Synthesis
My experience in ETEC 565 was nothing short of a journey. When I first enrolled in the course, I had acquired academic writing skills, research skills, and critical-reasoning abilities from my five previous MET courses and felt prepared for the challenges entailed in this course. As the course began, however, I soon realized that I was lacking in a number of the hands-on skills and understandings necessary for the practical development of e-learning activities. I knew that I would have to undergo a sharp learning curve in order to succeed in meeting the course objectives.
My initial flight path was a reflection of my skills and know-how at the beginning of the course and what skills I wanted to master by taking this course. Prior to the course, I incorporated technology into my teaching practices in only a few ways. The following list is a condensed version my technology related experiences in the classroom:
* I teach with PowerPoints and DVD/CDs
* I maintain a course website
* I communicate by e-mail
My goals by the end of the course were to complete the following:
*To design an e-portfolio and a personal or professional blog
*To design speaking and listening activities
*To better understand the in’s and out’s of student multimedia presentations
*To develop and online module in Moodle
*To communicate with my classmates in online forums
An additional goal I had over the summer was:
*To enroll in technology-related professional development courses in my school district
Over the course of the summer, I completed or exceeded several of these goals. I completed a course in my school district on how to use FirstClass, which supports online course development. Furthermore, I created three online modules in Moodle and communicated with my classrooms in online forums. In relation to creating speaking and listening activities, I ended up focusing more on reading and writing activities. I actually find reading and writing activities be more challenging for me to develop, so I was proud that my goal and priorities had shifted. I developed discussion forums, wikis, a media presentation, comic strips, and practice reading quizzes, which I had never envisioned prior to enrolling in this course. I also plan to start writing a personal blog in French when I return from my summer travels.
The e-Learning Toolkit was essential in terms of my skills development. Each activity that I completed brought me one step closer to understanding of various functions and uses of e-learning tools. In addition, the process helped me to develop a vision of how the new skills I gained could help my students in the coming academic year. On a critical-thinking level, I learned how to carefully plan for and select different technology tools, reflect on student learning affordances, and trouble shoot possible problems. On a practical level, I learned how to create a DVD, understand and use HTML code, embed photos into a webpage, understand and use wikis and blogs, adjust e-learning resources for student with special learning needs, and develop activities on Moodle with ease. The toolkit activities gave the hands-on experiences and understanding of practical applications that I had been lacking previously in my MET education.
My biggest break-through in the course was that the processes involved in designing, selecting, and applying the various toolkit activities, discussion forums, and course projects forced me to develop practical uses for all the learning technologies that we had been using in a way that made sense to me. In particular, the development of my Moodle was critical in tying together all of my learning experiences and creating a series of “ah ha” moments. I learned how to integrate various e-learning tools, including wikis, media presentations, discussion boards, online quizzes, WebQuests, and Web 2.0 technologies, into a student-centered course that I had created, so I understood the actual implications of the activities in relation to student learning.
In many ways, I would contend that this course shifted the direction I see myself pursuing in regards to e-learning activities. Prior to course, I viewed myself simply as an implementer of e-learning technologies. In other words, I saw myself as someone using some of the learning tools for fun or to get my students into a computer lab. Now I see myself as an innovator and leader in designing, selecting, and applying e-learning tools in instruction. That is, I see myself as someone that can design technology-based activities and entire modules that maximize learning opportunities for all my students. I can not only cater activities towards students that need additional support, but I can also create extension activities to assist students go beyond the textbook curriculum. I now have the confidence to be able to accomplish my new goals because I have a solid understanding of how the different e-learning tools work; I have a vision of how they can fit together to create new learning affordances for my students; and I have the skills necessary to be able to implement my vision. In particular, I see myself creating online modules on my school’s FirstClass server using wikis, discussion boards, media presentations, comic strip reading comprehension activities, partner games, WebQuests, etc. Not by coincidence, I am headed to Quebec after submitting this synthesis reflection with a digital camera in hand in order to create videos of me interacting in various situations with native French-speakers. I plan to design future learning activities for my students using these videos. Before taking this course, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to take video footage yet alone transform the footage into learning activities.
On a final note, I not only envision myself now as an educator, but also as a collaborator and a leader in the field of technology-assisted language learning both in my school and in a global context. FirstClass and e-learning technologies are still new to my district, and I plan on being a resource for others as I develop my new e-learning activities. I also plan on encouraging other teachers to try implementing new technology-based ideas into the lessons and share their resources as they develop them. Furthermore, I see myself searching out and sharing other ideas with other educational technologists by reading and responding to blogs and wikis. Overall, I would contend that while the chapter of my ETEC 565 experience is coming to an end, my journey with selecting, designing, and applying various e-learning technologies into my instruction is just beginning.
