Educator by day, adventurer by night
The Tale of Two Summers
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MAET Synthesis: Two Summers and Capstone
Enter
Reflection is a key component in any sort of growth, sports, music, education, daily life whatever. Looking back through my journey in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program it has been a jammed packed, stressful, and overall amazing experience. Taking two semesters of summer hybrid by completing nine graduate credits in six weeks and the capstone class during the fall semester have led to a crazy whirlwind of growth and learning. Because of the condensed nature of the classes, I am not an expert on which learning theories, projects, or readings fall into exactly which course and where I gained my new skills, talents, and quite frankly superpowers. Through this I reflection I do my best to pinpoint the exact courses but in a more general sense it the summer hybrid one (2017) and summer hybrid two (2018) which have greatly impacted my growths and changing mindset of my job, my role in my school, professional development, role of technology and social media, and education in general.
My approach to teaching and education has changed drastically between entering and exiting the MAET program. I entered the MAET program based on the recommendation of a friend who had just graduate from it. He and his wife both spoke very highly of the program and I was on the fence between administration or technology. I decided to take the leap and the recommendation and apply. Entering the program I had a very vague idea of what it meant to use technology in education and even less of an idea of how I could support and lead colleagues in technology integration. I had limited research experience and had never shared my findings with the world through the use of Twitter. I had no idea what to expect entering the program, all I had was the glowing recommendation of a good friend.
Summer Part 1
I entered East Lansing on a dreary, rainy day for my first day back on campus since finishing my student teaching in 2015. I walked about a mile in a downpour, which looking back, may have been a sign of the difficulties I would face and have to persevere through. During my first summer hybrid session in the MAET program, a guest lecture discussed wellness. Through our guest lecturer, we discussed the idea of imposter syndrome and the role it plays on graduate program students. From our very first assignment, I felt I was in over my head but I was forced to scramble to make things work. Through this first summer hybrid, I learned the importance of failure and iterations in the learning process. Through blog posts, quickfires, videos, and creating a Maker Faire I introduced ideas, scrapped those ideas, and created a final product which could still use some more editing. I learned through this first experience in graduate work, that nothing is ever perfect and no one is truly ready but you must meet the task head on and keep trying new ideas
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In this first summer hybrid, I was able to expand my personal learning network (PLN) through working closely with hybrid peers and creating a Twitter account and WordPress blog to share my understandings with the world. During CEP 811 and CEP 812 (I think, again it is all a blur of stress and excitement) I worked with my peers and expanding online PLN to create and advertise a Maker Faire and conduct research on teaching complex thinking. Both of these enforced the role of failure and the importance of working with a team to create the best possible product.
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Wicked Hard to Wicked Prepared (Sometimes)
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CEP 812 introduced me to difficult, often unsolvable problems in education known as wicked problems. In education, there is not always a simple and easy answer and often the answer to these questions varies with different circumstances. I was able to work with my peers on developing the best possible solution to our wicked problem of teaching complex thinking. Through our efforts, I learned valuable skills in working with people in different settings, relying on the skills of others, and communicating across timezones using various forms of technology. At the end of our project, we created a way to share our understanding and present our best solution. Not only did I learn ways to research and share my understanding but I found ways to attack large problems even if they seem impossible or the solution is a work in progress. This is an important idea when integrating the use of technology and new strategies into education because of the varying context and constantly changing environment surrounding education. This course also introduced and opened up a maker mindset. I studied, researched, and put together a maker fare in East Lansing, Michigan. Most of this first summer of a graduate program and career has been trying and failing and trying again but until this course, I never had a name for it.
This mentality of recognizing failure and expanding my PLN with supportive peers has transferred over to my teaching in the willingness to take risks within my classroom and seek extra opportunities within my school. Before I enrolled in graduate school I was apart of the AVID site team but did not play a large role or allow my voice to be heard much. Following the completion of the first summer hybrid program, I joined the educational technology team and the professional development team at my school. The confidence I gained in recognizing problems and working with a team to find solutions from my first summer hybrid pushed me to expand my role in my school. I am now conducting AVID interviews to determine which students are the best candidates for the AVID elective course and I am leading educational technology professional development providing tips and tools for my colleagues.
There have been many times during my undergraduate, student teaching, and master program where I did not feel like the most qualified person for the job, but due to circumstance, I was forced to adapt. While I may have felt like an imposter at times the MAET program prepared me for uncomfortable situations and provided confidence in taking on bigger and more difficult challenges even if I may not feel fully prepared at the time.
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Summer Part 2
Upon entering the second hybrid course my stress levels were high and I was worried I would not be able to duplicate my success from year one. I knew it would be another year of failure and iterations. However, unlike the first day of year one of the summer hybrid, year two started with the sun shining and it was a beautiful walk through campus. Another sign of the welcoming year I was about to have. Having worked with several of the students from previous summer, year two felt much more comfortable than year one from the very start.
The second summer consisted of refreshing and expanding on what we learned from the previous year and a heavy emphasis on research, both conducting and questioning the current ideas. Through the grouping of courses in my second summer hybrid, I developed into much more of a leader and researcher. Growing from one year to next, I took the time at the end of the course to connect projects, assignments, and learning to specific courses, again the best I could.
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Research, and TPACK, and Privacy, Oh My!
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CEP 800 developed on my understanding and application of teaching philosophies including Piaget, technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) (Mishra 2012), and behaviorism. Through this course, I was able to expand on my knowledge of educational philosophies and understand my own personal application, again sharing my understanding with the world through Twitter. I was given the opportunity to conduct Piaget experiments, collect data, and reflect on the success of the experiments. We had guest lectures come in and discuss growth mindset and ways we can help students understand their growing brain and reach a higher potential. This applies not only for the student to teacher dynamic but also for teacher to teacher when introducing new ideas, tools, strategies, etc. during professional development. As a teacher and part of the development team at my school, I must be willing to learn, research, and accept new approaches to education. The knowledge of these philosophies also allows me to make connections between current approaches and past approaches making new ideas more tangible for myself and other colleagues.
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CEP 822 gave me confidence in my ability to question and conduct my own research. During the course, I was required to choose a research topic, write a paper, and share a brief explanation. Conducting and evaluating research was something I was not prepared for and did not have very much experience with. During my undergraduate degree, I had done some research papers but with much more time, and sharing with a smaller audience. After our class discussion on quantitative and qualitative data, and p values I felt I was definitively in over my head. The idea that my classmates, professors, community members, and anyone on Twitter would hear, read, and ask questions about my research completely scared me. I knew I would have to be an expert in my research and I also knew I would have to create an entertaining and engaging presentation. With the support of my professors and peers, I was able to narrow down a researchable topic settling to focus on student data privacy. CEP 822 also built my confidence in questioning current research and how to analyze good research. After reading Daniel Willingham’s When can you Trust the Experts? How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education I can use the tips and tricks to evaluate the information given to me and if what is being told is valuable. Too often before this course, I accepted the ideas and theories told to me at face value without questioning anything. Now I am able to check and feel confident in what is good research. This type of analysis included analyzing claims, examining the source of information, and looking critically at charts and graphs. Now anytime I hear a new idea I am always skeptical before double checking.
The overall experience of the second summer was amazing and I grew personally and professionally more than ever before. I expanded my PLN through new peers and continuing to publish content to the world. New doors and conversations were opened about educational research, data privacy, accessibility, and use of technology in the classroom. These summer course built and expanded on the first year providing me with a much more solid foundation on how to create solutions to problems, work within a team, and conduct and share my own research. As my role in my school changes and expands I more prepared to engage in difficult conversations and be involved in developing solutions.​
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Exit
From applying based on a friendly recommendation, to pushed being to achieve more than I thought possible, to finishing the MAET program, it amazes me how much I have grown and changed in the length of two summers. On exiting the program I now have much more confidence in sharing ideas, supporting my colleagues, and conducting and questioning research. Without experiencing failure and the support of classmates and professors I would not feel confident in the roles I play in my school. I have become much more of a leader and innovator in my classroom and team player in the development teams I am part of. I feel free to question, bring up new ideas and take on leadership roles on how to implement them. Because I work at a small school I feel I can help bridge the gap between teacher and administration and support teachers in technology integration and classroom needs. All this is thanks to the nature of the MAET program, my professors, and peers pushing me to become the best student and educator I can be.
References
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Mishra, P., & The Deep-Play Research Group (2012). Rethinking technology and creativity in the 21st century: Crayons are the future. TechTrends, 56(5), 13-16. Retrieved from: http://punya.educ.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Mishra-crayons-techtrends1.pdf