Journey Through the ADL Program
My journey through the Applied Digital Learning program at Lamar University has been an exceptional one. I have grown as both an educator and a learner. Please click on the icons to the right to hear about my journey and what I have learned along the way.
The Journey So Far...
ADL Program Map
Each course in the ADL program played an integral role in my growth throughout the past year. Each course is also a piece of my innovation plan. Each icon below will take you to the projects for that course. The icon in the center will navigate you to the ADL courses homepage that contains a summary of each class and assignments in detail.
COVA and CSLE Reflection
When I first started out in the ADL program and learned about the COVA method, I remember feeling really intimidated and almost frustrated. I had always been the student that thought, "Just tell me what you want me to turn in, and I will make sure I meet every requirement." Because of this, I always received good grades in school. But when I started this program, it was very hard to find my footing. The ball had been put in my court and I didn't know what to do with it. I had been told what to do and how to do it all through my academic career, and I didn't know what to do with the freedom of the COVA model. The first couple of assignments were very difficult for me. I remember asking other people in my class so many questions because I wanted to make sure I was "doing it right." As the courses progressed, I began to grow confident in myself and my abilities. I quit asking for reassurance and asked for feedforward to make it better. I then began to become very proud of everything I had created because it was MINE. It was the product of my own thinking and not someone else's.
Once I grew this confidence, I was able to really focus on my audience. This was not too difficult for me because I have been a part of my school for several years and I feel as though I have a pretty good grasp of our needs and procedures. I remember at the beginning of my program, I did not truly believe that I could create change in my school. My school is a part of a very large school district, and with large school districts comes lots of procedures, politics, and red tape. And I still don't know if I can change on that large of a scale, but I know now I can start in my own environment. I feel as though I have the tools to create significant change, whether that be within my current organization, or elsewhere. When creating my innovation plan, I will say it began as a topic that I just picked because I thought it would be a good idea, but I was not fully convinced I could make it happen. It has been very difficult, given the challenges that the past two years have brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. I have struggled with the resources and the support I need to make it happen. But, in the past year, I have grown my knowledge and skills in blended learning because of my innovation plan, and I do not plan on giving up because I really feel as though it is something that is needed to create meaningful learning.
To create meaningful learning in the classroom, it is imperative that a significant learning environment is created (CSLE). This can only be accomplished by using the COVA method with the students in the classroom. My learning philosophy is that meaningful learning takes place when knowledge can be connected to experiences that the students holds. My philosophy also states that learning is not a fixed trait. A person can increase their knowledge about anything if they have the motivation to do so and put in the work. This is where COVA and CSLE become so important. When creating significant learning environments by giving students choice, ownership, voice, and authentic learning opportunities, inspiration and motivation are born and can be nurtured in this safe space. Students can then gain the confidence needed to increase their knowledge and overcome the obstacles that have been placed in front of them. The more experience I have with the COVA model, the more my learning philosophy has been reinforced by it.
Throughout this process of adopting the Learner’s Mindset, I have begun to see how tough this battle can be. As I said before, I am a part of a large district and I am expected to teach the curriculum in a certain way. I have always been told I have the freedom to change it to best fit my needs, but that change doesn’t mean teaching something different altogether. This is the challenge I have faced when trying to create a significant learning environment by using the COVA model in my classroom. I am still determined, and I still believe this is the best approach to use.
Looking toward the future, I plan to keep the COVA method in the forefront of my mind. I know that my students will only benefit from being given the opportunity to make a choice in their own learning. By going through this process myself, I can see the significance of being the leader of one’s own learning journey. I am not the only source of knowledge and information for my students. I want them to understand that they can take control of their learning and find knowledge from additional sources. I want them to take ownership and create on their own terms so when they are finished with the product, they are proud of what they created. I will create a significant learning environment where they can safely make mistakes and develop a growth mindset; an environment where I can provide constraints and obstacles that they have to work around. I also hope that by building this in my classroom, that it will begin to spill over into other classrooms as more teachers begin to adopt this Learner’s Mindset as well. I can only ask my students and colleagues to do things that I would be willing to do myself, so I hope to be a great example that others can learn from on this journey.
Innovation Plan Reflection
When the idea of my innovation plan was born, I was so excited and passionate to get it started on my campus. While I still have that passion for blended learning, I learned quite a bit along the way. We are in a challenging time for teachers. We are two years deep into a pandemic that disrupted the education system. I have 7th graders in my classroom who haven’t had a normal school year since they were in the 4th grade. New programs and strategies are being thrown at us left and right to try and close these learning gaps that students have gained. It has been hard to get people on board due to the simple fact that people are at their maximum capacity for new information. I developed this innovation plan in March of 2021 so my aim was to begin at the beginning of the following school year in August. It was a struggle to gain momentum. I was able to get my teammate on board and we agreed to try to implement the plan, at least partially, on our classroom level. I now realize this is not something that will take place in just a year, but more than likely something that will need to develop and evolve over the course of a few years.
I now have the material I need to introduce blended learning to others. I have the online course that I designed to fit with my professional development plan that will be used to help teachers implement blended learning into their own classrooms. I have the research to back up the benefits of blended learning in the classroom. I have more knowledge of the COVA model and Creating Significant Learning Environments that help guide me in my decision-making. I have learned about the influencer strategy and the Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) and how to get others on board with my innovation plan. I also believe that there is importance in recognizing when it is time to step back and let people process. Many of my colleagues are overwhelmed with the procedures that are being implemented by our campus and district this school year. This is why I pumped the breaks a little when it came to trying to get my campus on board with my innovation plan. I decided to start small in my classroom and then once I have experience and have answers to the inevitable questions others will have, I can confidently take this plan beyond my classroom. I was able to try the station rotation model in my classroom a few times this year. These were mainly test runs to see how this could logistically work in my 7th-grade science classroom. With only 45 minute class periods and class sizes of up to 32 kids, it was hard to wrap my head around how it would be possible to give each kid the proper amount of time with each station and with me during small group intervention. Most research points to elementary classrooms where they either spend the whole day or several hours in one classroom. I dug deeper into research and found options and tried these in my classroom. The most successful was giving longer periods of time for the stations but spacing it out over multiple days. The next steps in my innovation plan would be to implement the rotation more frequently and start collecting data to see if there is an increase in student achievement.
As I mentioned in my COVA and CSLE reflection, my perspective on learning has taken a big shift since starting this program. I have gained confidence in my work embraced my creativity. This was evident in the production of my innovation project. I remember starting this program and struggling with my direction because I felt as though there was not enough explanation of what I was supposed to be doing. But as I progressed, I realized that I was not lacking an explanation, but I was given the opportunity to choose my own path throughout this program. This was overwhelming as a person that is used to just checking off all the required boxes. I have grown as a learner and also as a leader because of the knowledge I have gained throughout this program.
With all of this being said, my situation has changed. I will not be continuing my career at my current campus after this year and will be taking a leap of faith into trying something new outside of the classroom. Although this innovation plan may be put on hold for now, I feel so much more prepared for any innovation projects that I will make in the future. I now know how to identify a need, develop, research, prepare, and communicate my ideas successfully. Adopting this new growth mindset has set me on a greater path, and I can’t wait to see where it leads.