Jacqueline E. Wanner • Educator Capstone Porftolio

#FailForward & Learn

Never stop learning has been a motto of mine since childhood and has transcended into every aspect of my life both personally and professionally. What will I learn today? Often, I learn by happenstance and by making mistakes (I call them learning opportunities). Sometimes I have a learning goal in mind and what I learn is purposeful. Tenacity and grit play a huge role in my personal learning process. I never set out to be an educator, but as serendipity would have it, I can't imagine a more fitting profession. I plan on exploring three specific goals: growing and expanding the Macomb Makerspace, learning a JavaScript framework, and exploring virtual reality. These goals contain both educator and student components centered around teaching and learning. #FailForward.

A Time for Making

The Macomb Makerspace opened its doors in Fall of 2018. In just a short period of time we have participated in multiple events associated with middle and high schools throughout Macomb County, MI. Over 800+ students have visited the Macomb Makerspace for tours and demonstrations and have participated in hands-on activities associated with the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) fields. Future plans are to expand the Macomb Makerspace to include offering bootcamps for K-12 students that focus on the STEAM fields. By collaborating with my colleagues from different departments at the college and working with the MISD (Macomb Intermediate School District), we can begin offering camps that utilize our Makerspace as a hub for Maker Education. I also want to start offering workshops on a variety of topics (e.g., 3D printing, artificial intelligence) to not only college students, but learners of all ages. I want to make the Macomb Makerspace a destination for learning, creating, exploring, self-discovery, and awakening.

Diving into Frameworks

I have a passion for technology and live, learn, and teach it. Web programming and technologies are not only part of my profession as a teacher, but also a hobby of mine. The web programming field is in constant motion. You have to be able to adapt quickly and a passion for learning is a prerequisite for the profession. There is an industry demand for native web application development which is a driving force behind learning React, a web framework and JavaScript library for building user interfaces. My goal is to offer a new course, Introduction to JavaScript Frameworks, within the web programming curriculum at Macomb Community College. This will allow me to share my newly acquired knowledge combined with past experience to help prepare students for working in the Web Programming field and boost their employability.

A Virtual Experience

A Lifelong Learner

The commonalities among my goals centers around learning, teaching, and awakening. By awakening, I mean igniting passion not only within myself but within my students. A passion for doing something exciting, fulfilling, and purposeful. Expanding the Makerspace and offering workshops, bootcamps, and events exploring the STEAM fields opens up a world of opportunities for people and learners of all ages. Learning a new framework within the web programming area affords the knowledge to create a new course that teaches a high demand skill set within the industry. Learning how to use the tools and resources to create a virtual experience and then passing that knowledge onto students and the community, provides learning opportunities for people of all ages. Learning affords opportunities that are limitless. I want to lead by example. I will never stop learning. I am a lifelong learner.

Future Goals Essay