In the last stretch of my ADL journey, I embarked on two courses: “Instructional Design in Online Learning” (5318) and “Synthesis of Digital Learning and Leadership” (5320). Balancing my roles as an educator and a student made the last mile of my journey challenging but achievable. My journey began last May. Standing here now, I can't help but think of how far I've come this past year, especially considering the doubts that I had at the start of this journey. I finally made it to the finish line!
Being part of a collaborative group during the course of this program has proven instrumental in my progress throughout but especially during this session. Ashley Lee, Amanda Mask, and Hillary Turnage have been my core collaborative crew through this entire program. Katie Beauchene joined our group last session and has been such a wonderful asset to our group. I am so glad she agreed to continue to collaborate in our final courses. Throughout this journey, these ladies have offered invaluable support that I didn't know I needed. We still use our collaborative document, which we created during the first summer session as a compilation of all our assignments. We collaborated and left comments in Word docs to refine and give feedback for our assignments. Our text group became a lifeline, and a place of support, encouragement, and friendship. These ladies have not only been with me through the ADL journey but in milestones in my life as well. We’ve celebrated events such as when my dad had a double lung transplant, my daughter going to her first prom and our birthdays, but we’ve also been there for each other to give support during the lows when we needed to be uplifted.
Throughout the session, I have been an active participant. I attended every Zoom class and engaged in all discussions, responding to Blackboard posts and offering feedback to my peers. I embraced "feedforward" from peers and instructors and reflected on my assignments based on their insights. Post-feedback, I revisited my assignments and revised them accordingly.
I made sure to read all the required materials, watch the assigned videos, and explore the provided links. Meeting assignment deadlines was a top priority, and I went the extra mile to learn more beyond what was required. I found the examples shared by other students to be very helpful. I relied heavily on Dr. Harapnuik's eportfolio and utilize the examples he had linked.
In these sessions, I assumed an active leadership role and made contributions to the Blackboard forums in both courses. I engaged in discussions, shared valuable resources, and provided constructive feedback on numerous posts. I made it a point to post my initial responses within the assigned week or before to allow ample time for others to respond, and I actively participated in discussions with my peers. When it came to research, adhering to proper APA citing was important, and I sought assistance from the Lamar Writing Center.
Simultaneously navigating both courses has always been the right decision. I am grateful that my collaborative group has continued to take the same courses and complete this journey together. I enjoyed and learned so much in these 2 courses this session. In 5318, I successfully developed an online learning module for my Graphic Design students, designed for implementation in the upcoming academic year. Leveraging our district's Learning Management System (LMS), I created the instructional design and discussed how I would implement it. I sought feedback from both my colleagues and students so that I could refine and improve the course content. I am happy to say that I will be implementing this online course next school year. In 5320, I had the opportunity to reflect on the numerous achievements during my ADL program journey such as my innovative plan. I have been challenged to create a two day summer PD for my district and plan to incorporate my ePortfolio initiative in to my training. I am appreciative of the opportunities and growth this program will continue to provide me in the future. It seems like I just started this program and now it is over!
As this session and this program draws to a close, I reflect on the lessons learned realizing that there are still many blank pages to be written in my future and many destinations to see. Both these courses have given me the insight and purpose to keep striving for greatness. With self-assessments in mind, I propose grades of 98/100 for "5318-Instructional Design in Online Learning" and 98/100 for "5320-Synthesis of Digital Learning and Leadership." Looking ahead, I plan to continue my growth mindset, mindful that growth is a never-ending journey in both life and learning. Thank you to my professors who have been instrumental to my growth. You have made learning fun and meaningful!
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