It’s great to meet you!
I think I’m one of the few students here, who isn’t working in education. I’m a web developer and designer by trade, currently working as the senior digital communications associate at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. I manage our external website, train and support staff on using the CMS, and ensure the online experience is inclusive for our clients and families. I’m passionate about digital accessibility and presented a toolkit on building a business case at the 2018 Accessibility Conference at the University of Guelph.
While I don’t have extensive teaching experience, I’m eager to bring my design and accessibility background with online learning. To date, I’ve completed the following courses: ETEC 500, 510, 512 and 524. ETEC 523 will be my fifth course in my MET journey and so far, it’s been a positive experience. I’m looking forward to learning with everyone here!
When I’m not in MET or working, I enjoy going on epic road trips with my husband and two dogs. We’ve driven across Canada, coast-to-coast. Our last road trip was from Toronto, Ontario to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where we hiked to the summit of Gros Morne Mountain, saw icebergs and visited colourful towns along the way. I think this tweet below captures the beauty of that trip:
Hi Aiann! Thanks for sharing the link to your website, beautiful work! I enjoy the MET program because of the amazing connections outside of education that I have gained and the perspective of those outside of education. Looking forward to hearing your perspective as a web developer/designer!
Nice to see you again, Aiann. The designer/developer part of me is excited for this course so it makes sense that I’d see you here too.
Aiann, I was encouraged in 524 to view your LMS project, and it made all the difference in my success. Seeing what you did allowed me to put together the theory with practice, and I would like to thank you for that and for sharing your work above. I am definitely going to check them out to learn more from you.
I’d love to hear more about your drive to NL and Gros Morne, as that is on our bucket list. We’ve done Saskatoon to Toronto and Niagara to PEI, but we’ve still got some ground to cover – we’d love to take the cats, but I don’t know how much they would enjoy it!
Thanks for the feedback about the LMS project, that’s great to hear. I’ve only been an end-user of Canvas, so it was fun getting into the backend and building a course from scratch. I’m looking forward to some of the hands-on assignments in this course as well.
The west coast of Newfoundland is spectacular, there’s rich history with the Vikings and early French settlers. We stayed in this tiny town called Port au Choix, had the best salty, fried cod and met some friendly locals. We avoided driving past dusk due to moose and foggy roads – something to keep in mind.
The furthest we’ve gone is actually from Toronto to Vancouver by car. We camped along the way, my favourite was in Jasper. I also went to Saskatoon, they had an amazing dog park by the river. (Can you tell we’re dog people?)
Hi Aiann,
It’s so great to have a designer/dev here! I think user centred design, UX, and visual communications is the left hand to Ed Tech’s right hand and is so important for effective implementation of any of the pedagogical theories and approaches we discuss here. Digital literacy is so often talked about, but mastering a lot of the software and being able to build good websites and materials is key.
I run a design studio now, worked as a web dev for many years, have taught UX and UI, and lectured a web development course at a design school last year! So nice to meet someone else who works in this realm.
I’m already itching to possibly discuss the upcoming group project with you 🙂
Also, your dogs are adorable and your drives across Canada are breathtakingly beautiful!
J