As I complete the first course module in the Digital Education Leadership Orientation course, here are reflections on my key learnings.
Mission, Vision, Values
I learned about the mission, vision, and values of Seattle Pacific University (SPU), the School of Education (SOE), and the Digital Education Leadership (DEL) Course. I also learned that SPU is a Christian university fully committed to engaging the culture and changing the world by graduating people of competence and character, becoming people of wisdom, and modeling grace-filled community. This element particularly resonated with me as a believer in Christ.
Mind-Mapping
I also got to build upon the basic mind-mapping skills I have previously learned to distil important information and to organize the information in a logical and organized manner.
What was valuable to my learning in this module is in leveraging digital tools to create mind maps rather than just mapping out ideas on paper. I learned how to create a mind map using Coggle to visually represent the essential details of any connections between the University’s mission, core themes, and vision, the School of Education’s conceptual framework, and the philosophy and purpose of the Digital Education Leadership program.
I discovered that using grids, similar colors, and font sizes are effective methods for presenting information hierarchy and correlation between data to help others clearly understand the major points of the mind map.I foresee this mind-mapping skill will be a very valuable one as I progress through the course, with the many pieces of academic writing I anticipate I’ll be writing.
Reflective Assessment
I learned that there are 3 reflective assessment strategies that can be used for students to identify and explain what they have learned and what they still need to learn. The 3 strategies are Clear and unclear windows, I learned statements, and Search for meaning. In this post, I have utilized the I learned statements method to reflect my understanding of this module.
I am already planning to share these 3 reflective assessment strategies with the academic faculty from my school so we can put them to use immediately with our students.
Characteristics of Successful Online Learners
Last but not least, I have also learned the characteristics of successful online learners. I learned strategies to humanize an online course by making connections so that students feel a relationship to the course, with fellow students, and the instructor.
I also learned that the elements of a successful educational experience consist of social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. When all 3 elements are present and optimized, that is when online learning becomes most effective.
On reflection, successful online learning experience depends on effective control of numerous executive functions including inhibition, shift, emotional control, initiation, working memory, planning/organization skills, organization of materials, and self-monitoring. This helps me develop greater awareness of the areas I will need to master in order to be a better online learner. At the same time, it also informs me that these are areas I have to help my students master for their learning succcess.
