Digital Learning Program Development

Final Project

The final project for this course will be to create your Philosophy Statement - your statement on yourself as an educational technology leader.

A Teaching Philosophy Statement is typically required for faculty interviews at universities, and is a narrative (typically 2-3 pages) about your beliefs about teaching and learning, how you teach, and a justification for your beliefs and methods. This statement becomes a part of your interview packet or portfolio that you would share with a potential employer to help them determine if your values and theirs are in alignment. While not a research paper, it should be grounded in research while conveying your values and beliefs and showing that you know how to operationalize them in a classroom. It can and should be written in first person and may be relatively informal (though should still stick to grammatical norms that you would want a potential employer to be impressed by).

For this course, your final project will be to create your Digital Learning Program Philosophy Statement. Like a teaching philosophy statement, this will be your beliefs about digital learning programs in schools, how you would build one, and a justification for your beliefs and methods. You should create a usable product that is tailored to the role you want to move to next, whether you want to continue in the classroom or move on to be an instructional coach, curriculum specialist, a CTO, or something else. As a result, you may choose to title this a coaching philosophy or a leadership philosophy as appropriate. Again, think about it as your statement on how you want to lead, where you want to lead. It could also aptly be described as an “operationalizable vision statement” as well.

The statement should include your views with respect to at least three of the elements from this course: visioning, digital content, technology infrastructure, professional learning, funding, or cybersecurity.

Relevant Guidance

While the guidance presented focuses exclusively on teaching philosophy statements, the guidance is relevant to positions and responsibilities beyond teaching.

Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement

Sample Teaching Philosophy Statements

Grading

The assignment will be worth 10 points, as follows:

  • 2 points: Statement is free of grammatical errors, avoids the passive voice, is formatted appropriately, is 1-2 pages in length, and well structured.
  • 2 points: Has a clear and consistent focus and theme, language and tone are appropriate, and the statement is designed to hold the attention of the audience.
  • 2 points: Is authentic, the writer’s personality and enthusiasm show through, the reader can genuinely believe the writer cares and is passionate about the beliefs expressed in the paper.
  • 2 points: The writer’s beliefs are detailed and explained with sufficient background that they can be understood by a reader who is familiar with the subject matter. The writer’s philosophy and goals for their programs are evident and thorough, documented by both anecdote and factually accurate statements.
    • 2 points: Seamlessly includes at least two areas of this course in their philosophy statement as a part of a well-constructed narrative including components from their career experiences and other courses in their programs.