EDLD 5315 - 95/100
EDLD 5317 - 95/100
Eight courses down...two more to go!!! I loved that I was on summer break and was really able to focus on my studies. The two courses I took this semester went hand in hand. Our action research, literature review, and publication article all had to do with utilizing adaptive digital programs in a blended learning environment so for me, it was almost like I was taking 1 course. Keep reading to find out how.
When I began 5317 (Publication), I was literally shocked when I was told I was going to write something that could possibly be published in an online journal or publication. I was excited by this opportunity, so my collaboration group and I began brainstorming ideas. We wanted to work smarter this semester, so knowing we were going to have to do action research in 5315 (Assessing Digital Learning), we wanted to write about something we could also do research on. We came up with an amazing plan! Since our innovation plan is about implementing blended learning and we implemented blended learning in our classrooms this past school year, we decided to write about how utilizing adaptive digital programs in our blended learning environments impacted student achievement and motivation. We began by creating a Publication Outline that laid out everything we wanted to include. Then, we wrote a rough draft where Veronica and I wrote about the impact that Lexia Core5 had on our Dyslexia students and Erika wrote about the impact that i-Ready had on her 4th-grade students. Next, we collaborated on a Media Pitch video to try and encourage our colleagues to read our publication. This was really fun to make. Our last assignment was to create a final draft of our publication article. Pedro Carrizales, a fellow classmate, and I decided to peer-review each other's publication before finalizing our writing. His suggested edits were so helpful and made so much sense. I took his suggestions and edited my publication. As Veronica, Erika, and I finished our publication, we decided we still wanted to add more information that this coming school year will bring. I look forward to writing articles about dyslexia and blended learning in the near future and I now know I can do it, thanks to this ADL course.
For 5315 (Assessing Digital Learning), the main focus was to plan action research related to our innovation plan. Our action research question was and will continue to be "In what ways does the usage of the Lexia Core5 and i-Ready adaptive programs promote higher motivation and academic growth in our 4th-grade Dyslexia students?". We began by creating an outline that provides the structure and focus for both our literature review and the data collection for our action research. The title of our literature review was Blended Learning: Personalizing the Future of Education through Adaptive Digital Programs. It explores the benefits of blended learning, specifically how using adaptive programs within blended learning can impact student achievement at the elementary level in the subject of reading, as well as the barriers that exist while implementing a blended learning environment. Since we had already written a literature review about blended learning in general, this was an extension of that piece. Now that we had the research to back us up, we were ready to create our action research plan which included our implementation data from last school year. Our research will be continued next semester so that we can interview and survey our students and measure how the adaptive programs impacted their motivation to learn.
I was able to collaborate with about 22 of my fellow classmates via GroupMe. I love being able to ask questions because I know someone is bound to have the answer or at least direct me to the right place.
My core collaboration group was once again, my saving grace. Veronica Balli, Erika Peña, and I took on leadership roles at different stages of this semester. Since we were on summer break, we didn't see each other every day, but we made it work through Microsoft Teams, texting, and a couple of in-person meetings. I couldn't have survived this semester without them.
I have learned so much in the past seven weeks. I reflected on the assignments we had this semester and last, listened to feedback I received and made all necessary and suggested revisions. I met my deadlines by turning in all of my assignments by the due dates. I participated in all the discussions and gave feedback on several posts with my thoughts and research. I participated in our weekly live Zoom meeting when I was able to and watched the recording for both classes when I couldn't attend. I read the required book and articles and watched the videos in our course modules, which correlated very well with our assignments and discussion posts.
Something I want to improve upon is keeping up with the discussions so that I don't fall behind and create more stress for myself. In order to mentally prepare for next semester, I will begin reading the required text over the next few weeks, studying the 3 column tables on Dr. Harapnuik's website, looking through the assignment examples, and editing my ePortfolio.
I appreciate all the learning the ADL program has offered me thus far. Seeing myself as a writer and researcher makes me feel accomplished. I'm looking forward to my last semester as a grad student.
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