CHRISTINA M. WELLING

One of my biggest desires in life is to always find opportunities to learn. This passion led me to get a Master of Arts in Educational Technology degree. As I reflect back, I have grown so much in the program and know this has been another explored trail through my lifelong learning journey. Therefore, as I look forward I know there are still many skills I have yet to learn that will make me a better 21st century teacher. Some of these skills include understanding coding languages. I also want to have an active leadership role in educational technology within my school district. Lastly, I want to learn more about specific technologies that can assist me in my personal and professional life. These are some of my future learning goals that will continue my lifelong journey.

 

One of my future goals is to learn to code specifically in the language of HTML and CSS. I have been asked to teach a computer literacy course this coming fall which includes teaching coding more in depth than I have previously.  Some of the skills needed on computers cascade into understanding the skeleton and structure of web pages as opposed to relying on the templates and presets that are given to us. I would like to go through lessons on websites such as CodeAcademy and W3Schools to learn more. Once I have gone through some of these lessons, I would like to apply these skills to help me further instruct my students on their coding lessons and projects, as they complete them online. In addition, this knowledge will help me edit my own pages on websites such as Wix, Weebly and Wordpress.

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Another future goal of mine is to have a stronger voice within my school district as a technology leader. My school offers several different opportunities to present on professional development days and attend conferences as a representative for the school district. I would like to be able to share some of my knowledge on educational technology to the rest of the staff.  I have attended professional development for many years now and always walk away feeling as if I did not learn anything new. Usually this has been because my master’s degree courses or my own exploration already exposed me to that skill or program to use in teaching. Looking forward, I would like to have a more active role in professional development and teach what I have learned to others. Accordingly, one area of learning that has recently been released is the new educational technology standards published by the International Society for Technology in Education. My objective is to integrate these into my teaching this school year as well as help other teachers adapt these ISTE standards too.

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Some other future learning goals of mine are more personal in nature yet I can also see them helping me in my professional teaching context. First, I have a lot of travel plans coming up including Italy and some national parks in the continental US. In preparation, I have been researching digital SLR cameras and would like to photograph my exploration. With purchasing a digital SLR camera comes a responsibility to learn all of its technology. I have looked into massive open online courses (MOOCs) which teach photography as well as business establishments in the area where I can attend classes. I would like to take some of these classes and learn how to work my new camera. After learning how to use my camera, I would also like to photograph all the performances my students do in school. In addition to photography, I have enjoyed directing musicals for my middle school students. While directing musicals, I have been exposed to all the light and soundboard technology that runs the microphones and special effects. It has been a blast thus far putting these productions together but I would like to learn to be more independent in programming and running these boards without the aid of a light and sound technician.

 

My experience at Michigan State in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program has greatly supported my passion for learning. I have grown throughout my studies and value what I have learned. My overall professional learning network has grown in general and I’ve learned a lot about where to find valuable information.  I know that a Master's degree is just the beginning and since technology is always changing, there is a lot to keep attuned to. For the immediate future I would like to start with the aforementioned goals of coding, photography, light and soundboard technology as well as involve myself in leadership roles in educational technology. Past these immediate goals, only time and circumstance will tell how I continue my journey.