My Goals For This Course

What I am to learn during the course:

• To experiment and create design solutions for different educational audiences
• To better understand technology integration into instructional design, especially in the classroom
• To be more knowledgeable about the benefits and drawbacks of synchronous and asynchronous communication/information
• To be more critical minded about the way assessment and technology come together in backward design

What skills to improve in working with technologies:

• Become even more familiar with the functionality, design, and structures of various Learning Management Systems (LMS), in order to select relevant and appropriate technological tool(s) for use
• To better understand and to create components of a well structured educational module/course

Which technologies and/or digital tools I plan to start using:

• I want to better utilize the more sophisticated tools in Moodle, Desire2Learn, WordPress, being more critically minded of the way user interface design and content interact
• I want to look further into how lesson planning digital tools are best used with LMS

My Experiences and My Professional Context

As a bright-eyed and idealistic beginning educator straight out of my B.Ed., I came directly face-to-face with those who were reluctant and even straight out stubbornly against educational technology. I wanted to apply the knowledge and tools I had, but faced not only lack of collegial support, but also the seemingly insurmountable barriers in the public education system as well as the tightly guarded bottom line of allotted funds available.

I learned many lessons from the early years, including not trying to try too many new things too soon and making sure that it wasn’t the tool driving the instruction but the instruction utilizing the tool for even better learning. I learned about the bureaucracy of the school system and how to best utilize the tools and resources at hand (and how to advocate when needed).

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I taught Grade 5 at an international school which was an “Apple school” – meaning all computers – teachers and students alike – were the same operating system and we had a dedicated tech team as well as educational technology specialists to support the integration of technology into classroom instruction. I regularly used a combination of a document camera, a Mimio (like a SmartBoard), and the fantastic suite of Apple and Google tools available. It was a dream come true, for me to see that schools (and school board systems) could come together and be so integrated in this way.

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I took a break from teaching and took up two consecutive different staff positions at a mid-size university. It was in these years that I saw how education technology was transforming the post-secondary experience. In one position, I initiated the usage of Adobe Connect webinars to support the admission process of the B.Ed. program, enabling the synchronous presentation of information and opportunity for Q & A with hundreds of applicants. In another position, I created a Desire2Learn site for students preparing for internships – from searching to applying to interviewing to accepting a position.

I became aware of how passionate I was about the use of technology to teach smarter and learn smarter, to help individuals overcome traditional barriers, and to support the empowerment of learners.

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Currently I am in another crossroads of sorts. I am not currently in the classroom but considering re-entering that world, but part of me also desires to continue diverging other education-related paths. I hope to be able to apply my knowledge gained through the MET degree in many different contexts!