teaching

As I reflect on my experiences as a HALE MA student, I'm moved by how much I needed to pursue this program. When I began this program it was clear I needed to continue my education as my career had changed course into an exciting new direction. Sometimes it isn't clear how much you need to do something until you venture the courage to try. Now that I'm hitting my stride as an administrator, leader, and change agent for my institution I can fully recognize and appreciate the interplay between my work and my studies.

I've noticed that my earlier work was more difficult to research, despite the fact that I entered with strong index searching skills. I feel that I've developed a much better sense of the body of literature available to me. I also notice in writing my assignments that although I'm still unsure if my writing is linear and easy to follow, I'm certain that it is more concise. My writing assignments used to be two pages too long and needed significant editing down.

Completion of the HALE program required TE891 - an Educational Inquiry and Research Methods course. Because my work with online courses put me in proximity to primary investigators on a few research efforts related to the scholarship of teaching and learning I had some familiarity with human studies procedures and methods associated with collecting data or interviewing subjects. This course was my first pure introduction into research design.

Attached to this page is a statement of goals I wrote prior to entering the HALE MA Program at Michigan State University. I tried to set a path for my studies and declare some scholarly interests while setting them in the context of my professional life. As I record this in my portfolio now, with limited exposure to the program, I'm optimistic that joining will turn out to be a great decision. I'm looking forward to further interactions with colleagues in my cohort, the faculty, literature in the field, and most of all the living examples in my professional work.

Studying adult learning resulted in interesting spillovers from the topics I knew we'd be covering. Many of the 'differences' that adults demand from educational systems to enable their learning also potentially benefit all learners. Studying adult learning therefore, calls for studying learning broadly, and challenges us to focus more on learning then on the practice of instruction. Adult learning also reminds us that although we are educators, people are very able to learn on their own and many thrive outside traditional formal learning environments.

Continuing my lifelong learning journey in the summer of 2006, I again turned to my profession for inspiration when considering my course options. I chose to enroll in EAD861 Adult Learning because many of the faculty I'd worked with over the years were teaching students in online Masters programs intended for professionals. I'd been introduced through a community of practice in our office and my own professional organizations to the concepts of andragogy and understood that adult learners may have different needs than traditional students.