Reflection | portfolio

Goals in Retrospect

In 2012 I was given a new position at my school that I teach at, Calvary Christian Schools. Our previous technology volunteer could no longer do the work of updating computers and network maintenance. I was hesitant at first to start working in the newly created part-time position of Technology Facilitator since I was already a full-time teacher, but over time it has turned out to be a good fit for me. I have decent intuition about how to troubleshoot things and work through various technologies. Naturally it made sense for me try to earn a Masters in something related to my new position at school.

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. ~T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926

Entering the Master of Arts in Educational Technology(MAET) program, I was hoping to obtain more skills and ideas as I helped our school to maintain and improve our technology. Since becoming the Technology Facilitator at our school, I have redesigned the school website, switched the student information system (transcripts, gradebooks, attendance) to a new online system, and switched all of the student and teacher computers over to a Linux operating system and open source software (saving the school over $20,000 in the process). In being the technology leader at our school, I was looking for a program that could help me in creating a technology vision and assist the teachers with technologies that help the students to learn more effectively. As a side benefit, I also wanted to obtain the NP technology endorsement so I would be qualified to teach computer classes as well.

Since being in the MAET program my initial goals have not changed. I still want to improve the technology vision and my assistance to teachers in our school. However, since starting the program, additional goals and reasons have accumulated for my purpose in being in the program. The program has taken me two years to complete, but in the middle of schedule of courses I started teaching some new classes I have never taught before: middle school computer classes. Now even more of what I have been learning in my graduate classes has become relevant to me. When my graduate classes started covering online presence, netiquette and digital citizenship; I could directly relate to now since I specifically teach those things in my computer classes. Additional goals of wanting to become a better computer teacher and to help my students to learn how to use technologies effectively in the classroom have been added to my list of goals.

More and more I see how the MAET program has been a great fit for my learning goals over the past two years. As I complete more and more of the required courses, I see how they fit more and more with the goals I had and continue to develop. Whether it is learning how to teach students online, applying educational technology into practice, learning more about the psychology of learning, or delving into leadership with technology; these courses have been a good fit for where I am and where I am headed in the future.