Write a proposed flight path during ETEC 565A. Tell us a bit about yourself, your experience, and your goals for this course (or, perhaps, the MET). Explain what you want to learn about Learning Management Systems (LMS), assessment, social software, and multimedia. Give your best estimate about what resources you would need to master these technologies as a novice professional. Be sure to cite relevant literature to support your decision. Be as specific as you can, even at this early stage: you won’t be penalized for your priorities evolving as the course proceeds. But you might not get the full benefit of ETEC 565A if you start out with too general an idea of your aspirations.
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A long time ago, after completing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, I took my first career job with an educational publisher. At that time in my life, I was not too thrilled with the travel of the job and was trying to figure out what to do next. I was interested in technology and adult education as I was traveling around too many provinces visiting secondary and post-secondary schools. I thought the future in technology education was bright and that I should get involved. Also, it didn’t hurt that my soon-to-be wife was completing her Education degree and both my brother and sister-in-law were teachers. I took the plunge and completed a second degree in Education. I started my career teaching evenings and weekends in Continuing Ed programs while I completed my degree. I took classes day and night and summers to complete this in just over two years. A few term jobs came after that but the five year turn….they’ll be plenty of jobs in five years…that was mentioned in the Faculty of Ed didn’t seem to be happening. Someone I went to school with was teaching computer classes so I jumped at a chance to do this. That company was actually bought by IBM so that turned out to be a life changing experience. In my 20+ year career at this point, I’ve taught in the public school system worked in the private sector, done IT training, been an Instructional Designer, Curriculum Developer, E-Learning Web Developer/Designer, Project Manager, Team Leader and Manager and I’m currently working on a project for a student information system implementation. It’s been one helluva ride!
Why the MET program? When I was completing my Ed degree I received a canned letter from the faculty about qualifying for a Masters program. I talked to a few of professors and the consensus was yes, you could do this now or wait and get some valuable experience, which would only be beneficial. I had made obtaining my Masters a professional and personal goal way back then. Well, almost 20 years went by and, with work and family, I hadn’t started. MET has been great as I can complete this program on my schedule. Absolutely a lot of work but this will certainly be worth it in the end. I’ve always tried to stay career flexible so who knows what the future may bring. The learning here has been invaluable.
I have worked with a few LMSs including Moodle many moons ago 😉 Access to the technology and hard work are the recipe to success for learning and working with LMSs. I look forward to learning more about designing, authoring, and administering LMSs. As well, I look forward to the input of others during course as we all learn together in our professional learning community. I have been involved in new technology reviews and have used these items, which certainly came to mind when reading Bates and Poole (2003) and Chickering and Ehrmann (1996), when considered these.
What is the cost to use? Are there barriers for students such as physical access, cognitive, vision, or communication issues? Does the technology support educational goals? How easy is the technology to use for students and teachers? Can it be used in a variety of environments? Can it be integrated into the classroom setting? What t types of supports will be required for curriculum, programming, set-up? How much ongoing support will be required? Does this technology afford students with special needs the ability to interact with their typical peers in ways that weren’t possible without the technology? How will the student use the technology to interact with content and show their learning? Does the implementation of the technology fit within the current policy and procedures for this in our organization (district, division, etc.)? Is this a technological fad? Is there technological infrastructure to support this technology? Is a project plan required to design, develop, implement, and evaluate this technology? I would like to learn more about some of the other methods that can be used to evaluate learning technologies.
As I mentioned this previously on this page, I will wrap up with my family. My wife has taught for over twenty years in a variety of elementary settings. She is now focused on Resource and was the Early Years Math specialist in her division, as they are referred to here in Manitoba. I also have a 15 year old, football playing son and three year old dog that still acts like a puppy some days (sigh ;).
References:
Bates A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In A.W. Bates & G. Poole, Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education (pp. 75-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6.