Student Teaching Fall 2014

Having completed the education program at Michigan State University I entered the Master in Arts of Educational Technology (MAET) program with 9 graduate credit. These credits came from three-course taken during my full year of student teaching.

 

TE 802: Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice I. Instructor: Dr. Stacy Pylman

 

During this course, we discussed practical implications in how to improve our teaching. I was introduced to universal design lesson planning and practiced building my lesson plans with the end in mind and ways to impact multiple learners. During this time I was able to evaluate the effectiveness of practices within teaching and how to adjust my lesson planning.

 

 

Student Teaching Spring 2015

 

TE 803: Professional Roles and Teaching Practice II. Instructor: Sarah Leo

 

The focus here was to find ways to support our students and build a learning community. During the course, we completed a case study in which we identified a struggling student and developed approaches on how to help them. I was also involved in ways to support myself through observing other history teachers in the building. Through the course, I learned the importance of expanding my learning community and support for students and myself.

 

TE 804: Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice II. Instructors: Alan Hastings, Elizabeth Kenyon

 

 

Here we expanded on our research of educational practices and conducted our own research project. I conducted a literature review and action plan on how to increase student literacy for English language learners. Near the end of my student teaching, I reflected on my several of my lesson plans and evaluated the effectiveness of these plans and their alignment with goals I set at the begin of the year. The final project was a collection of classroom activities, coursework, and expanding personal learning network.

 

MAET Year 1 Summer Hybrid Cohort 2017

The MAET summer hybrid cohort is a collection of nine graduate credits taken over six weeks. The first two weeks consist of an in-person portion which takes place on the Michigan State campus and the following four weeks are taken online. I completed two years of the summer hybird cohort.

 

CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology. Instructors: Mary Wever, Christopher Seals

 

This course opened me up to the world of websites and applications of technology within the classroom. Throughout the course I was asked to create multiple projects to demonstrate my understanding of concepts. The majority of these took place during the face-to-face portion of the summer hybrid through stress invoking, timed constrained activities known as quickfires. Through these, I learned how to present information in a quick manner and accept that many of these projects were a constant work in progress and reflect on affordance, constraints, and iterations. I also understood ways to use technology tools as formative assessments and increase student engagement.

 

CEP 811: Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education. Instructors: Mary Wever, Christopher Seals

 

CEP 811 was my introduction to Technological, Content, and Pedological Knowledge (TPACK). To apply TPACK, I was asked to evaluate ways to effectively use technology in the classroom. I redesigned old lessons plans and designed new lessons plans centered around the effective use of technology. Through this course, I expanded my technological knowledge and was able to combine it with my content and pedological knowledge to enhance my lesson planning and grow as an educator.

 

CEP 812: Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice. Instructors: Mary Wever, Christopher Seals

 

CEP 812 allowed me to research, collaborate, and use technologies to create solutions to educational problems. During our CEP 812 we referred to difficult problems as “wicked problems,” problems which do not have a simple solution. Through the use of multimedia, my colleagues and I were able to research our own wicked problem, how to teach complex thinking. We created individual infographics, a collaborative thinglink showcasing our findings, and surveyed teachers on concepts pertaining to complex thinking. I also reflected and evaluated the technologies used to conduct and share research throughout this course.

 

MAET Year 2 Summer Hybrid Cohort 2018

 

CEP 800: Psychology of Learning in School and Other Settings. Instructors: Brittany Dillman, Dave Goodrich

 

During this course, we discussed multiple learning theories including situative, behaviorism, and cognitivism and their impact on student learning. I created an infographic to share with parents or administrators demonstrating how my teaching aligns with specific theories. We were able to conduct Piaget experiments with our instructor's children. We worked in pairs, collected data, and shared our findings with our classmates. We had a guest speaker talk about growth mindset and ways we can encourage growth amongst our students.

 

CEP 815: Technology and Leadership. Instructors: Brittany Dillman, Dave Goodrich

 

Designed to help us become leaders in our workplace and empower our colleagues, CEP 815 focused on how to support technology integration. This included discussions and guest speakers on accessibility, data privacy, and technology sponsorship. CEP 815 prepared us by looking at technology through multiple lenses and the affordances and constraints of a technology-fueled world and education system. Following this course, I felt more confident in leading discussions on which technologies should be used and the impact on students, parents, and teachers.

 

CEP 822: Approaches to Educational Research. Instructors: Brittany Dillman, Dave Goodrich

 

An overarching idea of the year two summer cohort was questioning and evaluating educational research. To conduct these discussions we read Daniel Willingham’s When can you Trust the Experts? How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education. We applied Willingham's ideas whenever possible, after guest speakers, when preparing to conduct our own research, after every article. We all be very skeptical about whom we could trust and why. The final piece of my second summer cohort was to conduct and share my own research project, my research was center around online student data privacy.
 

Capstone Fall 2018

 

CEP 807: Capstone in Educational Technology, Fall 2018. Instructors: Dr. Matthew Koehler, Sarah Keenan-Lechel, Aric Gaunt, and Sukanya Moudgalya

 

My final class in the MAET program, this was much different from my two years of the summer cohort. CEP 807 is a fully online class much of the feedback and reflection coming from your classmates. I was required to compile and reflect on my work throughout the program by creating an online portfolio with content ranging from a professional resume, essays, a showcase of projects, and my own creative touch. Through this portfolio, I am able to share my accomplishments with colleagues and the world with a final exhibition at the end of the course.