My principal goal as I return to the workforce is to make a positive difference in education. Whether I resume teaching in the classroom, work behind the scenes, or train and assist colleagues, my place is in education. No matter my role, I will facilitate instruction based around the sound design, learning theories, and appropriate instructional technologies I have learned in the Learning Design & Technology program.

If I return to teaching Spanish, I will have a much better understanding of the various learning theories. Personally, I found that constructivism aligns best with my mindset: (1) Knowledge is constructed by the learner. (2) Learning involves active processes. (3) Knowledge is both personal and socially constructed. In addition to this, I am more aware of how culture and perspective shape global learning. I also practiced using new technologies like FlipGrid and Wakelet and I plan to incorporate these new tools into my Spanish classroom. What’s more, I learned about the open learning movement and where to find quality open educational resources. If I return to the classroom, I’ll be taking a mountain of knowledge with me.

If I move into an instructional facilitator role, I feel that I am equally well prepared. Now, I am able to create quality staff development trainings. I know how to design and evaluate instructional materials. I’m able to view mass media and web resources through a more critical lens than before. I enjoyed designing a responsive classroom and creating a digital-age learning plan. After learning about technical and legal aspects of computing, I analyzed and wrote various BYOD policies. Plus, I’m able to evaluate and suggest open educational and commercial resources. I have also been told that the 077 endorsement will allow me to teach basic computing classes. I know I can do this well because I taught E115 as an undergraduate TA at NC State University.

Managing my kids’ remote schooling due to the coronavirus has given me a unique educational perspective that I’ve never encountered. Given what I had been studying in the Learning Design & Technology program, I was taken aback by the county’s hodgepodge approach to remote learning. Schedule inconsistencies, hard-to-navigate web sites and course pages, the inability to locate class content, too much learning downtime, and difficult to reach teachers are only some of the problems I’ve encountered with my kids’ schools. For this reason, I decided to create a school-wide remote learning plan as my ECI 652 field project. Through careful planning and research, I’ll illustrate that it’s entirely possible to implement a remote learning plan that better accommodates students’ needs. This project will be on the ECI 652 artifacts page by the end of the semester and I hope that one day, I will be able to share my plan with school leaders.

As you can see, my goals vary widely and depend on which job I’m hired for. No matter where I go or what I do, I will somehow be associated with education.