Stock image by Andrea Lzzotti

A Little Bit About Me
I am a digital services librarian who grew up on the sunny isle of Singapore and now reside in Edmonton. A sense of adventure (some say foolhardiness) and wanderlust brought me to the frigid winters of Alberta. My frequent childhood jaunts to the library and bookstores with mom and to the movies with dad helped shape the person I am today. I am always happy in the company of a good book or film.

Professionally, I started out as a reference librarian in academic libraries. My main role was to provide research support to faculty and undergrads. A secondary role, one that seemed a natural fit, was to provide training and assistance in using the library’s digital technologies. I was involved in a number of exciting and challenging projects when I worked in the Education Library at the University of Alberta, including the migration of the library’s web content to the user-friendly, budget-friendly and mobile-friendly LibGuides platform and the design and development of a library research module on Blackboard and later Moodle for BEd students. I was intrigued by the potential of digital technologies for student engagement and learning.

I recently made a transition to a public library which brings new challenges and opportunities. For one thing, I am challenged to work with everyone in the community – children, middle graders, teens, adults, seniors – not just profs and students. What remains unchanged is my passion for serving the community by facilitating learning with technology.

My Goals in the MET Program
The combination of being curious about the nature of learning and being something of a technology nerd nudged me towards the path of UBC’s Master in Educational Technology program. A lot of what I had been doing was giving students the digital literacy and research skills that would make them adaptable in 21st-century learning and work settings. Yet I was relatively inexperienced in educational design. I felt that I needed to gain a broader perspective on pedagogical approaches, theoretical frameworks and practical applications, so that I can make informed decisions based on solid research, rather than randomly chasing the latest technology fad or sticking with the tried and tested.

My Goals in ETEC 565A
I love electives because they allow us to choose our own learning adventures while pursuing the MET degree. I was drawn to ETEC 565A by the course description on mastering practical skills in selecting, use and evaluating educational technologies through hands-on experience. Given what I’ve learned so far, I am excited about the Learning Management Systems, and evaluation and assessment tools that are being offered for consideration.

As Chickering and Ehrmann (1996) put it, “Knowing what you know and what you don’t focuses learning.” Specifically, I’m a novice professional who would like to expand my expertise and extend my skills in these areas:

• LMS – My knowledge of Moodle and WordPress has largely been self-taught and I have not exploited the full potential of these tools. Having taken ETEC courses that are offered on various platforms, I understand the affordances and limitations of each one. I will need online resources and hours of tinkering to become familiar with customizing the interfaces and functionalities. I hope to develop effective learning modules while applying appropriate frameworks and models.
• Assessment – I have created some library modules on Blackboard and Moodle previously, but they did not adequately address students’ prior knowledge and diverse learning styles. I would like to investigate the various assessment rubrics and options available for more personalized learning experiences.
• Multimedia – I love film and am eager to explore the use of software to create interactive video tutorials. Since pre-packaged information is less important in our Google-fied world, I would like to develop learning modules that will provide opportunities for students to become authors of multimedia content and learn responsible and ethical use of online resources.
• Social Media – “Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated” (Chickering & Ehrbaum, 1996). Research on online learning demonstrates the value of collaborative learning. Social learning is something I need to explore. Thankfully, I can tap into students’ knowledge of and enthusiasm for social media and provide opportunities for them to collaborate and share knowledge with an authentic, responsive audience.

So that’s my flight path in about 800 words. A number of the items in my flight path has been simmering on the back burner for months, even years. I will require lots of time to explore and no doubt, my path will evolve and change. I will keep the design light and flexible. I may have a serendipitous discovery of something I haven’t thought of. Or I may have to scale things back a bit to achieve my goals. One thing is sure, I will employ a fun framework because humour is a valuable asset to any learning arsenal!

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Resources I may need

Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Athabasca, AB: Athabasca University Press.

Bates, A. W. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S. C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved from http://www.aahea.org/bulletin/articles/sevenprinciples.htm

Dick, W., & Carey, L. (1990). The systematic design of instruction. New York: Harper Collins.

Jonassen, D. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory, Vol II,  pp. 215-239. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Jones, K. M. L. (2013). Learning from libraries that use WordPress: Content-management system best practices and case studies. Chicago: American Library Association.

Mestre, L. S. (2012). Designing effective library tutorials: A guide for accommodating multiple learning styles. Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing.

Purcell, M. A. (2012). The networked library: A guide for the educational use of social networking sites. Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth.

Rice, W. H. (2007). Moodle teaching techniques: Creative ways to use Moodle for constructing online learning solutions. Birmingham, UK: Packt Pub.

Scott, A. D. (2012). WordPress for education: Create interactive and engaging e-learning websites with WordPress. Birmingham, UK: Packt Pub.

Wankel, C. (2011). Educating educators with social media. Bingley, UK : Emerald Group Pub.