Master's Degree at FullSail-Year in Review

    The courses that I have taken for FullSail’s EMDT have been challenging and fulfilling.  I thought I knew how to write until I learned APA. I found myself in deep water and having a hard time keeping up. My mother had a stroke; I rushed up to be with her and my father and stayed for over two weeks in June. Planning the funeral and supporting my father and family had to be squeezed together with the first month of a challenging course. I felt like the CD, Sharon Wyly, was understanding and very supportive. I decided if I could pull it off that month, the rest of the year would be OK.
    In July, I was so at home with the knowledge of Multiple Learning Styles. This is such a part of me it was like coming home. Everything we learned yelled, “Yes! This is why the Arts are so important in education!”  I contend that the arts in education feed and teach the “whole child” and are what can keep a kid in school.    Dr. Deason was an inspiration. I was assigned to a group that did a project on gaming in education. I enjoyed the group collaboration. I copied many of Dr. Deason’s comments into documents so I could go back and review them.
    September opened my eyes to 21st Century learning, and was instrumental for me choosing my action research subject. I think this course is what sold me on the importance of technology in education in general. Dr. Siegel was a fun professor, and later in gaming I realized he’s pretty much crazy! I know that gaming needs to find its way into education. Not a gamer by heart, he turned my heart towards it.
    Two of the reasons I chose this program were the music and film courses. The music class was difficult, but taught me so much that is practical and useful in my job and my love of music and film. Kathy Craven was an awesome film teacher; I learned a lot in her class. Each new project was a challenge, but I grew so much! These two classes directly influenced my AR, which was teaching film to students. Our end project in cycle 1 was a music video that also was my end project in our music class.
    Flash was difficult, and LMO was too much reading, too much writing! Though I did enjoy Udutu. All in all, I have learned so much it is astounding, and I feel like a whole new world has been opened for me. What a ride!