5320 Capstone Discussion

COVA learning approach refers to the student or learner-centered active learning strategy that primarily uses authentic learning opportunities to provide the students with ownership, choice, and voice. The process is essential for a blended learning environment and thus can be used to create an environment in which learners have the opportunity to air their views, make choices and take ownership of their mistakes and academic assessment results. The COVA learning approach has enabled me, as the tutor, to create a significant learning environment by giving the students enough time to do their assignments independently and submit them. Through this, the learners could take ownership of their work and develop the ability to choose the appropriate responses to the assignment questions. Moreover, the COVA learning approach has aided my teaching and learning process by enabling the learners to independently select the e-Portfolio process, projects, and the most preferred learning technologies or tools. According to Cummings et al. (2018), ownership and choice, some of the critical elements of the COVA learning approach, are vital to increasing learner engagement and motivation. In addition, the system allows the tutor to take different roles, including the facilitator, counselor, mentor, and presenter roles in teaching.

Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE) refers to the integrated learning approach that allows learners to achieve flexibility, engagement, and efficiency within the learning environment. CSLE has aided my learning process by equipping me with the skills to consider and analyze all the aspects of the learning environment, including the situational and environmental factors, when designing and creating a blended learner-centered setting. Through this, learners often find the purpose of learning, thus growing into the people they aspire to be in the future. Some key factors to consider when implementing CSLE include the available infrastructure support, assessment, instructional design, student-centered, and teaching roles (Dwayne Harapnuik, 2015). Notably, CSLE can enable the tutor to develop a purposeful, proactive, and flexible instructional design. This kind of instructional design often considers different learning theories to ensure that the learning environment is engaging, authentic, and experiential.

Since adopting the COVA and CSLE approaches, my learning philosophy has changed.

First, I realized that having an effective environment for learning is not enough since students’ approval is critical. Therefore, my philosophy is to always involve the students in choosing the type of learning environment they prefer to avoid resistance and rebellious acts. Consequently, I always collect the learners’ views and try to convince them of the positive aspects of CSLE approaches before implementation to prepare them for the same. To promote the acceptance of COVA and CSLE approaches, I have embarked on a journey to adopt a learner’s mindset, simply changing thoughts about learning. However, I believe achieving this goal will not be easy since the learning environment often contains students with different beliefs, abilities, and perceptions of math. Also, since students have mixed feelings about promoting change in their learning environment, blending online teaching and technological devices is crucial to make the sessions entertaining and attractive.

There are several challenges I have faced or experienced personally and within the learning environment when adopting COVA and CSLE approaches. The first challenge was the changing teaching style and learning environment. Ferreiro (2021) states that implementing COVA can be challenging in an environment with a curriculum that minimizes the learners’ abilities and collaboration. The other notable challenge was the students’ attitudes towards the learning process. Some of my students were unmotivated, always resisted, and avoided learning through experimentation and collaboration.

References

Cummings, C., Harapnuik, D., & Thibodeaux, T. (2018). Using the COVA approach to promote active learning in digital learning environments. In Handbook of Research on Digital Content, Mobile Learning, and Technology Integration Models in Teacher Education (pp. 22-44). IGI Global. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dwayne-Harapnuik2/publication/319978409_Using_the_COVA_approach_to_promote_active_learning_in_digital_learning_environments/links/5ee797b092851ce9e7e3df87/Using-the-COVA-approach-to-promote-active-learning-in-digital-learning-environments.pdf

Dwayne Harapnuik. (2015). Creating significant learning environments (CSLE) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ-c7rz7eT4

Ferreiro, C. (2021). CSLE + COVA: A learner’s reflection.Atrium of the Spanish Language. https://atriumspanishlanguage.com/2021/11/07/csle-cova-a-learners-reflection/