What in It for Me?
One of the first assignments I have students complete in my tech tools class is a course conversion proposal. With this assignment, they are asked to think about a current or former face to face course they’ve taught or taken, and then have to create a plan with objectives to turn this into a fully online or blended/hybrid course. While students do have to come up with arguments as to why or how an assessment can be fully migrated to a different format, where students struggle is in terms of the assessment itself, as the course is called Tech Tools. The assignment is an essay, rather than a chart or a list, and some students struggle to see the relevance of an essay for this content.
For starters, I try to illustrate to them the central importance of communication in any instructional design role they might have in the future with real examples of such. So, while some students may be content with just programming or designing materials for courses, this does not eliminate the need to practice persuasive writing skills to make a case for path X or path y.
Even if these students do not ever write a course conversion proposal in their future jobs or co-op positions, they will have to learn and practice specific persuasive writing skills, and good essay writing is a portion of this skill.
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Example for "What in It for Me?":
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PxxpONXkDPe7vRagxhweAPYa0ezQ4qanXddF2C071oU/edit#heading=h.6deldwccsu4w
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