Reflection

I started my journey as a learning and development professional back when I was still serving in the military. As a “navy nuke,” as we were called by our shipmates, I gravitated towards completing my undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering technology because it was the easy path. I finished my undergrad work while on active duty and serving as an instructor at the Navy’s Nuclear Field A-School (NFAS), and during that time I found that I enjoyed being an instructor, a trainer, and a coach. I wanted to continue doing in the private sector what I had grown to love doing for the Navy. Before I even separated from the Navy, I had found work doing just that and I have spent nearly the next decade of my life dedicating myself to being the best technical instructor I could be. Naturally, I reached a point where my lack of a theoretical foundation for my practical experience became somewhat limiting, and I decided that I wanted to go back to school to address that limitation. This is what led me to the Educational Technology program here at LSU.

When I started the program, I wholly believed that I knew what worked and what didn’t. What I was aware that I didn’t know was why certain things worked and others did not. It took less than one course in the program for me to figure out that I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought. One of the most impactful theories I learned about, which before the program I only had heard pieces of, was the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. The principles for presentation development based on CTML that were part of this program have already had a significant impact on my workgroup's products.

One aspect that I enjoyed about the Ed Tech program was that it placed a lot of focus on doing work that was applicable to the students’ particular field; being able to approach assignments through a lens of leveraging the experience to improve my own work was tremendously helpful. In addition to what I've already mentioned, several of the things I learned about during the program I was able to bring back to my workplace almost immediately to enhance my practice as well as that of my colleagues. An example of this is ways to apply Augmented Reality (AR) in the classroom. Additionally, throughout the program I completed a lot of work and study concerning the use of blended learning, including multiple papers and projects, and I am currently applying what I’ve learned in the design of multiple blended learning courses at my facility. Another aspect of the program that has been particularly useful to me was the attention paid to professional development throughout the program. The SWOT analysis that I completed for ELRC 7525 required me to focus on specific areas that were challenging or limiting my performance and that of my team. To this end, I believe that the assignments and reflections I completed on professional development as part of this program directly contributed to my level of preparedness to transition into a leadership role within my workgroup.

Now, as I finish up the Ed Tech program here at LSU, I look back at how confident I was in what I thought I knew going into the program and I can honestly say that I’ve expanded the depth and breadth of my expertise significantly. It is my sincere desire to instill a culture of continuous learning in my organization, be it concerning technology or any other aspect of our practice, and to lead us in leveraging research-based strategies to go beyond “what we’ve always done” to maximize the effectiveness of our efforts for the foreseeable future.