Community Building is a Work of Heart

We are all part of many communities throughout our lives, and during my time in Galway, Ireland, I had the distinct honor of becoming part of a study abroad community within my Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program. Every day in class was lively with discussion, and everyone was passionate about the issues we face in education at all levels. I truly learned an immense amount of information in only four weeks!

Design thinking was incorporated into one of our lessons and I enjoyed revisiting the model: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test. I feel as though these four weeks have been one long, immersive empathy exercise for me, and that has helped me define what kind of educator I hope to become. With empathizing and defining out of the way I'm ready for a bit of a breather so I can ideate. For now, I think I am heading in the right direction.

The audio clip here comprises segments from my and several of my classmates' audio essays about reimagining education. I verified with verbal confirmation from everyone included in the clip that I may include their voices for this artifact, and I thank them for collaborating with me in this way. [Credits below]

Resources and Credits

Movie Vigilante. Retro film leader. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXEGP0i4JRE

Audio segment credits:  Jessica Fleis, Mary Verberg, Bethany Kinnan, Anne Heinicke, Maura Ehrlich, Paige Matteson, and Steph Saksa.