"The most important thing that schools can do is not to use technology in the curriculum more, but to use it more effectively."
John G. Palfrey and Urs Gasser
www.geckoandfly.com
COVA Reflection and Application
Melissa Richards
April 6, 2025
Personal Reflection on COVA Application
Throughout my career in education, I have been introduced to various practices and views. Many times I realize I have been utilizing these practices in my classroom, but did not put a name to them. COVA means using the principles of choice, ownership, and voice in authentic learning opportunities (Harapnuik & Thibodeaux, 2023). I was able to recently shift perspectives and have been spending an increased amount of time as a student vs teacher. Truly experiencing the meaning and recognition of applying COVA in my own learning came about half way through my time in the Applied Digital Learning Program at Lamar University. In the beginning, I superficially understood that we were participating in a learning environment that utilized the principles of COVA, but it wasn't until later that I truly felt I could take ownership of my learning and fully process and understand what that meant. In doing so, I followed the requirements of the assignments but began to show more creativity in how I communicated and presented my ideas. As I gained more clarity on the meaning of increased ownership and voice over my learning, this meant I could deliver my ideas in a way that my brain works and organizes information. I especially appreciated that, as participants, we were able to demonstrate our learning by choosing an innovation project that allowed us to create meaning by ensuring the topic was something we were authentically pursuing in our classrooms. My innovation project, Blended Learning in Our Classrooms, is a concept I am passionate about am continuously hoping to grow in.
Reactions to Freedom and Responsibility in Ownership of My Learning
In my journey through education, I have been the type of learner that requires explicit rules, procedures, and examples in order to understand the expectations to demonstrate my learning. I need to see what is expected in order to produce my own product. Having more freedom in what my output looked like was terrifying. I am an over thinker and am known for over complicating the simplest tasks. This resulted in some struggles and a lot of procrastination in the beginning of my ADL experience. After receiving feedback on my assignments and with having the support of my learning community through our Group Me chats, I was able to grow my confidence in delivering my ideas in my own way that satisfied the task requirements. The result of that increase in confidence has been a greater pride in my work, not only in the ADL program but also in my workplace. I am excited to share what I've learned with my peers versus feeling like I am always second guessing my ideas. Looking back, I can see the evolution of some of my basic earlier assignments, such as Elevating Readers Through Blended Learning Proposal to a more adventurous presentation of my learning through the creation of Blended Learning Toolkit. You can see a more confident use of visuals such as graphics, slides, and buttons to make the information more appealing to my audience.
Growth in Promoting Change
In my life, change from my routine isn't always a welcomed guest. With that said, I also thrive on change because of my boredom from ADHD. I thrive on trying new ideas and continued learning. I love sharing new ideas that work while improving and learning with my peers. This is something that has remained true throughout my career. The struggle I have had is finding ways to invite others to make necessary changes with me. Participating in Leading Organizational Change has taught me more efficient ways to promote positive change within my organization with confidence. These learned skills like utilizing the Influencer Model or Installing 4DX, I feel more empowered in inviting others to join me in attempting to make vital improvements to our teaching practices.
Innovation Plan Authenticity
The foundation of the ADL program all builds upon my innovation project which focuses on implementing a blended learning model in my classroom. Generating this plan was authentic in that it is an area of my practice I would like to improve in. Our organization had the privilege of participating in a grant with the goal of "Raising Blended Learners." In acting as a representative for my campus on our district Raising Blended Learners committee, I have a strong interest in this area. Although I had already been dipped my toe in the blended learning model realm, my intentions throughout this ADL innovation project has been to elevate my learning by creating a significant learning environment through the use of COVA by replacing digital versions of the same content that could be used with worksheets with more authentic learning opportunities that simulate real-world application. This new knowledge encourages me to support staff on my campus in helping impact more learners in our organization by sharing my ideas in our collaborative meetings.
Learning Philosophy
My courses in the ADL program have allowed me multiple opportunities to reflect on what I believe in when thinking about my learning philosophy. Although I already knew what I believed, learning about different learning theories allowed me to stamp a name to what I think and follow. Knowing that I believe in primarily The Constructivist view, I can now be more mindful in creating opportunities for my learners that align with this idea where learners create their own learning based on their experiences and that learning is an active process (Bates, A.W., 2019).
COVA in My Future
I think I have always tried to incorporate the elements of COVA in the learning experiences that I create for my learners without knowing there was a name for the collective idea of these practices. Not everything I do in the classroom always aligns perfectly, but my intentions are to include choice, ownership, voice, within authentic learning experiences a majority of the time so that students are engaged, responsible, and reflective on their learning. In the future, I hope to transition from using the practices of COVA with my own elementary students to provide learning experiences for staff members in my organization. My hopes are that by allowing our staff to experience these significant learning environments, the value the importance of providing the same environments for their learners.
Another way I plan to build upon my application of COVA is by allowing students on our campus to document and showcase their learning with the use of ePortfolios. In my hopes to transition out of the general education classroom setting and into the position of advanced academic specialist, I would be working with identified gifted and talented students. With being able to work with these students, I would support them throughout their elementary education. The intention of our gifted program is to deepen their learning with project-based curriculum and assessments that align with their interests using the Texas Performance Standards Projects. This would be a great opportunity to be able to begin documenting the output of their learning beginning in kindergarten and allowing them to build and reflect on their growth through 4th grade and possibly beyond. In seeing how documenting my own growth has allowed me to be more reflective on my learning, my hope is that I can pass that on to young learners on my campus. Building this skill at a young age will help support our students as life-long learners.
COVA in Action
In gaining a deeper understanding of the principles of COVA, my hope is to spread these ideas by allowing staff members to learn in this environment. My goal is to obtain a new position next year where I am coaching other teachers in some capacity. I plan on creating learning experiences for other teachers that follow the 5 Key Principles for Effective Professional Learning such as the Professional Learning Outline I have created. Allowing teachers to have choice in how they apply their learning will empower them to have greater ownership and voice along with the support of myself and our learning community. The educators on my campus will be able to create meaning from their learning by participating in authentic learning tasks that are applicable to them now and in their own settings. For example, if I obtain a position as a math instructional specialist or an advanced academic specialist who works with gifted students, I plan to work with teachers on helping them learn and implement best practices while creating plans for their students to enhance their learning. Hopefully in seeing positive results, the learning taking place will be meaningful to them versus teachers feeling these strategies are overwhelming and another item on their full plates.
References
Bates, A.W. (2019). Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning (2nd ed.).
Harapnuik, D. (2018, July, 14). COVA. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991.
Harapnuik, D. and Thibodeaux, T. (2023). COVA: Inspire learning through choice, ownership, voice, and authentic experiences. (2nd ed.).