Continuing to work on this assignment with a partner, rather than alone, afforded me some time and advantages that I am not normally used to when planning my instruction.  Having a partner to work with allowed me to step back and look at my ideas objectively for a time before suggesting and allowed me to receive feedback on my ideas from another professional.

My biggest challenge in creation of this module was trying to mesh together my old ideas of what an online course is, with what I have learned over the course of my MET journey.  The last time I taught an online course was 2013 and even at that point, much of the logistics of the course were dictated:  there shall be so many assessments, there must be open and “alway-on” communication between instructor and student (it was actually very hard for me to even define office hours, as in the past I was expected to respond immediately, unless I was sleeping!)

Using our guiding contexts, it was relatively easy to create technology that is sound in pedagogy, content and knowledge (TPCK) as both Laurie and myself have the technology experience and I have a deep background in the content.  Creating a student-centred environment seemed, for me, to be the biggest challenge.  I struggle with how to make a content-heavy course like Calculus centred on the students, minimizing lectures.  This is something I struggle with in my daily practice as well.

Personally, I am 100% for allowing broad solutions and open access to materials and creations.  However, due to various legislations (FOIPPA in BC and LAFOIP in SK, for example) that is not possible.  As well, individual institutions have their own policies and procedures related to openness of access.

My school division invested heavily in Google Apps (GAFE) about 4 years ago.  There were numerous convention sessions,inservices, and consultant visits to schools to train staffs and bring them up to speed on the features and abilities of GAFE.  We were encouraged, and in some cases required, to share information with each other through GAFE.  In reality, while it may seem that this was a restrictive policy, it actually broadened the amount and type of resources available to all in my division.  Many teachers took their enitre home directory and uploaded it into Google Drive and made it searchable to all.  If I was searching for resources for a specific topic I could just search the Drive app and find resources created by other teachers.

Sadly, due to a combination of LAFOIP and school division policy, that sort of mass-sharing is no longer encouraged.  One of the main reasons is that the school division has an ownership claim over anything created by teachers and used with students.

Many of my science colleagues still share resources informally, which is awesome in itself, but it is frustrating that the broad range of resources that was once available has dwindled.