Shannon Forsberg
No Longer In Fear
By Shannon Forsberg
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I then enrolled in CEP 807: Capstone Educational Technology. I now realized, I had an even bigger task at hand. The course would require me to create a portfolio online of all I have experienced and accomplished during my Masters of Educational Technology. This was very daunting, yet, I understood that by the end of the course, I would have something real to show for all my effort. By creating an online portfolio, I would have the opportunity to showcase not only what I have created throughout the program, but what I have learned as well. During the course, I was forced to reflect on how I have grown as an educator and how my thinking has changed during my completion of the MAET program. I had never had experience with this before in my educational career. During the reflection, I began to understand how important this really was. I needed to see where I started, and how far I have come. This not only reminded me of how I perceived technology in education, but it also showed me that everything that I did throughout the program had a purpose.
When I started my journey of becoming an educator, technology in education was a thing of the future. For me however, that future came to fruition during my undergraduate degree. When I started college in 2002, cell phones did not even have text messaging. By the time I graduated in 2007 my exclusive membership in the US college student only website “thefacebook” was no longer exclusive. As the information age matured, so did I.
I had never fully contextualized technology and its influence on society until I got my first job as a high school social studies teacher. At the time, I was only five years older than my students. It was about three months into the school year when my understanding of technology dramatically shifted. With something as simple as a friend request from a student on Facebook, I knew things were now dramatically different. I would no longer be planning on taking my students to the library to use the encyclopedias to gather information for their research papers. Now lesson plans consisted of why students cannot use Wikipedia as their only resource for their research papers.
As technology continued to advance and evolve, teachers like myself were instructed to ignore it. Cell phone signal blockers were installed in the hallways at the high school where I was teaching. Going on the internet in the school was similar to ordering at McDonalds. There was a menu of websites that students could access on the schools computers. Just as Morgan Spurlock illustrated in his award winning documentary “Supersize Me”, ordering from the same menu every day gets old very quickly. One day a student of mine decided to vocalize to the entire class her their frustrations about technology in our school, and the oppressive policies put in place to combat it. While her rant, unsolicited and completely off topic of the class discussion taking place, I could not help but agree with her.
My first course in the MAET program was CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology. This was my first experience with taking a class online. I was apprehensive how I , now in the role of student, would learn outside the classroom. I was now in the shoes of my students, which gave me a new perspective to online learning. The course was centered on creating a personal learning network to support and enhance my understanding and knowledge of educational technology. While the course stressed how instrumental this learning network would be for my future learning, at the time I never realized how important it was. I realized I felt so much more confident in my ability to take on the MAET program with my support network in place. By the end of the course, my fear of technology in education began to subside.
Another course that dramatically shifted my thinking about technology in education, was CEP 811: Adapting Innovative Technology In Education. The course introduced me to the concept of UDL, or Universal Design for Learning. I had always struggled with differentiating instruction for my students. Universal Design for Learning introduced me to to the various ways I could differentiate instruction for students. UDL included implementing small, easy things into my lessons that would help all of my students learn. Some examples of UDL I began to implement in my classroom, were having my lectures available to students in text format, and including a video of my lectures online for students to reference after class. The reaction and feedback I received from all my students was astounding. By working with UDL throughout the course, I was able to create lessons that would benefit all students, regardless of their abilities. This course showed me that something as simple as adding an audio component to online notes, could be very beneficial for my students.
CEP 811 also introduced me to a concept that I would use throughout the rest of my course work in the MAET program, and throughout my educational career. This concept is known as TPACK. This is where the technology, content, knowledge and pedagogy intersect. That intersection is where educators should create their lessons. The sweet spot is where I always need to be when I want to integrate technology into my classroom. I should never be integrating technology, just for the sake of technology. This is where many educators struggle, and with the introduction of TPACK, I knew I would never be in that mind frame again. I continued to learn about TPACK, and its importance in a 21st century classroom, as I navigated my way through different courses.
One such course was CEP 820: Teaching K-12 Students Online. The goal for the course was to create an online course for my current high school students. This is where TPACK really came into play. I was now responsible for creating meaningful lessons full of content, completely online. I was now forced to think about what I wanted my students to learn, how I was going to teach them, and what technologies I would use in order to do this. Throughout this course, I really began to understand why it is so important to find that interaction of technology,content, knowledge and pedagogy. I was very proud of myself after this course, and began to use the complete unit I created during this course as an online supplement to my high school sociology class.
While I began to grasp how to put lessons together using TPACK, and as I began to understand all the various technologies available to me, I realized I still was missing something. That void I was feeling was filled after I completed the course CEP 820: Learning Technology By Design. During this course, I was introduced to the world of design, and how influential and important it is when creating, for even more than just lessons online. If I got too fancy with what I was creating, it would actually be a disservice to my users. I learned that keeping things simple, my students would be better able to navigate lessons I create online. This would also help me when creating online resources, not just for my students, but say for my student’s parents. Simple is better, and my previously created websites needed a serious overhaul to achieve this. By the end of this course, I created a complete lesson online. This was a huge accomplishment for me. I never realized the time and amount of planning it takes in order to create a comprehensive lesson online. It gave me a newfound respect for website designers everywhere. Until that time, creating a complete complex lesson online was my biggest challenge.
Many times as an educator my students will ask why they are required to do a specific task I ask them to complete in a lesson. While I always make sure to explain to them in detail my rational for the lesson, and what they will learn by the end, it is still difficult to show them this. By creating an online portfolio, I have been given the opportunity to see the purpose of each course, and the various lessons and tasks I was required to complete. By seeing for myself the rationale for each task, I gained a greater understanding of the final outcome.
During my completion of the MAET program, I have really grown, not only as an educator who is well versed in how to implement technology into my lessons, but I have also grown as a leader among my peers. The program gave me the confidence to take on the role of a leader in technology in my school. Once such course that led me to such confidence was CEP 815: Technology and Leadership. This course introduced me to the specific qualities needed to be a respected leader. It introduced me to some very powerful literature that opened my eyes to the traits a leader truly should possess. I also discovered in this course, that being a leader in educational technology may not always be easy. I was introduced to the different social and moral implications that take place in the leadership role. During this course, I was given the tools I needed in order to take on a leadership role in educational technology.
The MAET program gave me the ability to be a leader in educational technology. It showed me that educators should not incorporate technology just for the sake of using technology. It showed me that I need to understand what I wanted to teach my students, how I wanted to teach them, and then I could decide what technology would help me teach them this better. I realized that technology should only be used if it is enhancing student learning. I also now have the tools and confidence to take on a leadership role among my peers. TPACK has really shaped how I view technology in education, and I now try to make sure to share this knowledge with all educators.
At the beginning of my journey through the MAET program, I was determined to learn all the newest and greatest technologies, so that I could use them in my daily classroom. I now see that technology is ever changing, and it is impossible to know every single technology tool available. What I do know now, is that I have a great support network in place to keep me updated on new technologies that can enhance student learning. I also know that using technology in my classroom must have a specific purpose, and determining that purpose is a must. While I continue to grow as an educator, I know that I will be sure to never fear technology, but to embrace it, and use it in order to allow increase student learning. The MAET program has given me the knowledge, tools and confidence to do this.
It was then I decided that I needed to figure out ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. I used technology in all other facets of my life, so why not there? My desire to understand and not fear the cosmic clash technology and education would make, began that day. I now craved the knowledge I would need in order to do this. I made the decision I would need guidance and support in order to achieve my goal. This led me to the decision to enroll into the Masters of Arts in Educational Technology Program at Michigan State University. As part of the application process, I was to write a Goal Statement letter which would outline what I wanted to learn during the course of the program. Now as I complete my final capstone course CEP 807, I have been given the opportunity to reflect on my learning during the MAET program and see my evolution as an educator in the 21st century.
