Some Reflections

Why was the process of producing the validation document so difficult?

I was surprised when I saw the document printed out; it looked so small. I had been working on an electronic document and hadn't really ever had an idea of how big the document was. As I had spent so much time on it, I imagined that it would be correspondingly big.

I have referred to the main problems with this process before. The most important one is the short timescale and therefore the lack of time to think and consider. I also feel that because this was an online degree, the whole process was harder for us and we had to justify things in a way that wouldn’t have been required of a face to face course. Additionally we had to prepare the detail for modules that will not be delivered for several years and incorporate all this into our planning and design – all very good practice, but hard to do in the short timescale.

To make things even more difficult, the online content for the modules has been written during this time too. A face to face course might be delivered for the first time with a lecturer writing the lectures for each week, days, or even hours before the lecture. We have had to produce all the content for semester one and have it all ready before the course starts.

All this has meant that we have all had to do too many things at once; often things that needed to be done in sequence.

Now I feel a great relief that the validation process is over and look forward to be able to getting back to working normally.