ETEC 565 -Learning Technologies: Selection, Design and Application

“This course is an online seminar that provides several theoretical frameworks to assist educators in evaluating, selecting and using various learning technologies.  Students will gain hands-on experience using a range of learning technologies and platforms: web-publication, course management systems, communication tools, community and collaboration tools, multimedia, and social software tools. Students will complete a number of small assignments using different learning technologies as well as a larger project in which they bring several of these technologies together to design materials and activities to support student learning.” UBC, MET Program.

 

This course was very challenging. “One needs knowledge to learn: it is not possible to assimilate new knowledge without having some structure developed from previous knowledge to build on. Therefore, any effort to teach must be connected to the state of the learner and must provise a path into the subject for the learner based on that learner’s previous knowledge” (Lefoe, 1998).

Creating a Moodle was an intimating experience. As I had no previous knowledge of Moodle I felt like I was left to sink out in a sea of turmoil. This did not represent the elements of a Constructivist Learning Environment as collaboration and cognitive apprenticeship was not built or encouraged into the course. Teachers need to know their students and provide a guided scaffold learning environment where knowledge can be learned and shared.

However, I did have pre knowledge of Digital Storytelling and I really enjoyed making a digital story using Animoto. It afforded me the opportunity to learn new software, use my creativity, represent an idea significant to me, as well as synthesize the process with reference to Bates and Poole’s Sections framework.

I first heard of Bates and Poole’s Sections framework in ETEC 511. “It is based on an acronym that represents ideas that should be considered when selecting instructional technologies (Bates & Poole, 2003). It is a significant framework that supports how I address my original question, “To what extent does one integrate technology in a grade one classroom and what activities produce collaborative scaffold learning that support curriculum objectives?”

Assessing technology using the Bates and Poole’s SECTIONS framework is vitally important for educators. It supports the integration of technology with curriculum objectives and answers questions that support best teaching pedagogies. The following assessment developed by Cindy Underhill at UBC is a tool that helps educators look at appropriate technologies. Assessing Technology. This assisted me with considering and assessing what technologies I should use in my classroom ….theory to practice.

This course is important for me to reflect on as I persevered in doing my best and I turned challenges into successes. It also gave me the perspective of Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of Proximal Development.’ That perspective transforms into my learning and my teaching practice as I recognize the importance of knowing your students and their knowledge base. This is part of my transformational  journey. 

“Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” – Bill Gates

References

Bates & Poole (2003). The SECTIONS framework. http://www.class.uh.edu/classidt/Tutorials_Help/profs/hybrid/SECTIONSFramework.pdf

Assessing Technology, U.B.C. Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology. Retrieved Mar.3, 2012.http://wiki.ubc.ca/images/1/19/SECTIONS_Framework.pdf

 

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