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Program Reflection

Empress Searight

The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa

Introduction
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The Instructional Leadership with a concentration in Instructional Technology program at

the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, has given me the most inspiring and engaging

experiences a PhD program offers. My time in the program has pulled me out of my comfort

zone and challenged me to explore many different opportunities and overcome many obstacles.

Through these challenges, I have pushed myself to work harder through my coursework and

strive to be a better instructional designer, technologist, and researcher. This program also

helped me to gain new knowledge and build educational and professional relationships through

these challenges.

Looking back at the coursework through this program’s challenging assignments and

research projects, I appreciate Dr. Angela Benson’s AIL 602 Instructional Design class. Being

able to actively participate in class, through face-to-face and online collaboration with my

classmates and Dr. Benson was a great way for me to engage, understand and learning more

effectively. This class was a challenge because I had never taught before I took that class. So,

this class gave me a better insight into to instructional design analysis, design, production, and

evaluations and how to prepare learners to adjust to different instructional modes.

The assignment of designing and evaluating mobile apps in Dr. Margret Rice’s AIL 606

Software Technology class was one of my most engaging classes where I was able to learn how

to create an App. Through this class, I learned how to understand the interaction of the computer

and humans by learning how to develop an app through software and learning the pedagogical

concerns of the operation of the software. This class successfully helped and guided me in being

a part of the design and phases of the Connect Alabama Behavioral Services & Treatment Finder

App, which is a part of VitAL, housed in the School of Social Work at the University of
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Alabama. The app is the State of Alabama’s treatment and services finder for substance use,

mental health, and prevention services.

During my last semester of the coursework of my studies in the doctoral program, I found

Dr. Vivian Wright’s AIL 689 Practicum in Instructional Technology, my foundation class, very

encouraging and forward-looking. This class made me feel like a scholar. Through scholarly

assignments, we learned more about preparing for our journey of writing our dissertation by

reviewing previous graduate dissertations and types of frameworks and putting together the

Technology and Education and Research Conference (TERC). More importantly, meeting with

fellow UA graduates to get their perspectives on completing their dissertations and offering to

help us along our journey.

The vision of the College of Education at the University of Alabama is to develop

effective, ethical, and reflective professionals who advance the theme of COE: Unit, Act and

Lead (Conceptual framework, 2022). Through the guidance of Dr, Margret Rice, Dr. Angela

Benson, and Dr. Vivian Wright, I feel that they have developed and instill the COE creed in me.

I would never have thought I would find myself this far into a PhD program as I started

this program with doubts and hesitation, but as I have moved forward in the program, I continue

to strive for the best. I have not looked back, only forward to success.

No words and sincerely express my gratitude Dr. Margret Rice, Dr. Angela Benson, and

Dr. Vivian Wright gave me throughout this program. They all worked diligently as a team to

ensure that all their students strive for the best. My previous professor for my master’s degree

pointed me in the direction of Dr. Margret Rice and this program and spoke volumes of her will

to teach and guide. Those words are accurate as she is a genuinely great professor, as they all

are.
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Reference

College of Education Conceptual Framework, University of Alabama (2022). Retrieved

September 22, 2022, from https://education.ua.edu/about-us/conceptual-framework/
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