Flight Path
My proposed flight Path through ETEC 565
A flight path is the route taken by an aircraft as defined by the Oxford dictionary and the precise route taken or due to be taken, as defined by The Free Dictionary. As this is a planning exercise for my course expectations, then I will define flight path for this purpose as my proposed designated route through ETEC 565.
My name is Doug Connery; I am a Curriculum Coordinator at a post- secondary institution in Alberta. In addition to being an administrator, I am a mentor, advisor, student, father, husband, brother, uncle and friend. Aspects of these different roles come together on a daily basis to define me and have influenced my life journey.
This is my eighth course in the UBC MET program and it is now part of me as the learning I have gained has further defined me and will continue to influence what I do. My career has not been a straight path, it has had many diversions with many opportunities and some dead ends. There is no way I could have predicted my life flight path, and I certainly would not have wanted to have stayed on a course that was set out for me. Some of my job titles have been: Sales Clerk, Brick Maker, Engineering Technician, Environmental Research Technician, Consultant, Chief Scientist, Operations Manager, GIS Coordinator, Group Manager, Program Coordinator, Instructor, Proposal Writing Coordinator, E-learning Facilitator, Curriculum Developer and Curriculum Coordinator.
This is my second Master’s program. The first was through the University of Calgary in Remote Sensing in the early 1990’s. I have obviously changed my flight path since then after working for several years in the environmental consulting industry which led to working with First Nations, which led to working in post-secondary education. This MET degree will truly qualify me for my current position of nearly five years which prefers a Master’s degree in education or equivalent with several years’ experience. If there is such a thing as a professional apprenticeship model for education, training and career advancement, then I am a model student.
For me in ETEC 565, I see an opportunity to learn more about digital age learning so I can help move faculty along the spectrum from entirely face to face towards richly blended and fully on-line. Some of the topics that I would like to focus on are: LMS, other web based approaches, interactivity and assessment tools and intellectual property rights/copyright.
Goal One: Learning Management Systems
My institute, SAIT Polytechnic, has been officially using Learning Management systems for 10 years. Initially they started with WebCT and after years of lack of decision making on what to upgrade to next, a decision was made to move to Desire to Learn (D2L). Conversion to D2L was interesting and was completed in June 2011. I have also had the opportunity to work with WebCT Vista in this course and with Blackboard as a sessional instructor before the WebCT/Blackboard merger. I have worked a bit with Moodle in designing and partially developing a course as a group project in ETEC 510 last year. In my school we are also in the process of finally phasing out a first generation course management system started by innovative faculty twelve years ago. It is on a server managed through the no longer used Front Page web authoring software.
My goal is to gain a better understanding of the affordances and approaches of learning management systems so that I can provide insights and advise at key times for decision making by instructors, Academic Chairs, my department and the institute overall.
Goal Two: Other Web Based Approaches
We also have started using Word Press as an e-portfolio tool in our new Bachelor of Business Administration degree; a student e-portfolio is a requirement for graduation. We also propose to use it as a program documentation tool to capture information required for reporting and monitoring requirements to the province. I did have some influence in the decision to use Word Press for this purpose due to my introduction to and experience with this tool through the MET program.
My goal is to learn about other web based tools and approaches including content management systems so I can offer them as opportunities, options and solutions at my institute when required.
Goal Three: Interaction and Assessment Tools
As soon as the topics of technology, blended learning, or on-line development comes up at my school, a wide variety of opinions, often conflicting, bubbles up. Not everybody who teaches at a polytechnic understands that we not only deliver “technical” programs, but we are also encouraged to deliver with technology, either industry or educational, where ever appropriate. Our core value is: “Transforming lives by integrating learning with technology”. With this said, we also need to temper the push to use technology so that technology is not only used for technology sake. I see Interactivity as more important, to move instruction away from stand and deliver to more constructivist approaches. I believe the use of educational technology should be used to support interactivity.
I, like many others have a lot to learn about assessment. We also have a policy in my School (department) that no more than 20% of total assessment can be through multiple choice and true false questions to encourage deep learning. This is a shift for faculty as many see this as interference in their academic freedom. It is an interesting dance for me to encourage faculty to make this shift at the same time inform my Dean that I am doing my best to make this happen.
My goal is to learn as much as I can about interactivity and assessment methods to add to my toolbox so I can inform and guide the people I interact with on new and best practices in these areas.
Goal Four: Intellectual Property and Copyright
These are not the most exciting topics but they are hot topics as they touch on academic freedom. We have recently taken a more informed and proactive approach to copyright at my institute. This was triggered recently when my institute, and many others in Canada, elected to move away from Access Copyright due to huge proposed increases in fees. As a result, senior administration decided to clamp down on copyright in general and proposes to increase roles and responsibilities related to copyright and add them to many job descriptions. Curriculum Coordinators across my institute are struggling with how to track and monitor copyright in our curriculum and how to CYA when we approve a course for delivery and an instructor adds material after the fact does not comply with copyright laws.
Intellectual property does not come up that often but when it does it is not pretty. I believe there are clauses in the faculty Collective Agreement (which expired in June 2010 and has gone to arbitration) and is covered in contract agreements for term employees and independent contractors.
My goal is to learn about copyright and intellectual property in this course and apply it to situations when ever required at my institute.
References
Bates A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In A.W. Bates & G. Poole, Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education (pp. 75-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 4.
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. Accessed online January 7, 2012 http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples1987.htm
Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Accessed online January 7, 2012
http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples.htm
Moore, A., Moore, J., & Fowler, S., (2005) Faculty development for the net generation, In Educating the Net Generation, Oblinger, D. & Oblinger, J. Editors (2005) An Educause Book, Retreived January 7, 2012 from www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Accessed January 7, 2012 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, (2012). Flight Path. Accessed January 15, 2012 from http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/flight-path
The Free Dictionary, (2012) Flight Path. Accessed January 15, 2012 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flight+path
E-portfolio activity #1: Flight Path
It is difficult to get where you want to go if you don’t plan your route… though side trips and tangents can often be some of the richest parts of the journey!
Write a proposed flight path during ETEC 565A. Tell us a bit about yourself, your experience, and your goals for this course (or, perhaps, the MET). Explain what you want to learn about Learning Management Systems (LMS), assessment, social software, and multimedia. Give your best estimate (guestimate?) about what resources you would need to master these technologies as a novice professional. Be sure to cite relevant literature to support your decision. Be as specific as you can, even if you’re “guestimating” at this early stage: you won’t be penalized for your priorities evolving as the course proceeds. But you might not get the full benefit of ETEC565A if you start out with too general an idea of your aspirations.
Your entry should be no more than 1,000 words. Once completed you will “submit” your assignment by publishing it on the Flight Path page of your e-portfolio. Revisit the WordPress setup instructions as required.