Through completing the coursework in this most recent installment of the Applied Digital Learning program, I have had the opportunity to reflect and design a plan to create a significant learning environment for my learners. Developing an environment that fosters a Growth Mindset is imperative if I want my innovation plan to succeed. For many of my students, I find that they come to high school already engrossed in the fixed mindset and it is a real challenge for me to help them understand how they will be able to reach their full potential.

"If you want to contribute to your e-Portfolio/blog on a regular basis you need to accept the fact that it will never be finished! The reason I can say this is that I believe that I will never stop learning so I will always have something new to include in my e-Portfolio. This idea is also important because once you accept the fact that your posts will never be perfect you can publish your work more quickly and over the years see how much you have grown" (Harapnuik, 2015). 

As an "old school" teacher I have found that it is possible "to teach an old dog new tricks." The Growth Mindset is something that many of my colleagues display on posters in their rooms, but not something I would seriously consider- until now. Dweck's idea of the power of 'yet' has allowed me to see the possibilities for making true change in my learners' worlds and hopefully their mindsets as to what they can do.

I recently applied for and was accepted into the 2024-2025 Montgomery County, PA Universal Design for Learning cohort in my high school.  I am interested to see if the coupling of UDL with UbD, COVA+CSLE may put me on a new track to achieve my innovation plan goals of a truly blended classroom for my learners.  My journey into UDL began on September 26, 2024, just as my Fall 2024 Term 1 for the ADL program draws to a close.  I am not sure what the experience holds for me, but I am anxious to see what this new tool in my toolbox allows me to do.  As I sat through the first of several meetings throughout the remainder of this school year, I was beginning to see the connections that UDL, UbD, and Fink's 3- column table design can begin to meld together into a tool unlike any other in education.  The goal we developed for our cohort focuses on getting students to communicate more effectively in the multiple settings they can and will find themselves in- educational, social, professional.  One of the objectives to achieve that goal was to create significant learning environments in which students are given choice, ownership and voice.  I have already begun to see a new direction for my learning and the learning of my students as I delve more deeply into what I am calling the new "tripod" of my learning journey- COVA, UDL, and Ubd.

One of the elements in education that has given me angst is the dreaded review.  Whether it is the feedback from an administrator on an observation, the feedback and feed forward from a college professor, or a review from my peers.  The other is giving feedback and feed forward.  It is a delicate balance.  It has always been my belief that you start with the commendations and follow up with the recommendations, and so that is what I did.  In reviewing my cohort member's e-portfolios, I have certainly seen people who have taken the COVA model to heart. The personalities of each person come through in each e-portfolio. It is easy to see the joy and excitement that each member of the cohort has in their learning journey.  The variety of styles and platforms have given me an enjoyable journey through the e-portfolio universe. I truly do appreciate the feedback I have received on my e-portfolio as well. Many of the suggestions I have received are changes that I have been considering myself throughout the program thus far. When I read the suggestions and observations of my classmates, I see that those considerations were not the insecurities of my own self doubt, but authentic considerations to become a better learner in the program. I have begun to make the changes that my classmates have suggested and after the publishing of this post will continue to do so. I have decided to utilize the Webador platform after experimenting with both Wix and Wordpress. I find the Webador platform much easier to navigate- at times.  There are those moments when I have to go back and use the Google tutorial video or the Help button to remember how to complete a task. The feedback from my peers has been invaluable in my journey as a learner.

COVA has become one of the guiding acronyms in my life over the past several months.  The idea of Choice has truly changed since beginning the ADL program.  In the past, my idea of choice for my students was providing them a list of persuasive or literary analysis topics and telling them to choose one for the most recent essay assignment. My idea of Ownership was one in which students used the guidelines I gave them so they could make their essays their own in what stance and support they provided for their work.  Their Voice was the expression of their chosen support and refutation for their chosen topic. The Authenticity of their work was dependent on the content of the previous elements.  I since have learned that Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic learning experiences is so much afield of what I believed it to be. I had to learn it myself, to understand how to have my students learn it for themselves. Just because I gave them the freedom to choice their topics, and decide within the parameters how they were going to present their finished products, I was giving them choice and ownership. I admit I still struggle with the giving up of the control in how students demonstrate their learning within the confines of curriculum and administration's expectations, but as I look to new methods of assessment and demonstration of mastery, I am seeing a world of possibilities that does not and even can not be based on the standard multiple-choice test to assess knowledge and understanding.  My own learning has taken on a whole new view. As a student in other graduate level courses and programs, what we had to do was directed at my fellow students and I, and we were essentially collecting the dots in order to get the grade.  I now find myself trying more to connect the dots not only within the concepts of a class but also those concepts between classes.  It is something I have always asked my students to do while studying literature, and something I have dome in my own reading of literature, but to find a program that bridged the gaps the way the ADL program does has opened my eyes to an entirely different direction for my learning journey.

Since 5305, I have changed the layout of my blog page to a grid rather than a list format. I feel the grid format allows for faster identification of a certain blog post that a site visitor may be looking for.  I am still having issues resetting links for my class responses in order to eliminate the Google Doc URL in order to make the appearance cleaner and the searching for documents more efficient. I also need to clean up the drop down menu for my ADL program information.  My first two courses are identified by name and my current course work is listed only by number.  Theses are the small steps I need to take in order to take more ownership of my e-portfolio and truly show my voice in my own learning.

After reviewing several of the readings on the subject of "Who Owns the e-Portfolio," I have come to learn that there are possibly) two camps of thought. The first is on the content of the e-portfolio.  Does the content consist of what a teacher or professor wants his/ her students to place into the portfolio as a response to an assignment, or is the content derived from the authentic learning of the student?  Some students may think, "It's my essay or my project in the portfolio; therefore, it is my portfolio." The problem arises with the second aspect of education and e-portfolios. The other aspect of the first camp is that if the domain where the portfolio is kept (Google Suite for example) is controlled by the organization, and the organization owns the portfolio.  Access is then restricted to an individual once they leave the organization, never to be utilized again.  Students may lose years of quality work that could be useful, even essential, to their future schooling and careers. The problem with student chosen  domain providers is that many are blocked by school districts' firewalls on and off campus, limiting the students ability to truly have the choice and ownership they need to have authentic learning. The second camp circles its wagons around the idea of allowing the student choice, ownership, and voice to how the e portfolio is set up and allows the learner to figure out what is best for the presentation of material.  This is what the ADL program guides us to do. It took me a while to get the idea of COVA down, and I believe the reflective nature of this course has allowed me to understand that even though I have a discussion post, paper, or other "assignment" to complete, I have the choice to build those responses in any manner I choose within the constraints given.  Many of my classmates discuss the idea of learning what ownership is through the ADL program, and I would agree.  I feel we must be agents of change in our schools and school districts, so students will have the opportunities to build ownership of their work and e-portfolios through their own authentic learning experiences.

The e Portfolio is the future. The days of folders, binders, buckets, and baskets have given way to the portability, creativity, individuality, and universality of the e- Portfolio. As a veteran teacher, people will tell you that I am a paper lover. I read the majority of my science fiction, biographies, and other literature from a book- I need to feel the paper in my hands and listen to the rustle of the pages as I turn them. Until three years ago, I would have been one of those people who walked into an interview with a hard copy of my resume. Although, I will admit that a former colleague of mine scored kudos at a recent job fair for having her resume hard copy because the representatives for the various companies could not connect to the network they were supposed to be using.  I remember the days of folders and binders in high school and college, especially when the final grade was based on the reflection of the entire semester's work- especially in my creative writing, set design, costume and make- up design and play directing, classes.  My public speaking classes in college required video- taped submissions on VHS which the professor would collect and return the next class.  There were a few instances where the machine ate the tape, and work had to be redone with hours notice, though. 

I always believed that my journey to my own web site or e Portfolio would take years.  I was wrong.  Although I had teacher websites in the past through my various districts, I was never fully satisfied with what became of them.  Even though I am still learning about them, I believe I am off to a pretty solid start with this e Portfolio.  I have received commendations and recommendations about it, and am endeavoring to improve with each stage of my ADL journey.  There are basics I need to learn, and processes I need to master, but I feel this is something I will be proud of in the end.  I will admit I did not start off well. This is the third iteration of an e portfolio on my third site.  Wix was too confusing as was Wordpress. I am becoming more comfortable with Webador and enjoying the adventure.  My advice to others is not to copy someone else's format or look.  Find your own and make it authentic- make it you. I am still frustrated with certain processes like embedding work into posts and not knowing the nitty gritty of it all.  Like the page title says, "It's the journey, not the destination YET!