Master of Arts in Educational Technology Annotated Transcript
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
Wiliam Butler Yeats
Spring 2013
CEP 810
Teaching For Understanding With Technology
Craig Joseph McMichael
The initial course of CEP 810 introduced me to the Web2.0 tools that would be necessary to be successful throughout my journey in the MAET program. Mr. McMichael asked students to define and broaden their Personal Learning Networks (PLN) by jumping into the communication frenzy of Twitter. Throughout the journey, I have become so well accustomed to these tools that by the end of the program, I can say that my PLN has increased exponentially. The first experience of holding collaborative discussions with classmates online was a real pleasure to experience with other students just as uncomfortable as I was initially with the platforms. This course taught me the importance of Web2.0 tools when I had never really given them a chance for inclusion into my teaching before the course. I grew as an individual and as a teacher during this introductory period knowing in the end that all of these skills would be needed to bring technology into an educational setting with a purpose.
CEP 811
Adapting Innovative Technology to Education
Dr. Sandra Plair
Building upon the collaborative nature of the internet, CEP 811 offered students the opportunity to explore in the creation of a Stand Alone Instructional Resource (STAIR) by incorporating such programs as Weebly's and Webquests into our classroom lesson plans following the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) methods. The STAIR I created and posted to MERLOT introduced a number of new skills and platforms increasing my repertoire of strategies to engage students. I focused my work upon enhancing my students’ story telling by going digital. Dr. Plair pushed us to think outside the box continuing to redesign and modify work to address all of our students. The reinforcement to modify lessons for students with disabilities made me aware that differentiation could be obtained for students in a fashion that would specifically address their needs. I will always be indebted to this course for the resources made available that continue to enhance my lessons.
Summer 2013
CEP 812
Applying Educational Technology to Practice
Melissa Jane White and Sara Beauchamp-Hicks
Application and transfer of the tools developed in CEP 810 and CEP 811 became even more evident and took on a deeper understanding of how technology is and has affected educational settings. Ms. White and Mrs. Beauchamp-Hicks directed students to use the Web2.0 tools to enhance our collaboration within the course to work upon a Wicked Problem in a group setting. I came away from the course having a better understanding of the effects of depending upon online communication with team members and how planning needed to be a very formidable level of aligning calendars and taking into consideration time zone issues when working collaboratively across the world. During CEP 812, my PLN grew again adding a continuous flow of information from Twitter by following informative tweets other educators found to be useful.
Fall 2013
CEP 800
Learning in School and Other Settings
Dr. Danah Henriksen and Liz Boltz
Dr. Henriksen introduced to me the addition of audio and video clips to create a differentiated lesson for students. After some initial trial and errors, I finally conquered Audacity allowing me to give the teachers I worked with another tool to support ELL instruction within my building. Another introduction during this course involved Camtasia. This program integrated all of the features that were intorduced in the course material and gave me another opportunity to practice the creation of online learning environments. I feel as though these courses directly aligned with my professional responsibilities and allowed me not only to experience the coursework, but I was able to personalize the experience with my own students in the classroom. The initial interviews with students gave me a basis to begin learning how to edit and post my own classroom podcasts using new software.
CEP 815
Technology and Leadership
Joshua Rosenberg and Luke Rapa
As I progressed through the MAET program, new responsibilities and leadership opportunities became available to me on a professional level and I dove into this course expecting to take what I was learning and immediately apply it in my work. Mr. Rosenberg and Mr. Rapa encouraged students to commit to our visions for technology acquisition or support of resources in a formal research based method. Over the past two years, I continually update the original vision I set forth in this course, but it gave me the basis to support the path I see education has taken over the years. Moreover, the poster I created of this original vision will always be a visual reminder of these initial queries into my commitment and dedication to further this type of educational technology and the capability to broaden my professional opportunities.
Spring 2014
TE 846
Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Dr. Dongbo Zhang
As a continuing certification requirement in the State of Michigan, teachers need to fulfill the reading literacy component of the statute and this course did just that through an intensive exploration of research based strategies and case studies. The course explored numerous literacy strategies enhancing the underlying though of how can technology enhance these strategies. Dr. Zhang encouraged students to explore the reading and writing assessments that we have come to rely on in the school system for student progression of meeting the standards. These types of comparisons between what students need to know and what students do know became the basis of my own case study. I asked the question during the course, what type of strategies would be most appropriate to help aid students in gaining reading growth on standardized tests such as the ACT and AP assessments, which ultimately became my focus for a Literacy Case Study. This study became the driving force behind initiatives that I am currently supporting at my building this upcoming year. I look forward to adding additional information to this study over the years and see if I can document continuous growth of individual students.
CEP 820
Teaching Students Online
Dr. Anne Heintz, Sandra Sawaya, and Spencer Greenhalgh
After years of being the lead teacher in an E2020 lab, CEP 820 pushed my thinking and delivery of instruction through building my own online course. Looking back over the Developer’s Notebook allowed me to think about issues in design and accessibility when using a Course Management System (CMS). Just as the MAET journey has enhanced my repository of strategies; it has also given me another perspective on CMS platforms and I appreciate the continuous improvement and design to them over the years. It is the challenge of educators to stay abreast of the technology and to identify the benefits to our students. Dr. Heintz pushed my learning through management systems new and old to me allowing me the opportunity to incorporate items into the layout of a course that I may have avoided in the past. I like the idea of keeping a running journal throughout the process and encourage reflection on a regular basis with my own students. I have always believed true learning comes from experimentation and reflection something many courses remove to add material.
Summer 2014
CEP 816
Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum
Dr. Rand Spiro and Emiko Kiyochi
Open Educational Resources (OER) remain a vision for educators interested in creating a collaborative life-long learning environment free of charge, but more importantly to keep the collaboration of the internet available for educational purposes. Dr. Spiro reminded students of the importance of such collaboration within our own classrooms. Educational delivery is no longer a stand and deliver model of teaching; rather, teaching has evolved to include new kinds of approaches to learning and teaching. As an older veteran teacher, I can say there are days where the stand and deliver method seems to be the best fit for me. However, I understand fully that the skills students need in today’s business world are evolving as we speak. Therefore, as instructional adaptations and changes take place I must enable my students with these skills so they may reach the best outcome for their learning. I am amazed sometimes when I come across a new idea using technology as the means to the end.
CEP 822
Approaches to Educational Research
Dr. E. David Wong and Tatyana Li
The love of learning ignited an inner spark of interest when I began the in-depth readings Tatyanna Li directed students to pursue during Approaches to Educational Research. During my undergraduate work, my original minor had been Math and I had not dealt with a challenge in many years, so when we needed to begin collecting our own statistical data I became extremely devoted to learning how the educational researchers analyzed their findings. The differences between Quantitative and Qualitative data and their use to describe results did make a difference in how researchers achieve their percentages and standard deviations, this was always something I questioned when reading a research report over the years, but seemed to have forgotten. This course made me realize there are so many various focus areas in education; we really do need both methods to rely upon for an adequate measure of student progress.
Fall 2014
CEP 807
Capstone Portfolio
Dr. Matthew Koehler, Brittany Dillman, Spencer Greenhalgh, and Sarah Keenan
As the MAET coursework ends with the Capstone Portfolio, I appreciate the skills and knowledge I have taken away from my entire time in the program. As with all of the courses I have taken over the last two years, I can appreciate the work of my colleagues and the work that I have produced during this journey. The final portfolio creation is the pinnacle of the time spent in the MAET program so that students may display their technology coursework and share their accomplishments with the university community. Moreover, this is not the end of my journey only the middle ground of my pursuits and I hope to add to this coursework product of an online portfolio.