Hello all!
I’m Andrew Dunn (he/him), and this is one of two courses I’m taking this semester, which will be my 6th and 7th courses in the MET – almost there! I’m originally from the UK but have been in Canada since 2006 and am slowly getting the hang of it. I somehow ended up in the EdTech world after retraining from my original career (as an archaeologist) in the late 90s. I’ve worked mostly in the educational and healthcare sectors, with some forays into commercial elearning development.
Nowadays I work as the online learning manager at Vancouver Community College, a role that involves advising and supporting faculty on educational technologies and their effective deployment. We use Moodle as our LMS, so a lot of my time is spent thinking of ways we can use Moodle to improve the student experience. Mobile learning is very popular here – across all programs 70% of our students use a mobile device to access the online parts of their course at least some of the time.
For fun (although work can be fun too) I like to ride my bike – I just bought a new Brompton folding bike (obligatory pic below), about which I am unreasonably excited. I also enjoy watching (though I’m too old and useless to play) football/soccer. I play accordion and classical guitar, both very poorly, and I sing tenor in the Vancouver Gaelic Choir.
I’m intrigued by the experimental nature of this course. I’m hoping that both the course materials and the experimental delivery format will be transferrable to my role at VCC. And I am looking forward to learning with you all.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
That’s very cool that you sing with the Vancouver Gaelic choir. Tenor is not an easy part to sing either … let alone in Gaelic!
And the worst part is… I’m a baritone! They make me sing tenor as it’s too big a stretch for our bassists and tenors are at a premium, it seems. So if you know of any tenors in Vancouver who want to join a choir… The Gaelic part is easy – we have a native speaker who helps with the language, and about 50% of our repertoire is in English/Scots. And Duolingo has a Scottish Gaelic course too.
I live in Nanaimo, but I’ll keep my ear to the ground to see if any of my Vancouver friends are looking to join a choir!
Hi Andrew,
Nice to be taking another course with you! I won’t let my husband see that folding bike, as he’s always trying to convince to get another one and I say we don’t have storage space! I’m looking forward to working with, and learning from, you!
Ha! When my sig oth saw the bike she thought it could have been worse – it could have been a sports car. A Brompton midlife crisis is more manageable, finance wise…
Hi Andrew, so lovely to “meet” you! I am not a bike person, so I’ve never seen anything like yours before, and I’m excited for you! As someone who loves travelling, I see its convenience, and it simply looks cool. I’m also very interested in your career change since I see it as a different field, and I look forward to hearing about your professional opinions throughout the course as an archaeologist and someone who has much experience in online education!
Hi Michelle, nice to meet you too! These bikes are very popular in east Asia (mostly in Singapore and Taiwan) – I think because they work well in densely populated urban spaces where storage is at a premium.