Contribution to Your Learning and the Learning Community

I strongly believe that human beings 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. In this course I learned how to put in practice the values as a choice, ownership, voice through authentic learning opportunities. In addition, another very important aspect is that research has demonstrated that incorporating feedforward or educative formative assessment will also help to continue that shift toward the learner mindset. The power of growth mindset is powerful, amazing and needs to be shared with everyone.

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, such as Mrs. Paola Rodriguez, Mrs. Lourdes Zarraga and Ms. Rossmary Vera, 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 created a text group (Whatsapp) to communicate as peers.

The course EDLD 5302 was teaching me about the CELE+COVA approach, while EDLD 5305 gave me the opportunity to experience the CSLE+COVA approach on it. I completed almost all of the reading and videos required for both courses, 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 Concepts of Educational Tech EDLD 5302 80 out of 100, and for Disruptive Innovation In Tech EDLD 5305 39 out of 50, 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.