I am about to earn a master’s degree in education from Lamar University in the Applied Digital Learning program. I didn’t quite know what to expect from the program when I started, and I often described the program to others as learning how to effectively incorporate technology into the classroom. After one year and ten classes spent in the program, I understand how ridiculous this explanation was. The Applied Digital Learning program is built upon the COVA approach (giving learners Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic learning opportunities), and technology only played a supportive role in the main goal of creating significant learning environments (CSLE) (Harapnuik, n.d.). 

 

I am not naive to think that implementing CSLE+COVA will be simple or without failure, but I now understand that changing how we teach and subsequently how our students learn is my top priority as an educator. The ADL program starts off by sharing these big dreams of blended learning innovation plans and growth mindset, and then takes you through a complete learning journey of how to research, plan, design, implement your innovation plan while also leading your organization and others through the same journey. My first 13 years of teaching were ones of intense growth and improvement within a traditional classroom approach, and this next phase of my career will be defined by implementing the CSLE+COVA approach and continuously analyzing and reflecting on how to improve the learning experience for all of my students.  I am not the same educator that I was when I started this program one year ago, and I truly cannot wait to apply all that I have learned to my classroom.

 

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As the first class in the Applied Digital Learning Master’s program, I was intimidated when I learned that the very first assignment would guide all of my work throughout the entire program. I was challenged to reimagine what meaningful learning could look like in my classroom and then was tasked with the job of creating an Innovation Proposal that promoted the COVA approach. “Common sense” teaching can often lead us astray of what the research actually supports, so I researched blended learning and                                                                                                     authentic, project based learning and compiled                                                                                           my findings into my first ever Literature Review. I                                                                                           also created my first video to showcase my                                                                                                   innovation project. This was also a novel                                                                                                       experience, and I struggled to find my way                                                                                                   through the multiple video production websites                                                                                             to find something that I could work with. 

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Growth mindset is something I have been familiar with as a teacher in the middle school setting, but it never really went beyond “Try Hard” and “Don’t Give Up”. Lovely sayings but pretty useless by themselves. Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: the new psychology of success is not just an attitude but a complete way of believing, thinking, and acting in the world (Dweck, 2006). Building a growth mindset is a lifelong journey because we are all human and experience struggles, but the growth mindset is key to persevering through the struggle. The biggest lesson I learned was that you cannot “teach” a growth mindset. It has to be developed in an environment that models and praises struggle, provides constructive feedback and supports continued

revision and effort. It is an environment that I

have also tried to create for my young daughters

at home who are just learning how to approach

failure and struggle. What I want for them and

my students is to be able to pursue their dreams

with the resilience to focus on the learning

journey and not just the destination.  

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One of the biggest adjustments I had to make as a learner in this program was to see my work as something that can be presented and shared with others. Learning before was really just about the grade, but an ePortfolio is something that represents you and what you have created.  It was a huge challenge for me to learn how to create an ePortfolio and then design and create a page for each assignment, but I really tried to apply all that I learned about growth mindset to the process. I am still working through how to transition my ePortfolio from a grad school product into a professional, teaching product, but I am excited about the possibilities. I applied for jobs while finishing my master’s degree, and I included my ePortfolio on my resume. I don’t know if it is what set me apart from other candidates, but I felt like it was such an excellent way for people to get to know and understand me even before the interview. That experience of being able to showcase my work has also inspired me to implement ePortfolios in my class next year. There is something almost childlike about being able to show off evidence of your learning and growth, and I want my 6th graders to feel that same sense of pride and accomplishment. 

 

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Organizational Change was a class that really took me outside of my classroom teaching bubble. We read two books, The 4 Disciplines of Execution (2016) and Influencer (2013) that detailed very specific plans for creating and influencing change in your organization. It was a powerful experience to learn how businesses, nonprofits and schools effect lasting changes because everyone has an opinion on changes that need to be made, but there are clear methods of how to achieve these changes. I created                                                                     plans to implement blended, project based learning in my                                                                           school, but these strategies will also be very useful in my                                                                             classroom. Sometimes creating a positive classroom                                                                                   environment involves influencing student behavior, and the six                                                                     sources of influence outlined in Influencer can help break                                                                             down the situation so that the teacher can appropriately                                                                               address the issues. I also really value the idea of focusing on                                                                       one wildly important goal and allowing my students to have                                                                         ownership in achieving that goal. Students want to have                                                                               choice, voice and ownership in their learning, and including                                                                         them in the goal setting process for the class will help them                                                                         realize their attributes and contributions. 

 

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Too often teachers get stuck in the whirlwind of the

day to day responsibilities, and we lose focus on

the only goal: meaningful learning. Meaningful

learning does not come from technology but by

creating a significant learning environment that

provides students with choice, ownership and

voice through authentic learning opportunities. I

learned in this course that I am a

Cognitive Constructivist, which means I value

well-organized and structured lessons with

constructive feedback on specific tasks, while also

creating an environment where students are able

to make connections to their own personal

experiences through investigation, reflection, and

collaboration. My teaching needs to reflect these

values otherwise I am admitting that my learners

are not really learning but just memorizing facts for

a test. Designing a unit based on

Fink’s 3 Column Table really helped guide my planning to incorporate a cognitive constructivist learning approach, and it is the best guide to designing project based courses. 

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This course gave me the opportunity to write an article to be submitted for publication as well as create an educational podcast. This, like every other course in the ADL program, pushed me outside of my comfort zone. It was a collaborative effort on both the article and podcast, and the experiences reinforced my commitment to true collaborative learning. Everyone brought their own skills and perspective to the projects, and I learned so much just working and discussing the topics with them. 

 

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I was completely unfamiliar with action research before I took this course, and I assumed it would be a highly complicated process that I would never use outside of the ADL program. Boy, was I wrong. Action research is simply a more detailed, organized collection and analysis of data for issues that teachers are already analyzing and making adjustments to based on their observations and informal data. I                                                                                             have created an action research plan to determine the                                                                                 effect blended, project based learning has on                                                                                               standardized scores and student attitudes towards                                                                                       studying history. Without a formal action research plan, I                                                                               would have observed students in class and then                                                                                           analyzed test scores at the end of the year. But with an                                                                                 action research plan, I will not only have data that                                                                                         directly aligns with my research question, but I will also                                                                                 have more concrete evidence about the effect of blended, project based learning. That evidence will be a powerful guide to the adjustments that I make in my teaching as well as more support for influencing others to adopt CSLE+COVA practices through blended learning. 

 

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After teaching through COVID and implementing emergency online learning platforms for two years, I expected that experience to really showcase a strong skill set. I discovered that I am much better at the course design than the actual implementation.  After creating a usability test for some stakeholders to complete, I realized that the organization and structure needed to be adjusted. I have never been a fully online teacher, and I was relying on my in-person instructions and guidance to the point where my online directions were not fully developed. I have a much stronger understanding of how to fully design and implement a blended course, and this experience will be invaluable as I implement blended learning in my classroom. 

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Like Organizational Change, this course took me outside of my classroom to think more broadly and create effective blended learning professional development. I really enjoyed this class because traditional sit and get professional development is something that every teacher knows is ineffective, and every teacher has completed a survey saying exactly what we need. I created an outline for a year long training and then created the materials for the initial two day workshop. It is uncommon for classroom teachers to create professional learning for their

peers, but I think as I take on more leadership

roles in my school, I will be able to help influence

how teachers experience professional learning. I

can also apply the key principles of effective

professional development when I take on the role as

mentor for my social studies team while they start to

implement blended learning.