Category — Mod01: Introductions

Greetings MET heads,

I am excited to return to the MET program after a one year hiatus.  This is my 6th course and I am looking forward to investigating the entrepreneurial side of educational technology.  I introduced a wiki as a pilot project last year with some success www.iicc.pbworks.comand will be posting the clinic syllabus and guide in this format over the remainder of the term. I am also researching two different clicker systems. The highlight of my summer was canoeing the Bowron Lakes circuit with my 15 year old son.

I am a Clinical Assistant Professor at the UBC Faculty of Dentistry and have been teaching there since 1999 in PBL, clinic and preclinical simulation modules.  Recently I have assumed responsibility of coordinating our 112 3rd and 4th yr clinical dentistry students, 6000 patients and 200 or so part time faculty. Any other cat wranglers out there?

Jim

Hi All, I’m Byron Kask, and this is my 5th course in the MET program. I am a teacher at Robert Bateman Secondary School in Abbotsford, BC. I teach 3d animation, web design, Photoshop imaging, and yearbook. It’s my fifth year teaching these classes, and I’ve been busy reworking my courses with all that I’ve learned in this program so far.

I’m a family man with 3 kids, a four year old son, and two daughters, 2 and a half and 9 months.

Some of my outdoor interests include sailing, camping, fishing, biking, and gardening. Inside I like to eat those veggies I grew and drink the wine that the fruit turned into, play with my kids, and play the occasional round of Battlefield Heroes.

I’m really happy to be part of this group, and I look forward to working with all of you.

Cheers, Byron.

Alix and I at the top of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort

Hello

I’m glad to see so many familiar names and now faces.  I guess it is true that we are building a learning community, it just takes a little time.  This is my 7th MET course and one that I have been looking forward to since the beginning of the program.

I am now officially a grade one French immersion teacher.  This is my first year teaching full time and I am realizing that my cut and paste skills are far superior when the processor isn’t me.  I live and work in Vancouver BC and I agree with Ernie that the poor weather has certainly helped focus my energies back to the classroom both living and virtual.

I look forward to working through the materials with all my new and old classmates.

Au revoir

Noah

p.s. We took the gondola…

My name is Jay Dixon I am currently the Vice Principal of Port Hardy Secondary School.

Technology has been a personal and professional interest area to me for many years. I am always looking to learn something new with technology and try to incorporate aspects to support education within my school.

This fall I am also wearing the hat of the DL coordinator, designer, IT guy, and a few other large hats in order to start up a pilot DL school within our district. It is quite a bit of work,but a great learning experience (especially for a newbie on Moodle and barely hour a day to work on it).

I live in Port McNeill on Northern Vancouver Island which is about a 30 minute commute to Port Hardy. An exciting piece of info about me is that this together with 590 are my last courses in the MET program! About 2 weeks after we submit the final assignments in this course my wife is due with our first child too! I’ll move from late nights of posting to MET  online to late nights of researching online about how to stop my son from crying 🙂
Looking forward to working with all of you!

~Jay

Jeff Laird

My name is Jeff Laird.

I currently teach Information & Communications Technology and Digital Media at the high school level in Victoria, BC.  My background is wide and varied in education and I have taught K-12 and was given the illustrious title of “distributed education applications specialist” while working at the college level.

I have always had a strong focus of using technology in my teaching practice and over the past few years have focused on creating a blended learning environment migrating coursework to Moodle and allowing students to blur the barrier between time and space in their classroom.

I have a great interest in the use of games, emulation, and social networking in education with a strong bent towards open source philosophies the delivery and development of educational technology.

Ack!  Which module should I choose?

Hello ETEC522,

At present, I am teaching in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  I teach business, technology and math at a high school (grades 10-12).  I have been teaching for eight years and I believe my niche is the students in grades 10-12.  I have been enjoying the MET program and decided to take this course because I find it interesting to combine business with technology as I believe technology and business goes hand in hand.  I already see some of my former classmates and look forward to working with more of them.

I am a firm believer in traveling and every year I spin that globe, see where my finger lands and head that way for almost 2 months of the summer.  I have found travel another form of Education.

Jen