A Journey Through Time

 

About a year ago, I started this educational technology journey at Michigan State University. Before I began on that journey, I wrote about the goals that I wanted to accomplish by completing this master’s degree. As I look back at those goals, I think about how I have grown as a teacher and a technology leader. At the beginning of this experience, the main goal that I had for myself was to gain a better understanding of how to effectively incorporate technology into my teaching, student learning, and student goal setting. On a personal level, I wanted to help students set goals for themselves and successfully achieve them. I planned to show students that they hold their future in their own hands. I wanted to find ways to use technology to show my students the futures that are available to them. In the end, my goal was to show students the importance of choosing the right path for themselves using technology.

 

I now see that my goals have evolved over time. The greatest piece of knowledge that I have taken from the Masters of Arts in Educational Technology program is incorporating the TPACK (Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge) model into my teaching. I no longer want to just “incorporate technology” into my teaching but instead I want to find technology that will enhance the learning goals that I have set for my students. I now make sure to evaluate each new technology that I find so that I know it will help increase student learning by promoting collaboration, peer interaction, and creativity. Instead of “using technology” to show students different futures that are available I now allow students to experiment with different technologies. This allows them to become innovators; at the same time, shows them different avenues they could pursue in the future. I have found that the “experimentation” process has had a positive effect on many students and they are beginning to create goals for themselves, on their own. It is now my goal to teach students digital skills that they will be able to apply to their future as a learner in the 21st century.

 

In the middle of this journey, I started to see the potential that I had for technology leadership. I enjoy talking with colleagues about different technologies that I have been exposed to during my master’s degree and how they can effectively be used in the classroom. I want to continue to expand my professional learning network and share my findings with my colleagues. My goal as a technology leader is to create a community of lifelong learners in the building who want to learn and share their educational technology experiences.

 

Now that I am weeks away from accomplishing one of my major life goals, completing my master’s degree in educational technology, I now see the importance of being innovative, creative, and a forward thinker. I have realized that my life so far has been planned, structured, and predictable. Now it’s time to for me to become a technology leader and show students, colleagues, and administrators the possibilities that educational technology holds for our futures. Robert Frost says it the best, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” It is now time for me to take the road less traveled.