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As I look back at my time in the ILT program at UCD, I realize how much my life has changed. When I entered the program in the fall of 2003, my life was just beginning a series of twists and turns that would lead me down very different pathways than I was on at the time.
I had been a teacher for 5 years at a wonderful school in Littleton, CO. My wife was pregnant with our first daughter and part of our financial plan to raise our child involved me getting my Master’s degree so I would get a salary increase. I was not yet ready to make the commitment to educational administration, and counseling did not really appeal to me. As I was exploring options, I found this degree program that integrated two of my passions: education and technology. Immediately I knew I had found the right fit for me. I could get a degree in something I loved that also offered benefits beyond the simple salary increase. It offered me flexibility within education. When I finished, I would qualified to teach something other than history. If I got bored or tired with history, I could teach technology courses and maybe even run my own lab. I also felt it offered me options beyond the classroom. I often heard of teachers getting burned out while teaching. While I didn’t think that could ever happen to me, I thought it would be nice to have a degree that would allow me to move into the corporate world if I was wrong.
Before I began the program, I left my comfortable job in Littleton in search of students who really needed good teachers and too often did not get them. I began a new teaching job the same fall that I began the program. It was to be a new challenge, a rejuvenation, something to affect the world in a positive way. As it turns out, it was none of those things. The job was not what I had expected and things went poorly most of the year. There were only two bright spots during the year: my daughter was born in March 2004, and I was enjoying the ILT program.
Throughout my first year in the program, I made a lot of friends and great connections. They listened patiently to my frustrations and offered advice and suggestions. The classes I took kept me invigorated about teaching and about finding new ways to reach my students. Learning Web design fundamentally changed the way I looked at designing instruction for history. It opened up new possibilities, new ways to engage my students and new passion in me. My first Web site I created was a Webquest-like site for students to study the Holocaust. It was very exciting to watch my students use the site and learn more than I ever could have taught them by other means. Alas, it was not enough to create the meaningful experience I was looking for at the school. At year’s end, I was job hunting again.
This time, I found an inner-city school with the most needy students in the city. Once again I began the year with hope and optimism. Unfortunately, politics and major administrative changes led to another year of frustration and despair. By November, I was already discouraged and struggling to find motivation. As I continued to share my struggles with my friends in the ILT program, one of them made a suggestion. Something I had never before considered, at least not seriously. A job was opening up at his company. It was an instructional design job that he thought I would be perfect for. He opened my mind to the possibility of a career change, at least a temporary one. It might be the perfect solution. I was already struggling to make enough money to support my family, and my frustration level grew daily. This job would solve both problems. And, there was no reason why I could not return to education in a few years when my situation had changed. I applied for the job. As I was waiting to hear about it, two other big corporate opportunities came along, both through connections or friends in the ILT program.
I landed a job as a Web course developer at URS Corporation. I gave my thirty days notice to my school and began my new job in March of 2005. Without the ILT program, I would not have been qualified for the job. I use computer skills, that I learned during the program, every day now. I use Flash to develop courses and also have had need to use Dreamweaver and video editing. It is also because of friends that I met in the program that I was able to consider the possibility, find the job and ultimately change my career.
I am now much happier than I have been the last two years. I have learned many lessons, both in and out of school. I am relatively stress-free at work and have much more energy and time to devote to my family. The ILT program opened up an entire new world of possibilities to me. I knew that it would when I began. I never suspected that I would need to use my training before I even completed the program. The ILT program was truly a perfect fit at the perfect time in my life. I’m grateful for all the people who have entered my life, for all that I have learned, and for the future of possibilities that now await me.
In closing, I would like to say thanks to a few of the faculty who particulary influenced my learning, my time in the program, and ultimately my future. Thanks to Chuck Ferguson, who, in my first semester of the program, opened my eyes to the amazing possibilities in the technology world. Thanks to Dave Young who taught me how to design Web pages. The Web design that I learned allowed me to expand my tools as a teacher and create unique learning experiences for my students. Thanks to Jackie Debrovolny whose Message Design class was a tremendous time of growth for me. It was in her class that I learned better ways to design instruction. I also learned that I was more creative than I thought. It was in her class that I was able to make deeper, more personal connections with other students who would ultimately change my life. Thanks to Diann Mazingo. Her Advanced Web class taught me the basics of Flash, which laid the foundation for the work I do at my current job. It wasn’t just the content of the course that was great though. Diann spent a lot of time finding out what we needed as students, outside the course content. It is because of Diann that I, and many other students in that class finally understood the competencies, the graduation requirements, the way the portfolio review works and more. Without Diann, I’m not sure I’d be poised to graduate in a few short weeks. Finally, I’d like to thank Brent Wilson. Brent has been my advisor since I entered the program. He has heard all of my frustrations with the changes in the program, cohorts being dissolved and classes being cancelled. He has listened to my goals, my dreams, my needs and been flexible enough to help me make sure I got the classes I needed to meet all of them. Thank you to all of you. You have changed my life.
Sincerely,
Nathan Karet