Conclusion

At the start of my journey I had a lot of goals set for myself:

1. Prove to myself and naysayers that I was good enough and smart enough to achieve any academic goal set for myself
2. Challenge myself mentally to see learning accomplished outside the traditional context of F-2-F learning 
3. Create engaging and exciting programs for my students
4. Keep students engaged in classroom learning while they are on extended leaves 

I was able to accomplish all of my original learning goals through the program. I have shown myself and the world that I am smart enough to achieve a Masters level education, I am the first in my family to do so. With the confidence this program has given me I have seen so much growth in my professional and personal life. Being one who thought I was a F-2-F learner when I started this program I am so glad that I pushed my comfort zone and joined a DL program. The friendships I have made are there forever, I felt more supported than I have in most of my educational career and it was every course form my peers and professors. The DL community is every growing and changing and I am so glad that I have been brought into the know of all the ways DL can help support students across curricular areas, ages and boarders. My students have been introduced to some of the technologies I have learned about in my courses, digital text books and Google Drives being two of the most dominant in my courses so far. I have put in requests for other technologies to be added such as Flipgrid which would allow the students to reflect on their learning using video or audio instead of having to hand in a written document. This will also help those students to post their learning quickly and efficiently when away on extended leaves as they can record on their phones first and then upload the video to the application when they have access to the internet. I have also experimented with recording my digital presentations and posting them on our Learning Management Site which allows my students to revisit the information exactly as it was originally presented to them. 

Now that I am done the program I have new goals and aspirations;

1. Pursue a career path that will lead me to being a learning leader or coach within my school.
2. Join the aspiring Assistant Principal Cohort offered by the school board I am a part of
3. Enhance my programs to include DE components
4. Engage my students both in their F-2-F environment and give them OERs to supplement their learning while they are out and about in their everyday lives

I know that as I grow and learn these goals will become reality and new goals will replace them, that is one of the most beautiful things about being a true life long learner. I have enjoyed this process so much and hope that in the future I can endeavour to take more courses through Distance Education platforms in both my professional and personal life. 

This process has taught me so much, I have learned a lot about myself and my family as the courses pushed me to my mental and emotional limits. I had to spend many hours reading and writing papers instead of spending time with my husband and newborn son. With the support from my family I was able to complete six of my courses while on maternity leave which made it easier to return to work, only having two remaining.

Losing the time with my son was hard, the hardest part of this whole journey, it was also one of my biggest motivators. I want to be the family that is able to place our children in any sport or activity they desire without having to say it is too expensive. By completing this journey I will receive a pay raise and the ability to advance in placement in my workplace.

The new goals can now become a reality. With the perseverance and dedication that I learned in my M.Ed journey, through Athabasca University, and all of the knowledge that I now have of the world that is coming our way. Distance Education  will help me to become a leader that is knowledgeable and helpful to those around me, students and peers alike.

When I started I was engaged and we were starting our life together in a new home and wanting to start a family with in a couple of years. We were blessed with our son at the start of my third year in the program. Sadly I was bed ridden and was afraid that I would be unable to do courses in the Fall of 2016. Again I was surprised by the support of my family and most of all the professors. I was enrolled in two courses and both were very understanding of the situation I was in and though I did not end up needing extensions on my first papers I was granted them without question.

Currently my little family is currently to growing by one more, we are due with our second child in August of 2018, our children will be so blessed to grow up close together in age. Our dreams of traveling and exploring Canada are being planned for the next couple years as my husband and I grow and advance in our careers. The knowledge that I have gained in Open Education Resources will have an impact on my career as I learn and grow in both teaching and hopefully administration titles as the opportunities come my way.

This was such an amazing journey for me. I was able to grow and change as a leader in both my personal and professional life. I would recommend the Masters in Education program to anyone looking to increase their knowledge of distance learning and to become a well rounded learner. The ability to juggle life in all ways is a skill that many people are afraid to venture into. The saying "if you want something done ask a busy person" has never rang clearer in my mind than in the last three months. My second job is growing and changing, our son has learned to crawl and walk, I have gone back to work, I am coaching school teams and still working on two courses. I am so honored to be apart of all these amazing changes and growth in my family, professional and personal lives.

I would not have been successful without the help and support from my husband, siblings, and parents. They were willing to sacrifice their evenings so I could be on conference calls and attend Adobe connect session without having to worry about my baby boy. They watched my son as I read endless chapters, articles and then wrote papers on topics from inclusiveness to gender inequality in DE. The time I devoted to the courses was more than I expected and worth every minute, I was always able to talk with the professors and my peers about my life and found support around every corner. 

I am very blessed to have such supportive family and friends. Two of my coworkers were working on their masters when I started at my current school. I thought they were so ambitious and that I could never be as accomplished as they were. Then as the years in my school continued I was becoming a very knowledgeable about the Career Teaching Foundations and was starting to become well known in my area for my expertise. This gave me a lot of confidence and when helping people I started to realize that maybe I could do my Masters and be successful.

After three years of considering the possibility of doing a Masters in Education program I was ready to apply and looked into many schools. I finally decided on Athabasca because of the flexibility that distance learning allowed for. I was terrified because I knew in my heart that I was a face-to-face learner, mostly because I like the peer interaction. I quickly realized there was opportunities for peer interaction and have made many lifelong friends. Some who have even followed the same life paths as I have.

I want to thank my grade 6 teacher who told me that I would never make it to university, without this push to prove him wrong I may have never gone to college for my diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education, university for my Bachelors of Education and finally to this amazing Masters program. If I could call any of the teachers I had growing up he would be the one, just to say "look I did it, you did not believe in me but here I am, what do you think of me now!"

Finally I want to thank my classmates, without them I would have had very different experiences. I loved the good, the bad and the ugly as talked about in my artifact 3 reflection. I have made life long friends who live across not only the country but the world.

Thank you and best wishes for your future!

~Candace