Career Goals and Growth

Getting my master's degree was a goal of mine for the past few years.  The issue was always, what should I use as a focus?  I started my working career in retail management.  I moved up the ranks in several companies and did well for myself but never really felt like it was what I wanted to do long term.  That is what I really started working with students in a meaningful way.  I enjoyed that so I went back to school for 2 years to get my teacher's certification.  It was longer to go through a university but it was better for you career than an alternative certification program.  After a few years in the classroom, I was able to move into a computer lab to teach a new course, exploring careers.  I was excited and jumped into designing a curriculum that was totally on a computer.  I had heard of project-based learning and paperless classrooms but I had no idea how to create one.  I started taking assignments that I thought were cool and redesigning them for student-centered learning that focused on technology.  That was the ticket.  Since then, I was interested in using technology to create engagement in activities and have students learn in ways they could not before.

This started the second part of my career in education.  I now help teachers create digital lessons on a daily basis.  This program was exactly what I was looking for.  It has helped me really focus on instructional design as a process of creating technological sound lessons and units.  It has also opened my eyes to other opportunities in instructional design and technology-based learning.  A friend of mine has already sent me multiple jobs that are in the instructional design realm in his multinational oil company.  This master's program has helped me to see that there are opportunities in the corporate world that can be filled by graduates of this program.  I am looking forward to seeing what this degree will open up for me and allow me to do.  My focus is to stay in K-12 education but you never know where the road ahead will take you.

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