EDLD 5302 & 5305 (Summer) Contribution to Learning

Teaching virtually as an educator was a challenge for the past 1 and 1/2 years. It involved learning how to adapt from paper assignments to virtual and interactive assignments. Now that I myself am learning in a virtual environment, I've realized that I truly can connect with how some of my students felt while being in front of their computer at home trying to keep up with the content of their subjects. When I was in college, I much preferred to taking a face to face class rather than a 100% online course simply because I loved the interaction between my classmates and professors. It was simpler to collaborate with students who didn't have full time jobs or responsibilities like maintaining homes, caring for children or other family members, and also just raising a hand to ask for clarifications on discussions and assignments. Online courses, is something that is a convenience but also takes a lot of responsibility on me as a student. I believe I am improving weekly, however I still have a ways to go.

As a contribution to my learning community I collaborated with current classmates via Zoom meetings and through the Group Me application. Through these paths I was able to offer gain constructive criticism on my own assignments and also input my own opinions on my classmates' work as well. This is truly a important and beneficial practice that must be initiated throughout our learning process. I would also seek out individual help and feedback from classmates when stuck on a learning concept that helped my develop my own ideas on assignments for both of my current courses. I revised my own assignments from feedback from my classmates and would also give my input if asked for their assignments as well. Throughout this course one of the hardest things for me as a student was meeting deadlines. This is something that I have always struggled with my own education, however I am eager to improve on this matter. Something I plan to do for the next session is to purchase a desk calendar to be able to easily detail class sessions, assignment due dates, and a scheduled time set aside to dedicate to my course work. As an educator, I cannot expect my students to be organized if I am not either. This is something I've realized and will make that a goal that I plan to achieve. During my session courses, I continued to stay up to date with the videos provided by the course and readings. My favorite of course is Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck. While reading this book, I learned so much about how a person's mindset can influence the amount of success they will gain. I even learned things about myself and how adapting mindsets could benefit my students in their own daily lives. Another thing I feel I need to continue working on as a student is to develop better research methods. During my research assignments I would utilize the Lamar Online Library to search for articles to use for assignments. Some of the time, I would not be able to find a full text article which forced me to continue searching. I will continue to collaborate with classmates on how to find peer reviewed articles. One of my classmates suggested through a Zoom meeting that online public libraries are a reliable source.

As far as the proposed score for my contribution to the learning community, I chose a 37. I realize that there is room for improvement in how I can contribute to my learning community and have a list of adjustments that I will use in future courses. I understand the importance of forming collaboration circles in receive input but also help my classmates reflect and understand another person's thoughts and opinion in a timely manner as well. What I have learned from this course so far is that it takes a lot to be prepared to be a leader. I love learning new things in technology to use in my classrooms and with additional practice and collaboration with classmates, I feel like I will be a leader on campus.

Group Collaborations:

Dawn Short

Jasmin Galbert

Annababette Diemecke