Hello and welcome back to another blogpost. This post is a little different as I am not reflecting on individual projects, but my overall growth as a learner over the course of the last year. This is my very first mPOL so I ask you to bear with me for the next few minutes. I would like to introduce my Mom who will be watching from a separate device.
Declaration of Learning
“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”
I would like to start by expressing one project I felt dissatisfied with. My second Scimatics project, “Correlation vs Causation” 
we worked in groups of 2 or 3 to find correlations between 2 topics and then find the causation for the answer we got. I worked in a group of 3 and I found that I was dissatisfied with the work we created. In my opinion, the reason behind this was because our work was not spread out evenly and 2 of us ended up doing most of the work. I have decided to build from this experience and use it to make the right decisions when it comes to who I want to be sharing my work with in my academic future.
Reflecting on my courses this year:
Include reflection from Humanities, Scimatics (Maker 9 is not included as we have not started this course yet)
Humanities
In this semester, we worked on 3 projects. We completed “People and the Environment”, “Revolutions on trial”, and just finishing “Working with Words” I find that I experience FAILs and successes more often compared to my other courses.
My biggest FAILs and Successes this semester:
Successes:
- Enjoyment and interest in topic once fully understood
- Creating quality work that I am proud of
- Controlling the amount of stress I’m putting myself under
- Confidence with my overall understandings of the topics I’ve learned
FAILs:
- Time management
- Amount of effort being put into work compared to my grades
- Organization
- Finding proper enjoyment in some projects
I think I have demonstrated my best work in the project “People and the Environment”. I believe this because I went through multiple stages of peer critique and self improvement to the point where I felt confident and proud with the work I finished the project with. I believe this was a huge turn around for my writing and presenting skills because I went through many stages of critique to the point where I think that this was my most improved/effective project yet.
⬇️Example of the work I was proud to present⬇️
I specific example of something I could have improved on is my time management and deeper understanding in our most recent project “Working with Words”. I think it was my lack of motivation and understanding of what needed to be done that drove me to not be very responsible with managing my homework and finishing assignments at the last minute. This drove me into a direction where I ended up not feeling very confident with my final work.
Scimatics
The projects in this course in the past four and a half months have included “Exponent Laws” “Correlation vs Causation” and our most recent “Chemistry Stories”. I found that this course is a little more challenging than my other classes because some of my academic strengths are elsewhere but these challenges push me to become a better learner.
My biggest FAILs and Successes this semester:
Successes:
- Completing some work I am genuinely proud of
- Deep understanding of new chemical topics
- Taking charge and finishing extra work
FAILs:
- lack of teamwork (ending up doing more work than I should in a group)
- Not feeling confident in my understanding of some concepts learned
- Stress and time management
- Not feeling satisfied with my final product
I found that an example of a project I excelled in was “Chemistry Stories” I demonstrated a strong curiosity about the new scientific concepts we went over, greatly improved on my personal motivation, felt confident in the amount of effort I was putting in, and time management skills. I efficiently worked to create a scientifically accurate and interesting animated video.
⬇️Example of the work I was proud to present⬇️
Covalent bonding storyboard
Something I could improve on in Scimatics is to be more confident in class because I believe that being involved by answering questions, expressing my own opinions, or presenting more of my work to the whole class is an important skill to learn.
My Demonstration of Revision, Responsibility, Teamwork, and Production of High Quality Work
Be able to discuss your demonstrations of revision, teamwork, responsibility, and production of high quality work as a PLP learner.
This semester, I have demonstrated multiple examples of revision. However a solid example of my revisions this year would fall into all the drafts and revisions I made in our Humanities “People and the Environment” project.
I demonstrated great teamwork between my group and myself while working to complete our humanities project “Revolutions on trial”. Proper work was being completed faster than the due dates arrived. I provided my group with help building the script for our trial by using my writing and research skills. I believe there is always room to improve wether working collectively as a group, finishing assignments on time, or even simple communication between group mates.
Finally I feel confident that I demonstrated the most responsibility for my own learning during my Scimatics “Chemistry Stories” project. I believe this might be my best Science work yet because I stayed on top of my assignments and produced high quality work even when I was away.
Answering the big question:
How have I demonstrated growth as a learner so far this year?
In the past couple of months, I have built a stronger awareness around what assignments should be done, when they need to be done, and what I should be including in my own work. I feel confident that I have grown as a learner to create better work than I have previously by organizing the amount of work I do each day and setting my own deadlines.
Thanks again for taking the time to read/listen my mPOL, I hope you found it somewhat interesting.