“You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” ~ Charles Buxton

 

For me, time is a strange thing. I spend so much of it in different places in my mind. One moment I am recalling the birth of my last child, the next, thinking about what I plan to make for dinner next week. I seem to always be thinking about time, how I spend it, and what I will do with it in the future. As I write this essay, I am once again thinking about time –my time at MSU. As I near the end of the Master’s in Educational Technology program, I realize I have used my time during the last three years very wisely. It has been an incredible three-year journey and in a lot of ways I am going to miss the time I have spent studying. I know I will miss collaborating with my peers and talking with my professors. However, now I find myself thinking about time again; this time though, I am thinking what next! Since I will no longer have to study, how do I plan to spend my time?

 

First, I plan to use my new confidence and knowledge of technology with my students in my online courses. As an online high school teacher, one of the reasons I began the Master’s in Educational Technology program was because I wanted to find new ways to use technology to excite and engage my students. It is my desire to use my new knowledge of educational technology to improve learning outcomes, while making learning fun for my students. Also, I want to implement new technologies in my courses that will help students become more comfortable and successful in taking online courses. When taking their first online course, many students feel lost, isolated and disconnected from the teacher and their classmates. This disconnection can cause students to become disengaged or fail. By providing synchronous sessions and discussion boards that offer a great deal of collaborative opportunities, I hope to “hook” my students, so that they can see that online learning provides time for social interaction as well as learning. Perhaps some of them will learn to appreciate the benefits of online learning.

 

Next, I plan to take some time to explore and learn some of the technology tools I have learned about. My time at Michigan State was enjoyable, but it was challenging and a lot of hard work. Now I want to use my new knowledge to play and learn with my students. There are many technology tools that I plan to use with my students. The first one is “myebook.” As a literature/writing teacher, this would be a great tool to use to engage my students. It allows users to make beautiful interactive books. I know my Creative Writing students would have a blast using it. After they create their books they could share them (online) with each other. The next writing site I plan to show my students is ZooBurst (https://www.zooburst.com); it is another digital story learning website that I believe my students will enjoy learning how to use. Zooburst allows users to make animated 3D pop-up books. By using creative writing websites, it is my intention to get my students to love writing and want to write even more. These two tools are just the beginning; now that I have the confidence and skill to use technology to educate my students, I am ready to take it all on and my list is very long.

 

Moving on to a more personal topic, I plan to use my time looking for another job (part-time) that will allow me to grow more professionally and to be honest, to help pay for my daughters’ college expenses. I am fortunate to have the time to look for a position that I know I am best suited for and where I can use my new skills. It is my intention to be a great asset to all my employers as well as be a strong advocate for online learning; I plan to make MSU proud!

 

In addition, I have to say I need to give some time back to my husband and kids. They have been very supportive of my desire for a master’s degree and have spent many nights and weekends without me around. My husband has (out of necessity) become quite a good chef and my kids have proven they can even do some housework. I plan to spend some special time with them and giving back to them as my way of saying thank you for supporting me through this.

 

Finally, I a plan to go after some personal goals I have wanted to obtain. The first one is learning how to play the piano. I have wanted to take lessons for years and now as a graduation present to myself, I begin in June! It is my desire to learn how to play all kinds of music, especially jazz. Next, I will probably go onto cooking lessons. I love to cook and to watch cooking shows, so I know I would love being a home chef. Where I’ll go next? I do not know; I do know that my time at Michigan State has given me the confidence and desire to keep trying new things. "Time will only tell."