Meagan Gallagher's ID Portfolio
Navigation links: ETAP 623 Fall 2026 | Link to my mini-course front page
About Me
My name is Meagan Gallagher. My educational background is in psychology (BA) and mental health counseling (MSed) and I work in mental health training and instructional design for a private company. I am very passionate about mental healthcare, and I hope to continue working in this field as I grow as an educator and instructor. My dream job is to develop educational materials for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Outside of work I enjoy life in Upstate NY with my husband and our two orange cats. We love to go to concerts, watch football, and travel in our spare time.
My Topic and Purpose
My mini-course will focus on how to engage learners via virtual learning platforms such as Teams, Zoom, or WebEx. Distance learning and online learning both have nuances not present in live classrooms. My mini-course will teach instructors how to use technology like polls, message boards, and breakout rooms to encourage collaboration and knowledge building among learners. I will also cover methods of keeping learners motivated and engaged while learning remotely.
I chose this topic because my current job entails virtual training using many of these techniques. I have some experience and expertise to share, and I also look forward to researching additional information to include that may strengthen my own practice as well as others. I think that online teaching is becoming more and more common, and this content should be valuable to anyone conducting online teaching regardless of their student population or teaching setting.
Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content
Learners should gain understanding of the unique needs of virtual learners and ways in which instructional technology can support those needs. They should also learn the best ways to employ these technologies to engage learners, build virtual communities, and strengthen educational outcomes. Given the ever-changing technological landscape, this course will focus less on specific tools and more on concepts relevant to virtual teaching and learning. I intend for my course to have a wide scope and be applicable to any virtual learning context, so flexible application of concepts and skills is important. Learners should complete my mini-course prepared with knowledge and skills that they are able to apply in their virtual classrooms right away.
Needs Assessment
The Educational Opportunity
Whether it’s in a K-12 setting, adult education, or workforce training, more and more teaching and learning is occurring online. Educators have access to a plethora of online tools, but they may not have the knowledge and / or skills necessary to select the best tools and use them in ways that augment instruction for better learning outcomes. When selected and used intentionally, these tools can enhance the learning experience and support student collaboration, knowledge building, and deep understanding.
The Learners
My learners will be professionals in various settings who facilitate online teaching or training. They might be K-12 teachers, higher education teachers, instructional designers, workforce trainers, or other related professionals. Educators taking my course will be seeking methods to make online teaching more engaging and effective using available technologies.
Analysis of Gaps
The literature reflects gaps in technology knowledge and skills vs. application. While teachers may be aware of and even use web-based technologies for online teaching, they are not always using them in ways that best facilitate learning. Similarly, teachers show “limitations in developing strategic solutions to problems that may arise in the online environment” (Ozturk, Turker, and Kerse, 2024, para. 3). Research also indicates that teachers are not always well prepared to effectively shift from in-person to online teaching quickly due to changing circumstances such as weather conditions, illness, or emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic (Trust & Whalen, 2020; Trust & Whalen, 2021). In summation, studies support the reality that standard teacher preparation and even comfort with technology does not automatically prepare teachers to be effective online teachers. Instead, it must be intentionally taught through preparatory and continuing education.
Existing Efforts to address this gap
Frameworks for teacher preparation have been developed with some of these issues in mind. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (TPACK) focuses on three areas of teacher preparation with the intention of integrating classroom pedagogy and educational technology (Kurt, 2019). TPACK is not, however, specifically designed to prepare teachers for online teaching, it is more about using technology effectively in the classroom. Efforts have also been made to identify core competencies teachers must have in order be successful teaching online. The K–12 Online Teaching Conceptual Framework lists seven “pillars” of an evidence-based approach to design and delivery of online K-12 instruction, including accessibility, connected learners, active learning, real-time assessment, and more (Johnson et al., 2022). This research is promising and applicable, but not complete. As technology constantly evolves and online or blended learning becomes more common, we must continue to study and address this need.
Intent Statement
This mini-course will provide educators with guidance to design and facilitate effective virtual instruction using technological tools and collaborative teaching methods.
Analysis of the Learner and Context
The Learners
The learners for my KNILT mini-course are educators or educators-in-training of all kinds, including K-12, higher ed, instructional designers, workforce trainers, and more. Those choosing to take my course will likely be educators who teach blended or entirely online classes or programs or have an interest in doing so in the future. Given the wide range of professionals who may take this course, I expect a similarly wide range of prior experience, knowledge, skills, and interests. Additionally, the various teaching settings of my learners mean that what they learn in my course will be applied in different ways with distinct student audiences.
The Context
The KNILT mini-course will be completed online asynchronously, with the ability to pause and return to the course to complete it or revisit resources at any time. Learners will most likely complete the course at home or in a work or school setting. The mini-course will include reading, videos, images, and interactive activities. Learners should be prepared with a computer to access the course and a method of writing, either on their computer or with pen and paper.
Performance-Based Objectives
After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:
- Compare the characteristics and challenges of virtual and face-to-face teaching and learning environments and explain their implications for instruction.
- Explain and apply key pedagogical frameworks to support learner motivation, engagement, collaboration, and knowledge construction in virtual learning environments.
- Select and justify technology-based tools and strategies that support learner engagement, collaboration, authentic application, and demonstration of understanding.
- Design technology-supported learning activities grounded in sound pedagogical principles and tailored to the needs and context of their own virtual classrooms.
Task and Content Analysis
Pre-requisites:
Before completing this course, the learner should:
- Be a current or prospective educator.
- Have basic digital literacy skills, including navigating websites, accessing online learning systems, following digital instructions, and using basic productivity tools.
- Have an interest in effective and engaging online teaching.
Unit 1: The Basics of Virtual Teaching and Learning
After completing this unit, the learner will be able to:
- Compare the characteristics of virtual and face-to-face teaching and learning environments.
- Identify common challenges experienced by instructors and learners in virtual learning environments.
- Explain how the unique characteristics of virtual learning environments influence learner engagement, interaction, and knowledge construction.
Unit 2: Pedagogy for online teaching
After completing this unit, the learner will be able to:
- Describe the core concepts of the Community of Inquiry framework.
- Describe the core concepts of the ARCS Model of Motivational Design.
- Describe the core concepts of the TPACK framework.
- Explain how these models can inform decisions about online instructional design and facilitation.
Unit 3: Selecting Technology to Support Effective Online Learning
After completing this unit, the learner will be able to:
- Identify technology-based strategies that support learner motivation and sustained engagement in virtual learning environments.
- Select appropriate online tools to facilitate learner collaboration, knowledge construction, and meaningful interaction.
- Identify technology-based activities that enable learners to apply knowledge and skills in authentic or real-world contexts.
- Select appropriate digital tools and activities that allow learners to demonstrate their understanding and provide evidence of learning.
Unit 4: Integrating techniques into your virtual classroom
After completing this unit, the learner will be able to:
- Select a pedagogical approach that aligns with the needs and context of their virtual learning environment.
- Justify how the selected approach and its associated technology can support learner engagement, motivation, knowledge construction, or other intended learning outcomes.
- Design a technology-supported learning activity that promotes collaboration and knowledge construction among learners.
- Design a technology-supported learning activity that enables learners to apply knowledge or skills in an authentic or relevant context and demonstrate their understanding.
Curriculum Map
(MOD 7-8) Upload a visual map to show the sequence of learning units, each with its own objectives and activities. The units should work coherently to support the achievement of the ultimate objectives of the whole mini-course. Use this map to guide the creation of the actual learning units while adapting it when needed. The key idea is to fine-tune the objective-content/process-assessment alignment.
Insert image: In the Edit tab, click Insert, select Images and Media, search or upload an image, set options under Advanced tab as needed
**THIS IS A DRAFT OF MY CURRICULUM MAP AND WILL BE UPDATED PERIODICALLY AS I CONTINUE WORKING**
References and Resources
- ... I am compiling sources as I go and will add here when project is complete.