Kimberly Purvis
Digital Learning Journey
Innovation Project Update
Identification and Reflection
When I began the creation of my Innovation Plan at the beginning of the ADL program, my organization was experiencing sudden, unexpected changes. Our home office is in a country where regulations were shifting and the future of teaching ESL in foreign countries was questionable at best. At the time, I was unsure if we would have any opportunities for work, so I decided to focus my efforts on an area that would be beneficial to any organization. After looking through options and considering areas of improvement that were needed within our organization, I chose ePortfolio implementation as the area of needed change. Our teacher profiles were limited, and that made it more difficult to assess the most qualified educators for new roles. There was a sense of unfairness and frustration within the teaching community due to new opportunities being offered randomly to underqualified individuals and others being left out that were more qualified. I felt ePortfolio development would allow the organization to assess more accurately the most qualified educators when new opportunities arose and bring a sense of equity to our team. It would also provide our educators (independent contractors) far more control over their careers should they experience any loss of work or need to pursue additional opportunities due to the changes happening in the industry.
My BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal):
From Aligning Outcomes, Assessment, & Activities
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"To develop self-motivated, reflective online learners who recognize opportunities for further growth and model them effectively, both independently and through professional learning communities." (Purvis, 2022)
Where are you in your innovation project? What, if anything, do you have to complete? By when?
My innovation project is still in the perfecting stage. While I feel it is close to being a complete plan, there are many areas I feel need to be streamlined so it will flow nicely from beginning to end. In the earliest stages, I wrote a proposal letter and developed an implementation outline. These set the stage for all other projects to come. As I went through the program and created my Full Professional Learning Strategy, I began to notice areas that I needed to revisit for improvement.
One of the biggest changes I would like to make is the revision of the timelines for my plan. The adult learning environment presents many variables that require a program to be more concise, and after speaking with my teammates, I believe that extending it for too long of a period of time may be detrimental to the success of the plan. I may have chosen too long of a timeline for adult learners in my full learning plan and would like to go back and adjust that to be a shorter process to meet the needs of my learners. Furthermore, I would like to invest more research in finding the best timing for professionals to ensure I get it right.
In the ADL program these last eight weeks, we are learning Instructional Design. As I plan what LMS to use and how to create a course that leads to the full implementation of my plan, I notice even more changes that need to be made in previous courses and plan to go back to perfect these. I would say that my innovation plan is 85% complete, but still needs adjustments to ensure that it flows nicely and all pieces work well together. I hope to achieve this goal and be fully prepared to have my plan ready to go when the time comes.
The Learning Process:
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Working through the courses in the ADL program and formulating a full innovation plan was a bit challenging for me. I found it most challenging because I did not have a way to present it directly to the stakeholders in my organization nor a way to apply it as I was developing it. This made it hard to perfect it fully or receive constructive criticism from those in my organization. Luckily, I had an amazing group here of adult professionals that gave consistent, constructive feedback, along with supporting my thinking and ideas. In addition, I had a group of fellow trainers/mentors from my organization with whom I shared my plan. They tested various aspects of the plan and provided ideas on how to best support the organization should we come to a point where I could present it for implementation. I appreciated having these challenges during development because they taught me how to adapt a plan meant for one organization and create something that could be used in any organization in the future.
What worked?
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Since I have not had a chance to implement my innovation plan, I have yet to learn what will work specifically for the organization. The reviews from my colleagues were insightful. Their feedback on the ePortfolio resources I provided showed that the materials were ideally suited for executing the goals of my innovation plan. The materials to learn more about COVA+CSLE and growth mindset were easily understood and the surveys and quizzes provided the necessary prompts to customize the program to fit their specific needs. I have learned through the development of my own ePortfolio that they are highly respected and helpful. When it came to showing my capabilities and development in the Master's program at Lamar, my ePortfolio was a wonderful resource. I have used it when applying for jobs and have had many positive reviews to date. I believe that this shows that ePortfolios are an ideal way to show the progress of learning and gives a reason to believe that the innovation plan would see great success with professionals.
What planning areas did you find to come the easiest? What could you do better?
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My experience as an online mentor and trainer has made it comfortable for me to interact with others and develop tools to maximize interaction and collaboration. I found the most enjoyable and easiest part of planning to be creating graphics, slideshows, and other media that provide the opportunity to engage others. I felt confident in planning workshops and activities for participation and in finding materials that would be useful to others.
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There are two areas that I would like to continue to improve. The first is making sure that I always use a growth mindset during planning. I find at times that I revert to fixed mindset thoughts and am still working on using learned concepts to stay in a growth mindset. Dr. Harapnuik (2013) put it succinctly when he said, "We need to move from fixed mindset thinking and the passive educational environment of main lecture points, rubrics, individual competition and standardized testing to growth mindset thinking of active learning, dynamic interactivity, critical and analytical thinking, collaboration and meaningful projects". Second, I would like to continue to work on more efficient and effective ways to address the more tedious parts of lesson planning, as during this process I found that to be the most challenging task for me. I want to become more comfortable with creating lengthy, expanded plans that break down all areas in detail like my 3-Column Table and UbD Template. I find this to be important because it allows you to assess all aspects of your plan to ensure that it will meet the needs of all learners and is comprehensive in design.
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What lessons have you learned?
The most valuable lesson I learned through this process was to be ready for change. Implementing change requires flexibility and continual assessment. Moreover, I learned during the completion of the Measurement Strategy assignment that ongoing, additional research is a key component of any successful innovation plan. Creating a plan and putting it into place is great, but consistently monitoring, assessing, and looking for gaps is crucial. For example, my Action Research Design Outline and Blended Learning Literature Review showed that our fully online environment could benefit from added face-to-face elements. I learned this was a way to implement COVA+CSLE to create the best environment and support for our educators. Going forward, I understand the importance of intentionally looking for areas of improvement in the overall environment that will support the project.
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Over the course of developing my innovation plan, I have learned that more than being a leader and educator, I am a learner. I have developed an ever-improving learning philosophy that identifies my current beliefs on learning. I have learned that any project I design is organic and that while a defined plan is a must, I should be ready to make changes and perfect it as I go to meet the needs of the learners in my care. I have learned to be kind to myself and accept the areas in which I am continually improving. I have learned to embrace my faults as potential growth and not as failures. I am prepared and ready to learn from others and have the ability to create plans that maximize authentic learning opportunities offering choice, ownership, and voice.
How do you plan to promote and communicate your innovation project?
As I developed my ePortfolio innovation plan, our organization experienced more regulation changes that all but put our work on hold for the unforeseen future. While I am still contracted with the organization, there has been little to no work available in the past year. Due to this change, it is unlikely I will ever have the chance to present my plan for implementation. I am prepared to promote and communicate this plan to any organization I feel would benefit from this change. I am prepared to use this plan to support the development of a new innovation plan that will meet the specific needs of whatever organizations I have the opportunity to work for in the future.
Knowing what you know now what key things (if any) would you do differently?
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With the knowledge I have now, there are many areas I am better prepared for and would do differently in the future. I have learned the necessary components of an effective innovation plan and will have a list of all I can do to produce the highest quality results. I will be better prepared with materials and references for my learners and equipped to answer questions and navigate difficulties. While there are areas that I know would be better if improved, the process of learning from making mistakes is what has produced growth and understanding for me. I am appreciative of every opportunity I have had to find areas of improvement and would not change anything about the process of this first innovation plan. I am excited that I have learned so much that will make my next attempt less challenging.
How would you apply what you have learned to your next innovation project?
I believe that I now can take a leadership position when it comes to innovation in any organization. I have the knowledge to plan and implement change. I understand how to find ‘the Why’, and I have developed a new level of confidence in my ideas. I am motivated to speak up and take chances in areas that I would not have before. Since accepting that I will always be a learner, I have become less focused on trying to always know the right answer and more comfortable with taking a risk to be wrong and learn. The growth I have experienced by applying the concepts I’m learning from developing this innovation plan has been amazing, professionally and personally, and I will carry it with me throughout the future.
References
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Harapnuik, D. (2013, April 5). Fixed Vs Growth Mindset = Print Vs Digital Information Age. Harapnuik.org. https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=3627
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Purvis, K. (2022). Aligning Outcomes. Kimberly Purvis. https://kimberlyp02.wixsite.com/website/aligning-out-activities-assessments