What a lot of people don’t know is that I have been bowling since I was 7 years old. I used to be really hardcore about bowling before I went to college.

 

          So what does 800 have to do with bowling? Bowling, like most sports, is one of those sports that celebrate major accomplishments by rewarding rings, much like basketball and football. In bowling, you get a ring when you bowl a 298, 299, or 300 in one game.  When you bowl a combined total (three games) of 800, you also get a ring as long as you’re a member of the United States Bowling Congress (USBC).  Here is the correlation; 800s are a great thing in the bowling world, and I hope one day to get an 800 ring, whenever I return back to it. In my academic world, 800s represent the course numbers of the Masters of Educational Technology Program (MAET) at Michigan State University. I never really thought that I would be getting a master’s in educational technology, but I do love technology and I do love education, so it seems only fitting for me to be in the program. Although in the recent weeks, I feel like I may have focused too heavily on the technology side of the program and too little on the education side.  In the end it all worked out and came full circle. 

 

            I originally started this journey of 800s in the Michigan State University Educational Technology Certificate Program, and actually never considered getting into the MAET program. The first class that I took was Learning in School and Other Settings (CEP 800).  That class confirmed that I was making a good decision moving forward in the field of education. I appreciate theories that have applicable, real-world applications.  This course provided great theoretical application and background for much of the work that I would be doing. I have known all along that I am not a typical learner. I am a very creative, experiential, tactile learner. That is main reason I have always majored in design and technology. At the time this course helped me identify with myself as well as others. When I began this program I was working with the MSU G.E.A.R.U.P Program, a pre-college program at the time for students in grade 7-12. We would get caught up in conversations about why they did not want to do work, and how they got frustrated with the materials. I felt like a superhero when I knew I was more equipped to help than I had been in the past. That was the second sign that I knew that going into educational technology was a good choice. 

 

           You would think that after I earned my certificate in the spring of 2011, I would have been fired up to keep going straight into the master’s program. However, what was confirmed for me was that I definitely did not like online courses.  I guess you can see the irony now, since this whole program is pretty much an online program. I tried to push through and stay focused but at the time, it just wasn’t happening. Between my strong dislike for online learning environment coupled with issues and losses in my personal life; I stopped the program. Waiting to go into an educational area was one of the main reasons I got into this field.  The other reason was because I need financial means to live on. I didn’t exactly know what to do with a master’s degree in serious game design and user experience, and the jobs I did apply for I didn’t have enough experience. I get a chuckle because over the past weekend someone asked me when you are going to get a job. I said, when I get hired.  I further stated, school is my fall back like athletes actually completing their degree. I tried to make myself complete the program, but then, that moment when you realize exactly how much you have in loan debt, became a factor to not go back and finish the program. As the years went passed it never dawned on me to ever complete this program, until one simple email. It was email asking if I wanted to complete the program because I only have four courses left to graduate from the MAET program. I weighed my options over the weekend; because it doesn’t take me long to make decisions. I came to the realization, that if I started it, I should finish it. Plus it would make for a great story to tell students later on about finishing what you start. 

 

           In the spring of 2014, I came back to finish up the MAET program with a new focus; finish the 4 courses and raise my GPA. My GPA became a major focus because I am applying for PhD programs in the fall of 2014. I have to admit, that when I came back to this program, I remembered nothing from when I first started. With this new tunnel vision, I quickly remembered why I left the program in the first place—my distaste for the online learning environment. During that semester, two things happened; I began a personal battle with online learning and better ways to fit students like myself that prefer to have face to face interactions, and I started to see instructional design as a career. Before I started my last my summer semester, I told one of my instructors that I had been looking at instructional designer jobs. I went on to tell them that I did not feel to confident in applying for none of those jobs because I didn’t know what or how to use learning management systems. 

 

            Teaching Students Online (CEP 820), along with CEP 800, has been one of best learning experiences in my academic journey.  Through this course, I obtained both the knowledge and pedagogical information to feel comfortable and competent as well as the first-hand experience developing an online course a learning management system.  Being one that comes from a design background and not education, this would have to have be the most challenging, yet gratifying experience in this program.  I think the main thing that I kept questioning and having doubts about is, am I doing this right? Sure anyone can just put information, links, and videos and tell someone to learn from it, but then again you are not really invoking a complete online learning experience. Although being a student in an online program, there are things you are not that aware of that goes into the complete composition of an online class, such as assessments, rubrics, or communication. I came to learn and understand the importance of all these pieces that come together to fit into the overall puzzle that is online teaching, and now I have a great appreciation for them. I have always been one that has been against online classes, even now as I finish up an online program. I am still pretty impressed with myself that I made it this far. I think because of my strong dislike for online classes, I have been able to realize how much potential the online environment really has and how to customize it to fit your own particular wants.

 

          As I get ready to finish up the MAET program, I find myself in a constant state of wondering mixed with a little worry. Wondering comes from my uncertainty of what I will be doing next. Worrying comes from the notion that I will have another degree, and not be able to use it the way I want to at least gain employment. Then I started my work for my Online Portfolio (CEP 807), and a lot worrying started to clear up and become unnecessary. The best thing about 807 is that it forced me to sit down and think about where I was going next.  This was the first time that the focus of a class I have taken has been for reflection. Often times I think about what I have been doing, where I want to go, and how much further I have till I get there. I have conversations with my friends that already finishing their PhDs and are not faculty at places and at times it does get me down. I mean, look at me, I’m 31 years old, and I still have a PhD to get. Do you know how old I will be when I get finished with school? I think somewhere around 37 or 38 yrs old. However, I must also look at what I have already accomplished and my friends often help me to keep this in perspective.  They say, Chris, dude, you have worked at universities since you have been out of school, including Yale. I sit and think, yea, I guess I have been doing what I wanted, and more.  

 

          It’s not often that I doubt myself or the skills I possess, but having a reminder helps keep me focused and wanting to learn more. When I had to come up with a section for my annotated transcript for my portfolio, I had to go back and check emails from four years ago. I was recalling some of the work I did and I was even shocked to listen to myself speak about what I wanted to do, and how things had changed so much. I learned the true meaning of the term, “time flies.” For the past 4 weeks, I have been writing reflective essays for 807. I can’t help to think how far I have come as a student and a professional. From just wanting to do graphic and web design to waiting to be an instructional designer and teaching online courses. The best part about 807, is that I will finally have a website/portfolio that I will be proud enough to display and share with others. The working draft that I have now looks great so I know that the finishes product will be awesome. 

 

          CEP 800, 807 and 820 are the major 800s of my academic world. These courses have taught me more about myself as a learner than any other courses out of 3 degrees, which I know I will continue to use for the rest of my life. To be able to combine learning theories with teaching students online, I believe my future as a teacher looks rather bright. My portfolio will continuously be updated to reflect my progress in life, as well as showcase my works and talents. Maybe when I finish my PhD program they will have me create another portfolio and I can once again, take time to reflect on the years passed. Hey, and who knows, maybe by the time I get done with school, I’ll have a bowling ring too.