My innovation project has definitely grown, developed, and overall transformed since its creation in EDLD 5305. For me it began as a theoretical project, but the more I researched and developed this project, the more real it became for me. Every course allowed me to not only build on this “project” but also build my self-confidence. The DLL program has had me thoroughly think about and plan for things that I would have probably never taken into consideration. At best I would have developed a proposal and learning objectives, but I wouldn’t have given any thought into having literature to back up my proposal, developing an influencer plan to have a strong functioning team, planning corresponding professional learning opportunities for staff, providing resources via an online course, creating videos to reel staff members in, consider copyright issues, or go beyond the digital citizenship videos our district has always shown. The experience of completing these authentic “assignments” has proven to myself that I am capable of leading change within my organization.
In May I finally felt ready to launch the pilot for my innovation plan on student e-portfolios. Unfortunately, student devices were turned in May and school was out for summer. Another downfall was that the administration team on my campus underwent many changes over the summer. On top of that, our district chose to use a new program for grades, attendance, documentation, etc., which is not very user friendly, therefore has had most of the staff frustrated. The “back-to-school" whirlwind has been quite intense, however now that things are finally settling down, I am ready to start this pilot. Originally, I had planned to gain the buy-in from the administration team first, but since most of them are dealing with being at a new campus and having new roles and responsibilities, I have decided to gain buy-in at a later time. My plan is to implement student e-portfolios with the students in my AVID elective class and at the end of the semester show samples of the e-portfolios to the administration team. In the meantime, I can determine what type of support this type of program requires from the administration team and know what to ask from them for the upcoming semester. At the end of the year I would once again show them several of these e-portfolios and proceed with proposing a school-wide approach. With the administration team dealing with so many things that are new to them, I firmly believe that seeing examples of these student e-portfolios will make a more lasting impression and reel them in to learn more. A concern with implementing this initiative with my 7th and 8th grade students is that this will be something completely new to them. I have been easing them into the COVA approach, however they are unfamiliar with the concept of maintaining a portfolio, much less an e-portfolio. Additionally, my students may struggle to make the connection between their e-portfolios and fulfilling our mission of getting them college, career, and world ready. I know that with the right structures and supports in place, I can get my students to develop meaningful e-portfolios. I also know that I will have to constantly help them see the connection between the e-portfolios and the mission. It will not be an easy journey, but I am confident that it will be well worth it. For innovation projects in the future, I would like to collaborate with my colleagues to determine what are some of the biggest needs we have as a campus and use that as a springboard. If others are already seeing a need for a change in one area, it will be a lot easier to generate buy-in with whatever innovation plan I develop. It will also seem a lot more authentic and useful, not as if we are randomly adding one more thing to an already full teaching plate. It would also be interesting to have my colleagues be a part of the development of upcoming innovation plans. Overall, the development of this innovation goes far beyond implementing student e-portfolios. The biggest value lies in the skills and confidence I developed along the way. Below you will find the Prezi that contains a synthesis of the elements of the Student E-Portfolio Initiative. It was a tough decision, but I purposefully did not include ALL the assignments from the DLL program in order to avoid redundancy and give a bigger spotlight to the essential components.
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AuthorMiss E. Garcia Archives
September 2018
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