The best way to succeed in the ADL program is to trust the process. I think that we all must accept that we will feel lost and confused for much of the program because that is where we will find the most learning and growth. I find it very helpful that we have been allowed to review the program map to try to grasp how our initial innovation proposal fits into the program as a whole. We will learn the most when presented with projects that are important to us. Our innovation proposal provided us with an authentic learning opportunity. Implementing it allows us to practice all the skills we will need to continue to be change agents within our organizations. Through our own uncomfortable experiences, we will better relate to and understand our learner’s experiences. The goal of our evolution will be to make better learning opportunities and experiences for our students.
Month: March 2022
Growth Mindset & Yet
I loved the closing statement in this video…
I have fought the ‘I can’t voice’ for so long, especially when faced with a learning challenge. There is a powerful shift when you add “yet” to that mindset. The growth mindset gives us permission to fail forward. We aren’t expected to be experts “yet.” We are striving to tap into our creative inquisitive thoughts, and try new things. We may not have made meaningful connections, “yet” but we will as we continue to reflect on our learning. Being open to failure frees us to experiment. Developing a growth mindset allows me to view a challenge as an exciting opportunity instead of a punishment. Learning from past attempts encourages me to create connections between concepts which deepens my learning so that I can develop higher order thinking/processing. 100%, I believe the growth mindset will help with the acceptance of feedback. With the growth mindset I realize feedback is an opportunity to correct faulty thinking, make improvements, assess bias, and think more deeply about the suggestions provided.
I am my own worst enemy when it comes to grades. Adopting a growth mindset can release students (myself included) from the perfectionist trap of all of nothing. I really dive head first into researching anything and everything I am interested in learning about. I was raised in a time before search engines so I’m always taking a question and plugging it in to either a search engine or google. So much of the growth mindset resonates with me personally, that I am looking forward to learning more about my own mindset. I learned from my Literature Review research in the innovation course of the ADL Program that using google scholar allows me to see others who have quoted a source and related articles. I think finding related sources or sited by sources would be an effective way to learn more about the growth mindset with relation an interest or innovation.
Relating it all to life, we have an almost 12 acre property that we are trying to develop into a hobby farm. We don’t know anything about raising animals, building shelters, planning gardens, but we are willing to research (a lot of YouTube) and we use a lot of trial and error projects. I recognize that this growth mindset applies to all aspects of life and learning.
Down the Rabbit Trail
I swear I get so lost along the way because I click, click, click, and go deeper down the rabbit trail. I’m struggling this week because I have followed so many links, watched content from this week’s posts/discussions, and prepared for next week’s content. Now I sit here with my notebook full of notes, and I cannot remember which content I am supposed to be posting about in my discussions and blogs. I guess I am missing the point since it all contributes to my learning.
Contributions, 5305
Innovation Course
- Spring 2022
- Course Number: EDLD 5305
- Course Title: Disruptive Innovation in Technology
Contributions to learning and learning community.
I am giving myself a score of 45 out of 50
Crediting Group Members: Deena B., Lorena R., and , Jose V.
Key and Supporting Contributions
Reflecting on my first course in the Applied Digital Learning program makes me realize how far I have come since those first painful weeks. I sincerely hate to admit it, but the painful process of learning how to do new things is indeed working. I cannot accurately describe how many times I would start a new assignment and think there is no way. I have figured out to do so many new things (like the Innovation Proposal, Literature Review, Implementation Outline, and Digital Story). I learned so much by fighting my way through it. Reading and watching YouTube videos on how to use a new technology or write in a new way paid off.
I do not generally submit assignments against a deadline for fear of technology failure or other interruptions. I posted all of my discussions and feed-forward projects by their posted deadlines to allow enough time for group mates and classmates to respond so that I could make revisions and edits in time for the final deadline. Through this opportunity for reflection, I realized that I tended only to share where there are required feedback obligations. Still, if I was less insecure about feeling lost, I may have had earlier opportunities for clarity.
I wish the discussion thread were instead a group chat to share our ideas and understandings in a single location verse trying to scroll through posts repeatedly. Most of the discussions seem to remain somewhat surface level when I know there is more depth we would find through the back and forth more real-time conversations.
I completed every course reading, video, and supportive resource throughout the semester. Often I wondered exactly how far down the rabbit trail I could fall following links. Sometimes I wondered if that was the real test to see how far and deep we would travel. I have attempted to absorb and synthesize every piece of information provided to help alleviate my insecurity with these new topics and tasks. I return to previous sources and discover a new meaning or more profound understanding each time I rewatch/review them. I have found new content, followed new links and information, and re-watched so much content throughout the semester. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to watch until I finally understood. The whole concept of flipped learning has become an interest of mine to provide solutions to my advising unit, colleagues, and, most importantly, to my advisees due to my own experience learning by doing.
I was a late bloomer, finally having an epiphany moment with how everything ties together and how the all the revisions along the way provided the foundation for learning and growth. There were so many revisions of the components that led to this innovation proposal compilation. Undoubtedly, there will be more revisions as I learn more and accumulate more skills to create more dynamic and engaging content.
While I was not citing APA correctly in my initial discussion posts, I have learned so much about proper citations since. I am sure that I still make citation errors, but I have learned so much through the weekly posts and the assignments throughout this initial course. When classmates had questions, I made additional supportive postings in the student lounge and student/faculty lounge.
Learning Community Key and Supporting Contributions
I participated in all activities this semester. I would have attended more because every meeting provided clarity and community. I took a leadership role and sent multiple email correspondences to potential group members on time, delivery, and frequency of group meetings and attended every online or phone meeting scheduled to provide feedback on projects as updated throughout the semester. I sent emails to classmates whose “Introduce Yourself” posts resonated with me.
Group members completed discussions using conference calling and GroupMe chat. The group faced challenges throughout the semester as group members stopped responding. Thankfully a core group made feed-forward helpful. I made sure that my submissions were made by each posted deadline so that my group-mates would have time to review drafts. I provided feedback to my classmates through discussions and my group mates through meet-ups. We utilized the screen sharing capability of meet.goto.com. I received feedback from my group-mates through those same discussions and screen sharing means. I valued the input from both classmates and instructor to help me improve upon my ideas and think more creatively as they evolved. Additionally, I cannot express how helpful the instructor’s video feedback was for each assignment. I often hit submit, hoping that I understood the assignment/goal correctly and submitted the intended document.
While I contributed to every classmate’s experience, after reviewing each discussion post, I found two discussions in which I did not engage with my classmates. I now see that there is room for improvement to find a system to go back and review threads for new posts.
Originally posted March 11, 2022
The Advisor That Cares 