Reflection of learning 5366

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During EDLD 5366, I learned so much about graphics. Since I am an Education Administration program student, many of these concepts were new to me. I can see how these programs can benefit all K-12 teachers in the classroom and their students. A class website or individual student website design can serve as a eportfolio of learning and a place to reflect, remember, and respond to their learning over time. This would a valuble resource for teachers year to year. It will show growth, change, struggles, and victories giving enormous insight into the learner. As educators, the goal is to insure that our students understand concepts fully and deeply and website design can be a powerful tool.

Reflection is a key piece of e learning cycle. “Critical reflection is an important part of any learning process.”(Gerstein, 2011).Time and time again reflection shows that learner engagement is increased when students are reflecting on their learning and the creates gains can be made in the learning and transfer of knowledge for students.(Barrett, 2005). I believe learning portfolios through sitebased application will become a thing of the future, replacing paper pencil tasks with project based learning approaches.

As I reflect as a learner on building the website with colleagues, it was a good experience. I am a leader and can sometimes become frustrated with group work. I will say though, that once we got going together and worked out a plan in a Google hangout, the experience proved to be painless and productive.  I know that collaboration is key to building strong teams in schools and I am continuing to work on this area in my leadership. (Waldron & McKelskey, 2010).

I look forward to watching the future of education and the role that technology will play. Many trends are emerging at once. It is an exciting time be a part of the challenge to transform education. Bridging the gap between best practices of the past that are effective with the creative processes of technology in the future, I will be exciting.

Barrett, H.C. (2005). Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learner Engagement. The Reflect Initiative. Retrieved from  http://electronicportfolios.org/[Accessed:14 Feb 2014]

Gerstein, J. 2011, 08/16/2011). Where is reflection in the learning process?. Usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com, [blog] Retreived from http:usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/Where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process/ [Accessed: 14 Feb 2014].

Waldron, N. & McLeskey, J. (2010). Establishing a collaborative school culture through comprehensive school reform. Journal Of Educational And Psychological Consultation, (20), pp. 58-74. DOI: 10.1080/10474410903535364 [Accessed: 14 Feb 2014].