Megan Preslin
Portfolio
A Winding Path to Success
I did not always have a direct path to my career of choice. It took some developing of my own to really demand the potential I had out of myself. It is something I look back on and take pride in as I did pursue paths that I had wanted to do, it just took a bit longer to realize. And yes, some opportunities just fell in place for me, but it was the hard work that I highlighted my abilities that took me in some of my directions.
As a 7th-grade language arts teacher, I had the ability to explore technology as it was one day thrown to me saying “utilize these laptops.” In order to do that, I had to do a lot of my own learning, which included some failures, but it was those trial and errors that led me to be a Technology Training Administrator for teachers in Cincinnati Public Schools. I help teachers with implementing technology into their classrooms. Coming from a district that had one high school in a district that has 17 high schools was quite eye-opening. Early on, I had to prove to myself that though I felt I was the right fit for the job, others might not have thought so. This took a lot of determination. Though I continue to learn and show different skill sets, I always thought not having a master’s degree was holding me back from accomplishing more or showing weaknesses that in my daily job activities.
What it comes down to is me. Do I believe I am capable or do I need to prove to myself that I can do more? And, after much research, Michigan State University Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) fit my requirements of what I wanted to learn. It really was the first time in my education background that I was wanting to challenge myself further. I knew I was in the right job, but I was wanting more from my job and obtaining knowledge about educational technology would allow me to prove to myself I was in the right position. And, then possibly open the door for other job opportunities that I didn’t foresee.
I had little expectations going into the MAET program. I was a bit apprehensive about juggling a full-time job and school. However, the curriculum within my courses at MSU reinforced my direction in the education field and I was happy to see the relevance of coursework and my daily responsibilities. I knew instantly that I could overcome any hurdles of a busy schedule to enhance my career path and I was excited about what could come from my learnings.
Leadership
In certain classes, such as CEP 815: Technology and Leadership or CEP 817: Technology Through Design, we had to pick a problem or an area to focus on for our learning. Finding a resolution or at least taking steps to resolving the problem could definitely help in building more success stories with teachers in my district. Seeing the connection between my daily work and my graduate work allowed me to spotlight problems that I was dealing with in my district. The ability to look at all angles of this problem strengthened my perspective of this problem. It also encouraged me to look more closely at all aspects that are and were preventing teachers within our district to focus on the implementation of technology. The coursework took us through the processes of empathizing, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Using this design, my problem became my everyday thinking. In my professional work, I was able to visit classrooms and see various types of usage of technology in the school system. I do this on a regular basis, but using this process I was able to target a particular point of the problem to help find a resolution to my problem. Instead of dealing with a larger scale, I was better focused on specific acts while visiting the classrooms.
Bootcamp Bootleg. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://dschool.standford.edu/s/METHODCARDS-v3-slim.pdf
This course truly was a learning process from all angles, it came as a surprise that I found myself as a designer. Through my growth in design, I have witnessed that, for me, the ideate mode was most critical in my development. Taking the time to gather information from others and even step away from the problem, I was able to develop a new concept, which was a bit unexpected and enlightening. It really showed me that sometimes time is needed to fully develop a problem. Unfortunately, I do recognize that sometimes time can’t be accommodated as meeting the demands of leadership might outweigh a thorough development of a district-wide initiative.
When first learning about design thinking using a specific model, I wasn’t really aware there was a process or even different modes of design or that I could even follow the modes and become a designer. Recognizing that I am a designer, I am more confident and can really contribute to conversations around new ideas or even new initiatives, which I know teachers and the leadership team would appreciate. I’m excited to continue using design thinking and make more progress within our district, I look forward to sharing my knowledge about design to those around me.
The course, CEP 815: Learning, Technology, and Leadership focuses on three components that someone in the education field should embody. Leadership has never come naturally for me. Yes, I have served on district-wide and school-related committees while as a teacher, but I never viewed myself as a leader. I rarely voiced my opinion because I didn’t have the research to back up my thoughts or I feared feedback of my own ideas. I have seen many connections to my graduate work and everyday work, in this particular course because I have been through the development of various initiatives and recognized just how better some of those could have gone if we followed this procedure.
Through various tasks in this course, I was able to recognize my style of leadership and became familiar with how to handle myself in certain circumstances. The most important take away was to get support and address concerns in introducing a new concept or idea, otherwise, it will be more difficult to implement a plan down the road. In understanding how an idea/concept forms and following a progression to create the idea/concept showcases an individual as a leader
From this course, I was able to improve my thinking process and increase my ability as a leader. Appreciating that there is a procedure allowed me to see how capable I am of expanding my leadership responsibilities. For example, in years past, the tech conference that I have put on, I really relied on a few certain people. This year, the conference has expanded and I am now in charge of a team. We have a shared vision and look to accomplish various tasks in highlighting not only our teachers but others from outside of our district. I must keep the team members focused and on task in order to accomplish our goals in the given amount of time. Another example of learning from this course is speaking up and pursuing roles I was hesitate. When it was asked that someone lead a couple of focus teams regarding certain technology items, I volunteered to be the lead on these. Using techniques from this course has permitted me to develop a team in regards to our YouTube policy and on selecting a SmartBoard team. As I look to establish new procedures for our district, I am utilizing skills taught in this course to strengthen my two new teams to reach a final goal (which are both serving different purposes). No longer am I hesitate about accepting feedback as I was prior to taking this course. I also recognize that working as a team and exploring concepts or ideas together can only bring more changes for the betterment of our district and that is the hope of all the leadership roles I have taken on in the last couple months. Being open to taking risks and seeking criticism grants a chance to improve a process and I didn’t always see that prior to my studies in the MAET program.
Learning
Image is my own.
What I have appreciated about the MAET program and getting my degree is the immediate impact it has made on me and my work. Teaching Students Online, CEP 820, was another example of implementing my learnings immediately into my work for my district. This was one of the last classes I took for my MAET degree. This course has taught me to really utilize the tools I ask teachers to use. This could help teachers recognize how to use certain tools based on examples I have provided them.
In thinking about the process of creating an online course, this course taught me about the essentials that are needed for our teachers to see a connection. Incorporating ISTE standards for teachers, rubrics, expectations, communication plans, and learning goals and outcomes showcases expectations for what should be in an online course. For this course, I wanted to start with our essential applications that are in our district. We are constantly struggling with teachers that say they are not receiving training on certain tools. Though, I was excited that this could be one solution to our problem, I had difficulty identifying our essential tools. These are the tools that teachers should be using every day. In our initial course, the PD course that I developed for CEP 820, it was to serve as a baseline understanding of these tools. It's a chance for teachers to get a review or for new teachers to get started using these tools and possibly explore these applications on their own.
Even from my early learnings from CEP 820, I changed up my course to meet the needs of our teachers. I have incorporated more opportunity for interaction within the course. Whether it is me responding directly to needs, or if I am going to the discussion board to provide feedback. My initial intent was for teachers to do a lot of the course on their own, however, it is the necessary feedback from the course instructor that helps provide even more learning and I neglected that opportunity at first. Now, after having the course open for our teachers, this is the highlight of the course. The teachers are able to respond to colleagues and learn from them, but are also appreciating the feedback I am providing to them on their thoughts and lessons. Rather than just a course that I built and put up for teachers, I am learning more from the teachers as well. And, they are really enjoying the online social interaction piece of the course. The thorough development of my online course was only done because of my learnings in CEP 820 and now I look forward to creating more intermediate and advanced levels to offer continued support and growth.
Though I focused on three specific courses in the above writing, there was so much that I took away from being in MAET. Whether it was learning online, understanding research, or learning new applications there was always something new to me. In starting the program, I thought I would know a lot since I am currently in the educational technology field, but this program has taught me more lessons than just new applications. I became an individual who was given the confidence to bring new ideas to the table and open to discussing how to improve those ideas and make them better for all involved. I became a stronger leader, a better researcher, and an individual who seeks feedback on tasks so I can become a better educator. It is overwhelming to think of the last two years and where I was and where I am now. Yes, I set out on a path to prove to myself my abilities, but it was a great example of why I need to keep pushing myself and continue to learn and improve.