COVA REFLECTION & APPLICATION

Choice, Ownership & Voice

During my time in the Applied Digital Learning program, I was given choice, ownership and voice through authentic assignments. This was the first time that I was ever given this opportunity so it was something that I had to get used to. In the past, I relied on being told exactly what to do to be successful in my studies. There was an absence of choice and ownership and that became something that I was comfortable with. When I entered this program and was given the opportunity to take ownership of my work, it felt a little uncomfortable for me. Through the process of going through this program, I have discovered that choice, voice, and ownership create the most authentic learning environment and I am truly grateful for the experience to learn and sharpen my skills in that area.

I first realized that I genuinely had choice, ownership, and voice when I had to create a unique innovation plan. To support my innovation plan, I composed a literature review. I think the fact that we were given room to come up with an innovation plan that was important to our own unique experiences made me realize that innovating in EDLD 5305 was the beginning of a journey that would be full of student ownership of learning. My initial reaction to the freedom of creating my own innovation plan and innovation outline was that there was a lot of uncertainty. I had no idea if I was on the right track or if I was doing the right thing. I wasn’t ready for all of the freedom that I had because I had never experienced it while learning in the past. This uncertainty pushed me to truly believe in myself and truly take ownership in my work and my learning experience. I developed a growth mindset and a growth mindset plan. I worked a little harder to make myself comfortable with the freedom that I had because I truly wanted to be successful in creating an innovation that would shed light on the importance of health and wellness in my organization.

To adjust to this style of learning, I had to become comfortable with taking chances and not being afraid to revisit and revise my innovation plan throughout this entire program. The initial creation of my innovation plan wasn’t final. Throughout this program, I learned and grew and so did my innovation. I also created a learning manifesto and was able to revise that as well. Knowing what I know now, I would have never felt insecure about having the freedom to take ownership of my work. Also, I would have changed my lesson planning so that my students had the opportunity to learn in the same way.

It was difficult to take control of my voice and focus on my organization as an audience because I have never gone out of my way to make my voice heard and to create change in my organization. Because of this, taking control of my voice within my organization was very intimidating. To feel confident in this process, I had to believe in the changes that I wanted to make. Because I am very passionate about health and wellness, using my voice was only intimidating for a second. It became easier as my innovation plan continued to be revised and my confidence in the innovation continued to grow. My attitude towards leading change has grown in the biggest way because I know that the changes that I want to implement are necessary. So many times, people ignore their health and they pay for it in a big way later. My attitude changed because of the importance of wellness and health education for all. Community Focus Wellness Initiative is an authentic innovation that seeks to bring healthy blended learning to all in my district. Being a part of the behavioral health and wellness department of my school district's administration team, I feel like we are always looking for ways to implement healthy programs that benefit the entire district. As I have been on my journey through the ADL program, one thing did not change. My learning philosophy will always be the same. If students are given the right tools, and learn about the benefits of having a growth mindset, any learner can excel and become as successful in academics as they want to be.

The COVA approach and creating significant learning environments aligns to my learning philosophy because my learning philosophy is centered around the growth mindset and encouraging students to understand the “why”. Through understanding the “why” of their learning and how to connect the learning to real world situations, students want to take ownership of their learning. They don’t have a problem finding their voice and using it, while making choices beneficial to their learning. This truly creates an authentic learning environment. My perspective on learning and my learning philosophy changed initially when I started this program. Learning more about the growth mindset (growth mindset plan here) and the importance of finding my “why” was big for me and has been a big part of the shift in my thinking. I am grateful for the lessons of the growth mindset because it was one of the biggest shifts that had to happen before I became comfortable using my voice within my organization.

I plan to apply the COVA approach to creating significant learning environments by creating opportunities for people to learn about their health and wellness and to be able to participate and use choice and their voice to take ownership of their health and wellness journey. Everyone has a health journey that is uniquely their own. No two people are alike. Because of this, I would like to create a space where people can collaborate and support each other through their individual health journeys. 

Choice and voice enters the equation because the success of anyone’s health journey depends on their willingness to commit to a specific diet plan, exercise regimen, mental health practice, etc. While on a health journey, you must determine what works best for you and move forward from there with determination and grit. After setting a wellness goal, the learner will be tasked with creating an action plan. This action plan will consist of steps that will lead to their success. The learner has to make the decision to follow their action plan and try to build a healthier lifestyle.  Learners will have to take ownership and be accountable for their health and wellness.

My whole innovation plan is based on choice, ownership and voice because it is not a class that anyone has to rake. It is offered to faculty, students, and staff who are interested in taking control of their health and want to do things that could help them to avoid preventable diseases.  Through an initial assessment, learners will find out which aspect of health they need to focus on and be given guidance and options on ways to make a healthy change happen. Learners will be able to talk to health specialists about how they can make healthy changes happen and then it is up to them to continue with the webinars, completing the healthy modules, and whether the plans laid out by the specialists work for them, or if they would like to revise it. 

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I plan to prepare my learners and colleagues for the COVA approach and creating a significant learning environment by planning professional learning around the approach and the growth mindset. The growth mindset is something that more people should practice because then people in the organization would not be as afraid of change. I would hope to create an online training similar to the one that I created for the health triangle and prevention. Also, I will try to use what I learned in the course where we had to plan an alternative professional learning to give people in my organization the option to attend alternative professional learning on COVA and significant learning environments.

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The biggest challenge that I will face using the COVA approach is that some learners may feel like it is too much freedom and choose not to continue. Making healthy lifestyle changes are hard for everyone and some learners may not like the amount of freedom that comes along with the program that I am trying to create. As I said before, when I started the ADL program, I had a rough time in the beginning. Success will come with a changed mindset, remembering the “why”, and wanting to do better for your health in the long run.