Goal 1

Summary:

I’m the first person in my family to peruse any education beyond High School. Now that I’m completing my master’s degree I can’t believe it. I believe in the power of learning and desire to give that to the students I teach. My background isn’t in teaching, but I ultimately decided that was what I wanted to do. I’m realizing that by becoming a more contributing member of my professional community I am bettering myself and able to reach more students. The ITEC program has given me the tools I need to conduct original research, understand current trends, and network with people who motivate and inspire my work now and in the future.

Reflection:

I chose this goal because throughout my learning career I realized the importance of giving back and contributing to the learning community. As the first person in my family to go to college and accomplished their educational goals I wanted to use this blessing to help others. I believe in the power of learning and desire to give that to the students I teach. My background was in healthcare, but I ultimately decided that with teaching I could inspire and help people. Some of the most rewarding projects I was able to work on in the instructional technology and design program was working with real clients. As part of my ITEC 5560 I was part of a project that helped a non-profit square-dancing club revitalize and continue its long history as part of the community in good old Laramie, Wyoming (see Quadra Dangle Square Dance Club). Self-motivation is something I had to develop as an online student. Some of my course work was a challenge because I was doing it for the wrong reasons. That was not the case on this project. It felt good working with someone who needed your help. It gave me a sense of community working with an organization like this with my fellow classmates. We started helping this group by preforming a front-end analysis. This helped define project requirements, describes the ideal performance or instruction to meet the project requirements, and identifies acceptable alternatives. During the analysis vital information about the target audience was identified. We used this information to help our client find new members and encourage current ones to more fully participate through marketing strategies focusing on social media networking and producing advertisement products such as a newsletter (see Project Proposal 5560 & Newsletter Template). Working with and helping people is what it’s all about.

Conducting original research to me seemed impossible. This was a goal I knew I could accomplish, but it would require great effort. Many of the courses I completed in the program gave me experience with studying and conducting my own research. One of those courses was EDRE 5530. I got an A- in that course and stuck my report card on the refrigerator for everyone to see. Something I’ve always felt that could benefit my seminary classes was the use of mobile devices. Nearly all of my students had access to them but were not utilizing them fully as part of their education. To gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing educational technology I created an annotated bibliography (see Annotated Bibliography). I wasn’t just after quotes or statistics I wanted to gain knowledge and see what I could do to improve my own classroom. I’m realizing that by becoming a more contributing member of my professional community through working with others I am bettering myself and I have more opportunity to reach students. The ITEC program has given me the tools I need to conduct original research, understand current trends, and network with people who motivate and inspire my work now and in the future.

Artifacts