It’s hard to believe that we are already at the end of the semester. The end of my EC&I 834 class means the completion of my Educational Technology and Media Master’s Certificate. Now I am half way in my graduate journey and will continue on to complete my Masters of Education degree. Having the opportunity to participate in the EdTech program with Alec has been an incredible experience. I am so grateful for the online community I have built and for everything I have learned. I know I will leave this experience a better educator and life-long learner.

This semester has allowed me to wrap up my program in a remarkable way. I was able to design and create my own course prototype and share it with my classmates. I have been able to build new connections and hear other perspectives. I have also found so much joy in meeting every week and staying extra long after class just to hang out and share ideas! There have been so many learning opportunities and fulfilling conversations. It’s hard to summarize all of the knowledge I have gained this semester, but it was important to attempt it in the final Summary of Learning.

Catherine and I sought out to create a Summary of Learning that encompassed our experience from not only this semester, but this whole year. Since the pandemic began, we have had to shift our teaching and learning to an online and blended format. There have been a lot of challenges because of that, but also incredible learning opportunities. It was important for us to reenact that in our project. In a timeline format, we used technology tools like FaceTime, Zoom, Flipgrid, and TikTok to display our honest reactions from the year. We called it a “Year in Review” so that everyone could see the progress that has been made with online teaching and learning since schools shut down last spring.

Even though there was a lot of time and planning that went into this project… it still felt seamless and enjoyable. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with Catherine each semester. We have our project planning and creating down to a science! We planned our project on a shared Google Doc, met over Zoom, and shared most of our ideas with each other through Snapchat. Since we couldn’t physically meet to do our filming, we did everything online. All of our video editing was done on WeVideo through the real-time collaboration feature. The last scene in the video took the longest to edit and create, but it was worth it because it featured our amazing classmates (and a few other special guests).

The biggest take-away from this class, which is displayed in our Summary of Learning, is how valuable community is. None of this learning would be possible without the online community we have built in our classes. As I wrap up my EdTech program, I will always be reminded of the lessons I learned and the experiences I shared with my online community. To each and everyone of you… thank you! I hope you enjoy our final Summary of Learning from this course: “Online and Blended Learning: A Year in Review.”