It seems like only a short time ago that I was writing an essay to apply to the MAET program at Michigan State University.  Now, I am writing a reflection on what I set out to do and what I accomplished.  In my admission essay I detailed two goals that I had in the program.  First, I wanted to understand more about what went into selecting appropriate instructional technologies in a classroom.  Next, I wanted to become more aware of what technologies others were employing in their practice.  In the past months I have definitely made significant progress in both of these areas.

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In the school I teach at we have a wealth of technology, Smartboards in every math classroom, the newest Texas Instruments calculators, digital image projectors to display web content to students, etc.  What the vast majority of us lack is an understanding of how to make choices to meaningfully use these things.  I have always loved technology and had tried for several years to make use of our district's investments in my teaching.  What I found was usually frustration.  We would get a piece of technology and I would try to find ways to apply it to a lesson.  Sometimes it went well but that was usually because the students found it novel.  More often than not I found myself thinking “that lesson would have gone better if I would have skipped the tech portion”.  Sometimes, however, a lesson would go really well and these were the moments that led me to pursue a degree in educational technology.

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There was an ineffable quality to the successes that I had occasionally experienced with technology in my classroom.  They were the product of coincidence in my early attempts to integrate technology into my teaching but my experience has shown me that good teaching never happens by luck.  Dr. Koehler and Dr. Mishra’s TPACK framework has been a constant element throughout the program and has had a significant impact on my teaching as it has helped me to explore just what it was that had made these experiences so significant for me and my students.  What I have taken away from this recurring theme is that using technology in teaching requires more than just using a technology because it is available.  Now when I am thinking about a lesson I am forcing myself to be aware of what I want my students to know, how I would like to deliver the idea, and what affordances and constraints are posed by the technology I have available.  While I have not always met with complete success, I now have a framework to evaluate why what I tried did or did not work

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Having a way to meaningfully evaluate success and failure is not useful without a suite of tools that can be employed to match my teaching goals.   Before this program I thought I was pretty aware of what technologies existed.  I had built several computers from components, I owned a smart phone, and I was the only teacher to have the new Nspire calculators from TI.  I found out very quickly that what I knew about educational technology was very limited.  In my very first class I was introduced to cloud computing via Google docs.  I learned what Web 2.0 meant.   Since that class, my awareness of the multitude of technologies that exist has grown considerably.  Most importantly, I feel as though this program has taught me how to continue to learn about technologies that exist.  I am now a member of professional organizations, like MACUL, that seek to connect people who share a similar passion for teaching with technology and constantly bring to light new technologies that can be used in the classroom.  It will never be possible to know about every technology that is created but I can find and evaluate tools to suit my needs.

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While I feel that I have made tremendous progress in meeting the goals I had set for myself I am also aware that my journey is not over.  I still want to learn more about how to better integrate technology into my classes but I am now armed with a framework to help hone that skill.  The more technology that I can learn about the better I can be about selecting ones that meet my needs.  Technology will continue to evolve and I will continue to try to better myself as a teacher who believes in its ability to produce better outcomes for students.