Taking a Huge Plunge

I am headed back to graduate school! This week, I found out that I have been accepted into the Doctoral of Education program in Instructional Technology at Kennesaw State University. It is an online degree program, and I had received my Ed.S degree in Instructional Technology from this same university back in July 2016; as a result, I can transfer many of my credits to this new program. Because it is an online program, I will still be in the classroom full-time but taking courses simultaneously.

Now that the initial shock and excitement have worn off, part of me is thinking, "Oh my gosh, what the heck am I getting myself into? A lot is going to change in my life as a result of this." Pursuing a doctorate means:

• taking coursework and now pursuing a doctorate, in addition to working a full-time teaching job.
• no longer having the free time which I enjoy now but rather instead having to be incredibly disciplined with my time.
• at least three years of commitment to an academic degree program which now includes a writing a dissertation. 
• cutting back big time on attending conferences and giving presentations and instead having to be rather selective in which ones I attend and to which ones I submit proposals.
• entering the realm of academic research (both qualitative and quantitative), something which after writing my M.A thesis over 20 years ago I thought was behind me.

At the same time, the chance to pursue further and deeper knowledge in the field excites me. I think that it is incredibly short-sighted for people to disqualify technology's place in education, because whether we like it or not, industries are changing so rapidly due to technology. As a result, I would much rather be on the proactive side and on the cutting edge of proper educational technology implementation instead of being on the "reactive" end. However, I am also savvy enough to understand that technology is not a panacea and should never replace the needed humanity of teachers in the classroom.

As you can probably guess, my two specific areas of interest in Instructional Technology are: 

1. the proper implementation of technology for the delivery of Comprehensible Input in a world language classroom. This was my Capstone project for my Ed.S degree, and quite honestly, there is little current research out there on this topic. Krashen has written a few short articles recently on the topic, but most "research" out there is quite outdated when addressing current technologies. Unfortunately, technology has an incredible short shelf life, and nowhere do we see that more prevalent than in today's world where the average lifespan of a gaming app is two weeks (which explains the perpetual need for updates). Also, note the emphasis on the word proper - most teachers have NEVER received any training on how to facilitate technology properly and are rather implementing it at an incredibly low level of critical thinking. 
2. the use of technology for the delivery of extended staff development. I wrote a blog post a few years ago on this topic. 

Quite honestly, I do not know if in pursuing this degree that I will eventually leave the classroom as a Latin teacher and will become a school technology coordinator - I cannot rule out this option (my colleague and department head Bob Patrick has explicitly told me that I must give him a year's notice if I choose this path!).

I will still continue to blog here, but you may notice that my posts will begin to have a technology angle to them. I do not begin my graduate program until August, so I have a few more months both to prepare and to enjoy my life before it changes. Here's to my next few months!