The initial goals I had when joining the MAET (Master of Arts in Educational Technology) program were three:
To learn more about educational technology and apply to my own classroom. To enhance students' learning interest, and improve my work efficiency.
To combine educational technology with Chinese education, using technological teaching tools and methods to teach Chinese.
To learn more about online teaching, providing multiple learning pathways to help more students.
I believe I have achieved the first goal! Each MAET class made me continuously think about how I could apply what I learned to my own classroom. Many apps, such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Loom, were initially unfamiliar to me. As I attended more classes, I became more familiar with these apps and started trying to use them in my classroom. Despite facing challenges due to language barriers and young age groups, I believe that trying is always good! I have now accumulated a wealth of experience and will continue to use various teaching tools in my classroom.
For the second goal, I have been thinking and putting it into practice. However, many online teaching tools do not support Chinese. Currently, I have found that Wordwall supports Chinese. These online teaching tools are really fun, and I hope that with my knowledge and experience, I can find ways to use them in the classroom. On the other hand, China also has many excellent Chinese teaching resources, but it is relatively difficult to find materials suitable for American children learning Chinese. I also hope to have the opportunity to integrate these resources and use technology to bring them to American students.
The third goal was motivated by the challenges we faced during the pandemic when we were all teaching online. I believe every teacher knows how difficult that was. I thought that educational technology could surely help students learn independently at home, as there are now abundant teaching resources available. The combination of online and offline methods was more suitable for students at that time. Therefore, I applied for the MAET program.
My three goals have not changed, because they are closely related to my daily life. It is truly fulfilling to apply the knowledge learned over the weekend to teaching on Monday! Although the pandemic has passed, online teaching remains a trend. For middle and high school students, who have the ability to learn independently, online learning can maximize their potential and improve learning efficiency. However, I have more goals now! In one class, I was introduced to coding, which I found very interesting! Not only because coding is becoming increasingly important in today's world, but also because children have an innate intuition and interest in it. I hope to learn more about technology and become a mentor for coding projects, inspiring children to fall in love with coding. I also hope to share excellent teaching tools and methods with teachers in other countries and regions. With the help of technology, everything is possible.