Synthesis

Why I continue pushing myself further

Wendell Luckow

Last Spring, I was a math teacher. After getting a degree in mathematics and hours of classroom experience, I had finally reached my goal of teaching! I finally felt as though I had achieved what I had set out to do. However, this feeling of accomplishment did not even last a single year. I started questioning the materials I was required to use. I started wondering if I was being the most effective educator I could be. After multiple discussions with other teachers, administration, and even Human Resources at my school district, I decided that I wanted to push myself further by pursuing a Master’s degree. The obvious choice would have been to get a degree in math education, for designing and administering curriculum. However, I knew I wanted something with more of a technological focus, so I decided to do some digging. During that time, I was enrolled in a Coursera course taught by Michigan State University (MSU) professor Brian Winn. The course was for developing video games using the Unity platform, but one of the optional reading materials was about a Serious Games Framework that Winn developed with some peers at MSU. I looked into the available programs and quickly discovered that pursuing a Master’s degree in Educational Technology would be possible through the university without needing to relocate. I applied, and within a few months, I was beginning my summer classes. Going into the program, I knew I wanted to learn more about utilizing technology in the classroom, but I also knew I wanted to find new ways to be a more effective educator.

Even during my time at MSU, I have been constantly pushing my education further. In June, I applied for an National Science Foundation grant with some of my professors from my local university in Colorado. We proposed designing and building a game for teaching students how to solve simple one- and two-step equations. We met with a local video game studio about contracting them in the event that we would receive the grant. Not only were they interested, they actually challenged us to push our proposal further. They told us about how some educational systems today are adaptive. For instance, the questions on the GRE adapt to the individual taking the test. I had no idea how these adaptive systems worked, but I did some reading, and discovered that the underlying technology for these systems comes from a field known as Machine Learning (ML). Over the summer, alongside my courses at Michigan State University, I took a course on Coursera through Stanford University on ML. The course was very math- and theory-heavy, exploring various basic applications, such as predicting housing prices, or finding the optimal T-shirt size for manufacturers. I was learning the basics, but I still did not see the connection between ML and adaptive educational systems. Fortunately, one of the courses at MSU allowed to explore this connection further: CEP822 - Approaches to Educational Research. In this course, I learned about various research methods, how to evaluate the integrity of an academic journal, and how to find quality research. The main project throughout the duration of this course was a rigorous research review. Fortunately, we were allowed to pick our own educational-themed topic, so naturally I decided I wanted to learn more about how these adaptive educational systems are built using Machine Learning. I discovered a huge area of research known as Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), and I finally started seeing the connection between adaptive education and Machine Learning. Throughout my time in this course, I read dozens of academic articles on ITS, and I wrote a final research review which can be found here.

Between my NSF grant proposal on designing a math game, and my time at Michigan State University, I found it appropriate to enroll in the optional Serious Games graduate certificate. This would allow me to explore an alternative approach to educational technology. Now my research would not be entirely focused on classroom teaching, but would now include how to design and develop meaningful games and experiences for students all over the world to use. The graduate certificate program consists of three courses: Foundations of Serious Games, Theories of Games and Interaction Design, and Understanding Users. Interestingly, two of those three courses are taught by Dr. Carrie Heeter, one of the researchers who worked with Brian Winn on the article which got me initially interested in MSU! As I took Understanding Users (MI841), I had the opportunity to get hands-on with a lot of research, including conducting user observations, playtesting sessions, market analyses, and building prototypes (both paper and digital). In particular, with the user observation project, I was tasked with meeting with math educators to discuss what goes into a meaningful math education game. I watched their screen remotely as they searched for educational games online, and with each game they found, we would have a quick discussion as to whether or not they would personally choose to use this math game in their own classrooms. I learned about what teachers are interested in using in their classrooms, and I gained plenty of insight as to what information to include with an educational experience to increase the chances of it being used in a classroom. My user observation can be found here.

My initial goal going into this program was to find ways to become a more effective educator. So far, I started to find a focus: Designing and creating adaptive math education games. However, knowing the technology behind the adaptive system and understanding users are both huge parts of an effective educational experience, but another huge piece is knowing how to present the curriculum. There exist a lot of math games out there which act as glorified flash cards. There’s an enormous focus on rote memorization tasks wrapped in a game environment, and hardly any game has students working collaboratively nor creatively. Fortunately, one of the courses I signed up for as part of my Master’s program was CEP818 - Creativity in Teaching & Learning. At first, I was not sure how relevant this would be to me, but I quickly learned how essential it is to promote creativity in the material I present to students. This course let me explore many different cognitive tools for developing creativity in students to make them stronger problem solvers. These cognitive tools include Perceiving, Patterning, Abstracting, Embodied Thinking, Modeling, and Playing. For each of these tools, I thought about ways on how they might be applied to teaching a student how to solve a system of equations, which is one of the most difficult and abstract concepts in algebra. Although it took the entire course to develop ideas for a single topic in math education, it taught me something incredibly valuable; I learned how to create a meaningful learning experience for students, something which goes above and beyond many digital experiences out there. I had to ask myself if students are truly able to perceive what a system of equations represents. Students would need to see the patterns in a system to understand its depth. They would need to be able to further abstract a system to turn it into something more generalizable while maintaining a familiar structure. Students would need to embrace embodied thinking in order to gain a stronger sense of such an abstract concept. They would need to Model and represent a system in a new/different way, all while having fun and playing. My synthesized version of of this lesson plan can be found here. In this course, I explored many different approaches for teaching students how to solve a system of equations. The knowledge I gained in this course will surely be a huge asset as I go forward and design experiences for teaching students math through an adaptive game. If students are able to learn through a system which pushes their problem-solving skills and critical/creative thinking, then it will already be far beyond what many current educational games have to offer today.

I originally signed up for this Master’s program with the intention of becoming a stronger educator. Throughout my short time in this program, I have narrowed down my ideas significantly. I discovered the power of games in education, as I designed, built, and tested prototypes and ideas. I learned about adaptive systems and wrote a large research review on Intelligent Tutoring Systems. And I pushed my ideas on curriculum as I discovered the importance of developing creative thinking in students. This program not only helped me get closer towards my goal, but it also taught me so many different moving parts of what it can mean to be an effective educator. I learned so much about my goals, and I’m sure my goals will continue to evolve as I move forward. All of the tools I’ve learned in this program will help me develop quality educational experiences for many students.