The COVA model stresses the importance of learning in a way that is meaningful to the individual. The Digital Leading and Learning program allows me to choose how I want to present my learning in a way that reflects my personality. Having control of the learning environment and the platform I will use only increases the sense of ownership and authentic learning. Learning is as individualized as anything else we do as human beings. I think that is the reason the ownership portion of the COVA model is so important. In it most basic form, ownership of what we create, much like what we wear, how we dress, what we drive and where we live are all choices that are important to us. Those choices are the evidence of how we think and what we consider important. “Personal agency and ownership of belief systems is one major factor contributing to the willingness and persistence in sharing their learning.” (Clark 200) Our willingness to share with others and persist beyond our comfort zones only occurs when we are given authentic ownership over how we demonstrate that learning.
Another reason I think it is important that we muddle through the creation process with our portfolios, is maybe a little less philosophical. I decided to transfer my original Google site over to a WordPress site in hopes that it might be a slightly more robust platform down the road. I basically had to take a crash course in WordPress because I wasn’t familiar with it. During that process I was forced to learn about, widgets, hosts, how to order pages, customizing themes and lots of other nuggets of information that I wasn’t previously familiar with. I began to doubt my decision to change platforms, however, now that I have created the skeleton of my portfolio, I realize that I have picked up several various new skills along the way. I guess that was the whole point of the creation process in the first place. Learning was the outcome and that was the goal.
Clark, R. (2001). Learning from media: Arguments, analysis, and evidence. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
