Hello ~ I am Jen and live in a lovely, quaint little village called Ladner. It is located 30 minutes outside of Vancouver. My journey to MET is likely much different than many of yours. Last September I began my Masters in Language and Literacy in a Surrey Cohort. I took EDUC 500 (the same as ETEC 500) and several other required classes for my program. Over the course of the year as I delved into research and theory about literacy, I became very interested in new literacies and how our definition of literacy needs (and has) changed. I learned about terms called Technology 1.0 and 2.0, which were new to me. It was all so exciting that I decided to take a summer elective course, titled Recurring Questions of Technology. Here I confirmed what I had been feeling for awhile; I needed to switch my Master’s focus. I do not consider myself digitally savvy, but I am a keen learner. My research interests include student blogs as learning portfolios, as well as iPads (not the skill and drill apps but the more creative ones!).
When I am not online, I am a wife and mother to two children, ages 7 & 9. I love seeing the world through their eyes. This week I also began a new position as an Adjunct Teaching Professor (Faculty Advisor) in the Faculty of Education at UBC. I have been an Elementary teacher in Richmond for the past 14 years. I look forward to supervising 18 teacher candidates this year and teaching a couple of courses too. I also teach Grades 3/4 on Fridays each week at Errington Elementary. I envision many late nights in my future but was very pleased to to read and connect with the SOUL approach. After reading this and watching some videos on how to interact with Connect my stress level dissipated. Looking forward to working with all of you!

I tend to think of educational technology as more about education than the technological component. But this week I have been wrestling with the bigger ideas and/or messages that using technology in my practice brings. I continually hear rhetoric from some educators that suggest we not get caught up in technology, but instead think of the technological materials we use as “tools” that enhance learning and understanding. After reading the articles for this week, I think that the use technology is far more than simple use of “tools”. Similar to James Finn, I would argue that the use of technology within education has its own learning theory and that is it so much larger than the management and implementation of equipment/programs. Dorbolo put it best when he stated “To deny that educational technology is value-laden and agenda-advancing is to deny one fo the major ideas that contemporary educational technology is predicated upon” (p. 70). Although a proponent of technology in education, I think it would be interesting to examine some of the larger ideas behind why society is pushing so strongly for it.