Taking Educational Technology to the Next Level
This essay is a piece dedicated to reflecting on how my goals throughout graduate school and the MAET program shifted from my first course to my very last. It covers not only my shift in mindset, but also how these courses effected my personal teaching practice.
With my time in MAET is coming to a close, I have looked back at where I started this journey, with the goal of becoming more proficient in technology use for classroom teaching, to where I am now, with the of goal furthering my knowledge in design and use of educational technology for a career outside the teaching profession. My movement in goal from classroom teaching to outside the classroom is due in no small part to my time and experiences through these last 2 years. Currently, my long term goals are to support teachers and students through my knowledge of educational technology, learn more about the design aspect that goes into modern educational technology, and to become active in the creation and use of educational technology.
Support Teachers and Students
To start, I am aware that this particular goal is one that is not necessarily “achievable”. Rather, I would classify this goal as perpetual, something that I should always be striving to achieve, something that informs my decisions and actions going forward. In order to meet this goal, I plan to continuously seek to master the most commonly used educational technologies that are used in classrooms (ex. Canva, Infinite Campus, and Blooket). This could look like exploring technologies so as to know the features and benefits of each in terms of teaching, and searching for potential weaknesses that may interfere with student learning. One way I might be able to expand my knowledge in supporting teachers and students is by taking and mastering a number of classes in the Canva Design School, so as to expand my knowledge base of one of the most popular websites used in our school
Learn About Design
In MAET, we have dealt with the idea of design several times. From the ideas of Universal Design, to data driven instruction, we have consistently touched on the idea of “design” and how it relates to our work in and out of the classroom. My goal here is to become even more familiar with the ideas behind the design of the educational technology that we use every day in the classroom. For me to succeed in this, I believe I will need two things: mindset and opportunity.
In terms of mindset, I think back to my very first blog post where I considered an expert’s mindset in a skill to a novice’s. For me, the most important principle of design is to be constantly willing to change and be flexible about your work, letting the design become what it needs to be. For this, I will need an adaptable mindset, something that I already believe I possess. The hard part about this goal will be opportunities. In order to achieve my goal, I will need the opportunity to become familiar with these designs, which means, to me, either working with or for the companies that create and upkeep the educational technology we use. For me, this entire goal is about gaining knowledge, but specially in how educational technology is designed. In order to gain this knowledge, I may have to spend more time researching the ins and outs of website design in ways that keep UDL in mind, likely by keeping my self open to new design resources as they come out.
Creation and Use of Educational Technology
This goal is potentially the loftiest of all the goals I have set for myself. This goal is a complete divergent from the path that I have been on for the past six years. Nominally, this goal would require me to change from just a simple user of technology to a designer and creator as well. It means that I must be willing to take a chance and use everything I have learned in the MAET program to help create the technology that is used in our classrooms. Much like my previous goal, this one requires opportunities, which, from my understanding, are hard to come by. I recognize that I am inexperienced in this area and will likely have to work my way to getting to this point, but I am confident that I have the knowledge and skills to get there, if I am willing to try. I think this goal will require the most robust gain in knowledge, as I may have to learn how to code or how the design aspect of Ed Tech actually works. This may look like me talking with Ed Tech designers personally to get an understanding of what they do, or even taking coding classes so as to learn how to create them myself.
Closing
Overall, my vision for my future is that of taking what I have learned in MAET to the next level. I want to improve the way students and teachers use technology to learn, teach, and grow. Most of my goals will not be easily accomplished, and some require that I work at them continuously, as the idea of supporting students and teachers is never truly finished. Then again, I did not enter the teaching field because I thought it would be easy or that it was something one could finish. Rather, I felt that I wanted to create, teach, and learn continuously. And if I have my way, I will continue to do that, far into the future.
References:
Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. (n.d.). Coding Boot Camp. CMU Tech Bridge Coding Boot Camp. Retrieved October 22, 2024, from https://bootcamps.cs.cmu.edu/coding-bootcamp/?utm_source=g_search&utm_medium=paid_google&utm_campaign=cmu-cbus-g_search-performance-Transactional&utm_content=cmu-cbus-g_search-performance-Transactional-lower_funnel&utm_term=coding%20programs&placement=&mat
Codex Community. (2024, March 11). Best Web Design Resources 2024 Worth Bookmarking [YouTube Video]. Youtube.come. Retrieved October 22, 24, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hgIzaifLN4
Design School - Learn Design with Canva. (n.d.). Canva. Retrieved October 22, 2024, from https://www.canva.com/designschool
(n.d.). Canva: Visual Suite for Everyone. Retrieved October 20, 2024, from https://www.canva.com/
(n.d.). Infinite Campus. Retrieved October 20, 2024, from https://www.infinitecampus.com/
(n.d.). Blooket. Retrieved October 20, 2024, from https://www.blooket.com/
CAST. (n.d.). UDL Guidelines. The UDL Guidelines. Retrieved October 20, 2024, from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/