ETEC 565A – Learning Technologies Selection: Design and Application
FLIGHTPLAN – Assignment #1
Erin Cardona
September 19th, 2010
The International Society for Technology in Education holds puts forth standards for teaching that specify how, “[teachers should]… use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments” (ISTE, 2008, p.1). To date, most of my experience has been face-to-face and I think it is becoming increasingly more difficult to be a teacher and not feel the pull (maybe the pressure) to augment one’s skill set to include some aspect of that virtual environment. Fortunately, despite many other reasons for expanding my teaching repertoire the primary reason for engaging in the field of education technology and this course in particular is that I find it fascinating, challenging and very relevant to the work I am doing now. It doesn’t seem that all practitioners are as lucky. Nevertheless, in order to get the most out of this course I would like to clearly identify three goals I hope to reach by the end of term. These goals will be shaped around the employment context I will be facing this October.
GOAL NUMBER 1 – Gaining practical skills & experience on one or more Learning Management Systems (LMS)
For the last six years, I have been a trainer and educator within a social service violence prevention program. As part of that position, I have worked with children, youth and adults and have enjoyed learning how to create better learning environments for all of these different audiences. Part of the reason why I pursued a Masters in Adult Education was to enhance my ability to create such environments. However, despite a brief dabbling in webinar design, podcasting and using social software at work and completing 2 years online with Blackboard as a student, I sensed that in order to continue to excel in this area I needed to gain further practical experience in the virtual world as an instructor and designer. I also sensed that in order to be more of an asset to my employer and potential employers in the future I would need to have a better understanding of the time, energy and cost associated with creating and managing a learning site. Hence, my first goal is to gain practical skills and experience on one or more Learning Management Systems and I anticipate that completing a learning site on Moodle will bring me closer to attaining this goal.
GOAL NUMBER 2 – Create a list of LMS, social software and multi-media methods that will benefit the learning environment in my new employment context.
In my current employment/training context, the “O” or Organizational Issues of the “SECTION” framework put forth by Bates & Poole (2003) is a major factor and it significantly affects my abilities to experiment with any new tools in the tech realm. Bates & Poole explain, “…if the institution is not supporting the technology you want to use, you need to make a careful decision as to whether you are prepared to make the substantial effort needed to be an innovator in teaching” (2003, p.103). In my case, both the size and the principles of the organization warrant a painfully slow decision making process in regards to technology. Unfortunately, creativity and innovation often become casualties in this process, which leaves trainers in a difficult position. As such, I recently decided to pursue employment elsewhere. Happily, I am scheduled to begin work with an organization in October that has the financial, technical, and ideological support for developing their education branch in this way. This leads to my second goal: creating a comprehensive list of potential LMS, social software and multi-media methods that will benefit the learning environment in my new employment context. I expect to track this list on my e-portfolio blog and will utilize class discussions and collaborations to accomplish this goal. As a side note, I have already learned about several interesting possibilities though this process such as ‘Google Docs’ and ‘Screen-casting’ and I hope to experiment with these and others when the situation allows.
GOAL NUMBER 3 – Work with two or more frameworks for selecting and using technology in order to practice choosing the best learning mediums for my complex circumstances.
What I know at this point (as I will be starting at the position in 2 weeks) is that I will be working with an audience of mainly males who are all specialists in fields such as gas, electrical engineering, boiler making, elevator/escalator/ski lift repairs & maintenance and many other such industries. One of the main problems is that these practitioners will range in age from 25-75 so one can imagine what this might mean for implementing educational technology. To make matters more complicated, the learners will be hailing from regions both urban and rural from across the entire province of BC, which then highlights issues of access. Consequently, these issues yield sizeable challenges to some of the best practices outlined by Chickering & Gamson (1987) including:
- Encouraging contact between student and teacher
- Developing reciprocity and cooperation amongst students
- Respects diverse talents and ways of learning
In order to best approach this multi-faceted problem I will need complete my final goal, which will be to work with two or more frameworks for selecting and using technology in order to practice choosing the best learning mediums for a given context. I anticipate actively applying the SECTION framework in this process (Bates & Poole, 2003) and will be open to considering the relevance and effectiveness of any other framework to which I become accustomed through this course.
REFERENCES:
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.
Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), 3-7.
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm