Contributions to Learning Community

Growing up I always heard the saying“time flies”. That specific saying has become the reality for these eight week courses. The eight week semester has flown by, but I have learned some valuable things relating to the course as well as about myself outside of these courses to go through everyday life. One thing I got the opportunity to reel in on is focusing on the importance of what we are doing and why this not only relates to our project that each student is doing, but our real jobs as well. As a teacher we do everything we do for the good of our students. Sometimes we don’t agree on things that are enforced or tasks that are piled upon us, but if it’s for the better of the student in the long run, we push all negativity aside to complete it. I have found, while leading a new change in our environment, there will be negativity and pushback but reverting it to the mission into our “whys” captures people's feelings and have them put their priorities in better reach.

This semesters’ class pairing was 5302 Concepts of Educational Technology and 5304 Leading Change.

In 5302 , I took an active role in the learning process and had a say in the creation of real projects that utilize new technologies as a tool for development in my workplace. I established a growth mindset blueprint, that lays out a plan for how to introduce the growth mindset to my career, and expressed my learning philosophy through a learning manifesto .

In 5304, I was given an opportunity to learn skills that are vital to become a self-differentiated leader who can deal with the expected unwillingness to have change occur in my environment while introducing new digital learning through my ePortfolio. Being able to explain my why and put a plan in place by looking at my influencing factors to help implement the change,and the executing strategy.

I also engaged with my classmates in discussion boards in both courses where we regularly discussed readings, videos, and assignments.

5302 was geared toward the growth mindset and how we needed to continue to foster this mindset with everything we do throughout life. It’s really eye-opening to the videos and the readings on how this mindset can really take a toll on someone’s life whether it be in a positive way or a negative way depending on if the mindsets adopted. 5304 was full of intriguing strategies and models to plan the execution of our innovation plans. The six sources of influence model was my eye opener to how and what needed to occur for change to happen.

As this eight week semester ends, there is always time to reflect on the positive and negative when it comes toward the past outcome of this learning. Time management has never been my strong suit, but from the previous semester it has gotten better I can say. As always, I’ll underestimate how much time I have and how much time the actual work will take. Knowing it will all be worth it and help me better as an individual will always be the biggest motivator. The feedback given through all the assignments was more than I had expected to be given. Though there were a lot of changes to be made it helped shape the path I was trying to pave through the assignments. Having part of the learning community via GroupMe has very much helped me succeed in the course.My GroupMe members included Jasmin Galbert, Andrea Harrell, Andrei Dobrodumov, Chastity Crissman, Erika Pena,Ileana Reyna, Jackie Resendez, Karin Stateler, Kelven Wilson, Kimberly Purvis, Mamta Singh, Pedro Carrizales, Rachel Hull, Stephen Weeden, Stephen Lewis, Veronica Balli,and Jacob Montag. Whether it be someone clearing up an assignment or just offering support in any which way, this community helps me take a breath and know I am capable of doing well in the courses.I am not quite a community leader, but I do consider everybody’s input and will respond and be of help or assistance to anyone I can be.

I was mentally not ready for the semester to be completely transparent. I struggled with handling both of these courses. Gratefully, I came to be in a better place and understanding and had a much needed shift.

5302/5304 Grade 80/100