Based on my key intrapersonal learning from this program, it should be no surprise that the most important content that I have learned has come from the Research Methods (RMTD 400) and Curriculum Development (ELPS 430) course. RMTD 400 is one of the core courses for our program. I initially dreaded this course - I had a negative perception of research due to the ‘publish or perish’ stigma associated with academia. Instead, I became enamored with the process of asking challenging questions and the different techniques that could be used to answer those questions. As such, RMTD 400 taught me how to be a critical consumer of scholarly literature.  From this course I was better able to critique published scholarly literature and figure out how I could either ask further questions from their findings or incorporate that information into my work. In addition to these skills, I developed my abilities in asking practical research questions and using different methodologies in order to address those questions. In addition to RMTD 400, the knowledge I gained from ELPS 430 is some of the most important things that I have learned during the program. I think the key content I learned from this course is how to create intentional and high impact learning experiences for the students I work with. More specifically, I learned about intentionality by discussing how I can link learning outcomes, assessment strategies, and learning activities together. Furthermore, I learned about different types of significant learning - including incorporating personal experience to the content being discussed - and how these can be fused with practical experiences.

Overall, the content that I learned in these two classes are some of the most important things that I have learned in the program. I recognize that I learned many other significant things - from leadership and student development theories to being able to apply a critical lens - however, I think that these two courses provided me the skills to practically use this other knowledge. For example, from RMTD 400 I was able to start articulating questions that I had about the student development theories that we learned that I could realistically try to answer. With ELPS 430, I learned how I could create practical learning experiences while using the various leadership theories that I had encountered. For me, these two classes were key in making the connection between theory and practice.