IT STARTED WITH AN APPLICATION...
By: Katie Krcmarik
By applying to Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program, I took my first slightly unsteady step forward towards a new career path that I felt may prove to be the ideal field for me. After several missteps in the past decade, this felt like the first step in the right direction for me. I left behind my previous failed attempt at grad school where I tried so hard to make it work even though I had mounting evidence it was not the right choice for me. I left behind my six-year marriage that was long overdue for departure. These two personal failures shook me greatly. Up until that point, I was successful at my undertakings. It was the first time where hard work and persistence did not yield success for me. Additionally, I was a little burned out on teaching at that point after some negative experiences teaching at a for-profit institution. The “what’s next” question plagued me as I struggled to figure out what went wrong and how I could fix these mistakes for the future. After much self-exploration, I decided that a career in instructional design interested me. It offered me the chance to combine my design skills with my teaching experience. It seemed like the ideal career direction for me. As part of this new goal, I began my degree program in order to take the first step towards getting the necessary credential to work in the field.
My previous formal education experiences focused around art and graphic design. I attended Wayne State University where I studied Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design. I chose the fine arts option for my degree so my education focused both on the traditional arts and on graphic design. My time at Wayne State gave me a good foundation in both areas and allowed me to explore a range of art disciplines. After some time working as a graphic designer, I went back to school for a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design at Michigan State University. My interest was focusing on interactive media. Despite not successfully completing the degree, I did have a chance to explore interactive media further both inside the department and by taking classes in other related subject areas. This combination of formal education provided me with a strong background in art and design.
Teaching never entered into my plans until the opportunity to teach presented itself. I had one experience during graduate school serving as a teaching assistant that demonstrated that I liked teaching. I enjoyed helping the students with their projects and seeing the ah-ha moment when a difficult concept finally clicked or they made the software do what they wanted after several attempts. Not long after that, I received a frantic phone call from classmate who ran the local community college design program. An instructor dropped out at the last minute and wanted to know if I would be willing to teach the class. I jumped at the chance to teach the class even though it was such a short time period to complete my course prep. Almost ten years later, I’m glad I took the opportunity to officially branch into teaching. I love working with my students even when they sometimes make me crazy. It’s a rewarding experience to serve as a mentor to their design careers as well as sometimes providing guidance for their lives outside of school. I also had the opportunity to take on an official advisor role for the college. Again, I found I enjoyed the opportunity to assist students with choosing the classes that are best for them. While I could do without the grading, my role as a teacher is perhaps the most rewarding one I’ve played so far in my life.
However, something was still missing from the picture. Like many college professors, I had no formal training in pedagogy. We tend to be subject matter experts, not experts in teaching. Filling in for an instructional design teacher opened my eyes to the world of pedagogy. I now had the terminology to find what I was looking for to improve my teaching skills. My instincts were strong, but I lacked the formal understanding of why certain techniques were more effective than others. I began to research pedagogy and the field of instructional design for my own personal enrichment. The more I researched the subject the more interested I found myself becoming in the subject matter. It started to become clear that instructional design might be an ideal career path for me. It offered a chance to combine my teaching skills, my design background, and my new interest in pedagogy. It also became clear that I would need credentials to move into the field. My picture was now clear, as was the path I needed to take to achieve this goal.
After extensive research, I decided to attend Michigan State University and pursue a degree in educational technology. Michigan State offered the flexibility of online or hybrid programs to work with my own crazy schedule. The program offered exceptional faculty whose research delved into fields I was interested in. The aptly titled “Choose Your Own Adventure” track offered me the opportunity to custom fit the program to my needs and interests. Finally, the program clearly explored issues related to design and the arts in relation to teaching. It seemed like a clear choice to apply to the program. The MAET program delivered on all these promises and so much more over the last year.
My previous formal education experiences focused around art and graphic design. I attended Wayne State University where I studied Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design. I chose the fine arts option for my degree so my education focused both on the traditional arts and on graphic design. My time at Wayne State gave me a good foundation in both areas and allowed me to explore a range of art disciplines. After some time working as a graphic designer, I went back to school for a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design at Michigan State University. My interest was focusing on interactive media. Despite not successfully completing the degree, I did have a chance to explore interactive media further both inside the department and by taking classes in other related subject areas. This combination of formal education provided me with a strong background in art and design.
Teaching never entered into my plans until the opportunity to teach presented itself. I had one experience during graduate school serving as a teaching assistant that demonstrated that I liked teaching. I enjoyed helping the students with their projects and seeing the ah-ha moment when a difficult concept finally clicked or they made the software do what they wanted after several attempts. Not long after that, I received a frantic phone call from classmate who ran the local community college design program. An instructor dropped out at the last minute and wanted to know if I would be willing to teach the class. I jumped at the chance to teach the class even though it was such a short time period to complete my course prep. Almost ten years later, I’m glad I took the opportunity to officially branch into teaching. I love working with my students even when they sometimes make me crazy. It’s a rewarding experience to serve as a mentor to their design careers as well as sometimes providing guidance for their lives outside of school. I also had the opportunity to take on an official advisor role for the college. Again, I found I enjoyed the opportunity to assist students with choosing the classes that are best for them. While I could do without the grading, my role as a teacher is perhaps the most rewarding one I’ve played so far in my life.
However, something was still missing from the picture. Like many college professors, I had no formal training in pedagogy. We tend to be subject matter experts, not experts in teaching. Filling in for an instructional design teacher opened my eyes to the world of pedagogy. I now had the terminology to find what I was looking for to improve my teaching skills. My instincts were strong, but I lacked the formal understanding of why certain techniques were more effective than others. I began to research pedagogy and the field of instructional design for my own personal enrichment. The more I researched the subject the more interested I found myself becoming in the subject matter. It started to become clear that instructional design might be an ideal career path for me. It offered a chance to combine my teaching skills, my design background, and my new interest in pedagogy. It also became clear that I would need credentials to move into the field. My picture was now clear, as was the path I needed to take to achieve this goal.
After extensive research, I decided to attend Michigan State University and pursue a degree in educational technology. Michigan State offered the flexibility of online or hybrid programs to work with my own crazy schedule. The program offered exceptional faculty whose research delved into fields I was interested in. The aptly titled “Choose Your Own Adventure” track offered me the opportunity to custom fit the program to my needs and interests. Finally, the program clearly explored issues related to design and the arts in relation to teaching. It seemed like a clear choice to apply to the program. The MAET program delivered on all these promises and so much more over the last year.
As I complete the program, I reflect on what I’ve learned and it’s impact on my teaching and myself. When I started the program, I was worried that as a non-traditionally trained teacher that I would be in over my head, but I quickly realized this would not be an issue given the support provided by faculty. CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology and CEP811: Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education provided a strong introduction the principles that the MAET program integrates into all the courses including Dr. Mishra and Dr. Koehler’s TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) approach to thoughtfully and purposefully integrating technology into the classroom. CEP 815: Technology and Leadership offered an introduction to leadership and my potential to be a leader in integrating technology at my campus. CEP 882: The Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences and CEP 817: Learning Technology through Design offered challenging explorations of design’s role in educational experiences. Finally, CEP 816: New Media Literacies for Teaching & Learning
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Across Curriculum explored the role of technology in improving literacy. Perhaps the most important thing I learned over the past year was to have confidence in my own ideas. Instructors like Craig McMichael and Benjamin Gleason provided both essential feedback and the encouragement to pursue my ideas behind the confines of the classroom. Without them, I may never have spoken at two conferences and pitched my ideas for asynchronous professional development to the head of our Center for Teaching and Learning. I’ve been inspired to try new things in my classroom with great success. My courses pushed me beyond my comfort zone to explore new ideas and possibilities for my teaching and my professional pursuits.
My studies in the MAET program began with a combination of courses, CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology and CEP811: Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education, focused on exploring pedagogy and the use of technology to meet learning goals. CEP 810 specifically introduced the concept of TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) and its application in the classroom. Perhaps most interesting, as Dr. Mishra, one of the developers of TPACK, notes, a pencil can be considered technology. TPACK focused not on just using the latest and greatest technology in the classroom, but instead employing technology in a smart, purposeful manner to meet learning goals and convey content. In general, CEP 810 and CEP 811 laid the groundwork for the purposeful use of technology in the classroom. CEP 811 pushed me to explore creating a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), to use the MakeyMakey in my lessons, to find ways to re-purpose existing technologies in new ways, and to imagine my perfect 21st century classroom. CEP 811 wrapped up with a project to create a conference proposal, which in my case was centered on using storyboarding to create better instructional videos. I presented this proposal along with one of my group members at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference recently. Both courses required the use of blogging and Twitter, two practices I’ve continued for myself and adapted into my own classroom. The combination of CEP 810 and CEP 811 helped provide a strong framework for pedagogy and the use of technology in the classroom that carried through as I proceeded through the program.
My studies in the MAET program began with a combination of courses, CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology and CEP811: Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education, focused on exploring pedagogy and the use of technology to meet learning goals. CEP 810 specifically introduced the concept of TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) and its application in the classroom. Perhaps most interesting, as Dr. Mishra, one of the developers of TPACK, notes, a pencil can be considered technology. TPACK focused not on just using the latest and greatest technology in the classroom, but instead employing technology in a smart, purposeful manner to meet learning goals and convey content. In general, CEP 810 and CEP 811 laid the groundwork for the purposeful use of technology in the classroom. CEP 811 pushed me to explore creating a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), to use the MakeyMakey in my lessons, to find ways to re-purpose existing technologies in new ways, and to imagine my perfect 21st century classroom. CEP 811 wrapped up with a project to create a conference proposal, which in my case was centered on using storyboarding to create better instructional videos. I presented this proposal along with one of my group members at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference recently. Both courses required the use of blogging and Twitter, two practices I’ve continued for myself and adapted into my own classroom. The combination of CEP 810 and CEP 811 helped provide a strong framework for pedagogy and the use of technology in the classroom that carried through as I proceeded through the program.
In my second semester, the challenging courses of CEP 817: Learning Technology through Design and CEP 882: The Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences explored the role of design in creating more engaging classroom experiences. While both classes pushed me to use new technology and incorporated technology as part of project solutions, the courses focused more on foundational principles about rethinking education through design. In CEP 817, I explored using technology in new ways to create better learning experiences grounded in pedagogy. The course centered on the main project title the “Big Kahuna” where my final project was a website focused on teaching typography to graphic design students and other interested parties. Over the course of CEP 817, a large amount of time was spent defining and then discussing what made for good design. The goal was to explore how the design of instructional materials impacted their successful implementation in the classroom. CEP882 also looked
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to the arts for guidance in developing more compelling
teaching experiences. The course asked us as students to explore
architecture, photography, film, design, and music to discover what
made work in these disciplines so engaging and compelling. The course
wrapped by demonstrating my top ten list of principles I learned in
exploring these mediums that could be applied creating more engaging
experiences in the classroom when teaching. While my background is in
design, these courses offered me a chance to apply the principles I know
well to creating better teaching tools and classroom experiences to
produce more effective learning outcomes in my classroom.
As I come to the end of my program, CEP 815: Technology and Leadership, taken during my third semester, and CEP 816: New Media Literacies for Teaching & Learning Across Curriculum, taken in my last semester, allowed me to explore issues related to technology and its application to solve specific learning challenges. In CEP 815, the course focused on leadership in the use of technology on campus specifically. While it was interesting to look at leadership styles, I found the course most beneficial in exploring and solving problems through the use of technology. As with CEP 810 and CEP 811, I focused not on using technology as a crutch, but as a thoughtful resolution to a problem. In my case, I looked specifically at the problems of increasing faculty participating in professional development by the use of asynchronous options and the need for increased training for students in basic technology they are expected to utilize as part of their courses. For me, CEP 816 continues some of these themes, but focuses in on the use of new media text tools to improve student-learning
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outcomes and increase their literacy with these new tools. I find this material especially interesting given many of my students have deficient reading skills. The course introduced me to several tools that I can use to improve student comprehension of more challenging reading assignments. Additionally, through several read aloud activities, I have been able to connect more with how I read in order to better assist students. Like many instructors, I no longer consciously think about reading. By reading aloud and being forced to verbalize my process, I was able to reconnect with the process of deliberately thinking about material in order to better assist my students. Both CEP 815 and CEP 816 focused on using technology as a problem-solving tool to benefit learning outcomes.
My journey in this program started with a seemingly simple act of completing an application. It marked a step in a new direction for me. While I had some idea of what was to come based on course and program descriptions, I was happy to find that the MAET program offered me so much more and allowed me to finally connect all the skills I developed over the years to create effective learning experiences for students. It pushed me to get beyond my comfort zone by introducing me to the professional benefits of Twitter and allowing me reconnect with the idea of extreme frustration during learning by attempting to learn to play the guitar using YouTube videos as part of CEP 810. My instructors challenged me to explain my thoughts and ideas in great detail and with through documentation throughout the program. It provided me with the confidence in my ideas that spurred me to take a more active role on my campus as a leader and to present my ideas at conferences. It forced me to reexamine my teaching practices and provided me with the tools to create learning experiences better geared to my specific students including replacing traditional academic papers with reflective blogging and removing exams from courses in favor of alternative assessment practices like creating a manifesto about design to demonstrate content knowledge. Most importantly, I emerge from the program a stronger, more confident teacher than when I entered thanks to thoughtful, encouraging feedback from the program’s faculty which helped push me to explore my thoughts and actions in the classroom on a deeper level.
My journey in this program started with a seemingly simple act of completing an application. It marked a step in a new direction for me. While I had some idea of what was to come based on course and program descriptions, I was happy to find that the MAET program offered me so much more and allowed me to finally connect all the skills I developed over the years to create effective learning experiences for students. It pushed me to get beyond my comfort zone by introducing me to the professional benefits of Twitter and allowing me reconnect with the idea of extreme frustration during learning by attempting to learn to play the guitar using YouTube videos as part of CEP 810. My instructors challenged me to explain my thoughts and ideas in great detail and with through documentation throughout the program. It provided me with the confidence in my ideas that spurred me to take a more active role on my campus as a leader and to present my ideas at conferences. It forced me to reexamine my teaching practices and provided me with the tools to create learning experiences better geared to my specific students including replacing traditional academic papers with reflective blogging and removing exams from courses in favor of alternative assessment practices like creating a manifesto about design to demonstrate content knowledge. Most importantly, I emerge from the program a stronger, more confident teacher than when I entered thanks to thoughtful, encouraging feedback from the program’s faculty which helped push me to explore my thoughts and actions in the classroom on a deeper level.