GOALS OF A TECHNOLOGY INNOVATOR

When I started my teaching credential program at Sonoma State University, I knew that I wanted to be placed at a school site and with a mentor teacher who knew how to integrate technology within the classroom and was a technology innovator themselves. I was fortunate enough to be placed at a school and more specifically with a mentor teacher who was and still is a technology innovator within the classroom. Being inspired by and taught by a mentor teacher who was a technology innovator was not enough because there was not a dedicated class at Sonoma State University where prospective teachers were being taught about how technology could be integrated within the classroom or even just the theoretical framework and pedagogy about integrating technology in the classroom.  

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When I started teaching at a local high school, I immediately recognized the importance of continuing my education about technology and its place inside the classroom. This realization especially stood out to me when my principal approached me about becoming a technology coach on campus. While being in this leadership position I would be there as additional support for my fellow colleagues about how they could start introducing technology to the classroom. As a technology coach, I was able to organize Professional Development around Google Applications for Education and hold mini lessons on other educational technology tools on Thursdays throughout the school year. From the variety of experiences I had through this position, I realized there is a fault within credential programs and it is the lack of support and education around the implementation and use of technology within the classroom. I started looking for master’s programs that had to do with educational technology. Throughout my research of educational technology programs, I came across Michigan State’s Master’s of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program. My primary goal when I applied to this program was to receive my master’s in order to eventually pursue my PhD in educational technology so I can create and teach a course about the theoretical framework and how different forms of technology can be integrated effectively in the classroom in a credential program in California.

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Over the past two years of being in this master’s program, I have learned about a variety of topics that I never thought I would actually learn about. Some of these topics include the theoretical framework behind using technology in the classroom, creativity in the classroom, and how to properly perform research on topics in the field of education and much more. Now that I am nearing the end of this journey, I want to be able to take the valuable knowledge I have gained and be able to implement it at the next school site I am at. I want to be able to help my fellow colleagues further their knowledge on the implementation of technology in the classroom, no matter how big or small. After a few years of helping my fellow colleagues through Professional Development and one-on-one help then I would begin my search in finding the perfect PhD program for educational technology. Once I have found the perfect PhD program then I would continue my technology innovator journey into researching, designing and implementing a credential program course around educational technology in the middle school and high school classrooms.