Midpoint Reflection

https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1288387/assignments/8024238?module_item_id=16052093

While it may take time to do this reflection, it can have many important benefits: 1) research shows that reflecting on experiences creates an environment in which insights and creativity can flourish; 2) taking a moment to consider the positive experiences (and to learn from the challenging ones) generates positive emotions which can benefit everyone during highly stressful moments in the semester; and 3) your experiences in narrative form provide insights to the committee beyond what is possible through surveys. This helps us to tailor the program in the future.

Here are a few questions/topics you should consider in your reflection:

1. How well is the program working for you so far?

I was not able to collaborate last year, but this year it has been perfect match with my ID2ID buddy Aura Lippincott. It is just marvelous to work with same-minded and driven person

1. What have you accomplished so far?

We are well underway with one of our two projects – the VRrelax one the project each of us is teaming up with faculty and staff from our universities. We plan to roll out the test at the end of this month (October), do the research in November and compare notes and results in December. The project aims to establish if VR delivered by Oculus Go may have positive impact on stress reduction for students.

Our second project, the Open Learning one is also gathering speed; we intend to have a research topic determined by the end of the month, while we are gathering resources at the time being.

1. What else do you need to do? Describe the progress you have made toward meeting your program goals.

Each of us is in a daily contact with faculty and staff, searching for the right people to build a team. By mid September, we were able to start forming the research questions with the team and establish responsibilities and deadlines. We keep track of the progress via Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kOgqC7vUaBtOEDaB6ZF-ayEyVw2yBmB0fHXWrrcFkB4/edit and https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huFe1bPE08ha9acDLTsDkCz0blaxQ2bKKSxg97woGIY/edit

1. What obstacles have you faced that you did not anticipate?

I have difficulty to pinpoint obstacles, because with a determined ID2ID partner and team members, all obstacles start to seem minuscules. We had discussions about the video content of the VR session, or the frequency of the testing and some of these issues is impossible to reconcile for two teams on different campuses, but again, they do not seem crucial when the team is driven by conviction to finish the research

1. What are your plans for working through them? What are your plans for the rest of the program? Many of you may have chosen to focus on one or more of the ELI Key Issues. If so, briefly summarize and reflect upon your discussions of these key issues.

In regard of the ELI Key issues
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2018/1/presenting-the-eli-key-issues-for-2018

I see our work falling neatly under: digital and information literacy. The work through ID2ID seems as a intake of fresh air, since digital and information literacy is not considered in the stagnant 90-ish interpretation, as myopically imposed in the library where i work. Our project aims to assert digital literacy as understood by Educause.

To some degree, our work also falls under the ELI issue of “learning space design.” While we advocate for virtual learning spaces, as well as under the ELI issue “academic transformation and faculty development.” Both XR and open learning are ambitious trends, which inadvertently can meet resistance with their novelty and lack of track in former traditional methods of teaching and learning.