Synthesis Essay:
Revelations as a Teacher and Learner
By Beth Ottolini
When I began my formal teaching career in September of 2011, I had high hopes for what I might accomplish in the classroom during my first year. Of course, I had heard horror stories about the first year of teaching and received unsolicited advice from veteran teachers about simply “getting through” this year. My goals for student performance and professional growth were certainly lofty, but I persevered through this difficult time and came out on the other end unscathed. I even found the time to take classes to acquire additional certifications to improve my job security and expand upon my professional qualifications. This withstanding, the majority of my time in my first two years of teaching was spent developing classroom management skills and devising lesson plans for a variety of science courses. It became evident to me that my goals lacked focus and my work over the last few years had been a shallow attempt at bettering myself as an educator. It was for this reason that I applied to the Masters in Educational Technology (MAET) Program at Michigan State University in the summer of 2013.
My primary reason for starting the MAET program was to learn to use specific technologies to better support my students in the classroom. I did not consider that this endeavor would change my pedagogical approach to teaching and drastically amend my outlook on education. Instead of focusing my goals on mastering specific technologies, I have learned many skills through my graduate coursework that can be transferred to a vast array of technologies. Namely, my attempts at integrating technology into my practice are now consistent with my teaching pedagogy and appropriate for the content being covered. This approach, deemed technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), was a pervasive theme throughout my coursework in the MAET program. Additionally, my time in the MAET program reminded me of the importance of remaining a life-long learner and continuing to seek opportunities to improve my practice as an educator. I intend to accomplish this through technology-focused professional development and seeking leadership roles related to technology within my school district. As such, my experiences in the MAET program can be logically categorized into two domains: teaching and learning. The descriptions that follow outline the revelations that I have had as a teacher and learner as a result of my graduate coursework.
Another key teaching skill that I have learned through the MAET program is to modify course content to fit a hybrid course or a fully-online course model. Prior to taking CEP 820, teaching students online, I did not feel equipped to design a course with a large online component. For this reason, I had never attempted to flip my classroom or offered to teach a hybrid course within my school district. Through the online course module project in CEP 820, I developed key skills that will allow me to design and implement online courses in the future. This project involved designing an online course module in a content management system. After exploring the affordances of many different content management systems, I decided to use Blackboard Coursesites to create a fully-online course module on Mendelian Genetics. During the creation process, I learned how to design online assessments, create collaborative experiences for students in an online environment, and maximize use of the features available in a content management system to improve the student experience.
A second course relating to online learning effectively supplemented the skills that I acquired in CEP 820. CEP 812, applying educational technology to issues of practice, focused on using technologies to solve major issues that most educators experience in the classroom. While the course examined a variety of different issues of practice, I was involved in a group project that focused upon the “wicked problem” of reimagining online learning to better suit student needs. This project required the group to propose a solution to the problems associated with current online courses and education systems. Ultimately, we determined that there are no specific technologies guaranteed to improve online learning. We proposed that educators use a risk/reward analysis similar to those used in the business world when designing online learning experiences for students. CEP 812 gave me a deeper pedagogical understanding of how to design online coursework. I feel that this pedagogical knowledge would easily transfer to training roles within a corporate setting as well because large companies are now making use of online training as an alternative to face-to-face instruction.
Teaching:
As a teacher, I am now determined to meaningfully integrate technology into my curriculum using the TPACK framework. This means reconciling the affordances of educational technologies with the mandates of the curriculum and an effective pedagogical approach. I was first introduced to the TPACK framework in CEP 810, teaching for understanding with technology. However, I began to really see the benefits of adopting this framework in CEP 811, adapting innovative technologies in education, the following semester. In this course, I learned how to repurpose technologies so that they can be integrated properly into a specific educational context. For example, one of the main assignments in CEP 811 was to use a maker kit to teach content in my science course in an innovative way. Maker kits are a derivative of the “maker movement” which is a new instructional framework that involves students learning as inventors through a creation process. I designed multiple lessons using this framework and the Squishy Circuits maker kit. Initially, I really struggled to see how this kit might be used effectively in a secondary classroom to teach high school science curriculum. However, using TPACK and the universal design for learning guidelines, I created multiple lessons for physics and biology using the Squishy Circuits maker kit. This course showed me how to effectively repurpose technologies for my own classroom. This skill has allowed me to use technologies that were not originally created for educational purposes to improve student engagement and performance.
A third teaching skill that I have acquired as a result of my coursework is using technology in a way that is consistent with well-established learning theories. Prior to taking CEP 800, learning in school and other settings, I don’t believe that my attempts at technology integration in my classroom were pedagogically-sound. My efforts focused upon creating innovative lessons that made use of relevant technologies, but they did not consider how students learn best. CEP 800 began with a comprehensive review of learning theories that I had learned previously through my undergraduate coursework. Projects in this class involved creating lessons incorporating technologies that appropriately address the best practices outlined by social and cognitive learning theories. For example, I planned a lesson using Wikispaces to teach students about Mendelian Genetics. I designed this lesson to involve collaboration through cooperative group work such that the lesson was consistent with Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism. This experience made me realize that the pedagogical considerations that I make when designing daily lessons must also be made when integrating technology into my classroom.
Learning:
Somewhere throughout my learning trajectory in the MAET program, I realized that my journey as a learner does not end upon graduation. Previously, I had envisioned that my master’s degree would signify the end of my experience with formal education. Through my experiences in the MAET program, I have started to place a higher value on learning opportunities that will help me to improve upon my practice as an educator. As such, I plan to continue to seek continuing education and development opportunities that will help me to grow professionally.
Part of this effort will involve expanding my professional learning network through attending conferences and reaching out to other educators through social media. My first course in the MAET program was CEP 810, teaching for understanding with technology. One of the main objectives of this course was to identify the components of my current professional learning network and search for ways to build upon that network for the future. As a result, I try to make connections with educators who have found innovative ways of improving student engagement and performance. This may mean reaching out to people via social media forums like Twitter, or attending conferences like the MACUL conference to learn new skills from experts in the field of educational technology. In CEP 810, I also identified a section of my professional learning network that is somewhat lacking. Prior to beginning the MAET program, I was not a part of any professional organizations, and I did not subscribe to any educational publications. I have made efforts to add to this aspect of my professional learning network, and I believe that these memberships and subscriptions will continue to be a useful learning tool for me in the future.
Additionally, I plan to continue to develop my technical skills after I graduate from the MAET program. I feel that all of the courses that I have taken have exposed me to different technologies that have the potential to be useful in my classroom. That being said, one of the primary themes of the program was that skills, and not specific technologies, should be the focus of a highly effective 21st century educator. As such, the technical skills that have been most cultivated through my graduate coursework are as follows: 1) multimedia production (audio, screencasting, digital storytelling, etc.), 2) graphic design (concept maps, infographics, etc.), 3) web design, 4) using content and learning management systems, and 5) planning instruction using web 2.0 tools. All of these skills can be transferred to many different technologies which prepares me to adapt effectively to use the technologies available to me. For example, my skills developing curriculum using content and learning management systems can be used when designing instruction with a variety of different programs such as Blackboard Coursesites, Haiku LMS, Moodle, etc. Similarly, my skills with with web design can be used with any web design platform. Through the MAET program, I have designed web pages using Google Sites, Wordpress, Wix, Wikispaces, and Weebly. I imagine that this list will continue to grow in the future.
I have some very specific aspirations related to learning new technical skills that I plan to accomplish in the near future. For example, I hope to attend a Google Teacher Academy next year to expand upon my skills using data collection platforms like Google Apps. I am specifically interested in Google Apps because my current school has issued all students Chromebooks. As such, there is a big push at the district level to use Google more frequently in the classroom. Although I already use Google Slides and Google Docs in my biology classroom, I know that there are a number of Google Apps that I am not yet familiar with. I would also like to learn basic computer programming skills in the near future. Upon my graduation, I plan to actively search for online programs that will provide me with these skills and even help me to acquire certifications in programming languages like HTML and JavaScript. I am currently considering moving to a less traditional role in education that will allow me to use my instructional technology skills at the district level or even in a corporate setting. Most of these positions require a basic working knowledge of computer programming. I will continue to develop my knowledge in this domain so that I am properly qualified for these positions.
Another theme that has been consistently reinforced in the MAET program is maintaining a reflective and metacognitive approach to teaching and learning. More specifically, in CEP 807, the capstone portfolio course, it has become clear that learning opportunities are inherently created when educators have the opportunity to be reflective about their practice. In this course, I have created a comprehensive portfolio to showcase my journey through the MAET program. This has given me ample opportunities to reflect upon my work and develop as a learner. I have also discovered the value of peer feedback through the portfolio creation process. My peers have provided me with a wealth of ideas on how to improve upon my work. I plan to continue to seek advice from knowledgeable peers in my future learning endeavors. On the whole, this experience has caused me to be more metacognitive about my successes and failures in the classroom, and has given me the tools and mental fortitude to make changes to my practice that may be foreign and uncomfortable to me at first. Ultimately, I feel that my time in the MAET program has benefited me as an educator, and by default, has also positively impacted my students.