A final ePortfolio synthesis reflection, posted in the Synthesis page including a:
1-2 paragraph précis of your flight path;
2015-2016 is my eleventh year teaching. I have worked in both middle school and high school grades as well as some teaching in K-2. I have used technology consistently in my classroom for six years. The last six years were a mix of grade levels and subjects, but roughly (except this current school year as I am teaching Grade 2) I was teaching Social Studies to the two earliest years of middle school (ages 11-13). In my Social Studies classroom about 25% of what happened in the classroom was in a digital learning environment. The most common technology used in my classroom was blogs (especially for reflections), an LMS (as a repository for resources and a place for online chat/ collaboration/a venue for peer evaluation and feedback) and various web 2.0 tools/ websites. My goals in ETEC 565a are to gain knowledge and skills in the LMS Blackboard Learn, refine my understanding of setting up a Moodle course and gather tools to judge effectively and choose appropriate technologies for different learning situations.
I have experience with course design and teaching in Moodle, Google Classroom, and Edmodo. I have moved away from Moodle in the last three years. One reason that I stopped using Moodle was that it was easier to use Google Classrooms to reach my course goals. Whether looking at Moodle or Google Classroom, I have had few issues when dealing with multimedia; most LMS systems are user-friendly for the course designer. I sometimes consider becoming more proficient in LMS course design in case I want to leave face-to-face K-12 teaching and work solely in online learning. There could be several scenarios where this would be advantageous. Since I live abroad and work on contracts, I could potentially have the freedom to live in more places if teaching online. Secondly, I could teach online when/ if I move back to Canada solely or as I seek a face-to-face teaching job. There are three resources that I think I will need to master the technologies in this course: time, examples and a troubleshooting system (whether that is self-directed such as a Google search or Youtube video or a more formal system, potentially even reaching out to my past mentors). Time is finite in the course but my time management will be important. I hope to allow myself the time to explore and tinker in course design/ LMS course building. Examples are equally helpful as well as detrimental.
Substantive, comprehensive and detailed reflection about your overall ETEC 565A experience
My overall experience in ETEC 565A will be described in 6 sections. I will comment on the course based on each of the four assignments that I completed, as well as my 565A ePortfolio and lastly, a catch-all section for thoughts that don’t fit specifically to the assignments or my ePortfolio.
Assignment #1 – Online Delivery Platform Evaluation Rubric.
I enjoyed working with my group to create this rubric. It was also considerate that the group assignment was early in the course. Otherwise, group assignments can be onerous when nearing the end of the course when everyone is busy working individually on final assignments. This makes it much more difficult to work in a synchronous way especially depending where group participants are located globally. To see my reflection from after Assignment #1, please click here.
Assignment #2 – LMS Introductory Module
I began ETEC 565A with prior Moodle experience. However, what I hadn’t anticipated was the difference between when I had constructed Moodle courses for my classes and what it would be like to construct a Moodle course (or part thereof) as an assignment. There were two major differences between these two constructions: a blended versus a fully online environment and an authentic audience vs. a potential future audience. As noted in my week 13 video discussion, I had not realized, before ETEC 565a, the volumes of work that go into the course design of a 100% online course. When I received my grade and feedback after handing in Assignment #2, I was equally pleased and frustrated. The grade reflected the work that I had done, but I was frustrated because when I read the feedback many of the omissions or areas that needed attention where things that I was capable of doing but had overlooked. Of course, hindsight is when we see the error of our ways, but I had wished that I could go back and clean up some areas that I hadn’t.
I also struggled at times to create a course for students I hadn’t met. I suppose that this is ‘business as usual’ for online instructors, but I am a face-to-face teacher,. Except at the beginning of the school year, I am usually armed with the knowledge of who my students are, how they learn best and what activities/ assessment/ environment is going to suit them best. Not that I tailor everything I make to their particular needs as there are other areas to focus on such as curriculum indicators to cover or what works best for a particular activity, but I have some data and experience to work with.
Assignment #3 – Content Module & Digital Story
I was engaged and focussed while I put my Content Module and Digital Story together. This focus was born out of many areas – good organization and direction I utilised and drew from the course requirements, pre-constructed course goals I specified by having already designed the assessment during the Introductory Module and lastly, my prior knowledge of using most parts of Moodle.
I struggled with a few requirements. The small group forum and the banner/ icons as title were both areas that I had to seek help with. I am pleased with the overall flow of the activities within the content module. I think that I have balanced the variety of activities, students have some choice as to how they complete their assignments, and the activities allow students to inquire.
Again, my biggest hurdle was to design a course that could be used but was not going to be used with any students that I currently know. During decisions that I made, there was no threshold or limit that stopped my work but also no ideal or expected overall experience that I was trying to achieve. Besides, of course, trying to stay firm to all that I know from my teaching practice and experience, connections to learning theories such as constructivism and best practice pedagogical standards.
My digital story – My digital story reflection is contained here.
Assignment #4 – Final Synthesis
Having arrived at the end of the course which coincides with the end of my Master’s work in the MET program, I am elated to have made it to this point. I was working on ETEC 590 simultaneously as ETEC 565a, and I think that both of these courses though demanding, are a great finish line for my program. Writing this synthesis has allowed me to look back over the last thirteen weeks and comprehensively analysis what was covered, what I did and the concepts/ ideas that were encountered.
565A ePortfolio
Since posting my Flight path on January 17th, I have made an effort to post all work including discussions/ case study discussions, reflections and assignments to my 565a ePortfolio. I like to post to my ePortfolio at the same time as I post to our New Learning Space blog as this gave me a sense of accomplishment to see my ePortfolio grow as the course progressed. Not to mention that it has also created a great space to showcase all of the work that I completed in the course.
I wish that every course within my MET program had allowed me/ prompted me to create an ePortfolio, or I had taken the initiative from early on. All of my coursework is contained in organised folders in my Google Drive. If I wanted, I could flip this into blogs or another type of ePortfolio. I suppose that by completing ETEC 590, I have done this in a critical and reflective but not comprehensive way.
Other experiences
As Natasha had indicated early in the course, ETEC 565a is an intensive course that asks a lot from its participants. I agree with her! The other experience that I should reflect on is taking part in the weekly case study discussions and discussions. To complete the assigned readings and prepare a substantive response, I learned early on to schedule enough time for this process every week. Google calendar was my best friend to be able to do this. The one area in this process that I wish I had had more time is in reading and responding to my classmate’s posts. By mid way through the course, I was struggling to participate as much as I would have liked to but my time was being taken up by working on assignments and especially in my LMS Moodle course.
Substantive, comprehensive and detailed reflection about next steps for you, in terms of your practice in educational technology, which could include what technologies you hope to explore moving forward, or how you plan on engaging as a lifelong learner in terms of educational technology;
1.Next steps in educational technology- Technology I hope to explore more moving forward
Regarding LMS, I am still interested to see more planning and design in Connect albeit I say that in consideration of the attitude promoted by Porto (2015) who foresees the downfall of traditional LMS due to social media and the popularity of MOOCs. At this point in my career, the use of proprietary LMS systems does not extend beyond Moodle and mainly focuses on those attached to my places of employment. Regarding the K-12 system, many schools take advantage of the suite of apps offered by Google Education.
My interest in Connect is more from a personal stand point. In the same way that I love to explore new Web 2.0 tools, I also like to discover the inner set-up and configuration of LMS systems used in post-secondary institutions.
- Next steps in educational technology- My plans as a life long learner, in terms of ed tech
I think for the time being I will remain, at most, a blended learning teacher. ETEC 565a has made clear to me the investment of time and thought that online instructors put into their course design. Which doesn’t mean that I will never teach a fully online course in the future, but I am more realistically able to judge what that might look like now.
References
Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age, Chapter 8. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Everhart, N., & Harris, F. J. (2002). Using Primary Sources and Creative Writing to Teach Middle School History. Knowledge Quest, 31(2), 52-54.
Hodges, G. C. (06/01/2013). Changing english: Reading within families: Taking a historical perspective University of London, Institute of Education. doi:10.1080/1358684X.2013.788292
Lin, Y., Lin, Y., & Huang, Y. (2011). Development of a diagnostic system using a testing-based approach for strengthening student prior knowledge. Computers & Education, 57(2), 1557-1570. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.03.004
McNamee, S. and Moscheta, M. (2015), Relational Intelligence and Collaborative Learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2015: 25–40. doi: 10.1002/tl.20134
Nel, C., Dreyer, C., & Carstens, W. A. M. (2010). Educational technologies: A classification and evaluation. Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 35(4), 238-258. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ajol.info/index.php/tvl/article/download/53794/42346
Porto, S. (2015). The uncertain future of Learning Management Systems. The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement. Retrieved from http://www.evolllution.com/opinions/uncertain-future-learning-management-systems/
Sumerian School Days [Text and Object]. (2016). Children and Youth in History. Retrieved 10 March 2016, from https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/408