Final e-Portfolio Synthesis
The last 13 weeks have taught me some valuable lessons about building an online learning environment. In the past, I have used my teacher website strictly for a way for students to access course content from the comfort of their own homes. This course has opened my mind to the endless possibilities of activities, media, lessons, and assessments available in the web 2.0 world.
First of all, this course has shown me that one should never haphazardly jump into using any new type of technology, without first carefully assessing the framework in which it is to be used. Throughout the readings and activities in this course, the common theme was about making careful informed decisions. Decisions as to which type of LMS to choose, which types of tools to utilize, should not be made lightly.
My Flight Path (Revisited)
13 weeks ago, I had a vague notion of what to expect from this course. As a result I created a ‘wish list’ in my original flight path that I hoped to achieve in this course. My first goal was to become more proficient and knowledgeable with the use of learning management systems such as Moodle and Web CT. I wanted to learn how to effectively use a LMS to support the learning and safety of my students. After, constructing my Moodle practice site, and playing with all the features that this LMS had to offer, I now feel confident and prepared to incorporate Moodle into my classes. I had the opportunity to create a splash page, set up content pages, create discussion forums, chat rooms, wikis, online assignments, and guided lessons. The potential of an LMS for creating a dynamic learning environment is above and beyond my initial expectations.
My second goal was to learn how to use technology, to efficiently and effectively assess the learning of my students. I wanted to learn how to construct and utilize online quizzes, and learning assignments to provide both summative and formative assessment for my students. This goal was also realized through the construction of my LMS. I was able to create guided lessons and online assignments, which are automatically graded and provide immediate feedback to the student. In addition, I was able to construct a formal summative assessment within my LMS, in the form of a quiz. The quiz is complete contained with in the LMS, consists of a variety of question formats, is automatically scored and provides feedback to the user. I did find this feature cumbersome to use and would probably not use it unless I had access to test banks of questions that could be imported. The readings and assignments in the ETEC 565 course have allowed me to realize these goals.
Not only were my initial goals achieved, I have also gained valuable knowledge above and beyond my expectations. I now feel confident and prepared to utilize new technology tools in my teaching practice, and attribute this to being exposed to the SECTIONS framework, as proposed by Bates and Poole (2003). I found this framework to be thorough, adaptive and practical, something I will carry with me during my journey as an educator. In addition, I had the opportunity to utilize and gain knowledge in regards to many other useful technology tools I had not seen before. This knowledge can be attributed to the various learning modules, the e-learning toolkit, and the online learning community, that are an integral part of this course.
My e-Learning Toolkit Experience
I enjoyed the activities in the e-learning toolkit. Many of these tools I had never used before. The toolkit provided me a starting point or a place to get my feet wet. This is an essential part of the practical component that is missing in some of my other courses. I found each toolkit component had an excellent mix of theory, examples, guided activities, and resources. This is a valuable part of the course, because it provides that hands-on experience that is needed when learning how to use a new tool. I completed all most all of the toolkit activities provided. In fact, a few times I hoped that there were more. The only toolkit activity I did not complete was the web design and HTML authoring component. I had done some web design previously and opted for a better use of my time.
In speaking with my ETEC 565 community, I know that others found the toolkit activities useful as well. One thing that I would like to see for future generations of MET students is an elaboration of the toolkit activities. As more and more tools are created, there will be a need for the toolkit to grow. I do not like the idea of a participation mark for completing the toolkit activities, as I think that this would be unfair for users with previous knowledge of certain tools. Instead, I think course designers should look into adding an assignment where students contribute to the toolkit. If each ETEC 565 student contributed to learning one new tool or elaborating on a previously included tool, the tool kit would become an even better resource. I hope that I will have access to such a resource when I have completed the MET program to guide me in the future.
My e-Portfolio Self-Assessment
One of the components of the ETEC 565 course is to construct an e-Portfolio in which we can keep track of our learning and reflect upon our experiences. To serve as our e-Portfolio, we were asked to use the UBC WordPress. One of the requirements of this final synthesis is to self-assess this platform using the SECTIONS framework (Bates and Poole, 2003).
Students – Does WordPress meet the needs of its students?
Demographics, access, and differences in student learning, are three key issues that need to be considered when assessing the needs of students (Bates and Poole, 2003). In my opinion, I think that this tool does meet the needs of the MET student. WordPress allows students access from anywhere, allows the user to post and share comments, text, media, with relative ease. It also allows for user customization based on one’s skill set.
Ease of Use – How easy is WordPress to use?
It is important that students and teachers not spend large amounts of time on learning how new technologies work (Bates and Poole, 2003). If large amounts of time are required the technology will be tossed aside for other alternatives. WordPress is not a difficult tool to use. It does not require a lot of knowledge of computer programming and uses a WYSIWYG editor. It also has a user-friendly interface and allows for easy editing. The user can add images, sound, and media with ease. In addition, WordPress has an auto-save function that bailed me out once or twice when my browser crashed. In terms of reliability, technical difficulties and software glitches were minimal. In my opinion, this tool is above average in terms of ease of use and reliability compared to other blogging tools I have used.
Costs – Is WordPress cost effective?
With school districts cutting budgets, resources are becoming a lot scarcer. In this case, you can’t do much better than free. Hosting content is free with WordPress. However, there are costs associated with hosting this technology. The software is free but you need a host server to host your site.
Teaching and Learning – Is WordPress an effective learning tool?
Creating a blog and reflecting on one’s learning, are common constructivist learning practices. These types of activities work to allow students to build their own connections to content, constructing their own meaningful learning. This tool provides a basic template in which users can post to, beyond that, the different configurations are endless. In my opinion, WordPress is an excellent tool for this kind of learning strategy.
Interactivity – Does WordPress promote active learning?
It is not merely enough for learners to read, write, and view, they must also be able to demonstrate their ability to accommodate new information into their existing knowledge base (Bates and Poole, 2003). WordPress does allow for opportunities to interact between student-content, content-content, student-student, and student-teacher, creating a rich environment for learning as described by Anderson (2008). This interaction creates strong sense of community encouraging and facilitating active learning.
Organization – Is WordPress supported by the organization?
Obviously WordPress is supported by UBC for use by their students. UBC hosts their own WordPress platform, UBCBlogs. As adults in a graduate studies program, there are not a lot of organizational issues that require our concern. However, if I were to use this tool in my public school classroom, there may be organizational concerns I would have to consider before moving forward. Because WordPress allows for public posting in the internet, outside of the confines of the organization, I would first need to make sure I had prior approval from my administration and students parents. This is not necessarily an issue with WordPress, but more an issue with any social networking tool that allows for information to be displayed online in the public eye.
Novelty – Is WordPress still novel technology?
Novelty can be a good thing, as motivated users scramble to use the newest cutting edge technology. However, novelty can also be negative, in that the newest technology is often unproven and has not been fully tested, leading to reliability issues (Bates and Poole, 2003). WordPress one of the larger blogging tools available has been around for over five years. It is still recognized as one of the leaders in it genre, and it is committed to improving and upgrading the WordPress platform.
Speed – How fast is WordPress for implementing and updating?
The only negative thing I have to say about WordPress is related to its speed. At peak times of the day, refresh rates are quite slow, and it can take seemingly minutes for pages to load. This is not necessarily an issue with the WordPress tool itself, but most likely an issue with the host UBC server. In addition, if a user were to create their post in the content editor, they would find the editing and formatting painfully slow. This is an inherent problem I have experienced with most WYSIWYG editors. One way to get around this speed issue is to create a post using a word processing tool and then cut and paste into the content editor. As previously mentioned once a post has been published, updating the post is fairly easy.
The Future of Educational Technology in My Teaching
So what future role will educational technology play in my teaching practices? Currently, I teach middle school math and science. After completing this course, I plan on supplementing much of what I learned in ETEC 565 into my regular classroom. I plan on creating a blended course, with the all benefits of face-to-face interaction plus many of the technological tools we have experienced in this course. I am hoping to have my Moodle LMS ready to use in this upcoming school year. At first I plan to use the LMS for asynchronous communication to supplement the face-to-face time in class. I also plan on incorporating a few media based projects into my course through my Moodle LMS. For example, I plan to use some of the social network tools such as xtimeline.com, Photostory, Moviemaker, Prezi, and others to create some interactive projects for students to construct in my science class, in an effort to get away from my typical content-based lessons. I will also try to get some more experience with the Moodle assessment tools, if I can find some compatible test banks to post practice quizzes and unit reviews on my LMS. In addition to all the things that I plan on incorporating into my teaching, I also feel that there are others that could benefit from my newly acquired skills. As a result, I plan on sharing many of the experiences that I have learned in this course with my colleagues. The school I teach at has an excellent staff that is willing to try new things. In fact, I am conducting a short workshop in September for a group of colleagues on how to use screen capture devices and plan to incorporate some of the technology tools for creating digital stories into my presentation. Looking towards the future, I do not know exactly what it entails. Although I enjoy my current teaching position, perhaps one day will end up teaching at the senior level again, or perhaps a career in administration, or even a career in curriculum design. Whatever path I end up taking, I believe it will be built on the solid foundation of the learning constructed in this course and the MET Program.
References
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University. Accessed online June 15, 2009 from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008_Anderson Online_Learning.pdf
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using
Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
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