As I approach the end of my two year long master’s program, I can’t help but return to the first reflection paper I created, where I ruminated on the what I was doing and where I was going. I thank the higher powers above that I created this reflection because after 2 continuous years of education, my path has taken me all over the place and it can be difficult to place myself back in 2015 as I looked at my future and motivations. Read more

When I view the seemingly insurmountable challenge of improving education through innovative ideas, I can get swallowed up by the complexity of the issues. On one hand, we have students, to whom we have an social, ethical, and legal obligation to educate. On the other hand, we have an intricate system of education that is empowered to educate these students. Sometimes (many times) these two hands don’t meet up in a nice, cordial handshake. Building solutions that help these two hands meet in agreement has always been challenging, and now seems to have added layers of complexity as we weave in the solutions that educational technology can provide. Read more

I spent the last two weeks examining the reading and videos for this week’s learning module in my Web Design class. One main focus of our attention was on this presentation by Martha Burtis about the onset of the learning management system in higher education. She presents a long view perspective on the growth of the LMS in our lives and discusses points at which key decisions were made and how those have affected technological spaces in education. This presentation identifies the numerous deficits that current LMS’s have, namely in the hidden pedagogical structure and rigid boundaries they enact for in person, online, or blended learning. This resonated deeply with me and sparked my interest in what others are thinking might be the next iteration of the LMS. Read more

Personalized learning is a hot education buzzword that is thrown around in a variety of contexts, from preschool to higher education. The allure of meeting students specifically where they are at, during every step of their educational journey, is very appealing to teachers wanting to meet their students’ needs and to school districts wanting to further their school’s educational goals. Read more