Reflection and Next Steps

When I started this degree program in the fall of 2019, I did not imagine I would be juggling graduate school, living in a pandemic, and mastering remote learning at the same time. But, for better or worse, my graduate experience will always be entwined with the COVID-19 pandemic. While I knew and expected that life would get more “full” and challenging with adding grad school to my plate and my work, doing so while learning a whole new way to teach was not in the agenda. If I had known I was to face these complications, I may have not chosen to enter the program. These challenges helped me to learn that I am more resilient, and my thinking is more flexible than I previously would have thought.

My greatest learning from this program is using technology for instruction is best used when the technology becomes invisible in order to make student learning visible. Before this program, I knew that technology helped students learn and demonstrate their learning in new ways, but now I understand that using technology is not the goal. Before, I thought that the main goal of using technology with students was to help students know how to use technology when they entered the workforce and to develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills in students. Now, I believe that technology is best used to help students access content, connect and collaborate with others, and to help students demonstrate their learning in unique and personal ways.

My biggest area of professional growth while in this course is learning how to become an instructional leader in my school building. Before the program, I had led a few professional development workshops and staff meetings. These had always focused on how to use a specific tool with students and did not consider integrating technology with pedagogy. I now have the knowledge and skills to create a year-long technology professional learning, and how to integrate technology with pedagogy in a powerful way that leads to student engagement and learning.