Course Reflection: Powerful Learning Practice's Online and Blended Learning eCourse

I have had the privilege of collaborating and learning with a fantastic group of educators through Powerful Learning Practice's Online and Blended Learning eCourse for the last 10 weeks.  I have participated in other Powerful Learning Practice's eCourses in the past.  I have always enjoyed the courses and felt them to be worthwhile. When the Online and Blended Learning eCourse was advertised I decide to sign up.  I have always enjoyed learning from other educators both in the my building and outside my classroom walls.  What I didn't realize at the time was how thought provoking this class would be for me.  I have not only learned of Online Learning but, I also have became connected with educators outside the United States.  I truly have became a connected learner.

This class has offered me some Ah-Ha's. Here are just a few.

My take away Ah-Ha's ....

• Partnership-Teachers and students need to be partners.  I used to pride myself on being a facilitator of my student's learning. I was not a traditional teacher asking students to complete this worksheet with limited choices.  I felt that I was helping my students take charge of their learning. Was I  really accomplishing my goal though?  According to A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deeper Learning  I was missing the mark.  This report explains the relationship between teachers and students as a partnerships.  This partnership allows students to take ownership of their learning thus allowing for deeper learning to take place.  A partnership provides and environment of mutual respect and reliance on one another to accomplish student goals.  Students have true ownership of their learning. 
• Community- I have always felt that community was very important to the success of learners. Learners need a sense of security to reach their full learning potential. There needs to be an atmosphere of collaboration,  acceptance, understanding, and mutual respect. The sense of community was reinforced to me during my time participating in this eCourse.  Community was built from day one and continued to the very end. I have never been sad to see a class come to an end before. I truly will miss the Monday discussions that pushed my thinking further and allowed for my professional growth.
• How to write a syllabus-I have never had to write a syllabus prior to taking this course. I must admit I still have a long way to go to being an expert on syllabus writing. With this being said I will say that I gained some wonderful ideas. The most important idea I walked away with was allowing students to have a voice in the course.  As I stated above in my first bullet partnership is critical to the success of a course. Allowing students to assist in what the class becomes is important to the deeper learning that can occur.

Now what....

• Community and Collaboration- Since the completion of this class I have reflected on my professional learning network.  I want to continue to build a community that I can feel comfortable sharing ideas and learning. I have participated in Twitter chats and would love to start a chat of my own.  I want to continue to grow as a learner so I can push my own student's thinking to deeper levels.  I hope to stay in contact with everyone from the class as well.
• Partnership-I have began to be more systematic in my  talk with my students about Growth Mindsets and the need for effort in accomplishing goals. I view our learning time together different. I am no longer a facilitator but a partner. I am hearing commits from my students such as "Wow, This is fun. We can accomplish this on our own, but I know Mrs. Morris is here to help when I need help." of " I am having a hard time finding the information on this can you assist me?"  Don't get me wrong my students always had ownership in their learning.  Now it's just a deeper level of ownership and collaboration between all of us.