Reflective Essay
Reflecting on Change...or Lack thereof
By: Dana Collett
“You must be the change you want to see in the world,” said Gandhi. This was the same opening line from my goal statement I submitted a year ago as part of my application to the Michigan State University Masters of Educational Technology Program. When I wrote about this quote in my goal statement I wrote about being a leader. I used to think that the quote was only about being a leader, but I’m starting to see that it is more than that. The quote is also about accepting the idea of “change”. Change can be a scary thing. Many people, teachers especially, resist change because they associate change with unpleasant ideas. But maybe change isn’t necessary, maybe we just need to re-purpose things.
I went into this program hoping to learn about the tools and software that would help me better integrate technology into the classroom. Yet, while in my courses over the summer, our professor introduced us to, “re-purposing”. To take the technologies we have and re-purpose them for education. Not to change them, just give them a new purpose. Finally, it clicked, while change can be scary and new, re-purposing can be an innovative and fun. My experiences in this program have taught me that change is not always necessary and in order to be the change, I don’t have to change.
Looking back at my goals, I was quiet pleased with my accomplishments. One goal I had was to be a leader at my school in the field of technology. I have most definitely stepped forward and offered many ideas, advice, and programs that will help teachers better integrate technology into their school day. I have also found myself much more adventurous with technology! Going outside of my comfort box and trusting technology (and students).
Another goal I had was to learn about more educational software. I am happy to say, that goal has changed. I am setting a new goal of how to re-purpose technologies and software already available and give it educational uses.
Finally my third and hardest goal, I am still working on. I want to make technology more available to those students in low socio-economic areas. For instance, I am creating an online course. While this is a marvelous idea and I have seen it unfold in other areas, it would not work at my school. Not all my (elementary) students have access to computers and/or the Internet. I will continue to work on my goal of how can I bring technology to them? What can I do? What can I re-purpose to make it work? I have struggled with that since the beginning and I have a feeling I will continue this battle. However, that has made me even more aware of re-purposing and that change isn’t always necessary.
I went into this program hoping to learn about the tools and software that would help me better integrate technology into the classroom. Yet, while in my courses over the summer, our professor introduced us to, “re-purposing”. To take the technologies we have and re-purpose them for education. Not to change them, just give them a new purpose. Finally, it clicked, while change can be scary and new, re-purposing can be an innovative and fun. My experiences in this program have taught me that change is not always necessary and in order to be the change, I don’t have to change.
Looking back at my goals, I was quiet pleased with my accomplishments. One goal I had was to be a leader at my school in the field of technology. I have most definitely stepped forward and offered many ideas, advice, and programs that will help teachers better integrate technology into their school day. I have also found myself much more adventurous with technology! Going outside of my comfort box and trusting technology (and students).
Another goal I had was to learn about more educational software. I am happy to say, that goal has changed. I am setting a new goal of how to re-purpose technologies and software already available and give it educational uses.
Finally my third and hardest goal, I am still working on. I want to make technology more available to those students in low socio-economic areas. For instance, I am creating an online course. While this is a marvelous idea and I have seen it unfold in other areas, it would not work at my school. Not all my (elementary) students have access to computers and/or the Internet. I will continue to work on my goal of how can I bring technology to them? What can I do? What can I re-purpose to make it work? I have struggled with that since the beginning and I have a feeling I will continue this battle. However, that has made me even more aware of re-purposing and that change isn’t always necessary.