JoyfulDuplisea’s Ed Tech Journey

Contributions to Learning 5302 & 5304

catherineduplisea1

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(86 pts.)

This is my second session in the accelerated ADL program, and I am starting to get more comfortable navigating the platform and giving myself grace to do anytime and anywhere learning, at a pace that works for me an day family.  I am really enjoying the personalized and authentic nature of the program, as I am growing through learning and reflection. I have already used learning from this program in my daily job.  The direct application is rewarding. This session, I had a conflict with my second job and class time, but did attend synchronously when I could make it. The videos were very helpful when I had to miss. I really enjoyed the class discussions and the synchronous “live” learning times that I could attend.  

I definitely improved on the core collaboration group this time around, as I participated in a large group chat via GroupMe with 36 members from our classes and had a very close core group with Tonya Logan.  In the GroupMe chat we kept each other motivated, provided feedforward, and shared organization ideas.  This group is nice because it kept us all in the loop on what was coming up and was a safe place to share ideas and get peer contributions.  At times, this group was also overwhelming to keep up with, and having my core buddy, Tonya Logan, was just what we both needed.  Tonya was wonderful at sharing class notes with me on the days that I wasn’t able to attend in person, bounce ideas off of, and give and get safe feedforward to and from.  Tonya and I connected last session, but have definitely strengthened our comfort level and friendship throughout these past two classes.  We kept each other accountable and on track with the workload.  Tonya is a good fit for me because we both have full time jobs in education, families, and the ADL program.  It was great to have an accountability partner who understood the real life time struggles.     

I love the encouragement to revised assignments in this program, and I  made revisions based on feedforward provided by colleagues, professors, and my own reflection and learning.  The most exciting revision was with my learning manifesto, when I figured out why my anchor text link wasn’t working properly!  I have it all fixed now 🎉. I also redesigned the layout of both compilation pages because I wanted more clarity for navigation. I am sure I will keep revising and evolving my work throughout the program as I continue to grow and learn from readings, videos, and conversations.    

I did complete, not always “on time” the course readings, watched videos, and contributed to the conversations. I also met the various course activity deadlines indicated in the calendars, minus one assignment that I received an extension on the 4DX plan in 5304, due to illness. Participating in the accelerated ADL option is working for me because I can do anything for one year, but am now trying to figure out how I can continue on for my doctorate. The workload is manageable, especially if my family can stay healthy!  We had a few weeks of “crazy” during this session where influenza, then a stomach bug, and lastly a respiratory infection hit our home back to back to back.  If I can get through that with only one assignment extension, then I am feeling pretty confident about continuing with the program.  

I do feel that I took leadership responsibility in my base group with Tonya, and in the synchronous classes that I was able to attend.  I called and texted Tonya often to check in, shared ideas, asked for feedback, and provided encouragement weekly. When able to attend class, I was always willing to share ideas and come off of mute to engage in conversation.  I appreciated the after class conversations with both professors who embraced my “weird brain”. I also participated in all activities that I was able to, and made contributions in the various course forums such as discussion, responses to chats, responding to questions, and providing feedforward to peers.  I was not always on time with the discussion posts, but I did make the time to contribute to all and respond to peers.  My posts reflected depth of thinking and I cited them using APA formatting when appropriate.  I made additional response posts to contribute to the learning community as well. I look forward to continuing my learning journey at Lamar, and appreciate the authentic productive struggle I am presented with in the ADL program.

Text conversation with Tonya.
Discussion participation

53 responses to “Contributions to Learning 5302 & 5304”

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