Reflection

**Reflection ** This phase documents lessons (challenges or frustrations as well as moments of insight and clarity) learned during the development of the online learning intervention and e-portfolio. In addition possible improvements in light of the formative evaluation are discussed. ** Lessons Learned ** ** Challenges ** Some of the challenges I learned as I developed the intervention and e-portfolio are:  a) Balancing of time among my family, work, community and student responsibilities. At work, during the time I was working on the portfolio, it was a busy period, with a new Government having been elected into office on 20 September and my Ministry having been merged with the Ministry of Education to create the Ministry of Education, Science and Vocational Trai ning. I was also involved at the same time in organising a Stakeholders Meeting for Open and Distance Learning Policy Guidelines and a Training Workshop on the use of ICTs in Open and Distance Learning teaching.  b) Erratic power supply and Internet provision. For two days power supply was erratic at my workplace and also Internet provision at home was erratic. This slowed down my progress. c) Moments of being lost and not feeling like continuing. Some times I was not so sure what to do when it came to certain sections of developing the e-portfolio and the intervention. At other times I felt like I almost wanted to abandon the journey as it appeared too long and too demanding with the destination not looking anywhere near in sight.  **Moments of Insight and Clarity**  Moments of Insight and Clarity came at different moments in the course of the development of the intervention and e-portfolio. More specifically these were:   a) An e-mail, text message or phone call from a class mate that clarified issues that were unclear. One example is when I was not too sure whether to use forms to get comments on the blog. When I received an email from a peer who had used a form created using Google Docs this made think that I could use forms to get comments from my respondents.  b) Comments from my lecturer. The  succinct  <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> comments from my lecturers on my e-portfolio clarified areas where I was unclear and made me <range type="comment" id="385787">make necessary adjustments.    <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">c) Reading of appropriate literature from the course reader and from the Internet. **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Possible Improvements to Online Learning Design ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">In light of the comments received in the formative evaluation of the blog, some possible improvements are: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">a) Giving much clearer instructions on the blog on how comments or questions can be asked.  <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">b) Making the blog more interactive by including simulations. This could be done by increasing the number of diagrams and videos. Also using screen casts to illustrate some instructions may help. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">c) Putting videos on DVDs or video tapes to enable those with challenges in viewing online videos be able to do so.