ED 5305: 45 pts
ED 5303: 83 pts.
Reflecting on my contributions to the learning community in both 5303 and 5305, has allowed me to see where I can put more effort into my learners mindset journey. Many contributions were met, yet I struggled finding a core group to meet with regularly. I reached out via messages, email, and in class to try to join a group, but it didn’t pan out. I need to be more persistent moving forward. I did have some communication with Andrea M. and Tonya L., but matching up time to meet synchronously outside of class was a challenge for me. We were able to post to give and receive feedback, and I am thankful that our platform has these tools readily available. I did find a graduate colleague, Alicia S., at a local university doing similar work to meet with and talk through ideas and get feedback via ZOOM, and collaborating with her was valuable to my blended learning disruptive innovation plan development.
Providing feedback and receiving feedback was a much more seamless process with several avenues to do so with our Lamar learning community. Using the discussion, messaging, email, and synchronous breakout groups to post and contribute was a strength of my contributions to the courses, especially Disruptive Innovation, 5305. Whether it was discussing in class or posting to the discussion board, I felt I was able to contribute regularly. I definitely felt more disconnected with the ePortfolio course, as I could rarely make the synchronous class time due to work scheduling conflicts, and the work was a bit lighter on the deep thinking and reflection, and more coding and design dependent for me.
The feedback provided by everyone who contributed was helpful in moving my work forward, and I did go back and revise all of my assignments, sometimes sharing my reflection with the community. This was very helpful with my outline that needed a different format. I enjoyed reading the course materials, but I am not sure if I read all required materials, yet I know I read more in the last several weeks than ever before in my life! I did keep up with the videos and supporting resources, but am not positive that I viewed 100% of them because there were so many. I did watch and read everything I thought I was supposed to plus more.
Deadlines are something I am good with also. I met the course activity deadlines indicated in the calendar, despite working full-time, working a second job, transitioning into a new position, a co-worker passing away, and raising three awesome little kids under eight. I work well with deadlines, and they help me hold myself accountable to do the work.
I Participated in all Monday 5305 synchronous class times as well as any Tuesday’s 5303 that I didn’t have to work during class time. I came to class prepared and ready to discuss thoughts from class resources, and participated in class discussion and messages with thoughts, wonders, and responding to others as well. When I could’t attend synchronous class, I would try to watch the recording to stay informed. Blogging was new to me at the start of this class, but I am proud to say I have a blog up and running, and am excited to continue sharing my Ed technology journey with a broader audience and receive ideas, perspective, and feedforward from others as I continue to nurture a learners mindset.
In my next courses, I want to be more adamant about establishing a core group to meet with on a regular basis to receive more feedforward and build a trusting relationship to get the tough feedback that will help me grow. I also want to cite resources when blogging and reflecting to support my thoughts with research as a personal norm for credibility on every blog post.
The accelerated ADL option is the pace I thrive on. It is a ton of reading, thinking, and reflecting, but I have grown and am enjoying the journey thus far. I am definitely someone who will only do things if I see value in the process, and I am beyond grateful for the graduate coursework’s relevance to my current work and passion.
