Flight Path Précis

My flight path for this course echoed my reason for undertaking this subject of study from the outset. I chose this field of study for my Masters because I knew little about educational technology and wanted to learn more. My learning was for me alone – not to meet any specific professional goals.

My flight path for this course was a journey of discovery. I am a proponent of trying to help other educators understand concepts of teaching and learning embedded in in the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL), a set of principles of education that reflect the shared understandings of the First Peoples of BC, and I wondered if there is a way to integrate educational technology in the schools in ways that could still honour the FPPL. In my perspective the most challenging scenario would involve creating an on-line learning course that also explicitly honours the student’s relationship to place (including their natural environment) and others.

Another question has emerged alongside that original query: is there a way to use technology to create a learning experience for other educators to help them understand how to integrate the FFPL into their classrooms? In many of the workshops I currently facilitate, educators frequently express interest in being able to continue their learning in informal ways with other teachers around the province.

Because experience with distance learning technologies has been limited to this program, my goals were simple: learn what I can about creating a Moodle or Blackboard learning space; gain some hands on experience with more multi-media; and explore the possibility of setting up formal learning experiences via social media.

Reflection on Flight Path

I have had an interesting learning journey through this course which grew more complex as my schedule for my job increased substantially, resulting in me working 6 days a week and being on the road (by plane and automobile) during most weekends and many evenings. This schedule is largely the result of the number of educators in the province seeking to learning more about the FPPL, and how to integrate them into classrooms. It is rather ironic or serendipitous (depending on one’s point of view) that this focus challenged my time in a course where I wanted to explore how to use technology to do that vary thing.

I did accomplish some aspects of my anticipated flight path; I was able to learn the basics of Moodle and begin to design a course that could provide professional development experiences for educators in a way that could also honour the principles the Moodle participants were learning about. However, I did not explore as much as I wanted the possibilities of more effectively harnessing social media for the same purposes, but at least the question has been raised. I believe that creating the right question(s) is as important as looking for the answers.

Overall ETEC 565A Experience

Aside from some challenges with the Moodle, I did learn in the course, and that is my ultimate measure of success. One of the significant pieces of learning that I take from the course can be summed up in the words of Bates and Poole (2003) that “Teachers or educational administrators making decisions about educational technology should have some theoretical model or framework that guides the choice of media and technology. If not, they will be constantly driven by the latest technology development, whether or not they are appropriate” (p.80). I always keep in mind something that is foundational to what I believe about the role of educational technology – technology for the sake of novelty is not innovation. In “Stop Innovating in Schools. Please” Will Richardson (2016) argues that much of our innovation in schools is not directed to improving learning as much as focuses on trying to improve teaching, usually through the use of technology. He maintains that effective education focuses on supporting learning and the desire to learn. This can be achieved with or without additional “innovative” technology. This approach mirrors my philosophy about the use of educational technology – that we should always think carefully about the technology we choose to introduce and use with students. If it does not enhance learning, then I would question shy it would be used. This approach to educational technology has been reflected in some of the ETEC courses I have been a part of so far, and by some of the instructors and students in these courses. However, it has been equally absent in other courses and with other students and instructors who seem to embrace the use of new technologies for the sake of their novelty.

During this course, I encountered examples of things that could be done in e-learning environments that, to me, did not support learning. This served to underscore the need to think critically about how we choose to create e-learning environments and learning experiences for students. This critical examination includes questioning the decisions we make about how we design e-learning environments, and always asking what might be the unintended consequences of the design choices we make, as there are both pros and cons to every decision. Nel, Dreyer and Carstens (2010) acknowledge that while there is a necessity of considering accessibility, cost ease and convenience of use, it is also important that any decisions about technology or media choices begin with pedagogical justifications. It does not matter if everyone can use certain technology and access certain media of there is no pedagogical reason for doing so. Once it is established that technology and media can support or enhance learning, then the other factors come into play in choosing what to use.

One of the challenges I found with this course was the level of skill level with technology that was assumed for some of the assignments. I like to explore and play with technology, but find that the process is more effective if there are some initial structures put in place. For example the instructions about how to set up a WordPress blog at the beginning of the course was quite detailed, and even though I already knew how to do that, I appreciated the detail. A similar scaffold would have helped with the Moodle. Even before I could learn how to create a “splash page” and “customized GUI”, I had to learn what was meant by those terms. This experience reminded me to recognize the range of prior knowledge students bring with them to learning communities, and encourages me to remember to find ways for students in those communities to work collaboratively to enable each to share his or her knowledge with each other to create a true community of learners. In this course, this was found in the aspects of ETEC 565A when we were able to work in small groups. I found the small group work conducive to supporting a sense of a learning community that I did not feel in the larger group.

Next Steps

I do not anticipate continuing to develop my Moodle course in the near future. At this point in time the organization I work with does not have the additional capacity (in terms of extra personnel) to support such an endeavour, and my schedule is already stretched too thin. However, as I write this, I am also aware that circumstances can changes quickly, and opportunities can present themselves when least expected.

Through the process of developing the Moodle, I continually wrestled with the tension between the foundations of FPPL (which stress the development of relationship, a holistic approach to learning, and explicitly tying learning to sense of place and connection to the land) with the kinds of learning experiences possible with a wholly on-line learning experience. What I have come to understand is that it is possible in the learning activities to ask the learners to make those connections, and bring the learning they gained back into the on-line learning environment to add to the learning of all in the course. In a sense it could be described as a different type of a “blended course”. I intend to integrate this knowledge into work I do that helps other educators integrate the FPPL into schools and classrooms.

Plans for Lifelong Learning

I plan to continue exploring various education technology in relation to both the FPPL and using technology to create more seamless links between formal learning environments and the rest of peoples’ lives. In Module 1 we examined the ISTE Teacher Standards. The ones that continue to resonate as much now as they did then as effective approaches are Standards 1 and 2 – inspiring student creativity, engaging students in real-world issues, solving authentic problems, and promoting student reflection; and developing authentic learning experiences, promoting creativity, and supporting students in personalizing their learning, respectively. I value authentic learning experiences so that students are able to find relevancy in their learning and make explicit the connections between what they do in the classroom/school environment and the rest of their lives.

To this end, I plan to continue thinking about how to tap into the technology that is increasingly becoming a regular part of our lives (such as mobile technology and social media) and explore how we might harness those structures to promote learning that connects to each other and to place. In this way I can see a possibility for a convergence between the FPPL and the possibility for authentic, contemporary applications of learning. As Bates (2014) indicates, recent developments in social media have increased the potential for using it to supplement other learning spaces, or to use it exclusively as the learning space.  I am also interested in exploring more media that is very easy to use. As indicated in Bates’ (2014) SECTIONS model, people are “more likely to use technology that is quick and easy to use” (p.271) and that require little to no time for people to learn to use. I see that social media is a possible route to explore that uses technology that is not a challenge, or time consuming to use.

How this will all play out in reality remains to be seen, but I am looking forward to the continued journey.

 

 

References:

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from: http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Bates, A. and Poole, G. (2003) Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-teachers

Nel, C., Dreyer, C., & Carstens, W. A. M. (2010). Educational technologies: A classification and evaluation. Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 35(4), 238-258. Retrieved from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/tvl/article/download/53794/42346

Richardson, W. (2016). Stop innovating in schools. Please. Retrieved from: http://willrichardson.com/