Contribution to Your Learning and the Learning Community
Reflecting On Successful Strategies and Areas for Personal Development
This course helped me become a self-directed learner and strengthened my skills to critically analyze course material while applying theoretical concepts to my professional work. My primary growth area has involved developing the skill to synchronize learning outcomes with assessment methods and learning activities effectively. Through the Understanding by Design (UbD) Template together with Developing a Growth Mindset Plan I enhanced my teaching approach by incorporating assessment as learning. I try to excel at enhancing the quality of my assignments as I utilize feedback from both peers and instructors to strengthen the polish and conceptual depth of my work. By joining class discussions at the start of the week I discovered that I can achieve richer collaborative engagement with my peers through sustained dialogue.
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Contribution to Core Collaboration Group
During this course I maintained consistent collaboration with a dedicated group of peers whose contributions greatly enhanced my learning journey. My new friends, Kelsie Adams, Ann Zastryzny and Angela Speck have been essential members who offered valuable insights and constructive feedback while providing continuous support during our group discussions and assignments. Working together with these ladies has helped me to better understand course material while enabling me to enhance my assignments through repeated revisions. Meaningful conversations with them helped me enhance my skills for instructional design frameworks to better align outcomes with assessments and activities.
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I contribute to my learning community through active participation in group discussions and collaborative learning forums. Class chat participation facilitated my awareness of project deadlines and helped me understand assignment expectations while obtaining essential portfolio development advice. The external resources I shared about digital learning and assessment practices enriched the learning experience of my group collectively.
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The Creating Your Learning Philosophy assignment was an excellent collaborative example because I shared teaching insights that led to constructive feedback that improved my educational belief statements. The exchange of ideas between myself and my peers benefited my learning experience while benefiting my fellow learners.
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Assignment Revisions and Implementation
The Aligning Outcomes, Assessment, and Activities assignment contributed substantially to my instructional design development by enabling me to establish a continuous link between learning objectives, assessment methods, and instructional activities. Although it was difficult at first I adopted backward design principles which allowed me to create structured alignment that boosted both student involvement and the precision of evaluations. By integrating Fink’s (2003) framework with the Learning Outcomes 3 Column Table I enhanced my skill to link academic goals with practical implementation methods. Through my School Sphere project I showed how combining assessment and learning outcomes creates a useful educational tool that illustrates the value of authentic assessment and iterative design in digital learning settings.
Revamping my Growth Mindset Plan presented me with profound new perspectives. At first, my plan for implementing a growth mindset in various learning settings did not include specific strategies. Feedback enabled me to refine my approach by adding authentic learning opportunities and formative assessment techniques based on the New Culture of Learning framework (Thomas & Brown, 2011). The UbD Design Template experienced substantial evolution when I synchronized learning goals with assessment methods to boost student involvement.
My UbD Design Template underwent one of the most important revisions during my development process. The original version of my template did not link learning objectives with assessment strategies. The feedback review led me to adjust my approach which now includes assessments that accurately measure learning outcomes and formative assessments to support student development. I adapted performance tasks to enhance their realism and relevance to actual learning situations. My experience with this process strengthened my grasp of backward design principles and their application in creating impactful learning experiences.
Incorporating Growth Mindset principles from Dweck (2006) into my teaching approach enabled me to develop assessment strategies focused on student reflection and critical analysis. My exploration of ePortfolios during a previous course strengthened my conviction that student empowerment requires choice, ownership, and voice for learners.
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Completion of Course Materials and Engagement
Through careful study of required readings and resources paired with video content, I have been able to apply theoretical concepts directly to my teaching practice. One of the most impactful readings was Dweck’s (2006) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, which demonstrated why educators and students must adopt a growth mindset. The dialogue about autodidactic learners is something I see daily now, and why developing a learner’s mindset should be a priority for my students.
Through the principles of COVA (Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic Learning) (Harapnuik, Thibodeaux, & Cummings, 2018), I developed assignments that foster student independence and maintain their active participation. I revised my assessment methods to incorporate peer feedback sessions along with self-assessment tasks, which adhered to formative assessment principles and supported continuous learning.
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Meeting Deadlines and Supporting Contributions
Throughout this course, my work on the Applying Educational Technology (5303): My learning experiences came together through the Portfolio assignment. I showcased my application of instructional design principles in practical settings through the careful curation of important projects and reflective pieces. Through my portfolio I could demonstrate my advancements in digital tools integration alongside assessment strategy refinement and student engagement development. My professional development unfolded through this continuous process which underscored my growth and validated iterative learning together with self-reflection as essential practices.
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I consistently met all course deadlines through timely assignment submissions and active participation in peer discussions, which supported learning community engagement. Essential time management strategies helped me balance my coursework and professional responsibilities so I could remain organized and proactive.
In addition to my personal coursework, I have made extra contributions by sharing articles and tools that create connections between various assignments. I shared resources about formative assessment strategies and digital tools for collaborative learning, which led to discussions about best practices in technology-enhanced education.
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Score Justification
My contributions to the course deserve a 90-point evaluation. My dedication to thoroughly engaging with course materials stands alongside my iterative refinement of assignments through consistent feedback reception and my active involvement in group discussions. Through practical application of theoretical knowledge, I have succeeded, yet I see room for improvement by joining discussions sooner and delivering regular feedback to peers.
This course has dramatically transformed my understanding of instructional design by emphasizing learner-centered assessment. My future goals involve fostering a growth mindset through my learning process and educational work while creating powerful teaching experiences for my students.
References
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
Harapnuik, D., (2018). COVA: Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic Learning. Retrieved from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6988.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Developing creative thinking skills that thrive in an ever-evolving world. CreateSpace.
