Annotated Transcript
The classes I took offered me more than their course descriptions which you can find by clicking on a course title. Below you will find my MSU transcript along with a description of each course's personal impact on me as an educator.
Fall 2014
CEP 810: Teaching Understanding with Technology
Instructors: Missy McCarthy & Allison Keller
My first course in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program provided me with grounding in the philosophical and pedagogical theories that underpin best practice in the field. I had my first experience with Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) theory as well as exploring various technologies to enhance teaching and learning. This course featured a semester long Networked Learning Project where I taught myself how to knit using nothing but youtube videos and help forums. This project was my first experience using technology to completely guide a learning experience in this manner, and it gave me a glimpse of how empowering and satisfying the process can be.
CEP 811: Adapting Innovative Technology to Education
Instructors: Amy Pietrowski and Mary Wever
This course took what we had learned in CEP 810 and expanded it by having us explore how to use technology in the classroom in ways beyond word processing and videos. This course provided our first introduction into Maker Culture with a project that required us to repurpose an everyday item using a technology tool to create an engaging and innovative learning activity. In addition, we experienced the power of shared knowledge through a EdCamp experience that allowed us each to share our own technology passion and understanding with others who may not share the same background. We were also given the opportunity use Google SketchUp to design our ideal learning space. I used my current space as my template and am slowly making the changes I envisioned become reality in my school.
Spring 2015
CEP 812: Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice
Instructors: Sean Sweeney and Colin Gallagher
The focus of this course was using technology to break down the barriers preventing teachers from embracing and implementing the new learning models that have developed an been proven successful over the past two decades. We used James Paul Gee's The Anti-Education Era (2013) as a basis for our discussions and looked at the idea that how we use technology and the advantages it provides is more important than what technology is being used. The centerpiece project of this course was a Wicked Problem project where groups worked together through research, collaboration and creation to provide one possible solution to a potentially unsolvable problem of practice. An analysis of our information diet, the stream of information we receive online, was also a valuable reminder of the power of the data collected by the search engines we use and the importance of seeking out other voices to keep our viewpoints balanced.
Summer 2015
CEP 800: Learning in School and Other Settings
Instructors: Dr. Cary Roseth and Diana Campbell
This course really focused on the different types of learning theory and how knowing how students learn is just as important as knowing the content you want them to learn. We really focused on lesson design using the TPACK model and how to be aware of how your technology, pedagogy and content interact with each other so that they are complementary and not taking away from the learning experience as a whole. We also examined student feedback as an important component in lesson development. The focus of this course on reflective rather than reactive teaching moved my instruction to a place where I have been able to move from trying to get through the content to a place where student mastery is the focus.
CEP 822: Approaches to Educational Research
Instructors: Daniel Freer and Ha Thanh Nguyen
The focus of this course was to explore different types of education research, understand how to interpret the data, and how to use that data analysis to guide practice. Our central work for the class involved developing a hypothesis that was relevant to our teaching and create an annotated list of research studies that support or refute our position. My research topic was Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and its impact on student achievement because my school was in the middle of a three-year implementation grant. Developing a deeper understanding of the different types of research and how to interpret and assess the results is a skill that has improved my ability to understand and evaluate learning models and make decisions about their potential effectiveness in my classroom.
Fall 2015
CEP 816: Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum
Instructors: Paul Morsink, Ian Clemente and Ha Thanh Nguyen
This course looked at the New Media that technology affords and helped us experience ome of the new mediums that students and teachers will need proficiency with in the future. We spent a lot of time examining different reading strategies to help students get the most out of on-line texts. The modification and creation of online texts was a highlight of this course. As a teacher of library skills, the ability to modify online content to make it more engaging is one that has served me well and allowed me to see topics such as the Dewey Decimal System through a new lens. The ability to create relevant content and resources is perhaps one of the most beneficial that I have developed in the course of this program, and I have been able to implement it in both my teaching and professional development roles.
CEP 818: Creativity in Teaching and Learning
Instructors: Dr. Punya Mishra, Jon Good and Carmen Richardson
Creativity is a concept that is hard to describe and even harder to assess. This course gave us the opportunity to understand that for something to be creative, it has to be novel, effective and whole. Using the book Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People by Michele and Robert Root - Bernstein as a jumping off point, we examined how we as educators can provide opportunities within our disciplines for our students to develop their creativity. Through a variety of activities, we learned that creativity is a skill that requires practice just like any other; and that if you push yourself out of your comfort zone, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.
Spring 2016
CEP 815: Technology and Leadership
Instructors: Benjamin Gleason and Missy Cosby
For many teachers technology and its concurrent impact on practice are a huge change. For changes on this scale to go smoothly, it is important to have good leaders in place who have a vision and understanding of the path. This course focused on developing an understanding of six different leadership styles and how they play out within the work environment. For me, the most powerful piece was the development of a professional vision. This vision which is based on research and my personal beliefs about education represents what is important to me and gives me a tangible end goal for me to work towards as I continue my career.
CEP 820: Teaching Students Online
Instructors: Dr. Anne Heintz and Liz Owens Bolz
New digital technologies have made online learning accepted practice at all levels of education. This course introduced the different types of online learning models and best practice for individuals who are teaching online. An explorations of Learning Mangement Systems (LMS) allowed us to experience the variety of options available and determine which system would work best for us in our situation. The experience with many online learning platforms served as a good background for me moving forward with an LMS selection process and roll-out in my home district at the same time.
Summer 2016
CEP 807: Capstone in Educational Teachnology
Instructors: Dr. Matthew Koehler, Spencer Greenhalgh, Sarah Keenan and Brittany Dillman
This course serves as the final course for each student in the program. The creation of an online showcase of our learning at Michigan State University is the focus. It serves as a reflective journey through our experience in the MAET program that allows us to recognize the changes that we have made to ourselves and our practice as a result of our experiences in the program. Through peer collaboration, we create resources such as resumes, transcripts and work showcases to help us as we continue on to our next challenge.