Wow I can't believe this journey is over! It was definitely a course filled with ups and downs, with a lot of frustration but a lot of satisfaction as well. This final reflection and portfolio showcases my work through the last seven weeks in CU Denver's Learning with Digital Stories course taught by Professor Remi Holden. By completing this portfolio, I was surprised how much I accomplished in a short period of time. Here is the link to my final portfolio, and below is my final course reflection. I hope you enjoy learning about my journey as much as I enjoyed it!
Myself as a Learner in this Course
The following addresses how I learned in this course, how I understand social learning practices, how my experiences in this course inform how I will learn in the future, and the ways I understand myself a connected learner.
When I read the syllabus a few weeks before
the course, I was a bit nervous of what was to come. I didn’t even really understand what a
digital story was. Then as the first
week began I watched the two screencasts and part of me felt better and part of
me felt unsure. Remi stated that it was
ok to feel frustrated, confused, discouraged (I can’t remember all the
adjectives but there were a few) so I knew I wouldn’t be alone in my feelings. I am pretty sure the first week’s assignments
took me about 3 days to complete as I was exploring DS106 and the different
aspects.
As the weeks went along, I became more and
more comfortable with the course and assignments and even began looking forward
to the DS106 assignment bank. My
progression of comfort in the course is very evident in my blog posts and
tweets as the weeks went on. This
comfort level increased based on how I learned in this course. At first, everything was new to me; blogging,
tweeting, digital stories, DS106, Daily Creates, literally everything was
new. I learned by doing and trying. I learned by viewing other classmates’ work
and from trial and error on my own. I
learned by asking for help from classmates and Remi.
This leads to how I understand the social
learning practices given theory by Lankshear and Knobel. My whole journey to become a teacher and more
recently getting my master’s degree has had a fair amount of social learning,
although I wasn’t really aware of the label until recently. My cohort through CU Denver’s Urban Teaching
Program became my go to for help and questions more so than my professors on my
road to becoming a teacher. Some of my master’s
classes have had a lot of social learning and some had none. This most recent course on digital story
telling has had the most social learning.
My favorite definition of social learning comes from Lankshear and
Knobel’s New Literacies chapter 7, but it is from a quote from Brown and
Adler. They say, “[Social learning] is learning
based on the assumption that our understanding of concepts and processes is
constructed socially in conversations about the matters in question and
'through grounded interactions, especially with others, around their problem or
action” (p. 218).
My social learning became evident when I asked
for help in a blog post regarding DS106 assignments and within one hour of my
post, I had two classmates offer suggestions to me. I immediately took their advice and was on my
way. Even though this is my last
graduate class of my program, I plan to continue incorporating social learning
into my third grade classroom. I have
learned how powerful it can be, especially for younger students who are like
sponges. There is a lot of research out
there that discusses how important social learning and group work is for
English language learners and my plan is to incorporate as much as I can this
coming year.
My Co-Design of this Course
The following addressed how this course was different from others I've taken, how I contributed to the development of this course and our learning community, how I was responsible for directing both my own learning and also the shared experiences of peers/others, and how I would have designed this course differently.
With the exception of one or two courses in my
program, this course was very different.
It challenged me to think on my own and rely on myself and the help from
peers to figure things out. My whole ILT
program was online so there is always some degree of self-reliance, but here I
was pushed farther than before.
I feel I contributed to the development of
this course by bringing a different perspective (that of an elementary teacher)
to the group. There were a lot of people
in the class that had something to do with education, but to my knowledge I was
the only elementary school teacher. This
allowed my peers to see this class through a different lens than their
own. Those that read my blog could see
how the Lankshear and Knobel readings or DS106 assignments could be tied to
elementary classroom.
I was responsible for directing my own learning
through DS106 assignments and digital story critiques. It was up to me to pick the DS106 assignments
and then learn how to complete them.
This was a lot easier said than done.
There were so many assignments I chose that were a learning curve. Whether it was figuring out Windows Movie
Maker or Audacity or just simply how to embed things into a blog. As far as the digital critiques went, I could
choose a story that interested me or taught me something. For example, I watched a lot of Ted Talks on
education and I found myself paying close attention to the news or Facebook in
order to find stories I wanted to critique.
One of the most helpful aspects of this course
was reading other responses to the text.
Each person had a different take on the same chapter and it was very
helpful to read other responses and put it all together. What I had to say might have helped someone
else that was struggling with a concept or something I read on another’s blog
helped clear up my confusion. This
shared experience of working through a complex text together, I think benefited everyone.
There are two things I would change about this
course: the story critiques the second half of the class and the lack of grades. I found that many of the remixes the second
half of the course that people critiqued, including myself, were not as in
depth or were more surface level than the critiques the first half of the
class. For example, remixed songs or fan
fiction. I realize those remixes are
very important to some and maybe I am being naïve in saying they are more surface
level or just for fun. But for me and my
journey through this course, I preferred the critique criteria the first half
of the course where I could watch Ted Talks or news stories that were not
remixes. But then again, Lankshear and
Knobel argue that everything could be considered a remix of something else so
perhaps it just comes down to personal opinion.
Finally, it was hard for me to never get a formal grade for my
work. I know everything was read and
kept track of, but I am person that needs that grade to keep me at peace that I
am on the right track. Although, I am
assume if I was failing, I would have been notified by now!
My Understanding of Pedagogy
The following addresses how I understand Remi's course design and ongoing decision-making, how this course changed my understanding of pedagogy, how my understanding of "instructor" changed, and some feedback to Remi about this course.
I would be curious to see how this course was designed
before this semester as I had heard it used to look very differently. My understanding of this course design comes
from what I have seen on DS106 as our syllabus correlates to the DS106
syllabus. I very much appreciate Remi’s
ongoing decision making throughout the course because I feel like he was really
listening to our reflections and acting accordingly. He wasn’t afraid to veer from the syllabus
and update it to meet our needs. For
example, I was one of the people who was frustrated with the Daily Creates
because there were very few I related to each week. I never directly complained about them but
would mention my concerns in my reflections and a few weeks later he made them
optional. This goes to show he was
really listening and doing his best to meet our needs.
With that being said, this course didn’t necessarily change
my understanding of pedagogy, but it did help confirm my beliefs. I knew the importance of social learning, but
like I said before, I didn’t have a name for it other than group work or
collaboration. Through Lankshear and
Knobel’s final two chapters and the real time exposure I got to social
learning, it has confirmed that I need to ramp up my efforts in my own
classroom.
To me an instructor is someone who guides you along your
journey and helps you reach your goals.
Their job is not to ‘push’ all this knowledge at you, but be there for
support as you try to find your way. I
think all of us became ‘instructors’ in this course as we all helped each other
through the journey. Selfishly, it was
comforting knowing others were going through my same struggles and I learned
about their same struggles through their posts, whether it was technology
issues, work or travel obligations, to confusion about assignments, etc. Our ‘instructor’ was there each Monday to
check in and help guide our work for the following week. It was always nice to be showcased in a
screencast as it validated and acknowledged the work we were doing.
All I have to say is if you had asked me 8 weeks ago if I
was going to make it through this course, I would have said probably not. I remember saying to someone, I don’t know
how anyone with a job will have time to complete all of these assignments! Not only did each week get easier and easier,
but I began to look forward to things like the critiques and DS106
assignments. I learned about a world I
never knew existed (fan fiction and anime) and learned about new programs and
web 2.0 tools that will be very useful for me in the future with my
students. I think it is very important
that you emphasize to ‘newbies’ that it seems like a lot but it is worth the
journey, if I could do it, anyone can!
Here is the embedded version on my portfolio. To view the complete site, click here
References:
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2011). New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning. New York: Open University Press.
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