educ 802 reflection 2

Dear Diary,




I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written. The summer has been




way busier than I expected with my coursework and office work. I



am about to finish Summer quarter (and my first full year) in my




Ed.D. program at Drexel. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how



much my coursework throughout the past year has influenced my




work as a house dean. This one class in particular, EDUC 802,



“Using and Integrating Learning Technologies” has been especially




thought-provoking and has really crystalized the potential for con-




necting my academic work to my professional work.

The concept that has really stood out to me professionally during



this 10 weeks is the connection between design thinking concepts




and technology implementation in an educational setting. During my




other classes earlier in the year, EDUC 800, EDUC 845, and



EDUC 801, I came to appreciate ways that design thinking, crea-




tive problem solving, and change leadership can influence my ap-



proach as an educator in my college house. Those courses have




shaped how I have evolved as a supervisor and collaborator. I am



more open to experimenting with new approaches and strate-




gies—whether in supervision, training, educational design, or as-



sessment. This quarter, as I progressed through EDUC 802, I

found myself more willing to think about how various technologies



can be used in my work. I was especially drawn to the concepts we




read about related to neuroscience and learning. I found myself in-




corporating strategies that better support learning into training



sessions I was working on to teach paraprofessional staff. I




started using graphic design applications to convey complex ideas



and relationships to my staff members. For example, our senior




staff team (me and three faculty members) had been struggling



to explain our goals, content areas, and staff roles in a streamlined




way. I realized that my style of presenting new ideas relies on



text to explain concepts, which can be overwhelming. After learn-

ing more about different applications and considering the approach



that emphasizes content over learning style, I realized that I




could simplify our explanation by expressing concepts in a concentric




circle diagram rather than in paragraphs. Our staff was able to



better grasp the concepts, and I found myself better prepared to




explain the relationships between what we do, how we do it, and



why we do it.





I also reimagined the types of opportunities I provided to my



staff during our training program. Instead of relying on open dis-




cussion as I have in the past, I realized that if I want the




staff to plan and design events and initiatives that are dynamic

and experiential, I need to role model that to them. This helped



me to create more experiential opportunities in our training pro-




gram. We took trips to local sites and discussed how they might




work as destinations for educational programs with our students.



These choices helped me to build memorable, shared experiences




that staff members could make meaning from. I wouldn’t have



been able to do any of this without first prioritizing creativity and




open-mindedness, then applying EDUC 802 concepts.




I used to think about technology in an educational setting as a



novelty, even though I use technology every day at work and at


home. This course has helped me to understand the nuances of

technology use and to clarify purpose for its use. As I have become


more open to using technology as a means to deliver content or con-



tribute to the student experience, I see more products and more


opportunities to incorporate them to benefit students. I didn’t ex-


pect the ISTE conditions to come to mind so often beyond the pro-



ject I had to complete for class, but the ISTE conditions really


are helpful when thinking about how to implement technology in



meaningful ways. I plan to use the ISTE conditions as a guide for


implementing a new group collaboration application one of my staff


members told me about. All of this is really time-consuming



though, so I need to build this work into my own professional de-


velopment plan.

All-in-all, it’s been a pretty productive quarter. I’m grateful


for the new insight I’ve gained, and the skills I’m continuing to


develop. This course has helped me to be motivated for the up-


coming academic year at work!