Contributions to my Learning: Assessing Digital Learning & Digital Communication and Collaboration

Reflecting on my educational journey, I am struck by the transformative power of exploring and implementing innovative practices within the dynamic landscape of digital learning. In education, we are constantly navigating a world of evolving technologies and diverse learning needs. This necessitates a critical and reflective approach to ensuring our efforts truly enhance the engagement and effectiveness of the learning environment. Ultimately, this reflection aims to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on assessing and implementing successful digital learning practices, fostering a meaningful and impactful learning experience for all.

Assessing Digital Learning (98/100)

In assessing digital learning we focused on the work of Craig Mertler and the Action Research process.  How do you assess the instructional impact of the implementation of an innovation plan on creating effective digital learning environments? Learning how to understand and implement the Action Research process is key. In that class, we learned about how to take charge of our change initiatives and how to evaluate the effectiveness of them.  We learned all about the Action Research Design Process One way to do that is through a cyclical Action Research process.  The Action Research Process includes five key stages: identifying a topic, reviewing and analyzing literature, planning, taking action & collecting data, analyzing data, and reflection.  We applied that learning immediately in the creation of an action research design outline on a topic.  Then we had to see what available research had to say about our topic through writing a literature review.  It's important to know the why behind any task, especially in learning.  This type of writing is incredibly technical and succinct.  This is the second time I have participated in this process, and feel I have made great gains in growing my skills in this type of writing.  Finally, we combined our outline with our literature review to create a comprehensive Action Research Plan.  Again, the learning could only be deepened and strengthened through authentic participation in classroom discussion posts and learning done together through Zoom.  This class stretched me out of my comfort zone.   Learning about Action Research through designing action research takes grit, as some of the phases are more structured and have less wiggle room.  Throughout this growth process, I learned that creativity can also be precise and focused.  

Digital Communication and Collaboration (98/100)

Our journey in this course began by exploring various digital resources and learning environments. We tackled the crucial task of communicating their potential to enhance learning. This involved learning the nuances of writing for publication which included identifying a target audience and organization with all the relevant requirements. With these considerations in mind, we crafted rough drafts and embarked on a rigorous feedback cycle. This involved submitting outlines, drafts, and revisions for peer and group review, utilizing a collaborative rubric to guide the process. We culminated this process with final drafts, empowered by the collective feedback.

Beyond written communication, we created a media presentation to market our publication and provide a glimpse of its content. Drawing on prior learning to capture the heart and tell a story that matters, my collaboration group created a joint podcast. This experience, one of the most enjoyable of the course, showcased the power of technology in facilitating connection, creativity, collaboration, and communication.  In this course we engaged with the ideas of renowned contemporary learning theorists and constructivist frameworks, even encountering a new framework to learn more about cleverly woven into our assignments. Authentically engaging in online Zoom breakout rooms or written discussion posts on relevant topics further enriched the learning experience. Once again, our journey mimicked our learning goals.  We participated in learning about digital communication and collaboration through digital communication and collaboration.  Even though we were asked to learn and produce quite a bit in a short amount of time, it always felt exciting to play and puzzle with these ideas.  The work was inspiring, not heavy. 

Community Counts

My collaborative learning group expanded!  These colleagues, who are becoming valued friends, are the anchor to this entire process, providing encouragement, a sounding board, and invaluable feedback through various channels like Zoom, texting, GroupMe, and even in-person meetups at a recent TCEA convention. These amazing men and women are a constant support.  Their collaboration helped me push myself further to refine and discuss ideas, making them an essential part of this transformative learning experience. Their friendship is just an added bonus. Their conversation enriches my life, and I am happy to be a part of their journey. I continued in the practice of blogging about my learning, developed in my initial course of writing about what I learned, finding it enhanced my personal learning journey, and made my learning easy to share with others outside of this program.

As I’m nearing the end of this graduate degree process, I am feeling bittersweet.  I love learning in this way-authentically through experiences.  When I look through my ePortfolio, I can literally see the growth in so many areas from colleagues to friends to learning to writing to confidence, to web page design, across the pages. This is the way I’ve always been the most successful in my learning, and it's my deepest desire for everyone to experience, regardless of where they are on their learning journey. I’m also excited.  Excited for what’s coming next and the next learning opportunities, because even though the degree requirements soon will be met, the learning will continue.