Contributing to my learning & learning community 5305 & 5302

As I commence my rigorous journey through the Master of Education in Applied Technology program with Disruptive Innovation in Technology and Concepts of Educational Technology, I will analyze my learning journey through my strengths, weaknesses, and contributions. I feel that self-assessment is crucial in all aspects of life to evaluate growth.

 My self-assessment is:

• Course 5305- 44.5

• Course 5302- 89

My learning community for course 5305 consisted of: Samara Marin, Anna B Gonzalez and Mia D Fayerweather.

My learning community for course 5302 consisted of: Samara Marin, Audrey M Parcell, Rebecca C Chang, Kayla Miller, Mia D Fayerweather. Joshua Kolawole, and Sara-Ann E Oro Santana.

The reason I gave myself these scores is because I met all of the key contributions, but I feel I did not take on a leadership role in either group. Therefore, one supporting contribution was not met. I was very active in participating within my groups. My strengths in these two programs consist of attending all live webinars for clarification and making sure to take detailed notes on topics that were discussed. I also looked back on recorded sessions if I needed more clarification while working on assignments. These notes also helped when my learning community had questions regarding topics. I also reviewed other students’ assignments and helped make suggestions and fixed grammatical errors. I have given consistent feedback/feedforward with my peer groups in both courses. I also helped answer questions regarding due dates and what I did to keep the dates straight for myself since the weeks were overlapping in the course content.  Within our groups we were able to voice any concerns about assignments or web pages while making our ePortfolios. Both of my groups also left comments and suggestions on my assignments, which I reviewed and revised before submitting. I completed all of the course reading, watched all of the videos and clicked and read/watched all of the other supporting links and resources throughout both courses. This helped ensure I completed blogs and assignments with the correct background knowledge. Delving into all of the resources and assignments provided has truly enriched my learning experience from the start. The groups were very supportive of one another, and I was always willing to take the time to help anyone I could. When deadlines were getting close and I didn’t see anyone asking questions, or posting assignments for feedforward I posted to remind them of due dates and what was expected of us. This made it easier to make sure that I was also meeting all deadlines for each course. 

While acknowledging my strengths above I am also trying to stay mindful of areas I can make improvements in.  I am used to working independently throughout my college career.  So, making sure to keep in touch with my peer groups and collaborate with them has been something I have had to put on my calendar. This helped me make sure to check in and check on the group regularly so I wouldn’t forget. Now I can recognize how important it is to have diverse perspectives to help enhance my learning experience throughout the program, as well as later in life. I know that I can be more proactive in the beginning of my courses instead of waiting a few weeks like I did in these first two courses. This next semester I feel I will be more comfortable with how the courses are set up and I will be able to step into more of a leadership role from the start. I can set up the groups and ensure that everyone knows they can join and get constant feedback/feedfoward I can make sure to start discussions within the groups to make sure everyone is doing well and ask if anyone needs support in any way. I know there is always room for growth and improvement just like developing a growth mindset. I also joined a few professional learning networks and plan to become more involved in these and research more that I can be a part of in the future. 

In conclusion, I have learned a lot in these first two classes, and from my peer groups. I had to step out of my comfort zone and constantly remind myself to stay in a growth mindset. I am excited to see what will happen when I present my innovation proposal and my literature review to my principal. I am hopeful that I will get to use my implementation outline to make a change in my district.  I am also looking forward to what I will learn in the next 8 courses before graduating the program and what my ePortfolio will consist of at that time.