for conduction action research. You will be able to critically read, analyze, and interpret the research literature, distinguish the fundamental differences between qualitative, and quantitative research, and assess the validity and reliability of both quantitative and qualitative research studies.

Course Description: A three credit course for master's degree students designed to help educational leaders understand and develop leadership roles in the area of educational planning. Key learning outcomes include exploring multiple perspectives of leadership, becoming more knowledgeable about leadership attributes and characteristics, articulating a personal view of leadership, and developing a plan to build leadership capacity.

Course Description: A three credit course for master's degree students designed to take all of our learning throughout the master's degree and synthesize it into one big "whole". This course helps us to integrate all of our learning into a "capstone project" that is a part of our final evaluation for our master's degree. We will synthesize what we have learned in our coursework, namely learning theories and adult development, workplace assessment, instructional design, and adult strategies, self-organization and leadership. We will demonstrate what we have learned by creating a script (or manual) for a stand-up "face-to-face" 2-3 hour training that includes a POG, COG's, instructional delivery processes that reflect sound adult facilitation and a program evaluation component. the design should be "user-friendly" and easily replicated by others simply by referring to the script.

Course Description: A three credit course for master's degree students designed to take all of our learning throughout the master's degree and synthesize it into one practical work application.  

Course Description: This three credit course is designed to bring closure to the learning that was experienced throughout the adult education cohort master's degree program. It requires participants to use a variety of reflective and evaluative processes related to this three-year experience, one's professional practice, and one's personal life.