As a student nearing the completion of my doctoral program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln it is only fitting that I take this time and reflect on the path I have traveled. The many years of struggle, sacrifice, and service I have given with the intent to find a way to make a difference in the lives of others has created an opportunity to expand my creative talents, to develop a passion for education, and develop a vision of finding effective ways to support student learning. It is because of my dedication towards this vision that I have developed a deep interest in understanding how each individual acquires knowledge and the potential impact technology can play in the learning process.

Although this passion has been shaped by the influences of my academic pursuits, the origins of this calling can actually be traced back to my childhood.

 

All that is standing is a foundation.

My earliest recollection of wanting to pursue a career in education occurred when I was four years old.

Growing up in rural Nebraska, I had many days filled with expeditions on our family farm. Often my grandparents would take my brother and me to remote places on the property and shared genealogical stories of how the Kutscher/Zong family settled on this tiny parcel of land. The one evocative location we visited often was an old, weathered foundation found in the far corner of the pasture. At first, I thought this might have once been a refuge for the cattle, but my grandmother sat us down on those sharp rocks and narrated her stories of going to school in this very site. Her tales were both serious and humorous – like those when she and her two sisters, as young children, were chased by the bull across as they journeyed to school. Yet, I must admit, the “bull story” really gave the perception that obtaining an education is somewhat dangerous.

However, the more meaningful stories she shared were about her experiences teaching in that very location. It was her profession before she married my grandfather and her many tales showcased the teaching profession in its true essence – from the difficulties of classroom management as she dealt with the neighbor boys, to the focus on individualized instruction that this one-room schoolhouse demanded.

These more pleasant memories of growing up on the farm are sometimes overshadowed by my adolescence, as my family faced its own dilemmas during the prominent financial struggles of the Midwest during the mid-eighties. As corn and cattle prices dropped, I remember my father taking additional employment to ensure that food would be on the table. This put a much greater demand on my brother and I to fulfill the responsibilities of the farm – to contribute our fair share to the family. Yet, I truly grasped the gravity of the financial crisis when my parents informed me that they would not be able to support me going to college.

This difficult time placed a high demand to really reflect on what I wanted to become and often I would revisit those stories my grandmother shared. For woven within those were times when she and my grandfather struggled with catastrophes – including the depression, natural disasters, and military conflicts.

Shortly after my grandfather had passed away, I had the privilege to travel with my grandmother to visit my uncle and his family in the Washington D.C. area. On one of the days, we had several hours to ourselves. So to take advantage of the time together, we decided to travel down to the Smithsonian and do a little sightseeing. As lunchtime grew upon us, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches from a vendor and a park bench in the courtyard. As we sat there, she asked me, "What was it that you want to do with your life?" I shared with her that I knew I wanted to make a difference in others' lives, just as she had, and I thought that a career in education would be good way to fulfill that goal. She encouraged me to never give up on that dream because continued education is something that every person should aspire towards and good educators are hard to find. Knowledge is the key to everything - and a commitment to learning and understanding is the key to opening doors.

I have grown to acknowledge that her stories were truly lessons to build the foundation of the person I have become.

Building upon this foundation towards future graduate studies.

While pursuing my undergraduate degree in secondary mathematics education, I worked as a Student Assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I was a student in his mid-twenties, living and working on a residence hall floor with other non-traditional and graduate students. One of the many responsibilities I had was to build and support the development of community by delivering a variety of programming events focused on the interests of the residents. One noteworthy event was when I invited the (then) Governor to discuss the democratic process and address several political issues during his campaign for the U.S. Senate. This particular event was eagerly attended by the many residents who had a passion for politics, allowing them to play a part in political debate being written about in the local newspapers. However, one other group that also was quite visible was that of the numerous international students, who were from non-democratic countries. They, too, had a deep interest in individual’s rights and responsibilities in this process.

I often have attributed my desire to pursue a graduate degree to this period where I worked with the residents of Selleck, many who were seeking their own advanced degrees in order to pursue a career in academia. I saw firsthand their personal sacrifice, the tribulation each faced, and the outcome of remaining persistent and patient in that process. In our many late night conversations, I saw that we all aspired to make a difference in the lives of others and to advance our chosen fields of study.

Thus, a vision to build upon that foundation and come back to obtain an advance degree tied to education was in put place.

A foundation exploring the connections between technology and learning.

As I progressed through my undergraduate studies, I took a required instructional technology course, which personally opened up new world for me. I considered myself quite affluent in using technology up to that point, but this was the first time I began to witness the direct impact technology can have on learning. I imagined how using the Internet could expand a classroom beyond its traditional boundaries. I began to understand how software could allow students to be more creative and spark unforeseeable interests in order to extend their own learning. I was so enlightened by this particular class that I chose to work part-time in that computer lab for the remainder of my undergraduate years.

In the fall of 1997, I had a very unique practicum experience at a new learning environment within the Lincoln Public School District, called the Science Focus Program (informally called the Zoo School). Their learning environment was designed to utilize the resources of the local Children’s Zoo and other connections within the Lincoln community to enhance traditional curriculum. I was asked to provide onsite technology support for the five teachers and sixty students as they tried to get up and running in a simple set of portable buildings. In only a couple of visits I quickly saw how many of the students were already "experts" at using technology and how this diminished any preconceived barriers between student and teacher – creating a more open and Socratic learning environment where discussion and collaboration was accepted.

As I became more immersed within the school, the students, teachers and I eagerly embarked on many technology projects - including a video yearbook and the creation of an online, interactive virtual tour of the zoo. Yet it was in the experiences I had with the students in the mathematics classroom that I saw an even greater potential technology could play in learning. As we explored the many different types of equations and their corresponding visual representations, we tested recent software to analyze digitized video that would create representational graphs. Thus, when we were studying the parabola we could take video of someone shooting a basketball or jumping off a chair and see the connections to gravity. Furthermore, when we began to explore trigonometric function, my advisor allowed us to utilize a piece of software to graph brainwaves during different types of mental activities. These fun experiments allow the students to see connections to the sine curve – further enhancing my own vision of how technology can be used to motivate students to want to learn even more.

In 1998, I embarked on my first teaching assignment with Lincoln Public Schools with a deep passion to find a way to make a difference. As a first-year teacher, I had an opportunity to work with at-risk students. Sure, I faced many similar struggles that other first-year educators face - issues like classroom management, adapting instruction to students' needs, the lack of parental/guardian involvement, and the limited access to materials and outdated technology.

Rather than throwing in the towel when I began to become overwhelmed with this situation, I began to see this as just another exercise in patience and persistence. I found myself adapting instruction to whatever means possible, even utilizing the Apple IIe computer found in my closet on the first day of school. What this situation created was an environment where the students could observe my interests in technology and my commitment to learning – creating an environment where we could build a mutual respect for each other.

The next year I taught at a new Focus Program in the community called the Arts and Humanities Focus Program. This particular program took a similar approach as the Science Focus Program, but explored topics through an arts and humanities lens. The learning experience was rich and dynamic, bringing in guest speakers like State Senator Chambers, Holocaust survivors, and numerous artists in the community.

Technology played an even more important role as you look at the individual activities. The community leveraged online interviews through NPR’s website to highlight the life of Gordon Lightfoot, to leverage online testing tools offered through various course management tools, and to have students create photo collages of themselves as we explored issues surrounding identity, to name just a few. Technology created a stage for discussion, expression, and enlightenment, further enhancing the notion that each person is unique.

Further explorations of Instructional Technology

At the end of that exciting year, I had to make one of the hardest career decisions a young educator has to make. An opportunity arose that spring that would allow me to go back to the University of Nebraska in a support role as an Instructional Technology Specialist. I had really enjoyed the classroom environment and the many creative experiences working with the students. Yet, I knew in my heart that if I really wanted to make a bigger impact on education this opportunity was a good start. It would allow me to work, experiment, and study in the field – moving me closer towards my professional aspirations.

Highlights during this seven-year period allowed me to not only study and apply instructional design theory to countless online graduate courses, but also collaborate with many other faculty and students to shape the instructional technology program to meet the needs of educators. For example, when I took a database class that utilized FileMaker, I talked with the instructor about allowing me to use PHP and MySQL instead – in order to utilize cost-effective solutions that graduate students and educators could afford. I also had the opportunity to teach to other graduate students my acquired knowledge and skill using Adobe Flash within a multimedia class focused on developing educational materials. Finally, I had the opportunity to serve as the graduate student representative to the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education’s graduate committee.

Though many of those experiences were brief, my tenure working with the pre-service students in developing their skills to utilize educational technology in the profession highlights my continued passion along this path. My current students explore a variety of topics, including access, electronic portfolios, digital videos, social networking sites, and podcasting (to name just a few). All of the topics have centered around a theme of adaptation where students view technology in its continual expanding role, and explore current trends with technology in their chosen curriculum areas to be prepared to use even a single computer as an instructional tool rather than simply a teacher workstation.

My graduate studies have further supported this drive to make a difference through the numerous explorations of learning theories and other studies where utilizing technology in the learning environment has addressed/highlighted instructional concerns. For example, a tremendous amount of the instructional design/theory courses addressed the published work of Mayer, Moreno and Clark. In one of the classes, the professor allowed us to engage in a dialogue with Dr. Mayer regarding a paper he was working on for publication. Another opportunity occurred when Dr. Moreno was brought to campus. She shared results from her recent experiments in the use of multimedia in learning situations and suggested further studies her results demanded.

I highlight these experiences because I feel that it showcases what a degree from the University of Nebraska has meant to me – the opportunity to become a leader in the research areas of instructional technology and play an active role in shaping the program for current and future students.

Expanding upon that foundation.

The next chapter as I move into the 2007-08 academic year is expand my understanding a bit further of technology and its impact in education. To better fulfill that need I have chosen to take a one-year teaching assignment with Lincoln Public Schools – giving me an opportunity to apply theory to practice and gain a clearer vision of the growing technology demands facing the classroom. I’m taking this avenue for a couple of reasons – to provide financial support for my family this year and because my initial professorial search was not fruitful. In retrospect, the many demands of a research professor were not as visible in my application materials last year. Thus, this year I intend to successfully defend my thesis, write additional articles for publication in the areas of research interest I have, and collect additional field notes of current classroom trends that should prepare me for the demands that still await me.

I share this with you to declare that my intentions are to still pursue a career in education. This goal has remained resolute since those days long ago on the farm. I wish to pursue the many challenges the world of academia demand – areas of research, grant writing, publication, presentation, and service that this degree decrees – to further advance the knowledge base of instructional technology and find a way to make a difference.

This goal, this vision is the same I shared with my grandmother on that park bench in Washington D.C., and something I have grown to accept was her wisdom, her vision those many years ago. Though she is no longer with us, it was that glimmer of hope I could see in her eyes when she talked about teaching that I still see – and strive to continue that goal to the students I get to work with everyday.

I appreciate all the opportunities I have had over the years – providing that solid foundation in which I strive to reach for my dreams. A solid foundation is needed for one to build upon and grow – which brings me to declare my intentions to pursue my Ph.D. in instructional technology because of the people who made me and the people I can impact through my efforts.

One brick at a time…one wall at a time...

Impacting the lives around us all.