Contribution to My Learning and the Learning Community

EDLD 5389 – Developing Effective Professional Learning

Self-Assessment Score: 90

 

Throughout this course on Developing Effective Professional Learning, I have taken an intentional and reflective approach to both my individual learning and my contributions to the learning community. Each assignment was built upon the previous one and directly supported the development of my innovation plan, the STEP initiative. This course helped me move from identifying the need for change in professional learning to designing and communicating a structured, application-based solution for surgical technology educators.

 

Call to Action Presentation

My Call to Action Presentation and video serve as the foundation for this course by requiring me to clearly articulate the need to redesign professional learning. In this assignment, I focused on moving stakeholders away from traditional “sit and get” professional development toward a more effective, application-driven model. Using Duarte’s storytelling framework, I structured the presentation around the contrast between “what is” and “what could be,” emphasizing the consequences of ineffective professional learning and the opportunities available through meaningful change (Duarte, 2013).

 

Professional Learning Outline

The Professional Learning Outline allowed me to translate my ideas into a structured plan aligned with the five key principles of effective professional learning. This outline addresses duration, ongoing support, active engagement, modeling, and subject-specific learning. I also identified my audience, their needs, and how collaboration, mentorship, and self-directed learning would be embedded throughout the STEP experience. This assignment strengthened my ability to design professional learning that is intentional, sustained, and grounded in real-world application (Gulamhussein, 2013).

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From Discussion to Deeper Reflection

Building on the discussion-based learning in this course, I expanded several of my responses into reflective blog posts, including Rethinking Professional Learning: Why What We’ve Always Done Isn’t Working and  Moving Beyond Activity: What Actually Makes Learning Stick? . These posts allowed me to move beyond initial discussion responses and more deeply examine the limitations of traditional professional development while exploring what truly leads to meaningful learning. In particular, I focused on the importance of intentional design, emphasizing that learning is not improved simply by adding activities but by aligning them with clear outcomes and opportunities for application (Andrews et al., 2011). This process helped strengthen my thinking and directly influenced the design of my STEP modules by reinforcing the need for active engagement, real-world application, and sustained support.

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Discussion-Based Learning and Community Contributions

My Discussion Contributions allowed me to engage with classmates and reflect on key course concepts, including intentional design, active learning, collaboration, risk-taking, self-directed learning, and effective communication. Throughout the course, I responded to multiple classmates in each discussion and contributed thoughtful, conversational, and research-informed feedback. These discussions helped deepen my understanding of how professional learning must move beyond activity for its own sake and instead focus on meaningful application and growth (Andrews et al., 2011; Goodwin, 2015).

In terms of collaboration, I worked to engage with my base group, which included Marissa Alamendarez, Erica Cedillo, and Kimberly Davis. I initiated communication and encouraged group members to share their professional learning pages for feedback. Although this did not result in sustained collaboration, I did make intentional efforts to contribute to the learning community. I also extended collaboration beyond the course by working with surgical technology program directors John Hadley, Melanie McRoberts, and Christy Cole to refine ideas connected to STEP and the accreditation literacy modules.

 

Connecting and Communicating Your Ideas

The final assignment, Connecting and Communicating Your Ideas, represents the culmination of my learning in this course. For this assignment, I developed structured professional learning modules focused on accreditation literacy and the program sponsor's responsibilities. These modules align with the ARC/STSA Standards and Guidelines and are designed to support surgical technology educators and program directors as they learn to locate, evaluate, and apply accreditation documentation within their own programs.

This assignment allowed me to model the type of professional learning I believe educators need: interactive, mentor-supported, reflective, and grounded in real-world practice. A key component of the modules is a mentor-guided application task that requires learners to locate and evaluate real program documents. This supports self-directed learning by giving learners ownership of their process and connecting the work directly to their professional responsibilities (Fink, 2013).

 

Reflection on Learning and Areas for Growth

This course has strengthened my understanding of what effective professional learning should look like and how it can be intentionally designed to support educators. Through each assignment, I demonstrated a commitment to active engagement, collaboration, reflection, and authentic application. At the same time, I recognize that I could have strengthened my peer collaboration within the course, especially near the end, when I was unable to complete responses to the final discussion.

Overall, I believe a self-assessment score of 90 accurately reflects my contributions. I completed the major course assignments, participated consistently in discussions, applied course concepts directly to my innovation plan, and developed a professional learning framework that has real potential beyond this course. While there is room for continued growth in peer collaboration, I am proud of the work I completed and the way this course helped bring STEP into clearer focus.

 

References

Andrews, T. M., Leonard, M. J., Colgrove, C. A., & Kalinowski, S. T. (2011). Active learning not associated with student learning           in a random sample of college biology courses. CBE Life Sciences Education, 10(4), 394–405.

Duarte, N. (2013). Resonate: Present visual stories that transform audiences. John Wiley & Sons.

Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences. Jossey-Bass.

Goodwin, B. (2015). Does teacher collaboration promote teacher growth? Educational Leadership, 73(4), 82–83.

Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers: Effective professional development in an era of high-stakes accountability.         Center for Public Education.