As a paramedic, I spend a great deal of time trying to increase my medical knowledge to be a better provider. As an EMS educator, I felt that despite the depth of content knowledge I was able to present to my students, my teaching was not as effective as it could be. Like most EMS and Allied Health educators, I had little training in educational theory. EMS field experience and subject knowledge are typically the most valued assets when being asked to teach an EMS program. In an effort to improve my teaching, I decided to pursue my Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) from Michigan State. My goal was to learn new instructional techniques that would improve my effectiveness as an educator and help me better integrate the use of technology to help my students be as successful as possible. Technology has always played a large role in my personal learning, and I felt that the MAET program would strengthen my ability to use technology to teach others. Overall, I anticipated learning a few new techniques that I could bring to the classroom; I had no idea how much my view of EMS education would change.
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​​As a result of my coursework in the MAET program, I realized that traditionally structured EMS education was not designed to accommodate different types of learners, but instead was geared toward particular types of learners at the exclusion of others. It also became clear that many challenges faced regarding student performance were the fault of our instructional design and outcome expectations, not an issue of simply low performing students. Anyone with a traditional foundation in education would have recognized this immediately; however it is a rarity to find such a person teaching in my field. The improvements I saw in my students when I was able to apply the techniques and technologies learned in each new MAET course reinforced my decision to pursue a degree in education and motivated me to keep working despite all my other commitments.
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​Four years later as I finish the MAET program, I am no longer spending as much time teaching initial education in a classroom, and while my original goals have remained consistent, my techniques to accomplish these goals have changed. I have spent the last few years developing and coordinating hybrid education courses for both traditional EMS providers and those working in wilderness and remote medical settings. Recently, my interest is in providing continuing education for medical providers of all levels. It is a challenge as a busy medical professional to stay current with the latest studies and best practice guidelines. I plan to focus on designing curriculum and delivery systems to allow medical providers to stay current efficiently and effectively. I am optimistic that by focusing as much on the pedagogy as the content, I can provide continuing education that will greatly benefit existing providers and their patients.