Annotated Transcript
This page contains an overview of all of the courses that I completed at Michigan State University (MSU) on my path to complete the Master in Educational Technology (MAET) program. The courses are listed in chronological order and organized by the semester they were completed. Each course includes the course title, instructors, and a brief description of the course and my experience with it.
⧫ CEP = Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education ⧫
Spring
2020
CEP 820: Teaching Students Online
Dr. Anne Heintz and Marrisa Zhu
This course explored different tools, strategies, and techniques to be used to engage in teaching students online. We also had the opportunity to examine different Learning Management Systems (LMS) to look at what they offered and how they were alike and different. We ultimately picked one LMS to use to build our own virtual classroom that included one unit of study. Finally, we examined the issues of Accessibility for all and Universal Design for Learning. We then took these ideas and found ways to incorporate them into our virtual classrooms.
Summer
2020
CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology
Mary Wever and Nicole Zumpano
Throughout this course, I had the opportunity to explore how technology ties into learning and understanding by diving deep into the examination of the Technology, Pedagogy, Content Knowledge framework (TPACK). Exploration of this model solidified my thinking that technology should not be the driving force behind building lessons. Instead, it is important to look at the content of the lesson and then decide what piece of technology could be used to help students showcase their learning and drive their understanding of the concept to the next level. During this course, I also had the opportunity to examine 21st-century learning. My entire teaching career has spanned the 21st century. It was interesting to see in my research into 21st-century learning, that information that I was being presented with at the beginning of the century and new educational initiatives that were implemented throughout were all part of the ideals of 21st-century learning. These ideals are constantly evolving, changing, and growing as we progress throughout the century.
CEP 811: Adapting Innovative Technologies in Education
Edie Erickson and Alison Keller
This course allowed me the opportunity to examine who I am as a Maker. I was able to practice and spend time expanding my making skills by exploring littleBits and ultimately determining how I could incorporate them into an Innovative Learning Experience for my own students. I also had the opportunity to explore iteration and gain an understanding of how important it is to teach our students that it is ok to fail, but then to go back and look at how they can improve from that failure. This course also explored Creative Commons licensing and how to correctly use other media found on the internet. This course also delved into the ideals of Universal Design Learning and Intersectionality which allowed me to make connections on how to create lesson plans for my students that addressed all students no matter their backgrounds. Finally, I was able to enjoy the opportunity to look at my current learning space and redesign it to help encourage learning and understanding in all of my students.
Fall
2020
CEP 812: Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice
Dr. Brittany Dillman
This course led me to the realization that I need to take some cues from my preschooler and get back to my inquisitive roots and questioning “why” things are the way they are. The course further lead me to identify wicked problems in my practice that stem from my “whys”. I then had the opportunity to examine my wicked problem and work through a series of steps to help uncover a solution to my problem that tied in technology and the TPACK model.
Spring
2021
CEP 817: Learning Technology Through Design
Dr. Anne Heintz and William Bork
This course allowed me the chance to further examine how allowing students to design and work through the Design Thinking process helps them to create stronger, more meaningful ties to the curriculum, which in turn helps them to walk away with a better understanding of the material. I then had the opportunity to examine each step of the Design Thinking process in further depth. I also had the opportunity to choose a problem of practice and work through the process from beginning to end in order to come up with a solution to the problem that I was trying to address.
Summer
2021
CEP 800: Learning in Schools and Other Settings
Ron Houtman and Chris Sloan
This course focused on how learning occurs for individuals. We looked at different theories of learning and were able to connect them to how our own students, children, and ourselves learn. We had the opportunity to examine and explore which theories we felt had the greatest impact on learners and were able to examine these relationships to ultimately reflect and create our own personal theory of learning.
CEP 815: Technology and Leadership
Kyle Shack
This course provided the opportunity to examine different leadership styles, identify which leadership styles we saw in ourselves, and pushed us to step out of our comfort zones and approach different scenarios with different leadership approaches. We also had the opportunity to explore technology from different perspectives and assess and find ways to share our thinking regarding its benefits and constraints when being used with students to increase learning. We wrapped up the course by taking time to create a global vision of educational technology that could address a problem of practice within our schools or districts and help to move them forward with this in the next 5 years.
Fall
2021
CEP 813: Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning
Dr. Stephanie Jennings
This course examined the advent and evolution of assessments from the reasoning behind the initial assessment movement to the system we have in place today. We also had the opportunity to explore and reflect on our own personal thinking of what assessments are and how they are used both within our classrooms and in mandated standardized assessments. We then had the opportunity to create our own assessment without any constraints on how we feel would best showcase student learning and understanding. The course then shifted gears to explore the ideals of metagaming and provided an opportunity to “metagame” the systems, policies, and conventions surrounding mandated standardized testing.
CEP 822: Approaches to Educational Research
Dr. Michael Lachney and Marrisa Zhu
This course focused specifically on educational research and provided the opportunity to explore qualitative, quantitative, and humanistic research methods. We had the opportunity to engage in learning opportunities that allowed us to practice our skills and gain a deeper understanding of descriptive and inferential statistics and interview design. We also took time to evaluate our experiences with a SparkFun TinkerKit (coding/physical computing technology) and interpret how these experiences could be utilized with our own students to take their learning to the next level. The course concluded with the analysis of 12 research articles related to a topic relevant to our work.
Spring
2022
CEP 807: Capstone in Educational Technology
Dr. Matthew Koehler and Aric Gaunt
​In the culminating course for my MAET program, I had the opportunity to reflect on my journey throughout the program. I was able to reflect on how my thinking has changed and grown throughout the course. I was also able to think about what goals I had when I first came into the program and how those goals shifted and changed throughout. I then had time to lay out a plan for my future goals and where I would like to continue on my journey as an educator. Finally, I put all of this together, along with examples of my best work into an online portfolio to showcase my journey, growth, and development for others to see.