When I first applied to the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State University, I developed a goal statement in which I outlined my goals as a potential student in the program.  In this statement, I discussed my current level of technology integration in my freshman and AP biology classrooms.  At the time, I primarily used technology in my classroom in the form of a class Wiki page.  I also used Remind 101 (i.e. a secure teacher to student communication system), created screencasts for my students, and occasionally integrated virtual labs into my instruction.

In my original goal statement, I discussed three main goals for technology integration in my classroom.  For one, I hoped the MAET program would help me to use technology to foster communication among my students.  I did not specify the nature of this communication, and as such, this goal was rather vaguely stated.  Additionally, I discussed how I hoped to use digital tools to improve my students’ critical thinking skills.  Again, this goal lacked specificity because I did not actually identify the particular skills that I hoped to engender in my students.  Finally, I stated my goal of using technology to help my students develop independent research skills.

Though my goals have not fundamentally changed throughout the program, they have become more specific and more aligned with the TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge) model of technology integration developed by Matthew Koehler and Punya Mishra.  The TPACK model describes the integration of three types of knowledge--content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge.  Essentially, successful use of technology in the classroom requires an understanding of how to use digital tools in a way that directly supports particular content objectives and associated teaching techniques (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).

With regard to my first two goals (i.e. using technology to foster communication and critical thinking skills), I have revised these goals so that they are more specific.  The communication skills I’d like to focus on are small-group discussion and peer-to-peer feedback skills.  The critical thinking skills I’d like to focus on are application of concepts to novel scenarios, analysis of data, synthesis of information, and metacognition.  I have also revised these goals to include my new understanding of TPACK.  I now realize that I must use technology in my classroom in a meaningful and effective way and not simply “for technology’s sake.”  As such, I plan to carefully select digital tools that support the best instructional techniques for mastering these communication and critical thinking learning objectives.     

My third goal of using technology to help students develop independent research skills has also evolved throughout the course of the MAET program.  After learning about problem-based learning (PBL) in several of my classes, I feel that PBL has the potential to foster these research skills in addition to communication and critical thinking skills.  PBL is an instructional technique in which students obtain and use a variety of resources to help them solve an ill-structured problem (i.e. an issue without a simple, clearly-defined solution).  Over the past couple years, I have developed a deep interest in PBL, and I hope to become more knowledgeable about how to use technology to implement and enhance PBL instruction.  I hope to share this knowledge with my colleagues and lead my teacher team towards the implementation of PBL using digital tools.