Aug
2
Looking back, Moving Forward
Posted by: Thomas Kritikos | August 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Looking back, Moving Forward
1. Looking back, how does what you expected to learn during ETEC 565 compare to what you actually have learned, in terms of technical competencies?
I didn’t think that I would be exposed, as a graduate student to the volume of applications that I witnessed within this course. I understood that there would be a lot of applications that I would be evaluating in terms of the benefits to support student learning. I just was amazed at how many applications I discovered as being very useful towards motivating students to learn. I have always been successful in being able to grasp the technical aspects of any digital solution that I deemed necessary for my professional growth as an educator. I rather enjoyed learning about how the various digital tools could be infused within an education program. However, I was very happy to finally have a matrix that I could apply to the evaluation of a tool. The SECTIONS model was very instrumental in having me begin to critically analyze whether a digital tool would be useful to implement within a learning environment. This model has given me additional insights to decide the effectiveness of digital media. As well, I typically would evaluate the functionality of various media tools using a Windows and Mac based computer. I found that some of my implementation decisions were based on whether a specific tool would work on a specific platform.
2. Moving forward, how do you think what you learned in ETEC 565 will impact your educational practice, be it as an instructional designer, instructor, or administrator?
I really enjoyed investigating the functionality of the Moodle platform, and found that creating my LMS became an exercise in how to pedagogically develop a course that would stimulate, motivate and enlighten learner minds. I found that I was mentally filtering my media tools using the SECTIONS model when crafting the LMS course. As an educator, I plan to develop additional courses using Moodle that span several subject areas. Eventually, I would love to see students assist me in developing a Moodle course. This platform is extremely adaptable, benefiting the many learning styles that students bring to the learning environment.