For the final Blog post, I want to thank Georgann for her patience and understanding as we worked through some hiccups. I have enjoyed the units and have come away with a more robust understanding of learning theories, how to integrate technology purposefully, and how to design curriculum units with a solid assessment.

I developed a teaching philosophy for this course, and I have returned to this philosophy for my final reflection. I believe education is needed to be holistic, inclusive, and diverse and that it continues throughout one’s lifetime. My philosophy also states that all children can and do learn when presented with a nurturing environment that is safe and able to meet their needs academically, socially, and emotionally. These are both core belief statements, and they have been confirmed through the study of philosophers such as Nel Noddings. Nel Noddings’ philosophy of care in the classroom emphasizes the importance of nurturing caring relationships between teachers and students, prioritizing students’ well-being and emotional development, and incorporating caring activities into the curriculum.

Moreover, my philosophy states that students need to develop a growth mindset where they set goals, reflect, and actively participate in their education. To this point, I now know that not only students but anyone involved in the education process need to embody these ideals. In this course, I was introduced to various delivery formats, and these ideals can be nurtured by offering a variety of delivery formats, such as asynchronous, blended, hybrid, or online models, to meet the needs of the learners.

A final element that I would add to my philosophy is that all the needs above must be addressed with purpose. The unit we developed reinforced the idea of purpose, making us question what we chose for our students and why with objectives, technology, and assessment. The checklist helped as a guide to ensure the technology chosen was purposeful and provided authentic learning opportunities to ensure students know how and why they are using the technology provided. Regarding assessment, I was always taught to use backward design: starting with the objectives you want to assess, creating a summative assessment, and then going into the activities that will lead to this purposeful assessment. However, after the feedback from my partners about my unit, it was clear that I had not made purposeful connections to the assessment. This is an excellent reminder that even though we may have done the ‘process’ many times, we still need to be thorough and purposeful in planning.