EDLD 5320 Reflection

This course, EDLD 5320, is my final course in the Digital Learning and Leading (DLL) course at Lamar University. From the beginning of the DLL course, I was excited and afraid. I was tasked with learning in a new style that I had never heard about before, COVA. It threw me for a loop at first, and to be honest, there are times when I still struggle with the COVA concept. COVA is an acronym meaning Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic Learning. The COVA approach is to give the student freedom to learn and demonstrate their knowledge in a method that is authentic to the student. We are usually given a vague rubric for assignments. With that rubric, we are free to demonstrate our learning in any number of ways. Through the DLL course, I have created PowToon videos, blog posts, outlines, essays, literature reviews, and PowerPoints, just to name a few.

To help the students, including myself, with COVA, the instructors worked hard to create a significant learning environment (CSLE). The CSLE has been slightly different for each class, but the impact has been the same. I was challenged, inspired, and encouraged to utilize the freedoms associated with COVA. Additionally, I solidified my thoughts on what a significant learning environment should be at my school, De Beau Microschool. The concept of CSLE was not new to me, but the name and the acronym were new to me. You can read about my realization of that fact in this previous blog post. Since being involved with COVA, I consider that a part of the CSLE. I have been incorporating COVA into my CSLE at De Beau Microschool, especially for my sixth grade students.

Throughout the DLL course, I have been developing an innovation plan that I plan to implement at De Beau Microschool. That's when I really realized that I truly had choice in this program. I had to decide on my innovation plan. I had to develop this plan and design it to fit my unique school and situation. I had the opportunity to revisit and redesign my plan along the way many times throughout this course. As a matter of fact, I'm still working on this innovation plan. I will be posting an another update to the innovation plan very soon. Again, we are always revisiting and revamping the plan to make it better. What's interesting to me though, is that of the (usually) 17 students that are in the DLL course with me, no one's plan is identical. The topic may be the same, such as blended learning or eportfolios, but the implementation and ideas are very different. I'm excited to see how each person's innovation plan develops throughout the years to come, and will be following those developments through their eportfolios.

References:

Harapnuik, D. (2017) CSLE+COVA. Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6988

Harapnuik, D., Thibodeaux, T., & Cummings, C. (2018).COVA: Choice, ownership andvoice through authentic learning. A Transformation in Learning