As I have now progressed into my class within my Masters in Educational Technology Leadership program at Lamar University, I began to wonder what was next in line. After the first session of my 9th class, it was determined that my main focus was to be spent developing my eportfolio. When I first started the eportfolio in my last class, I was not thrilled about the idea. However, after just a few short weeks, I began to see some value in it, but I wasn't really anticipating spending another five weeks developing more into my portfolio in the next class. The start of my journey in the continuation of my eportfolio comes from the minimalist fundamentals of portfolios section of the assigned readings. It was here that I uncovered the true purpose of developing my own portfolio. My portfolio will be a place that is more like an online journal, where I can reflect on what I learn. As I develop my reflections, I will be able to dig deeper into my learning experiences and make meaningful connections. I can display my work and/or projects that showcase this. My portfolio can be a place where I can express my own creativity as I embrace my ownership of my content. I ultimately believe that my portfolio will prove to be nothing but beneficial to my professional career and perhaps even my personal life. This is all good and all, but I still am uncomfortable with one specific area.
Writing blog posts is something completely out of my comfort zone. I would not consider myself a writer, however, I can piece together information. So I had a couple of options at this point. Simply not do the posts, which would likely lead to poor grade, and minimal effectiveness in my reflections, or step out of my comfort zone and jump right in. Clovis G. Chappell (2017) states "It is better to make a thousand failures than to be too cowardly to ever undertake anything." I am choosing to not be afraid of jumping into something that is outside my comfort zone. If I don't quite get it right the first, second, or even third time, then I will continue to press forward. Failure should be seen as step forward rather than a setback. If I gave up every time my computer program failed, then I would not ever make any progress towards my goals. So I will leave you with this final statement. Don't be afraid to try.
Resources
CHAPPELL, C. G. (2017). SERMONS ON BIBLICAL CHARACTERS. S.l.: BLURB.
Harapunik, D. (2018). It's About Learning. Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org.