I am a Computer Studies lecturer at a teacher training institution in Jamaica. I have 10 years of teaching experience, all at the post-secondary level. I have a passion for teaching with technology since I see technology as our greatest hope for so many things, from enhancing our student’s performance to creating school linkages to enable students to engage in meaningful educational projects with peers locally and throughout the world.
In this digital age, the role of educators is changing from being a disseminator of information to a facilitator or moderator which dictates that the way of teaching must be adjusted. I consider myself as an educator who strives for constant improvement and ongoing professional development which is my main reason for taking the MET course.
In an attempt to effectively cater to the needs of learners in this digital age, I engage my students in activities that utilise digital tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasts among others on a regular basis which they find very intriguing. I have also been involved in the training of secondary school teachers across the island in Technology Integration. Albeit I have been teaching about and integrating technology, there are many others available for education I am yet to learn about and utilise in my teaching and learning experiences. Therefore, from taking ETEC 565a, I look to expand my repertoire in learning technologies.
After completing this MET course, I plan to provide purposeful digital-age learning experiences in an attempt to make my teaching and learning environments more engaging and inline with the needs of today’s learners who demand excellent, inspired, interactive teaching (Ashraf, 2009). Against this background, my goal for this course is to learn as much as I can about how to effectively infuse lessons with appropriate digital technologies, particularly social software, as these create communities in which people come together to collaborate, learn and build knowledge (McLoughlin and Lee, 2007).
Although I have been integrating technology in my lessons, I believe I need to enhance my capabilities in preparing effective assessments using technology. From taking this course, I hope to learn about innovative ways of creating varied assessments that cover the multiple dimensions of learning that teaching with technology has to offer.
It is my intention to create blended learning environments for a few of the courses I teach, therefore I am looking forward to learn the art of designing learning platforms using MOODLE learning management system so I will be able complement my face-to-face delivery and most importantly, extend my classroom time and provide opportunities for students to interact, contribute ideas and collaborate.
Reference
Ashraf, B. (2009). Teaching the Google-eyed YouTube generation. Education and Training. Vol. 51 No. 5/6, 2009, pp. 343-352, doi 10.1108/00400910910987165. Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0040-0912
McLoughlin, C. & Lee, M. J. W. (2007). Social software and participatory learning: Pedagogical choices with technology affordances in the Web 2.0 era. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/mcloughlin.pdf