Contributions to my Learning: Concepts of Educational Technology and Leading Organizational Change

Throughout the courses Concepts of Educational Technology and Leading Organizational Change, I have actively engaged in various activities, discussions, and assignments. I have learned so much in both courses. In this reflective blog post, Reflections on COVA and the ePortfolio, you can find my personal growth in that area. In the reflective post Self Differentiated Leadership, you can read more about my specific learning regarding that area.

I am proud of my journey during this accelerated semester in particular, because I learned how to balance my professional and personal responsibilities alongside my graduate coursework. Honestly, as compared to the summer courses, it helped that I am in a routine. Once, I proactively asked for an extension of a deadline when I was ill, but I didn’t need to use it because I was so motivated and engaged by the learning. As you will soon see, it has evolved from “graduate coursework” to something I look forward to. It fills my desire for conversation and thinking at deep levels, and creating in a digital environment for the purposes of communicating ideas with others. My experiences with Applied Digital Learning continue to have a lasting impact on my learning journey!

So what is exactly is working? For me, the class readings have been insightful and have provided me with a strong foundation of knowledge in the subject matter. Engaging in class discussions has allowed me to broaden my perspectives and learn from my peers. I have actively participated in both our live virtual discussions as well as posting and replying to others' discussion posts, which has fostered meaningful conversations and contributed to an active learning environment. Many times things I have said or wondered about have sparked further conversation amongst my peers. I even made Dr. Harapnuik laugh when I was explaining my joy of learning from others by describing it as “an ePortfolio Walkabout”. In breakout rooms, I’m the first to break the ice and begin introductions to make everyone feel at ease and initiate facilitating conversations. I feel comfortable asking questions without fear of judgment. I even stayed behind and asked for clarification from Dr. P and Dr. H on several occasions to make sure I was understanding the topics at the level needed. The discussion posts, an area of improvement for me from the last set of classes, have been going much smoother. I have met my goal of a post and 4 or more replies in a discussion format. This time, I was often the first to reply to others! I’m excited to have met that goal, and have begun setting goals for the next set of courses.

Something I continue to work on is my ePortfolio learning and APA. I am still wondering how APA became the chosen style of writing and referencing. I’m still learning what exactly needs referencing, and am still revising my Growth Mindset Plan. It's just not there...yet. It's getting closer each day! I feel my ePortfolio will just be one continuous ongoing process, and I’m at peace with that. I appreciate the feedback given and feel safe enough to ask some clarifying questions because I genuinely want to do things well. I have been persistent in finding fixes and finally found a solution on 10/1/23. (This whole time, I have been needing something called "containers"!) I’m the type of person who once I learn more about how to do something better, I instantly want to apply and use it. This new use of “containers” has now led to many key page layout changes. I’m still working on adding APA references and working backward. I’m still early enough that I can make adjustments on my entire ePortfolio, but realize that may not be feasible long term.

Of course, I wouldn’t be able to do nearly as much without the encouragement and support of my core collaboration group. I am still working with Ashley, Rebekah, Paul, and Jane and we were joined by Lance! (Please visit their portfolios linked on my Applied Digital Learning page!) We all really understand each other. Despite the challenges of managing professional careers in education and just things that come up in life journeys, we have utilized Group Me for effective communication and collaboration. We even have subsections for the different courses. We provide feedback and support to each other in our individual projects. However, our conversations now go beyond the scope of our graduate courses. Our collaboration has extended into our professional fields, proving to be highly beneficial as we draw upon each other’s strengths and experiences for encouragement, ideas, discussion, and more. It’s like the “diabolical plan” is clearly being implemented effectively!

Within the collaboration group, this time I have taken a stronger role in checking and leading conversations. I assist in editing and revising, sharing ideas, clarifying directions, etc. I am a great encourager and listener to the members of my group. I have also received some great feedforward, editing assistance, and encouragement. I feel like we contributed to the best of our abilities during an intense beginning of a school year, and we have significantly enriched understandings going beyond graduate coursework.

This time in the coursework, there was an opportunity to deepen my understanding of previously learned concepts. As a lifelong learner, I had the benefit of rereading 5 of 6 required readings. I had read 5 of them before “for fun”. Through the lens of Applied Digital Learning and our discussions, I was able to gain further insights and deeper understanding. There were certain core beliefs that I have held true for a long time that has now been affirmed and “named”. For example, I realize I was raised with a Growth Mindset, but I don’t think my parents knew that it was called “Growth Mindset”. In a class discussion post that someone referenced in a virtual live discussion, I theorized that a growth mindset was a person’s natural state of being, and the need for relearning that skill comes after being exposed to cultural and societal norms and expectations. This brought great online and virtual conversation. Even after that, I knew there just had to be something more to this based on my research on play-based learning and curiosity. Dr. H then shared others who also thought this could be true and proceeded to give it a name: Learner’s mindset, autodidactic learning, and inquisitivism. A similar experience happened for me with new learning with Dr. P and the Influencer Strategy! I knew that for others to get on board with a change, they not only had to buy into it, but they had to have some skills built in to use the new information while having autonomy in implementation. In my mind, I called this “ninja-ing”. In my coaching world, when I’m coaching others toward a goal, there is often a change of some type involved that is possibly uncomfortable and requires new learning. However, I learned some things I do by instinct in coaching have actual NAMES in the influencer strategy, and then I learned an actual way to deploy it more effectively within a framework. It was very affirming that things I knew in my heart to be true had NAMES. That meant many others also thought the same as me. Just to learn that the thoughts in my mind had actual names made my heart sing.

Even though it’s still a learning goal, I have shown growth in APA and blogging. I’m not yet an expert in both by any means, but I am enjoying the process of learning how to create within the parameters of APA and getting more vulnerable in my blogging. My blog is now another hobby. Last time, I had required blog posts and then maybe 1 or 2 more. In this section, I have blogged 20 times, which is 50% more volume than the required blackboard discussion posts, and 8 more times than the previous courses. I even did something new in one of my last discussion posts, where I referred to one of my blog posts for more information. My peer's reply to the discussion post was actually about an idea I shared in my blog post. Talk about motivation!

The accelerated ADL option has allowed me to further explore my passion for Applied Digital learning, and this time I have been given affirmation and names; and have truly begun to be vulnerable in the ideas I share. It’s both scary and exhilarating. I’m continuously in the process of refining, learning how to take feedforward, and how to take the lead, but through all of these experiences and in reflection, I can’t believe how much I’ve already grown. I can’t wait for the next set of classes!