Hi and welcome to my legacy of learning final project for ETEC 533 – technology in the math and science classroom. Before delving into my final project, I thought it would be important for me to describe my professional career as a teacher and provide a background of where I teach.

I attended U.B.C. for five years completing both my undergraduate degree in Biology and also my Bachelors degree in education. I was a T.O.C. in the Surrey School District for approximately a year, an experience that allowed me to survey the different kinds of learning environments available. Technology was available but its use at this time was usually geared towards simple activities such as web browsing and word processing. I found myself in a position working with at-risk youth aged 15-19 who did not succeed in the mainstream school system for a variety of reasons.

Upon beginning this experience, student engagement became a priority of mine as I found that many of these students lacked the motivation and fundamental skills to succeed in school. I had limited experience with technology in education and all of a sudden, there was an opportunity for a pilot project in which selected schools would receive a class set of 30 iPads, Macbook Pro’s, and an open wireless campus. We were one of the lucky schools selected and the question then became, what do we do now?

Initially, many of us thought of the iPad as a replacement for the laptop and in practice, it was clear that this is not the case. We found that we were using them for the same old web browsing and word processing tasks as we did a decade ago. There was nothing innovative about it and even the educational apps we experimented with worked well in small doses. Then came the introduction of iBooks author and iBooks2. I was amazed by its ease of use and after allowing my students to experiment with it, was taken back by the reception it received. Student engagement was higher than ever and reflected through my observations and attendance rates. Allowing students the option of becoming content creators with this kind of technology was empowering and satisfying at the same time. I never received any formal training in its use but it didn’t take long to figure out its inner workings. Upon helping other teachers adopt this technology, I soon realized that an instructional guide for educators could be very beneficial.

The life experiences I mention above along with pedagogical considerations I learned in this course were instrumental in my decision to focus on this Technology Enhanced Learning Experience (TELE). I hope you enjoy the rationale and artifacts that I have synthesized.

Sincerely,

Manpreet (Manny) Loyla