Hello my ETEC 565A classmates and professor. My name is Justine and I am brand new to this world. I have been an intermediate teacher in North Vancouver for many years and am now taking some time off to learn a few things. This is my first course in MET and first time taking a course online. Though in the olden days I did take ‘Distance Education’ courses, so I’m good with self motivation. My husband is  high school science/biology teacher here in N.V. and I have 2 sons: one who just graduated from high school, and one in grade 10. On Tuesday, my older son (who is trying out some university courses this year), came in to the computer room to follow his regular routine of checking out Facebook (first thing in the morning and then all day) and was rudely awakened to the fact that I am now hogging the computer. Ha!

My goals for this course and for MET are first and foremost to become literate with a variety of computer learning systems.

Last Fall, I went to a CUBEC conference and had my eyes open to the wonderful world of computer technology. One of the seminars I attended was a teacher who did all his communication and assignments on a web log. He demonstrated how he streamlined and saved lessons, posted supplemental information, communicated with parents etc., etc.. He made it look so easy and efficient. I was hooked.  During that fall myself and another teacher (a graduate of MET, actually,) created a Technology implementation Plan for our school.( Tech Plan-Curriculum[1]) It was well received and was being picked up by other schools in our district. In the Spring, I was part of a collegial conference at my elementary school that was testing a newly purchased set of IPADs. It was just an initial examination but I was very excited about the way one could use an IPAD to offer a myriad of different learning styles in the classroom. Right now, our school district is really pushing an individual learning styles initiative and this tool seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The problem is, that a grade 7 teacher (really all teachers) like me, seemed to never have enough time to deeply look into new ways of teaching. I so wanted to use a blog efficiently in the classroom but never found the time to practice. In the spring, a series of life events (the death of my father, being surplused at my school), left me feeling open to a change. That is how I got here.

It seems that the purchase of class sets of IPADs in the North Vancouver School District is becoming the rage. When one of my references (a school principal), heard what I was doing she immediately asked if I could come to her school in the fall to give a tutorial on what to do with IPADs in the class. Her PAC had also purchased a set. The same goes for my husband in his high school. There are more schools doing the same thing. I would love to design some ipad lessons for a variety of elementary age groups and subjects and go practice in some schools this Fall as a guest.

I worry that I’m following-the-fad and that it will fade quickly. Maybe I will learn to use a few more useful tools in the meantime.

I plan on purchasing an IPAD for myself and have saved a screen shot of usefeul apps’ we used last year.

That, I would say, is my flightpath for ETEC 565A