Final Reflection

EDLD 5314
by Emily Montellano
 Introduction

Innovative change entails improving the quality to adjust to the world that we are living

in. I thought long and hard about what plan I wanted to study and implement in my campus.

Since the introduction of the COVA (Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic learning)

approach, I have been thinking of ways to offer my student my students’ choice in their learning.

Therefore, I decided that I wanted to implement a makerspace environment in classroom in my

district. A makerspace is defined as “a collaborative work space inside a school, library or

separate public/private facility for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses high tech to

no tech tools.” I found this innovation to enhance learning in the classroom in an environment

where students are not controlled by their surroundings. A makerspace environment allows

students the opportunity to collaborate and gain critical thinking skill with hands-on learning,

teamwork, and abstract thinking.

What Research Says

After my research, I was able to really see he effectiveness of a makerspace environment

and the effect it has on student participation and confidence. Educators are often looking for

ways to engage our students in the classroom and it is evident to see student engagement taking

place in a makerspace environment. The most difficult thing to do is implementing change in an

educational setting. In my findings, I found that proper vision is an important part to take when

implementing change in education. Most teachers use used to the norm and getting everyone on

board with the new innovative change may bring up crucial conversations amongst educators and

leadership. In the following sections, I will summarize the global research I found using the

guiding question from researcher from Dr. Peter Serdyukov (2017) when he studied innovation

in education using three guiding questions: what worked, what could have been done better, and
how do you apply the lessons learned? These guiding questions have really helped apply case

studies to my innovative plan.

Global Lessons Learned-What Worked

Although not all the global research I conducted related directly to my innovative plan, I

was able to find what worked in the implementation process. First off, I know that this process

requires a lot of planning beforehand. The planning should consist of frequent meetings to

discuss feedback and evaluation of how the change is affecting everyone involved. Another

finding I discovered was that students had more choice in the innovative change. Authentic

learning provides students with the chance to allow their voices to be heard and this is exactly

what I want to see in my innovation plan. The students felt responsible for their own learning

because they were the one in charge of their own performance, (Venezky, 2001). It is almost as

if they are their own teacher which all ties together to authentic learning and allowing students

choice of their own education. Holding students accountable for their learning is a big

responsibility for them to take at such a young age (Horn & Staker, pg.252, 2015). This is what I

want for my students. I want their voice to be heard and I want to provide them with

opportunities that offer them ownership of their own work. I believe that the COVA model is in

full affect.

Global Lessons Learned-What Could Have Been Done Better?

Further research showed that there are different populations of students such as

differentiated requirements. Fritschi, J., & Wolf, M. A. (2012) state that when working with

mobile learning, it is important to take into consideration all the different necessities of students

with different needs, because then problems will come to surface. This reminds me of when I

am working on interventions for my low and high students. I need to take the time to adjust the
lessons to fit the needs of all of my students. This requires time to determine what each students’

needs are and in a makerspace environment, NMC (2016) supports that the whole child can show

the type of learner they are. Therefore, this aspect of the plan needed to be worked on to adjust

to the needs of all learners. However, in many studies, it was kind of a ‘one size fits most’

situation.

Proper communication will that everyone involved is aware of innovative change to

improve student achievement in schools. Researcher Wadi D. Haddad talks about ICTs

(Information and Communications Technology) in education. In this article I learned about the

high demand of resources. Through feedback and reflection after implementation of a new idea,

it was found that there were not enough resources on hand for all students to use. Since it is

brand new, sometimes there will be undetermined amount of resources and it is important to

prepare ahead of time for this. This all goes back to lack of communication and I will ensure that

all teachers and students have exactly what they need to work in a makerspace environment.

Applying These Lessons to My Innovation Plan

Additionally, it is very important to support the efforts of all educators. There are

changes happening all around us daily due to the vast growth of technology and our educators

needs to be up to date with these changes. In a study from the United Nations Educational,

Scientific, and Cultural Organization (2009) also known as UNESCO, they discuss the

importance of supporting educators of 21st Century skills to teach these to their students.

Professional learning should be ongoing because educators too, need to learn alongside their

students. If one does not know what a makerspace is, they should be exposed to the tools,

terminology, and knowledge about what it entails. Our students are our future, and it is the

educator’s responsibility to ensure they are prepared with knowledge. That is why ongoing
professional development is essential to keeping everyone informed about new innovative ways

to support all of our students. Even offering a day for educators to collaborate with one another

about their experiences with innovative change and how it is affecting their students is definitely

an effective professional learning session everyone would benefit from. As a new educator, I

often feel like I am learning more from others around me rather than the latest resource book that

was just published. Researcher on makerspaces states, “When you take everything you’re

learning about and connect it to a project, you’re going to see higher scores, better writing and

more understanding of the concept,” (Bannan, 2018). Authentic learning opens the doors to

endless opportunities for our students. All students will have these opportunities in a

makerspace approach to learning. All in all, the research I have conducted has really helped me

understand what I need to do to implement my plan at my campus and district.

Bannan, K. J. (2018, January 20). 4 steps to achieve makerspace success. Retrieved April 23,

2020, from https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2016/10/4-steps-achieve-makerspace-success

Fritschi, J., & Wolf, M. A. (2012). turning on mobile learning > illustrative initiatives and policy

implications. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21852.08325.

Haddad, Wadi D. (2008). ICTs for education: a reference handbook (Vol. 2): Analytical review

(English). ICT-in-education toolkit. Washington, DC: World Bank.

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/900491468147317327/Analytical-review

Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2015). Blended, using disruptive innovation to improve schools. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

NMC. (2016). 2016 personalized learning student success summit report. Retrieved from

https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2016/5/2016plsssummit.pdf

Roslund, S., & Rodgers, E. P. (2014). Makerspaces and hackerspaces. Ann Arbor, MI: Cherry

Lake Publishing.

Serdyukov, P. (2017). Innovation in education: what works, what doesn’t, and what to do

about it? (Vol. 10 No. 1). Retrieved from

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JRIT-10-2016-0007/full/pdf?

title=innovation-in-education-what-works-what-doesnt-and-what-to-do-about-it

UNESCO. (2009). eSkwela: Community-based e-learning centers for out-of-school youth and

adults, Philippines. Retrieved from

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001833/183307e.pdf>.

UNESCO. (2012). Turning on mobile learning global themes. Retrieved from

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000216451

Venezky, R. (2001). ICT in Innovative Schools: Case Studies of Change and Impacts. Retrieved

https://www.oecd.org/site/schoolingfortomorrowknowledgebase/themes/ict/41187025.pdf