Kylie Goodman

Professor Lewallen

EDT 180/ MW 12:15

September 23rd, 2019

Inquiry Module Reflection

Peer Feedback

The first piece of criticism I received on my Inquiry Module Project was about basic

diction. A few spelling errors here and there that I had missed while reading the rough draft

through the first couple times. I really appreciate people who are good with grammar who can

give me a fresh perspective when I feel like I’ve been staring at my paper for too long. Another

thing I heard during peer review was about breaking up my sentences. I tend to be very verbose

sometimes and it helps to be reminded not to let my sentences run on too long. There were even

whole sentences or phrases that had no overall purpose, which only made the paper too repetitive

and even dull.

Another crucial thing I heard from peer review was about sentence fluency. Does the

paper convey my thinking process clearly? The peers that read my paper were helpful in that

aspect because they’d read with an outside perspective. The ideas written were my own, and in

order to make sure they weren’t written chaotically as if I’d written them as I thought them, I

needed a new pair of eyes. Of course my ideas make sense to me, but would they make sense to a

different audience? That is the kind of question I love to ask during peer review time. Positive

feedback was given as well, mostly because I had spent so much time with my paper and I love

discussing innovation in the classroom. The creative side of my young teacher brain, so I’ve

been told, is put on display in this project.

Implementation of Feedback

Naturally, the first thing I edited was grammar including spelling and punctuation. Then I

moved on to the more in depth things that I learned from peer feedback, starting with fluency.

Going through each paragraph to make sure my ideas were clear and concise enough to get my

point across. This also meant I was adding commas and periods in places where some of the

writing seemed to trail on too long. Then just to ensure that my ideas were well-portrayed, I

scanned each sentence looking for words I could replace with more scholarly language. One

other thing I really tried to focus on, post-peer review, was sentence structure. Picking and

choosing what deserved to stay in the paper so that my research wouldn’t appear messy. The

ideas I presented in the final draft were the result of layers of cleaning my original thoughts.

Learning Reflection

After going through the peer review process, I’ve learned the importance of keeping our

audience in mind. Writing my thoughts as they come to me would only confuse people. So

instead I need to actively focus on making these inquiries more understandable and calculated. If

I could go back and do this project all over again from the beginning, one thing I would like to

focus more on the research behind each product. Even though I knew about and understood each

of the products I wrote about, I didn’t know very much about their success rates. Although the

IoT installation I included is only a baby of a product, the other two pieces of technology have

made a substantial name for themselves. I would also like to go back and write more about the

pros and cons of each piece equally.

Alternative Details

A few things I had not initially considered were societal acceptance, school cultures, and

the setbacks of introducing technology in elementary schools. Not only would it be difficult to

get school boards to agree to allow these technologies, but it could be even harder to get teachers

to use them. Even if the district could gain the funding and space for new gadgets, teachers

would need extra training and a re-worked lesson planning book. This reaches all the way back

to college as well, because this is where proper training to become an educator begins. There

could also be significant drawbacks when it comes to virtual reality, which just so happens to be

my favorite part of this project. Not only do some VR headset users report nausea, but using VR

takes away the need for field trips. These trips could provide a learning and growth experience

like no other, and should never be replaced by a screen. Children need to explore and be

physically present in order to develop mentally.