New Aspiration:
Hope and Gratitude By Jihyeon Kim
The Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program has not just given me knowledge or information about the trending education or technology. It has given me a confidence that I have potential to go further as a learner and educator. The vague dream that I wanted to learn more about literacy education came true thanks to this program, and now I’m able to plan specifically what I want to learn. There are a lot of learning materials out there in the form of paper, video, audio, conference, or combination of them on the Internet. If I want to, I could search for whatever topic I want to explore. But I need an insightful eye to find out what is worth focusing on and what is not. With an effort to do that, last year I joined The Korea Association of Teachers of English (KATE) , a forum where information about English language education is shared and promoted. It introduces new research articles and provides various resources about English language education. The best thing about joining the forum is that I can share similar experiences and scopes of education. I’m going to join another forum to get a diverse and balanced view of English language education, that is National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
These days there are so many ways to educate ourselves, not just in schools or institutions. Still, I often found myself trapped in a traditional view of education; it takes place best through direct human interaction. This is very true, however, after experiencing learning of/with/through technology during this Master’s program, I came to think that learning can take place in any settings and in any form as long as we can intake what we want to learn. The experiences I have had with this program changed my view on technology. It is not limited to being used as a tool, but plays an important role in conveying knowledge in a meaningful way, which has a powerful impact on the learning process. Technology enables the same materials to represent differently, thereafter creating different contexts. Thereby learners might accept, feel, or learn differently. Technology allows knowledge to become alive by adding diverse context to it and making it available for many people as possible. The work I created on the web generates further reflection and thoughts. I felt different in each time I visited my work on the web. Technology is not just a tool, it is a potential and open door to another possibility. Today, we are living in a world where there is no clear boundary between physical world and digital world. Those two worlds will be merged together like “physital” world. I believe educational activities will be much more active or different with technological incorporation.
The more we learn, the better we understand. The better we understand, the more we get to know that there is more to know. The endless aspiration to know about what we do not know leads us to become better learners I believe. I love the term “autodidactic”. Many of great people are known to be autodidactic. I’ve become close to being autodidactic because of the self-paced characteristics of this Master's program. I didn’t know that an online course can be this powerful in terms of motivation and inspiration. I once had an ambitious dream that I want to be a competent researcher. I want to pursue that dream and finally discover the hint of what I’m going to be digging up. I am strongly interested in educational psychology. Education cannot be separated from human psychology. I’d like to explore what others haven’t stepped on yet. This program has taught me how to become an autodidactic learner and how to share knowledge. That’s what gives me full confidence on what kind of learner I can become. We have full access to almost all published knowledge, if not all, so with collaboration of pieces of knowledge I am sure that we can produce further knowledge that can benefit human life. I will look over the previous research articles related to literacy education and psychological factors, hoping to get a clue to unveiling a part of educational psychology. At last I hope I will be able to shed light on the gray-zone of educational psychology if I can delve into the area.
At this time my Mater’s program is coming to an end. I’m thrilled to be expecting another exciting journey of learning ahead, which comes from deep gratitude of the time I have had with wonderful people in this wonderful program.
(*The image above is a photo taken by Jihyeon Kim. The image below is created by Wordl.net.)
These days there are so many ways to educate ourselves, not just in schools or institutions. Still, I often found myself trapped in a traditional view of education; it takes place best through direct human interaction. This is very true, however, after experiencing learning of/with/through technology during this Master’s program, I came to think that learning can take place in any settings and in any form as long as we can intake what we want to learn. The experiences I have had with this program changed my view on technology. It is not limited to being used as a tool, but plays an important role in conveying knowledge in a meaningful way, which has a powerful impact on the learning process. Technology enables the same materials to represent differently, thereafter creating different contexts. Thereby learners might accept, feel, or learn differently. Technology allows knowledge to become alive by adding diverse context to it and making it available for many people as possible. The work I created on the web generates further reflection and thoughts. I felt different in each time I visited my work on the web. Technology is not just a tool, it is a potential and open door to another possibility. Today, we are living in a world where there is no clear boundary between physical world and digital world. Those two worlds will be merged together like “physital” world. I believe educational activities will be much more active or different with technological incorporation.
The more we learn, the better we understand. The better we understand, the more we get to know that there is more to know. The endless aspiration to know about what we do not know leads us to become better learners I believe. I love the term “autodidactic”. Many of great people are known to be autodidactic. I’ve become close to being autodidactic because of the self-paced characteristics of this Master's program. I didn’t know that an online course can be this powerful in terms of motivation and inspiration. I once had an ambitious dream that I want to be a competent researcher. I want to pursue that dream and finally discover the hint of what I’m going to be digging up. I am strongly interested in educational psychology. Education cannot be separated from human psychology. I’d like to explore what others haven’t stepped on yet. This program has taught me how to become an autodidactic learner and how to share knowledge. That’s what gives me full confidence on what kind of learner I can become. We have full access to almost all published knowledge, if not all, so with collaboration of pieces of knowledge I am sure that we can produce further knowledge that can benefit human life. I will look over the previous research articles related to literacy education and psychological factors, hoping to get a clue to unveiling a part of educational psychology. At last I hope I will be able to shed light on the gray-zone of educational psychology if I can delve into the area.
At this time my Mater’s program is coming to an end. I’m thrilled to be expecting another exciting journey of learning ahead, which comes from deep gratitude of the time I have had with wonderful people in this wonderful program.
(*The image above is a photo taken by Jihyeon Kim. The image below is created by Wordl.net.)