This blog page contains reflections from unit 3 of the ED696-Critical Reflection of the Sebago Plan course.
January 30, 2019
Reflecting on my experience in this program has been highly rewarding. Although it took me nearly three years to complete, I’m glad I chose to pursue this route in my career and am happy that I chose to continue my education. Investing in oneself always pays dividends and I have zero regrets.
Previous Adult Education Knowledge. Before beginning the Adult Education and Training (AE&T) program at SJC, I had some knowledge about education through my work at the Geisel School of Medicine, but minimal application practice. It began when I discovered a fascination and a passion for the science of learning when performing research for Geisel’s learning support initiative planning group. I learned about the science of learning through reading a few books and articles about the topic which prompted me to pursue my master’s degree in education. I also had a push from my boss to continue my professional development, and to seek a path that interested me. In addition, I began reading about and being involved with student accessibility issues, which also prompted a passion for assisting students with disabilities. This also led me toward a path of creating accessible materials and an insight on universal design for learning (UDL) and instruction (UDI) to assist all students in their learning.
My boss also encouraged me to speak with other professionals in the field to gain insights into their career and day-to-day operations, so I could expand my knowledge on the work involved in adult education and training. This mentor gave me insights into some journals to read to allow me to think more about this career path. I have my boss to thank for involving me in different projects, for noticing my passions, and pushing me toward further development for professional growth and for rooting me on in the process. She is a true leader!
Adult Education and Training Program. After beginning the program, I was able to increase my knowledge and skills in relation to AE&T by developing a more comprehensive knowledge base through creating hands-on and efficient training sessions on various topics in learning support and information on how to teach in the tutoring training orientation. I built upon my pre-existing knowledge about education and allowed my creativity to blossom a bit more. Being able to connect the projects for the program with my actual work not only improved my performance at work, but also allowed me to learn semantically using information I was already familiar with. The foundation phase allowed me to accept knowledge, question certain aspects, and think more critically about concepts in AE&T.
The Foundation. In ED 650, I learned the current theories and principles of adult education and training and how these aspects apply to human resource development. Using these theories as a foundation helped to produce interesting supporting and disagreeing arguments. I discovered more about my beliefs in what makes an effective learning experience. In ED654, I adopted a core value of integrity and learned to write SMART objectives to plan short- and long-term goals both personally and professionally to move myself toward my goals in a clear way. It also prompted a space for professional reflection and self-assessment of goal achievement, which is often minimal when working in a busy full-time job, but vitally important for learning in the long-term. In ED658, I expanded my knowledge in a large way through conducting a literature review. I was surprised by the comprehensive and organized nature of documenting literature and cross-referencing them to create themes. Conducting the literature review was an interesting exercise that I enjoyed and got a lot out of my ability to analyze the literature for gaps.
In ED662, I learned to enhance my knowledge of technology uses in the classroom and researched new and improved ways to distribute materials. It also allowed time to research upcoming issues and advancements in the field of educational technology while allowing reflection to predict which direction the field may be going. ED668 needs analysis and evaluation taught how to create rubrics and provided an interesting means of evaluation by connecting them back to the learning objectives. It gave me multiple tools to use to diagnose problem areas and allowed me to think creatively and critically on how to solve those problems in a logical way. I especially like using fishbone diagrams, logic models, and SWOT analyses to solve problems I encounter and determine new ideas to develop and work on both in my work and in myself as a contributing member to society.
ED672 was another interesting course that taught me a lot. My base knowledge for how to conduct a case study was lacking, but the timing was impeccable when I was asked to participate in a focus group during our organizational restructuring. It was through this experience that I was able to learn even more about how to conduct a focus group as well as the importance of providing a safe environment. Next, the project phase allowed me to implement my knowledge and build upon my skills in AE&T.
The Project. ED680 taught me about leadership. Before beginning the program, I lacked an understanding in how leadership could envision the future and how they decided areas to focus on. The needs assessment was very informative and logical, and enabled me to see direction and determine areas to focus on for program and personal improvement. The course kicked off the project phase allowing for more advanced hands-on development for improving outcomes at work. ED684 was difficult for me since it involved critical formative and summative self-evaluation to narrow down results. Being naturally critical, it was often difficult to find new angles on evaluating the needs assessment plan. With the instructor’s help and with assistance from colleagues, I was able to discover new ideas. ED688 was a climactic moment in the program in which I was able to professionally implement everything I learned and combine it into one session for a training program. The results were interesting and provided a good jumping off point for development personally and professionally.
The Culmination. Lastly, the culmination phase involves a lot of reflection that allows me to admire the work I’ve done and bring it to the finish line. ED692 was one of the most fun and interesting courses since I love writing scholarly academic articles that will enhance knowledge toward my area of interest. I enjoyed analyzing the qualitative and quantitative data and adding this data to support the article in a scientific way. I was able to get feedback from colleagues that not only grew my confidence in my abilities, but also made me realize I still have much to learn past the completion of this program. It re-energized my love for learning and made me think about possibly continuing my education towards an EdD or a PhD.
ED696 is also interesting in creating a portfolio. Reflecting back on all the work I’ve done and how much knowledge and experience I’ve gained in this program has been humbling and interesting. It’s nice to think about where I started and where I am now, as well as how much further I want to go. I’m enjoying creating a website that is a repository for of all my prized works organized in a systematic way. I truly cannot wait until I can graduate from this program and continue to build upon my knowledge base.
Completion. After reviewing the list of objectives created for each course in the program back in ED654, most of the objectives were completed. I reflected back upon the assignments that I completed for each course and their topic areas and made some edits to better fit the assignments. However, most of the objectives were initially on the right track while some took a different route, which I have also edited. I also added a few objectives and removed a few irrelevant ones. All of the objectives have appropriate verbs and are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely in terms of the course, the program, and throughout the length of my career. Each course had to include objectives from each learning domain. Some of the affective goals are currently incomplete as job duties have not progressed as quickly or in the direction I’d originally hoped, making completion difficult. Also, it takes a while to complete affective domain goals since they are mostly student encounter-based. If students don’t come into the office, I have no way to practice building these skills and completing those goals. The cognitive domain objectives contain mostly higher order objectives or analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. They progress from comprehension and application to these higher-level objectives as time throughout the program progressed.
For the most part, I was able to meet my objectives to my satisfaction, but with some limitations. Some of my goals changed throughout the length of the program, and my ability to perform some of my goals at work was also limited due to transitions providing little time for training in the areas I wanted more development in, for instance, counseling. I was able to do many trainings and develop my presentation skills beyond my own expectations. Being open to feedback and speaking with colleagues who are good at giving presentations helped with that greatly. The confidence was developed from this program and from support from colleagues seeing my capabilities and telling me about them.
Satisfaction. It was satisfying to see that my own personal goals about adult education and training match up closely to the goals of the program and each course within it. There were a few places where I didn’t achieve certain goals, but other places where I exceeded these goals. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done and that I’ve been able to commit myself to this program for so long and stuck it out to completion. I’ll be the first in my immediate family to have a master’s degree, which is exciting to me.
Lessons Learned. My completion of the objectives reveal that I am a hardworking and dedicated learner. I’ve learned that sometimes I can allow my perfectionism to take over and I will end up spending too much time working on some things that don’t matter as much, but that I can counteract that with a focus on the organization of goals. I learned that I can become fatigued by working full time and having part time school on the side, but that because of this conflict, completion of assignments becomes even more rewarding. One of the most important things that I have developed in this program is a confidence in myself and my abilities as well as my improved knowledge base. This also comes with some frustration for not being able to do as much in my current role, which gives me the drive to pursue a higher-level position within the company or outside of it.
Objective Improvement. One objective I would like to improve upon is my counseling. I haven’t been able to do as much as I hoped I would simply because of my experience level is not up to par yet. I hope soon to be able to counsel students with some supervision, so I can develop further to being able to perform a complete intake of a student with a disability.