Bringing it All Together
By Amanda Brown
The Tower of Babel
“Now the whole world had one language…[and] They said to each other, ‘…Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…’
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth…” (Genesis 11: 1-9).
In Genesis chapter 11, it relays a story in which the inhabitants of the world all spoke the same language and decided amongst themselves to build a tower together that would reach the heavens. Before the completion of the task, God scattered the people to different locations of the earth and they thus began speaking different languages. With as readily accessible the World Wide Web has become to all humans all over the world, the world once again is beginning to resemble that small remote area in which all mankind use to reside; where they spoke all one language and worked to accomplish one main goal. Is it possible that the World Wide Web could serve that purpose and achieve that goal that has not been thought of since the destruction of the Tower of Babel? I believe that it can. Now, the tower of Babel was desired to serve selfish human goals of pride, boasting, and self promotion. I believe that the World Wide Web can serve to promote the well-being, development, and advancement of mankind to achieve an even greater goal of not only loving oneself; but loving each other as well. And, if not for the entire world, at least for the advancement for the field of education; in how we obtain it, disseminate it, acquire it, receive it, utilize it, and more. When embarking upon the journey to complete my Master of Arts in Educational Technology, that was my initial goal: To eliminate any barrier that existed amongst my students, colleagues, students’ parents/guardians, administration, and more that would hinder my ability to adequately reach and teach my students. Since that moment, I have discovered that my finish line is still very far out of reach; but in a good way. For, as a life-long learner I realize that, “Education is not the filling of a pail; but the lighting of a fire” (William Butler Yeats). In each new day, I stoke not only my own fire and desire to learn and discover, but the fire and desires of my students too. The newfound-knowledge that Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology has equipped me with affords me a better means to accomplish that task quicker, reaching more than just my students, and at a greater intensity.
The depth, breadth, and scope of the content presented, discovered, and analyzed in Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program has revolutionized and enlightened how I perceive teaching, educating, and communicating. As a Language Arts teacher, I value the art of communicating; communicating effectively whether it be written, spoken, sang, or other as a means of transferring ones thoughts and being to another for a point and purpose. There are many ways in which I feel the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program has enhanced my ability to effectively communicate with students, parents, colleagues, administrators, and my surrounding community. For, the lack of communication between parent and teacher is an obvious and prevalent problem within many schools. To help foster some means of effective communication, schools have tried newsletters, phone calls, emails, conferences, private appointments, homework hotlines, computer grade viewers, blogs, and more. Yet, still the problem persists. One of my primary desires in enrolling in Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program was to not only discover ways to eliminate this problem; but to eliminate it using technology. And thus, discover a solution that is quick, efficient, and effective for all parties involved.
Throughout the two year journey taken to complete Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program, I quickly discovered that such a solution did not lie in just one simple answer alone, rather a combination of methods that if pooled together effectively would produce a solution truly worth trying. What I will endeavor to create as a result of this journey is my own online learning management system to supplement what takes place in the classroom. So, now that I have completed Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program coursework, my next step is to synthesize all the knowledge and skills that each course has afforded me and create my own online course that will serve to supplement what is taking place daily within the classroom. The course’s success will be directly dependent upon how well I utilize the information necessary from the courses taken to create a user friendly and purposeful online collaborative meeting spot for my students.
As I progressed through Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program, I realized that with the skills and information gleaned from each course, that I could create my own hybrid online learning system. For, in the field of education, every teacher is faced with the same problem; far too much required content to teach students within their subject area, than there is time available for every student to adequately reach levels of proficiency and their full potential. So, my solution would be to utilize my newfound knowledge gained via my Masters of Arts in Educational Technology degree and create an online computer-based learning system called MOODLE for students to utilize and to have full access to class materials, additional assistance, and immediate feedback from instructor. The process will work similarly to what we as graduate students have done throughout the two year adventure that Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program has taken us on. Students will create an account and progress through the course as they simultaneously work throughout the class in school. However, with the MOODLE account at their finger tips, they may re-visit classroom lectures, participate in online discussion with classmates and the teacher after hours, and receive immediate feedback on work submitted electronically.
The MOODLE account as a hybrid course creates the best solution to my initial desire to pursue my degree in Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program, in which communication is fostered and more effective for all parties involved. All parties involved, like teacher, student, parent, administrator, and more. For, anyone who decides to enroll or have access to the created MOODLE account can participate. Students have access to their work. Teachers can evaluate, witness, and monitor students’ work and their progress and their quality of work. While parents can also receive notifications and view their students work by using their username and password or a special one administered from the teacher. Administrators can get a firsthand experience as to what is being taught within the class as they can view all that is taking place.
In a typical English Language Arts class, a teacher conducts a required book study. However with MOODLE, the teacher can post online audio books, vocabulary, additional assignments, provide prompts for students to have online discussion forums, administer tests, quizzes, and other forms of assessment and evaluations of student knowledge. And, after completing Professor Laeeq Khan’s CEP 820 Teaching K-12 Online, I learned MOODLE accounts are easy to create. Easy to use. Easy to utilize. Easy to keep organized and facilitate. And, MOODLE accounts are even free. MOODLE is a way to access information using a form of communication that students are becoming well versed and familiar. Thus, access and manipulating information via a computer or technological medium is more engaging, even if the information has not changed drastically; just the delivery method. MOODLE also allows the more shy and reserved students an opportunity to have a voice within online discussion forums (where everyone’s voice has an opportunity be heard, rather than just the outgoing students continuously being picked in class).
The creation of the MOODLE account accomplishes every goal that I set out to achieve when applying for Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program. And, as discovered while taking Professor Nick Sheltrown’s CEP815 Technology and Leadership course and investigating using technology to help enhance what takes place in the classroom as a missional tool as opposed to an instrumental tool via our T-PACK project, it is quickly realized that using MOODLE still requires the necessary technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge to be executed effectively when conducting a book study. The teacher will communicate via email or electronically receive materials rather than paper materials. Discussion with peers will be conducted within discussion forums and/or chats. Hands-on will take on a whole new meaning, as students learn how to navigate their way through the abyss of the world wide web searching credible and educationally informative sites and not simply getting side tracked. Giving credit where credit is due, becomes a valuable lesson learned. Assignments take on a whole new dimension as students are a mere click away from learning more about any particular aspect of a posted assignment as they can click additional links to sites related to the assigned materials…thus giving them access to multi-media presentations, tours, tutorials, pictures, images, audios, and more. Students will have to learn to stay focus and manage time and not be lured with other internet traps that seek to gain their attention (A continued lesson in self control, self discipline, self management, time management, and more). While MOODLE presents itself to be pretty extraordinary, no technology is without flaw. One cannot ignore the fact that not all students have continuous computer and internet access. However, with additional time being granted for students to continuously learn at a more lax pace. Students will learn how to gain the access necessary to complete work as needed by utilizing free internet access at public places such as the library, friends/relatives, school labs before or after school, and more in order to meet the courses deadlines. Students will need to remember that they are to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. While they may be on the computer and chatting and discussing with their friends, they must remember to keep the dialogue appropriate, on topic, and academically beneficial.
So, while the bulk of the required information necessary to create a successful Learning Managing System was obtained in Dr. Laeeq Khan’s CEP820 Teaching K-12 students’ online class taken Summer 2010; the foundation in which I will create my course was first discovered in Michigan State University’s Educational Technology certificate program’s CEP 810 Teaching for Understanding with Computers, 811 Adapting Innovative Technology to Education, and 812 Applying Educational Technology to Problems. Here is where I created my first professional Website, WebQuest, interactive Power Point (StAIR project), reviewed the appropriate and most engaging usage of the Microsoft Office programs and initiated a pilot program that text parents/guardians their children’s grades, updates, other important due dates and concerns.
In addition to Michigan State University’s Educational Technology certificate program, Professor Punya’s CEP818 Creativity in Teaching and Learning course reminds me about the important role that creativity plays in creating an enriching educational environment for a student to be able to interact with holistically. With English Language Arts, while it may be informative to conduct a genre unit with flash cards, dittos, handouts, worksheets, readings, and multiple choice comprehension tests, it is doubtful that it will be as effective and memorable for a student as a unit prepared utilizing Root-Bernstein’s 7 cognitive tools. For it is via creating a unit with activities designed utilizing the 7 cognitive tools that keeps the ancient Chinese proverb alive; “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand”. Students will not only remember the activities they engage in, but they will also retain the fundamental objectives, concepts, and ideas that formed the foundation of the necessary knowledge because of how tightly intertwined the cognitive tool is in facilitating the working knowledge of the required information. For, the cognitive tool is unable to be manipulated without a working knowledge of the necessary information. However, as they work hand-in-hand, a synthesis takes place within the student and the educational environment that is not soon lost since they fit so well together in the first place. Incorporating the creativity tools within standard curriculum ignites the necessary synopsis in the brain to help solidify the learned knowledge so that it may be adequately built upon later as the educational process originally intended. Classrooms conducted void of the creative tools utilized and manipulated to help students retain the necessary information, waste countless instructional minutes as they continuously review information that never found a permanent home in the brain. So instead, I say let’s continue to advance in the realm of education, enhance our pedagogical paradigms, and produce scholars apt and able to perceive and re-create the world they exist in. And, that is accomplished when using MOODLE.
With a strong foundation in the basic programs and technologies used within any computer and professional setting, along with creativity and imagination, a magnificent online learning management system can be created to help solidify the bridge that eliminates the gap in communicating what is taking place in the classroom and the best way to reach each students’ full potential by keeping every party informed and contributing effectively.
Completing the two year journey taken by Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology program has been nothing short of an adventure. An adventure filled with academic and emotional mountains, valleys, and plateaus. There is no doubt that I learned my full tuition dollars amount’s worth. I love the curriculum that I am required to teach. I feel it is both useful and necessary to my students’ educational success. However, I also realize that the way in which it is delivered can leave it to fall on deaf ears. Utilizing the plethora of innovative technology tools in this program, if integrated correctly, will help to resurrect the interesting element deep within curriculum.