Reflection on Implementation and Evaluation

This is the final blog post for the Educational Systems Theory, Analysis, Planning, and Evaluation course in my Learning Technology doctorate program. First and foremost, this is kind of a mea culpa post. I lost it this summer. I found the topic of systems thinking to be thoroughly fascinating, but when it came to developing my implementation and evaluation plans, I completely dropped the ball. Don’t get me wrong, I think I learned a lot in the process of developing the plans, but I missed a critical class and I missed out on an opportunity to work with a group to develop this product. That resulted in a loss of great academic interaction. It probably also resulted in a lot of grind and perhaps extra work that I had to put in to develop the plans on my own. I’m not sure if that’s how the groups worked, but if I’d been in a group, I think that’s how I would have suggested we approach the plans. In any case, I was fortunate to find some really good articles on system dynamic thinking, implementation and evaluation. The plans I produced were not great. Mainly because of my lack of preparation and I believe I will take some time before the fall semester begins to update those plans and see if I can give them the credit they deserve.

As far as research, I have found myself thinking about systems theory more than once in terms of a dissertation topic. I don’t know if I will go so far as to focus on systems theory, but I believe I will seek out the complexities inherent in the implementation of artificial intelligence for instruction, and find a way to incorporate system analysis. I do plan to find out if system theory is a viable minor topic…

I also have reflected a lot on my own limitations in regards to work life balance. Working full time, raising a family, trying to be active in my church and community, while at the same time working on a doctorate is maddening, weepingly, difficult. For me. Perhaps summers should be a decompression period for me in the future. Maybe this is something I need to consider more deeply in regards to my goals for the future. In any case, I don’t know that I’ve had a more active period of reflection and self-evaluation in my life. I think some of it came from my new systems perspective and my appreciation for complexity and the interconnectedness of things.