SYNTHESIS ESSAY

When I chose to move forward with my education at Michigan State University three years ago, I did not fully know what to expect. I had my assumptions, my enthusiasm for learning, and my unrefined personal and professional goals. While I was inspired to further my learning through the Master of Arts in Education degree program, I didn’t realize then the colossal influence the experience would have on my thinking and practice. Each of the ten courses in my program impacted me in unique ways, and I know that all of the theories, concepts, and strategies that I learned will stick with me throughout my life and serve as useful tools for me in my career.

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Adult Learning

While many of my peers in the Master of Arts in Education program were K-12 educators, I was working with adult learners in the context of higher education. That is why I was thrilled to begin exploring how adults learn best in EAD 861: Adult Learning. I was surprised to see that this course not only required academic readings, but also included a heavy amount of other media resources such as articles, biographical books, and a variety of popular films. The unique way in which the course readings were aligned with the media resources made for a fascinating exploration of adult learning case studies.

I entered into this course expecting to acquire clear answers and strategies on how best to teach adults, but was instead encouraged to respect and appreciate the ambiguity and uncertainty in learning and knowledge production. This came as a shock to me, but as the course went on, I began to understand why accepting this ambiguity is so important for adult learning. The vague definition of “adult”, combined with the wide array of adult learning contexts makes this a term with seemingly infinite definitions. Because of this, the instructor provided us with opportunities to explore numerous unique case studies to explore adult learning and understand which concepts are best utilized in specific contexts. Something that I had not considered before this course was how an adult learner’s values and assumptions inform their motivation and development across their life span. Through films such as Good Will Hunting and Departures, this course allowed me to engage in critical thinking to analyze unique case studies of adult learning and pose new questions about individuals’ perspectives, experiences, and assumptions about learning. Approaching adult learning with a case-by-case basis from this angle helped me to understand the sheer complexity of learning in general, and the importance of understanding learners’ life experiences and individual perspectives and how they shape their motivation to learn. In my work, it is especially important for me to understand what motivates my learners, as well as their experiences and assumptions about learning. This approach to teaching and learning has inspired me to implement learning experiences that are tailored specifically for the adult learners that I am working with, offering them more self-directed and experiential learning opportunities.

Design Thinking

One of the courses that had the greatest influence on my thinking and practice was CEP 817: Learning Technology Through Design. This course was unconventional in many ways, and revolved around the five phases of design thinking that are part of the Stanford Model of Design Thinking: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Waking through each step of the design thinking process, this course offered me fresh perspectives on creative problem solving, pedagogical decision making, and success and failure. These concepts served as excellent tools for addressing my chosen “problem of practice” for the course.

What first struck me about this course was the thought-provoking and wildly creative learning exercises. While quizzes, tests, and essays are decent ways to assess learning, the assignments in this course were strikingly creative and different from those traditional academic assessment tools. For instance, to get some creative ideas flowing, one assignment required me to create several “Sniglets”, or a made-up word and definition for something that is real but does not actually have a dictionary word for it. Another assignment required me to ask “why” 5 or more times in order to try to uncover the root cause of my chosen problem of practice. These unique (and sometimes strange) learning activities inspired me to think outside the box when developing learning experiences for students in my professional context. Rather than simply quizzing students or requiring dense academic readings, I offer unique and fun exercises to encourage creativity.

This course also changed my thinking about creative problem solving. In higher education there is no shortage of problems to address, and the problem-solving process is often met with frustrating setbacks. Through the design thinking process, I learned how important empathy, creativity, and failure are to properly solving a problem. I learned that empathy, which serves as the core building block for human-centered design, is absolutely essential to successful problem solving, especially in the context of teaching and learning. By practicing the “Observe, Engage, and Immerse” approach to empathy with my students, I learned why this is the first phase of the design thinking process, and why practicing empathy does not end there. After diving in to empathy in this course, I decided to interview some of the students at my University to gain a better understanding of their priorities, challenges, and learning preferences. This experience truly affected the way that I think about developing learning experiences, and I know I will be practicing empathy with more intention in my work moving forward.

The course also taught me that nurturing learner’s creativity is vital, and if students are allowed to innovate without rules limiting their ideas, they will not only enjoy the learning process more, but will be better equipped to address complex problems. In addition, I learned that failure is an essential part of both the learning and problem-solving processes. The design thinking process is iterative, which means that failure fuels forward progress, and teaches us what works and what needs refining. I was most impacted by the shift of thinking from failure as a missed opportunity, to failure as a chance to learn and grow. In my practice, I hope to bring this fresh perspective on failure to inspire my learners to pursue meaningful learning and growth, rather than simply to avoid failure.

Feedback and Assessment

The second to last course in my program was another learning experience that significantly influenced my thinking and practice. In CEP 813: Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning, I gained the clearest “behind the curtain” view of the instructor’s pedagogical decisions than I had any other course in my program. Highlighting the differences between assessment for learning, assessment as learning, and assessment of learning, this class taught me the various strategies for assessing student learning by demonstrating these strategies through the course assignments and grading. Not only did the instructors offer me a chance to experience digital assessments as a teacher and a learner, but also, they encouraged experimentation with various Course Management Systems (CMS) from the perspective of both a teacher and a student. This practice with CMS was much needed for me, and has already served as useful in my professional context.

Like my Learning Technology Through Design course, this class encouraged creativity in assessment design using technology. However, it differed from CEP 817 in that this course focused heavily on feedback. While I learned a great deal about the essentials of assessment design and fascinating new strategies for developing creative assessments, my greatest takeaway from this course was the immeasurable importance of feedback. I never realized how complex feedback can be when assessing student learning, and this course taught me that feedback must be descriptive and positive, and must come from the student’s peers and instructor. I was stunned to learn the dramatic impact that focused and positive feedback can have on student achievement, and since then I have implemented feedback components in all of my learning experiences to ensure students are benefitting from feedback to increase their motivation and self-efficacy. I am especially focused on peer-to-peer feedback because, while instructor feedback is always beneficial, hearing from one’s peers can often provide a more grounded and approachable perspective.

In addition, I enjoyed learning about the benefits of game-based assessments in this course. After experimenting with game-based assessment tools such as Twine, I felt strongly that these types of learning activities can not only be a great chance to assess student learning, but also engage them in meaningful and creative ways. This new and unique strategy for assessment, paired with what I learned about feedback, will certainly stick with me and serve as useful for me in my career.

Introspection and Reflection

My master’s program has impacted my thinking in countless ways, and I am finally realizing in my last course of the program, ED 870: Capstone Portfolio, that all of my classes have inspired me to engage in meaningful introspection and reflection in order to learn and grow not only as an educator, but as a person as well. Looking back at the various courses I have taken, many of them challenged me to evaluate my assumptions and biases, and to step outside my own experiences and perspectives in order to better understand others. Especially in my final Capstone Portfolio course, I am realizing the incredible power of simply taking the time to reflect. Not only does personal reflection allow students to better absorb the learning materials, but it also allows us to clearly see our progress, development, and growth. Reflection offers us a chance to slow down and re-evaluate our perspectives, assumptions, and teaching strategies in order to modify and refine our approach.

While ED 870 has offered many opportunities for this type of meaningful reflection, my other courses also encouraged this type of transformational learning as well. In my final assignments for EAD 861, CEP 817, CEP 813, and other courses, I was tasked with writing a “final reflection” in which I not only summarized what I learned, but described how my thinking has evolved throughout the course. This type of reflection has not only helped me to retain the knowledge I have discovered throughout my program, but it has also inspired me to bring this type of introspective writing to my work. Especially in the context of career development, reflection is key to understanding the growth of one’s skills, the depth of one’s accomplishments, and the direction of one’s career. Through either written or verbal reflection, I believe that adults can gain a deeper understanding of how their experiences have shaped their perspectives, and develop more refined personal and professional goals.

As I complete the final course of my Master of Arts in Education degree program, I realize that my journey of education and growth is certainly not ending. The program has served in helping me achieve my personal and professional goals, and has armed me with countless theories, strategies, and resources for successful teaching and learning. However, I am not leaving the program with concrete answers; rather, I am leaving with new techniques for educational inquiry, new perspectives through reflection and challenging my assumptions and biases, and a strengthened enthusiasm for learning. I am excited to take my new perspectives and knowledge of teaching and learning with me on my continued journey of education and growth.