Running head: PERSONAL

GROWTH ASSESSMENT

My Journey to a Flat World

Cesar Lopez
Azusa Pacific University

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

History of Coursework
Term
Spring I
2014

Course
EDTC 511:
Foundations
in Educational
Technology
EDTC 571:
Curriculum
Foundations
EDTC 517:
Telecommunications

Professor
Dr. Kathleen
Bacer

Spring II
2014

EDTC 527: Special

Topics in Educational
Technology

Barry Bettger

Summer
2014

EDTC 518: Global

Learning/ Crosscultural
Classroom
EDCT 524:
Instructional
Design and
Development

Dr. Kathleen
Bacer

EDTC 523:
Educational
Applications of
Information Design
Hypermedia
EDTC 521: Digital
Imagery/Learning
Environment Online

Laura Silva

EDTC 515:
Emerging
Trends in
Technology
EDTC 520:
Applications of
Technologysupported
Curriculum Tools
EDTC 526:
Practicum in
Educational
Applications of
Technology
EDTC 572:
Advanced
Educational
Psychology

Dr. James
Brown

Spring I
2014
Spring II
2014

Summer
2014

Fall I
2014

Fall I
2014
Fall II
2014
Fall II
2014

Spring I
2015

Spring I
2015

Valarie Suffern
Joe Bruzzese

Kathryn Price

Doyle Potter

Elizabeth Silver

Key Learnings
I was able to observe transparency in the use of Sakai,
learned uses of Adobe Acrobat and have asynchronous
communications with cadre members to reflect on our
learning.
I applied my Acrobat skills to create a curriculum project
and assessed my teaching methods after the study of
pedagogical theories and theorists.
I built a website and blog to share projects and
communicate with others. I explored communications
medium Skype and Google Hangouts.
I explored and implemented in my classroom the web
resources of Padlet and Socrative. I created a personal
learning network on Twitter and evaluated web resources
for the creation of a digital citizenship culture in my
classroom.
I learned the key components of a global learning project
(GLP). I studied and analyzed the impact of digital
citizenship in a classroom. I wrote a proposal for a GLP.
I created a lesson plan following the understanding by
design (UbD) model. I created and participated in a
personal learning space to showcase my work and obtain
feedback. I learned about the elements of visual design
and the connection between learning and effective visuals.
I integrated web design principals to design and create a
website to host my GLP.

I learned the composition rules of photography. I used

Photoshop to modify and create images for websites and
videos. I learned and integrated video creation techniques to
create videos.
I investigated and created a report on Massive Open
Online Courses (MOOCs). I learned about upcoming
trends in technology and reviewed and reported on
digital citizenship components.
I assessed the components of my district technology plan. I
created a rubric to assess the efficacy and implementation of
software. I developed an implementation plan on a
professional development session.

Dr. Kathleen
Bacer

I evaluated my growth in the personal, professional and

technological areas throughout the Masters program. I
reported on the implementation of my eNotebook projects
and GLP. I created a website to host these findings.

Dr. James
Brown

I studied and reported on the brain rules by John Medina. I

also created presentations using these brain rules geared
towards teachers and students.

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

Personal Growth
I faced two challenges in my educational career while working toward my Masters degree at
Azusa Pacific University (APU): procrastination and writing. I understood that I had to
successfully overcome these obstacles because of the rigor required to take online courses. At the
same time, I needed to create a balance between my professional and personal life while meeting
weekly deadlines for school projects. I was expected to write responses, comments, participate in
discussions and ask intriguing questions on an online forum. I also needed to master the
American Psychological Association (APA) writing style to showcase my learning in writing
projects.
I worked on projects, assignments, and forum postings weekly and due to the structure and
quick pace of my Masters classes, I could not allow procrastination to overcome me. If I did, I
would not have been able to produce the expected quality of work required in each course. I
decided to organize my life and schedule my days so I could find time for work, school,
afterschool tutoring, school clubs, friends and family.
Procrastination and technology is a recipe for disaster and I learned this the hard way when I
tried to do edit a video for EDTC 521 (2014) during a weekend. My computer crashed right
before I was typing the references page forcing me to start all over again and loosing a night of
sleep. After learning from this experience, my final video project on coding in the classroom was
successfully planned and completed (Brown, 2014).
I consider myself a mathematical and logical person and this was supported by the selfassessment taken on Dr. Bacers class (2014). I decided to use these skills to face and overcome
my fear of writing. I saw patterns of the APA notation emerging as I wrote my first paper on
technical proficiency (Bacer, 2014). I attended an online workshop, practiced on the workbook

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

and read tutorials on line. The concerns I had about writing have subsided since I am able to see
the logical aspects of the APA writing style. I am able to see its patterns, efficacy and interesting
pieces coming together in order to give credit to authors.
An essential part of this program is to actively participate in forum discussions that include
the ability to write powerful paragraphs (Bacer, 2014). I needed to showcase my best writing
in order to offer strong and valid discussions in the forums. These responses were read, analyzed
and questioned by professional cadre members with years of experience in the educational field.
I placed my concerns about writing aside and offered valid points, questions and assessments in
order to create productive and engaging learning opportunities. These skills were tested when I
had to offer constructive criticism on my peers websites that included various elements of
design (Silva, 2014).
I considered myself a spiritual procrastinator since I did not make the time to read the Bible or
attend any religious services. However, I learned to take the time to pray and reflect on my
relationship with God. This program gave me the opportunity to explore the importance of
prayer, specifically how prayer changes our lives. The weekly spiritual focus provided an
opportunity to self-reflect and use questions as a guide in order to relate the Bible messages to
my life and make personal changes according to the learning obtained (Silver, 2014).
Professional Growth
In order grow as a professional I need to constantly assess my teaching and make
mathematics relatable to my young students. During this program, I was able to find the answer
to a question that I pondered for years as a teacher: Why do students forget their material in a
short period of time? I also realized the importance of infusing classrooms with technology and
becoming an advocate for web 2.0 resources and digital citizenship.

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

I was able to see the flaws of my lesson planning, specifically when it comes to students
transferring and applying knowledge, a necessary component of the new Common Core
curriculum. Now I follow the Understanding by Design planning principles in order to plan
lessons. My students will have the ability to make meaning of learning via big ideas and to
transfer learning (Wiggings & McTighe, 2011, p.3) by incorporating the Understanding by
Design model of unit planning. It is through the continuous use of this model that my students
will be able to make the necessary connections in their math lessons and successfully transfer
their mathematical knowledge to other subjects, situations and the real world.
Before starting my Masters program, I would see the use of new technology as just expensive
electronics for students to review material or do busy work. Now, I see the use of technology as a
way to meet the new rigorous demands of the new Common Core: students write, assess their
learning and become part of a world through connections and interactions with the use of web
2.0 resources. As Shelly, Gunter G., and Gunter R., (2011) propose, teachers use technology
tools to enhance the learning environments, motivate students, guide students in a participatory
learning process and encourage them to learn (p.372).
A successful implementation of technology resources in classroom provides benefits for our
digital natives (Ribble, 2011, p.11), but it also raises questions of the expected behavior online for my students. The dangers associated with students accessing these web 2.0 resources
make them vulnerable to dangers that only hinder their learning with the use of technology. This
is the reason why I have taken a strong stance and advocate digital citizenship at my school. I
have shared Mike Ribbles nine elements of digital citizenship with my department at school and
emphasized that good digital citizens work to help create a society of users who help others
learn how to use technology appropriately (Ribble, 2011, p.10).

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

Technical Growth
My knowledge of educational technology used to be limited since it included outdated
presentation tools, use of calculators, word processors and software use. In other words, I was
simply a passive user of technology. I have grown to implement and explore new technology that
that includes a project website, video production and exploring disruptive technology
(Lindsay & Davis, 2013, p.134).
The creation of a website to host my global learning project was a culmination of the study of
architectural design elements. The goal of the design was to make the website self-evident.
Obvious. Self-explanatory (Krug, 2014, p.11). This achievement was due to many hours of
revision, and investigation to house tools to make my GLP a success (Silva, 2014).
As part of the flipped classroom trend, I created videos using Camtasia, iMovie and Adobe
Premier Elements. I incorporated video production techniques such as light, shots audio and
scrip to produce a public service announcement, how-to video and a presentation on coding, a
new trend in technology education (Potter & Brown, 2014). I have grown from being a passive
observer of videos to creating my own tutorials and presentations using different video programs.
Most importantly, I have begun the implementation of technology in my classroom that goes
beyond presentation tools or apps for mathematics. I have created a Google classroom where my
students learn in a safe environment where they find links, announcements, and a place to have
asynchronous communication in order to share ideas, have discussions and have access to my
tutorial videos. I am moving closer to my new role as a facilitator of an environment that
supports the construction of knowledge (Baggio, 2010, p.7).

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

Life Long Learning Plan

One of the first assignments of this program was to learn technology terminology as well as to
learn about the use of technology in education. I wondered how much of this software and
hardware would be obsolete by the end of the program. Dr. Bacer mentioned that learning how
to integrate technology as a tool for learning would be the most important aspect of the program,
not the technology itself (Bacer, 2014)
My goal as a technology instructor is to facilitate learning through the use of existing
technology in order to engage, motivate and facilitate mathematics learning for my students. In
order to accomplish this, I need to be part of an extensive group of collaborators that are at the
vanguard of technology integration in education. My personal learning networks consist of:
Twitter, Google+, International Education and Resource Network (IEARN) and Edmodo. These
networks will be the connection to teachers around the world who contribute to this everchanging aspect of education. Moreover, I will be a contributor to these learning networks by
sharing the success stories that I will accomplish with my group of students.
My enthusiasm for the use of technology in an educational setting is evident by my peers at
my school site. I have begun the use of Google classrooms, share presentations about netiquette,
shared the success of my global learning project (GLP) and currently collaborating with another
science teacher to continue the water conservation project that my students started in class. My
goal is to use this enthusiasm and knowledge of technology and become a leader on how to
successfully integrate technology in order to provide a 21st century education. I want to be part of
creating a school culture where the right technological tools are used for sharing and creating
knowledge among students.

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

Conclusion
The venture of completing my Masters program has been a challenge in my personal and
professional life. These learning experiences have strengthen my character, knowledge and
spirituality due to the many projects, deadlines, forum discussions and professional interactions
with my cadre members. I am ready to embark on the exiting world of educational technology
with confidence while having the necessary tools to enrich my profession and become a leader. I
see my profession in a new light due to the new knowledge and skills that I have acquired during
these past thirteen months. This has also given the motivation to evolve and grow as an educator
in order to keep in pace with the current trends in educational technology.

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

References
Bacer, K. (2014). EDTC 511: Foundations in Educational Technology. Online Master of Arts in
Educational Technology. School of Education. Azusa Pacific University: Azusa, CA.
Retrieved from http://sakai.apu.edu
Baggio, B. (2010). The visual connection: Best practices for teachers, trainers and SMEs. New
York: Proteus Press.
Brown, J. (2014). EDTC 515: Emerging Trends in Technology. Online Master of Arts in
Educational Technology. School of Education. Azusa Pacific University: Azusa, CA.
Retrieved from http://sakai.apu.edu
JVen two. (n.d.). Success on this flat world. [Jpeg image]. Retrieved from
http://collectionwordpressthemes.com/12-beautiful-and-creative-image-slider-psddesign-free-for-download/
Krug, S. (2014). Don't make me think, revisited: A common sense approach to Web usability.
Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Lindsay, J., & Davis, V. A. (2013). Flattening classrooms, engaging minds: Move to global
collaboration one step at a time. Boston: Pearson.
Potter, D.P. (2014). EDTC 521: Digital Imagery/Learning Environment online. Online Master of
Arts in Educational Technology. School of Education. Azusa Pacific University: Azusa,
CA. Retrieved from http://sakai.apu.edu
Ribble, M. (2011). Digital citizenship in schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for
Technology in Education.
Shelly, G. B., Gunter, G. A., & Gunter, R. E. (2012). Teachers discovering computers:
Integrating technology in a connected world. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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10

Silva, L. (2014). EDTC 523: Educational Applications of Information Design Hypermedia.

Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology. School of Education. Azusa Pacific
University: Azusa, CA. Retrieved from http://sakai.apu.edu
Silver, E. (2014). EDTC 520: Applications of Technology-supported Curriculum Tools. Online
Master of Arts in Educational Technology. School of Education. Azusa Pacific
University: Azusa, CA. Retrieved from http://sakai.apu.edu
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating highquality units. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.