Stephanie Barbee
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Program
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The last two years I’ve spent a great deal of time working towards my master’s degree in distance education/teaching and training, and what a journey it’s been. I began this journey with almost no experience or knowledge of distance education, outside of being a long-time online student extraordinaire. I had taken a lot of my bachelor’s degree courses through UMUC and enjoyed my time enough to come back and work on my master’s here. I knew I wanted to focus my attention on education, and I was inspired by the depth and overall sense of community I felt taking online courses. So I decided on distance education and that led me to this point in my life: taking the final course towards my master’s degree! With a background in air traffic control and aeronautics, this was a whole new world to me and I was excited to dive in.
I compare my entrance into the degree program to a pebble being dropped into a mighty cave. The pebble is foreign and tiny, overwhelmed by the enormity of its new and unusual surroundings and unsure of its place in this new environment. Like the pebble, I wonder how long we’re able to survive in these new and intimidating conditions. This is how I felt through most of the program; constantly questioning whether or not I made the right choice after spending so much time already with undergraduate work. Throughout this program I studied alongside so many of my peers that already had education/teaching experience, and I was fortunate to learn from their knowledge and experience. However, I always felt a bit out of place, and sometimes wondered if I were capable of contributing the same level of perspective they offered. Most of my peers also worked full time, and for the first year and a half I felt like the minority being an at-home mom. It was hard to find peers I could relate to, build relationships with, and share common ground. I think if I had more in common with my fellow students, my overall experience would have been completely different. However, I can’t help but wonder if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, I had an amazing time progressing through each course and managed to make a few life-long friends as a result. The first half of the time spent in school was spent as an at-home mom. Unlike most of my peers, I had plenty of time to get conferences posted and assignments completed. During the last year I started working again for the first time in over ten years, and I found myself absolutely overwhelmed; trying to find my way as mom, student, and professional. At such a huge turning point in my life, I was able to take each class as it came, two at a time most semesters, and made it through without having to take a single class twice. There’s something to be said about accomplishing this at this level of learning, I believe. All the while I was transitioning back to work at a job where I was responsible for training the next generation of air traffic controllers. Fortunately, I was able to make good use of the knowledge acquired as I progressed through the MDE program. The first course I took was OMDE 601 and every bit of content I encountered was new and exciting. Having just completed an online bachelor’s degree, I was at least well versed in being an online student and had no trouble adapting to this type of learning environment. It was in this course where I was first introduced to distance education leader Otto Peters, whom I like to think of as my own personal distance education beacon. His theories and overall perspective are inspiring and motivational; almost like a security blanket that I go back to over and over again for references and guidance on distance education-related content. His insights regarding distance education theory, in particular, are keen and are very similar to my own theories and conclusions relating to the field. I found myself gravitating towards distance education theory, and quickly grasped the importance of theory when it comes to education and course development. I was excited with the topic of my second course, which narrowed the focus to foundational theories and distance education. Never being one who thought too highly of theory and philosophy and such, I was surprised that this was the topic I became most interested in. Luckily, it was a topic that was addressed over and over again with each subsequent course. In addition, I found myself going back to those first two courses for content-refreshers and resources. Like theory, I found that these courses set a foundation for the remaining courses in the program. As I approached the final course in the program, I acquired a new job that was totally different from the one I had been doing. Far from education and training, I am working as an aeronautical information specialist. This is a job I’ve been dreaming of for nearly a decade, and while I never thought this position was attainable, here I am. I actually contemplated skipping the fall semester to focus on the new job, but knew the program had positioned me in a place where I could handle a new job and a huge research project. I went back and forth for weeks, and now feel disappointed in the fact that I didn’t trust my ability to manage both. Unfortunately, with my new job it is unlikely I will ever use much of what I’ve learned through the program. With that said, I know there are skills I’ve learned over the last couple of years that will translate well into any job. Who knows, I may call upon this degree in the future for an even better job! As an air traffic control instructor, I trained the next generation of air traffic controllers. I slowly found myself identifying professionally with the content for each course I was taking, and was able to use the content in practical way. This was something I definitely hadn’t experienced prior to going back to work. I was able to use the content with my students and see the effects in action. The one course I drew upon most in my professional life was management & leadership in distance education. I was able to use my job as a reference to a lot of what was being learned, and my position offered up great reflections and experience-driven conference responses that my fellow students loved reading. Despite my lack of experience in education, this was the only course where my lack of experience in education felt like a hindrance. I felt like I provided worthwhile conference responses, and was able to contribute to the conferences of others in a way I hadn’t been able to in the past. As an instructor, I was able to harness learning theory into a comprehensive curriculum that benefited every student I encountered. In turn, I was able to understand some of the content better than I had before, and achieved a level of comprehension I never would have been able to as an at-home mom. It was definitely an incredible new approach to the content I was learning, and it was so exciting to realize a definite connection between my current job and what I was learning with each course in the program. As I reflect on the last couple years of this program, I am both happy and sad at the same time. I’ve been a student consistently since 2005, and me as the perpetual student is coming to an end. I’m not sure what I’ll do with all of the free time I’ll acquire with the degree in-hand; maybe I’ll take up knitting or shuffle board, who knows. As the great Rabindranath Tagore said, “everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.” If I wouldn’t have pushed to pursue a master’s degree, if I hadn’t taken a leap of faith and applied for the instructor job, if I hadn’t chosen to go ahead and take the final course for my degree this semester, then I certainly wouldn’t be where I’m at today. I am in debt to this degree program, as it has offered me so much more than an education. With this degree comes confidence, wisdom, and motivation I’d never seen in myself or ever thought possible. My degree will represent so much more than two years in college. It truly is a new beginning for me, and the sky is the limit. While the unknown is always a bit intimidating, I can’t wait to see where I go from here. For those reading this that have yet to begin their own MDE journey, I say jump in feet-first and never look back. For those who are halfway done with their journey, and are searching out information from the e-Portfolio’s of others (much like we’ve all done at one time or another in this program), I say keep your head up and push ahead. For those who have completed your journey and are reminiscing, I say congrats friend…you did it! “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” Socrates |