The Evolution of my Goals
As I embark on the last few classes of my MAET (Masters of Educational Technology), I also am wrapping up one of the most challenging years thus far (and probably in the near future) of my teaching career. It is important to reflect on the journey that got me to this point, and the impact this journey has had on me as an educator and learner.
Rewind back to fall of 2018, when I applied to this program with the professional goal to, “fully embrace technology as an effective tool in teaching”. I also had the goal of wanting to learn more about educational technology as I felt it was important for my students to have meaningful experiences with technology. I stated, “the ability of students to work effectively with technology is a crucial skill that will be of significant value for students in the workforce after they graduate”.
I know that, prior to entering this program, I used technology as a mode of delivery for instruction or possibly a tool for remediating learning gaps. My idea of using technology in the classroom was simply to have students do their work on chromebooks as I thought that would get them used to using computers as well as engage in work in a new and exciting way. I knew my way wasn’t the most effective way, but I don’t think I had any idea of what the most effective way to use technology in the classroom was. I remember just simply wanting to have a better understanding of Google Classroom. Now, three years later, my initial goal itself really hasn’t changed in the sense of its wording, but what has changed is the essential meaning of these goals to me.
Let’s fast forward to the first half of the 2019- 2020 school year year. I had just spent the summer of 2019 in Galway, Ireland completing my first year of the MAET program. I left that summer with the goal of using everything I had just learned to transform the way I teach. In all honesty, though, not much really changed beyond the implementation of some of the lessons I had created in the summer semester.
However, in March of 2020, the world of teaching as we knew it was completely changed. This revolution in teaching, due to the Pandemic, gave me an unprecedented opportunity to more deliberately seek to understand what effective teaching with technology means to me. I began to discover how effective use of technology was giving me the chance to have students collaborate similarly to how we would have if we were in the classroom.
Photo taken by Emily Pearce on Clare Island
Technology not only allowed lessons to be taught in difficult conditions during the pandemic, it acted as a tool for collaboration between students when face to face social interaction was so limited. Not only did I need to embrace technology to teach my students, technology was the only door to the outside world for my students and for the relationships students had with their peers. I had a student who was late on a consistent basis while in person now showing up 15 minutes early to my Zoom so they could chat with peers (even with a teacher present!). This made me really appreciate the students' need for collaboration through technology and gave me the inspiration to continue to seek ways to incorporate it into my teaching.
Effective technology as a part of the learning process not only gives a core understanding of subjects such but understanding in technology and the tools it provides. Understanding of the effective use of technology is crucial for the learners of this generation. Students saw how careers in nearly every sector adapted with remote working at home. They saw that technology was the most vital tool in keeping the workforce working during a pandemic. I know my initial goal recognized the importance of students needing to be familiar with technology, but more than ever I now see it is my responsibility as an educator to equip my students with these skills. These students need to know how to effectively access information through technology for their future educational needs, for the future of their careers, and livelihood after their formal education is complete.
I still want to use technology effectively as I stated in my original goals in 2018, but now that goal means something so much more. When I refer to this goal now, I really focus on those two words; technology and effective.
The evolution I have seen with technology in education from my peers and colleagues over the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been astounding. This experience has helped me to better develop my other personal goal, which is to never stop being inspired to learn. The way I teach should be ever-evolving because it is my responsibility to prepare my students for the ever-evolving future which does not yet exist.
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash