What Have We Learned? DLL Program Reflection
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Looking Back
As I looked back through my portfolio website and the courses in the DLL program, I found it interesting the reaction they evoked in me. And maybe I was just hungry at the time, but it made me think of how different kinds of food make me feel. Some topics were like comfort food—parts of the program that I knew were a good fit for me and I was right. Others were like a new cuisine I’d been wanting to try—I knew they would be a stretch for me but I knew I had something I wanted to learn. Yet others were more serendipitous, they weren’t really even on my radar, but when I came across them I discovered something I didn’t know I was missing (these ended up being my favorites).
Comfort Food
Photo by gail_thepinkpeppercorn on Flickr)
One of the things that drew me to the DLL program was the idea of a self-directed program. Once I got into the program, though, I discovered just how self-directed it was. Even more importantly, I learned about the innovation plan, which allowed me to learn the way I learn best–by thinking about a topic and applying it to a real-world situation. School has never come easy for me, but I got into computer programming without taking any formal computer classes because I had a real problem to solve. Once I learned that this was the approach of this program, I knew this was going to work well for me, and it absolutely did.
Organizational change was another topic that I thought would be an enjoyable topic, and I found that it absolutely was. One of the draws for me of moving up into administration (I know, I know, the dreaded “A” word…) has been the ability to see a need and have a real, noticeable, immediate impact. Well, not always as immediate or noticeable as I’d like, but having a leadership position allows me the ability to push for change without needing to push through quite as many layers of opposition above me. The “Influencer” model helped me to think through how to do this in a way that encourages the team that is under my care to lead rather than demoralizing them.
New Cuisine
Photo by swisschef on Flickr
Another of my goals for getting a M.Ed. was to understand the instructional side of the college a little better. Though I have worked in higher education for about 13 years, I have been almost exclusively on the operational side. When I moved into an administrative role in my college’s IT department, I wanted more context. That is, I wanted to understand the more about instruction and learning theory to be able to more effectively run an IT department that supports the college’s educational mission and instructors.
Courses that dealt with learning theory, course design, online/blended learning, and creating significant learning environments were definitely a challenge for me. That challenge was exactly what I needed and was looking for, and I find it much easier now to discuss learning environments with instructors and I have a much better understanding of how I can support them and students with technology.
New Discoveries
Photo by dannychoo on Flickr
The first time I tried Indian food was because we just happened to drive by an Indian restaurant and thought it seemed interesting. Perhaps part of what made it so enjoyable was the unexpectedness of finding something so enjoyable almost by accident.
In this same way, perhaps the biggest pleasant surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the research and literature reviews. Reviewing the research and conducting some original research. Reading the research completely changed my perspective on developmental education (the subject of my innovation plan), and that has become something I’m passionate about. I’ve been working already to make some changes and implement some new technology to help bridge the gap and empower our academic advisors to help developmental students.
Timeline
It was great to see my progression through the program and what some of my main takeaways were from each course. In the timeline below I share a little bit of how each course contributed to my learning process; you can click through to see each individual course reflection. A course and assignment index is also available for more detail.
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Apr 02 2017
This course appropriately enough provided an introduction to many of the themes we would come back to again and again through the program--growth mindset, COVA, ePortfolios, and learning theory.Jul 09 2017
This was a momentous course for me, as it was when I developed my first literature review and when I selected my innovation project. Looking back, it's almost humorous to see how naive I was, how far I've come, and how following the research has made me so passionate about this topic.Oct 07 2017
This deeper dive into learning theories, particularly constructivist and constructionist philosophy, was where I began to develop my own philosophy of learning and how best to encourage learning in others. A pivotal course for me, particularly in understanding more about my philosophy of education.Feb 20 2018
This may have been the most directly practical course for me. I deal with organizational change constantly and was in the midst of a minor reorganization (which later turned into a major reorganization). I come back to concepts from this course regularly in my day-to-day dealings.Apr 01 2018
This course was where my innovation plan started to shift. While I thought I was going to just digress a little bit for the sake of getting the work done, I ended up finding a new direction for my innovation plan that fit even better and new topics to research. Honestly, this is one of those courses where a lot of what I learned was not as much about the course content specifically, but I learned and grew a lot in this course.May 13 2018
A lot of things started to come together in this course. I more fully embraced the shift in my innovation plan and started to research my interest in artificial intelligence and how it may have a positive impact on advising strategies.Jul 06 2018
This course helped me refine my research questions for the study I would refine and write (in later courses) and plan to submit for journal publication. The focus on "action research" and continuous improvement help to focus the research and keep it practical.Aug 19 2018
This course helped me bring together concepts from previous courses--learning theories and backwards course design--and apply them toward building out a course design into an online course framework.Sep 30 2018
While this course was a bit of an outlier in terms of the flow of the overall program design, it gave me a chance to make connections between some of the technology topics I'm passionate about--such as open source software--and educational technology. I got to get a few good rants in, too, which is always fun.Nov 12 2018
I put in more work for this course than several of the other courses combined, but it was possibly the single most rewarding course in the program for me. I performed some (admittedly fairly rudimentary) original research and put it together into a proposed journal article. I look forward to building on this research and seeing this article published.Dec 10 2018
And here I am, at the end of this particular journey. I am grateful for the portfolio website that's part of the program, as it gives a very easy way to look back to be reminded of lessons learned and reflect on how far I've come.
The Bottom Line
I am grateful for what I have been able to accomplish and for the growth I’ve seen in myself over the past two years. I came into this course a technology professional, and I feel that I have emerged an educator, and a stronger leader. Learning COVA and CSLE by being steeped in that type of environment and by practically working through concepts by developing an innovation plan has given me the tools to lead and empower others to help create the next generation of learners and change the world the only way we can—one learner at a time.
