Standing at the Emerald Gates: A synthesis of my MAET journey
Annie Kim Sytsma
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Teaching was a career change for me. I had always been a teacher of some sort, but I never really thought about doing it as a profession. I entertained the idea of majoring in it, but then I remembered the type of student I was and decided that someone who hated school as much as I did had no business becoming a teacher. So I naturally didn’t go into teaching and instead I leaped from different jobs trying to find something that fulfilled me with passion and purpose. Then I started to think that I could become a teacher who would reach those students who were disengaged and abhorred school like I did. I could take my personal experiences of teachers who killed the joy of learning for me and use it to rebuild what learning is or rather should be. It is at this point that I decided to go back to school to become a teacher.
During my student teaching semester, I started to get more interested in incorporating technology into my curriculum. I looked at incorporating technology to not only make sure that students were growing in technological literacy, but also understanding and practicing digital citizenship. I also wanted to encourage students to use technology to showcase their learning and understanding by utilizing a creative method. This interest turned into a passion and even before I graduated with my teaching credential or had a teaching job, I made the decision to apply to Michigan State University to work towards a Master of Arts in Education Technology (MAET) degree. I graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Teaching Certificate in December 2011, applied and received acceptance to the MAET Program in January 2012. By June 2012, I found myself standing in front of the emerald gates of Michigan State University still without a job for the Fall. Although many professors and mentors discouraged and even warned me against starting graduate school before landing a job, I was convinced that this was what I needed in order to set me apart from my competition and get noticed by a district that would be right for me. I knew it would be a gamble, but it was a risk I was willing to take. |
My first MAET course was CEP 2433, which is the trio of CEP 810, 811 and 812. It was a hybrid program called the East Lansing Summer Cohort and required us to commit two weeks of face-to-face learning on campus and then four weeks of learning online. The summer cohort sessions weaved three courses into one summer session and we bobbed in and out of these classes constantly throughout the entire session. I chose to move into Owen Hall and lived on campus for the duration of the two week face-to-face time of my first hybrid summer courses.
I still very much remember walking into my first summer cohort classroom where I would spend countless hours with strangers who would become the first members of my Personal Learning Network as well as my greatest supporters and cheerleaders. From day one, the trio of tech stars, Jodi Spicer, Alison Keller and Craig McMichael, led us in what seemed like tech bootcamp. Like drill sergeants, they traversed us through the trenches of QuickFire after QuickFire and watched as we frantically explored, drowned and sometimes soared through these super high energy QuickFires. The most challenging aspect of that first summer cohort, was the fact that I did not have much practice under my belt. While all of my colleagues had a vast array of curriculum and experience to shape their frame of reference, I had very little to choose from as I didn’t quite have my own curriculum to play with just yet. My MAET colleagues struggled with which unit or lesson to makeover, while I struggled with how to make something over that didn’t already exist. For example, CEP 812 was called Applying Educational Technologies to Issues of Practice and “practice” was not something that I had extensive experience with. My experience with these courses were different from others. Instead of reconfiguring my thinking to make sure that I integrate the TPACK framework into my curriculum and unlearn a prior way of doing things, I learned to use the TPACK framework to build my curriculum at the start of my teaching career. It was during the face-to-face portion of the first summer cohort when I was contacted with a lead to apply to Cedar Springs High School. The face-to-face portion ended and we all went to our respective homes to work on the remainder of the courses. I worked on these projects while putting together everything I needed for my application, in hopes of finding a job to practice and utilize all the great resources I have been gathering while in the MAET program. I waited and waited for some movement, but nothing happened. I assumed that they passed on my application, then all of a sudden, in the last week of the MAET summer cohort, I received an email asking me to schedule an interview. After three rounds of interviews, I ended up getting the job and found out that my web presence via my online portfolio, my Twitter, and many other projects I completed for the MAET program was what peaked the interest of my district. I guess I owe my job to the MAET Program! |
I excitedly started to plan my units and lessons for my future students at my school. I used some of the projects I had already created during my summer courses and also revamped assignments from my colleagues to make it applicable for the classes and students I would be teaching . Not only was I in my first year as a teacher, but I also got married and was in my first year of being a wife. After my first year as a teacher (and a wife), I went into my second summer cohort in the MAET Program.
Instead of living on campus, I chose to commute during the two weeks of face-to-face time so I could spend some time with my husband. To my surprise, the second summer was less intense in comparison to the first summer cohort. I remember waiting in anticipation for a moment where we would be told that we had ten projects and papers that we needed to work on simultaneously. It never happened and much of the second summer cohort program was dedicated to theories, philosophies and educational psychology of how students learn rather than learning new technologies and figuring out how to incorporate it into the curriculum. As I reflect back to all the courses I have taken, I think that CEP 800 was by far one of my favorites. The course titled Learning in School and Other Settings made us incorporate creativity into learning and demonstrated how technology could be applied to help learners create meaningful knowledge. I have been inspired by many of the projects during this course like the 3X3X3 Assignment. The 3x3x3 Assignment had each group take two chapters of Daniel T. Willingham’s book Why Students Don’t Like School and create 3 minute videos exhibiting 3 key points and provide 3 applications, hence the name 3x3x3. I have since adopted this project and incorporated it into my curriculum. The second project, and my ultimate favorite project of the entire MAET courses, was the DreamIt Project, which was also part of CEP 800. The DreamIt Project was essentially a proposal for how I might use the numerous psychological perspective of learning coupled with the relevant use of technology within one of the English courses I teach. The proposal I created reflects my personal growth as a lifelong learner and the vision I have for my past, current and future students. My focus was aimed at developing literacy among students. I saw the problems of how students were neither self-motivated nor self-directed learners. I saw the lack of stamina and discipline students had as readers and writers. I grew tired of seeing students play it safe by relying on rote knowledge and they were so hesitant about diving into deep knowledge and even creating knowledge. I started to struggle with the question Where is originality and creativity? Based on what I saw, it was no wonder students hated school. They weren’t discovering anything exciting, let alone discovering anything period. They weren’t asked to use their individualized passions to spur learning. They were governed by grades and black and white curriculum, which made school not only stale and unrelatable, but it was no longer personal or purposeful. Students were just coming in and out of school buildings and classrooms like robots. The DreamIt Project was something I created as an assignment, but it has been something that I have been working on incorporating into the classroom in order to present students with choice that allowed them to carry the cognitive load. In addition to carrying the cognitive load, students are also demonstrating their innovation as they explore how to create meaning and understanding. I am still tweaking the project and have relied on student feedback to fine tune the DreamIt Project. |
Of all the courses I have taken in the MAET Program, there was none as challenging as CEP 820. The course titled Teaching Students Online examined ways in which educators could take technology into the classroom to better meet the needs of students. The greatest struggle was in developing an online management system that could be used in my school. I felt as though the instructors did not understand that all schools were not equal with the type of technology they possessed. I tried to make my online management system work for my audience, but felt that the only way to successfully finish this course was to assume that the students who would be utilizing this system I created would have more accessibility than my students. I became so frustrated with the direction of this course that I even asked if I could drop the course. I felt like everything I was doing was not what the professor wanted and I struggled to complete assignments that I felt would not be purposeful. Boy was I wrong.
Sometimes our greatest challenges of struggles become our greatest successes and this was true of CEP 820. I successfully finished the course and used all the struggles and challenges to create a hybrid program for our Advanced Psychology course. I implemented a hybrid program where students learn digital literacy in addition to practicing and growing their psychology literacy. This hybrid course is a compilation of all that MAET has taught me. It isn’t perfect the way it is, but it is something that will grow and change just as I will. In struggling through CEP 820, I learned about who I was as a learner. The frustrations I felt as a learner helped me be more mindful as an educator. Working in a district where students are hardly expected to type their papers and trying to teach these students what it means to be digital citizens let alone how to utilize technology has been a challenge, but it most certainly has been a challenge worth taking. While students struggle in the first two weeks of the Advanced Psychology Hybrid course, by the end they are amazed by how much they learned and how much work they actually did when it didn’t feel much like work. The final unit asks them to reflect through their journey of the course. They begin with their initial thoughts about a hybrid course and continue to weave through all the units. They revisit all the projects they have created and by the end are amazed at all that they had created. The ownership and engagement of the students is phenomenal and at the end, they are proud of all the work they have done. This is what learning should be about. My struggles with CEP 820 led me to be able to create a successful online management system for my students. I am reminded that we must celebrate the struggles because the struggles are what helped me create a management system that is currently working. As I finish my final capstone course, I have been reflecting on my MAET journey to see where I started, to see where I am and to see where I am headed. While much has changed in terms of the subjects and the courses I have been teaching, the essentials I learned at the start of my MAET journey in CEP 810 continue to be the foundation of how I incorporate technology into instruction and learning. CEP 810, Teaching for Understanding with Technology, was centered around the theories of learning and understanding. It is the base foundation of my education and it influences how I write my curriculum. It is in this course where I realized the importance of community among educators. The knowledge I have is so limited that I need to grow and learn from others. CEP 810 taught me the importance of having and growing a Professional Learning Network (PLN). I have continuously been adding to my PLN and have been utilizing it to create and build onto my curriculum. I have since taught my students the need for them to build PLNs and how they need to grow their networks. The TPACK framework was another foundational base of CEP 810. I have relied on it to ensure that my curriculum is balanced among Technology, Pedagogy, Content and Knowledge. I continue to explore the creative uses of technology and learning and ask my students to open their minds to perceive the world in a different, and more creative, light. |
MAET has shown me that education, like technology, can be repurposed. In fact, we need to repurpose our education so that it can be engaging and exciting. I was excited to be a grad student in the MAET program. Every project and assignment required me to tap into my creativity, to think outside the box and (re)build knowledge. This program and all of its courses allowed me to explore learning in the context of what was important for me as an educator. This reminds me the importance of creating a curriculum that will allow students to explore what is important to them. I have always believed in the social learning theories of Lev Vygotsky and use his theories to shape who I am as a learner as well as who I am as an educator. As students learn and do the best they can, they share their accounts with one another and in doing so, they teach each other and possess ownership over their own journeys as students. Is that not what true learning and therefore what education ought to be?
I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey at Michigan State University and I am excited to soon wear a “MAET Alumni” button. I will wear it with pride and I will practice all that I learned so that I, and others like me, can repurpose education to be something that is authentic, creative, engaging and limitless. I recommend the Master of Arts in Educational Technology to anyone interested in pursuing it and I know that those individuals will add onto my growing PLN and help continue to shape my learning as well as my students’ learning. It is through technology that all of our classrooms can be united to spread the meaningful things our students are doing and to support one another in what we as teachers are attempting to do day by day.
Thank you to all the professors, colleagues and members of my PLN who have continued to support me, challenge me and help transform my crazy ideals into a reality for my students.
March 2014.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey at Michigan State University and I am excited to soon wear a “MAET Alumni” button. I will wear it with pride and I will practice all that I learned so that I, and others like me, can repurpose education to be something that is authentic, creative, engaging and limitless. I recommend the Master of Arts in Educational Technology to anyone interested in pursuing it and I know that those individuals will add onto my growing PLN and help continue to shape my learning as well as my students’ learning. It is through technology that all of our classrooms can be united to spread the meaningful things our students are doing and to support one another in what we as teachers are attempting to do day by day.
Thank you to all the professors, colleagues and members of my PLN who have continued to support me, challenge me and help transform my crazy ideals into a reality for my students.
March 2014.