You know, there comes a time when you have to buck up and give credit where credit is due. A few years ago, my wife, Karen, and I were looking for continued education options. We had both taught for our first year and needed to begin considering what to pursue as we greatly desired our professional certificate. After some shopping around (most of which had been done by Karen) at Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, and others, she approached me about a Master’s Program in Educational Technology. As it appeared more interesting with a relevance greater than a Master’s in the same thing I studied as an undergrad, I reluctantly agreed. After all, it would be nice to have classes together. It turned out that she had also convinced a colleague of hers to complete this with us.

We entered the certificate program not yet fully aware of what lay ahead. We both agreed that the certificate courses were not quite the level to which we expected. Beginning in Summer 2007, however, that changed. Since then I felt I have truly been able to achieve at a level even beyond what I deemed myself capable. This program has opened up opportunities to bring my career as an educator to heights I never had foreseen in my time as an undergraduate. The following is a summary and a reflection of that path, step-by-step, course-by-course.

The Certificate Program in Educational Technology

Our first of many trips to the computer lab at DeWitt High School began a long journey through uncovering what learning with computers really is all about. More than simply sticking a child in front of a computer - a perceived notion of many - we discovered and pondered the meaning of educational technology.

The courses progressively increased in the skill level required to complete each task. Although we had taken them out of order, I was able to meet their demands and push myself to apply the targeted productivity tools to new levels and learn new ways to apply PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.

In CEP 810 the creation of an Internet-based lesson offered a challenge to apply what we leaned concerning the role of technology in education. The lesson I submitted was a copy of what I had already been using, revised to better fit the course requirements and, as a result, the needs of my students.

The least appreciated course, but also probably the most essential, was CEP 812. This course was challenging because it was the only one that felt like homework. Creating the grant proposal was not learning new applications of productivity tools, it was writing. However, finding funds to acquire technology is never easy. Even when the district may pay for it, convincing requires persuasion and budgeting - two things I am not particularly fond of.

In CEP 811, the Stand Alone Instructional Resource (StAIR) I created was designed to help students learn the 50 U.S. states and capitols. It quickly increased in scope and complexity, but stretched the extent to which I thought PowerPoint was capable.

Although the first course, CEP 810, was seemingly designed to level the playing field amongst and across the participants and there was much time devoted to basic computing skills, the latter two, CEP 811 and CEP 812, challenged even the experienced users. Even as it became more advanced, working with Microsoft Office as productivity tools, there were valuable lessons promoted by the course which set the stage for all future learning throughout the EduTech system.

We began by exploring the three methods of employing computers in the classroom. The videos created by Dr. John Bell helped reinforce the differences in the learning that takes place when the computer is successfully integrated into classroom instruction as compared to the traditional classroom, or when computers are superimposed onto existing instruction.

A few powerful notes come to mind from CEP 810, 811, and 812 that were referenced early in the course and continued through readings and lively, thoughtful discussions as the intensity increased. Striking a difference between the oft-perceived role of technology in education, the instructors emphasized the four important aspects of educational technology:

1. 1.Make technology serve the goal of education, which is to benefit and increase student learning.
   

2. 2.Use technology consistent with its nature, learning how to avoid it failing on insignificant technicalities and being a magnet for resources (which can force it into the public eye in a negative manner), identifying the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants, and allowing for proper training to bring all students and staff to a level-playing-field.
   

3. 3.Use technology consistent with the nature of teaching and learning, emphasizing its use as a student-driven learning tool rather than solely a means of improving content delivery, and allowing the educator to be a better facilitator.
   

4. 4.Use technology consistent with best practices, forcing the teacher to be a active learner with the students and a good model through integration and infusion of technology into classroom.
   

The last note begat the final thought which would be explored throughout the program in various situations. There are three roles for technology in schools: 1) Technology as an object that needs to be taught in a “computer class” where students learn about technologies, 2) Technology as a medium that allows teachers to use technology to build and find ideas for better instruction and communicate more effectively, and 3) Technology as a catalyst that allows students to become more involved with using technology to instruct themselves as the teacher facilitates a learning environment where everyone participates and student creativity flourishes.

This struck a chord with me and I realized that this degree program was a fit for me. As I continued down this path I became an admirer and apprentice of the field and my thirst for more became an addiction.

The Master’s Program in Educational Technology

The Summer Cohort, 2007: CEP 800, 801, and 822

As the 2006-2007 school year ended and summer approached, the two-week block of daily trips to Erickson Hall on MSU’s campus loomed like a giant zeppelin. I lightened it with two things. The first builds off the zeppelin reference as I frequently played Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain”, a favorite to keep me smiling in the face of adversity. The second, speaking of adversity, was that I had a great paternity joke about the two people that would accompany me to the Summer Cohort, my eight-month pregnant wife and her seven-month pregnant colleague. There are some great stories about my experiences waddling around campus with those two.

More relevant to the synthesis is that once the cohort began, there was no more need for anxiety as Punya, Ken, and Kim livened the course through great instruction, wonderful discussion, and an unprecedented degree of technical ability. The course consisted of equal quantities of instruction, exploration, and guided work time. We learned about new productivity tools such as Flash, gained a proclivity for and proficiency with Web design as we started our portfolios, and a greater appreciation for group work as we were challenged to create a video project highlighting misunderstandings in education.

All this was completed while completing challenging readings and engaging in compelling discussion directed toward significant issues in education aimed at pointing toward technology as a completely viable solution if properly implemented. Technology was applied to the psychology of learning as we pondered together if there was a larger, more monumental turning point in the history of learning than what we are currently experiencing.

With that rooted in our minds and as the face-to-face period ended, we began the major project, the technology-based lesson plan. Designed to uniquely challenge us to safely take a risk and create a lesson that could not exist without technology. My tech-based lesson really challenged what even I would be comfortable doing in my classroom as I created a unit that incorporated audio and video production tools as well as online discussion through the use of a wiki.

I felt compelled to employ my plan this past spring, modified and intensified to meet our increased availability of computers as our district piloted a 1:1 program that began in February. We had a great time making digital stories that were embedded into their own wiki pages and participating in amazing online discussions using Moodle to facilitate that need. I was able to witness first-hand the incredible creativity and industry to which the students worked, and best of all, they had no clue how much they were learning!

We were unable to attend the final meeting of the course on August 4th because my wife gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Carmen, on August 2nd.

CEP 817: Learning Technology Through Design

I had heard rumors of the intensity if this course months before it began. When it did, it came like a firestorm and was over as soon as it began. Punya’s course was masterfully organized in a most efficient and productive manner allowing us to participate in an online course as if we were sitting together at tables in a large room - a wonderful model for his students. By breaking down the course into units revolving around the creative process, we were able to engage in discussion on critical elements independently before attempting tackling the universality of design.

From reading and discussion to group work on issues of educational design to the Big Kahuna, the course created a new perspective on how I perceived the world. Design plays a fundamental, yet subliminal role in everything from what we buy to how we learn. It is important, then, that we identify how to design a course, a unit, a lesson, a Web page with essential factors in mind: quality, aesthetics, and function.

CEP 891: K-12 Online Teaching

After a relaxing Christmas vacation, I began work on two courses (coincidentally taught by another married couple devoted to educational technology). CEP 891, led by Robin Dickson, was a course I felt had the potential to really nail home what I had thought I had come to embody in my own education as well as how I structured my curriculum and instruction.

As I mentioned above, I had the experience of every student receiving a laptop beginning in mid-February. In preparation for this event, me and three other 8th grade teachers began training in Moodle and building online resources to employ for the remainder of the school year and beyond. This began an intense desire to create a hybrid classroom modeled after the ones I had experienced, taking the best elements and leaving what I felt were undesirable or unnecessary.

Robin’s assignments offered exactly what I wanted, the affirmation of what I had already been doing on my own. I was able to mark “done” on several assignments and submitted work relevant to my teaching as I was employing it in my own classroom. At the same time, however, I was challenging myself to a large degree by exploring the use of educational portfolios.

CEP 813: Electronic Portfolios in Teaching and Learning

Patrick Dickson learned quickly that we were a group unlike he had dealt with previously. Due to a great disparity in experience and ability with Web page creation, he offered a challenge to identify something that offers a “return on investment”. Shortly after offering the challenge, I attended the annual MACUL Conference in Grand Rapids. Among the sessions I visited were a few on student electronic portfolios, mainly based on portfolio use in higher education and graduate programs (familiar territory). Knowing that we, as an 8th grade team, already facilitated a cumbersome non-digital portfolio, it is entirely possible that I could make student electronic portfolios a reality for a core group of students as a pilot.

After meeting with Pat (and Robin) at MACUL, I was able to discuss with him my raw idea and we discussed some pitfalls and items to ponder, adding to the challenge. I spent the remainder of the semester working with these students for about one hour per week using iWeb (Apple Web design application based on a wysiwyg interface) to create a portfolio structure to carry them through high school, if desired.

What resulted is a class being offered next fall for all our 8th graders for the creation of student created electronic portfolios designed to carry them through high school and hopefully provide them with something to prove that education and work completed is worth holding on to.

CEP 807: Proseminar in Educational Technology

As I sit finishing up writing my synthesis, realizing that I am over the alloted word quota, I lastly look back on this program as a bittersweet experience. As happy as I am in completion of the degree, I will miss the camaraderie that resulted in the communication and group work in the several courses. I will miss the challenges and guided instruction in a diverse and dynamic subject. I hope the work completed instilled an enduring legacy alive in the philosophies of all within our cohort as it has in mine. What an amazing group of teacher-learners!

For all this experience has allowed me to do, I must thank my wife for pointing me toward it and being a wonderful conversationalist, study buddy, housemate, and colleague. I couldn’t have done it without her.

To view any work referenced in the synthesis below, visit the MAET Course Work page