MSU2011: Reflection

Time for me to look back on my visit.. What did I see, hear and learn?

• Michigan is a lot like Twente, except for the city of Holland, which is a nice city, but not very Dutch..
• Michigan State University's campus is a lot like the campus of the University of Twente, except it is a lot bigger (it's huge!).
• MSU’s MAET program is in terms of content a lot like UT’s CIMA program, except for the whole organization (on-line learning works if you also a schedule f2f program!).
• Teaching for two whole weeks, every day of the week is exhausting for both the instructors and the students, but it gives good group dynamics and the opportunity to share and show experiences, products and personal feelings (which is very important for continuing the program online).
• Teaching for two whole weeks, every day of the week, and keeping your students interested and motivated means that you have to use active, authentic and dynamic activities, based on a specific “rhythm” that is used every day, this will help in keeping pace, speed and enthusiasm.
• Learning about the use and added value of technology in education should be tailored to the needs and opportunities of the interests and context of your students. General information can be applicable to all students, but when it comes to specific technology, offer this (preferably hands-on) only to those students that are interested.
• Learning about TPACK can be done by explaining the TPACK framework and the model, but you can also incorporate the idea of TPACK throughout your own teaching without explaining it, both are good.

And there are many more things that I have seen/heard/learned, but these are the most important ones with regard to my visit to the MAET program. Next to this however, I also learned that

• American bikes are not meant for tall Dutch persons....
• There are no bike lanes around MSU, you have to bike on the sidewalks. This is ok during the summer months when there are not many people here, but what would happen when the semester starts again?
• Just like it is no use to re-calculate Euros to our old Guilders (what used to be 1 Guilder is now approximately 1 Euro, even though the Euro is much more expensive than the Guilder), it is also no use to re-calculate miles into kilometers: distances are much larger here and you just have to deal with that.
• And coffee… well, just let me say that you really need to find your own places/coffee houses/etc. to find a coffee that somehow resemblances Dutch coffee (with apologies to my American friends..;-)).
• But when you do find the right place, you will not only have coffee, but also free WiFi everywhere, outlets for your laptop plug, and enough inspiration to think, write and produce the articles that you had in mind!

All in all: I had a great time here in Michigan! Thank you all for having me here, especially Punya Mishra and the MAET students, it has been a wonderful experience!