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Dr. Cynthia Sistek-Chandler, a staff developer, trainer, and professor of educational technology at National University works with schools and the San Diego County Office of Education. Since 1998, Cynthia has primarily taught online EdTech courses. She currently the new Program Lead for Master of Arts in Social and Emotional Learning.

What was it like for you as a student?

During my early elementary experience at Maple Leaf Elementary in Garfield Heights. Ohio, my K through 3rd-grade teachers created a warm and caring environment for me. I was a majorette in the Twirling Sweethearts, a brownie, and at our talent show, I twirled a circular fire hoop! Believe it or not, I was also a budding accordion player. I ask you, who plays accordion nowadays? I did back then. As a granddaughter of a musician, who was a music store owner and an inventor, music, and entertainment was in my DNA. Polka music,  ethnic food, and dancing was my life.

Then, when I was in 4th grade, my parents divorced and my life crumbled. I had a new stepfather and entered into a transient way of life. We moved four times in the next four years, to Arizona and back, and then in the 9th grade, we left Ohio for the west coast.

Overall, my experience as a learner was impacted by transience and trauma. My mom was a bartender and a waitress. Being a daughter of a twice-divorced, single mother with her disdained occupation, my interactions with others were sometimes wrought with prejudice and indifference. Regardless, I was always a great student in school and was deeply connected with all of my teachers.  

Your journey as a teacher

I knew I always wanted to be a teacher. My younger sister was my first student. Each day, I came home from school and taught her everything I learned that day. By the time she entered kindergarten, she knew how to read, write, and do simple math. She excelled in her school career.

Fast forward, I pursued my passion to become a teacher and persisted in college as an adult. Even though it took me nine years to obtain my bachelor’s degree and another 2 years for my Master’s and teaching credential, I have always been a teacher. 

As a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I began teaching first graders. It was my dream job. In the mid-1980s, computers on wheels (COWS), were just becoming commonplace in the classroom. My kiddos were in awe when they saw their writing roll off the Imagewriter printer. I saw the promise of EdTech as a catalyst and motivator for these youngsters. Programs like the Children’s Writing and Publishing Center came alive for students and for my parent volunteers. Hypercard, Hyperstudio, and Laserdiscs were on the scene and educational software became a catalyst for learning. 

CUE Changed My Life

As a beginning teacher in 1988, I attended my first CUE (Computer Using Educators) conference and became infatuated with educational software as a powerful tool for learning. After five years of teaching, I took a hiatus from teaching to explore my passion for Ed Tech. I worked in the software industry to assist educators in integrating software applications into the curriculum. As a sales manager, I interfaced with hundreds of school districts and gave numerous demonstrations using an LCD projector. With a master’s in the curriculum, I wrote teaching guides to support the integration of computer-based learning in the classroom. In 1993, I started teaching teachers and it became clear to me that technology was a powerful tool and not just a thing to master.

Over the last 35 years, my connection with CUE has been an inspiration. I developed my personal learning network (PLN) with people like Barbara Bray, Roger Wagner, Jon Corippo, and hundreds of other educators. CUE has been my family. Being with like-minded educators has helped me grow and connect with others to share experiences and best practices.

Professional Developer and Professor at National University

At National University, I am working with a new Master of Arts degree in Social and Emotional Learning. For 13 years, I was program director and co-lead of the Master of Science in Educational Technology with my colleague Dr. George Beckwith. 

In my career, I have worked with the PK-20 community as a professional development coach and trained over 500 school administrators to integrate technology into their blended curriculum. Barbara and I  built this AB75/AB 430 state curriculum together using My eCoach.

Our Trip to New Zealand

In 2017, my dear friend, colleague, and inspirational mentor, Barbara Bray (our podcast host) asked me to join her on an adventure to New Zealand to share the Future of Education, Personalized Learning, Design Thinking, and other relevant tidbits with New Zealand educators. 

At the University of Waikato at Hamilton, we had a most generous host, Leigh Hynes and incredibly talented educators as guides to schools in the North Island. We flew to the South Island to meet with the wonderful Anne Kennelly from Core Education who introduced us to the Maori culture and connected us with the caring culture of NZ educators.

We toured 10 schools and were immersed in environments where kids came first in learning. I was taken back by how all the students were able to kick off their shoes at the doorstep and fluidly engage in personalized projects in open classrooms and through experiential and exploratory learning. What I loved most was that teachers were required to take regular coffee breaks. Refer to this Google doc about Viscount School in Auckland, New Zealand. Here is a photo of Anne, Barbara, and me enjoying the fall colors and leaves.

Your WHY and how it has changed during this crisis

My “Why” has always been my quest to share my passion for teaching and learning with technology. I have been teaching online since 1999 and know what it takes to engage learners in the online environment. I have always listened to educators, my students, and trainers as they begin their journey as master candidates. I continue to connect with colleagues worldwide. Our collective wisdom and experiences help to heal the world in this time of COVID-19. I have weekly webinars with educators to share online teaching practices and share resources to help all of us in this “new normal” of online learning.  

How can people contact you? 

cynthiaedtech@gmail.com
Twitter: @cynthiachandler
http://tinyurl.com/cynthiachandler

Bio

Cynthia Sistek-Chandler is a Professor in the Sanford College of Education at National University where she has taught Educational Technology online since 1999. She is currently the Program Lead for the new Master of Arts in Social and Emotional Learning. 

Cynthia Sistek-Chandler, Ed D is a Professor in the Sanford College of Education at National University in San Diego and is the Program Lead for the new Master of Arts in Social and Emotional Learning. Dr. Sistek-Chandler is the former Academic Program Director (APD) for the Master of Science in Educational and Instructional Technology (MSEIT). In 2007, “Dr. C “ earned her Doctorate in Educational Technology through the University of San Diego and San Diego State’s joint doctoral program.

Dr. Sistek-Chandler is also an is an eLearning advisor and Moodle Development “coach” for the country of the Philippines and the country of Ghana’s Flexible Learning Project working with the Texas International Education Consortium (TIEC).

Cynthia is a recognized leader in Educational Technology. In 2020, she was awarded EdTech Digest’s Higher Education Technology Leader of the Year.

Her leadership with organizations includes reviewer for th eClassroom of the Future Foundation, judge for the iVIE Film Festival, advisor for the former California Learning Resource Network (CLRN), contributing advisor to the Horizon Report, content writer, professional developer for over 500 school administrators through the AB 75/430 Professional Development and a grant reviewer and writer.

Through her 35-year affiliation with Computer Using Educators (CUE) she has worked at the affiliate level in San Diego holding every board position including President. As an award-winning educator, in 2019 from this organization she earned the prestigious ISTE and CUE Award for “Making IT Happen” as well as earning a Gold and Platinum Disk from (CUE) for her lifetime achievements and service to the educational technology community. In 2014, she received the President’s Professoriate Award from National University and for two years served as a Faculty Fellow for Teaching and Learning. 

Dr. Sistek-Chandler is a pioneer in the area of online learning where she has designed and taught online courses since 1999. Her ongoing research focuses on the efficacy of online learning in higher education and how synchronous methods of online communication enhance teaching and learning. Her new book, Exploring Online Learning through Synchronous and Asynchronous Methods was published in April 2020 by IGI Global.

Resources

Link to CyberCyn’s Cafe: Communication and Collaboration
https://my-ecoach.com/project.php?id=13354

Curriculum Vitae
https://national.academia.edu/CynthiaSistekChandler/CurriculumVitae

Podcast on Unleash Learning interview by  Dr. William DeJean, founder of Unleash Learning.
https://unleash-learning.com/2020/03/how-to-use-technology-to-help-make-learning-stick-for-everyone-2/

podcast interview by Dr. Patricia Dickenson
http://www.teacherpreptech.com/

“Distance Learning in a Dash”
The emergent role of the MOOC instructor: A qualitative study of trends toward improving future practice

 S Haavind, C Sistek-Chandler
International Journal on E-learning 14 (3), 331-350

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Interested in checking out more of the Rethinking Learning podcasts and reflections, click on the podcast tab at the top, the logo below, or go to https://barbarabray.net/podcasts/

Go to this page for resources, questions, and more information about Barbara’s new book, Define Your WHY.

Leigh Hynes is from Taupo, New Zealand. She has been employed by the University of Waikato as a Digital Fluency Facilitator since 2013, and her role is working in schools to build capability in using digital technologies. Her long background in secondary school teaching and leadership have led to a commitment to enhance learning using digital technologies.

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Over the last few years, I have developed a special relationship with Leigh. First she had to make sure I pronounced where she lives correctly “Toe Paw” for Taupo. I had so much fun being able to get know Leigh where she lives, about her family, her team and New Zealand. I am excited to share her story or what is called a Mihi with you. Below are excerpts from the podcast.

Can you share with me about you, your family and your background in New Zealand?

In New Zealand, we have a ceremony that we call a “Mihi” where we introduce ourselves starting with our mountain on the North Island. My mountain is Ruapehu that I identify with and where I’ve been brought up. We then go to the Mangowhero River. We start with the biggest things and then go to the smallest significant things in our lives. It is a cultural discourse about your family and where you come from. It’s very important to share that with the Maori culture and New Zealand. New Zealand is a bi-cultural nation. When the Europeans came to the island, they had an agreement with the Maori people to acknowledge both cultures.

I have two beautiful daughters and a granddaughter who lives in Perth. I have a lovely husband, Dan, who is from Wisconsin. I was trained to be a microbiologist working in Wellington and then I ended up married to someone in the middle of nowhere where I asked the schools there if they needed a scientist to teach in their schools. That’s how I started teaching. From that strange entry point, I worked my way through the years to become deputy principal at Ruapehu College.

I’ve been in Senior Management for the last 12 years. In 2012, I was offered a job to work as a digital technology facilitator when I was at the college at that time. By the way, our secondary schools are called colleges. Ruapehu is an isolated school pretty much in the center of the north island where there are very few connections to other schools. I was very lucky to be part of the VPLD (Virtual Professional Learning Development). I had a mentor and learned a lot about digital technologies by setting my own goals with her and moving forward in that way. I realized the power of video and started having my students make videos which helped them understand the content of science.

I’ve known you for some time on social media and met you at ISTE. Share how that happened.

I got into Facebook and never really been a huge twitterer – not sure that’s a word. Eventually, I learned a lot through social media. When I started working for the University of Waikato, someone presented us with your Personalization vs Differentiation vs Individualization chart. That was so helpful in getting schools and teachers to understand the difference between the terms. When I saw your name at ISTE, I really was hoping to meet you in person and there you were sitting across from me in one of the first workshops I was in. I took a secret photograph of you and then put it up on Twitter about the famous Barbara Bray sitting right across from me. I was so excited. I was so privileged to meet so many people I know on social media actually in person. In fact, the first person I met was Daniel Rezac. Here are a few of the pictures I took at ISTE in Denver and I included the one with you, me and Anne Kenneally.

Tell about some of your projects at the University of Waikato

For the past 4 years, I have been working in schools across New Zealand to help build capacity for eLearning. The ministry actually provided free learning for teachers for some schools throughout New Zealand. It has been my job basically to lead the team on the central north island. This year some things have changed a bit. It’s a whole new environment for us because the ministry has moved the responsibility back into the schools for their own professional development. There is a little provision for the schools that allows us to work with them. But this has caused us to move from a team of 70 to 40 people. This is the first year that I have been employed to work through the ministry but most directly with schools. We also have a little bit and bobs from other places. Recently I went to Vietnam and worked with teachers over there. My job is different than it has been but it is giving me the different variety of types of work.

I know you went to Vietnam with Mary Jamieson. Share a little about what you did there.

We went to Vietnam in July for a month, two weeks in Hanoi and two weeks in Ho Chi Minh. It was teaching teachers about modern pedagogy. We had six units of work on how to get to know your students, how to do student-centered learning, the assessment with a formative assessment focus, classroom management. The Vietnamese government has realized that the curriculum was far too prescriptive and not preparing students for the future. So they are looking at changing things. We were working with a private school but there are opportunities that we may develop into a nationwide work. Here’s a blog post about my experience in Hanoi and another about my experience in Ho Chi Minh

In Vietnam, although the focus was on modern pedagogy, I was slipping a little of digital technologies here and there as much as I could. The teachers really loved that. China is looking at ways to bring in more creativity into their schools. When you look at China that has an industrial model realizing that they also need to change teaching and learning because everything is changing which impacts education. Even the countries that you think are behind in terms of pedagogy are moving.  If there are still people out there that haven’t woken up yet, it’s time to do it. I mentioned Andreas Schleicher and want to share this video with you:

Share what is so unique about the NZ curriculum and digital learning.

We consider ourselves very lucky because we have a curriculum framework. It is up to each school to look at their community and build the curriculum within that framework to decide what is important for their students. We have key competencies which are really is the most important part that we call the “fronting” of the curriculum. This is about developing thinking skills, being able to participate, etc.

These key competencies are:

Thinking
Relating to Others
Understanding Text
Managing Self
Participating and Contributing

How about sharing about one of the schools we visited?

We went to visit Te Kowhai School with an amazing principal, Tony Grey. His school is one of the leading schools in New Zealand. Tony has moved toward the ILEs, innovative learning environments. It is where the students are not sitting in rows. They are in large spaces and are all doing different things depending on what they have chosen as their goal for the time. He has a lot of support from his community that he’s had to build up over the years. It is a long process to gain the confidence of parents because they want their children to be taught the way they were taught and that’s what made them successful. You have to educate parents and community about what the future might look like, and, therefore, how we can make sure our students are prepared for their futures.

In Te Kowhai, they have large, open spaces. We watched some students when they had several relief teachers and the students were going about their work because that is what they are used to. Their teachers do not tell them what and when to do something. They could talk about their learning. I remember you stuck yourself in one of the side rooms with a group of kids working on their passion projects. They were so excited telling you about what they were learning about that we couldn’t get you to leave.

Cynthia Sistek-Chandler and I also visited your school in Ruapehu.  

Ruapehu College has received much support from the local Maori tribe. They put a lot of money into a learning hub which the community comes into as well. The image at the right shows the work they did to develop a business strategy for the community (Te Pae Tata) for all Ruapehu learners, creators, and leaders.

They are free to develop their own passion projects around digital technologies. So they are doing some coding and robots. The digital technology teacher, Kawana, came up with innovative ways for kids to be curious and creative. He has the kids take apart devices and put them back together again, come up with new ways to use old technology or apps and to write reviews for programs. His energy and passion were exciting and it was an honor to be there and watch how he encouraged kids to think and talk about their thinking.

What’s next for you and how can we get together again?

At the moment, I am working with the ministry in Wellington every month change and enablement committee for the new digital technology curriculum. They are looking at coding, computational thinking, and robotics. Being able to bring out into the education system so every teacher has the capability to use coding or computational thinking in their teaching and learning with their students. We are getting that ready to use at the beginning of 2018.

Now that the ministry has focused on COLs (Communities of Learners) where schools are grouped to support each other, my team is looking at strategies to support individual schools with the new digital technology curriculum. There is one more recent development from COOLs Communities of Online Learners provides opportunities for schools to develop their own COOLs.

We had some interesting adventures including a trip to Hobbiton, so we had to include a picture of the three of us.

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Leigh Hynes is from Taupo, New Zealand. She has been employed by the University of Waikato as a Digital Fluency Facilitator since 2013, and her role is working in schools to build capability in using digital technologies.  Her long background in secondary school teaching and leadership have led to a commitment to enhance learning using digital technologies. She was awarded a 10-week sabbatical in 2012 to investigate the use of e-portfolios in schools, achieved a Graduate Diploma of Information Technology for Educators with Distinction in 2014 and became an authorized Google Education Trainer, August 2014. Her journey continues with strong interests in flipped learning and using tools which promote connectedness, collaboration, and creativity.  She is currently working with the Ministry of Education Change and Enablement Committee as New Zealand introduces their new digital technologies curriculum.

Blog: Hynessight http://royalhynesight.blogspot.co.nz
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LeighHynes
Twitter: @leighhynes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leigh.hynes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leigh-hynes-79950b44/

Here’s a video Leigh shared with a Maori song along with the translation: