拥抱的灵活性

Katie Thul ’23 MAEd, ’25 MSEd knew that pursuing her master's degree online would provide her the flexibility needed to learn how to be the best possible leader and teacher for her school district.

当凯蒂被任命为专业学习社区协调员时，她将领导六名同事。 She wanted to learn how to do this effectively, which led her to 皇冠体育’s 教育学硕士学位.

凯蒂希望获得学位能帮助她实现自己的目标，选择仁慈山来帮助她实现梦想是显而易见的。

“As a teacher, the ability to move up in pay and roles with a master’s was a big push for me to do it,” said Katie. “我选择Mount Mercy是因为我的一些参加过这个项目的朋友都很喜欢他们的教授和课程。”

攻读教师领导硕士学位让她有信心尽自己最大的努力维护自己的职位。

“This degree has helped me be a better PLC Coordinator by learning about different leadership styles and censoring data,” said Katie.

除了培养自己的领导能力，凯蒂还想成为一名更好的老师。 COVID-19 hit during Katie’s final year in her undergraduate program, which interrupted her ability to student teach. 没有事先运用技能就跳到教学岗位上是很困难的； her master’s allowed her to build on her skills.

“The main thing I hoped to accomplish by receiving this master's degree was learning how to be
a better teacher for myself and my students,” said Katie.

Katie loved receiving her first master’s from Mount Mercy, so she returned for a second round to participate in the new 教育学硕士学位 because she wanted to go into administration. 该项目在课程中内置了PreK-12校长的认可。

Being able to pursue her degrees in a compact five- and ten-week online course made it so that Katie didn’t have to sacrifice any of her priorities.

在线学习让凯蒂能够继续在点舞蹈学校教书，为马里昂大学的舞会当教练，在弗朗西斯马里昂中级学校教书，做志愿者，做保姆。

“Having class online made balancing all my commitments so much easier,” said Katie. “The flexibility part has been a huge benefit for me.”

她的课程设置使她能够根据自己的时间表工作，更好地管理自己的时间。 她喜欢按照自己的节奏工作，同时对截止日期有一些软指导。

Although it can be hard to create connections online, Katie and her classmates had no problems
bonding.

“My classmates and I pushed to form relationships outside of seeing each other virtually,” said Katie. “Right away, we created group chats and hangouts to help us connect and feel like a part of a community.”

有意识地努力建立这些联系使她的友谊变得更有意义和特别。 凯蒂现在和她在网上认识的人成了最好的朋友。

“I couldn’t imagine my life without the classmates I connected with online,” said Katie.

凯蒂不仅与班上的其他人建立了联系，而且与她的教授建立了重要的关系。 Katie had a positive experience with 黎明Behan and Nick Duffy.

“Dawn was a people person who cared about my life outside of the program, and she was always willing to adjust our meeting times to fit it into my schedule,” said Katie.

“They both have made a big impact on me outside of the program and have stuck with me beyond my classes,” said Katie.