My Time at MSU

I was a part of the Masters of Arts in Educational Technology program at Michigan State University from summer 2022 - summer 2024. Throughout the program, I learned a lot about who I was at a learner and even more about who I want to be as an educator. I was invited to reflect on my teaching practices, learn more about the research and theories of educator, and apply my new learning through lessons, units, scenarios, and more. Because of the courses I took, I think more critically about the pedagogy I use and the way that technology fits into that pedagogy, I am able to find research in order to back my decisions and teaching philosophy, and I am a more creative, playful teacher for my students. 

I started MAET in the summer of 2022, where I went to Galway, Ireland to meet my classmates and professors and work alongside them for four weeks. While there, I took three courses: CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology, CEP 811: Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education, and CEP 812: Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice. CEP 810 was the first course we focused on abroad, and it was my introduction to educational technology. This course immensely impacted me by introducing me to TPACK and giving me tools to think critically about my use of technology in the classroom. I had always been a passionate technology educator, ready to try the new tools and give students a digital way to complete work. I went into MAET expecting to go even harder into technology and kick it up a few gears. However, what I actually found was that I needed to pump the brakes. I was so eager to use technology that I was not always being critical of it and thinking deeply about the impact it had on my students. During and after CEP 810, I practiced slowly down and thinking reflectively about technology before integrating it in an appropriate way. This was the backbone that the rest of my MAET program drew on. 

After my experience in 2022, I knew that I wanted to return to Galway for another summer. Going back with some familiar faces and some new friends, I took another three courses in summer 2023: CEP 800: Psychology of Learning in School and Other Settings, CEP 818: Creativity in Teaching and Learning, and CEP 822: Approaches to Educational Research. While I absolutely loved the creativity projects and have found myself thinking about many of the exciting assignments we did in CEP 818, it is actually CEP 822 that has stuck with me the most as an educator. In this course, we looked at qualitative data in Street Data, as well as finding and reading research that we could apply to our thinking philosophies and classroom work. This course has helped me in every PD I present at, every educational conversation I have, and every lesson I teach. I am now able to better find research, read and fully understand it, and backup my beliefs and ideas with concrete evidence. I am a better-spoken, better-educator teacher because of this course. These are skills that I used in further MAET courses, but they are also skills that I use in my everyday life. The content of CEP 822 was so valuable, and being able to attend it in person made it even better for my learning style. 

After two incredible summers overseas in Ireland, I was nervous to continue my experience online. I have always love discussion and face-to-face interaction, and losing that felt like my education was going to suffer. I was so lucky to take two online courses with Bill Marsland that have made me a significantly better technology educator than I was before: CEP 824: Programming Concepts for K-12 Educators and CEP 833: Creativity in K-12 Computing Education. CEP 824 taught me more about programming and computer science concepts than I had ever learned before. I had taken some coding classes in high school, but other than that, I was self-taught. I did not fully understand computational thinking or programming, so being able to play with different software, address common misconceptions, read about teaching programming, and create artifacts for myself and my students was one of the most beneficial things I've done in my career. CEP 824 gave me the opportunity to work in Python, JavaScript, and Scratch (a block-based language), so that I could better teach my students about different programming. I find myself excited to do my work each unit and spent hours collaborating with my two computer science brothers about the projects we were working on in class. Not only did I learn how to use the software, but I learned how to teach it effectively to students and what to help them on when they struggled. 

In CEP 833, we read the most influential book for me as an educator: Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchel Resnick. In the first unit, we only had to read chapter one, but by the end of the week, I had finished the book. I have recommended it to so many colleagues and friends because of the impact it made in my teaching. I now understand the power of play in classrooms and that students may complete tasks differently but that is ok. This book opened my eyes to the types of projects that students can create and how learning environments don't have to look like rows of desks facing forward. I am able to confidently give my students structured choice time and see the benefits from being able to play, even as upper elementary students. 

Overall, my time at MSU showed me how to think critically about technology, use research to become a better educator, and code in new and creative ways. I use the skills from my MAET program every day that I teach, and I loved that each course challenged me in new and interesting ways. Every course that I took made a lasting impact on me, especially the courses I took simultaneously while in Galway. I am excited to continue to share the experiences I had with other educators and use the skills and resources from my time in my masters program to help benefit others.