Welcome
In this course, I’m diving into the creative side of instructional design. Where planning meets innovation! One of my favorite parts of the class is building a design map, a blueprint that brings learning to life. It connects goals, activities, and assessments in a way that makes lessons both meaningful and exciting. Through this project, I get to turn ideas into interactive learning experiences that inspire curiosity and engagement.
Explore the Virtual Classroom
Explore our Google Classroom at no cost—just use class code: bvdfp73 to join.
Start Here: Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship
This course teaches students how to navigate the online world safely and responsibly. Learners will explore topics such as protecting personal information, recognizing online scams, understanding digital footprints, managing passwords securely, and practicing respectful communication online.
Educators Start HERE
Learn more about the handbook and discover simple steps for bringing VR activities to your virtual classroom.
Build the Escape Room in Rec Room
Students will work together to design a custom VR escape room, applying creativity, problem-solving, and digital design skills. This assignment guides them through planning puzzles, crafting clues, and building an interactive experience in Rec Room or Horizon.
Usability Testing & Reflection
As a homeschool school counselor, my access to students is very limited because I do not work in a traditional classroom or at a traditional school. Most of my daily interactions are with parent educators and learning coaches, supporting them as they guide student learning. For that reason, identifying participants for usability testing was challenging. I was fortunate to secure two test students, and even this opportunity came with limited time.
Each participant spent approximately 30–45 minutes navigating the course. They were asked to:
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Explore the Introduction/Overview/Start Here section
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Complete a short activity from Module 1
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Share immediate feedback through a short debrief and screen recording.
My goal was to evaluate whether the course flow, instructions, and VR integration were accessible to first-time users with varying levels of technical experience.
Analyzing Feedback and Revising the Course
During testing, I originally planned to use Horizon Worlds as the VR platform. However, both students immediately disliked it due to constant crashing and instability. As a result, we had to pivot on the spot. I learned Rec Room in about 20 minutes and shifted the activity mid-session. This unexpected change provided valuable insight into how flexible and adaptable my VR-based lessons must be—especially for homeschool learners accessing content from different devices and bandwidth conditions.
Feedback from the testers highlighted several key issues:
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Horizon Worlds was not reliable for consistent instruction
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Clearer instructions were needed for navigating VR spaces
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Students preferred platforms that were intuitive and stable
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The learning curve for certain VR tools was too steep for a first-time module
In response, I revised the learning sequence, added clearer navigation support, and documented alternative VR options. The biggest takeaway was that my summer course will now launch as the Magazine Club instead of the VR Social Club, giving students a more stable and creative environment while I continue refining VR integration for future offerings.
Engagement and Reflection
After posting my findings, I engaged with questions and feedback from peers. Their insights helped me reflect on the real challenges of designing virtual experiences for homeschool learners, especially when everyone is working with different devices, internet access, and comfort levels with technology. The usability process showed me how important it is to be flexible, to always have a backup platform ready, and to offer clear support for both students and the parent educators who guide them.
I am actually really glad that students were involved from the very beginning of this process. Their honest reactions and suggestions shaped the direction of the course in ways I would not have discovered on my own. They helped me see what worked, what didn’t, and what needed to be explained more clearly. Their perspective made the course stronger and more realistic for the homeschool learners I serve.
This testing also completely shifted the direction of my course. The issues with Horizon Worlds pushed me to change the VR platform altogether and made me dive deeper into creating a more interactive, easy-to-follow handbook for both students and educators. I realized I had to put my teacher hat back on and think about how to add rigor and structure—because I didn’t want this to be “just a social club” with no real learning behind it. The experience helped me redesign the class so it has stronger expectations, clearer learning goals, and more meaningful activities.
Most importantly, this process reminded me how often homeschooling is overlooked, misunderstood, or devalued. As a homeschool school counselor, I see firsthand how rigorous, creative, and demanding these learning environments can be. Many people don’t realize the amount of planning, teaching, and support that parent educators take on. Usability testing showed me how important it is for me to continue advocating for homeschool families, making sure their learning experiences are respected and supported just as strongly as traditional school settings.
Overall, this process strengthened the clarity, accessibility, and purpose of my course—and it reaffirmed my commitment to supporting and uplifting the homeschool community in my final reflection and beyond.
Creating the Usability Video
Student Feedback
When we started the test, I tried getting into Horizon Worlds but it kept crashing every time. It was annoying because I couldn’t even get into the actual room. After trying a few times, we switched to Rec Room instead. I’ve used Rec Room before, so I already kinda knew what to do. The teacher hadn’t used it though, so we had to show her how to move around and how everything works. Once she got the hang of it, things went a lot better.
Google Classroom was easy to find everything in, like the Start Here spot and the first module. The hardest part for me was the Khan Academy work. It was kinda challenging, and switching between tabs made it harder to keep track of stuff. I asked the teacher if she could make a place in Google Classroom for notes so I can upload screenshots instead of losing them.
Overall, once we got off Horizon Worlds, it was actually pretty fun. I liked trying everything out and giving feedback. I think this will be fun if more kids sign up.
Coming Soon
Contributing to our Learning Community...
Score: 98
This course stretched me in ways I honestly wasn’t expecting. Coming into it as someone who has been out of the classroom for years and working primarily as a school counselor, I had to completely shift my mindset back to curriculum design. My daily work usually focuses on SEL, guidance lessons, college readiness, and supporting students through real-life challenges—not building full instructional units from scratch. Remembering the structure, alignment, and planning required for curriculum design was tough at first, but it pushed me in the best way. Even through the struggle, I am genuinely proud of the work I created and the growth that came with it.
I was also taking 5389. I made a point to connect them instead of treating them separately. This actually became one of the strongest parts of my learning. In this course, I created an interactive virtual classroom, which required me to think about student experience, engagement, and how to blend tech tools with instructional goals. In my other course, I built a full professional learning workbook for educators and students. Putting those two pieces together helped me understand how curriculum design doesn't stand alone—teachers need training, support, and resources to bring those lessons to life. Combining the work wasn’t just convenient; it gave me a bigger picture of what meaningful learning looks like from both the “teacher side” and the “student side.” This integration deepened my understanding and made both final products stronger.
I also want to take a moment to say thank you to Dr. Johnson for connecting me with my base group. That made a huge difference. Mrs. Hensley has been a valuable classmate, always offering thoughtful feedback, practical ideas, and encouragement. She helped push my thinking in ways that improved my assignments.
When I look at what worked well for me in this course, consistency stands out. I completed all readings, videos, and activities. I made sure my discussion posts were thoughtful and posted on time, so others had space to engage. My responses weren’t just “checking the box”. I shared insights, asked questions, and connected ideas across both courses. I revised my assignments based on feedback and explained my revisions. I also contributed additional thoughts in discussions when I felt it could help someone else. I stayed engaged and committed throughout the entire course.
In terms of what I can continue to improve, I want to push myself even further in creativity and design. Now that I’m getting more comfortable with curriculum creation again, I want to explore more strategies for engagement and differentiation. I also want to continue strengthening the link between lesson design and the professional learning that teachers need to implement those lessons effectively. But overall, I am proud of the way I showed up—for myself and for my classmates.
I’m giving myself a 98 because I met the expectations of the course at a high level. I contributed to my peers, stayed consistent, linked ideas across both ADL courses, completed all coursework, and produced work that reflects real effort and growth. I pushed myself even when the work felt uncomfortable or unfamiliar.
Check out my discussion boards from this class. They show my engagement, my growth, and how I contributed to our learning community.
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