Graduate Showcase
Below is a compilation of the work I completed during my Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program. The work below is divided into three distinct categories: learn, design, and innovate.
- Learn: Through the MAET program, I analyzed different learning theories and experimented with new ways that myself (and my students) can learn.
- Design: I created meticulous, research-based designs throughout the Serious Game Design program which led the way to innovation.
- Innovate: Throughout my coursework, I used a variety of unique technologies to promote 21st century learning.
Even after finishing the MAET program, I will continue to learn new things as a educational technologist and integrate different learning theories into my work. I will also continue to design and innovate by experimenting with new technologies to improve the student learning.
Learn
Before experimenting with new methods of learning, I took a step back and researched what the experts had to say. In this essay I analyzed learning from several different perspectives (such as behaviorism and cognitive learning) and made connections between these theories of learning and my experiences in the classroom.
To begin my experimentation with learning, I challenged myself to learn something new (Twitter Chats) by only viewing YouTube videos. A video of my final reflection describing what I learned is located to the right; a more detailed reflection on my learning process can be found in this blog post.
In a collaborative project, I worked with three other MAET students to wrestle with the wicked problem of failure as a learning mode. Analyzing failure as a positive tool of learning stretched my thinking about what learning could be. I combined the questions that we grappled with, as well as some research, into this infographic. We combined all of our insights about this wicked problem into this website.
Design
Every teacher has a vision of a perfect classroom; I decided to bring my vision to life by using a tool called SketchUp. For this process, I combined my own experiences with research in order to create the best environment for my students. View this blog post to see more details about the thoughts behind my design.
I have over 900 choice reading books in my classroom; a problem I find is that my reluctant readers have difficulty finding their next book when they have too many options. Thus, I wanted to create a classroom app to make this process easier for students. Before I could design this app, however, I needed to complete ethnographic research to inform my design. Conducting interviews and completing this report increased my proficiency with using feedback from stakeholders to make design decisions.
My design expertise came to fruition when I created my own serious game: PunctuPLAYtion. PunctuPLAYtion is a creative punctuation game that helps to increase students' creativity, correct punctuation usage, and writing style (a full video explaining the game can be found here). In order to create this game, I had to complete background research, design many iterations of gameplay, playtest, and iterate some more. The Playtest Report that I created (viewable in the Slides to the right) informed my design decisions by showing me what elements of gameplay needed to be adjusted. For more details on PunctuPLAYtion, view the full website here.
Innovate
I love to innovate with new technologies to push my lessons to the next level. With this in mind, I created a lesson plan where, among other activities on the Smashboard, students use a Google Form to create an outline for a writing assignment. This Google form, once submitted, will automatically send an email with an attached google doc where all of the elements are color-coded to help students see which areas correspond to which element of the assignment, and help with revising. More details about this innovative lesson can be found in this blog post.
The Maker movement is a highly innovative practice that empowers students to use creativity and critical thinking skills in a collaborative, authentic environment to create something. There are many reasons why this innovative methodology should be included as part of classroom curriculum; view the image to the right to see a few example. In addition, you can also view the full, interactive version of the infographic or a blog post about the infographic for more details.
To make my own classroom a Makerspace, I decided to create my own Maker lesson plan which involves students learning about propaganda in an innovative way. The video to the right gives a demo of a Scratch game I created (involves symbolism in Animal Farm) in conjunction with a MakeyMakey kit as a sample project for this lesson.