Pushing Boundaries
Master's Synthesis
Teaching in Special Education I have developed a passion for removing barriers, advocating for my students, and fostering equitable opportunities. This experience has taught me that when you make something accessible to everyone, incredible experiences can happen. Over this past year, I have had a similar awakening through the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) Program at Michigan State University. Our world is changing, our students are changing. The 21st Century is continually creating tools that make peoples’ lives faster and more accessible. As an educator, I believe it is important that we grow with the world and continually learn how to better connect with our students in our ever-changing society. I want to create a safe environment where my students can feel they are supported and cared for. I want to build their confidence and abilities to face their challenges with persistence. In our hyperconnected world, I want them to have equitable access to any opportunity and be positive digital citizens. I started the MAET Program because I wanted to learn how educators can effectively and positively use technology to break down barriers. I wanted to learn how technology can connect students with each other and the content instead of disconnecting them. Through the MAET Program, I truly feel that I fulfilled this goal. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and feel I have become a stronger and more confident teaching and technology professional.
CEP 810
The first course that challenged my thinking and deepened my understanding of learning was CEP 810, Teaching for Understanding with Technology. This course grounded my own understanding of the nuances of learning and my own skills using technology. I researched how students learn and how important it is for them to be able to transfer that learning into their everyday lives. This can be done by giving students a voice and choice in their learning. Also, by scaffolding, connecting to their lives, and understanding where each of my students come from and the social roles they were raised to understand. Every student is different and comes to my classroom with different experiences and views of themselves and others. For instance, living in Hawaii, Hawaiian culture plays a huge role in many of my students’ lives. For many of them this is a major part of their identity, so, I do my best to intertwine the Hawaiian culture and all of these strategies into our curriculum as much as possible.
Click the map to enlarge photo & this link to learn more about Oahu's ahupua'a (land division)!
A map of the Ahupuaʻa of Oahu by Sn1per (talk), November 2011, data from Hawaiian Government
Another impactful theme of CEP 810 was TPACK, the sweet spot that combines pedagogical knowledge, technology knowledge, and content knowledge. This means we must think about what teaching strategies and technology tools will enhance the content where students will gain the most learning. I did an exercise called Cooking with TPACK and it made me realize the disconnect that can occur between student and teacher if TPACK is not approached correctly. It also made me think about how important it is to take a second look at all of my resources in the classroom and how I can go beyond my students’ 1 to 1 Chromebooks. Throughout this course, we focused on 21st Century Learning and I realized what we can offer our students. There are endless opportunities for creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. CEP 810 increased my awareness of 21st Century Learning opportunities in my classroom. I took a hard look at my professional learning community and participated in a Twitter Chat that was an extremely empowering experience. Mary Wever gave fantastic feedback that truly pushed me to be better. She and this course set me up for success for the rest of my time with the MAET Program. I am thankful for all that I learned in her course from how to write an effective, succinct, and engaging blog post to how to expand my professional learning network.
CEP 811
Another course that positively impacted me was CEP 811, Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education. I gained a deeper understanding of how students learn through making, innovating and iterating. I experienced the “maker culture” by repurposing the world around me and exploring old and new ways of designing learning experiences. I was exposed to many new technology tools such as Adobe Spark, Camtasia, and Home By Me. I created lessons and activities that are rooted in creativity and purposeful design practices. I worked with Virtual Reality Goggles to enhance content and provide new access to the curriculum my students have never experienced before. I learned about Experience Design through the creation of my dream classroom. Through The Third Teacher, I learned many more important aspects to think about when designing an experience. For example, the resource explains how seating, natural lighting, comfort and the color of the walls and floor effect the way your students learn and experience in your classroom. Creating a space where appreciative inquiry, strategic questioning and making are encouraged is essential for success in the classroom.
Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Intersectionality were major themes through CEP 811 that pushed me to be proactive, instead of reactive. Especially teaching Special Education, UDL guidelines include offering multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression. For example, encouraging autonomy, fostering community and facilitating personal coping strategies. Personal coping strategies connected with me and what I see in my classroom. For me, I faced a challenge during this course and that was being okay with failing. This course pushed me out of my comfort zone, empowered me to face new ideas and feelings with the iteration mindset. I am thankful for the creative opportunities that this course gave, as it served as a model example of how a “maker culture” classroom can be successfully run, even a fully online course. CEP 811 encouraged me to be more deliberate in the planning and decisions I make about connecting space, technology, and learning.
CEP 812
Through CEP 812, Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice, I was given the opportunity to explore controversial topics within education and dive deeper into topics I am passionate about. I read Warren Berger’s, A More Beautiful Question to understand the art of questioning and the process it entails. Berger's powerful, sequential questioning process, "why, what if and how", pushed me to be a more effective questioner. I had to force myself to step back and think from different angles and how to change the wording of my questions to make them more effective. It is valuable for my students to hear and understand my questioning/thought processes. I learned that an ill-structured problem, such as anxiety, requires consideration of multiple different variables at the same time and these variables will evolve over time. I was able to research and learn about digital tools that could help those with anxiety when presenting in the classroom. I found that Virtual Reality Goggles can and do help reduce presentation anxiety, as it can simulate the act of presenting and allow for practice.
Then for my wicked problem project in CEP 812, I asked myself the wicked question, how do I foster a healthy relationship between high schooler and technology, such that it improves empathy and interpersonal skills and does not negatively impact these skills? I researched how technology impacts social skills in the classroom and specifically focused on how technology can positively impact social skills. For this project, I learned how to create a survey, gather data and analyze it. I also learned how to create graphs and share them in an effective and efficient way. My survey revealed that educators believe that technology is a useful collaborative tool in the classroom. The culture of the classroom must support this healthy relationship between the students and technology with clear expectations and understanding. TPACK is again intertwined within this wicked problem. We, as educators, can build this environment by thinking about what we are teaching, how we are planning to teach it and what technology tools we use to enhance student learning and collaboration. This also must be supported outside the classroom by families and students themselves. I realized this wicked problem would take a community and societal; effort. It will require the spreading of awareness of this problem. CEP 812 boosted my inquisitiveness and strengthened my confidence in attacking any problem.
By Jessica Ottewell (2015) from https://www.flickr.com/photos/134717758@N06/19751739181
The MAET Program
Embracing failure is not a natural mindset for humans. I found that failure is a taboo word in my life. Often times during my childhood, at school or in sports, I would try to avoid putting myself in positions where I could fail. As I have gotten older, in the midst of my first teaching job, I’ve realized it is very difficult to avoid “failure”. I am so grateful for the MAET program showing me that failure is natural and more importantly, a necessary and valuable tool in life. When you learn from your mistakes or work through the kinks, you are building many skills, but notably, perseverance, learning to design, to make and to innovate. I have begun this transfer of learning into my classroom where I foster a growth mindset and encourage the process of iteration with my students. When my students are struggling, I don’t solve the problem for them immediately. Instead, I facilitate the struggle and support by having them work through the struggle.
Another valuable lesson I learned through this program is the importance of creativity, “play” and “making” in the classroom. We discussed how students are the most actively engaged when they are designing, building, connecting, or collaborating. I loved learning about creative technology tools that are out of the box ways for my students to present their information, while still hitting our academic standards. Also, with keeping the maker education in mind, I have discovered more ways to utilize my students’ one to one Chromebook as a means of expression. Through the different courses, I have created my own online blended learning experience using Google Classroom for my World History course. I have used multiple technology tools and creating multiple innovative lesson plans. One lesson plan was about the Cold War where I used the technology tool, Padlet. Another lesson plan about the Korean War using Genial.ly to create a digital timeline. For a Civil Rights Lesson Plan, I utilized VR Goggles for students to take a tour of some of the monumental events and the Lowndes Interpretive Center. I created presentations to display my learning and the confidence to share that learning with my colleagues. I have recognized the importance of inquiry and incorporating digital tools to inspire passion and curiosity because it will foster success in the 21st Century learner and classroom.
​
The MAET Program encourages and fosters iteration, reflection, and learning. I felt supported, heard, and inspired to push technological and pedagogical boundaries within myself and within our society. Through all of my courses, I sincerely felt apart of a learning community. I was given ample opportunities to give and receive feedback that propelled me to be a better educator. My dedicated professors and experienced colleagues shared their invaluable perspectives with me, which I am so grateful for. Through my learning, I have already begun fundamental changes in my classroom, such as encouraging more iteration with my students. I am making more thoughtful and innovative choices technologically in my classroom that encourage my students to demonstrate their learning in new ways. I am more confident in my ability to share the information I have learned with my colleagues, administration, and students. All of these experiences have positively affected me as a person, student and teaching professional. I am so grateful for my experience with the MAET program. I am proud of the learning and confidence I gained, which I have successfully applied within my classroom. I can’t wait to see what barriers I break down next.