Flight Path

A little bit about me:

Hello, my name is Joey Turco and I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I grew up in New Westminster, B.C. but have I been residing in Vancouver, British Columbia in a neighbourhood called Kitsilano for the last 10 years. If you have ever lived in Kitsilano, you will know that it is a great place to live and a difficult place to leave. I started my academic career by graduating with a diploma in Media Resources from Capilano University in 1996. It was in this program where I gained hands-on knowledge in documentary film making, photography and sound for picture. With my diploma under my belt I embarked on what would be a short career in the film industry. I eventually returned to University, graduating from U.B.C. in 2004 with a B.A. in Geography. I would yet again return to complete my Education degree in 2007. Since graduating I have been a teacher in both the North Vancouver and Vancouver school districts working as a teacher on call for the majority of this time. From January 2008, to June 2008, I had the pleasure of having my own grade 7 class in a small school in North Vancouver, B.C. This was my first experience with my own group of students.  In the summer of 2010, I taught E.S.L. for two weeks at the University of Victoria. This experience provided me the opportunity to teach 14-17 year old students from numerous countries all over the world including Russia, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Kazakhstan. I look forward to experiencing more teaching opportunities in the future and one day having my own classroom again.

As well as being a teacher, I am also a musician and I run a small computer audio business where I specialize in audio technology (computers/hardware/software/recording) for the purposes of recording music and sound. This job has given me the opportunity to work with other musicians from all over the lower mainland of British Columbia. In addition, from 2003-2008, I was a member of the indie band “Girl Nobody”.  In 2006, Girl Nobody signed a record contract with Jericho Beach Music and we embarked on a Canadian tour in support of our album, “Balaclava Casino Heist”. In the future I would like to expand on my knowledge of music and technology background for use in assisting students’ learning.

My goals for ETEC 565 and the MET Program

There are a few goals that I aspire to accomplish in my professional life that I believe ETEC 565 and the MET program can assist me with. For starters, in the future I would like to work in a college or University setting developing online education for distance education learners. I believe that online education is the future of education as students look for greener and more convenient alternatives to traditional methods of instruction. As a result I would like to gain a greater understanding in developing Learning Management Systems for adult learners. Furthermore, I would like to learn about Moodle as I have no previous experience in working with the program. I believe that a strong background in using Moodle and LMS will provide me with future opportunities and a chance to meet my professional goals.

As a classroom teacher, I would also like to expand on my knowledge in incorporating and effectively choosing media which assists students in their understanding and learning. I believe that educators must be careful in choosing media formats to better educate their students. Teachers must be cautious not to fall into the trap of using technology for technology’s sake. As Siemens points out in his work, Evaluating Media Characteristics: Using Multimedia to achieve Learning Outcomes, “The challenge is to select the media type that most effectively presents the learning material in order to achieve intended learning outcomes. Not all media is created equal, and certain formats are more effective for certain tasks” (Siemens 2003).  I believe that ETEC 565 will help me overcome some of the barriers I have experienced in choosing the proper media in certain educational settings.

I would also like to expand on my WEB 2.0 skills such as working with Social Media and as well, expand on implementing multimedia software. So far with my students, we have created simple blogs and webpages, made digital movies, recorded and created original music and worked on basic photography skills. I have paid particular attention to making sure that the learning was fun and creative for my students. I would like to expand on these experiences and further explore the pedagogical opportunities that Web 2.0 tools such as social media can offer my students.

Last I would like to expand on my knowledge of open source software and its uses in an educational setting. I have had the opportunity to explore different open source operating systems and software and feel that there is a great deal of potential for open source software within an educational environment. Schools in British Columbia today are facing massive budget shortfalls. In Vancouver alone, the school board has announced a budget shortfall of over 18 million dollars. As a result, school boards are looking for ways to curb spending. Open source software could potentially alleviate some of these difficulties and provide students with a new knowledge base.

References

“CBC News – British Columbia – Funding crunch means cuts at B.C. schools.” CBC.ca – Canadian News Sports Entertainment Kids Docs Radio TV. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2010. <http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/03/19/bc-school-budget-cuts.html>.

“YouTube – What is Linux and What are its Implications for Education.” YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2010. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1W0tsqtqMg>.

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating Media Characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Elearnspace. Accessed online 11 October 2005. http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.htm

Spam prevention powered by Akismet