CEP 820 Teaching K-12 Students Online

 

Learning online can look like many different things. It can be a simple online survey, a teacher using a website to guide a lesson’s learning, or an entire unit of study completely done using the Internet. It can be a group of students collaborating through Google Docs or creating a WikiSpaces to demonstrate combined knowledge. The goal of this course was to create some kind of online unit. I chose to be daring and took on a huge undertaking. I created a completely online Science Fiction unit that a teacher could use when running a flipped model classroom or a student could complete as an independent study unit.

 

But the end product did not begin this journey. One of the keys to the development of this project was keeping a “Developer’s Notebook”. This was an online running record of my thoughts as I worked toward creating this Science Fiction unit. My professor, Anne Heintz, provoked my thinking through the entire process. She provided me with feedback and constantly asked questions about my thinking. It was beneficial to have someone prod my thinking to not become stagnate. She made me think to the point where it became uncomfortable. I have a very dominate personality and do not like to be wrong. This class and Professor Heintz’s questioning made me look deep into my own thinking and often change what I thought was the “right” thing.

 

Teaching K-12 Students Online (CEP 820) made me consider the different ways of learning online. My thinking was challenged through the entire course as I was asked questions about my thinking process and development. This class really helped me to be willing to change my own ideas and thinking on what is best for my students. I am thankful for this experience as I am much less stingy on being able to change my thinking and ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CEP 822 Approaches to Educational Research

 

Research is something that I have always appreciated and loved to do. I was always researching different ways to achieve higher student engagement in my class, lessons to help students to become better writers, and much more. Research has been a constant part of my life since I started teaching and has continued to be a large part of my current role as an instructional coach. So why would I include this course as something that has really changed who I am as a student at MSU? This course reminded me of how important it is to continue to read current research on topics pertaining to education and leadership. It also led me to develop well-thought out research questions to which there may be no definitive answers yet. This then led me into considering conducting my own educational studies. Dr. Henrickson, my professor for CEP 822, provided excellent instruction through this course.

 

Right before I took Approaches to Educational Research (CEP 822), I had been approached by my school’s administrative team to which they proposed me becoming an instructional coach. They wanted someone who had a strength in the area of writing and could help other teachers bring stronger writing into the classroom at all grade levels. This position sounded wonderful, but in all honesty, I had no clue what I was doing. What better way to figure out what my job was and how effective I could be than to use it as my research question for CEP 822?

 

As I researched and read about the effectiveness of academic coaches, I found that not much research had really been done on the subject. What I did find was either out-dated or inconclusive. This class has inspired me to be able to conduct a research study using my own school to see if an academic coach has any positive effects on student achievement. Without CEP 822 I may never have been inspired to conduct such a research study. I hope that my research will inspire others to do the same so there is current research and data to support school’s using academic/instructional coaches to strengthen student achievement.

 

 

AL 842 Writing Workshop for Teachers

 

Yes, I have chosen to earn a Master of Arts in Educational Technology, but writing is my first passion. When the opportunity arose for me to participate in the Red Cedar Writing Project, I was elated. To make it even better, I would receive three college credits at MSU for participating! I didn’t realize just how much the two fields would mesh together and bring the two things I loved (writing and technology) together.

 

One of the books required for this course was Crafting Digital Writing by Troy Hicks. He stated, “We have an opportunity to help this generation define itself on its own terms. The question is no longer whether or not we should use technology to teach writing; instead we must focus on the many ways that we can use technology to teach writing.” This really struck me as a teacher of writing. Crafting writing does not always require a pen and paper. It never has. It is the creation of the written word, but how it is recorded can be done in a variety of ways. The beauty of digital writing is that a writer’s audience is no longer simply contained to a classroom and a teacher. Digital writing opens a writer’s circle of influence to a global audience.

 

During the course I was encouraged to experiment with new technologies that would enhance the teaching of writing. I explored presentation tools for writing such as Voki and podcasting. This is one of the best developments of the summer institute – podcasting. I learned how to use different recording tools, edit voice recordings, and upload them as podcasts which could then be embedded into websites and blogs. My Red Cedar Writing Project experience is documented with this website I developed. This course taught me how to combine writing and technology knowledge together to create a better experience for the learner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CEP 882 Seminar in CEP: Designing Compelling Experiences

 

Compelling experiences? Isn’t this what we try to provide our students with on a daily basis? I used to think I did this as a teacher but have discovered there is way more to providing my students with a compelling experience than what I did as a teacher. It is something that must be deliberately designed, and it’s not easy.

 

This course has made me stop and consider many aspects of design – architecture, music, space, television – and then contemplate what those have to do with education. It has made me closely examine what I am teaching, its importance, and what will make it a compelling experience for my students. What we do for students should be intentional. Every aspect of our lessons and how we develop the design for those lessons should be intentional and compelling. It seems like this is an impossible task. I know at the beginning of this course that is exactly what I thought. However, to design something to be compelling does not mean that the participant necessarily “likes” the experience.

 

One of my favorite projects for CEP 882 was also one that gave me the most anxiety. I had to choose something I didn’t like or understand and make it compelling. This was mainly because most of the activities my friends and family participate in, I also enjoy. I finally landed on one of my husband’s favorite things that I really don’t understand. Video games. I have never understood why someone would pay so much money for a silly game. However, the arguments he makes in this video compelled me to take a different point of view on the subject.