Showcase
"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today."
- Malcom X (1925-1965)
"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today."
- Malcom X (1925-1965)
Introduction
Welcome to my Master of Arts in Education (MAED) Capstone Portfolio showcase page! Over the last three years I have experienced exponential growth in the fields of adult education, technology integration into the classroom and youth sport coaching and skill development. This growth has resulted in a seismic and transformational shift in how I approach my role as an educator, technology practitioner and youth sport coach. Reflecting back on the last three years, I have gained more than just knowledge, I have gained invaluable real-world experience as it relates to my various professions. It is my hope that the showcase work that I have shared below reflects this growth, knowledge and experience.
I have organized my showcase page into three distinct categories: Integrating Technology with Education, Adult Education and Youth Sport Coaching. These three categories are reflections of more than just my Capstone Portfolio showcase, they are representative of my life's passions, journeys and works. Within each category you are offered a view into the artifacts of which I am most proud and that has helped to shape me into a better version of myself in the classroom, at work, and on the field. I hope you enjoy the selected artifacts that make up my Capstone Portfolio showcase and I hope to have earned the privilege of your time.
To view my showcase artifacts below, simply click on the hyperlinked title below each image.
I have organized my showcase page into three distinct categories: Integrating Technology with Education, Adult Education and Youth Sport Coaching. These three categories are reflections of more than just my Capstone Portfolio showcase, they are representative of my life's passions, journeys and works. Within each category you are offered a view into the artifacts of which I am most proud and that has helped to shape me into a better version of myself in the classroom, at work, and on the field. I hope you enjoy the selected artifacts that make up my Capstone Portfolio showcase and I hope to have earned the privilege of your time.
To view my showcase artifacts below, simply click on the hyperlinked title below each image.
Integrating Technology with Education
Integrating Technology in the Classroom
Arriving at a consensus can often be a challenging task. This task becomes exponentially more complex when it deals with the topic of instructional technology integration in the classroom. In this case study analysis, I demonstrate my ability to synthesize myriad complex feedback provided by students, educators and administrators to then produce a series of next step recommendations for the integration of technology into the school district. Through the use of my professional experience as an online and in-person educator, my role as a technology practitioner, and leveraging the knowledge gained from my learning journey at Michigan State University, I present not only solutions, but pose questions for further inquiry. |
Affordances of the Digital Shift
The ubiquity of digital, networked and hypertextual New Media Text and Tools (NMTT) throughout the educational landscape has provided educators with myriad new affordances and constraints. This artifact is an example of my ability to integrate several NMTT, like audio, video, graphics programs, to enhance the delivery, presentation and understanding of highly technical networking material. This video artifact also serves as an aid for other educators who can witness the possibilities that exist for integrating NMTT into their practice. I am extremely proud of the work put into this artifact as it showcases my versatility as an educator in the technology space. |
Online Classroom Creation
In this video artifact, where I welcome learners to the online version of one of the many course I teach, I demonstrate my ability to leverage the Desire2Learn (D2L) LMS to create, from scratch, a completely functional online learning environment. This experience prepared me to competently and expeditiously handle the demands of online course room creation that resulted from the pandemic response in March of 2020, when almost all learning migrated to a distance learning context. The lessons learned with respect to digital equity, accessibility and ease of use have found their way into all of the courses I design today. I am very proud of the result of this work as it showcases my ability to be flexible and to quickly adapt to change as an educator. |
Adult Education
Transformative Learning Theory in Action
As an educator of adults over the last two decades my goal has always been to provide every learner with a transformative learning experience. In this Medium blog post artifact I demonstrate my ability to leverage Jack Mezirow's theoretical framework of transformative learning theory and apply its core principles to address the needs of adult literacy learners who are also survivors of past trauma. Reviewing and analyzing the After Action Report (AAR) and feedback from event organizers and participants of the Ontario Literacy Coalition's event, I design a series of next steps recommendations, a blueprint if you will, founded in transformative learning theory and aimed at addressing the list of challenges reported by participants and event organizers. During my work on this artifact I was reminded that, as an educator, I need to be cognizant of the fact that all learners have had past positive and negative live experiences which serve to shape their learning context and needs. |
Hashtags for Justice: Integrating Technology & Social Justice
Issues like social injustice, racism, misinformation, and police brutality. In this artifact I detail my plan to reimagine the teaching of Information Technology (IT) topics to include the integration of Project-Based Learning (PBL) scenarios where learners are provided the opportunity to think deeply about the many uses of social media and how these different platforms can be leveraged to bring awareness to, and amplify, instances of racism, police brutality and social justice and inequality. I propose a 'Hashtags for Justice' summit to bring awareness to, and to educate, instructors who might not be aware, of the opportunity they have to truly transform their curriculum into a tool for the greater good of society. Through my work on this project I learned that technology is not a neutral construct and that it can be used for good and for evil. As educators it is our duty and responsibility to show our learners the incredible power of social media and to encourage them to transform their use of it into something greater than themselves. |
Youth Sport Coaching
Just Let Them Play!
In this artifact I produce a framework for youth sport organizations to implement a training and mentoring program for the coaches of the future through the vehicle of mentoring. This mentoring focuses on research-based approaches to youth coaching where the priority is on the enjoyment and development of the athlete. This framework can be applied to any type of sport club and serves to properly train not only the current generation of coaches, but the next wave of youth sport coaches. During the creation of this work I rediscovered that my role as the coach should be that of a guide. |
Skill Development
In this youth basketball practice plan geared towards shooting, I detail a Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) to basketball shooting skills. The CLA is based on the idea that each athlete should discover, through the guidance of the coach, solutions to problems such as how to shoot a basketball. Instead of demanding a player shoot a specific way with a specific form, the CLA challenges the player to find the solution. While the plan deals specifically with basketball, the methodology can be adapted to any sport. Throughout the preparation and execution of this CLA-based practice session I learned how to become a more effective youth basketball coach. |
Developmental Stages of Athletes
In this youth sport club handbook I detail the framework for a developmentally appropriate and holistic approach that sport clubs can implement to provide their youth athletes with an exciting, fun and enjoyable sport experience. Through the application of developmentally appropriate activities, where youth athletes are engaged and challenged, clubs can increase the retention rate of their youth athletes and encourage life-long sport involvement. |
Header image and all supporting course images downloaded from unsplash.com