From Goals to Growth
About a year ago, in 2024, I decided to pursue a master’s degree. Choosing the specific degree and school was not difficult for me, as I was fairly confident in what I wanted ever since I had finished my undergraduate degree. I decided to pursue a Master of Arts in Education Technology from Michigan State University.
Expanding My Technology Toolbox
Coming into this master’s program, I had several goals. My first goal was to expand my technology toolbox so that I had more options of resources to use. At the school that I work at, each student receives their own Chromebooks to use throughout the year. Knowing this, I wanted to be able to use these devices to their full potential. In my first year teaching here, I found that I was using the same types of technology too much. My students got sick of the resources we used quickly, as did I. Through this program, I wanted to expand the list of possible technology resources I could use. I have made a lot of progress on this goal. In all of my courses, I have been introduced to new tools and websites that I can bring into my classroom. These tools consist of ones specifically for my students and of ones that can help me in preparing my lessons.
Incorporating New Tools Into Lessons
My next goal was to learn how to seamlessly incorporate these new technology tools into my lessons. Having new resources is great, but in order for them to be effective in the classroom, I needed to know how to blend them with my content and learning goals. In my courses, I have explored different tools and then created lessons that tie to my own class. I have also created infographics and videos to share what I have learned. These activities have prepared me to bring these pieces of technology into my own classroom.
Basics of Coding
My last goal was to learn the basics of coding. This goal had more to do with understanding some of the passions of my students. I have had several students that have been very interested in coding, and I have also been curious about it. When I saw that Michigan State had a course on programming that fit this program, I decided to take it. I really enjoyed this course and it did teach me the basics of coding.
Overall, I think my goals have stayed relatively the same over the course of this program. I progressed on the first two goals in all of my courses, and the last one was achieved in my programming course. The last goal did shift slightly throughout this course. Originally I was focused on learning different programming languages, but I shifted to focusing on Scratch, a website designed to teach coding through coding blocks. It still taught the basics of coding, but did it in a simplified manner, which followed more closely to what my current students are learning.
I have grown so much from this master’s program, and I am excited to see how I apply what I have learned in my own classroom.