Reflection Letter

Hello Educational Technology Faculty. My name is Adam Hurless and I completed the Master's of Education M.Ed. in Education Technology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Spring Module II 2022.

Before starting the Education Technology Master's program at UTRGV, I graduated from the University of Akron in 2012, I received a Bachelors of Science in Education. I started out my educational career as a paraprofessional and assisted in the educational and social development of students under the guidance of the classroom teacher. Provided support for individual students inside and outside the classroom to enable them to fully participate in activities. Currently, I'm in my seventh year as an educator. Even though my experience with technology is limited, I have always taken the time to do research and implement technology in my classroom. I understand the importance of technology in the classroom, and realize the need for our students to be consistently immersed in technology throughout their school day. I teach health and physical education at Sandy Valley Local. It's a small rural school district that has a very tight knit community support system rooted deep into its history. I immediately became fond of the family's that make up this school district.

My experience during and throughout the program was an excellent one. The program that I selected was the Master of Education (M.Ed.) in education technology, with certificates in Online Instructional Design and the E-Learning Certificate. I started the program Spring 2021/Module I and finished the program Spring/2022 Module II. I was nervous going into the program and had hesitations if I could balance work, family and school. The first class that I enrolled in of Spring/2021 Mod I was 6320 Instructional Technology, this portfolio was created in this class, the field of education technology was defined through a cooperative project and my LinkedIn profile was created. In the group project, our team developed a client proposal and a multimedia video presentation to satisfy the needs of the client. As a group we worked together to promote the field of Education Technology, instructed the client regarding income, employability and potential growth in the field. Our group did extensive research and documented data that addressed the questions related to education technology. For our group to work together, we had to communicate in a variety of ways and we utilized email, google sites, WhatsApp and Zoom. The multimedia presentation we used PowToons to develop our video, this program allowed us to create a fun and energetic video that would grab the clients attention.

In Summer/2021 Module I 6321 & 6341, this was the first module that I would take two classes. I had a lot of anxiety going into this module, wondering if I would be able to take on the workload. This module was very enjoyable and I was able to find a balance and complete both classes without any problems. In 6321 an instructional unit was created. In this project, using the ADDIE instructional design model, I was able to create an instructional unit from start to finish. The instructional unit project was divided up into four parts (IU1 - IU4). In IU1 the target audience was SVMS Employees, environment (PAH) and the goal (SVMS) staff will be able to use Screencastify without any problems. IN IU2 the focus was to analyze the specific instructional goals that were established and break them down into sub-goals. IU3 I developed a plan for the strategies, and what material and media would be implemented. In IU4, formative assessment strategies were used to evaluate the (SVMS) employees. All in all the project was a success and an enjoyable learning experience. In 6351 two projects were created during this class. The first project was to design an Infographic, I chose to focus on Learning Management Systems. This was a really fun experience, but the project was more difficult than I expected. The second project was to create an informative video that taught something. My video was on how to properly create a google form when using the google sites.

Summer 2021 Module II turned out to be my toughest module in this program. I was enrolled in both 6300 and 6341. EDFR 6300 was a research based course that was very demanding. We had several quizzes every week and a midterm and a final. This course focuses on research theories, learning theories and learning concepts, we put all of this research into three separate video's. There were a lot of reading assignments and I learned a great deal, but I was thankful to move on. In 6341 the focus of the class was to create a self-directed learning module. I wanted to learn something new and exciting and I signed up for several classes on coding, gaming and app building. Overall, both of these classes were an enjoyable learning experience and I learned a great deal.

Reflecting back on my experience as I begin my last module. This was a really tough decision for me to come back to school. I had a lot of hesitation if the workload I would face was something that could be managed. My first class in the program was 6320 and the majority of this class was group work. We had a group of five and three of the group members were more than half way through the Education technology program. I recall telling them how nervous and stressed out I was about the program and all of them explained that they felt the same way in the beginning and we had a conversation telling me to find a routine and learn to balance your time. They were right. I found my routine and learned when to step in and take over as a leader and learned when to take notes and listen. Every circumstance and student is different, but it was really important to me to make those connections with my classmates there words gave me the confidence to keep pushing and they were right' I found my groove and developed a system that worked for me to get class work done on time and to ask questions, working through the problems. My advice through my experience is to take the help when someone offers and to ask lots of questions if you don’t understand. Several times, I turned in work ahead of time to find out what I could improve on and it worked. I'm entering my last module and my system worked and I can look back on the work I have done and be proud of what I accomplished.

As I began this program a little over a year ago, I had two goals etched in my mind. The first goal is I wanted to improve my skills as an educator. Many educators overtime become complacent and reuse the same curriculum over and over, making very slight modifications. In the current educational climate that we teach in, I felt that not only would this be boring, but it would lead to a very unfulfilling educational career. Not to mention, I would be failing my students. My education is this program has created so many new avenues of software that I use in my class, new programs and has provided me with so many new ideas to utilize in the classroom. Knowing what I know now, I never want to stop adapting and growing everyday as an educator. The second goal that I wanted to accomplish was to set my professional career up to pursue a career in technology either in the K-12 educational system or create an opportunity for a career outside of the classroom. My end goal is to move into a classroom setting that allows me to utilize my education in technology and also create options to generate income outside of the classroom. Either way I wanted to have the education to allow for more versatility and growth in my profession and I feel that is what I’m coming away with when I graduate from the University of Texas Rio Grande in the Spring. I enjoyed this experience and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for me.