Education has always been a forefront impact in my life. I come from a line of educators on my mothers side and technologist in various forms on my fathers side of our family. Naturally, I fell within what I knew best, Education. My yearn for continuous learning and helping others has always been a proudful characteristic of myself that has pushed me to become a better educator and person. I pursued my passion of becoming an educator as I graduated from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi in 2015 with a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education. Certified to teach kinder through Sixth grade students. I have been in the education field for over ten years. Over the past seven years I have had the opportunity to mold and shape the minds of various diverse populations of third graders. I have been an elementary teacher for the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD for the past 5 years and previously a third grade teacher at Las Palmas Elementary in Edgewood ISD. The feeling of experiencing my learners grow, crush their goals and enjoy learning is exponential. 

My Journey to the IDET Masters Program

During the summer of 2021, I began the Masters in Instructional Design and Educational Technology program at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. During the Pandemic, the vast need for instructional support with technology presented itself as educators around the world were faced with the many challenges of remote learning. This pandemic period provided the opportunity for untraditional unique instruction as face to face instruction was intangible. With the abrupt shift to online learning I began exploring different avenues to integrate technology into my lessons that would be more meaningful to my learners. My technology integration experience is expansive such as familiarity within Google docs and Google slides to include math and science lessons, YouTube, Canvas/Schoology LMS, and Nearpod for content instruction. My comfortability, experience, and knowledge to integrate technology into my lessons before the pandemic, allowed me to lead my colleagues in providing impactful instruction and feeling confident in their work. Through collaborative meetings with my colleagues, attending professional development to improve my usage and integration of technology in my lessons, as well as developing and providing meaningful asynchronous learning for my learners provided me with clarity that education and technology are what I love most and do best. I began researching this blended passion, resulting in my current pursuit at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi to further my learning and continue my goal of continuously growing and assisting others to meet their educational needs as an instructional designer. My family line of educators and technologists have been seamlessly blended, and I look forward to a new career path with the same passion of continuous learning and helping others. 

My IDET Masters Program Pathway

The Instructional Design and Educational Technology program has provided various learning opportunities that fostered collaborative learning, creative design, real-world experiences, technology integrations and instructional design applications to grow academically, personally and professionally. As a continuous learner, I aspire to challenge myself by trying unfamiliar tools and gaining understanding of diverse opportunities to implement instructional design and technology to support all learners. In my professional and educational career I have had many opportunities to collaborate with diverse populations. This experience has made me cognizant of providing an equal opportunity for all learners. This program had overlapping courses emphasizing the Universal Design of Learning (UDL) Framework. To ensure equity and inclusion CAST constructed The Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The UDL Framework is organized by three principles that include engagement, representation, and action and expression. These principles align strategies of instructional methods and tools to ensure an equal opportunity of learning for all learners. With the knowledge gained of UDL I have taken that into my professional career with my learners and something I will continue to implement in the future. Technology in the learning environment has a powerful effect on student learning and their everyday life. Knowing the implication and importance of integrating technology I try to integrate various technology methods to support all types of learners and our evolving technology world. Staying current with technology trends has been enjoyable. I have observed how inclusion for diverse learners is being supported online increasingly as time passes. Technology is beautiful as it provides equity and inclusion to meet learners' needs. I strive to always ensure technology is developed and presented with equity, positivity, and meaningfully learning. This is how the IDET program at TAMUCC is designed and has set me up to succeed. 

My professors provided unique learning experiences, regularly implementing the understanding of instructional design in diverse settings. Weekly digital journals illustrate my journey through each course. I enjoyed constructing weekly journal inputs as it allowed me to reflect on my learning including the good and the bad. Journals allowed me to see the progress of my work throughout the course. These journals are a piece of the unique learning pathway my professors provided. Other unique learning opportunities include designing and creating training modules, utilizing new programs such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate 360, and growing my knowledge within Canva and LMS platforms such as Canvas. Additionally, I have gained valuable resources, tools and found Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to continue my professional development and personal growth. Moreover, I have gained multiple certifications including becoming an Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 and 2, Level 1 Google Educator and a Nearpod Educator while continuing to grow professionally. My professors have provided hands-on learning opportunities which granted me the experience I need to become familiar with how to utilize and implement various resources to support learners in different settings. 

Each stepping stone in my IDET pathway was built upon the next. Built upon a strong foundation of Instructional Design and Educational Technologies. Some of the unique learning experiences included collaborating with peers to establish training courses, learning proposals, and course modules. Following the instruction of various Instructional Design models, I was provided the opportunity to apply my understanding by creating a training program utilizing Adobe Captivate to support Professional Email Etiquette in the Workplace. Additionally, I demonstrated my understanding of the ADDIE Model while supporting, designing, and creating Digital Citizenship modules utilizing Articulate 360 for the future use in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District. These modules were designed for ninth through twelfth grade learners in order to obtain a student electronic district device for the school year. Furthermore, alongside peers, I established a training course for learners to gain an understanding of Google Meets and how to integrate and utilize tools that correlate.

Current and future endeavors