• 1-2 paragraph précis of my flight path
I was educated in a traditional educational system in which teachers were transmitting knowledge and students reproduced it. E-learning, being not just application of new tools and media, but a new learning paradigm, opened a completely new world of education to me. Since I had been more manager than practitioner of e-learning, my general goal for this course was to get hands-on experiences in using cutting-edge technology for achieving pedagogical gains. I appreciate the MET approach, which gives me not only tips and tricks but a broader picture and theoretical assumptions and background for technology usage.
More specifically, I was hoping to get hands-on experience in using Moodle including Moodle 2.0. I also needed a systematic account of assessment and assessment tools. I wanted to learn more about impacts of using social media in education and to get to know some new up-to-date tools and features. Since I’ve never really learned to appreciate flash media I was hoping to get a new insight into it.
• Reflection on my eLearning toolkit experience overall
eLearning toolkit is a great collection of resources on technologies. It gives a systematic overview of different technologies and a lot of related external resources. Some sections are more useful in the context of this course; the others give just basic pieces of information while pointing to further external resources. For example, resources on Moodle do not give all answers required for Moodle site assignment. For some questions, like on splash page with a customized GUI, I was not able to find answers neither in Moodle official resources. I had to dig deeper to find the answers even though I’m not sure that I found the right answers for all Moodle site requirements. Due date for Moodle site is late in the course and I will discover if I was right only in the feedback from my instructor. It would be great to set the due date a few days earlier to get opportunity to discuss all possible solutions.
• Reflection on your overall ETEC565 experience
In general, ETEC 565A has great readings and great assignments. I learned most from exploring Web 2.0 tools in Levine’s (2007) wiki and creation of digital story. I was exploring many of the tools listed on Levine’s site and selected nine of them that I would like to use in the future, like Slide, OurStory and Voice Thread. I created a digital story using Google Maps. I learned how to build a map in Google Maps but more important is that I realized that this tool can be used for telling a story, not just for creating maps. Using Google Maps for telling a story is a kind of mashup distinguishing Web 2.0. as Lamb (2007) states that mashup is not only about remixing content, but also about remixing functionalities of websites.
Building Moodle site was another task with high learning curve. I learned to create simple web pages in Dreamweaver (years ago I was using FrontPage), splash page with a customized GUI and a group discussion forum. I also learned some new features in Gimp I was using for editing images.
Developing an evaluation rubric for selecting an online delivery platform was very useful and applicable to real life situations.
I was pretty sceptical about the quiz assignment before I started to work on it. I thought the task was too easy, but it turned out to be a pretty challenging task since it was pretty hard to me to create meaningful questions that assess higher order thinking.
E-portfolio is a very practical solution because all assignments are in one place and I can access it from any computer with Internet connection. It’s great to have a lot of my own resources online (personal, professional and MET-related), which I couldn’t imagine a few years ago.
At the end of ETEC 565A I can say that I have achieved most of my plans, and even more.
I got a lot of hands-on experience in Moodle, although not in Moodle 2.0, but I don’t regret.
I have completely changed my attitude to assessment since I realized how important it was. Jenkins’ (2005) and Gibbs and Simpson’s (2005) articles show me that assessment is the most influential factor on students’ learning, more influential than teaching itself. The latter article showed me that first I had to decide on the purpose of my assessment because the assessment is not just about assessing knowledge or results. Other important conditions supportive for students learning identified by Gibbs and Simpson (2005) include: focus of assessment on the most important aspects of the course and making sure that students will carefully read and implement ideas from feedback.
I learned a lot about social media too. Exploration of Levine’s (2007) tools and creating digital story using one of the tools were especially fruitful as I already mentioned.
Boyes, Dowie and Rumzan (2005) showed me that Flash Media can be used for other purposes than for animations. Regardless its limitations, Flash can be very efficient in enhancing learning process.
Although I was familiar with Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTION framework before, during the discussions in this course I was realising that again and again I tend to focus just on some criteria while I lose others from my sight.
I was delighted with Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven principles for good teaching since they seem universal to me both for traditional classroom settings and for online learning environment. The seven principles are especially important to me as I realized that only some of the principles were implemented in the educational institutions I’ve been student in. Although I resonate with all seven principles I think that two of them are most relevant for my context: contacts between students and faculty and high expectations. Unfortunately, most of my teachers in the University of Zagreb didn’t encourage contacts with students even during the lectures. Most of them set high expectations for their students but they should do it in more transparent way and they should set up conditions for achieving required goals.
Creating this reflection is also a rewarding learning activity. It is very important to have opportunity to take some time to reflect on the learning process during the whole course. This synthesis is a great wrap-up of the overall learning process as well as a metacognitive activity – thinking about learning.
• Describe next steps for you, in terms of your practice in educational technology, which could include what technologies you hope to explore moving forward, or how you plan on engaging as a lifelong learner in terms of educational technology?
I am a head of CARNet Educational Centre and our mission is to train teachers on usage of innovative technologies and methods. In my opinion, in order to be successful, we need to use these technologies and methods in our everyday work and education. We have already been using Web 2.0 tools and media such as blog, Pixton, Prezi and Google Sites. In this course I was using Google Maps and I was exploring many others that I will use in the future.
I’m planning to explore new technologies and new pedagogical practices and to disseminate that knowledge through my department’s blog at http://e-obrazovanje.carnet.hr/, online tutorials and courses for teachers. One of the courses I’m planning to develop is on digital storytelling and it will include Levine’s 50+ tools as a resource, which I will explore a bit more and probably create separate tutorials on some of them like Slide, OurStory and Voice Thread.
I’m also planning to get involved in some of the European projects in the field of education in order to learn from partners.
Resources
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.
Boyes, J., Dowie, S. & Rumzan, I. (2005). Using the SECTIONS Framework to Evaluate Flash Media. Innovate Journal of Online Education, 2(1). Retrieved from http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol2_issue1/Using_the_SECTIONS_Framework_to_Evaluate_Flash_Media.pdf
Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), 3-7. Retreived 11 May 2011 from http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples1987.htm.
Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf
Jenkins, M. (2004). Unfulfilled promise: formative assessment using computer-aided assessment. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1, 67-80. Retrieved from http://resources.glos.ac.uk/tli/lets/journals/lathe/issue1/index.cfm
Lamb, B. (2007). Dr. Mashup; or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix. EDUCAUSE Review, 42 (4), 12–25. Retrieved 19 July 2011 from http://www.educause.edu/ER/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume42/DrMashuporWhyEducatorsShouldLe/161747
Levine, A. (2007). 50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story. Retrieved 15 July 2011 from http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools