Tell us a bit about yourself, your experience, and your goals for this course (or, perhaps, the MET, as a whole).

• My name is Bobby Han and I am currently a highschool music teacher in British Columbia. My music curriculum involves the use of Microsoft Teams as my LMS due to the district restrictions. Many of my assessment tools and content is self-directed through Teams. I went into the MET program wanting to expand my understanding and comfortability of utilizing the positives of educational technologies within my classroom. Having a change in policy with my district, the options to implement personalized LMS’s have been enable and one of my goals in this course is to take in the full learning opportunity to be hands on with various theoretical frameworks to assist educators in evaluating, selecting and using various learning technologies

• One goal for the MET program as a whole is to diversify my understanding of various pedagogical theories and connect those theories with my teaching practice in the field of music education. My current curriculum is lacking the use of technologies and through this MET program I have begun experimenting in my classes with the valuable resources of educational technologies.  I feel that there are many discoveries to be made with technology in music education and I am excited to continue learning through this MET program on theory and application of those educational technologies. Understanding the design and selection for a non-academic subject can bring new topics to the discussion table and I am excited to strengthen my understanding alongside my colleagues in this course.

Explain what you want to learn about learning environments, creating engaging and exciting content with rich media, meaningful assessment strategies, social software, and more.

• An area of learning environments that I want to explore is the digital learning environment that can be cultivated on top of the physical learning space. The social aspect can diversify one’s learning opportunity. The online space feels more comfortable for the next generation of learners through my perspective but I want to dive in on this topic to deepen or adjust my understanding on this topic. 

• Additionally, I am open to learning about other related topics that can improve the overall learning experience. This may include personalized learning approaches, adaptive learning technologies, gamification, learning analytics, and any emerging trends or technologies that can optimize the educational process through educational technologies. 

We would like you to reflect upon how you might inform your own learning goals in this course, in light of the competencies listed in the standards, the principles and the view on faculty in the 21st century. 

• The course description and the learning objectives in ETEC 524 provides a clear roadmap to achieving my own learning goals. With an engaging class, my own learning goals can also be further developed through them. Active engagement as well as collaboration through discussion and assignments can often enhance my understanding and retention of pedagogy.

How can ETEC 524 help you become a digital-age teaching professional? 

• ETEC 524 is a course where one can implement their understanding of educational theories into practice through technological educational tools. ETEC 524 focuses on design and application rather than theory. These focuses can be a starting point in my understanding of digital literacy for support and utilizing the technological advancements in my classroom.
• ETEC 524 can also exchange my digital literacy. The knowledge gained through this course can support my navigation of the digital landscape with confidence and effectively incorporate technology into their teaching practices.
•  An area that I want to develop in is digital citizenship during the development and implementation of learning technologies in my classroom. I believe that it is critical for educators to teach students about digital citizenship and online safety. ETEC 523 can equip myself with the knowledge and resources to address these important topics. Topics that we can dive into together as a classroom off the top of my head include ethical online behavior, digital footprints, online privacy, and strategies for promoting safe and responsible technology use among students.

What are the key skills and approaches that you feel you need to develop to meet your goals.

• A few key approaches to find the relation between general concepts with my unique practice of music education. The classroom of a music room is quite different to a stand academic class and requires unique spins on learning devices and pedagogical tools to fully utilize all its capabilities. 
• Another key approach is the discussion with my classmates. To bounce ideas amongst fellow educators from all different fields and practices is an unique opportunity that I will try to capitalize on. The fruitful conversations will develop the key skills in understanding the selection, design and implementation of learning technologies.

Look at the course schedule and the range of topics we’ll be exploring together and think about what areas are most important to your own goals in becoming a digital-age teaching professional.

• A few topics that are critical to myself in my learning goals are multimodalities and social media during the design of learning. I believe social media and multimodalities can be synchronized in one’s learning.  I also believe the unit on mobile technologies relates to my goals. I want to explore a learning environment that syncs both the digital and physical classroom and these topics can support my curiosity in their area. 

Estimate what resources you might need to master these technologies as a novice professional.

• A few resources that I may need to utilize to master these technologies include the online resources and readings to support my understanding of these technologies. 
• With some modules, there will be hands-on interaction that can be valuable experience in deepening my understanding.
• As well, during the critiques of design and development of our own design, there will be unique opportunities to master new educational technologies as a novice professional. 

A few resources I will look into to develop my goals.

Brennan, K. & Resnick, M. (2013). Imagining, creating, playing, sharing, reflecting: How online community supports young people as designers of interactive media. In C. Mouza & N. C. Lavigne (Eds.), Emerging technologies for the classroom: A learning sciences perspective (pp. 253-269).

Davies, R.S. Understanding Technology Literacy: A Framework for Evaluating Educational Technology Integration. TECHTRENDS TECH TRENDS 55, 45–52 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-011-0527-3

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2017). Standards for teachers.