Reflection Letter

January 15, 2026

The faster the world changes around us, the quicker on the uptake we must be as educators.  It’s no longer merely advantageous, but crucial, to be an innovator and a lifelong learner.  Working towards the M.Ed. of Educational Technology at UTRGV has empowered me to build on the skills and experiences of twenty years of classroom teaching by assembling an updated toolkit of best practices in learning science, learner-centered instructional design, multimedia and interactive content creation, and industry-standard authoring tools.

 

As I finish up the master’s degree and embedded certificates in E-Learning, Online Instructional Design, and Technology Leadership in Education, I am especially interested in customer- and patient-facing education roles within technology, SaaS, and healthcare organizations.  These contexts require learning experiences that are not only clear and efficient, but also empathetic – designed for adults who may be navigating unfamiliar systems, high-stakes decisions, or moments of stress.  My background in K–12 education has grounded me in learner-centered design, where understanding cognitive load, emotional context, and accessibility is essential, and those same principles transfer directly to adult education in customer and patient settings.  Through my graduate work, I have learned to pair that empathy with UX-informed instructional design, multimedia development, and performance-focused outcomes, creating learning experiences that support understanding, confidence, and informed action.  I am motivated by roles where instructional design serves as a bridge between complex information and real human needs, helping organizations communicate more clearly while empowering the people they serve.

 

[Draft in progress.  Will add:

• Lessons learned from each course and application to future roles;
• Other relevant experiences in the program;
• Next steps/ how I will use the new knowledge and skills in the future.

Expectation is 1,500 words.]

 

C. R. Richard