To Truly Live is to Never Stop Learning
Posted October 2011
“Lifelong learner” is a phrase I first heard on my first day of undergraduate school—the first day of college freshman life, where school is just as much about the excitement of getting out on your own as it is about the degree you are pursuing. I can remember the dean of education getting up and welcoming us to school and congratulating us on starting the next phase in our careers as learners—she emphasized that college would be just a piece of the huge fabric of learning, and she acknowledged that we had already been learning our whole life but that we must seek to continue long after the four years ahead. On that day I thought the concept was an intriguing way of wording it; but, as more and more days passed from that day, I came soon to see that she really was describing something about me and my goals and perspective on life.
I am a lifelong learner in the sense that I have chosen a career as an educator and as such will be required to take courses and further my education to maintain my degree for the longevity for which I hold my certificate. But I am also a lifelong learner in the sense that I really love learning! Pursuing my master’s in Educational Technology has been a fun journey. I’ve had an excuse these past two years to spend time learning new technologies and trying them out, and I’ve definitely noticed a change in the way that I look at new opportunities for technology to be made useful. I am also more critical in the way I assess how I might best use something in my classroom to actually deepen student learning, rather than just going for something new and shiny that doesn’t really enhance the material. I have been excited about several simple technologies that I didn’t know existed, and this gives me great desire to continue seeking out those avenues as they become available and to keep on top of this technology wave that is only going to continue. At the same time, I have been given a renewed passion for understanding the learning process through several of my classes for the program, and I hope to continue exploring this all-encompassing lens of education that is “how we learn.”
As a child who grew up with multiple computers in the home and was consistently encouraged to learn about technology through exploration and not fear of the unknown, I continue to apply this mindset to all learning. I am someone who just likes to know things and to share what I know with others. Because of this, I find the knowledge gained in my master’s program to be hugely beneficial to my students as well as my peers. I am not afraid to try new things and to take time to master that which I am unfamiliar with. I hope to convey this to my students as I constantly can honestly say to them that I am still learning too. That alone is one good reason I find to be a lifelong learning: to set an example for those I teach. My students have definitely been affected in positive ways by my pursuit of this degree program. The evidence of my learning is prolific in the way I mix up instruction with meaningful explorations using a variety of technology to engage my learners and keep them constantly on their toes. And this is what I believe school should be: a place to experience as much as possible and to learn to engage one’s mind in every direction possible to make meaning of material in as personal a way as possible.
My actual teaching has not been changed much by pursuing my master’s program, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. In fact, I am proud of the fact that I have remained steady in my beliefs about education and my passions in the “why I became a teacher.” What has changed is that I have come to see myself as a leader not only for my students but also among my peers. I have had exposure to a huge variety of applications of various technologies and have also had time to think about how they can be best used to serve student learning. I plan to continue this exposure by taking any opportunities I have to explore new learning technologies and to keep practicing applying various technologies to what I do in my classroom. In that sense, my continued learning will be—at least for now—mostly informal and as I come across it. I will likely continue my education formally again soon, but this next time will go more in the direction of studying curriculum. From there, I think I can continue applying this educational technology in a fantastic way as I learn more about the material to which I want to apply it to in the first place.
In going back to that short, elderly woman and her charge to us on my first day of post-secondary education, I know that she was in fact right. The only real way to engage in the world around me is to be everything but a bystander. I plan wholeheartedly to continue learning about how to be better at whatever I am doing as long as my life continues.
“Lifelong learner” is a phrase I first heard on my first day of undergraduate school—the first day of college freshman life, where school is just as much about the excitement of getting out on your own as it is about the degree you are pursuing. I can remember the dean of education getting up and welcoming us to school and congratulating us on starting the next phase in our careers as learners—she emphasized that college would be just a piece of the huge fabric of learning, and she acknowledged that we had already been learning our whole life but that we must seek to continue long after the four years ahead. On that day I thought the concept was an intriguing way of wording it; but, as more and more days passed from that day, I came soon to see that she really was describing something about me and my goals and perspective on life.
I am a lifelong learner in the sense that I have chosen a career as an educator and as such will be required to take courses and further my education to maintain my degree for the longevity for which I hold my certificate. But I am also a lifelong learner in the sense that I really love learning! Pursuing my master’s in Educational Technology has been a fun journey. I’ve had an excuse these past two years to spend time learning new technologies and trying them out, and I’ve definitely noticed a change in the way that I look at new opportunities for technology to be made useful. I am also more critical in the way I assess how I might best use something in my classroom to actually deepen student learning, rather than just going for something new and shiny that doesn’t really enhance the material. I have been excited about several simple technologies that I didn’t know existed, and this gives me great desire to continue seeking out those avenues as they become available and to keep on top of this technology wave that is only going to continue. At the same time, I have been given a renewed passion for understanding the learning process through several of my classes for the program, and I hope to continue exploring this all-encompassing lens of education that is “how we learn.”
As a child who grew up with multiple computers in the home and was consistently encouraged to learn about technology through exploration and not fear of the unknown, I continue to apply this mindset to all learning. I am someone who just likes to know things and to share what I know with others. Because of this, I find the knowledge gained in my master’s program to be hugely beneficial to my students as well as my peers. I am not afraid to try new things and to take time to master that which I am unfamiliar with. I hope to convey this to my students as I constantly can honestly say to them that I am still learning too. That alone is one good reason I find to be a lifelong learning: to set an example for those I teach. My students have definitely been affected in positive ways by my pursuit of this degree program. The evidence of my learning is prolific in the way I mix up instruction with meaningful explorations using a variety of technology to engage my learners and keep them constantly on their toes. And this is what I believe school should be: a place to experience as much as possible and to learn to engage one’s mind in every direction possible to make meaning of material in as personal a way as possible.
My actual teaching has not been changed much by pursuing my master’s program, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. In fact, I am proud of the fact that I have remained steady in my beliefs about education and my passions in the “why I became a teacher.” What has changed is that I have come to see myself as a leader not only for my students but also among my peers. I have had exposure to a huge variety of applications of various technologies and have also had time to think about how they can be best used to serve student learning. I plan to continue this exposure by taking any opportunities I have to explore new learning technologies and to keep practicing applying various technologies to what I do in my classroom. In that sense, my continued learning will be—at least for now—mostly informal and as I come across it. I will likely continue my education formally again soon, but this next time will go more in the direction of studying curriculum. From there, I think I can continue applying this educational technology in a fantastic way as I learn more about the material to which I want to apply it to in the first place.
In going back to that short, elderly woman and her charge to us on my first day of post-secondary education, I know that she was in fact right. The only real way to engage in the world around me is to be everything but a bystander. I plan wholeheartedly to continue learning about how to be better at whatever I am doing as long as my life continues.