Flight Path
The Universe is the Limit
In thinking what a flight path to education using technology would look like, I first thought of what I would fly in. A helicopter came to mind because of its superior capabilities over an airplane to fly inches from the ground, hover, and fly in reverse. This relates to teaching a new concept: you do not want to teach above the student’s ability to understand; resting on a topic for a while is sometimes necessary; and sometimes you have to backup and go over it again. Next I thought about where I would fly. Since I live in Canada that was my first thought but we know that technology has the ability to connect students and teachers around the world. This was good, but not good enough. So, I decided upon flying in space. The sky is not the limit, the universe is. And who knows, with the ending of the space shuttle program close at hand, the space helicopter might be the next new thing in space travel.
I have been teaching pharmacy technician students for six years. I have primarily learned how to teach on-the-job, flying by the seat of my pants. This method seemed to be working just fine but due to the rapid changes in technology I decided to make sure I was not only meeting the needs of my students and our profession but surpassing them. The UBC Masters of Educational Technology program offered to provide me with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to teach using best practices grounded in the best theory. So far, I have learned so much. I am excited about being able to learn and create in the ETEC 565A course.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
My college uses the Desire2Learn LMS. While I have used Moodle a bit in another MET course, my focus has been on learning and practicing with the tools available to me in D2L. I post most of my classroom material online and have used Chat, Discussion Forum, DropBox, and Elluminate Live™. We have recently added e-Portfolio and a Blogging tool. My goal here will be to learn how to use these new tools effectively in my program. An article by Kerawall et al (2008) offers some insightful information about blogging in higher education. Joyes et al (2010) describe the complexities of implementing e-Portfolio in education as well as suggestions for doing so.
Assessment
Assessment using technology is an area that I am extremely interested in learning more about. I recently went to a seminar presented by Dr. David DiBattista who spoke about creating effective multiple-choice (MC) questions. I appreciated his talk and I will certainly use his suggestions to improve my many, many MC tests, however, I am interested in learning more about how to use different technologies to test students differently. Using technology to administer a MC test is straight-forward, writing a quality MC question takes some skill. Pellegrino and Quellmalz (2011) describe using “different kinds of assessments for different purposes, to a balanced design that would ensure the three critical features of comprehensiveness, coherence, and continuity” (p. 132). Another article by Clarke-Midura and Dede (2010) describes the use of technologies to provide a richer assessment experience for students. Both articles will be helpful to me.
Social Software
This is one area I have been resistant to exploring and using. However, my students have shown me that they like using applications like Facebook™ to communicate with each other for educational purposes. Part of my job as a teacher, I think, is to be responsive to the needs and desires of my students. I feel it is my duty then to investigate how, or even if, I should be using tools like Facebook™ and Twitter™ in the classroom. Selwyn (2009) proposes that using social networking tools in education is allowed “to continue unabated and firmly ‘backstage’” (p. 173). I must say at this point that I tend to agree.
Multimedia
I like using YouTube™ videos in the classroom, mostly for levity either to begin a class or during or near break time. I have had some success locating and using educational videos as well but most of these come from relevant and valid health related websites. I also provide my students with online flashcards at flashcardmachine.com. A recent article that I read by Basoglu and Akdemir (2010) suggests that providing the cards for students’ mobile phones might be more effective. The Flashcard Machine website does allow for uploading flashcards to an iPod.™
References
Basoglu, E., & Akdemir, O. (2010). A comparison of undergraduate students’ English vocabulary learning: using mobile phones and flash cards. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 9(3), 1-7. Retrieved May 22, 2011 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ898010.pdf
Clarke-Midura, J., & Dede, C. (2010). Assessment, technology, and change. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(3), 309-328. Retrieved May 22, 2011 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ882508.pdf
Joyes, G., Gray, L., & Hartnell-Young, E. (2010). Effective practice with e-portfolios: how can the UK experience inform implementation? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(1), 15-27. Retrieved from ERIC database. (EJ877550).
Kerawall, L., Minocha, S., Kirkup, G., & Conole, G. (2008). An empirically grounded framework to guide blogging in higher education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 25, 31-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2008.00286.x
Pellegrino, J., & Quellmalz, E. (2011). Perspectives on the integration of technology and assessment. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 43(2), 119-134. Retrieved May 19, 2011 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1c87709f-e33e-4b19-a4ff-3bc348ec295b%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=107
Selwyn, N. (2009). Faceworking: exploring students’ education-related use of Facebook. Learning, Media and Technology, 34(2), 157-174. doi:10.1080/17439880902923622