Cluminating Experience - A Blog Down Memory Lane

As one of the final exercises for the Master of Education in Instructional Technology program at Cardinal Stritch University, I went back and re-read all of my blog posts since the program started 18-months ago. Here are some of the things that stood out for me.

Early on in my class-related blog I made the observation that "...in order to effectively serve my school families, I am going to have to up my game and expand my knowledge base. That's what led me to the Instructional Technology masters program at Cardinal Stritch University..." That was 18-months ago and that statement proved to be spot on. This program has definitely increased my understanding of educational technology and the knowledge and experience I have gained has already allowed me to better serve the students and parents at my school. I have no doubt that I will continue to build on the foundation I have established through this program.

Back in November 2010, I blogged that "The most direct benefit so far has been the experience of taking an online class myself. It has really helped me relate to some of the challenges my students and families experience such as self-motivation, setting up a study area, staying on pace, communicating with instructors and dealing with technical issues." This continues to be a valuable aspect of this program for me - particularly the sense of satisfaction that comes from completing the class.

Several posts contained references to my early frustrations as a non-teacher with texts and assignments that referred to lesson plans, rubrics and standards. It took me too long to work through and move past that mental roadblock. I am less intimidated and far more comfortable with those concepts now and I am able to discuss them intelligently with other educators.

An April 2011 post noted that "Throughout this class we have demonstrated that incorporating technology to support proven learning strategies can greatly enhance student achievement." This remains the key concept and focal point of the program for me and the thing that I have incorporated directly in my work at eAchieve Academy.

Given my broadcast communication background, it is not surprising that I really enjoyed the work we did on digital storytelling. It is refreshing to see that many of the concepts I learned as an undergrad have resurfaced a quarter century later in the digital age. I particularly enjoyed "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds and continue to use the concept presented in that book and the related videos when I create presentations for work.

As my school made the transition from a managed program to an independently run virtual charter school this year, I was able to set up and manage our social network presence including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr a blog and a private social network. I would have had a much more difficult time with that had it not been for the work we did in this program on Web 2.0 tools.

We looked at a lot of ed tech resources including, but not limited to, Blogger, edmodo, ThinkQuest, EduBlogs, Xanga, WikiSpaces, WetPaint, PB Works, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, Google reader, Bloglines, Google Sites, Screenr, ScreenJelly, EyeJot, Jing, Ning, Diigo, Delicious, Oovoo, micromobs, Posterous, WetPaint, RSS Feeds and Facebook.

Our work on data driven decision making and managing change validated a lot of the work I have done in the past. I will approach these situations with a clearer understanding of the dynamics involved as I move forward.

After more than 50 posts, I can say I have really started to establish my online identity as a blogger. While at times, blogging for this class has been a chore, I have come to appreciate the process as a good way to reflect and express my opinions (even if no one else reads them). I have started a blog for work, and I will likely continue this blog as a way to catalog my personal and professional development.