It was such an exciting journey with courses 5315 and 5317. It was a challenge to balance two different assignments every week. But it was worth getting that feeling of accomplishment.
It may seem like a no-brainer, but actual brainstorming is impossible without collaboration. Collaboration provides a safety net; it helps you catapult your thinking and develop ideas that may seem crazy initially. I am grateful for the constant support from my classmates on Groupme chat. It has become a wonderful learning community for me. Being a member of this learning community means engaging in joint learning activities, soaking in innovative ideas, and sharing perspectives and experiences to understand the information. Learning happens through discussion, reflection, collaborative teamwork, and most importantly, taking the initiative and responsibility to listen, question, and think critically within the community of my classmates.
My small group collaboration was the same: Kelven Wilson, Chastity Crissman, Andréa Harrell, Danielle Lopez, and Pedro Carrizales. I felt we bonded more this semester; we encouraged each other and were there to answer general questions and give each other feedback. It was beneficial to have their support: we brainstormed ideas about assignments, peer-reviewed our work, shared some advice on organizing our ePortfolio better, reminded each other about deadlines, etc. Building a few supportive relationships with my classmates is critical because, as an online student, it would be easy to miss the camaraderie that often exists in a traditional classroom. That same camaraderie online motivates and keeps me engaged in classes. Using the feedforward feedback from my teammates and Dr. Still or Dr. Meeuwse, I could take a fresh look at my material and adjust when needed. Sometimes it was as simple as moving a link on my Media Pitch task or changing the order in which I present things.
In the 5315 Assess Digital Learning course, our assignments were:
Dr. Meeuwse was the instructor for this course. She was clear and precise with the information and the expectations from us. In this course, I learned more about how to do research effectively. I thought that research had to be a complicated process and hard to accomplish. But this class showed me that action research could be laid out in a way that is not overly complicated. I also learned how to find the focus areas in my innovation plan. I researched how blended learning could benefit students with special needs and provide more success in implementing my innovation plan.
The 5317 course was Resources Digital Environments. This course was about writing an article for some online educational platform. Dr. Still focuses our attention on high standards of publications. I wondered why teachers didn’t engage in writing opportunities more often. Reading seemed to be a natural part of our professional development, yet writing was often overlooked as an equally crucial self-reflective behavior. I concluded that there existed a perception that writing and publishing papers were daunting tasks. Many educators wanted to write yet felt they didn’t know how to gather ideas worthy of publishing or what to do with their papers once finished. Finding other teachers interested in the same subject area was the spark needed for reluctant my writing skills. Writing together with more experienced colleagues or mentor-teacher was an enjoyable experience.
In 5317, our assignments were:
Peer Review (Week 6) for 5317
This summer, for our EDLD 5317 course, we were tasked with creating an article for possible publication. While making this article, we had to get our article reviewed by the teacher and our peers. I worked together on it with the same small group of people -Kelven Wilson, Chastity Crissman, Danielle Lopez, Andrea Harrell, and Pedro Carrizales. They added comments to my publication rough draft for feedforward, and I did the same to them. I enjoyed this assignment because we received honest opinions from others reading it for the first time. They made many helpful comments on different areas of our publication that allowed us to make changes to perfect it for our audience. Writing also helped me fulfill some of my professional obligations as part of my profession. For example, in some areas, educators are required to submit an ‘Annual Learning Plan’ to outline their plans for professional development for the year. Including writing as part of professional learning plans or teacher performance appraisal will help satisfy job requirements, and provide educators with the time, resources, and support necessary to do so.
Every week I actively participated in discussions on Blockboards for 5315 and 5317, posting and replying to my classmates. It was fascinating to observe how people react differently to some discussion topics. I found it helpful to get support from your classmates on these sometimes-complex topics.
I also attended Zoom lectures for both courses and participated in discussions in break-out rooms.
I considered all of Dr. Still, Dr. Meeuwse, and Creighton's suggestions to improve my assignments and made needed corrections.
As an adult professional raising a family, you have already had to learn the importance of scheduling. Adding academics to your schedule makes it that much more critical. All adult students must be masters of the work-life balance. While this can be a complicated routine to get into, you'll find your way with a bit of time. That is why I actively used Reminders and Google Calendar. It helped me stay current with my homework, readings, and discussions.
Looking back on my effort for these two classes over the past eight weeks was particularly good; I put in the time needed to focus on what the assignment was asking for. I improved my innovative plan with ideas that action research can be beneficial and a fun process that improves learning and the importance of the publication process, and how this can be a way to make contributions to the education community.
Self-Assessment Grade
Based on my collaboration with my group and discussion forums participation, I deserve a 90/100 for the 5315 EDLD class and a 90/100 for the 5317 EDLD class.
Comments