week 4 reflections

• Was the experience valuable to you? How so?

This has definitely been a valuable experience.  I had a vague idea of CoPs existing prior to this, but I didn't think I had much of a place with them since I don't have a master's.  However, reading about CoPs and starting to engage with them has really shown me the value they have.  It's a great place for networking, resources, and for professional development.  It's also a wonderful way to keep up with new information and research.  I'm planning on staying plugged in with my CoPs and hopefully engaging with them on new levels after the program is complete.

• Would you recommend to your faculty or another instructional designer colleague the use of communities of practice for teaching and learning? Do you have any suggestions for making the experience more valuable?

Definitely.  I think this is especially wise to create for students as they leave a program - a way for them to stay engaged with others in the field and with information.  In a lot of ways, the cohort they travel through the program with is their CoP, so it makes sense to continue that in some format afterwards, too.  For faculty it can broaden the perspectives they have, give them new ideas on presenting information, and keep them up to date in the field.

• What final insights did you learn about your chosen learning goals from Week 1?

I definitely think I've grown in my understanding of the various theories and how they interact with each other.  I also have a greater respect for the theories and why it's valuable to at least be aware of them.  I'm happy with how my concept map has grown and changed and become more connected (and messy!).  Theory always seemed too heady for me before, but making the concept map really helped break them down and make them digestible.  I don't find them so intimidating anymore.

week 3 reflections

• In what ways have your interactions with people in your CoP and with people in this course caused a change in your ideas about instructional design?

I've realized how many more avenues there are to connect with other instructional designers.  It's not just conferences and articles, but dynamic, lively discussion boards, social groups, and commenting sections.

• How might you integrate those changes into your daily ID practices at your institution?

I'd like to make it a practice to actively engage in these groups and boards.  I've had a passive approach until now - going to conferences and connecting there - but I want to continue to broaden my scope.  An easy way to do this is to read an article and then go on to read the comments and, if I have something to add, to join the discussion!

• Do you think you'll have to overcome any resistance to those changes?

I think I'll have some trepidation that I have something worth contributing to the discussion or that I have enough knowledge to make a quality comment.  I'll have to get over my "reluctant" ID-ness!

• What new information have you learned towards your learning goals stated in Week 1 from your interactions in your communities this week?

I haven't interacted much, but I'm establishing their value and learning that I do want them to have a place in my worklife, research, and professional development.  I think this is foundational to them being a sustained resource that I continue to utilize.

week 2 reflections

• What were your learning intentions for the week and did you follow through on those or did you get sidetracked?  

I wanted to continue to work on my concept map.  I saw that others' maps were much more robust and created real relationship and movement between the theories.  I wanted to try to recreate this in my own map, through my own understanding of the information.  I did get sidetracked, in a way, when I tried some different concept maps tools to see if they were and improvement to my google draw map.  But these ended up being more confusing and didn't offer anything new, so I stayed with google draw and my original map and just fleshed it out more. Once I really stayed with it, I began to see more ways to connect pieces.

• If you got sidetracked, was it beneficial or do you need to revise your learning strategies in order to stay on track?

I think it was beneficial to help me see that other tools might not be any better.  I was looking for a cure-all to make the concept map easier to digest, when I found that just working through the one I had really made it more understandable for myself.

• How does what you learned this week relate to what you've previously learned? 

The CPS Learner's Model was new to me and really interesting.  I also liked the Paul & Elder Model, although I'm not sure how this would be applied in real-life.  I've known that our course development process creates somewhat "flat" courses, as they need to be easily reproduced, but this really came out when I was doing the reading and reflecting on it.  Creating an assignment that hit on critical, creative, and metacognitive thinking also took some work and thought.  Our assignments generally only hit on critical or metacognitive, and not often both.

• What types of interaction have you engaged in with your CoP? Is there anything you have learned intentionally or unintentionally from your interactions this week?

To be honest, I haven't engaged much in my CoP.  Keeping up with my job, coursework, and family is providing enough challenge.  I do receive the eLearningGuild and OLC newsletters in my email, and I'm reading them and clicking over to pertinent/interesting articles and links as I can.

• How is your involvement in this CoP similar to, and different from, other learning networks/CoP you've interacted with, and what might you need to change/keep the same in order to improve your experiences?

My goal is to remain engaged with the networks, especially once this course is complete.  I want to use them as a weekly resource for professional development - even if it's just one article - and a place for me to go with questions, thoughts, etc.  To do this, I think I need to set aside time weekly where I'm intentionally engaging in each of my networks.  It might only be two hours a week, but I'm checking in, I'm reading, I'm posting, I'm remaining engaged.

week 1 reflection

State what networking communities you have chosen to join.

• I am already a member of the eLearning Guild.  I am now connected to OLC via LinkedIn.  I also joined the IDC on LinkedIn and signed up to receive their newsletter.

State your learning goals for the networking activities (skill/competency, learning trend, and learning/instructional theories).

• Skill/competency: Apply research and theory to the discipline of instructional design. 
• Learning trend: High-velocity learning
• Learning/instructional theories: situated learning theory (Lave) and information processing theory

Briefly describe your interactions this week, including what specific learning goals you had for the week and how you attempted to achieve them.

• My goals for this week were to just get acclimated to learning theories and models.  I feel like this week was a good introduction for me in learning more about them and starting to see how they might interact with each other and content.  

What did you learn from your interactions and how can you use that learning in the future?

• Darryl's question to me about the cultural context in learning theory really prompted me to look at what theories might try to address that aspect as well.  It was also nice to know that other IDs also feel weak in the area of theories and that I'm not alone in that.
• Andrew's post and concept map showed me how the theories can really flow into each other in a sensible, organic way.

What are your impressions of the learning communities you've chosen to engage in?

• I find them really valuable as helpful tools for articles and research.  I know there is also a lot of opportunity for networking, although I have not yet engaged them in that way.

What will you do differently next week to improve your connections to the community and/or achieve your chosen learning goals?

• I want to continue to adjust my concept map to show more of the overlap between theories and to incorporate more of the flow between them.