Contribution to My Learning and the Learning Community
In reflecting on my contributions to my own learning and to the learning community in this course, I am giving myself a score of 96. I believe this score is fair because I met all of the key contributions listed and most of the supporting contributions, although I relied more heavily on one peer for consistent feedback than I did on the entire group.
Throughout this course, I have stayed committed to building strong connections within my base group and beyond. My core group included Karimi Garcia, Katharina Claxton, Destiny Schindler, Nkima Browning, and Stephanie Scaletta. I have worked with Karimi in every class up to this point, and our consistent partnership has been a major strength in helping me stay accountable, get constructive feedback, and keep improving my work. One thing that worked well for me this term was leaning into peer feedback to refine and improve my assignments. After every major submission, I shared drafts and reflections with Karimi first and then often circled back to my base group for other perspectives. This pushed me to revise more deeply and to think about how my ideas could connect better to the big picture goals of our professional learning plans.
Another area that strengthened my learning was the chance to help classmates who were newer to this type of course design work. Many of my base group members were in the EdTech program, and as an ADL student, I realized that my experience gave me a unique opportunity to share what I’ve learned about backward design, COVA, and significant learning environments. I answered questions in our whole class forum, posted supportive replies with links to resources I have used, and gave practical examples of how I approach course expectations.
I also contributed to the learning community by showing up and posting early in each discussion. I wanted to make sure my peers had time to read and respond to my posts without feeling rushed at the last minute. When I could, I included credible research, like Dweck’s (2006) work on growth mindset or Gulamhussein’s (2013) research on effective professional learning, to ground my points and offer something useful for my classmates to build on.
One area I know I can still improve is widening my feedback circle. While my collaboration with Karimi is a strength, I realize I could have leaned more consistently on the rest of my base group to exchange ideas in a more balanced way. Going forward, I want to be more intentional about checking in with every group member and not defaulting to my comfort zone when I need advice or encouragement.
I believe I met all the key contributions for this course. I engaged fully with all readings, videos, and extra resources. I completed my assignments by the deadlines and revisited my work when needed to improve clarity and alignment. I took responsibility for my learning and for helping others when I could.
What I’m most proud of is that my contributions did not stop at meeting the course requirements. I know that helping my EdTech peers build confidence in navigating adult learning theory and innovation planning will ripple out beyond this class. I hope my transparency and shared experiences gave others ideas they can adapt for their own contexts.
Looking ahead, I will keep pushing myself to lead by example, share what I know, and stay open to what my peers can teach me in return. This course has reinforced what Fink (2003) says about how powerful it is when students learn to assess their own work. By reflecting deeply and honestly on what I contributed, and what I can do better, I know I am practicing exactly what we hope our learners will do.
For evidence of my work:
References
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers: Effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. Center for Public Education.