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How Completing a Master's Degree Program Empowered Me and Made Me a Better Teacher

Last year in my fifth year of teaching I decided to finally make the decision to start a Master's Degree program in educational technology. I had put off this decision for the first few years of my career, and had always made excuses that it would be too much to handle with work, or that it just wasn't the right time to do it yet. With the Covid-19 pandemic in full effect, I decided that it was as good a time as any, and to finally take the plunge and start the next chapter of my life. Now, as I am coming to the completion of my program, I am able to reflect on the knowledge and growth I have acquired over the past year and a half, and I can fully comprehend the benefits my time in this program have brought to me both personally and professionally. In the following blog, I will explain how completing a Master's Degree program has impacted me in an effort to encourage other who may be wondering if they should take this next step in their lives.  Empowered Me to Take on a Lea...
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5 Useful Technology Tools for any Teacher's Toolbox

Throughout the course of my Educational Technology Master's Degree program through the American College of Education (ACE), I have conducted in-depth research, completed numerous technology integrated unit plans and professional development plans, and participated in discussions with peers in my field. Through all these experiences, I have discovered many new technology tools that have helped to transform my teaching. In the following sections, I will discuss 5 different technology tools I have discovered over the past year that I feel have been particularly useful to myself, and that I believe any educator could bring into their classroom immediately to help improve student learning and engagement.  1) Nearpod  I learned about Nearpod over the past year through my program at ACE, and my school site ended up adopting it soon afterward. Nearpod is a presentation tool that allows educators to take presentations from various presentation softwares, such as PowerPoint or Google Sl...
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Three Major Takeaways/Themes from My ACE Masters Program

Throughout my time in my Master's Degree program at the American College of Education (ACE), there have been three major takeaways/themes that I have noticed that permeated almost all of my classes. These are all things that I don't think I realized, or at least did not fully have a grasp of before I began my program at ACE. These takeaways will be practices I either bring into my class, or advocate for at a school/district level moving forward.  1. The importance of stakeholder feedback when making technology decisions.  I don't think that this takeaway can be stressed enough. When making technology decisions that will impact a wide range of people, it is extremely important to get feedback from the stakeholders who a decision is impacting. This could include thinking about adopting a new LMS, purchasing a new technology tool, taking the use of technology at a school site in a particular direction, or any other number of technology decisions. Throughout the course of my ca...
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Individual Student Profile Reflection

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Individual Student Profile      At the beginning of my Master's Degree in Educational Technology program at the American College of Education (ACE) I was asked to complete an Individual Student Profile assignment in which I set three goals for myself. I thought it was important to reflect upon this assignment, and whether or not I achieved the goals that I set forth for myself at the beginning of this program.           Overall, I believe that I achieved all of the goals that I set forth to some degree. As far as goal #1, I was able to introduce myself to many new technology tools that have helped increase learning, engagement, and the accessibility of learning in my classroom. I have gained a greater confidence in trying out new tools, and understand how to more thoughtfully integrate technology into my curriculum planning. In terms of goal #2, I'm not sure that I entirely achieved the goal as I set forth, but I think that I made strides in ...
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