Fusing it All Together: Part 2
Exceptional Courses
Each course in the MAET program has helped me to develop unique knowledge and skills. That said, a few have been exceptionally relevant and useful to my educational practice. CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology was the very first course of the MAET program. During this course, I expanded my knowledge and experience with web-based technologies and Microsoft applications. I learned how to use an RSS reader, and developed more meaningful ways of using VoiceThread with my students. However, even more significant than the technology skills I learned was the shift that began in my framework for using technology in education. This included breaking a habit of starting with the technology when planning a lesson for one of my technology classes. I learned that to truly make a difference with educational technology, one must begin with essential content, and only then explore using specific technologies to transform the content. Otherwise, a teacher runs the risk of using technology for technology’s sake.
CEP 810 exposed me to a number of ways to make a difference in the lives of my students academically, socially, and morally. It was the taste that made me want to learn more. It motivated me to strive to continually improve my teaching practice. It showed me new ways of maximizing opportunities for student learning and growth. More importantly, the course provided me with ways that technology could be used to help accomplish these goals.
While one might assume that courses on educational technology would focus almost entirely on the technology, that wasn’t the case. CEP 800: Learning in School and Other Settings is an excellent example. This course focused on topics related to the psychology of learning. Through films, articles, and assignments, I developed a critical awareness of the affect that prior knowledge and misconceptions can have on students’ learning. I described earlier that it is not the technology alone, but the integration of technology with meaningful content and pedagogy that makes a difference. CEP 800 modeled this concept through a major assignment of creating a podcast about students’ misconceptions and prior knowledge, and how both can influence the learning of specific content.
As I conducted student interviews, prepared for and created the podcast on fifth graders’ understandings of thunderstorms, I learned as much about technology as I did about the power of false theories and misconceptions. During the course, I learned a variety of strategies to identify inaccurate ideas, promote accurate understandings, and debunk misconceptions. In the podcast, I used my own commentary, along with interview segments, to suggest how to apply these strategies to this specific situation and content. As I created the podcast, I not only gained valuable educational insight, but also developed experience working with Audacity. I learned how to create and edit high quality audio, produce seamless transitions, edit out errors, integrate multiple audio segments, incorporate music, and use a variety of effects to enhance an audio project.
CEP 800 also reinforced the importance of students actively learning from and with their peers. I explored social constructivism in depth, and used my learning to develop a fourth grade blog. Through this blog, students collaboratively constructed knowledge and understandings about digital citizenship and cyber safety. I guided them to make connections, share information and ideas, and support and disagree with each other, while they gained experience using a blog as a means for expression. The influence of social constructivism became especially clear to me when I witnessed a student completely change her opinion about a situation as a result of respectful disagreement from her peers. I have used blogging with students many times since CEP 800, and have infused opportunities for learning from and with others into my curriculum. (To view the blog, follow the link above. Click Log In at the top right corner. Select Visitor from the drop-down menu. The guest password is Grade4.)
CEP 817: Learning Technology by Design helped me to significantly expand and refine the web design skills I had built in previous courses. As I explored real world examples of well-designed and poorly-designed websites and physical products, and discussed these at length with classmates, I developed an awareness of what influences good design. I found the importance of design to be deeply relevant to teaching and learning. It is also critical to building a high quality website.
During this course, I constructed a website called Kick Cyber Bullying. This site helps children learn to identify, deal with, and prevent cyber bullying. I applied what I had learned through discussions and readings about good design. For example, I took great care to balance content with rich, multimedia experiences. I also kept usability, aesthetics, and the needs of the audience at the forefront of my mind. This spring, I used the website to teach my students about cyber bullying in a way that is meaningful and relevant to their lives. The children learned through text, pictures, video clips, and a slide show, and applied what they had learned through an interactive blog and cartoon creation, which I included on the site.
One thing I found to be especially eye-opening was the course’s focus on usability testing and the value of incorporating user feedback. I conducted user testing with my fourth grade students, a group of classmates, and family members. This helped me to learn first-hand that as the designer of a site, it can be difficult to assess its usability and content objectively. I had paid significant attention to content, multimedia, proofreading, and the needs of the children while designing the site. However, the users with whom I tested the site suggested changes in these areas. Making the specific modifications they recommended helped me to improve the website’s navigation, content, and accessibility.
Beyond the context of my website on cyber bullying, user testing and user feedback definitely have a place in education. It’s easy to rely on my own knowledge and skills when designing learning experiences and materials. Asking students for their perspectives and feedback, however, can lead to an awareness of possibilities I would otherwise miss. My students know that I welcome their opinions, but after this experience, I plan on seeking more feedback from them on the specifics of my teaching and their learning.
CEP 807: Capstone in Educational Technology has had quite an impact on my learning. It is during this course that I created this very website: my master’s portfolio. I am grateful to have experienced a course during which I have tied together all aspects of my learning over the past four years.
The physical product of a master’s portfolio is, on the one hand, a gallery of all the learning and growth I have experienced during the MAET program. At the same time, it is much more than that. The Annotated Transcript page has helped me to become conscious of what I have gained from each course I completed. The Showcase page emphasizes the skills I developed along the way, both in specific technologies and in integrating technology with content to maximize learning and reach educational goals. The Looking Back While Moving Forward essay has helped me to reflect on the goals I laid out at the beginning of the program, how I achieved them, and the new goals I developed along the way. The Future as a Learner piece describes how my MAET experience has shaped my lifelong learning goals, and how I plan on continuing to learn once I have completed my master’s degree. Finally, this essay, Fusing it All Together, synthesizes my thoughts on the knowledge I have gained, the skills I have developed, the ways I have grown, and the means by which my teaching practice and perspectives on learning have been profoundly influenced by the MAET program.