Aspiring for the Success of My Students
When applying for Michigan State University’s masters of art in educational technology (MAET) program, I was asked to explain the personal and professional goals I planned on meeting. My response could have been summed up into these four statements: to create lesson plans that fully utilized my students’ Chromebooks, to learn and incorporate new software in the classroom, to be viewed as a leader in technology among my fellow staff members, and to learn how to gather and use data to improve my future lessons. Looking back, these were goals that stayed relevant through all of the courses I have taken thus far. In this essay I will be explaining major concepts learned throughout this program and how they have altered my current goals.
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The most impactful and repetitive concept throughout my courses has been the TPACK Framework. TPACK is a "framework that emphasizes the connections, interactions, affordances, and constraints between and among content, pedagogy, and technology" (Mishra & Koehler, 2006, p 2015). This framework is best represented by a three order Venn Diagram.
I am thankful that this concept was covered in more than one course because it took time and practice for this mindset to really settle in. This framework takes into account all forms of technology which ensures that what I have learned will not be impacted by fads in technology.
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The second most impactful concept that I learned was the idea of transfer. As explained by Wiggins and McTighe (2005), transfer is a higher level of learning that allows students to be able to apply learned concepts to new and different situations. Too often students are able to repeat things that they have memorized but have a limited ability to “transfer” that skill to practical scenarios. As an educator, I am striving to relate my content area to the real world so that students not only learn the concepts within the context of the classroom but also have the ability to use this knowledge in the real world.
My new current personal and professional goals are similar to my original goals, but my viewpoint or framing of them has changed slightly. These new goals reflect the concepts of TPACK and transfer which I have learned over the course of my time at Michigan State University. I will continue to aim to be viewed as a leader in technology among my fellow staff members, and I will continue to pursue the use of data to improve my future lessons. However, my goals for incorporating technology into the classroom now involve making sure that it meets the content and pedagogical needs of my lessons so that students are able to benefit from them. My final goal is that I present lessons that allow students to grasp the concepts at a level that they are able to transfer their knowledge.
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References
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Mishra, P. (2018). Revised version of TPACK image [Image]. https://punyamishra.com/2018/09/10/the-tpack-diagram-gets-an-upgrade/
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.
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Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.