Contribution to Your Learning and the Learning Community
I strongly believe that people have the power to do amazing things, the only limit is the endless sky. We have in our hands the keys to help others to develop their abilities, keeping the experiences that we have in order to design plans or strategies that can contribute to the learner to be better and reach their goals, but people are not born with experiences; it takes time through life. When I think about the contributions that these courses have given me and how it has contributed in my life, in my professional career and my community; I can only say it changed the way I live my life every day because I am still discovering abilities that I have and that I have never thought were in me.
First of all, in my own life there have been moments where challenges have come and I clearly heard that negative thought saying you are not going to get it. For example, when I came to the United States I was faced with the challenge of learning a new language. Without a doubt, it represented a wall of fears in me. In the process of this course I have been learning how to develop a great or powerful performance in life. Our brains change according to what we are doing and feeling. We need to understand the kind of mindset that we have because this is the key of the power to take challenges and be open to say I can, I will do it, it is not going to be easy but I will try my best.
Secondly, one of the benefits that I received from this course was that as a student I need to get experiences and knowledge from others and share mine with them. Not only my experiences count but at the same time as a teacher, I have learned that it is very important to create an optimum learning environment in each stage of the educational life. This course helped me better understand the role that choice, ownership, and voice play in the ePortfolio process and reflect on why ownership is crucial to learning. Also, in this course I Learned how to create an ePortfolio to share my work, reflect on my growth, and develop my own voice, and The ePortfolio is not mine, it is for the community.
The ADL program works and how my ePortfolio that I created in 5303 and my innovation plan created in EDLD 5305 are foundational components of the ADL program. In addition, another very important aspect that I learned was how to create a significant learning environment (CSLE) in which it gave me choice, ownership and voice through authentic learning opportunities (COVA).
The definition of experience could vary for each one. In the beginning of this course I noticed the importance of participating in the discussion about the topics for every assessment. It was a valuable time where we could express our opinion, add some comments in the blogs or simply read other colleagues' discussions about a topic. This brought to my attention a reflection on how important it is to share our background with others because it is not sufficient to have skill in order to learn. Without reflecting on these experiences, it may quickly be forgotten or it is learning potential lost.
During these assessments I have collaborated with other colleagues, where we discussed the course's topics and shared ideas where this made this online learning experience more enjoyable and engaging. Also we shared resources, relevant articles, etc. We were participating in the discussion course to communicate and share experiences as peers.
The course EDLD 5303 we created an ePortfolio to share our work, reflect on our growth, and develop our voices. Also, we were analyzing and reflecting on why it is so important to make learning visible by showing what one has created, developed, built, written, or assembled. In addition, we learned the importance of selecting an appropriate tool to help organize our learning environment.
These courses gave me the opportunity to experience the CSLE+COVA approach. I completed almost all of the reading and videos required for the course, but I missed some live sessions. Also I was watching the recording session and reached out to my peers if I had any questions.
At this point I am going to determine the self-assessment numerical score, this is my first master in education. However, I am going to be honest, I am trying to do my best and I will keep improving on those areas where it is needed. I consider that I have in Applying Educational Tech EDLD 5303, 85 out of 100, but for the next coming courses I want to improve my grades. This grade reflection is based on the fact that all of the key contributions were met and some of the supporting contributions were not met. Everyday is an opportunity to apply the knowledge that I have been acquiring in these courses at Lamar University. The power of “YET” is a reminder that things could look difficult at the beginning but with effort and perseverance I can reach my goals.