I was drawn to the Technology-Based Distributed Learning (TBDL) program of study to augment my experience and skills to continue to enhance curriculum in two mental health and addictions programs, as well as other courses I teach at Camosun College.
Through my instruction and program development activities in post-secondary education over the past 24 years, I have become aware that student engagement facilitates a positive and inspiring learning atmosphere. This understanding was built on my previous work supporting children and families in a pediatric setting, and then with adolescents and adults in psychiatric programs. In these earlier roles, I provided educational opportunities to patients and their families to promote health and well-being. In particular, my experience of leading groups in the non-traditional teaching environment of a mental health setting paved the way to a relationship-based approach when I started teaching in post-secondary settings.
My first teaching position at the post-secondary level was in the early 1990s for the Child & Youth Care Diploma Program at Lethbridge College in Alberta. We did not have an online platform; all courses were face-to-face. The tools of technology I used included projectors, VHS tapes and player, television, photocopiers, and email. I also taught courses in Early Child Care that used a distant-education model in which students in Alberta and BC received printed modules to work through and submit via Canada Post, sometimes with Purolator Express when sending their assignments in days before a due date.
When I developed curriculum and taught the first offering of a four month full-time Community Mental Health Worker Program in 2004 at Camosun College in Victoria, BC, course delivery was completely face-to-face. Since then, we have added content on substance use and Indigenous perspectives, expanding to the current 11 month Mental Health & Addictions (MHA) Certificate. A major transition was moving to a blended model of delivery. During this time, we developed the post-degree Interprofessional Mental Health & Addiction (IMHA) Diploma as a blended delivery. Courses in both programs include online and face-to-face hours. While MHA is a blended model with students attending weekly face-to-face classes in each course, students in IMHA are from across BC, Alberta, and other eastern provinces. They participate in seminars on-campus at different times throughout the Program, with a majority of the coursework online.
The progression of our programs has required me to develop skills and knowledge to shift content to online platforms and incorporate technology to facilitate learning and meet the needs of students, initially using WebCT and currently with the Desire-To-Learn (D2L) platform. As we make changes to meet the demand for our programs, which necessitates reaching distant students, I would like to continue on this path of building curriculum to incorporate current and leading-edge technology for in-class and online environments. Because our learners arrive with various educational and life experiences, it behooves me to continuously evaluate my teaching strategies to help education be relevant, evidence-based, and inspirational to lifelong learning. Knowing that social media is becoming a significant and influential source of information for many (Bialik & Matsa, 2017), I am in a position of responsibility to guide students to be critical thinkers; to access reputable sources to make sound decisions that may affect individuals and communities of practice.
This brings me to my goals of participation in the TBDL certificate, including expanding my knowledge and skill-set to be more effective in these efforts. I anticipate the TBDL credential will enhance my qualifications to do more online course development at Camosun College as well as pursue future opportunities with other post-secondary institutions, government programs, and non-profit organizations.
The resources I require include relevant and evidence-based research in journals and sources such as UBC and University of Victoria. I will access information from organizations such as the Mental Health Commission of Canada and web-based publications such as Online Classroom.
I also anticipate being introduced to a variety of software, internet applications, and web-based tools. More importantly, I am looking forward to the wisdom and experience that faculty and students in the courses might share with me.
Overall, the TBDL Certificate is an exciting and challenging program of study that will help me develop my skills and, in turn, influence our programs and support graduates in roles working with others. I want to ensure technology helps nurture relationships for well-being and student success as well as build knowledge and skills within the virtual and face-to-face classroom.
Bialik, K., & Matsa, K.E. (2017, October 4). Key trends in social and digital news media. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/04/key-trends-in-social-and-digital-news-media/