Adventures in MET Land

Final Synthesis Reflection

Precis of Flight Path

Three months ago I wrote my very first weblog post about my perceived flight path through ETEC 565. The post described who I was, and my goals in this course. I would like to take this time to reintroduced myself. My name is Dale Addis and I have been teaching for five years. The first two years were spent teaching the B.C. senior Chemistry curriculum in China. Three years ago I moved back to Canada and have since been teaching in a West Vancouver High School. Currently, two of my teaching assignment courses are science eight and nine computer immersion (CI). Students use laptops in the classroom, and as the teacher, I am expected to enhance their learning experience with technology.

I outlined my ETEC 565 course goals in my flight path, based on the district’s new Learning Management System (LMS) system. They were as follow:

1. Learn how to effectively use the district’s LMS wiki and blog features within my courses.
2. Learn how to create wiki/blog assignments that will allow students to illustrate mathematical procedures.
3. Learn how to assess student work within wiki and blog environments.

Having completed ETEC 565 I realized that my goals were very narrow. I now realize that there are many issues to consider when dealing with various forms of educational technology. In hindsight, I should have set different goals. However, I find I have achieved my original (narrow) goals through participation in ETEC 565 readings, activities, toolkit activities, and learning modules. For example, in my mock Chemistry 11 Moodle course I have created an assignment where students will use wikis as group collaboration space to create a lesson about a specific topic. Moreover, from participating within this e-portfolio I obtained insight in how to use blogs for class assignments; thus, I created LMS assignments where students would write lab reports within a blog. From creating these assignments, I realized that assessing student abilities within these spaces is no different from assessing paper-based assignments. Marking criteria and expectations must be made clear in either media. Peer evaluation is possible through the LMS quiz feature, or instructor copying and pasting work from wikis or blogs to a word document. A Tablet PC can then be used to mark the assignments to provide quick, written feedback to students. I will now be able to use my district’s LMS wiki and blog features to enhance students learning, and to help them succeed in my courses.

Reflections of Toolkit Experience

The ETEC 565 learning modules indicated that toolkit activities were designed to develop skill sets for the creation of educational technology, and to help ETEC 565 students construct professional e-portfolios (Egan, 2009). Well, I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive when I first looked at the list of toolkit activities. I believed that I had a good understanding of the concepts.

Having completed all but one toolkit activity (digital video) and corresponding reflections I am glad that I had the opportunity to do these activities.  I enjoyed the informative sections and scaffolded activities outlined within each toolkit. The informational sections allowed me to obtain an excellent comprehension of each topic. The embedded activities enabled me to apply knowledge. Reflections allowed me to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate my understanding.

I have learned new skills from participating within the toolkit activities. With the most significant learning occurring by participating in web design and html authoring, social software, audio, accessibility, and LMS toolkits.

The web design and html authoring toolkit highlighted my webpage errors. I never previously knew about ALT text and CSS, so I have since altered my web design practices to include ALT text. I have taken this skill and applied it toward my LMS.

The analysis of social software terms of service (TOS) and privacy policies were eye-openers. Many people believe that the tools required to do the same functions of LMS’s can be piecemealed together with the use of free social software tools. Looking at the (TOS) and privacy policies, I concluded that user material is owned by the user. However, you grant the software provider license to do what they wish with the content for marketing purposes. Essentially, the companies use the content as their own. I am not comfortable having students publish content that can be altered and redistributed by the social software provider. I believe that an LMS is a better option to host student’s digital work.

The auditory toolkit introduced me to Audacity, an open source audio recording program. From dabbling with the program I realize there are many software applications that can be integrated into an LMS to enhance the success of all types of learners.

The accessibility toolkit showed me the importance of making online environments accessible to all needs. I learnt that my e-learning environments are not accessible to all learners needs. I will have to spend time in the future learning how to alter my sites to make them more accessible.

The rudimentary LMS lesson gave me the skill platform and confidence necessary to tackle the LMS project. Without this activity it would have taken me a lot longer to learn and feel confident in manipulating a Moodle based learning environment.

I believe the toolkit activities were designed primarily to tutor ETEC 565 students on the creation of an LMS and LMS- based artifacts that will give their students the ability to be successful within an e-learning situation. Experimenting with Moodle and designing a mock LMS-based course is the greatest skill I have acquired in this course. I feel that I have a new understanding of what an e-learning environment requires to allow students to become successful.

Applying SECTIONS Model to Self-Assess Portfolio

I have, upon completion of the course, created many artifacts that are showcased within my ETEC 565 e-portfolio. Technology is ever-changing and no two technological applications are alike. To be able to select appropriate educational technology a framework must be applied. Bates and Pool’s (2003) SECTIONS framework for the selection of effective teaching technology is a framework that allows people to make informed decisions for the selection of such education technology. I will analyze my portfolio, as an example, to illustrate application of the SECTIONS framework.

SECTIONS refers to:

S is for Students

E is for Ease of use

C is for Cost

T is for Teaching and Learning

I is for Interaction and Interactivity

O is for Organizational Issues

N is for Novelty

S is for Speed

Students

I believe instructors had students in mind when they decided to use WordPress as the basis for the ETEC 565 e-portfolio. When selecting educational technology, it is important for decision makers to consider student demographics. All of the students participating within ETEC 565 are e-learning students, making the use of technology for the representation of a portfolio a natural fit. All the students have access to the internet and to computers. As this is a technology Masters program, all students have shown interest in using technology in the classroom. Thus, all students have a general technology background that would allow them to use WordPress as a portfolio tool.

The artifacts created within the portfolio were not made for student use. However, they were intended to describe selection and items created for high school use. For example, communication, LMS multimedia inventory, and the LMS e-portfolio items were all created to describe or propose the use of different items for high school student use.

Ease of use

The e-portfolio platform WordPress is relatively easy to use. Navigation of the system is logical. University of British Columbia (UBC) Masters of Educational Technology (MET) students were able to learn about and manipulate the system for their specific needs within 20 minute (a requirement suggested by Bates and Pool’s (2003) to indicate ease of use). Setting up the e-portfolio was easy and straight forward. Pre-created themes allowed students to select themes that matched their personalities. Adding and editing new blog posts and e-portfolio pages was straight forward.

From my experience with WordPress, I can surmise that high school students would find the use of the system easy. They would find the e-portolio process to be simple to follow. The usual paper-based submissions are replaced by copying and pasting work to a blog post. Some students may actually prefer this electronic method as they can dynamically and immediately submit their completed work.

Cost

Use of the e-portfolio was expensive. The monitory cost of the WordPress program, hosting and maintenance is not that expensive since WordPress is free. The high cost of the e-portfolio was due to time invested in posting material to the system. A lot of time was wasted trying to reformat original material from MS word into a blog post.  At times, format would be pasted seamlessly to the post while, at others it would not. System Word copy and paste features were inconsistent in maintaining a consistent format style. Some paragraphs would maintain and indent introductory sentences while other paragraphs would not. Items listed would sometimes be missing the first few letters of each line. Moreover, at times the time required saving updated posts or make edits to posts was ridiculous. System speed was inconsistent and at times creation or edits of posts was not possible, increasing time costs and overall frustration.

If I were to use WordPress for high school students’ e-portfolios, I would require the speed issues be fixed. The students would quickly tire and frustrate with the time costs involved with artifacts.

Teaching and Learning

The e-portfolio concept is an excellent teaching and learning tool. The ETEC 565 instructor enhanced his range of teaching by having MET students create e-portfolio assignments and reflective posts. Keeping a reflective journal allowed me to better understand content. Moreover, keeping all assignments and reflections in one organized place made it easier to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate past posts.

The community based e-portfolio allowed MET students to learn from each other. An aggregated RSS feed of MET students within each section was created. Students had the ability to, and were encouraged to look at, each other’s e-portfolio submissions. They were able to learn different methods for tackling the same issues/assignments.

My personal e-portfolio can be used as both a teaching and a learning tool. I intend to direct interested colleagues to it to examine its aspects, hopefully to learn from it. I also plan on using it to model how to create e-portfolios to future students.

Interaction and Interactivity

My e-portfolio is an excellent example of how students can actually interact with course content. Knowledge building is indicated in each assignment/blog post. Wang and Woo (2003) indicated that blogs are excellent tools for student reflection that allows them to make meaningful connections with their learning. My e-portfolio illustrates just that.

My e-portfolio will allow future interaction between content and users. By showing colleagues my portfolio, they will be able to form a relationship with the knowledge contained. For further interaction these individuals may decide to leave questions/comments others might address.

Organization

The e-portfolio is an excellent tool to help keep all assignments organized and in a single location. WordPress makes it easy to create and locate individual portfolio artifact pages. Further organization occurs with the use of post categories and tags. These features allow users to quickly navigate the learning environment to find all posts pertaining to a specific concept. I will use my e-portfolio to model e-portfolio organization to future high school students.

Novelty

Blogs and portfolio concepts used for educational purposes have been around for many years. I believe the concept of a blog-based e-portfolio will become mainstream within many learning environments and will be more than just a novelty. I will use my e-portfolio as a basis (a guide) in creating student assignments centered on the e-portfolio concepts. Students will see value in being able to keep all of their work within a single location that they could use to show others. As for me, I do believe the use of blogs for my personal reflection is a novelty idea. I do not see myself creating a personal blog.

Speed

The creation my e-portfolio was very slow. This was not due to the time required to produce the artifacts, as this was expected, but due to UBC’s WordPress application. A lot of time was spent to upload and re-format posts. At times posts were delayed until later times because of long delays in the loading of web pages.

Analysis of the e-portfolio processes with Bates and Pool’s (2003) SECTIONS framework showed many advantages, and many disadvantages, of using WordPress as the e-portfolio platform. Overall, the benefits of using WordPress outweighed the negatives. It was also evident that the SECTIONS framework supports the use of e-portfolios within educational environments.

My Next Steps in Practicing  Education Technology

I have decided to use Bates and Pool’s (2003) Sections framework, Chickering and Zelda’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good practice, and the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (2008) to guide my future steps in the use of educational technology. I recap them below:

Chickering and Zelda’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good practice

1. Encourage contacts between students and faculty.
2. Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students.
3. Use active learning techniques.
4. Give prompt feedback.
5. Emphasize time on task.
6. Communicate high expectations.
7. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.

National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (2008)

1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
2. Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments.
3. Model digital-age work and learning.
4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership.

Based on the above principals and standards I hope to accomplish the following:

1. Use Bates and Pool’s (2003) SECTIONS framework to analyze future educational technology to be used within my classes to support/enhance student learning.
2. Create an online learning environment with the use of our districts LMS to support my face-to-face classes that will support the growth of students’ understanding in course content.
3. Increase my leadership role within my school to educate fellow teachers how to us educational technology to enhance their learning environments.

Prior to my District’s budget cuts, I was given the opportunity to purchase software that I felt would be beneficial to enhance student learning. However, I dragged my heels in deciding and I lost the chance due to the cuts. I believe that if I have had a good grasp of Bates and Pool’s (2003) SECTIONS framework, I would have made an educated decision in a timely fashion to have purchased software applications. If I am given future opportunities to buy such software, I will apply the SECTION framework for immediate evaluation/decisions.

Over the past few years I have used static websites to enhance student learning in my courses. Students have found the websites useful resources. However, with my district’s move to an LMS this past year, I plan on creating online learning environments, to support my face-to-face classes, that will allow me to set up educational situations that follow Chickering and Zelda’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good practice. For example, I plan on increasing student-student and student-teacher communication via discussion boards and email communication. Assignments centered on the LMS’s wiki spaces, blogs, and system future quiz features, will allow students to work together, keep a laboratory report blog, and fill out peer evaluation quizzes to mark each other’s work. Student ownership of work will occur when they realize their work will be visible to the rest of the class. In creating this face-to-face supported learning environment, I will follow the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (2003) guidelines.

My final goal is to increase my leadership role within my school. This past year I was given the opportunity to use the district’s new LMS to support student learning and I have aided administrated in showcasing the LMS to the remainder of the staff. However, I did not take full advantage of the system’s features, since I lacked the knowledge and understanding to do so. With the new school year approaching, my colleagues will have full access to the LMS. I believe that ETEC565 has given me the knowledge and understanding to instruct fellow teachers on methods and benefits of using an LMS. In turn this should support already superb learning environments, and ensure student success.

References:

Bates and Poole. (2003) A framework for selecting and using technology.   In Effective Teaching with Technology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pages 75 – 105.

Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven principals for good practice in undergraduate educztion. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin. , 39 (7), 3 – 7.

Egan, J. (2009, July). Learning objectives, schedual, activities, assignments, and discussions. Retrieved July 25, 2009, from ETEC 565A-Learning technologies selection: design and application: https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/lc5116011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (Nets). (2008). Retrieved May 4, 2009, from
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

Wang, Q., & Woo, H. (2008, September 1). The affordances of weblogs and discussion forums for learning: A comparative analysis. Educational Technology Magazine: The Magazine for Managers of Change in Education, 48(5), 34-38. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ807450) Retrieved June 16, 2009, from ERIC database.