Megan E. Rosenbaum
Masters of Educational Technology Portfolio
To The Future and Beyond
An essential part of the professional obligations of an educator is to recognize that we are also learners. Like students, we need to continually advance our knowledge and understanding. We must have goals as learners and work toward experiences that can help us achieve these learning goals. The three goals I have identified are to infuse technology to improve my classroom organization and routines, to redesign several core lessons using the Stanford Design Thinking Model, and to take an active role in student leadership programs. I developed these specific goals from a few important concepts my degree work has engendered: the use of innovative technology within educational experiences, the design process for lessons and classroom activities that create meaningful individualized learning experiences for my students, and the development of activities and experiences that inspire student creativity, participation and innovation. With these concepts in mind I then thought about what resources I had to obtain my goals and what topics were essential to the knowledge I gained throughout my master’s degree work, and from here it became clear what my goals would be.
My first goal is to implement technology into my classroom that helps with classroom organization and routines. This ranges from having a modern classroom website for students and parents to access to developing the best means of keeping students on track and up-to-date with classroom activities and assignments. There are two specific technologies that I will begin using and experimenting with in my classroom. The first is Google Calendar, where students can see daily descriptions of assignments, download documents or even watch videos taken during class. The second is Remind (formerly Remind101), where students and parents can be made aware of important information via text messages, and alerts on their cell phones. Beyond these, I will continue to learn and experiment with other organizational technologies that I might use within my classroom to enrich the learning experience.
My second major goal as a future learner is to reexamine and redesign the core lessons in my curriculum using the Stanford Design Thinking Model. In today’s educational climate, creating lessons and activities that provide students with an authentic and meaningful exposure to knowledge and information is imperative. We live in a fast-paced, technology-filled world where education focus is shifting toward problem-based learning and the development of critical thinking and reasoning skills. Through means of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and in science, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), students will start being asked to create, synthesize and innovate more than ever beyond the traditional retention of factual or procedural information. I plan to embrace this shift in classroom experiences and activities, by further developing my understanding and confidence with the Stanford Design Thinking Model, and redesigning many of my existing lessons to better suit my users (the students). By taking lessons that address the essential concepts in my curriculum and applying the 5 stages of the design thinking model, I will engage my students in experiences that show and support their knowledge and understanding of key concepts.
The third goal I have as a future learner is to learn about and take an active role in school leadership programs. The most essential feature of my job is the students. And with the shifts occurring in education today, students have unique opportunities to experience leadership and innovation. My goal will be to get involved with nurturing and creating platforms for students to have these types of character building, mind-set shifting experiences. Currently, my central resource for this is our school’s mentor program, of which I am a co-facilitator. With further development, this program has the potential to provide students with opportunities to work in collaborative groups, create and implement various programming and activities, and explore their own initiatives, all of which are crucial in shaping students who embrace creativity, innovation and the learning progress. A specific resource that can aid in providing this type of experience for students, and particularly students involved in my school’s mentor program, is a skills-building, leadership program, where students are shown and provided opportunities to develop themselves as creative, collaborative school leaders. Part of my goal will be to work both inside and outside of the classroom to create opportunities and activities for students to begin becoming leaders and innovators within their own education and schooling experiences.
It will be essential for me to examine and reexamine my goals, reflect on my professional and personal progress, and to continually set new goals for myself. If I continue to focus on the three major concepts from my coursework which inspired my specific goals—the importance of technology within educational experiences, the design of individualized learning experiences, and the development of activities to inspire student creativity, participation and innovation—I will be able to utilize the information, knowledge and resources I obtained throughout my degree to continue developing as an educator and a lifelong learner.
