Synthesis of Applied
Digital Learning Journey
ADL Journey Reflection
EDLD 5303:
Applying Educational Technology: E-Portfolio
I began my ADL journey in the fall of 2021. One of my first courses was EDLD 5303: Applying Educational Technology. In this course, I learned what an e-portfolio was and created one from scratch using the Wix platform. I created a home page, which included a personalized title, a meaningful quote, blogs, and youtube videos that I found impactful during the semester, and I also included a way to be contacted. Slowly but surely I continued to change, add, and refine my e-portfolio to what it is now.
EDLD 5305:
Disruptive Innovation in Technology
My second fall 2021 course was EDLD 5305: Disruptive Innovation. In this course, I was not only challenged to disrupt everything I knew about education but I was also challenged to create a shared innovation project with my coworkers that would disrupt the current educational model at our campus. I first began with an innovation proposal that proposed a change at my organization. Then, my coworkers and I followed up by researching what the literature stated about Blended Learning and created a Literature Review, titled Blended Learning: Personalizing the Future of Education. After creating our shared literature review, my coworkers, Ileana Reyna and Veronica Balli, and I created an Implementation Outline that described a two-year timeline for implementing our innovation project at our campus. Lastly, for this course, we created an Annotated Bibliography that explored future readings that have aided and will continue to aid us in the long-lasting implementation of our innovation project.
EDLD 5302:
Concepts of Educational Technology
EDLD 5302: Concepts of Educational Technology was one of my spring 2022 courses. During my time in 5302, I learned more about learning how to learn. I not only read and learned about COVA but was also fully immersed in it. I also learned more about Growth Mindset and was able to create a Growth Mindset Plan that models and teaches the staff and students at my campus that failures can be a gift. Next, I reflected on my learning experiences as a student and the type of teacher I currently am and would aspire to become in my Learning Manifesto. Lastly in this course, I created a blog post where I shared some of my PLNs that have helped me grow as an educator and that could help my fellow classmates grow as well.
EDLD 5304:
Leading Organizational Change
Another one of my spring 2022 courses was EDLD 5304: Leading Organizational Change. In this course, I learned to become an agent of change. I focused on implementing my Innovation Project, by reflecting on my why and creating models and strategies to influence and execute change. I also learned how to be a self-differentiated leader in order to have the crucial conversations needed to implement the change I seek at my organization.
EDLD 5389:
Developing Effective Professional Learning
During my second set of spring 2022 courses, I took EDLD 5389: Developing Effective Professional Learning. In this course, my colleagues and I created a Professional Learning Plan in order to implement Blended Learning: Personalizing the Future of Education at our school. In order to create an effective Professional Learning plan, we embarked on a 3 step process. Step 1, was a call to action presentation to promote a Go & Show approach to professional learning. Step 2 was to create an outline that provided an overview of the PL sessions we will provide in order to implement our innovation plan at our campus. Lastly, Step 3 was a fully prepared PL Plan that we will use to introduce our staff to blended learning. These three steps have given us the tools to provide effective professional learning in order to create long-lasting change in our organization.
EDLD 5313:
Creating Significant Learning Environments
My last class of the spring 2022 semester was EDLD 5313: Creating Significant Learning Environments. In this course, I
learned about cultivating our imagination by reading and reflecting on A New Culture of Learning - Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change by Thomas & Brown (2011). This novel helped shape my mind about what we wanted to see in our innovation project. We then dove deep into learning philosophies in order to create our own learning philosophy. After learning and reflecting, we created a sample lesson based on Fink’s (2003) guide. Our 3 Column Table helped us align our learning goals, activities, and assessments for a 4th-grade blended learning Poetry Unit that included choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (COVA) while keeping in mind the learning environment and other situational factors. Next, we created an Understanding by Design (UbD) template (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) where we used backward design to not only align our goals, assessments, and activities but to also ensure that our desired results were met. Lastly, in this course, we updated our Growth Mindset Plan in order to create a stepping stone to fostering a holistic learner's mindset.
EDLD 5317:
Resources and Digital Environments
EDLD 5317: Resources and Digital Environments was one of my summer 2022 courses. In this course, I learned about the power of educational technology and how to share my knowledge through publication by taking a deep dive into our innovation project and honing in on Blended Learning: Closing Gaps with Adaptive Programs. We first created a publication outline that introduced our topic, digital resources, lessons learned, and ideas of where to submit for publication. This step was just a jumping-off point. Shortly after, we created a publication rough draft for feedforward which then led to our media project and publication final draft. This course allowed us the opportunity to learn how to share our knowledge on a grander scale, by learning how to produce an article that is worthy of publication.
EDLD 5315:
Assessing Digital Learning
My second summer 2022 course was EDLD 5315: Assessing Digital Learning. In this course, I was able to collaboratively explore action research and how it can be applied to education. Not only were my co-workers, Veronica Balli, Ileana Reyna, and I able to dive deeper into our innovation plan, Blended Learning: Personalizing the Future of Education, but we were also able to focus our research on the use of adaptive digital programs within our blended learning environments. We first created an Action Research Outline that explained our topic for research, our purpose for the study, and our research questions among other research topics. We then explored what the research stated about the use of digital platforms in blended learning environments and then wrote an updated Literature Review. Lastly, we created an Action Research Plan that discussed a timeline of when we would conduct our research, how we would collect data, and how we would share our results with others.
EDLD 5318:
Instructional Design
EDLD 5318: Instructional Design is one of my final courses in the ADL program. In this course, which I m currently taking, I am learning and analyzing online learning and design. I am currently developing a 5 week blended course design in which I give students choice, ownership, and voices through authentic blended learning opportunities. My first assignment for this course was an Instructional Design Overview presentation and video that discussed the overview of my course including how my goals, activities, and assessments align. Next, I began the implementation process and created an introduction and the first two weeks of instruction for my blended learning course. Lastly, I will complete the 5-week course, discuss the usability, and reflect on my learning later this week. (I will update the link and this page as soon as I am finished with this assignment.)
EDLD 5320:
Synthesis of Digital Learning
My final course in the ADL program is 5320: Synthesis of Digital Learning. In this course, I am exploring, analyzing, and REFLECTING a whole lot on the entire ADL journey. I first dove deep into how the COVA approach aided my learning throughout this program and how it has impacted me as a learner and educator. Next, I analyzed, evaluated, and reflected on the evolution of my innovation project. Lastly, I analyzed, reflected on, and synthesized my entire journey in the ADL program.
End of ADL Reflections
As I am nearing the end of my final two classes of the ADL program, I see how beautifully the program is designed. All courses complement and work together for a common goal while aligning the goals, activities, and assessments. Everything we have learned has also been a part of our program the entire time. We learned about COVA while being fully immersed in the COVA Approach. Wow! What a journey. Thank You to all my classmates who have been on this amazing journey with me and Thank You to all my professors who have guided me along the way.
References
Fink, L. D., PhD. (2003). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved
Harapnuik, D. (2021, April 16). New culture of learning. YouTube. https://youtu.be/G4RIBNgK6xI
Harapnuik, D., Thibodeaux, T., Cummings, C. (2018). Choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning [eBook]. Creative Commons
License. http://tilisathibodeaux.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/COVA_eBook_Jan_2018.pdf
Horn, M., Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools.Jossey-Bass A Wiley Brand.
Thomas, D. & Brown, J.S., (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.