After receiving my Bachelor of Elementary Education, I decided to step away from classroom work and sought out a position in higher education. I took on a role as a writing and learning consultant at MacEwan University. This was an interesting time to work in the Writing Centre, as it had remained relatively unchanged for 30+ years. Advancements in technology did impact day-to-day functioning and workshop delivery, yet educational technology didn’t seem to have a place as a valuable way to connect with the modern learner. As the Writing Centre began to adapt to changing learners’ needs, I took on new responsibilities, such as designing a blended course and creating online resources. I realized that my passion for integrating technology into learning needed some professional help, so I enrolled in the Master of Educational Technology program.
Soon after, I took on a new role in the Writing Centre as an instructional designer. This position requires more face-to-face time with LMSs, social software, and multimedia. It’s been one hectic year of realizing the potential of Snapchat to connect with students and promote our services, creating training manuals for the newly launched peer tutoring program, and using videos and other media to connect with learners. I am so thankful I had the time to experiment with technologies in my previous position as a consultant. Back then, I was able to trial apps and tools, collaborate with new and seasoned educators, and make many mistakes along the way. I believe this time was important for developing a growth mindset (Dweck, 2014) that embraces critical thinking and learning through discovery and experience. However, I now need the theory and collaborative opportunities to select and evaluate appropriate technologies.
My goals at the beginning of the MET program were to align my interests and career goals with what I was doing in school. These goals remain the same, yet when I first began this program looks a lot different from where I am now. When I first started, I would probably say that I am interested in learning how to use different LMSs rather than how to best utilize the functions of an LMS, if that is the best method for delivery. The MET program has challenged me to ask different types of questions, and that is something I’d like to continue with ETEC 565A. I’ve learned that with the proper support, I can probably learn different technologies or seek out people who can help me learn them. It’s in considering the purpose of using educational technologies and their intended outcomes that I now find so important and exciting.
One of my main goals in ETEC 565A is becoming proficient in selecting technologies that can help me support peer tutors in the Writing Centre and also promote our services. Using frameworks such as the SECTIONS model (Bates, 2014) will help me make decisions that align with the institution as well as the day-to-day operations of the Centre. Learning how to implement such frameworks will be useful for identifying which media or technology to use in the first place, and then I can focus on how to best design and present this material to an audience (Bates, 2014). I think this will also be useful for supporting a culture of technology acceptance as well as best practices that support our departmental vision.
My hope is to develop more confidence in weighing the affordances and constraints of technology platforms and software, so that I can implement them wisely. As a working professional, I believe the resources that will best serve me will be aligned with social media skills and course delivery. I am really interested in open course software (LMSs included), and using open and free tools that I can share with students. I would also like to improve my social media skillset, as I see this as a valuable way to connect and communicate with students. I have tried to sustain a Twitter presence for the last year with no luck, so I am looking forward to the course section where we unpack meaningful digital presence, both with students and for our own professional purposes. In the past, I feel like I’ve jumped on the fad bandwagon and used social media without considering its purpose. I want to consider more deeply the impact of social media for knowledge mobilization and community building. I would also like to move away from a one-way style of communication and learn how to best implement two-way communication methods that engage an audience. In this regard, digital storytelling really excites me, because I see the possibilities for breaking down the classroom walls and engaging others in a meaningful way (University of Houston, 2018).
A final goal is to further explore ways to deliver relevant content to students, such as through mobile technologies. I see this as being under the umbrella of inclusive learning, as most students will have at least one mobile device they use in school. I have taken ETEC 565M, in which we learned some fundamentals for having students gain the full advantage of a mobile experience and designing resources for mobile access (Koole, n.d., p. 26). However, I hope to explore this further, in addition to honing my multimedia presentation and delivery skills for different types of content delivery, such as Snapchat, Twitter, and online resource development. For work, I developed a training manual that is very text-heavy, so resources and activities that help me consider multiple ways to develop accessible content and engage learners will be valuable. I very much look forward to this course!
Thanks,
Paige
References
Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from
https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/9-pedagogical-differences-between-media/
Dweck, C. ( 2014). The power of believing that you can improve [Video].
Retrieved from TedTalk website: https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve
Koole, M. L. (n.d.). A model for framing mobile learning [Article]. Retrieved
from http://etec565m.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2013/08/FRAME-Model-Koole.pdf
University of Houston. (2018). Digital storytelling [Web page]. Retrieved from
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/page.cfm?id=27&cid=27&sublinkid=30
Paige,
You are a really good writer and how did I not connect this earlier! (Duh!)
After reading your post, I also realised how I could have used references better as well!
cheers,
Sally
Thanks so much, Sally :). I find that I get too formal in discussion posts, so that’s something I’ve been trying to work on–how to integrate my own voice with the scholarly! It’s a work in progress hehe.
Cheers,
Paige