I have known that I wanted to be a teacher for many years. It was not until high school that I realized my passion for technology. It was this realization, along with my computer literacy teacher, that helped my future goal become reality. I entered my undergraduate program and throughout the years absorbed as much about teaching technology as I could. Finally, a couple of years after graduation I was hired as a secondary technology teacher. It was here that I spent many hours and days living, breathing, teaching, and integrating technology into the lives of my students and colleagues. Still very much a novice to the craft, I yearned to expand my knowledge of educational technology. Enter the MAET @ MSU.

 

 

When I applied to the educational technology program at MSU, my primary objective was to learn more about educational technology, Web 2.0 tools, teaching skills, and technology integration. To be fair, I had not applied to the MAET program until after my first certificate course ended. The first certificate course was an eye opening learning experience that fueled my passionate fire for educational technology knowledge.  I wanted to take this new found knowledge and apply it in my classroom. I work in an urban school with many students considered “at risk.” My philosophy has always been that students learn best when actively engaged in the learning process; technology is a wonderful tool to aid student engagement. My hope was that I could expand my educational technology repertoire to aid in learning engagement among students in my classes. The MAET program supported my efforts of providing my students a digital learning environment that nurtured collaboration and creativity, sparked critical thinking, and empowered them with new ways of becoming lifelong learners.

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I feel as though this program has more than prepared me to use technology to expand my teaching skills, improve my lessons, and increase student engagement. The MAET program has not been one-sided. In my original goals statement I listed specific goals for myself and my colleagues as well. I have collaborated with numerous educators within my program, at my school, and abroad. Through this collaboration, I have been able to teach colleagues new technologies that assist them in reaching their own goals and objectives, integrate technology into their curriculum, and digitally manage their classrooms.

 

 

My evolution in this program is almost complete. Eventually, the MAET program will end, however, I have learned through my time at MSU that by growing my personal learning network, collaborating with others, and continuing to feed my passion for educational technology through experimentation and research that the learning will never actually end. As a result of the tools provided me from my time in the MAET program, I have truly become a lifelong learner.