New to blogging…hello to all
Hi Everyone,
My name is Jay and I just completed a diploma in adult education and beginning my M.Ed in adult education. I am from small-town Manitoba but live in Vancouver now. I have a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and environmental studies through the University of Manitoba. Last August I returned to Canada after three years of living and working in southern Japan as an English and cultural studies teacher at elementary and junior high schools as well as in a private language school. Through the local board of education I also planned and facilitated a community adult English conversation and culture class in the village I was living and had a lot of fun with the group.
one of the schools I worked at in Japan
My hobbies include music (listening to, not making), reading, fitness and travel. I also really enjoy cooking when I have the time, which unfortunately hasn’t been much lately and I have a love for animals.
Through my travels I had the opportunity to work as a volunteer educator in a town on the Thai-Myanmar border where I worked with refugee and underprivileged children as well as some local business owners helping them market products to foreigners.
staring contest with a deer...on a beach.
I do not have a lot of experience in venture technologies or entrepreneurship which is part of my reason for taking the course. I would like to learn more about emerging technologies and how these can be incorporated into adult program development and deliverance. Through this course I hope to increase my skillset and tie together adult learning theory from other courses into the opportunities available with education technology. Though I am not in the MET program, I look forward to learning with the diverse group of people in this course as it seems you all of a lot of experience and knowledge.
It took me a great amount of time to figure out this first post; a sign I may be taking a pretty big leap with this course but I’m up for the challange!
I look forward to learning together with all of you!
Cheers!
Jay
Allie 7:41 pm on September 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yay anthropologists (i’m one too). I’m really interested in intercultural education and technoogy, and so I’m very keen to hear your take on that, having taught in various different settings in Asia.
Jay 7:55 pm on September 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Allie. Glad to meet someone with similar interests. I think technology can do wonders in intercultural education especially in the EFL sector. Recently I have been really interested in newcomers to Canada and their settlement process as well as the various education programs surrouding intercultural ed., integration and settlement.
Everton Walker 8:47 pm on September 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jay,
Great to have you. Lovely interests and experience. Let’s hope we will have a great time learning and sharing ideas.
David William Price 7:55 am on September 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
You’ve had some great life experiences. How do you think we could help other people take risks and have similar experiences? How would technology play a part in that?
Jay 7:22 am on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think helping people take risks and have experiences is not an easy task. Technology’s role would involve helping educate people to see past stereotypes and understand differences since it is often fear or anxiety of the unknown that inhibits peoples risk taking.
Jay 7:53 am on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
on a further note, technology allows us to connect over distances in a virtual space to share differences and knowledge. As a simple example I used a video exchange project in one of my schools to teach my students about American schools and how different they were from Japanese schools and we sent a video of our school (in Japan) to a friend of mine who was an elementary teacher in Nebraska. Technology has allowed us to have `virtual experiences` without the risks for those who may not be able to just relocate themselves physically.
kstooshnov 12:11 pm on September 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
Welcome back from Asia, and it sounds like you had a great experience in Japan and Myanmar – I had lived in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture for three years before returning to Vancouver to start my B.Ed a few years ago. I would like to hear more about the cultural studies teaching you did, and hopefully get to see how similar projects can be designed with learning technologies in mind.
All the best for ETEC 522,
Kyle
Jay 7:36 am on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Kyle. I never did make it to Ishikawa but had some friends that lived there for a while. Most of the cultural studies lessons were incorporated into my English classes. Although I did alot more with the community adult class as I had more flexibility with this class. The one year we made an educational video to introduce the area to foreigners moving to or visiting the area. This was by far one of the more rewarding projects in this class that allowed us to use a learning technology (video).
hall 6:38 pm on September 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It doesn’t appear we have virtually met in this programme before now. It is pleasure to meet you and hope to learn a lot from you as the course proceeds.
Jay 9:57 am on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
thanks for the welcoming. I am hoping to be able to share and discuss many different ideas and knowledge with all of you. I am not very knowledgable in the technology side of education and am looking forward to learning so much this term.
Deb Giesbrecht 5:17 am on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Jay, I hear you on the ‘blogging’ thing. The first time I did this took me quite a while to figure it out.
You must have been back before the earthquake hit Japan? did it impact the area that you were in?
Where in Manitoba do you hail from? I have a lot of small town experiences………….
Jay 7:28 am on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Ya luckily I was back before the earthquake. I got back one year ago in August. The area I was living in was fine since it was a seperate island and quite far from the most devastated cities.
I’m originally from Morden, home of the Corn and Apple Festival. 🙂