To date, most of my experience with learning technology has been as a formal distance learning student, so the digital citizenship side also resonates in terms of participating in online student cohorts, group projects and discussion groups. I must say though that there appears to be a wide range of approaches to participating in online learning environments (some more obnoxious than others) and I would be interested in learning more about how people in this class have or would established guidelines for participation.
What concerns me most however is perhaps the pace at which technology and learning tools are being developed. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious about my ability to keep up in terms of professional growth and leadership in this field. In order to assuage these feelings, one of my personal goals for this class is to find an online community through which I can tune into new developments & programs on the horizon and decide if they are right for my program. Right now I’m feeling like I’m the last one getting in the game and I prefer to be the captain.
But, to backtrack to the very beginning (which is usually where you need to start), I expect to spend most of my time during this class developing my fundamental skill set in this area; specifically designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessment. Most of the tools that we are using in this class are new to me as an instructor so that is where I hope to foster some expertise by December. But as I mentioned above, what I am most interested in learning to create engaging and inspiring learning environments that translate information and skills into changed behaviour. There is a certain benefit to participating in person, especially in a practical sense and I’m looking for a technology that will help breathe real-life into my digital teaching.
