With each new course that the MET program offers, there is always a sense of excitement and eagerness to continue the journey. This was no different with ETEC 565. In fact, I think I was more excited about taking part in this learning community and opportunity. When reflecting back to my initial Flight Plan I framed my goal around becoming a more proficient user of the Moodle LMS platform and how I could create a useable, functional and collaborative workspace for my students.
In the beginning, this seemed to be a pretty straight forward goal. Create the LMS course = proficient Moodle user. Well, that may have initially been the plan of action, but obviously there was much more to the development and achievement of the goal. During the last three months the success and personal achievement of my flight path goal was supported not only by the hands-on creation and building of the LMS Moodle course, but also the course readings, exposure and incorporation of the e-learning toolkit, and especially the collaborative nature of the ETEC 565 learning community. The introduction to critical frameworks to help select and evaluate technology also was an extremely beneficial component to the course that has directly impacted how I approach technology and digital tools in the classroom and workplace. The framework that I found to be the most useful for my needs was Bates & Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework. This provided a focused framework that was easily understood and could be used for a variety of digital tools. Very effective in my opinion and a framework that has been passed along to my colleagues and administration within my school environment.
The e-learning toolkit was a great opportunity to bring together the skill development of technology and the theory. The toolkit consisted of a plethora of resources and tools, many of which I have stumbled upon in my own exploration of digital tools, and some that were new to me. The e-learning toolkit provided a self-directed pedagogical learning experience to learn while engaging and playing with the content and tools. One of the more challenging sections of the e-learning toolkit that I really wanted to focus on was the Web Design and HTML Authoring. I was up for the challenge to incorporate this into my own course design. First off, my background has nothing to do with web design or HTML coding, but I have had some opportunities within the MET journey to use the WYSIWYG feature. To step outside my comfort zone, I downloaded the free trial of Adobe Dreamweaver and after several failed attempts and frustrating moments, realized this was not going to be the correct tool for me (well, not presently at least). With Adobe DW being placed on the back-burner, I turned to Apple’s iWeb, which I have explored in previous years and felt this could provide an alternative to Adobe DW. Problem number two was presented, this program is no longer installed on the new Mac operating system. Several choice phrases and a day later to regain focus, realization occurred that my schools laptop runs on an older Mac operating system and with that, iWeb came to my HTML rescue. This tool was great to use and I think served its purpose for my Moodle criteria and allowed me to use some HTML skills and WYSIWYG.
One of the requirements of ETEC 565 was to create a digital story. To support this task, we were introduced to Allan Levine’s wiki COGDOGROO: 50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story. This comprehensive wiki was filled with many great web 2.0 digital tools, that you could get caught up in the moment and almost forget about the initial learning task that we were instructed to complete. Although I could have selected any of the Web 2.0 tools to complete a digital story, I have been intrigued as of late by Augmented Reality. One of the tools within the wiki was an AR storytelling tool called ZooBurst. The presentation of Zooburst is viewed like an open book. It allows the user to use images in a “pop up” manner that the reader could click/touch to provide the text or audio feature. I found ZooBurst to be a fun and engaging tool to use (and one that I am going to introduce to my own learners). However, it did lack a few things that I knew about when using the tool but was also mentioned in the feedback from the course professor. The biggest concern was that images are pixellated to an certain extent that it made it difficult to identify what the images were. This will be something that will be kept in mind for future digital tool exploration and evaluation.
ETEC 565 has shared some similarities to other MET courses, but it is vastly different in the collaboration with colleagues and the construction of a LMS course using Moodle. ETEC 565 explored the theory of educational technology, but more importantly it pushed me to implement that theory into practice. From the initial theoretical framework readings of the SECTIONS Framework (Bates & Poole, 2003), Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) Seven Principles of Good Practice and Implementing the Seven Principles, to the ISTE NET Standards (2008), all provided the necessary foundation to build up and expand upon as I progressed through the course. As Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) express, “Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers.” How true is this when reflecting back of ETEC 565?
Being a part of the UBC’s MET program has been an enjoyable, eye-opening, and educational experience through and through. With the LMS Moodle creation being a large focus of this course and a goal in within my flight plan, I want to continue with this path and make every attempt to implement Moodle in my future classroom. With having the practice of writing a proposal and supporting the proposal with theoretical framework support, I am optimistic that this could come to fruition next school year. Alongside my teaching duties within my school, I am also part of a team that is designated to share with fellow educators (whom are interested) the skills and knowledge and ways to integrate technology in purposeful and meaningful ways to support learning. This role will continue within the school environment as long as there is a purpose.
Next term, I will be enrolled in ETEC 590, my tenth and final course of the MET program. This is somewhat filled with a mixed-bag of emotions. I am very excited to be completing the program and feel that the program has gone above and beyond my initial expectations nine courses ago. I am also apprehensive about feeling left out of the “inner loop.” The MET program has been my way of staying on top of cutting-edge practices and emerging new technologies within the field of Educational Technology. Yes, I use social media tools in my own Personal Learning Network (Twitter being the most valuable to connect), but that isn’t quite the same. There is only so much conversation that can occur in 140 characters or less.
As I gaze into the crystal ball, I do have aspirations to join the administration side of education and become an Assistant Principal. My vision of assuming an AP role, I will still have connections within the classroom and teaching staff to share the knowledge and skills of technology integration into teaching and learning practices. As my scholarly pursuits will be coming to an end next Spring (who knows I may even join the Ph.D field), I have also been contemplating on moving up within our Calgary City Teachers Convention Council and putting my name forward for the Web Coordinator. This role will be challenging as I will be the one responsible for managing and directing the activities online and be held responsible for all content on the site. The role potentially also assumes control of building, maintaining, planning, and designing different aspects of sites, micro-sites, and individual pages. This is where I believe the MET Program and especially ETEC 565 course and program exposure will prove to be extremely handy.
When looking back over the last three months, this course has been an excellent learning experience and one that I truly believed that I grew personally as an educator. I will continue my own explorations of technology for personal growth and for my learners. I am always eager to find new ways to integrate technology in the learning environment and make it a meaningful and purposeful tool in the lives of the students I teach everyday.
References:
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: A framework for selecting and using technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers. Available
Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p. 3-7.
Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Accessed online October 19, 2012 http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf
Levine, Alan. (2007). “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story.” http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-for-teachers-2008_en.pdf?sfvrsn=2