My journey as an educator began at Baylor University where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. I became fascinated with the different stages of child development and how so many factors could impact the learning process. My favorite class was Integrating Learning and Play. This course completely changed my view of free play in education and the importance of trust and safety in the classroom environment. I began to understand the value of unstructured exploration within a well designed learning experience and continue to apply what I learned in my undergraduate career to my instructional practices today. Though my ultimate goal was to get a teaching certificate and have my own classroom, I attended Baylor on an ROTC scholarship and was commissioned onto active duty in the U.S. Air Force upon graduation. While serving in the military, I received a Master of Arts degree in Education with a specialization in Curriculum and Instruction from Chapman University and after separating from the Air Force, was certified as an elementary school teacher in Texas.
I secured a 4th grade teaching position at a Title I school in Fort Bend ISD, and during my second year in the classroom went back to graduate school to become a librarian. I was fortunate enough to begin working as a librarian while still completing coursework and in 2011 obtained a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of North Texas.
I have served as an elementary librarian for over 12 years and have served as the campus Technology Integration Champion for the past 4 years. Both of these positions allowed me to work closely with administrators, teachers, and students in technology embedded environments and the professional experiences I've gained have been both rewarding and challenging at the same time. I've witnessed firsthand, the power of technology to engage students in learning while also witnessing the frustration expressed by teachers when forced to integrate technology into their instructional practice. I wanted to find ways to help teachers successfully integrate technology into their teaching and decided to pursue a doctorate in Learning Technologies. My main research interests are technology integration and blended learning in the elementary school setting. I’m also interested in effective educational technology professional development, the factors that lead to the successful integration of technology in primary classrooms, teacher and student attitudes toward blended learning, barriers to the successful use of blended learning instructional models, and the impact of blended learning on student outcomes. My goal is to conduct research that will help teachers integrate technology into their classrooms in a meaningful and developmentally appropriate way.