[Chris Craft]
Program Portfolio
Reflection / Synthesis
My portfolio is a journey through the different stages of my life as seen through the lens of a child growing up. Recently "born", I found myself experiencing a brand new world. When first I heard the words "lit review" I was completely unaware of the experience that awaited me. Nurtured through the growing pains by a caring professor, I completed my first lit review developing a model used to analyze multi-user virtual environments for use in secondary education.
As I grew into my newfound life I was beginning to toy with the idea of pursuing a career in higher education. Since an academic's worth seems to be defined by publications, I wrote a second literature review for a course on distance education. This time the topic was attitude and it's effect on distance education.
My growth continued in large part due to the reinforcements (both positive and negative) I was receiving from those in positions of authority over me. In keeping with the theme of pursuing academics, I joined forces with another student and collaboratively we wrote a research paper examining the effect of classroom performance remotes on student achievement. This project served as the foundation for a poster session that I helped to present at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting in March of 2008.
I had often heard the phrase, "it's not about the technology, it's about the instructional design" by a certain professor with whom I had regular contact. As I grew into adolescence I found myself exploring instructional design models and discovering how they can be leveraged towards a large project done over time. This new knowledge allowed me to further progress in my education and learning, heading towards the goal of graduation and beyond.
As a teenager I had to come to the harsh realization that the world does not revolve around me. That is to say, that there are others in this world that are less abled, or perhaps differently abled that I am. Given that this is the case, I had to understand that the web sites that I had designed in the past were perhaps inaccessible to some. To practice accessible design I developed a site providing information on games that are played entirely through the use of audio. The site is affectionately named AudioGamePlay.
As I neared graduation I found myself excited yet scared as to what the real world holds. Nonetheless I wanted to finish strong so I put the whole of my being into a project designed to train participants on the fine art of crafting a presentation to be given to an audience. The site's name is a Presentation on Presentations, and explores both a theoretical foundation as well as the practical side of how to create a presentation mindful of current research on cognitive load theory.
The above summary is just that, a reflection on facts. What has been articulated thus far is merely the beginning, and through a process of self-reflection we can go deeper in an examination of the impact of this program. Evaluation of one's self is always more difficult because it requires an almost impossible position, that of looking at one's self from an outside perspective. Much of my opinion of myself in terms of my progress through this program is based on the large amount of feedback I've received both personally and through the context of various projects and assignments. Overall I am quite pleased with my progress through the program. I came into the program with a strong knowledge of technology and the implementation of such in a classroom. With a strong background in technology since my childhood I felt as though I was a strong candidate for the degree. Immediately I realized that the technology know-how did not serve for anything without a strong theoretical backing. Having completed two doctoral level learning theory courses and nearing completion of a third, I am most pleased with my progress in theoretical knowledge.
I am also pleased with my level of innovation and design. In looking at the way I have designed certain projects, I think my work shows a level of integration with outside technologies not often seen. This is a theme in the web 2.0 world, the ability to combine sites and embed other sites into your own. I feel as though I have thoroughly displayed a willingness to find other sites and utilize them in a best practice manner. I notice that many of the sites I've used have made their way into the program and are being used by professors.
That is not to say the program has been without strife. Being forced to use proprietary software that I would not otherwise have used has been costly, both in dollars and in time. I am supportive of a more open source model for software development and am often frustrated when I am forced to use a product that is buggy and I cannot search for an apply a fix because I do not have access to the code.
This was also the case when I was forced into using the Aiken Ed Tech server. The time spent diagnosing connection problems, resetting passwords, establishing VPN connections is time that could have been spent on writing, designing, or even other work. If I had to do it again, I would become more familiar with the lengthy process of accessing the Aiken Ed Tech server (I never did figure out the complicated SSH access method for the Columbia server) before it became mission critical.
As for strong emotions, I can say that my time in the program has been even keel. I began the program in Spring of 2007 and in the Fall of 2007 I enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Educational Psychology and Research. Having those two programs running concurrently has been challenging but invaluable. Learning to manage two very different programs with very different philosophical views was particularly hard, but worth it in the end. Emotionally I am stronger as a result of this program and intend to use the whole of my knowledge towards a career in academics. This is the very reason why the summary above lists papers more than the seemingly more "flashy" presentations. While I certainly did videos using green screens and loud music, those are not what earn a professor tenure. So, as I prepare for graduation in December of 2008 I find myself reflecting back as a stronger individual, a stronger student, and a strengthening academic.