ETEC 565 Synthesis Reflection
Précis Flight Path
When I began this course at the beginning of May I really struggled with setting concrete goals for myself. With some prompting from John and some serious reflection on my part on what I wanted to get out of this course I was able to come up with three main goals for myself. In general my goals were to focus on how learning management systems (LMS) could help me increase collaboration and reflection in my face-to-face class and how a LMS could be used to provide students with feedback to increase student learning. Through this course I made a point of focusing on these goals, spending a significant amount of my time learning, exploring and experimenting in Moodle.
I am confident now that I have been able to meet my goals on how I can use the LMS Moodle to support me in increasing student collaboration and reflection. As for assessment, I would like to devote more time exploring Moodle in this capacity. I know that I can use the various activities offered in a formative manner to guide my instruction, to provide students with specific immediate feedback, but I would like to further investigate the collecting and reporting aspects of Moodle.
eLearning Toolkit
The eLearning toolkit provided in ETEC 565 was a great resource available to reference throughout the course. As we all entered this course with different prior knowledge and expertise, this resource allowed for differentiation in the class. Below is a chart that outlines the impact that the toolkit had on my learning.
| Tool | Impact on Learning |
| Learning Management Systems
|
Since the goals that I had set out for myself related to LMS, this was one of the tools I spend some time exploring in depth. Before beginning my Moodle course site I watched a number of Moodle tutorials and YouTube videos. I appreciated the general overview provided in the toolkit describing LMS. |
| Web Design and HTML authoring
|
This resource was very valuable to me, in particular the resources related to web design. I devoted time exploring webpages that suck, top web design mistakes and the two checklists. While I was not able to implement all of the suggestions these resources helped me make conscious decisions when designing my Moodle course. |
| Synchronous Communication Tools
|
I have had the opportunity to use a variety of synchronous communication tools myself as a learner but have yet to use them in my class. The design questions in the eLearning toolkit will be questions I can refer back to when considering tools for synchronous communication. In my Moodle I have set up an online classroom using blackboard, and hope to be able to use this to provide online synchronous tutorials for students at the end of each unit. These tutorials will be recorded and achieved for students to view asynchronously if they cannot attend the live class. |
| Social Software
|
I still am not sure where I stand with incorporating social software into my classroom. I appreciated that the eLearning toolkit activity prompted us to explore terms of use and explore ownership of content as it is easy to jump in with two feet before exploring this important information. As our district looks towards implementing a BYOD plan, I know that I will have to spend more time considering how social software can be used in the classroom to increase student learning. |
| Weblogs | I have never used blogs in my classroom before, and I appreciated that the toolkit provided me with the most popular educational blog tools that are available at this time. My biggest take away however related to weblogs was not from the toolkit, but from the reading we did in week 10 on blogs. It was here that the purpose of blogs resonated with me and I came to a better understanding on how they should be used in a classroom setting. |
| Wikis
|
Before this course I had never worked with wikis. I enjoyed week 9 where we interacted on the wiki. For me this was a great change of pace, it allowed for the collaborative building of understanding and gave me insights on how I could use a wiki I my class. In addition, I gained insights on how I should structure wiki use to ensure that all member’s voices are heard in the discussion. It was interesting to learn in the toolkit that this was the original vision that Tim Berners-Lee had for the internet. |
| Multimedia and Authoring Tools
|
My husband and I take wedding and family photos for family and friends, so I am familiar with Flikr, iPhoto and PhotoGallery. I did however appreciate the Audacity resource and will spend some time exploring this tool as I have a few projects in my Math 9 course where I would like students to record audio clips. |
| Accessibility
|
This is an area I need to spend more time exploring. Now that I have the beginnings of my Moodle course designed I think that exploring this tool in more depth would be very valuable in ensuring that the content is accessible by all students. |
| mLearning | The activity in this section was a good reminder when considering implementing technology into the class. While I was able to access Connect and Moodle and easily find out important information, I would not want to publish any work using my mobile device. |
Overall Experience
In our district there has been a significant focus on students acquiring 21st century skills. In doing so our district developed the SD23 Attributes. I have a strong belief that we must model what we wish our students to achieve so I have decided to share my experience in ETEC 565 in terms of our districts attributes: Learner, Thinker, Contributor, Collaborator and Innovator.
Learner: Being a learner in our district means being engaged, and seeking understanding. Through this course my understanding of the appropriate integration of educational technology and understanding of available tools grew exponentially. Not only was I exposed to new understanding I was forced to explore and reflect on them. The learning opportunities in this course brought me to a number of firsts. This was the first time I used Moodle, this was the first time I participated in a Wiki, this was the first time I used Glogster, this was the first time I use Stupeflix and the list does not end there.
Thinker: The weekly readings, discussions and responses required me to be a thinker throughout this course. The weekly discussion prompts guided by a question or a scenario required me to analyze the given information and transfer my understanding from the reading and my prior experience to respond in a meaningful way. Reading other’s responses and the provided summaries allowed me to deepen my understanding and think about what I would do in the given situation. The articles by Bates and Poole, Anderson, Downes and Lamb had the biggest impact on my learning.
Contributor: In order to feel part of this online community I needed to make sure that I regularly contributed to the weekly tasks. These tasks allowed me to learn from colleagues and build a more global understanding of the topics presented.
Collaborator: In this class we had the opportunity to collaborate in many different ways. The discussion forums, wiki and blackboard session provided me with examples of different ways students can collaborate in either a synchronous or asynchronous manner. The collaborative experience that I enjoyed most however was creating the rubric in week 4. During this week I found myself most accountable to the assigned tasks and was able to learn more closely from 3 colleagues. I would encourage more of this in this course.
Innovator: One task in particular in this course required me to be an innovator, designing a digital story. Reading the criteria for this task left me unsure of exactly what I was supposed to create, and it became apparent that others in the course felt the same way. However, not surprisingly this was done very purposefully and now that I have completed the assignment I can say that I appreciated this. This task provided me with the freedom to explore tools of my choice, create an artifact that I thought would be meaningful for my class, and it allowed my creative juices to flow.
Next Steps & Plans
It is hard to believe that this course is already coming to an end as it seems as though we just began this learning journey. When I began building my e-portfolio I incorporated the quote by Richard Elmore, you learn the work by doing the work. This quote describes my next steps and plans as I move forward. I feel now that I am better prepared to incorporate educational technology into the class, but I need the time to begin doing so. By transferring my understanding to my teaching content I will be able to reflect upon the process and make adjustments along the way, in hopes of creating a more dynamic, engaging and rigours learning experience for my students. Being able to pilot my Moodle course in my class, and incorporate some of the web tools we have been exposed to will be my starting point. I will continue to explore new tools, add content to my Moodle course and explore the capabilities of Moodle’s reporting system.
Thank-you for an outstanding professional learning opportunity that pushed me out of my comfort zone, forced me to take risks, think critically and deepen my understanding of incorporating technology into the classroom.
Michelle