Reflection
by: Marilynn Hawkins
When I started this degree program I
had been a technology trainer for St. Tammany Parish.
The funds were dwindling and I had been teaching other teachers
and adults about Computer Applications for about 5 years. I had 16
years experience teaching business subjects in public high schools in
St. Tammany Parish. I wanted to get my
Masters Degree. I knew Southeastern had
started an
Educational Technology Masters Degree program, so I decided in August
of 2003
to drive to Hammond and be advised. Dr.
Nauman and Dr. Slayton gave me the needed material on the courses and
told me
to go take the GRE. I began to prepare for the GRE by
studying the material they gave me at LSU when I signed up. I received a CD in the mail and spent time
looking through it and the GRE website online.
I asked a friend of mine who was a Math teacher to tutor me in
Algebra
and Geometry since I hadn't taken those subjects for a long time. I spent about 2 weeks preparing intensely
for the test. I passed.
I registered for one class in the Fall
of 2003--ETEC 644, to see if I was going to like this degree program. It fit like a glove. I
found out that I was going to do
everything in HTML and I was already teaching that to my own students
at
Covington High School. I was glad to
find out that I was going to be given free web space on the pangea
server. Wow!!
One of my first assignments was to create a mini website--my
cookbook--
and then for the final I was to create a large website--chshistory.
That was just the beginning. I
must say that I have really enjoyed all of
the classes in this degree program.
Educational Research with Dr. DeVaney got me into the
Southeastern
Library. There was definitely a
learning curve with this class because I hadn't used the library to do
research
for a long time. Even putting money on
the lagniappe card to make copies at the machine was all new to me. Searching the Ingenta database was a new
experience. Having to purchase
copywrited material over the Internet and getting it faxed to me was
something
I had never done before. I'm certainly glad to have this experience and
especially the knowledge of how to write a research document.
Next, came Networking. I was
doing a lot of this at school already
in my classroom. It was lots of fun to
do the projects required for this class.
It was interesting and fun to spend the $65,000 to purchase
equipment
for a networked computer lab. I found
putting the wiring diagram on paper was handy for my Principal and
myself. I did get help from our Computer
Science
teacher on writing the Extented Star Ethernet diagram.
All of the networking class was helpful,
from formatting a computer to setting up a server.
Unfortunately, this knowledge needs continuous practice. However, the notes will be helpful.
Next, came Planning and Design of
Technology programs. I am aware of the
need for technology professional development at my school.
We have had this technology training in
place for our teachers and even a computer lab with a teacher assigned
to it to
help within our school in the past.
Because of the training that we've had in the past, our teachers
are now
using e-mail to communicate with each other and the administration. We are using STI to do our grades online,
and using the Internet to give notes to students and communicate with
parents. However, professional development
has been transformed into a new program to work on the need for
increasing our
accountability scores for our school.
So professional development has taken a different direction with
our new
principal. I am sure, however, that we
will revisit this need again for our teachers.
Curricula design and distance learning
was next on my schedule. This was a
really fun class where we got to know each other real well. I remember thinking that I wished we would
have had more time allotted to this class because the planning,
practice, and
taping of the distance unit was a very large task.
Then, I wish that I could have had a lot more time with working
on converting the tape to digital media and editing it to put online. I really would like to work on this more. Don't be surprised, Dr. Adams, if I show up
for this class again. Again, this
knowledge is something that must be practiced often to retain. It was time consuming and I wish I had more.
Portifolio Design was a good
class. I used several new software
programs that I had not used before--Mozilla, Map-edit, Real slideshow,
Javascripts, to name a few. I started
using Mozilla in my classroom at school and this solved a problem for
not
having Dreamweaver to do webpage design.
Navigation was difficult for me is this class, however. I saw many ideas on the Internet and even
wrote a Powerpoint program that showed different ways to navigate. Just looking at other websites has given me
ideas. Also, I actually bought the
program Map-edit and plan to get a site license for my school. I've learned that all it takes is a letter
asking for permission to use Map-edit typed on school letterhead and
faxed to
Boutel, Inc.
The next was the busiest semester
ever--9 hours. This is when I coined the phrase "Master Teachers Will
Get Through." Now I know why some teachers take sabbaticals while
working on their Masters Degree. I took
Educational
Philosophy, Leadership, and Evaluation of Instructional Technology in
the Spring of 2004. Each philosophy had
something of value to
learn. Each one of the 4 books--Kuhn,
McLuhan, Postman, and Healy expanded my attitude toward the philosophy
of
technology. But, my favorite was
writing my philosophy of technology in my Position paper.
Technology has indeed made us a world
superpower. Having a son in the Navy
who has been away at school and is learning how to fly has heightened
my
already keen awareness of the power technology has in our everyday
lives.
That leaves Leadership. The
competence journals were an exceptional idea. I plan to use these again
while working toward my National Board Certification this coming school
year. I really liked doing the journals because they were a tool that
made me aware of my daily use of leadership skills.
It was a neat thing to take the leaderships
tests on the Internet and calculate the results. Writing
a paper on my leadership skills was beneficial and made
me more confident in myself with what I do everyday.
A case study could be added to this already busy class. I kept thinking and writing about my
Principal and how he was developing his leadership style in our school. I do admire him and think he is a good
leader.
Finally, the action research
project and
the work on the practicum was an education in itself.
Planning the surveys, permission slips, and procedures of how
everything was to be done was a necessary way to complete this degree
program. Counting the data, publishing
the results and writing my conclusion and recommendation was rewarding. I will enjoy showing all of the data to my
future Keyboarding classes and my coworkers in the Business Department. I was not surprised at the data and comments
that I received in doing this research with my students and their
parents. I hope my study will be
beneficial to
someone else. I really appreciate
the
fact that all of this data will be kept on the pangea server.
I would like to use this
opportunity to thank all of my
professors. Thank you Drs.
Duplantier, DeVaney, Nauman,
Adams, and Bitner. I have
learned so much and other teachers at my school are asking me questions
about
this degree program already. You should
be seeing some of my coworkers soon. I must say that this degree
program has helped me become a better teacher. It has given me ideas,
jobs, skills in webmastering, and many new ways of teaching and testing
in my classroom. This has been professional development that will
indeed help my students to become better learners because I have become
a better teacher.Thank You for all that you have done to make this
degree program available.
