EDU-6933 - Moral Philosophy in Education

Moral Philosophy in Education Course Reflection

This course was most excellent. It has always been tough for me to have difficult conversations with people who firmly oppose my stance on a moral dilemma. This course gave me the tools needed to logically organize my thoughts, perspectives and stance on any moral dilemma. Using the lenses of justice, care, profession and critique, a well rounded analysis of a dilemma can be performed. This is a great exercise for any person or organization that may need to solve a dilemma due to the turbulence the dilemma has caused.

The second great thing I gleaned from the course was the ability to prioritize moral dilemmas based on turbulence theory. The more turbulent the dilemma, the higher the priority for the organization to solve. This tool is also a great way for an organization to use when deciding where to allocate the finite resources they have. The process is logical and can be extrapolated to any organization given any moral dilemma.

Lastly, the organization of the course was excellent in that it pushed the envelope of using current technology tools available to the JSC community. Using the One Note Online through the Office 365 system, the class was able to all collaborate and discuss journals. This was a great advancement upon technology use compared to other courses I have taken at JSC. I would suggest pushing this tool forward and utilizing it for future courses. The exposure for students to these new types of tools are an invaluable skill that can be carried with them past their studies at JSC.

EDU-6920: Educational Research

Prior to participating in this course, I was unfamiliar with the methods used for educational research. Action research has provided a framework for conducting research that utilizes valid and reliable data driven results that can work to improve many aspects of the educational experience. By applying action research to inform my Information Technology work, I have been able to make substantial IT improvements and recommendations while providing insights into the future needs of students and educators.

The Educational Research course was relevant and helpful for me. I have spent numerous hours attempting to convince people using my own knowledge. What I learned is that by grounding research and/or recommendations in peer reviewed and full text resources, convincing takes much less effort. For instance, if I were to propose a change to the IT infrastructure with only my recommendation, I would have to answer many questions. If I were to provide a white paper, use cases and documentation (research) on how the proposal will improve our Ed Tech infrastructure, many questions would already have been answered and I have to do much less convincing. This is the purpose of the literature review that I completed for the assignment. I will utilize the structure of a literature review as a key piece for proposals moving forward.

The discussions and topics presented in the course were interesting and provided a solid overview of educational research. Topics of validity and reliability were of great importance to reinforce and keep in mind during any research process. These topics were explained in depth and were a large part of the success of my research project.

I enjoyed understanding the process of a feed back loop that action research provides. Research a topic by reviewing relevant literature, apply this research to a topic area, triangulate results using three data sources, analyze data, make recommendations based on the research. Then use these recommendations and data to make data driven decisions to better the topic that was studied.

Although research can be tedious and subjective, data that research provides is useful beyond my own grasp. If a research project gets published it is unknown what additional research projects or processes the paper can inform. We all benefit from the research process. This class has inspired me to continue to think of research in my own profession and how I can provide useful insights for all others to benefit.

EDU - 6555 Critical And Cultural Perspectives on Education

This course provided great insight into how to complete a scholarly critique of an idea. The discussions throughout the course were insightful and although some of the comments given by the students were off kilter, Dr.McGough did a great job fielding the comment. Since graduate course work is designed to allow for individual growth, it was important that students felt they could voice their opinion. This was a free thinking and open environment for students to grow academically and work on their communication and critique skills.

This course was very helpful in teaching the methodology for completing a scholarly critique. Having the knowledge to perform a critique is critical due to the adverse affects critiquing could have professionally. However, when done utilizing fact, proper sources and clearly articulating your point, it allows for changes to be made on the subject you are critiquing.

Another one of the things that was excellent about the course was hearing the insight from all students. Many people have been in the educational system for years and have many experiences. These experiences when discussed, verified or critiqued the points brought up in class. By incorporating democratic principles in the course work and in the class administration, I was able to pick up on the practical application of some of these democratic principles because I saw how they were practically applied in class.

Overall this course was enjoyable and I feel that the content challenged and expanded my "tool kit" for use within an educational setting and in aspects of my life. The most enjoyable part of the course was the in class discussions and being able to express, rethink and rebuttal theories, thoughts and comments.

EDU-6235: Characteristics of Diverse Learners

In the course, Characteristics of Diverse Learners, we covered a wide range of topics that provided a foundation regarding diversity or students and learning styles within an educational setting. The goal of the course was to provide an overview of the characteristics of students that one would encounter while working in an educational setting including gifted and talented, autism, ADHD, and English as second language to name a few. One of the most important topics covered was the theory of inclusive classrooms and teaching using universal design for learning techniques. The course provided the foundation necessary to have a well rounded viewpoint regarding diversity within educational environments.

Being one of the few students in Foundation of Education masters program, the course work was not designed specifically for my program. This resulted in the course being split at the end of the semester where Foundations students were not included in the larger group but instead broke out into a small group to complete different lessons. This was mainly due to the requirements that needed to be met for licensure students. Since Foundations, by design, is to cover a wide range of topics to prepare students for administration and policy studies within educational institutions, it would have been useful to gain the perspective that was taught to the large group including Universal Design for learning and special education topics. This is my only critique of this course.

We completed a couple different assignments one of which was a Characteristics Study on an adult of our choice. The purpose of the assignment was to analyze the characteristics of the subject that related to topics we covered in our class. I had the opportunity to analyze the developmental history of someone who I have known since childhood. This study allowed me to reinforce the topics that we discussed and relate them to a scenario that I knew well. This was my favorite assignment of the course.

The professor for this course was excellent. He was able to relate his own personal stories and working experiences to course content to keep the discussions interesting and fun. He has a wealth of knowledge and I look forward to the next class that he teaches. Although he has earned a Doctorate in Special Education, he is very down to earth and not intimidating to talk to. I appreciate his passion for teaching and his willingness to work with students to insure their learning experience is positive. 

EDU-5011: Educational Studies

The course, Educational Studies, taken through the Johnson State Graduate program in Education has been a great overview of many educational theories. The course was helpful and well designed for many reasons including, providing an overview of Educational Theories, education history and an introduction to scholarly writing in the APA style. Added to the content, the timing of the course being at the beginning of the program provided a good foundation to be built upon.

The educational theories discussed included overarching themes of Empiricism vs. Rationalism and the many theorists that fit into each category. We covered "Thinkers" both modern and ancient from Aristotle and Plato to more current theorists such as  Bronfenbrenner and Vygotsky. The theories discussed were reinforced by applying them in an Educational Environment Case study and in a Life Story analysis using the McAdams' framework. These assignments along with the discussions we had in class did a great job at solidifying the theories and proving that the information was useful/applicable. Some theories were not applicable or simply wrong which we were able to discuss and discount using more solid theories.

The professor is very knowledgeable about education and the scholarly practices needed to advance to a graduate level in writing, thinking and discussion. After taking this course, I have references (APA handbook) that can be used throughout my graduate career and have applicable references to working within an educational environment.

One of the most influential pieces of this course was our many in class discussions regarding the role we, as graduate students in education, are obligated to carry out throughout our studies and our careers in education. We are in the midst of an educational revolution where inclusion, no child left behind, common core standards and educational legislation are in the process of changing. We have the obligation to influence our educational institutions and politicians to move our educational systems in the right direction for our future.