Michigan State University's(MSU) Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program allowed me to think about what kind of educator I want to be. It allowed me to think critically about the choices I make in how I teach and in what I teach. The MAET program has allowed me to continue to be a lifelong learner. This page showcases various artifacts I created during my time in MSU’s MAET program. Although these artifacts were created for specific courses, they represent much more than my experience as a student fulfilling course requirements. These artifacts represent how I apply my newfound knowledge to my professional practice. I organized my showcase into three categories that represent what I took away from the MAET program:
Leadership- From a young age I have taken on many leadership roles including treasurer of my youth group program or choreographer of the school play. I continue to take on many roles in my professional role as well. Throughout my time as an MAET student, I have acquired new skills and knowledge that will allow me to succeed in future leadership roles.
Technology- At the forefront of our fingers stands a powerful tool that will allow us to differentiate the way we think and the way we learn and that tool is: "technology". Through the MAET program, I learned that technology should not be used for the sake of being able to use a technology tool. With this, I developed an understanding of the connection between technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK). Technology should help students gain a deeper connection and understanding to the material being taught to help enhance their skills and knowledge.
Understanding-As an educator, it is important for students to learn, but also understand. Students need to be able to transfer and apply knowledge from one situation to another. The activities and assignments done through MAET allowed me to recognize the significance in students developing a deeper understanding. Please click on the buttons below to have a more comprehensive look at the assignments done.
Leadership
How to Engage K-2 Scholars in Technology PD I created this professional development offering to allow other teachers help their students engage in learning through technology while remote learning occured. Teachers in K-3 were struggling mid-year to find ways to keep students interested. I had taught one of the tools that I found helpful in my virtual classroom: drop & drag slides. This artifact demonstrates my creativity to engage other teachers while also providing meaningful content to enhance their technology instruction.
Personal Leadership Philosophy In this video I analyze my leadership by coming up with the values that I expect from the people I lead and reflect on the ways I lead. This artifact demonstrates the use of digital tools to communicate my values as a leader.This shows the important values in leadership that matter to me as well as other leaders.
Thorny Issue In this two part-assignment, I created a memo and chart explaining why a technology class should be more than just a class to reinforce reading and math skills. Throughout my memo and infographic, I showed reasons that allow for value of adding coding into a classroom and the benefits for students with core curriculum. This artifact demonstrates my strategies in thinking about an issue. It also shows the ways I utilize digital tools to help bring the issue up to leadership as well as the school community.
Cooking with TPACK This assignment helped me analyze how to teach by conceptualizing Technological, Pedagogical, Content Knowledge (TPACK). TPACK involves the concept of content knowledge (what you teach), pedagogical knowledge (how you teach), and the tech tool that will go along with it. It made me realize that as an educator, I have to be conscious of the tech tool I use and make sure that the tool has a clear purpose. This artifact demonstrates my writing and creativity skills as I learned how to make learning accessible and give a clear purpose to my lesson plans with my students.
21st Century Learning Lesson Plan This lesson plan helped me with a real-world application. I was able to take what I learned and apply it in my own classroom. It made me realize that with remote learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic that teaching is ever evolving. This lesson plan allowed me to learn how to take feedback and apply it. From using my classmates, professors, and a resource from my professional learning network (PLN), I was able to take the feedback and use it for my lesson. It made me realize that 21st century skills are needed in every lesson to make the plan accessible to all.
Expert Knowledge Within this blog post, I looked at Experts and Novices. I made a video about how to make an omelette because it is something I know how to do without thinking. I looked at schema theory, and stereotypes. I also looked at the differences between expert knowledge and novice knowledge. This artifact demonstrates how I use digital tools such as videos and infographics to learn about new concepts. It allowed me to see the differences in my career as a novice and an expert and how that relates to me.
Social Learning This artifact lifted the idea that I was able to look at how people learn by observing, watching, learning and modeling. During this assignment I was able to relate a real life experience to social learning. This artifact demonstrated the relevance of using social media to learn. So many times, social media is used to learn something new just by watching. In this unit I used Pinterest to pin what we learned about observational learning, Vygotsky, and Situated learning. It helped expand my ideas of how social learning is effective.
Constructionist Making Lesson Plan With this artifact I needed to think outside the box. Some students learn by doing so I wanted to find a way for students to work together, but also do something they do not normally do: count money. I created this artifact using the Makey Makey Kit and Game Lab. This allows students to get creative with their thinking as well as learn in a new way. This artifact shows my use of technical tools in order to help students learn.