Welcome to my first reflective piece for OMDE 601- Foundations of Distance Education & E-learning. In this reflective chronicle, I contemplate on and document my strengths, areas of improvement, available resources that facilitate my growth, and my major focus throughout the MDE program. Happy reading!
What strengths do you bring to the MDE program?
As I embark upon this higher level of education journey, there are many transferable assets that I bring to this educational level and will ultimately help me amass success throughout the MDE program at UMGC. Precisely, I believe the same skill set that I developed at the undergraduate level and led to my success will no doubt help me amass tremendous success at the graduate level. These strengths can be categorized into two (2) major groups. They are my personality traits and my skill set. Precisely, the traits that I bring to this level are creativity, patience, and determination while my skill set include research skills.
Personality Traits
Like several other individuals across the globe, I possess countless personality traits. Notwithstanding, the three qualities that are extremely essential for me and that I bring to this current level include my creativity, patience, and determination. Over the years, I have expressed my creativity in various ways. My top three favorites were through performing arts, through my professional roles, and throughout my undergraduate studies. To be more specific, I was a dance instructor for just about two (2) years. During that two-year period, I choreographed and taught dance to children between the ages of 6 to 15 years. I enjoyed creating my own movements for various songs. I also loved watching the children express and channel their creativity through dance. In fact, there were several occasions where they were given the opportunity to create their own dance moves. These instances allowed me to facilitate the dance sessions and guide them through the process.
This experience, though, required so much patience. In fact, this particular experience really tried and tested my patience. It was then that I came to the realization that working with kids required a lot of patience. Essentially, I think this trait was birthed out of this experience. As I accumulated more experience along the way, I must confess that I became more patient. For instance, I had to be very patient with myself throughout my learning journey at the undergraduate level. It was a journey that felt like forever and never ending. However, my patience would kick in, and I would encourage myself to just take things one day at a time. That period of my life also required determination. Eventually, I became determined that I will finish this educational race strong and that was in fact the case. In May 2021, I attained my Bachelors in psychology with honors.
Upon completion, I was even more determined about commencing graduate studies. However, I encountered a few setbacks and was unable to begin during that year. Interestingly, I was not deterred by these setbacks. Instead, I was patient throughout the waiting process. Moreover, I utilized the time to refine my professional skills and even got the opportunity to express my creativity. For example, when my training period finished, I created and updated new templates for the production department using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
These recent professional experiences validated my love for creating intriguing projects that captivate the minds of numerous individuals. As such, I am really ecstatic about this MDE program mainly because it gives me the opportunity to create and design graphics and visuals. I am also excited about channeling my creative prowess through my e-portfolio. Generally, this quality coupled with my patience and determination will be useful for me throughout the MDE program.
Skill set
The skills that I have developed over the years are transferable to the graduate level and will also be quite useful for me throughout my graduate learning journey. My research skills, for instance, is currently in my toolkit. Generally, I love conducting research and reading the literature on various topics of interest. In fact, while pursuing my undergraduate degree, I conducted a qualitative study that sought to understand the interplay between nervousness and class participation in the face-to-face and virtual setting. The research findings suggests that nervousness affects class participation in face-to-face classes.
In light of this, I made recommendations that can reduce student’s nervousness and ultimately enhance their participation experience. These tactics were holistic in nature as they not only appealed to one group or body but it appealed to various groups within the university’s community specifically the lecturers, student services, and the student body. Overall, conducting this research as part of the Empirical Research course was an awesome experience. It equipped me with a wealth of knowledge regarding the qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as I acquired research skills such as the analysis, evaluation, and interpretation of data.
What opportunities do you have to improve? Think about what will help you be more successful in the MDE program.
Although I bring this and other skills to the graduate level, I must admit that there is still room for improvement. In particular, my writing abilities and my cognitive skills like critical thinking are the two major skills that will improve overtime. Graduate studies definitely provide me with the opportunity to refine and hone these skills. Precisely, the more I engage in the readings, assignments, and discussions, the better I will become. These two skills are therefore a work in progress, and I look forward to seeing how I progress throughout my current learning journey.
What resources are available to you to support your success?
The countless resources at my disposal will not only help me improve my shortcomings but will ultimately contribute to my achievements at the graduate level. These include but are not limited to graphic design sites like Canva, video content platforms like YouTube, my support system such as my family, and other UMGC services. More specifically, the tutoring services offered at UMGC will help hone and refine my writing skills and abilities. Their services will therefore be extremely useful to me throughout my graduate journey.
What is your focus in the MDE program? Think about your topic interests as well as the context you want to apply your skills.
Topic Interests
Currently, I have keen interests in instructional design as well as learning more about how I can provide support to virtual learners in the higher education setting. Eventually, I would like to work with students in higher education programs and apply my skills in that context. Consequently, I intend to focus a great deal on learner support in the Online climate. I am therefore excited to learn more about how I can better support learners in the virtual environment and ultimately apply the skills acquired throughout the process. I also think that there are ways to make learning fun for adult learners. As such, I cannot wait to explore the instructional design material in this MDE program.
Distance Learning Context
Currently, I have a couple of professional goals. Nevertheless, they are all connected to the higher education context. Particularly, I am really interested in professorship and learner support opportunities in this context. In such a role, I would like to devote my time between conducting research, facilitating courses, and providing support to learners. I am definitely looking forward to serving adult learners at the undergraduate and graduate level. I am also excited about the duties that I may get to fulfill throughout my tenure. Precisely, I think I will get instant gratification from designing and developing courses, advising and supporting students, facilitating or teaching students, and conducting research.
What questions do you have for me?
I think learning should be a bit more fun and less mundane for adult learners in the virtual setting. What do you think about the incorporation of fun elements like gamification in some distance learning programs? And how can distance learning professionals make learning fun and interesting for adult learners especially new students in the higher education setting? Finally, distance learning can be daunting for some adult learners worldwide. In light of this, what strategies can an educator implement for adult learners who are new and unfamiliar with the process? More specifically, how do you enhance the learning experience of first year students?
Yours truly,
Kind Krista
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