During this Fall session, I took EDLD 5317: Sharing Resources for Digital Learning. At the end of our 8-week course, students are required to reflect on their time in class and assess their contributions to the class. For this course, I rated myself a 98. I achieved this goal by completing my assignments ahead of the deadline and engaging in all of our class discussions with multiple responses, taking the initiative, and communicating with fellow classmates frequently, even outside in our GroupMe chat. 

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Personal Reflection:

Things that worked for me were that I worked on my assignments ahead of time and did not wait until the last minute. I made an effort to complete all my readings, discussions, and replies, providing constructive feedback to multiple people. I worked during my school conference period, stayed late a few nights to complete my media project before the weekend, and nights after making dinner and tucking the kids into bed. I tried to plan accordingly, so I was ahead of the game. 

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On my first assignment, "Publication Outline," I scored a 94. This was a fun assignment.. I lost a few points for not providing my journal guideline lines and having more than 5 references. I somehow missed that part. When I reviewed the assignment, I didn't see a specific number, but it was apparently mentioned during our Zoom meeting.

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On my second assignment, "Publication Rough Draft", I scored a 92. In regard to my feedback, I received the following information: "Thank you for your publication, Angela. Your submission demonstrates an understanding of the content, exceeding target criteria in both content knowledge and critical thinking. Your ability to support your ideas with thorough references is commendable and enhances the strength of your arguments. I would suggest adding more specific research evidence (studies, pilot programs, or VR-in-education data beyond teacher anecdotes). The organization and clarity of your presentation are also noteworthy. You've articulated your thoughts cohesively. However, there are some minor areas for improvement, particularly in adhering strictly to APA formatting guidelines. I would suggest adding more references to support your publication. Insert in-text citations where you discuss “immersive benefits,” “teacher anecdotes,” or “student engagement.”

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This definitely gave me some stuff to think about and to change regarding making my rough draft better for publication. I also sent a private message to Dr. Bellard, requesting additional assistance in refining my publication draft so that it can be worthy of publication. Then, for our third assignment, the media project, which was a lot of fun. I had never made a podcast episode before, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I used Notebook LM, which I had never used before. It was neat to see how it took my outline and created two hosts talking for the podcast. I then used Podcast.Adobe.com, which I had never heard of, and I loved how it could edit my material while maintaining a natural flow. Both of these things were neat, and I'm excited to find a way to incorporate them into my class this year. 

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​​On our third assignment, "Media Project", I scored a 99. This was a fun project. I had never used Notebook LM before or Podcast.Adobe.com before. So, that was neat to see how my media project came to life using their AI podcast creator. I received the following feedback: "Thank you for your media project, Angela. Your podcast shows strong content knowledge, offering a clear explanation of VR technology, its role in career exploration, and its connection to frameworks like COVA. In terms of critical thinking, your discussion demonstrates depth by weighing benefits against limitations, offering practical solutions for rollout, and raising forward-looking questions. To enhance the analysis even more, you could have integrated more evidence of measurable student outcomes or comparative data on VR’s effectiveness versus traditional methods." I appreciate the help in boosting my publication even further and will make those changes.

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For our fourth assignment, "Final Rough Draft Revision,"  I incorporated the feedback I received from my peers and Dr. Bellard to make the necessary revisions.

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When we first had our class meeting and discussed the topics in this course, I was extremely excited about the course. I was also super excited to utilize my creative side for these projects. The publication outline and journal rough draft were fun, too. I enjoyed researching these two assignments and learning about where to publish and how to do so. I have always wanted to be published, and now, even more so, after completing my Master's program and developing my innovation plan. I discovered in 5302 that while most people were working on ePortfolios for their innovation project, I was the first in the program to incorporate VR into the classroom for career exploration. I was pretty excited to pave the way.

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Core Collaboration Group:
My core collaboration group comprised Kelsie Adams, Leslie Gutierrez, Veronica Mata, and Greg Hamilton. We discussed our assignments, school/work, and life daily. Greg came from the Ed. Tech side, and needed a group. So he joined ours. I copied all of the discussion posts for our class and drafted them into a Google Doc for each topic, and then shared them with the group members. We all then posted our initial thoughts regarding each week's topics and commented on the side in regards to everyone, and hosted our discussions that way. I made sure to post all the links ahead of time to each Google Doc so they were turned in on time, and one less thing to worry about.

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I also created the GroupMe discussion board for the class. Throughout this course, numerous discussions took place, ranging from clarifying assignments to discussing graduation. I posted reminders for upcoming due dates and even shared a positive message with the group on September 26, 2025, expressing my pride in their hard work, not only in this class but also in the program. 

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In addition to these two groups, I have been part of a collaboration group since the beginning of this program in October 2024. That group consisted of Kelsie Adams, Leslie Gutierrez, Ann Zastryzny, and Ayla Rightenour. We are known as the ✨The Extras.✨. Since Ayla and Ann both had taken this course in the summer, they were able to answer any questions about the material.

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Conclusion:

In conclusion, I have gained considerable knowledge regarding this course. I enjoyed this topic and was excited to learn more about setting up PL sessions. I am very proud of myself for writing and producing class materials this semester. We have had some great discussions and thought-provoking talks. I have made friends in this course and grown both as a person and as an educator.​​​

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Two more classes until Graduation!!!! 8 more weeks!! So excited.

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I already got my cap and gown!

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Thank you, Dr. Bellard. I'm looking forward to 5318 next week!!