I have enrolled in my third MET course. It is ETEC 512 – Applications of Learning Theories to the Analysis of Instructional Settings. The instructor is Janet McCraken and one of our first assignments in an autobiographical sketch. I decided to focus on a description of my current self and to use Tagxedo to present this information in a new way. I’ll consider submitting it after some time to think and reflect.

I have received notice that I have been selected to receive the 2013 Todd Rogers Research Award from the Canadian Educational Researchers’ Association for leadership in evidence based research. The ceremony will take place on June 3rd at the University of Victoria during the association’s annual general meeting.

I have finished ETEC 500. My research proposal is complete and has been submitted for marking. A copy of my proposal can be accessed through the link on my research journal page.

This has been a challenging course. There was a ton of information to read and digest. But I must admit that I am feeling much more like a grad student than I did at the beginning of the course. I feel pretty solid in the work I want to undertake and fairly confident in my ability to turn my ideas into something workable. I feel like I have more in common and a better understanding of other researchers in educational technology. I wonder if there is a secret handshake or if I have to wait until graduation from MET for this initiation?

My next course is ETEC 512 – Application of Learning Theory to the Analysis of Instructional Settings. It starts May 13 so I have a month to get acquainted with my family. We spent the day gardening; what a delight!

I recently received word I have been accepted to the District Technology Committee (Greater Victoria School District) as a teacher representative for the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association. I anticipate an interesting time on this committee. The role of Wi-Fi in schools in being hotly debated without much input from teachers and I always like to add my two cents worth. The use of technology in schools seems to polarize viewpoints and opinions; I hope we can find some middle ground!

I have also agreed to work with the Ministry of Education committee developing the “Creative Thinking Cross-Curricular Competency Continua”. I hope the work is as important as the title sounds. There is some really great thinking in BC’s Education Plan and I look forward to fleshing it out and making it real for students and teachers without a recycling of IRP’s and PLO’s.

The decision to attend and present at the Society for Information Technology and Teaching Conference was a good one. With 1300 participants from 65 countries there were a lot of opportunities to connect and compare notes. It seems that the issues associated with educational technology do not respect borders!

I attended a half dozen sessions on ePortfolios and a Special Interest Group (SIG) discussion on the topic. The big issue from kindergarten all the way through the masters level? Reflection. It seems that while designing a good looking portfolio can initially be difficult, the real work comes when students are asked to reflect. Everyone just wants the grade and seems to see reflection as an extra hoop to jump through to get it. This hasn’t been my experience with little children so I had some good conversations with my adult education colleagues about why this is the case. We agreed that the way schools have traditionally evaluated students is, at least, partly responsible.

About 50 people attended my presentation. There were lots of laughs and questions. The sample portfolio was well received and throughout the day I had an opportunity to touch base with many of the participants. It seems that many of them see the benefits of mPortfolio development using mobile devices and a platform like Pathbrite; it goes a long way to addressing access issues so student can get to reflecting.

I also had a great conversation with Derek Gordon at Pathbrite. They have agreed to help with my pilot project next year and had some great ideas for improving my students’ access while maintaining their privacy. I am feeling really optimistic about successfully implementing my project.

All in all it has been a great week. I’d like to thank Franc Feng at MET, Mike Phelan at the Greater Victoria School District, and Lucy Adams at home for their support and encouragement in attending and presenting at SITE. I highly recommend the experience!

My paper Mobile ePortfolios: A Tool for Reflection, Personal Growth, and Renewal has been accepted for publication by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. I will attend the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education Conference to present it. The conference is being held in New Orleans between March 25 and 29, 2013.

Preparing my paper has taken some revision and reformatting but it has been well worth it. You can view my final draft by clicking on the link.

Mobile ePortfolios SITE Submission

This is my slide presentation I’ll use to support my paper.

I have updated my research journal to reflect my latest thinking on my project. I think I have the topic and questions narrowed down to something workable.

I continue the work on mPortfolios. Please check my page for updates!

Sorry, the link to my mPortfolio on Pathbrite wasn’t working. I have reconnected it and it seems to be working well now.  Thanks for understanding…

I have updated my research journal to reflect my lastest thinking on my project. I have also updated my postings for ETEC 500 – Module 2.