So for the next assignment we will be identifying our learning philosophy and including an annotated bibliography. While I did create a simplified version for the innovation course, I feel like there is much more I can learn about it.
Annotate = to take notes
Therefore, I’m once again, turning to my favorite writing resource: Smart Student
Additionally, it is long past time for me to review and brush up on my paraphrasing skills! Lord knows my last paper was a quote-fest with weak attempts at paraphrasing. I feel like it may have been a much strong assignment if I could clearly articulate my research into my own words.
Throughout the ADL Program, we have “unlimited agency” to explore our purpose and passion, which reignite imagination and creativity (Thomas & Brown, 2011). My desire to question and explore ways to bring advising innovation to life in genuinely significant ways taps into a form of play. Creating an authentic and significant learning environment extends the same learning opportunity to advisees as they follow their passions and imagine their futures.
By illustrating how learners today engage with the world around them through acts of questioning, the use of play, peer-to-peer learning, and learning in interest-based “collectives,” Thomas and Brown (2011) argue the case for the modernization of education. As a learner who currently directly benefits from the fundamental elements (inquiry and play) these authors identify, this learner agrees that it is time for a complete evolution.
Finally, real-world applications of the ideas outlined throughout the book reveal what significant learning environments and learning look like when they happen in this world of unlimited access while creating meaningful and personal learning (Thomas & Brown, 2011).
So, how can a new culture of advising create a meaningful environment for adult graduate students to learn in accelerated online programs?
Personal experience in peer-to-learning collectives as an aspect of the ADL program has reignited a passion for tapping into the strengths and passions of various people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. The wide variety of our assignments and interpretation of the material is fascinating. Bringing that same opportunity for collaboration and cohort identity into the advising environment will benefit student learning.
The advising role is much like the mentor relationship described by Thomas and Brown. My purpose is to empower students on how to find information so they can make informed decisions about their path. By guiding students through the “where” of information gathering to locate policies and departmental requirements, I hope to enrich their ability to think critically and search for the questions they need to ask and the resources they need to seek to find or confirm tips and information they need. Douglas Thomas (2012) inspires me to “help people connect their passions to the things they need to learn” (TEDx Talks, 2012).
The ADL program and A New Culture of Learning have pushed me to continue peeling the layers of transparency as I refine and define my voice. The authors candidly explore ideas of public and private information and identities to address concerns over the melding of these two arenas (Thomas & Brown, 2011). For example, some institutions and advising units utilize social media to push information, resources, and literacy. After seeing how valuable these tools and the collective born from shared interests are, I cannot help but ponder how we can connect future counselors, innovators, and leaders with one another? How can keep them engaged with their passion for inspiring continued learning about their futures and the available information resource?
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (1st ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
These are a few words that I am trying to bring into my learning journey. By being vulnerable and open about my own experience, I may actual help another in their journey to do the same.
I do not know if I have ever written “a response” before. I mean I suppose it is possible that it was a writing prompt somewhere in my journey through public school, but nothing remains (a nod to the current model of education). Therefore, as I prepare to write my response to A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, by George Thomas and John Seely Brown, I must first figure out what in the world a response is and how I will go about combining this with an argument for the changes I have proposed through my innovation plan.
Here were the top two search results for “how do you write a response to a book”
By being inquisitive about the assignment “Create your response to A New Culture of Learning” I am expanding the learning opportunity presented by the assignment itself as part of the authentic learning environment provided through the ADL Program.
Here we go again. Another semester of graduate school has begun and we all start the process of acclimating ourselves to our new learning environments.
I am really excited about the opportunity to create a significant learning environment since I still face daily struggles with students who do not review information. I keep thinking back to The Behavioral Science Guys and David Maxfield’s caution about how more information doesn’t create change or motivation (Crucial Learning, 2015). I have to find a way to help people change when they don’t want to. What are some influential questions I can incorporate into my ePortfolio? How do I create a significant learning environment that will allow them to “explore motivations they already have” as recommended by Joseph Grenny (Crucial Learning, 2015).
I have been reviewing the course content and announcements in preparation for our first big assignment for “Creating Significant Learning Environments” and what I have ascertained thus far is that we are going to be:
1) Creating a response to the New Culture of Learning
2) Outline how we will move toward creating a Significant Learning Environment
We will do this by
1) Creating an argument for how a shift to a CSLE can enhance learning
2) What problems the CSLE we create will address
3) What influence this CSLE will have on our innovation
What are some of your thoughts about how you will create a significant learning environment? What are some questions you might ask yourself?
Crucial Learning. (2015, January 5). How to Change People Who Don’t Want to Change | The Behavioral Science Guys [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACi-D5DI6A
Unfortunately, much of higher education functions more reactively, like many of my students. My innovation plan intends to shift learning to foster more proactive, active engagement for my learners. As Harapnuik (2021) outlines in the Introduction Video, we are here to “facilitate learning” and “help our learners learn” by making “meaningful connections” (Harapnuik, 2021).
In the early stages of my innovation proposal and the accompanying portfolio development, content creation was due to student questions or lack of information. Those reactive additions have since evolved into proactive opportunities for new students by providing links and information in every correspondence.
Creating significant learning environments (CSLE) and The New Culture of Learning are guides for the struggle of inspiring students to take ownership of their education and learning journey by improving learners’ engagement. Thomas (2012) says it best when he says we can “help people connect their passions to the things they need to learn” (TEDx Talks, 2012). He further explains that we must rethink training and education systems to “make learning fun and easy,” just as it is “natural and effortless” throughout life outside these environments (TEDx Talks, 2012).
The New Culture of learning outlines that learning is no longer “taking place in a classroom” but instead “happening all around us, everywhere” through online information and freely available resources (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 17).
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (1st edition). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Reflecting on my third course in the ADL Program, I have to say that I am finally feeling more confident about the COVA approach to this program and learning in general. This is not to say that it is always comfortable working this way, but I can see how much in-depth knowledge is gained through this approach. I actively seek information and teach myself more than just the minimum required readings/videos in search of greater understanding. I am constantly working to see if there is more information that I can add to my knowledge base. I think about my thinking through reflections and revisit assignments on an ongoing basis to continue making connections.
The part I feel I could do better is finding value and making deeper connections from the discussion posts. There is too much of a status quo learning (regurgitation) aspect to the post and comment expectation which always seems to lack the intended connection between students. Initially, the discussions provide a way to find people with common interests or goals. Still, once our communities are formed, they seem to lack substance since it can be several weeks before someone sees comments thereby lacking engagement in meaningful dialogs. While keeping up with the posts and comments, I feel something more valuable could be discovered or utilized to increase that aspect of the program.
I actively contributed and took on a leadership role wherever possible within my core collaboration group. I continued the shared google drive from last semester, purchasing additional storage space, and creating weekly to-do lists, discussion prompts, and video/reading notes for continued shared collaboration. Utilizing a group chat and google docs/drive, our core learning community maintained a collaborative group that welcomed new members (Nastaja and Stacey) and continually provided feedforward on all assignments. While discussing questions about previous experience in the program, we revisit our previous projects and make continuous improvements on past coursework.
As I embrace ownership of this Portfolio, I strive toward an ownership perspective to my innovation. As I experience the freedom of choice that promotes this portfolio ownership, I am inspired to provide my students with options along their academic paths. As I revise and review my content, I realize that I can further improve my message and model that through as many interactions as possible. I can apply the knowledge obtained this semester (growth mindset, learning manifesto, feedforward, learning networks) to strengthen my voice. This improves the communication, information, and resources I provide through my synchronous (phone/virtual) and asynchronous (email/portfolio) interactions, which helps to build trusted advisor-advisee relationships. From a technical skills perspective, it has also been rewarding to continue improving the aesthetic and function of the Portfolio with my intended audience in mind. I started updating past and current learning network opportunities to my Portfolio, which has allowed me to reflect upon the benefits of these collaborative/professional networks and makes me want to strive to do better in my contributions to these networks.
I completed all of the course readings, videos, and additional resources. I often researched other content for topics that interested me in more detail, such as Universal Learning Design, the ISTE standards, and everything I could get my hands on about the Growth Mindset. This self-driven desire to learn and understand helped me meet the deadlines for all projects, assignments, and posts, further providing the opportunity for more collaboration, mentorship, and reflection.
Learning Community Key and Supporting Contributions
In addition to meeting all of the support contributions and taking a leadership role in my core learning group, I have found a new role as a facilitator for our learning cohort. I have always considered myself helpful, but now I have found a way to gain even more insight and understanding by helping others. My learning community has expanded to every classmate that joined the ADL 2021-2023 GroupMe. I created this group and posted an open invitation to the student lounge after being inspired by a similar DLL group last semester made up of those more advanced in the program. I knew I wanted to help create a culture that encouraged and supported one another throughout the program. Since I am not pursuing the accelerated option, I hoped for a group of positive collaborators from all levels to facilitate mentorship and mentoring opportunities. I found a wonderful sense of purpose through this course and by taking accountability for myself and my learning community through this expanded collaboration. I have encouraged my classmates via this group, and I modeled feedforward behavior with all the group members, hoping they would do the same. I hosted multiple zoom sessions for this course, upgraded to zoom pro to host longer sessions, and began hosting other sessions for those in the Innovation Course. I helped connect students who had not yet identified their core learning community with others in the same situation. The most exciting time came when members began hosting sessions for one another, providing the type of encouragement I hoped to foster.
What an exciting time to be reflecting. I welcome this opportunity to dig deep and to think about my learning, as I just celebrated a birthday. What better time to think about why I am the way I am and why I do what I do.
If you would have asked me at age five, “Dawn, what do you want to be when you grow up,” advising would not have been my response. I did not consider myself intelligent. I only knew I would go to college because that was a message my mother instilled in me throughout my upbringing. When I went to community college, I remember having to jump through hoops and needing someone to sign some forms for registration, but I cannot remember advising per se. University life was much the same. Advising time would come around, and there would be a meeting with whichever faculty member pulled your file at your appointment time. It was not until my last few semesters that I was able to get advised by faculty members I had come to know during my studies. One day I was driving home, and I received a call from Dr. Espinosa, whom I had asked to advise me that semester, saying that if I added a science course to my upcoming semester, I could graduate at the end of that term. I was extremely excited about the prospect of graduating sooner than anticipated.
Passions, Beliefs, & Values
Fast forward a few years to my current profession, and I am happy to say I found a calling and passion as an advisor. I work hard to teach students how to navigate the systems used in higher education, to understand the policies and procedures they will encounter along the way, and connect them with resources for information as needed. I work to answer questions that students would not even know they needed to ask. Helping students find their way through university jargon to make well-informed decisions about their paths and futures is paramount to me. I want to ensure that everything I do helps move them toward their educational goals. My own experience receiving the call about my graduation reminds me that the advice I provide impacts students’ lives. I believe that I must conduct myself with the utmost integrity and generally live by the golden rule of treating others as I want to be treated.
My passion is people. I genuinely enjoy building relationships. I believe in being as helpful as possible to those around me. Loving people is not always easy. Humans are complicated creatures, and our responses to stressful situations can bring out the worst. Therefore, I work hard to win the trust and to hear my students’ and colleagues’ frustrations. Then I seek out information or solutions to problems. I work to resolve issues and prevent others from facing them. It is important to me that I keep that fresh perspective to help in the fight against the status quo. I try to remember what it was like when I was going along, trusting that someone would tell me if I needed to know something. I must advocate for my students and colleagues until they learn enough to advocate for themselves. I aim to provide a clear path through the maze of higher education terminology and policies while providing support. I believe that even if I can only make a slight difference in a student’s academic journey, I can significantly impact the world. I believe that I have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those around me. I have the privilege of being a very personal part of people’s lives for a season. I have been honored to celebrate success and provide comfort through losing dreams, friends, homes, and loved ones.
Guiding Principles
While preparing for this reflection, I surveyed a few of my colleagues in hopes of getting objective assessments of myself professionally.
One of my colleagues describes me as a seeker of truth, a collector of knowledge for empowerment. They say I have a heart that wants the best for those around me and that I love my family, friends, colleagues, and students. That, I love.
Another confirms this assessment, saying that I seek knowledge and love to share it. I care and embrace qualities that make those around me feel seen and heard.
A third colleague describes me as patient, kind, understanding, knowledgeable, and able to explain things without making a person feel dumb. This person says I have a gift for encouraging, uplifting, loving, and always trying to make people see the best in themselves and their situation.
A final colleague explains that I am collegial, always there, and volunteer to do extra to help others. This colleague says I pay attention to detail by always looking out for my students, seeking opportunities, and ensuring they stay on track with meeting guidelines and benchmarks. They say I am always willing to expand my knowledge base, pushing my comfort level when working with others. This colleague’s final assessment is that I am a model and trainer for other advisors across campus.
I am honored by these summaries of my professional and personal passions and beliefs. These are my guiding principles. I became proficient at explaining things from multiple perspectives through my early education learning challenges. I am a patient teacher to my advisees and colleagues. I have an instinct for when someone looks confused and an ability to explain things differently. I seek to explain systems and policies to the teams I have served since I believe anyone willing to learn can do so. I believe in hiring dedicated, hardworking, caring people who can learn to do a job over people with glowing resumes who lack those traits. You can teach people a job; it is much harder to teach people to care. I believe that we each have an opportunity to play a valuable role in our students’ journey.
I learn everything I can about the interconnectivity in higher education to best assist students and colleagues. I schedule tours of departments and express sincere interest in understanding the inner workings of departments, systems, and processes. I seek relationships with people across campus, and through these relationship-building efforts, I gain a big-picture understanding of campus. I strive to point out the unintended impacts of decisions made in one area to another. Through my natural inclination for information seeking, I have become a reliable contact for friends and colleagues across campus.
I take Drew Dudley’s call to action to heart, as he declares, “if you change one person’s understanding … of what they’re capable of, one person’s understanding of how much people care about them, one person’s understanding of how powerful an agent for change they can be in this world you’ve changed [the whole world]” (TEDxToronto, 2010, 5:44).
As an advisor, I have the privilege of encouraging students, supporting my colleagues, and trying to make a difference to my fellow human. I remain in the advising profession despite the challenges of dealing with people because I value my role in others’ lives.
One of the most significant challenges I face in assisting students along their academic path is the lack of ownership some take over their Education. As I began my current advising role, this entire portfolio was born out of a desire to resolve student complaints, issues, and perceptions of a lack of information. In addition, I am finding that some students still are not reading the presented information. I must seek engaging multimedia solutions to this problem. I take decentralized information from various resources and break it down into smaller sections on a single advising tips page to prevent information overload. I struggle with how to guide students to accept ownership of their learning and program requirements.
I remain in advising and seek ways (like this program) to improve each person’s experience at the institution. I am an efficiency expert at heart, so I continually evaluate processes to see where they can be improved. I revise and refine my message with the hopes of providing clarity. I remain an advisor so that I can make a difference. I believe my learning can lead to contributions to the advising community through professional learning networks and organizations.
Learning
Through the ADL Program, I am reconnecting with a passion for learning. I believe any day when I learn something new is a good day. I believe everyone can reignite a love of learning regardless of past educational experiences. I believe a hunger for learning can make for a more enriched life. We are all presented with an opportunity, should we embrace it, to reevaluate everything we currently think about learning. Through this program’s content, I can see how the current model of Education leaves students behind (myself included). For the first time in my academic history, I can see how claiming ownership of learning revolutionizes the entire process. Learning solely for the outcome of a grade prohibits deeper learning.
Unlike any prior education, now I have choices. My projects and assignments are my own. This authentic learning environment allows me to voice what is important to me. I seek to be open to the learning opportunities presented through the resources and content shared and the projects I create. I seek to be a catalyst for change through each of these projects. I intend to embrace each opportunity to the fullest, knowing I can and will return to previous content with new perspectives.
The Future of Education
I believe that Education needs to redefine success. Standardized testing has killed creative content development and delivery for the instructors, and the students have lost their love of learning.
To fix Education, we must spark the inquisitive mind in learners again, at all levels. Students must learn to adopt a growth mindset as they approach their education. To embrace learning, students at every level need the opportunity to fail, revise, and fail again. Education currently penalizes a student when they do not understand concepts or content. As explained by Sir Ken Robinson (2016), Education has “become preoccupied with the yield and output … with data-driven outcomes, and along the way, we have lost sight of the natural processes of teaching and learning” (ARC, 2016, 8:17). A shift in education that affords multiple attempts, multiple delivery options, and multiple supports will help encourage students to continue to try and try again until they succeed.
By embracing more blended learning methods of learning and changing our ideas of instruction, we have the opportunity to enhance education. We can meet our learners where they are at but refuse to leave them that way. By openly sharing research and transformative successes, every Education system worldwide can improve learning outcomes for primary, secondary, post-secondary, and post-graduate students. Education worldwide must embrace the opportunities for digital innovation afforded through the reliance on distance learning caused by the 2020 global pandemic. We must move away from the current Industrial model of education toward a New Model in Education. By reevaluating the status quo, education has an opportunity to advance through digital learning.
Digital Learning
I believe that digital learning allows 24-hour access to resources. Digital learning provides students choice on how best to approach learning by utilizing multiple content delivery formats. This shift in ownership allows students to seek alternative paths on their journey to understanding. Students become empowered to make meaningful connections and deeper learning through active engagement. Support resources such as YouTube, Khan Academy, TED Talks, and many others allow digital learners a limitless library of content.
Emerging digital learning issues, from an advising perspective, involve meeting the on-demand needs of digital learners. Often asynchronous learners select online programs due to their need for alternative options and approaches. To promote their learning, we must find ways to deliver information in engaging ways. We must research and employ advising styles that allow connection and engagement despite asynchronous digital interactions. Many complete course requirements and make inquiries during non-business hours.
As we work to revolutionize education, we must also work to revolutionize advising. Through technology, we can now have unlimited access to resources via our digital devices. The primary goal of this portfolio is to provide 24/7 access to an advisor’s knowledge and information.
I believe digital learning can:
Revolutionize education and my advising relationships
Tap into unmet potential and innovative ideas
Meet the needs of learners worldwide
Ignite a passion for lifelong learning
Provide learners equal access through a universal learning design
I hope to impact the advising profession and my organization by collaborating through professional organizations and learning networks. I intend to share best practices, experience, and research to advance the advising profession.
Furthermore, I intend to impact my organization by improving the student experience by increasing their access to information. I also hope to impact the lives of my colleagues by inviting them to join me in innovating advising.
As I continue to invest in my Growth Mindset with a goal toward developing a Learner’s Mindset, I will continue to share my experience, reflections, and challenges.
I am very excited to begin the third course of the ADL Program on the Growth mindset and look forward to the personal benefits of this pursuit.
I faced many learning challenges in early elementary, and as a result, I developed a fixed mindset about my intelligence and abilities. As I read chapters 1-4 of Carol Dweck’s Mindset book I could not help but wish that I was familiar with this concept back in my own grade school experience. The internal voice in my head matched all of the fixed mindset examples provided by Carol Dweck in her Mindset book and youtube video on The Power of Yet.
If only someone had instilled the power of yet in my learning, I could have saved myself years of low self-esteem and negative self-talk. Even as I did well in pursuing my undergraduate degree, I felt like a fraud who was just one step away from being the “dumb kid” again. I so readily accepted that identity as a result of early labels.
I wasted the first part of my life feeling slow, dumb, and below average. I surely was not going to be the first one raising my hand or offering to go to the board to complete a problem with excitement and enthusiasm, as described by Dr. Dweck when describing children equipped with a growth mindset.
Both Carol Dweck and Eduardo Briceno share knowledge and facts about our abilities to improve through repetition and practice. Grit and determination are the messages we need to share with our students and children and embrace that hard work obtains results.
I have started working process-related praise into how I tell my 19-year-old daughter that I am proud of her as she moves through early adulthood. I can see the fixed mindset in her and hope that as I understand more, I will be able to equip her with a growth mindset at her age instead of at mine. As Eduardo Briceno described praise through the mindset lens, I wished I learned what I’m learning now when she was just a little kid.
Taking the leap of faith to begin a graduate program was filled with self-doubt and an internal voice that worried I would embarrass myself. Hence my duplicitous excitement about the potentially painful process that may come from continuing to reshape my mindset.
I admit that I may have come to this program with a fixed mindset. I am done with the people-pleasing and approval-seeking ways of the past and instead move forward reprogramming myself to a growth mindset. The first two courses have already opened my mind to a different perspective on learning. Now I am trying to fully embrace a growth mindset so that I can work to instill that in others.
Accessibility is something that is very important to me. As I develop my ePortfolio I am really trying to learn and incorporate as many features and functions as possible to ensure that all my students and visitors are able to view my content. I will admit that I have a lot of work to do on this aspect of my online presence after feedback I received on my final project “An Invitation to Innovate Advising.”
Little did I know that citations for images looks very similar accessible descriptions. I’ve been lazily avoiding adding my descriptors for fear that I would also need to add accompanying image citations. However, as I take greater ownership of this
To begin familiarizing myself with how to best add descriptive captions to my images, I began doing some additional research into best practices.
The Advisor That Cares 