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MAET Future Goals: Share, Explore, Create

 

As I grow in my role as an educator and technology specialist in my school I have reflected on learning theories, taught new classes, and expanded my role. Through this have adjusted my goals and set new goals for the future. As I finish my Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) degree at Michigan State University, I have been reflecting on where the next journey will take me. The MAET program places a focus on exploring, creating, and sharing, as I look toward the future, my goals include continuing to share and support my colleagues, exploring new certifications, and creating more opportunities for student and teacher engagement.

 

Share

One of my goals entering the MAET program was to become a supportive technology leader in my school. As I attend more conferences, like the Digital Teaching and Learning Summit (DTL) and Utah Coalition for Educational Technology (UCET), and expand my personal learning network (PLN) through education chats on Twitter, I am exposed to new ideas, technologies, and features to increase student engagement and learning. This is an exciting part of being involved with technology and watching the changes that happen consistently. As technology grows and changes, I have to continue to learn new tools, attend conferences, ask questions, seek further certifications, and share my knowledge.

 

Explore

With the growth of Google through the internet, daily life and education I have taken steps to explore Google Applications in my daily and professional life. I am a level one and level two Google Certified Educator. Through their courses and exams, I learned and demonstrated ways to use Google Applications for Education (GAFE). These certifications also gave me a way to join my school's educational technology committee by focusing on supporting teachers use of GAFE. My next goal is to become a Google Trainer and apply for the Google Innovator program. These two programs will expand my PLN, allow me to showcase how I am effectively using GAFE, and explore new ways to use technology. Through the innovator program, I will be able to work with peers on a project of our design and tackle problems in education. I am familiar with Google so I want to continue pursuing their certifications but, because there are so many options in educational technology I want to explore certifications from multiple technologies. I hope to continue to learn new tools to solve problems in education by pursuing the Google Trainer and Innovator certifications.

 

Create

As I look at careers in educational technology and combine my interest in sharing and exploring new technologies and theories, I have explored some paths higher education to design new curriculum or working for educational companies. I would like to work with a team to use available technology to redesign the student and teacher experience to enhance learning and engagement in a technology-fueled world. Part of wanting to support teachers and students is showing them how to use the tools which are currently available, however, several teachers want to do more or add other features which are not supported or have not been created yet. Moving from sharing with teachers how to use features, to helping create new features and be part of the solution to teacher frustrations is something I would like to be involved in. This could be at a district level, higher education, or with companies such as Canvas, Apple, Google, etc. Through presenting at conferences like UCET, being involved with the Utah Education Network, and expanding my PLN, I will have more opportunities to be involved in these areas. My goal is to be a part of the development of educational technology and be part of the combination of teachers and developers who are driving the changes in education technology.

 

Learning and growing

The move involved I become in education and educational technology the more I want to share, explore, and create. Throughout the MAET program, I was pushed to expand my knowledge, challenge my thinking, and share new things. By completing Google certifications I can explore new tools, new thinking, and solutions to difficult problems. Eventually, through all of this, I would like to be part of the progressions of educational technology and work with companies, universities, or districts to create a better platform to support student and teacher needs and help more teacher voices to be heard. There are always new tools and strategies to be learned, problems to be addressed, and new frameworks to deliver content. I want to continue to be involved in these areas as they grow.