"While trying to meet the needs of our learners during the emergence of COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders, we were able to emphasize a core course theme of finding your voice as a leader through simple yet powerful uses of technology."
- Kyle Shack & Candace Robertson -
New technologies not only have the potential of changing what and how students learn, but they can also significantly alter the task of teaching. In this course, we examine the complex charge of being responsible for managing relationships between technology, teaching, and learning to support emerging leaders. We explore technology from multiple perspectives to assess its potential benefits and challenges to different audiences. Some of the key course topics which support learners as they build an understanding of who they are as leaders and how they’d like to lead are: opportunities to lead formally and informally within educational systems, forming a local and global vision, identifying challenges of implementation, professional development strategies, and ethical and social implications of technology integration.
The course is fully asynchronous in D2L, with three required 30-minute Zoom sessions throughout the semester. In these synchronous sessions, learners connect with peers, instructors, and the content through a series of interactive, engaging activities.
A critical focus in CEP 815 is encouraging learners to find their identity and voice as leaders. With COVID-19 accelerating and stay-at-home orders in place as Summer 2020 began, we thought about opportunities we had to support this course theme and also meet the needs of learners who may have been feeling isolated and under serious pressure professionally and personally. As an instructional team, we decided to share our own voices throughout all units to further connect with learners. Utilizing the Kaltura MediaSpace and the embedding feature within D2L, we provided learners with a read-aloud of all D2L content in our voices to connect with our learners, provide opportunities for balance, and honor their technology needs and constraints.
Technology Used
- D2L
- MSU Kaltura MediaSpace
- GarageBand
- Google Docs
- Google Slides
- Slack
Team Members
- Kyle Shack
- Candace Robertson
- Liz Boltz
- Michael Lachney
- Aman Yadav
- Nicole Zumpano