Have you ever been in a situation where all of sudden you feel you aren’t qualified for your job? You work hard for many years to get to a position or land a job and realize that you’ve missed a vital component of the job description? This is where I was before I started MET. I was in my last year of residency, studying hard for my royal college exam. I had a two year fellowship lined up in British Columbia after which I would come back to Edmonton and start my career as a urogynecologist and academic. . . academic? What did that even mean? All I knew was that a large proportion of my time would be dedicated to education. I had studied four years in undergrad to prepare myself for medical school, four years in medical school to prepare for residency, and five years in residency to become a fully qualified OBGYN, and then planning another two years to sub specialize in urogynecology. What had I done to prepare myself to be an educator? Besides working with some clinicians who were also academics, I was essentially unqualified. This realization did not sit well with me as you can well imagine.
In a frantic hurry, I looked for something I could do during my fellowship that would start my path to becoming “qualified” as an educator. That’s when I discovered the MET program. My goal at the start of the program was to become an effective medical educator of the 21st century. Looking back, I chuckle at how simplistic my ideas were back then. I hadn’t even defined what an “effective” medical educator was. How would I measure even that?
As I started the program, my seemingly simplistic goal started to crumble, but not in a bad way. I guess break apart and take off in different directions is a better way to describe it. I started to realize that being an effective educator wasn’t a straightforward formula where you put A + B + C + D together and obtain an effective educator at the end. It’s constantly changing because the variables are also changing. I now feel that the most important skills I am honing with these courses are flexibility, adaptability, a sense of curiosity, the ability to see things from different perspectives, analysis and the grit to keep going when all I want to do is throw my laptop off of my balcony in frustration.
Specific to this course, my goals are to:
1) learn about LMS
2) develop my own expectations of LMS
3) create a course/module using LMS
4) use the tools and skills I learned in this course to build online modes specific to my area of practice for both students and residents
I believe that by achieving these goals, I will further the skills I mentioned previously.
According to International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards, to be an effective teacher, I need to meet certain standards, the first of which is to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity (ISTE, 2008). I believe I use technology effectively to inspire learning, but creativity is an area that I need to work on. I was always taught in a traditional system where education is most often unidirectional. This leaves little room for creativity. I believe aspects of this course, such as the ability to explore the LMS and interactions with my peers will inspire me to create such an environment for my students through the effective use of LMS.
The second standard is to design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments. I am severely lacking in this respect. I have minimal experience in using, let alone designing such learning experiences. Through the assignments and readings in this course, I hope to appropriate these skills and apply them to my teaching. I also think I will learn a great deal from seeing what my peers will for their assignments.
The third standard is to model digital age work and learning. I use technology in my everyday clinical life and model this to my students. Using online resources, websites as well as an electronic medical record for patient care demonstrates my familiarity with this technology. However, outside of the clinical environment my teaching is limited to powerpoint slides, online resources, email, and video. I hope to expand this repertoire through this course and thus serve as a better model for my students.
Overall I think my greatest resource will be my peers in this course. The discussions are priceless. They are full of useful information, experiences and perspective. I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s ideas through their discussion and their assignments. I am a true believer in Vygotsky’s concept of zone of proximal development (Kozalin, Gindis, Ageyev, & Miller, 2003). The knowledge I gain from my peers are far beyond what I can achieve on my own, even if I spent years reading and teaching on my own. I am excited to be an active participant in this community and to learn from everyone! Thanks for joining me in my journey.
References
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-teachers
Kozalin, A., Gindis, B., Vladamir, A.S., & Miller, S.M. (2003). Vygotsky’s Educational Theory in Cultural Context. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.