Posts from — September 2009

I have completed 4 courses in the MET program and am now taking 3 more.  I am finding the journey a steep up hill climb, but extremely rewarding.  I am not sure what to expect from this course, but am excited to get into it.

I am currently on leave from  my job as a jr-sr high math teacher in a small rural school in Southern Alberta.  I have no role as a tech advisor in my school, but am very interested in technology integration in education.  Having lived and taught in Africa for several years, I am interested in exploring the possibilities of ed. tech in developing areas.

I am looking forward to working with you all.

Enough reading, I’m taking the plunge. This is my first course in MET, and I’m a little surprised ETEC522 is the first one for me. It should be an invigorating start. I like the online aspect because I’m really into anywhere anytime and lifelong learning, and because I have a long commute.

I’ve been working in multimedia and distance education for the last fifteen years and currently work at UBC in the Faculty of Medicine helping with their distributed program.  My career has taken a circuituous route through teaching in Northern Quebec, overseas, then doing a MA in Applied Linguistics, to developing language labs and software at UBC, to seven years online course design and support at Athabasca University while taking the odd course now and then on the way.

This course looks like it will give me a more current and corporate perspective on educational technology.  I hope to see an overview of emerging technologies beyond what I’ve been able to work with in my current position. It’s also a great opportunity to see what is going on elsewhere. I look forward to working with all of you.

Here are the teams for Modules 4-11.

We looked at the special requests posts/comments in the blog, as well as those that came to the two Davids via email. Everyone who requested a preference got their first choice. The teams are now set.

MODULE TEAMS:

Module 04: Noah Burdett, Tony Di Palma, Barbara Mair, Ed Stuerle, Erik Van Dusen, Cari Wilson (6)

Module 05: Ammar Al-Attiyat, Iris Chan, Amy Frank, Cindy Leach, Leonard Pelletier, Lorne Upton (6)

Module 06: Barry Carter, Byron Kask, Elizabeth Hood, Greg Lewis, Annette Smith, Eveline Yu (6)

Module 07: Kathleen Cavanagh, Cathy Jung, Mervyn LaBrash, Robert Powell, Erica Toombs (5)

Module 08: Ian Doktor, Sean McMinn, Ernest Pao, Jennie Wong (4)

Module 09: Jay Dixon, Sharon Hann, Jeffrey Laird, Omar Ramroop, Adam Rattray (5)

Module 10: Marjorie Del Mundo, Stuart Edgar, Ashley Jones, Beverley Knutson-Shaw (4)

Module 11: Michel Lacoursiere, Dawinder Mann, Mark Reed, James Richardson, Cecilia Tagliapietra (5)

Additional instructions will be coming along shortly via email to connect you with your team members.

You may wish to get acquainted with your topic and team members in the interim before kickoff on October 5.

When your group convenes to achieve its focus and activities for the class, we suggest that you each take on a specific role on the team (whether these roles are exposed to the full class or not) that you can then use as a framework for the self-evaluation that we’re expecting — outlined in the grading rubric and course requirements for Assignment 2.

d.

About Me

My name is Barrie Carter.  I live in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.  In 1993, I graduated from the University of Victoria with a B. Ed. (secondary curriculum) in English and drama, and, in 2006, I graduated from UBC with a post-graduate diploma in special education (general studies).  Finally, I enjoy hiking, walking, biking, canoeing, camping, listening to jazz, and lifting weights as well as playing chess, tennis, and badminton.

About My Experiences

I work in New Westminster, B.C.  Currently, I teach English 8, social studies 8, ADCAPP 8, French 8, and computers 6/7 at Queensborough Middle School during the day, and English 11 at New Westminster Secondary in the evenings.

I was a full-time resource teacher at Ecole Glenbrook Middle School in New Westminster for five years. I was responsible for a caseload of approximately 15 students, ranging from mild learning disabilities (MLD) to severe learning disabilities (SLD), from Moderate Behaviour to Intensive Behaviour Intervention (for example, ADD, ADHD, ODD, OCD, FASD, FAE), from Noonan’s Syndrome to Sotos Syndrome to Down’s Syndrome, and from Asperger’s Syndrome to severe Autism. As well, I taught  ADCAPP 6 and computers studies 8 throughout the day and sometimes Communications 11 or 12 in the evenings.

Previously, I worked at the Vancouver Learning Centre as a part-time teacher of alternate education. Here, I taught students who (a) sustained brain injuries caused by car crashes, (b) survived strokes returning to upgrade, (c) dropped out of school, (d) had mild to moderate behavioural issues, (e) experienced school expulsions and substance abuse, (f) lived with chronic health issues like diabetes, and (g) lived with ADD, ADHD, ODD, and OCD.  As well, In Masset (on the Haida Gwai’i/Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C.), I taught at George M. Dawson Secondary as a classroom and resource teacher.  Here, I was 4/7 classroom teacher, teaching CAPP 10, Social Studies 10, Essentials of Math 9, and Essentials of Math 10, and 3/7 resource teacher/case manager, teaching students living with Asperger’s, FAE, and FASD.  Finally, in West Vancouver, B.C., I taught at Ridgeview Elementary.  Here, I was a learning assistance teacher, teaching students who had difficulties learning subject matter and meeting course expectations. Then, I taught at Westcot Elementary, as an acting resource teacher. Here, I worked with students living with spina bifida, autism, chronic health, and behavioural issues.

About ETEC 522

I enrolled in ETEC 522 because I have no idea how to launch a learning technologies venture, let alone what it all means.  However, I am looking forward to the journey even though I know that it will be a steep learning curve for me.  As well, I am looking forward to the collective knowledge and to the tools associated with learning technologies.

I look forward to learning from you.

Cheers,

Barrie

Hello Everyone!

My name is Eveline Yu and I am very excited to be back for another semester of MET.  I must say that this blog format is an exciting change from the Vista platform.  I am also happy to say that this course begins my halfway mark in completing this MET program.

Currently, I am teaching English, Communications, and Social Studies at a BC Offshore School in Beijing, China.  This is my 9th year teaching on and off overseas…and although it has been (and still is) an amazing adventure, I still love to call Vancouver my home!

Finally, I would like to say that it’s great to finally put a face to some of the names I have seen for the past years!  I have enjoyed all my previous MET courses and I look forward to working with you in this one!

My name is Anthony Di Palma and I and this is my first semester of working towards my MET degree.  I am currently on leave from a position with the Halton Catholic District School Board near Toronto.  I have been teaching biology and chemistry at Christ the King Secondary for the past 4 years in Georgetown, Ontario.  I did my undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Guelph Ontario and I have my Graduate Diploma of Education from the University of Wollongong in NSW Australia.

I am very excited about collaborating with all of you for the next 3 months.  I find online education to be an exciting and challenging environment to learn in.  Best of luck to us all this semester!

Hello fellow learning venture students and learning facilitators. This is my eighth MET course and the end is in sight but I do not find myself in a hurry to end this experience other then the timeline as I feel this is a lifelong learning development. I continue to be optimistic that I will be able to integrate the experiences I have had in the MET program to meet and motivate the increasingly diverse learning needs of my students. My main challenge continues to be finding time to develop my skills but then again who doesn’t. I live on Vancouver Island in a place called Mill Bay and I teach courses at the secondary school in Duncan. Currently they are Sci and Tech 11, First Nations 12, Planning 10 and remedial math. I look forward to working with you all through this course. Mark Reed

I really had to  try and add some text to my post as I was a bit tire last night and was having some trouble trying to understand why the text was  not appearing. These technical learning curves seems to be the theme of my MET experience as my pictue moves across the screen and I am not sure what I am typing thank goodness for spell check. Anyway I did not want to  portray myself as too much of a minimalist although as our professors have pointed out succinct is great. I added some details to my profile but I am not sure where others would access this. I have enjoyed reading everyone’s introductions and am impressed with the caliber of of the experience members in this learning community have. Well on to next week thanks for your patience.

Well it looks like everyone is finding the place to post entries to the ETEC 522 course blog. That’s excellent.

There are a few more students still to come and I expect we’ll see their introductory posts shortly.

A few reminders:

Last call for module group preferences. Let us know if you have a preference for a working group for Modules 4 -11. On Friday evening (Pacific Daylight Time), I’ll post a list of module groups based on preferences we’ve received, with the remaining students grouped to balance team sizes, etc.

Please also remember to think about Categories and Tags as you create your posts. Getting into that pattern now will help us all to find specific posts for review using the tag cloud and search tool downstream. You can also go back in and edit your posts to add tags or specify categories.

Also consider whether a “feed reader” (RSS aggregator) will suit you as a means for quickly reading and scanning posts. I wrote a short blog entry outlining the potential, and…

You can find other announcements from your instructors in the Announcements category in the right-side column.

Keep us posted on any questions you have, and especially ones that might be helpful to all. We can put those questions and answers in the Q/A category.

My name is Barbara Mair, this is my first ETEC course. I am very excited about the course although i am a little nervous because it has been  a long time since i was a student. Unlike many of  you i am  living in the business world, mainly management, sales and marketing. I want to learn more about the academic world. I am launching hybrid (online/onsite) training for teachers in Mexico, hopefully helping them integrate technology into the classroom.  I am looking forward to working with you and learning from you

Hi everyone,

My name is Amy Frank. I live in Calgary, Alberta with my husband, two sons, and dog. We are actually expecting baby #3 at the end of this course! I started this program after having my first son, so it seems fitting that I will finish the program during my third sons first year. The beauty of this program is that I can actually have small children, be pregnant, work full-time, and still “attend” class. Love it. This is my ninth course. Due to the expected arrival of my third baby, I will be taking January to March off, so convocation will have to wait until Fall 2010.

My family (I am the only girl)

I am very excited about this course, as it seems to fit with my interests more than most of the other courses I have completed. Unlike many of you, I am not a formal teacher. My interests in learning technologies began when I was working for a market research company. I was looking for a change and, since I had HTML knowledge, they asked me to start designing training for our clients. In the beginning I only knew how to create basic web design and technical writing. I started taking continuing education courses through the University of Calgary and Mount Royal in online documentation and e-learning. I was hooked at that point. I was working with some well-known Fortune 500 companies, and my company was allowing me the flexibility and resources to make some changes to how we delivered our online training. Unfortunately, venture capatalist companies, like the one I was working for, tend to put money into the areas that are “hot” and demanded by clients. As soon as the economy changed and a couple clients decided to discontinue working with us, my team also stop receiving funding to make changes. This meant my fun ended. However, this is also when I found out about this program and found a new job. I am currently working for AlbertaHealth Services (previously the Calgary Health Region). I work as e-Learning Developer in the Patient Care Information Services department. We develop e-learning modules used to train clinical staff on the various patient care applications.  As the various regions merge, there is a push to align patient care applications and start developing provincial training platforms.  I am hoping this drive towards e-records will open more opportunities for our group. In the future, I hope to continue working in business.

When I am not working, I am spending time with my kids. I would like to say that I have a number of hobbies and activities going on,but with two kids, 3 and 1, with another on the way, I am just happy to sit on the couch for the last hour of the day. J I will get some hobbies in two – three years.

I look forward to this semester and having a chance to work with all of you!

 Amy