The Learning Systems Technology Education program has provided me educational opportunities using instructional technology. The technology skills through my Computer Informations Systems degree at Pulaski Technical College were enhanced in which there were many newer technologies that focused more on instructional design instead of technical development.  Additionally, the LSTE program has given me a new outlook on instructional technology and the techniques used to provide educators and learners the best opportunity to enhance their teaching and learning goals.

 

Through the LSTE courses in the Masters  program at UALR, new technologies that I learned about included Wix, Weebly, Glogster, Articulate Storyline, Adobe GoLive, scenario based Power Point presentations and many others. Creating this portfolio allowed me to create websites and learning modules for many things that I specialize in my current career which included mathematics teaching and e-commerce. The website building and the gathering of information to facilitate the learning of information was an enjoyable experience.

 

While using online technologies, the promotion of communication between classmates of different backgrounds added value to the learning experience.  Collaborating with people forces to you learn throughout each term which helped with networking, building relationships, and technology innovation. This would not happen without being able to work outside of our professional circles in order to work together for a common goal.

 

One assignment that I have that has expanded my teaching abilities was the design of a Mathematics Tutorial Program for UALR TRIO Programs. This assignment is currently being completed in the LSTE 7330 course.  As a newly employed Project Program Specialist for TRIO Pre-College Outreach Program, I have learned that all students do not learn in the same manner online or offline which showed me as an instructor that having creative delivery methods that engage all learners is very important. This one assignment which is essentially my final assignment for this program is very important as it combines my teaching experience in developmental mathematics with my instructional technology background in this Masters program. This takes planning, time, sacrifice, goal setting, feedback and so much more. I am hoping that this leads to improvement of mathematics retention rates overtime for the TRIO Program.