Scott
More than a decade passed before Scott, a University of California at Davis graduate, decided to return to school to pursue his master's degree. Why the long wait?
"It didn't exist back then," he says pointedly. The degree? The school? Both? Actually, Walden University, a virtual university that confers degrees wholly via distance education, has been around since 1970. But the Master of Science in Integrating Technology in the Classroom program is quite new.
Most of the programs Scott teaches to his seventh grade class had not even been invented yet. Indeed, the Internet itself was still coming into it's own back in 1992. Today, armed with his degree, Scott is on the cutting edge of a new movement in education.
"Educators are not known for being early-adopters," he says wryly. He recalls a time in the not-so-distant past when even e-mail was not embraced. "Teachers called the union to ask if they had to check e-mail."
Now it is universally accepted, he believes. He hopes the same will hold true for integrating technology in the classroom.
While it is gaining in popularity, he concedes, there aren't too many people doing it. "Powerpoint is pretty much the fanciest it gets." And, there aren't too many people teaching the teachers either.
"The education technology field is led by few," says Scott. To explain the dearth he reasons that, "those leading it are too busy to share and present. If you take the time to slow down to gather your ‘stuff' to present, then you are already becoming obsolete in the classroom."
He was generally impressed with the talent of his instructors. And they, in turn, were impressed by his knowledge and enthusiasm. "Some deferred to me with regards to technology questions. I became a resource for others."
Anxious to develop his craft, he had begun to research degree programs in late 2001. He decided he did not have the time or the patience to pursue a master's degree in a conventional setting.
Rather than deal with acquiring letters of recommendation, sitting for entrance exams, and completing mounds of paperwork, not to mention months of waiting to hear whether or not he had been accepted, Scott opted to pursue his degree wholly online. He applied to Walden University. He was accepted and enrolled by January 2002. He was able to implement some of the learnings immediately in his own classroom.
He especially benefited from the coursework pertaining to the mechanics of captivating his students. Learning to analyze his audience was key. Studying various methods of teaching particular kinds of learners, particular kinds of subject matter, is relevant to his daily work at a suburban junior high school in California.
He is teaching the Microsoft Office Suite, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks to seventh graders with great success. He also teaches their teachers how to integrate technology into the curricula. So not only will the 12-year-olds be able to develop a simple web page, they will be able to deliver a dynamic, engaging history term paper as well.
Scott credits his online master's degree with not only increasing his efficacy in the classroom, but also making inroads in the education field.
"It has topped me out on the advancement scale and begun to open a few doors in staff development and possible online teaching myself."
If distance education had not been available he would likely have enrolled at a traditional university. But the flexibility of pursuing his degree on-line had surprising benefits.
"My daily routine didn't change. It was business as usual," he recalls. "I tried not to affect the family at all."
He went to work, came home, helped with the children, studied capoeira, and did household chores. He only did schoolwork after hours. The youngest of his three sons was still a newborn. "He would wake up in the middle of the night. I was already up. My wife, Jen, got more sleep."
"Watching the videos [lectures] and posting to the discussion boards on time" were his biggest challenges, Scott notes. "I killed myself with the first course working at it everyday." Like many successful on-line students, he later developed some strategies.
"I am the running back who continually tries to look for the opening to make a touchdown," he says. He was always looking for the "most efficient, most expedient" way to get the work expected of him done.
Here is how he did it.
"I checked into the bulletin board every single day. Even if I didn't post, I would read. I kept in touch with the discussions…and with others."
He used downtime at work, leisure, and commute time to think and formulate responses. When it came time to post, "I didn't have to think about it, I was already involved."
He recommends waiting until the second or third day to post.
"When I was the first to post and the first to reply, I didn't get anything out of it," he laments.
He concedes that it is a time-consuming exercise--some posts do go on and on. However, he warns against trying to cut corners by only seeking out like-minded people, or one or two individuals to whom you can regularly respond. "That just turns into e-mail."
"You can miss out on full discussion streams."
"Read a little of each thread," he advises. "In later classes instructors may ask you to refer to other people's discussions, or even to reference comments from a previous class."
Students will not be adequately prepared if they only read the mandatory two posts and replies, he surmises.
He offers words of wisdom gleaned from his experience preparing a portfolio to graduate. "Don't procrastinate. Organize yourself early. If you put it off, you'll scramble at the end."
