Me making Covid brownies. And no, not THAT kind of Covid brownie. From a box made for my friends and colleagues at my (then) office. When I’m not making safe and tasty baked treats to share, I work in the financial services industry and business in general.
While I taught for many years as an ESL instructor for Adults in Academic bridge programs, curriculum design, and administration, I took a major detour into tourism, management, compliance, then consulting in the financial services arena. But, as it would turn out, I was always the most successful when training – be it my clients or colleagues! So – after several years away – I decided to jump back into language training and assessments for IELTS, BULATS, and other language certification programs for internationally trained professionals as a side-gig as I was loathe to lose my 15+ years experience in teaching and administration. Covid has brought me back formally to education and specifically digital learning.
I am keen on resolving the challenges with online delivery in our current circumstances and beyond. I can’t wait to apply my educational background to this new frontier we find ourselves in, not only with regards to the traditional educational context, but all industries to spur our economy and skills forward while keeping us all safe. I look forward to ‘meeting’ you all!
Welcome to MET, Alice. I am curious, what sort of work did you do in Tourism?
Hi,Erica!
I ran a 52-unit motel in Northern BC for 2 years – it was quite an experience for me!
I was young – early 20’s – and was thrown in to sales, accounting, payroll, hiring, property management in addition to the culture shock of coming from Vancouver to a ‘downtown’ Chetwynd with 1 shopping centre, 1 drug store, 1 movie theatre that showed 1 move once in a while, and 2 Chinese restaurants. Not even a Mcdonalds, Timmys’ anything you’d find here on any given street corner.
I’m assuming your storytelling background would take you to a few different locations as well?
Very cool. You must have some great and rather hilarious stories from that experience.
Yes, indeed. My storytelling has afforded me a lot of travel experiences in a way that I would not normally be able to travel if I was footing the bill. But I also had my early 20s tourism experience, leading eco-adventures.
Welcome Alice! Sounds like you have a very interesting and diverse background! I’m excited to learn with you.
Thanks, Adrian!
You also have an interesting diverse background – an IT professional working at UBC Faculy of Med with an eye for photography. I’m fascinated with the real-world application of Educational Technology in industries outside of formal teaching and would love to know how you are able to integrate what you learn in MET to your workplace. I’m excited to learn with you as well!
Hi Alice,
Have you heard of VIP Kids? Perhaps your background in language training and assessments would be invaluable to that ed-tech company:
“VIP Kid has an estimated valuation of $1.5 billion, and it’s arguably the largest of the Edtech companies currently. This company teaches English to children in other countries and employs most of its teachers in the United States.”
https://www.thetechedvocate.org/10-largest-edtech-companies/
Hi, Tara!
Yes, I’ve heard of VIPKids, and looked at their platform at while back. An amazing accomplishment for the founder. It would be fascinating to work for an edtech company like VIPKids and if I get a chance to I’d definitely take it!