Where I was, Where I am
Reflection on Professional Goals
In June 2019, I accepted a new job at a new school as the Tech Motion Graphics, Gaming and Robotics teacher.
In December 2019, I realized my passion for educational technology and began exploring my options to pursue a masters in Ed Tech.
In January 2020, I submitted my application to become a Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) student through Michigan State University.
In May 2020, I began my first semester.
In my initial application, I stated my 3 main goals for this program:
...motivate females to explore their interest in technology.
...confidently inspire and educate students, educators, and other professionals about the emerging technology practices.
...grow as an international leader in educational technology.
Motivate females to explore their interest in technology
Majority of my courses in my undergraduate as well as graduate programs were females. This was empowering to see so many females pursuing a degree in a predominantly male field. My peers and classmates inspired me and offered their perspectives to help me better support and encourage girls at my school to become more engaged and less intimated to taking a technology course. My first semester, both CEP 812 and CEP 815 introduced approaches to not only becoming a stronger female leader in technology, but I also had the opportunity to thoroughly explore my wicked question of How can teachers and students both be motivated to effectively utilize technology to enhance learning? This question led me to conduct some of my own research and observe what motivated and engaged each gender in my classroom. Since beginning my MAET program, I've accumulated various experiences, understandings and perspectives which helped me develop the confidence and knowledge on how to best motivate my female students to explore their interest in technology.
**Update: For the 2021-22 school year, I encouraged, recruited, and led 20+ middle school girls to join our school's STEMBlazers program.
Inspire and educate others about emerging technology (practices)
The courses earning my Online Teaching and Learning Graduate Certificate supported my most with meeting this goal. I explored online assessments, innovative technologies, and even was able to audit a course exploring computer science programs to help my own technology department. I was challenged to explore the motivations and resistances within my school's community to help me problem solve and create professional development opportunities to inspire and educate my colleagues (and students) about emerging technologies.
**Update: For the 2021-22 school year, our school district went 1:1 with Dell 3190 laptops. Therefore, I confidently prepared, educated, and modeled for my colleagues how to best utilize laptops in their instruction to enhance the classroom experience. I also created a Schoology course for every student to complete to demonstrate their understanding of proper use and handling for the devices, navigating online resources (PowerSchool, FlipGrid, BigIdeas, etc.), as well as an introduction to digital citizenship.
Grow as an international leader in educational technology
Although I was unable to partake in the Overseas opportunity in Ireland due to COVID-19, I believe I still grew closer toward meeting this goal through my activity and connections via Twitter. In some of my courses, we used platforms like our blog, Slack, or FlipGrid to share our thoughts, however, in other courses, like CEP 815, we were encouraged to explore some professional learning communities (PLCs) like Twitter to share and engage with other professional educators around the world.
Of my three goals, I do want to continue to pursue my goal of growing as an international leader in educational technology. I unintentionally put this goal on the back burner as my excitement of studying in Ireland diminished. However, after completing this program, I realized I don't have to be in Ireland to become an international leader. I want to continue using the resources and knowledge I acquired during my MAET program to grow my international outreach, connections, and perspectives in educational technology.