The Beginning of Tomorrow
By Rob S. Kniss
I use the title of this essay to describe my experience in my master’s program. My individual classes and the program as a whole helped develop a profound change in my thinking – one that was created as I gradually worked my way through the program and learned new concepts and ideas that would challenge my previous knowledge. As I approach my final days of class and excitedly anticipate my master’s program graduation, I am looking toward continuing my education as a doctoral student. A few years ago I never even considered going this far, but now I am completely confident I will be as successful in that program as I have been throughout my master’s program. When I first began to think about applying for a master’s program, I wasn’t really sure I would follow through with it. For many years I thought receiving my bachelor’s degree would be the extent of my formal educational experience and that I was to rely on that experience for my professional career. However, as I progressed in my career and professional life I began to understand the need for an advance degree. I decided to apply, worked on my admission application, and was extremely excited when I found out I was accepted. Upon entering the program I immersed myself in the coursework, reading everything I could and taking part in everything that was available through the program. The years spent between my bachelor’s degree and before starting my master’s program had created a void. I used the information and knowledge I was gaining during each class of my master’s program to fill that void. I have learned much about myself through my MAED program and my current thinking on education. The professors challenged my thinking and presented me with different views and opinions that have helped me learn and grow in many ways. However, as I look back on my experience there are four classes and themes that have really driven me to change how I think about education, but more importantly what my role is as a professional at an institution of higher education.
ED 800 Concepts of Educational Inquiry
Steven Weiland
It didn’t come as a shock to me that my first class in my master’s program and my introduction into master’s level classes would help create a new way of thinking for myself. The instructor for the class was Steven Weiland, and his self paced approach to the class worked well for my learning. The course offered a great deal of readings, and I read as much as I could. At first I was lost, not being an educator I was unaware of what inquiry was and the different formats it could be applied within. Each section of the class offered different views and different concepts of inquiry that forced me to understand how they are applied. One section of the class introduced me to two opposing views of education, traditional and progressive, and the age-old argument of how children should be taught in schools. A common theme in most of my work throughout that course was how I had grown up in a traditional educational structure and that because of this I agreed with the many writings and viewpoints E. D. Hirsch. It wasn’t until after I read some of Howard Gardner’s works that I began to personally challenge some of my long-held beliefs on education and formal education structure. Gardner’s work with multiple intelligences was something completely new to me. The thought of multiple intelligences seems very obvious to me now, but coming into this program I was very naïve to the whole concept. Throughout the semester I was captivated and challenged by the works that were introduced in the class from The Girl with the Brown Crayon, to Gardner’s work The Disciplined Mind, to the films that were viewed, Whaler Rider and Spellbound. Each one created new and different thought processes on how educational inquiry is used and applied. This class laid the groundwork for my thinking and changed my perception on education and educational inquiry. I came into this class as a novice in the world of educational inquiry and I didn’t leave as an expert, but it did open my mind and assist me as I progressed through the rest of my master’s courses.
EAD 863 Training and Professional Development
John Dirkx
I took this course in my second semester of my master’s program. From the beginning I could tell I would use the content of this class to help with my professional career. This class challenged the participants to think beyond their scope of training and professional development and to delve into a deeper understating of what encompasses professional development. I found Professor Dirkx to be a very driven and knowledgeable professor who wanted his students to have a strong understanding of what it takes to grow and develop professionally. To be honest, when I first viewed the class materials upon entering this class, I felt a little apprehensive on how I would perform. However, once I got more involved in the readings I began to feel more and more comfortable. The class was geared exactly toward my professional goals and I was able to use the readings with that in mind. There were two books from this class that really caught my attention and forced me to focus on the tasks that were assigned to us. Jane Vella’s book Learning to Listen and Mel Silberman’s Active Training were instrumental for me in achieving my ultimate purpose for the class. The latter of the two, Active Training, was a book that I relied on very much for my papers and writings. Another great aspect of that book was that I didn’t completely rely on it to assist me with my class work. I also used this book and its teachings in my professional life. During this class Professor Dirkx broke us up into smaller groups and had us work on projects together. I must say that working in a group setting through a completely online format was a bit daunting for me at first, but I grew more comfortable as the course progressed. The projects that Professor Dirkx assigned to us were very engaging and enlightening. I had never taken a professional development class before and upon completion of the class I was very happy I did. I have been able to use most, if not all, of the readings and teachings in this class and apply them to my current profession. This class not only helped me be able to learn and grow as a professional student, it also has helped me to advance in my career.
EAD 864 Adult Career Development
Steven Weiland
The Adult Career Development course was another self-paced course taught by Professor Weiland. The materials for this course were extremely interesting and very educational. I took a very personal interest in this course because it taught me about development and skills that I could use to aid me as I progress in my career. I took this course in the same semester as Professor Dirkx’s Training and Professional Development class and the two courses could not have complemented each other any better. I used these courses in conjunction to take stock in where I was in my professional career and education wise. The ideas and concepts I learned from this course in particular had some ever-lasing qualities about them. The idea that I have the ability to grow and learn on a daily basis and to develop through my education and experiences took on a whole new meaning for me. I began to see first-hand how the materials from this course were benefitting me as I applied them to my professional life. There were two books that stood out for me from this class that really captivated me as I read through them and thought about the course materials. The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain’s Journey by Linda Greenlaw and Bloomberg by Bloomberg by Michael Bloomberg with help from Matthew Winkler. Greenlaw’s book gave great insight into how she got to where she was in life, but more importantly it offered the reader a sense of how our interactions in life mold who we become. The latter of the two books, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, gave great insight into what dogged determination and hard work can do for a career. The book flowed well with the materials of the section and put a lot of things in perspective for me professionally. I still revisit parts of the book to see how Bloomberg handled certain situations in his career, to get an idea of how I can approach different processes in my career. Once again, this was a course that forced me to look at my own professional career and to assess where I was in that realm of my life. I was extremely happy with this course because it gave me the ability to analyze and assess my own growth and career development.
CEP 882 Seminar in CEP
Cynthia Okolo
I took the Seminar in CEP course as one of my electives for my master’s program. My true motivation for taking this course was more of a selfish one. The course description for this class was Technology for Students with Mild Disabilities, and I say it was a selfish choice because my motivation for enrolling was because of an important member of my family. My youngest daughter was born with symptomatic congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and was born with microcephaly and brain calcifications. My wife and I were told that she would likely have developmental delays as she aged. As I was reviewing the course list for electives this course jumped out at me as an opportunity to learn about technology that could assist her in the future. The class was very well organized and offered plenty of different forms of technology that can be used in the classroom. As I moved through the class each week, I was astounded by how much new and developing technology is out there not only for students with disabilities (which I could use with my youngest daughter), but for students without disabilities (that I could have my other kids use). My final paper for the class was to write a technology plan that I would implement for a certain set of students. This gave me the liberty to search for different types of technology that I felt would be useful and educational for my set of students. I became very enthralled by the course reading and materials because of how engaging they were. As with my other courses, I started to think how I would be able to use these forms of technology in my professional career. One thing that stood out was the use of social media to interact with my population of students. This is an area that my department has been using to have more efficient processes. Professor Okolo was very accommodating toward me, as I wasn’t a traditional teacher like most of my other classmates. She gave me some leeway when it came to my assignments in regard to this because of my lack of an audience that the other teachers enjoyed. This class was very beneficial to me because it offered me a different view of how technology could assist me not only with my kids, but also help me adapt new and innovative ideas into my professional career.
Looking back on my master’s program I notice a common theme with my coursework and the direction I took with the materials and assignments. I was really driven to grow myself professionally with the program and to enhance my career through my readings and assignment. My ultimate goals with the program were to continue my education, give myself the best chance to be successful and to help drive education at my organization. The path toward both my educational goals and toward my professional goals began when I entered my master’s program and will continue as I begin the next step toward my doctoral degree. I am truly grateful for all of the people who have assisted me as I worked my way through my master’s program, especially all of the professors that helped me to reach this goal. My master’s program has been one more step in my journey, and I am thankful for the experiences and knowledge I gained from it.
ED 800 Concepts of Educational Inquiry
Steven Weiland
It didn’t come as a shock to me that my first class in my master’s program and my introduction into master’s level classes would help create a new way of thinking for myself. The instructor for the class was Steven Weiland, and his self paced approach to the class worked well for my learning. The course offered a great deal of readings, and I read as much as I could. At first I was lost, not being an educator I was unaware of what inquiry was and the different formats it could be applied within. Each section of the class offered different views and different concepts of inquiry that forced me to understand how they are applied. One section of the class introduced me to two opposing views of education, traditional and progressive, and the age-old argument of how children should be taught in schools. A common theme in most of my work throughout that course was how I had grown up in a traditional educational structure and that because of this I agreed with the many writings and viewpoints E. D. Hirsch. It wasn’t until after I read some of Howard Gardner’s works that I began to personally challenge some of my long-held beliefs on education and formal education structure. Gardner’s work with multiple intelligences was something completely new to me. The thought of multiple intelligences seems very obvious to me now, but coming into this program I was very naïve to the whole concept. Throughout the semester I was captivated and challenged by the works that were introduced in the class from The Girl with the Brown Crayon, to Gardner’s work The Disciplined Mind, to the films that were viewed, Whaler Rider and Spellbound. Each one created new and different thought processes on how educational inquiry is used and applied. This class laid the groundwork for my thinking and changed my perception on education and educational inquiry. I came into this class as a novice in the world of educational inquiry and I didn’t leave as an expert, but it did open my mind and assist me as I progressed through the rest of my master’s courses.
EAD 863 Training and Professional Development
John Dirkx
I took this course in my second semester of my master’s program. From the beginning I could tell I would use the content of this class to help with my professional career. This class challenged the participants to think beyond their scope of training and professional development and to delve into a deeper understating of what encompasses professional development. I found Professor Dirkx to be a very driven and knowledgeable professor who wanted his students to have a strong understanding of what it takes to grow and develop professionally. To be honest, when I first viewed the class materials upon entering this class, I felt a little apprehensive on how I would perform. However, once I got more involved in the readings I began to feel more and more comfortable. The class was geared exactly toward my professional goals and I was able to use the readings with that in mind. There were two books from this class that really caught my attention and forced me to focus on the tasks that were assigned to us. Jane Vella’s book Learning to Listen and Mel Silberman’s Active Training were instrumental for me in achieving my ultimate purpose for the class. The latter of the two, Active Training, was a book that I relied on very much for my papers and writings. Another great aspect of that book was that I didn’t completely rely on it to assist me with my class work. I also used this book and its teachings in my professional life. During this class Professor Dirkx broke us up into smaller groups and had us work on projects together. I must say that working in a group setting through a completely online format was a bit daunting for me at first, but I grew more comfortable as the course progressed. The projects that Professor Dirkx assigned to us were very engaging and enlightening. I had never taken a professional development class before and upon completion of the class I was very happy I did. I have been able to use most, if not all, of the readings and teachings in this class and apply them to my current profession. This class not only helped me be able to learn and grow as a professional student, it also has helped me to advance in my career.
EAD 864 Adult Career Development
Steven Weiland
The Adult Career Development course was another self-paced course taught by Professor Weiland. The materials for this course were extremely interesting and very educational. I took a very personal interest in this course because it taught me about development and skills that I could use to aid me as I progress in my career. I took this course in the same semester as Professor Dirkx’s Training and Professional Development class and the two courses could not have complemented each other any better. I used these courses in conjunction to take stock in where I was in my professional career and education wise. The ideas and concepts I learned from this course in particular had some ever-lasing qualities about them. The idea that I have the ability to grow and learn on a daily basis and to develop through my education and experiences took on a whole new meaning for me. I began to see first-hand how the materials from this course were benefitting me as I applied them to my professional life. There were two books that stood out for me from this class that really captivated me as I read through them and thought about the course materials. The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain’s Journey by Linda Greenlaw and Bloomberg by Bloomberg by Michael Bloomberg with help from Matthew Winkler. Greenlaw’s book gave great insight into how she got to where she was in life, but more importantly it offered the reader a sense of how our interactions in life mold who we become. The latter of the two books, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, gave great insight into what dogged determination and hard work can do for a career. The book flowed well with the materials of the section and put a lot of things in perspective for me professionally. I still revisit parts of the book to see how Bloomberg handled certain situations in his career, to get an idea of how I can approach different processes in my career. Once again, this was a course that forced me to look at my own professional career and to assess where I was in that realm of my life. I was extremely happy with this course because it gave me the ability to analyze and assess my own growth and career development.
CEP 882 Seminar in CEP
Cynthia Okolo
I took the Seminar in CEP course as one of my electives for my master’s program. My true motivation for taking this course was more of a selfish one. The course description for this class was Technology for Students with Mild Disabilities, and I say it was a selfish choice because my motivation for enrolling was because of an important member of my family. My youngest daughter was born with symptomatic congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and was born with microcephaly and brain calcifications. My wife and I were told that she would likely have developmental delays as she aged. As I was reviewing the course list for electives this course jumped out at me as an opportunity to learn about technology that could assist her in the future. The class was very well organized and offered plenty of different forms of technology that can be used in the classroom. As I moved through the class each week, I was astounded by how much new and developing technology is out there not only for students with disabilities (which I could use with my youngest daughter), but for students without disabilities (that I could have my other kids use). My final paper for the class was to write a technology plan that I would implement for a certain set of students. This gave me the liberty to search for different types of technology that I felt would be useful and educational for my set of students. I became very enthralled by the course reading and materials because of how engaging they were. As with my other courses, I started to think how I would be able to use these forms of technology in my professional career. One thing that stood out was the use of social media to interact with my population of students. This is an area that my department has been using to have more efficient processes. Professor Okolo was very accommodating toward me, as I wasn’t a traditional teacher like most of my other classmates. She gave me some leeway when it came to my assignments in regard to this because of my lack of an audience that the other teachers enjoyed. This class was very beneficial to me because it offered me a different view of how technology could assist me not only with my kids, but also help me adapt new and innovative ideas into my professional career.
Looking back on my master’s program I notice a common theme with my coursework and the direction I took with the materials and assignments. I was really driven to grow myself professionally with the program and to enhance my career through my readings and assignment. My ultimate goals with the program were to continue my education, give myself the best chance to be successful and to help drive education at my organization. The path toward both my educational goals and toward my professional goals began when I entered my master’s program and will continue as I begin the next step toward my doctoral degree. I am truly grateful for all of the people who have assisted me as I worked my way through my master’s program, especially all of the professors that helped me to reach this goal. My master’s program has been one more step in my journey, and I am thankful for the experiences and knowledge I gained from it.
