My Future As a Learner

Now that I have completed my Master of Educational Technology degree, what is next? My professional goal is to continue to increase my knowledge and skills in the areas of technology and education. As I grow professionally, I plan to share my knowledge with others and assist educators in solving problems of practice through technology.

I have dedicated the last few years of my life to studying the art of integrating technology into the elementary curriculum. It has been a challenging and rewarding experience. I started out wondering what is a podcast, how does one make webpages, and why do people use blogs. Now I feel an excitement about the technologies that we have learned about and I want to share this excitement with others. I want my colleagues to say, “Wow, that is a great educational tool, I’m going to use that in my classroom.” I want my students to get lost in their learning because of the highly motivational content. The courses that I have taken encouraged me to grow as a professional and change the direction of my career slightly. I have developed a strong passion for teaching technology and because of this I have moved from teaching third grade to teaching full time technology classes.

Over the next years I want to work at developing an excellent Kindergarten through fifth grade technology program for our school district. Presently I am working at developing creative engaging lessons that integrate the regular education Grade Level Content Standards that align with the Michigan Educational Technology Standards. It is extremely rewarding working with elementary age students in the technology classroom. I have found that incorporating lessons that integrate technology into the curriculum always motivates students to learn and engages students in the learning process. I am constantly searching for new technology tools that can be repurposed to use with my students.

I believe that the best method for spreading my love for technology is to share it. In addition to the website that I have developed through the MAET program, I have also started an educational website educationextras.com. I have been using this site to share elementary teaching ideas, lesson plans, and web based tutorials. Because of starting this site I have developed a relationship with the Michigan Council for History in Education. They have asked me to publish lessons created for the Library of Congress and host these lessons on my site. I plan to continue to develop this site throughout my career to bring ideas to educators worldwide.

One of my future goals is to teach either an online class or develop a professional development seminar to teachers about using technology in the classroom. Not only do I plan to teach others, but of course I plan to continue my journey as a lifelong learner as I seek out new information related to educational technology.

One very important aspect of learning online is being a self directed learner. I believe that I have grown tremendously as a self directed learner. If there is a new technology that I want to learn how to use I am not afraid to search the internet for tutorials or blogs discussing the technology. I want to stay current in my knowledge of various technologies so that I can bring my students lessons that will prepare them for the global society in which we live. I want to give them opportunities that will enable them to respond to our ever changing world.