Reflection- Digital Learning Part 1 Reflection

One of the most interesting parts of this project was the opportunity to take a subject like Physical and Health Education, which is typically delivered in a hands-on, in-person course, and reimagine it for a fully digital classroom. I wanted my lesson design decisions to structure learning in a way that still feels personal, active, and student-centered.

Creating the course outline came quite naturally to me, as I’m passionate about the topics of fitness, mental health, and overall wellness. I found it easy to sequence the units in a way that builds meaningfully from one to the next. However, I did face a challenge when it came to assessment. Wellness is such a personal and developmental journey, it is more of a process than a destination, so it was difficult at first to figure out how to assess students in a way that felt authentic and aligned with the course goals. In the end, I decided to use the BC Proficiency Scale and emphasize weekly reflections and personal goal-setting to support a growth focused model of assessment.

One unexpected challenge was setting up the Google Classroom itself. Although I’m familiar with using it from a teacher’s perspective and ensuring clarity for students was more involved than I initially thought. It required attention to detail and intentional design so that students could easily follow the flow of learning and access the support they needed. That said, I feel that the end result is something organized, supportive, and student-friendly.

What excites me most is that the course I’ve built is something I would actually want to teach. It aligns with my values as an educator and provides opportunities for students to explore wellness in a meaningful and personalized way. The introductory activities, collaborative netiquette guide, and culminating project all reflect a course that is about more than just content, but its application and use in students’ growth. I am happy that I am completing an assignment that makes me motivated to use what I created in real life, and I look forward to seeing how students respond to it.

Assignment 1- Individual Reflection

Working on this LMS rubric assignment provided an opportunity to engage with a practical challenge of selecting a learning management system for a secondary school setting. At first, our group needed time to clarify the assignment requirements as we found it difficult to decode at first. We then discussed and compared our real life individual teaching scenarios, and collectively decided on our scenario for Sunnyside Secondary in BC.  Angela and I collaborated on writing the scenario, ensuring it reflected the realities of the current public school landscape in BC.

We then discussed the areas we thought were most important to an LMS and selected our rubric categories. My main contribution was the “usability” section of the rubric. I drew on the framework provided by Issa and Isaias (2015), who argue that usability within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) encompasses more than functionality, it includes how easily a system can be learned, navigated, and personalized, and whether the system is memorable and enjoyable to use. This guided how I broke down the useability criteria in the rubric. 

Looking at our two LMS systems we began assessing them each using our rubric. While Brightspace (D2L) offers more advanced features, our recommendation to begin with Google Classroom reflects our current technological readiness and need for accessibility. As Alharbi and Drew (2014) highlight, successful LMS adoption relies on usability for both educators and students. Since many teachers already use Google Workspace, Classroom’s integration would be an easy transition.

Despite lacking in-depth peer collaboration tools, Google Classroom supports communication and resource sharing, aligning with Vygotsky’s (1978) social learning theory. However, its limited data tracking and lack of analytics tools are significant drawbacks. Bates and Sangrà (2011) emphasize the importance of learning data for instructional planning, a strength of D2L. Similarly, Alturki and Aldraiweesh (2012) argue that visibility into student activity supports engagement, something Google Classroom lacks. Data privacy is another concern. Google stores data on U.S. servers, raising issues under BC’s FOIPPA laws (BC OIPC, 2021), whereas D2L complies with Canadian data regulations.

Still, we decided that Google Classroom is a practical starting point. Its simplicity allows educators to explore digital teaching with minimal risk. Ultimately we suggested a  two-year pilot of Google Classroom to support teacher growth while allowing time to assess the need for a more robust LMS like D2L.

References

Alharbi, S., & Drew, S. (2014). Using the technology acceptance model in understanding academics’ behavioural intention to use learning management systems. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 5(1), 143–155. https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2014.050120

Alturki, U., & Aldraiweesh, A. (2021). Application of Learning Management System (LMS) during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A sustainable acceptance model of the expansion technology approach by Educational Technology Department, College of Education, King Saud University, Riyadh. Sustainability, 13(19),  https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910991.

British Columbia Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner. (2021). Cloud computing guidelines for public bodies. https://www.oipc.bc.ca/guidance-documents/2325

D2L Corporation. (2025, April 17). Your complete K-12 learning platform. D2L. https://www.d2l.com/solutions/k-12/

Google for Education. (2023). Google Classroom: Tools for every classroom. https://edu.google.com/products/classroom/

Issa, T., & Isaias, P. (2015) Usability and human computer interaction (HCI). In Sustainable Design (pp. 19-35). Springer. 

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.