From “Effective Educator” to “Effective Technology Designer”
This blog post expresses how what I wanted to gain from my grad classes changed as the course went on. I highlights how I go from wanting to just be an effecting teaching who uses technology to wanting to be an effective designer of educational technology.
A person trying to choose which path to take out of 2, Nightcafe, 2024 Image created by and retrieved from NightCafe
When I first began my MAET journey, I did not think of myself as a paragon of technological knowledge or frankly, even someone who could be called creative. And while I am still no tech wizard solving problems with the click of a few keys, when I look back at my progress throughout this program, I can really see the change in how I look at myself and what I have wanted out of my classes.
When I joined MAET, I was a 4th year ELA teacher, and my goal was, in its entirety, to learn different strategies and ways to integrate new technology into my teaching. In essence, I was looking at MAET as a way to augment my practices in class through the courses I took.
To a certain extent, I have met this goal leagues and bounds ahead of what I could have imagined! I am currently teaching a Digital Media course at my school, integrating many of the techniques, ideas, and websites that I have picked up throughout MAET. Primarily, I have my students use Canva to create projects (often inspired by projects done during the MAET Summer program) which are outside their comfort zones, while also trying to apply the principles of UDL, as well as Ungrading. Truly, I feel that I met and surpassed that initial goal that I set out to achieve when I joined the program. But as often happens, the goal you set out to achieve is not necessarily the one you end up aiming for.
Now, as I begin to wrap up my MAET journey, I have reevaluated what I desire to get out of each of my classes. Now, when I think about what I desire for myself to get out of an MAET course, I think about my future career. Over my time in MAET, many things in my life have changed. I see myself moving out of the teaching profession sooner rather than later, and now, when I enter a new MAET class, my goal is further my professional skill set with the end result is me becoming a more experienced, well rounded candidate for a company that designs educational technology. To put it another way, my goal has gone from becoming a user of technology in the classroom to becoming someone who helps design it.
Truly, I have MAET to thank for inspiring this goal change. As mentioned before, when I started this program, I did not see myself as a creative person or particularly skilled in technology. Now, however, after projects like TPACK Cooking, and Wicked Problem, I find that I view myself as a creative problem solver who likes to take unique approaches to help others. I still have a long way to go when it comes to technology wizardry, but now I can see a new version of myself that I can become through MAET.
References:
Cast.org. (n.d.). The UDL guidelines. cast.org.
Michigan State University. (n.d.). Ungrading. Michigan State University College of Communication Arts and Sciences. https://comartsci.msu.edu/ungrading
NightCafe Studios (2024).Empathy. by NightCafe Studios, 2024 (https://creator.nightcafe.studio/)