CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology - Nicole Zumpano This was my very first MAET course and I was very excited to begin this journey. This course first introduced me to APA formatting, which was new to me as I always used MLA in previous programs. Then it introduced me to the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, which is the backbone of the MAET program. Throughout this course, we conducted research, wrote essays, created presentations, and even had the opportunity to choose to learn a skill that we've always wanted to learn (I chose American Sign Language) and create presentations on our progress and reflection. Beginning this program and course at a time where my school was going back in person proved to be an incredible challenge, but prepared me for the rest of my courses.
Summer 2021
CEP 815: Technology and Leadership - Kyle Shack I began this course, not knowing what to expect at all, frankly, yet this course gave me incredibly important knowledge and skills that I can take to any career path I choose. A lot of what we accomplished in this course involved us role-playing, or putting ourselves in the shoes of a leader of some sort. One of the very first assignments included us stepping into the shoes of a district technology coordinator and advocating for the purchase of a tool to use in classrooms. We had many opportunities to reflect on our experiences with leadership as well as in a leadership role. This was also one of the courses where I first learned how much I enjoy creating professional development sessions.
CEP 833: Creativity in K12 Computing Education - Bill Marsland I was very excited but also very nervous beginning this course because of how far out of my comfort zone it was. I had very little prior knowledge or experience with computer science in general before beginning so I knew I would have to be very patient with myself while working. A main focus of this course was creation. We tested new tools and then created assignments or projects with the tested out tools. This course also inspired me to continue learning about computer science and coding (see my future goals here).
Fall 2021
CEP 812: Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice - Deborah McHorney-Enokian Throughout this course, we researched about "wicked problems" facing education. This course also came at a time where I was making the decision to leave the classroom, so these "wicked problems" felt very personal to me at the time. Once we narrowed our focus on one particular problem, we designed a survey and sent that out to our channels to get other educator's opinions about it. We collected that data and reported on our findings, while also designing a potential solution. This course not only gave me invaluable knowledge, but also helped me process through my major career change.
Spring 2022
CEP 817: Learning Technology through Design - Dr. Liz Boltz & Dr. Anne Heintz When meeting with my advisor, this course came highly recommended and now I can see why - it was so much fun! Not only did I learn so much about the design process as a whole, but I also had a lot of fun doing it. The very first unit was all about the design process, more specifically the Design Thinking Model from the Stanford Design School. Then we identified a problem to design a solution for and went through each stage of the design thinking model (check out mine here). This process gave me the opportunity to practice brainstorming, designing, prototyping, testing, analyzing data, and a great deal of reflecting.
CEP 820: Teaching Students Online - Dr. Anne Heintz This course allowed me to expand on something I really enjoyed while working at the TIEs office at Michigan State - course creations. We explored online learning standards, tested out different learning management systems, and started building our own online course. I chose to explore and learn about a new website builder, built my own virtual classroom, and made sure I had accessible features for all students. We wrapped up with creating a formal assessment and rubric for our new course.
Summer 2022
CEP 800: Psychology of Learning in School and Other Settings - Ron Houtman This course brought me back to the beginning of my education career. It was not necessarily by choice that I took this course so late in the MAET program, but I am glad I did because it allowed a lot of reflection to happen. We started the course by crafting our own personal theory of learning (the link to mine is here) based on our current beliefs about learning. Then as we studied different psychological learning theories, social learning, identity, and even habits, we kept revising our own theory of learning. By the end of the semester, we had a polished final draft of our personal theory of learning that encompassed past and new beliefs of learning.
CEP 813: Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning - Dr. Stephanie Jennings I took a lot of what I learned from the assessment portion of CEP 820 and applied it to this course. CEP 813 combined different assessment theories with modern technology, making for a very interesting course. We started by reflecting on our own definitions of assessments, read and discussed about historical and societal power and biases that affect assessment, and then created our own assessment project. This project allowed for collaboration, research, design, and reflection. A link to my final product is here.
Fall 2022
CEP 822: Approaches to Educational Research - Dr. Megan Garza This course was a challenge for me, and I knew that would be the case going into it. Research and statistics were subjects that always made me nervous because they challenged me so much. However, with Dr. Garza's support and instructional approach, I was able to be successful. We learned about falsifiability, research ethics, and power and biases in social sciences. We practiced identifying properties of interest (POI's), designing survey and interview questions, analyzing data, practicing quantitative and qualitative data collection. While I don't plan on continuing in a world of education research, I really enjoyed having my thinking challenged.
CEP 807: Capstone Seminar - Dr. Matthew Koehler Taking this course was very bittersweet. As much as I'm excited to not take classes on top of working full time, I will miss continuing my education with Michigan State and being a part of the MAET community. This course involved a lot of reflection, planning, and design. One of our very first goals was to decide how we wanted to use our portfolio (for teaching, for a job search, etc.), which then helped us figure out the correct design, language, and elements to include. Each week were also to give and receive feedback to one another, to help make sure our portfolios were the best they could be.