My name is Grant, and this is my fifth course in the MET program. I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia with my wonderful wife and 10-month-old daughter, both of whom are the greatest joys of my life.
Professionally, I used to work as a school teacher but for the past 5 years I have worked for a company in the Ocean Technology/Seafood industry as an ocean technologist and trainer. The technology that I work with includes navigation and sonar systems, GIS applications, data collection systems, underwater video/camera systems, unmanned vehicles, and environmental/marine sensors. Part of my current line of work involves working with fishing vessel officers (fishers) to teach them the skills needed to operate various types of technology that are intended to change how they operate while fishing at sea in order to improve the environmental and economic sustainability of our marine resources. I also lead a couple of research projects (i.e. drop camera and seafloor mapping surveys) to help understand and monitor the marine habitats of the species (i.e. lobster, scallops, clams, shrimp, etc) that my company harvests. The company I work for is a global seafood company so I’m hopeful this MET program will allow me to develop tools and technology needed to reach individuals all around the world.
With my current line of work I face a few challenges mostly centered around teaching new technology to fishers who are usually not tech savvy. As well, I am challenged with delivering in-person training, as most of my trainees work offshore and live all across Atlantic Canada or in other parts of the world. Developing online training would be ideal however I am still faced with the challenges of limited broadband connectivity and slow internet speeds in rural and at sea settings. I am excited to be taking this course and I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences as well as learning from all of you throughout this semester. Through this course I hope I can find ways to help with these challenges that I am facing.
Cheers,
Grant
Baby Shark!
Btw, the image to the right is an image of a baby shark (i.e. dogfish) that I captured while doing a drop camera survey this summer.
Your work sounds fascinating, Grant. I started out intending to be a marine biologist, and while I got a little off-track from there, I did spend some time working in marine education and still have a great love for marine science. My big regret job wise was the summer I turned down a job working in marine education at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St Andrews. Sadly I was offered it the day before I was heading to Maine to take a different marine education job, so it was too late to say “yes” on it. Maine was great, but it wasn’t the Huntsman or the field trips I would have got to take to the Grand Manan Island.
As an aside, the marine biologist in me has to point out that dogfish, while small sharks are not baby sharks (apart from the actual part of their life that they are indeed a baby). Literal, I know, but I am always flabbergasted by how may people would think that dog fish actually are baby sharks.
Hi Erica, nice to meet you!
Glad there is someone else who has an interest in marine science. Its an interesting and challenging time in this field right now with all the changes in the ocean conditions. For a while now, I have been working with a few universities and researchers to try to understand how our species and their environments are being affected. I am happy my company is able to invest a lot of effort into science and research. The team I work with is called Harvest Science and we do a lot of data collection and mapping work to understand our species populations. We also work closely with DFO to make sure that we are managing our fisheries as best we can. The owners seem to understand the importance of environmental sustainability so that is also key. While not perfect, I think we do a good job but there is always room for improvement.
Regarding the dogfish, haha, I was wondering if anyone would point that out. Good catch! Yes, I know its not a baby shark, it would be much much smaller. My daughter loves the ‘Baby Shark’ song so that’s what we’ve been calling it.
Looking forward to working with you this semester!
Cheers,
Grant
I have to admit that when I say the ‘baby shark’ label on the picture, I did begin to sing,
“Baby shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Baby shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Baby shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Baby shark”
Hi Grant,
Its nice to see you again! Looking forward to another course with you.
Hey Adrian! Great to see you again too. This course should be a good one. Looking forward to working with you again!
Hi Grant,
Nice meeting you!
Wow your job sounds very exciting. Teaching people how to use technology online sounds like a challenging task. Even though videos cannot replace face to face instruction fully, it can be a great introduction so that when you do get the chance to see them face to face, it can be easier to and faster to learn.
My youngest daughter is turning 10 months old at the end of this month. This is such a cute age! Good luck with everything and I look forward to learning with you!
Emily
Hi Emily,
Nice to meet you too! Yes, videos are a good tool to use and I do use them. I make a lot of tutorial videos but there is definitely room for improvement. I think the challenge for me is that these trainees prefer to learn via hands-on and observational methods. So being face-to-face is really important to them. Its just I can’t always be there when they need me. I’m interested in a lot of the emerging technologies from the poll that we’ve been working on, especially cloud-based learning, immersive technologies, and teach-back. I’m sure I will find a good combination of these that will help me out.
It’s cool that your youngest daughter and mine are close to the same age. She our first child so its been an interesting but wonderful first year with her so far. She is starting to walk and climb the stairs now so I’ll be installing baby gates this weekend. She is so much fun and such a quick learner!
Looking forward to working with you this semester!
Have a nice weekend,
Grant
Hi, Grant,
So you, as well, have a professional teaching background but are not in a traditional teaching role per se. I also work in an industry outside of formal education and am in a bit of a transition. Because of this, I am fascinated with the work you do and that despite how specialized your job and industry are, your educational and training background will once again be utilized.
While I see the urgent need for formal education to adapt to online learning, I am keenly interested in applying educational technology to industry and I would love to see how you are able to apply what you learn at MET to your workplace, particularly with the adaptive technology you find works for you, as similar methods / tools / delivery may be relevant to other hands-on industries (i.e. construction or Red Seal Trades)
Keep us posted on your progress!
Hi Grant!
Let’s be friends. I really appreciate the work you are doing.
Andres, the guitarist in my band, is from a family in Colombia that has done so much to try to protect it. His grandfather, Captain Francisco Ospina Navia, founded an aquarium in 1965 and published articles on climate change. Here’s more info about the aquarium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodadero_Sea_Aquarium_and_Museum
My other buddy, Renny, a biologist who works at Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre has a society with the mission to protect BC’s wild coast. For more information, go here: https://ruggedcoastresearch.com/
On a more personal note, my boyfriend and I got a trophy pro fishing boat during COVID as it has always been our dream to fish from Squamish. The boat is called the “Reel Knotty” and it has opened up a whole world from our “front yard”. If you and your family are ever in Squamish, please do come out for a spin. We could learn so much from you.
I’m a french immersion teacher with a secondary and primary background, so I appreciate your teaching background. I’ve also done a lot of outdoor ed teaching and wilderness guiding and am always down to learn something new. I’m keen to get into some citizen science projects from our boat and tie that into my class. Let me know if you have any ideas- I’ll probably team up with some local NGOs to get started !