Shannon Lutz
Showcase
To provide a tangible showcase of my work, I’ve included a portfolio that displays my own learning and development throughout my time in the Master of Arts Educational Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State University. In conjunction to the assignments in the MAET program, see how I have applied what I have learned to my own professional experiences.
Training Program Development
As a member of the Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) training team at Michigan State University, I have noticed that the Essentials in Research Administration (ERA) training series is outdated and requires improvement.
To tackle this issue, I envision a collaborative learning culture where all members of the research administration community are knowledgeable and engaged in their own learning. This culture will use 21st century technology and educational practices, promote creativity, and enable discovery through inquiry to improve instruction, foster critical thinking, and encourage lifelong learning.
Read more about my vision for change here.
Throughout the Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning class at Michigan State University, I learned that assessment and feedback should be used to encourage our students to improve their understanding. This means that we need to incorporate assessments into instruction that provide students with guidance on “how to improve along with providing assistance and opportunities to work on the improvement” (Black & Wiliam, 1998, p. 144).
In this class we were asked to design Formative Assessment for an upcoming lesson/training. Read more about this experience here.
Photo credit: The Blue Diamond Gallery
How do we become designers? Let me take you on a journey on how I went from a novice designer to an experienced designer in a matter of fourteen weeks. Before I began my Learning Tech through Design course at Michigan State University (MSU), I had no idea what design thinking was, nor did I know how to use it functionally in my professional career.
This class challenged me to determine a problem of practice that would allow me to go through the five stages of the design process-empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and testing.
Read more on how I became a "Novice" Designer here.
My Own Learning and Development
When I first began working in learning and development, I had very little understanding on how to use the information in the real world; however, as I put more time into my own learning about this domain, I became an expert. For example, in learning how to paint, I began with very little knowledge. I knew what a canvas was and how to hold a paint brush, but didn’t understand strokes and how to make colors blend and come together into a piece of art. Without even realizing it, I began putting my knowledge into practice and connecting my learning.
Read about how I connect my own personal theory of learning to to a real world experience here.
In the Teaching for Understanding with Technology course in my master's program at Michigan State University, I was tasked with writing an expository essay that responds to two key questions regarding learning. Teachers are tasked with providing beneficial instruction to students while keeping in mind their experiences and limited skills in problem solving. My essay (found here) discusses how teachers can prepare students for flexible adaptation to new problems and understanding through different approaches in instruction.
Is it society’s perception of failure that hinders us, is it the consequences of failure, or is that effort so difficult to assess? How about all of the above?These three questions will help us frame the problem and define our goals for determining a realistic approach to its solution.
Read more about how Failure is a learning mode for success here.
Creativity and Innovation
One of my passions is to use my own curiosity and innovative approaches to succeed in my role as a Program Training Assistant at Michigan State University. To ensure that I do so, I continue to look for 21st century approaches for learning and development for training program development.
Read more about this approach and check out a short video representing how I will continue to improve our training program here.
The maker culture has become a way to express creative and communal drive. This excitement hast led to an expansion of makerspaces around the world, including classrooms. The maker movement is revolutionizing education through a set of activities that are designed with a variety of learning goals in mind. These activities are organized by nine key ideas: make, share, give, learn, tool up, play, participate, support, and change.
Through the maker movement anyone can create, innovate, and make while learning content and processes. It engages the intersection of technology, design, art, and engineering while affirming school-based approaches to teaching and learning.
Check out how my blog about the Maker Movement and how it affects professional development here.
For more examples of my work, don’t hesitate to reach out.