DLL and COVA and CSLE -- oh my
Those three acronyms where about as scary for me as lions and tigers and bears were for Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. But, I stood there with my new found friends and faced the scary things.
COVA - Choice, ownership, and voice through authentic assignments? - I had the chance to learn digitally at ANY time of the day and I got to choose how I expressed what I had learned - Sweet!!
And by that I mean- sweet for other people! I was the sit at my desk after supper and do my assignment kind of girl. I want the checklist, the rubric and the teacher to read over it before I turned it in. That was my CSLE - at least my SLE - significant learning environment- not real creative.
But as I was reminded, “Everyone want to change the world but no one wants to change.” (Harapnuik, 2017). And as I learned with this masters program, change can be a good thing. And the learning began!
When did I first realized I had a genuine choice in my learning? I think it was in the first or second DLL class. Several questions were asked at one of the first class meetings and Dr. Harapnuik answered yes to 6 or 7 questions about how assignment A should look. He just kept saying yes and laughing and urging others to ask and telling them yes also. He would not give any of us a single answer, he gave us choice and the chance to take ownership. To start - that was a bit unnerving - “just tell us already!” It took some getting used to. Some students were making videos and others were making pictographs, while others still wrote out long paragraphs.
I adjusted to COVA - I made a few pictographs myself (after I validated - it was ok to do that). I found I really liked the freedom and I found myself really putting the COVA approach into my classroom.
My learning style - constructivism- when and how will I use what I’m learning and how will this help me later! Perfect - with the COVA approach. I could tweak my assignment so it made sense in my brain and I could use the learned information later. I could be creative, take ownership, use my voice and it would be authentic because it applied directly to me. I think this is also the exact reason to engage a CSLE approach. A Creative Significant Learning Environment- if the learning is not significant--then the lessons, the information, and the WHY will never be there.
I have jumped in with both feet using COVA and a CSLE approach in my classroom. I wanted my students to have that reason, that why, that validation that what they are learning in my classroom will be used outside in the big world. I wanted the students to have the same link to learning that I had begun to understand and appreciate.
My innovation plan was to implement Project Based Learning. I started with my own 5th and 6th grade computer skills classroom. I used the online course that I developed in EDLD 5318. The course was teaching Google Suite skills and all the the lessons revolved around the Amazon Basin. The littles really loved the idea --eventually. Eventually - just as me and my classmates, they figured out that they were in charge. I didn’t care how they showed what they had learned. They began to take ownership of the plan and used their own voice. It was tough for some of them to jump out there because it was different than their other classes. I explained it as though we were running a business and in a business everyone has different jobs, big and small, but the business doesn’t work unless all of the jobs are done. I needed a webpage but I also needed logos for that web page and research information. The students products became a part of a site we shared on the districts Facebook page and Twitter. Their voice, their input had a bigger audience. What they did or didn't do mattered beyond the classroom.
Sure, there was challenges, making a move when not sure of the next step our first attempts were shaky. The students responded just as me and my classmates did. They had more freedom than ever before and had a difficult time getting started. Encouragement and feedback is how I helped the students just as the DLL professors help us step out into the authentic personal learning.
I shared Project Based Learning in a district wide professional development opportunity and I used the COVA and CSLE explanations to “sell” my staff on trying Project Based Learning in their own classrooms. I have met for follow up lessons, encouragement and feedback with the staff that attended my session. Since the COVA approach is new It is my plan to continue to encourage the teachers to change just as the students did. In addition to PBL lessons I also added webpage building so that the end results could be recorded and shared with a bigger audience.
“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” John Dewey
DLL and COVA and CSLE -- oh my- I want to give my students learner’s choice so that their tomorrows are brighter.
Harapnuik, D. (2017) CSLE+COVA. Retrieved from
http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6988
Harapnuik, D. (2015, May 08). Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE). Retrieved April 28, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ-c7rz7eT4&feature=youtu.be
Lions and tigers and bears. Sanctuary, Sanctuarybaptist,(2018, February 18). Retrieved from https://sanctuarybaptist.wordpress.com/2018/02/18/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-oh-my/
