Education Technology 590

Welcome to b my E-Portfolio for education 590, my name is Lorn Kennedy. Describing the University of British Columbia’s Masters of Education Technology program to others started out all IPads and Twitter and has morphed over the span of nine distinct courses into a philosophical investigation of pedagogy, educational research, and strangely enough- Artificial Intelligence. Reaching the end, I now feel better informed to discuss the program content wise, but find that I lack the time in most casual conversations to really get to the crux of it. Creating a portfolio that reflects on my journey through the MET program  has helped me synthesize all I have experienced into, an easy to relay narrative.

During my coursework for the Education Technology Master’s program I was exposed to many different theoretical frameworks. Many of which have stayed with me and inform my daily practice as an educator. For my E-Portfolio there were two main theories that helped shaped my choices of artefacts, presentation style, and organization. First and foremost we need to look at Baviskar, Hartle, and Whitney’s (2009) four tenets of constructivism: eliciting prior knowledge, creating cognitive dissonance, providing feedback when students apply their knowledge, and allowing reflections on my learning (p. 541-550).  By spending a great deal of time reflecting on many of the significant learning opportunities I experienced throughout the program, it became clear that the program itself embraces the first three tenets of constructivism, while the E-Portfolio allows for the fourth tenet, of reflecting on my learning to take place in a significant way. In another sense according to Brennan & Resnick’s (2013) constructionism is the idea that the most significant learning comes directly from the construction of all things (p.255). With these two arguments we can see how constructivism is the foundation for the EP itself and influenced my learning, reflection, and decision making. Jenkins et al. argues that we belong to a participatory culture, where students very often share their words, sounds, or images they create online (2009).  The publication of my EP is the embodiment of the idea of a participatory culture. Taking my audience for example, my design choices were driven by who I anticipate will view my EP. I am using the knowledge of publishing this work online to inform my choices of artefacts, my presentation, and organization. Barrett’s (2000) essay “The Electronic Portfolio Development Process” played a significant role in my own development process. I followed Barrett’s (2000) five stages of electronic portfolio development:

• Collection – save artifacts that represent the day-to-day results of teaching and learning
• Selection – review and evaluate the artifacts saved, and identify those that demonstrate achievement of specific standards or goals.
• Reflection – reflect on the significance of the artifacts chosen for the portfolio in relationship to specific learning goals.
• Projection (or Direction) – compare the reflections to the standards/goals and performance indicators, and set learning goals for the future.
• Presentation – share the portfolio with peers and receive feedback.

I wanted a straightforward, content focused design. In order to achieve that result I organized my E-Portfolio using the competencies from my rubric which was based on Yancey’s (2016) “Scoring Guide for portfolio assessment”. By organizing my artefacts by the competencies they illustrate, I was able to streamline and simplify the process. I wanted the artefacts to stand on their own to illustrate the competencies. I felt that keeping the focus on my artefacts rather than an overarching theme would be less distracting and emphasize my growth and reflection throughout the E-Portfolio.

By using the competencies from the rubric to organize my EP I am doing two things. First, it allows for a very concrete connection between those competencies and the artefacts. Second, it makes the EP more accessible, as many people outside the education field may not know what a rubric is. The way the EP is organized works as a guide to the rubric. I grouped my artefacts by the competency they illustrate the most, rather than by course.  I found that to be the most rational and organized approach.

I have included a biography to add a personal touch to the portfolio and describe my journey toward taking my Masters in Education Technology. This was a suggestion that came from one of the peer edits.

As you’ll see there are five sections to my rubric and so there are five sections for my artefacts. The sections are sorted in the order of most significance and reflect the order they are found in the rubric.  The first section is titled “reflective in the face of theory and research” Here I wanted to highlight how my thinking and practice was challenged and influenced by the theory and research I was exposed to in the program. My first artefact was a reflective piece titled “Masters of Education Technology”. This piece was chosen because it shows my growth in thinking from the start of the program to today. My next artefact is titled “Methodological Critique” and this shows my growth as a researcher. The last artefact for this section is a research proposal. Working through creating a research proposal made me aware of what goes into creating a quality research project. In my daily practice this is useful to weed out the questionable resources and research and focus on the quality research. This project took me from ignorance to informed about education research.

The artefacts I chose for the section titled “Learning in Context” are intended to show me taking the learning I had done and apply it to the real world. My first two artefacts are related and demonstrate this competency extremely well. I designed an English 10 course using Moodle and I was able to complete that course and offer it to my students the following semester. I was able to make changes to that course based on real feedback from students taking the course. It was called “Science Fiction English 10” and there is a video walk through if you are interested. The final artefact for this section is titled “Media Literacy Learning Space for Grade 8 to 12 Students and Teachers”. This artefact is relevant to this section because we designed an online tool for teachers and students that encourages ongoing collaboration in several different ways.

The next section is titled “Linking Research and Theory to Practice” in this section I wanted to show concrete examples of my critical thinking and a connection between the theory and research I had been exposed to, to my practice. The first artefact is a reflective writing piece that investigates constructivist theories. In the following two artefacts I reconfigure two units I had taught previously using constructivism and build on that reflective piece I used for the first artefact.

The next section is titled “Working in Diverse Learning Communities”. The MET program is an international program and as such I had the unique opportunity to work with people from all over the planet. I wanted to highlight how the challenges that cropped up helped to shape me as a professional. The first artefact looks at a group that was very diverse and goes over how we handled working in various time zones and different work backgrounds. The next artefact highlights different challenges with a different group of people. I look at how we surmounted those challenges and how it helped shape me as a professional. For the last artefact in this section I wanted to look at a collaborative piece where the activity itself created the challenges and how we overcame those challenges.

The last section is titled “Expertise with Digital Tools”, in this section I chose artefacts that highlighted my growth working with digital tools. My first artefact is a video I created called “The Rise of AI.” This work is significant because it was one of the last media productions I created and I used a tool I had used before and mastered it.  The next artefact titled “First Nation’s Pictographs” is significant because it was the most intense and significant media production I have ever created. My growth with a number of digital tools was greatly enhanced by this project. The final artefact for this section was created using Microsoft Publisher and this was a first for me. The learning curve for using this tool was pretty sharp, but I was able to create a high quality Media Study Guide.

This is the final reflection for The Education Technology 590: Graduating Project has allowed me a significant opportunity to reflect on my growth throughout this program.  My biggest area of growth during the MET program was my realization that there were theories behind the things that I did everyday in the classroom. Somebody had put a name to making sure you design lessons with all learners in mind; Universal Design for Learning for example. One of my biggest “aha” moments was shortly after reading about UDL in a course I attended a professional development session about UDL being put on by a graduate of UBC’s MET program. I realized that making sure you differentiate your instructions so that all students can benefit was a UDL principle. One thing that really stuck with me is that all student benefit when you put supports in place for the students with the most needs. Another realization was that I was using many aspects of constructivism and inquiry in my course design. I was building in opportunities to reflect on learning, and to follow personal interests. I was not hung up on everyone doing the same thing all, the time. Learning that there were well established theories and research behind these teaching methods has been extremely empowering. Faced with the monumental changes the new BC curriculum is bringing, many teachers are feeling overwhelmed. Me, on the other hand view most of the changes being made are giving me further empowerment to continue teaching how I have been and to incorporate even more inquiry and constructivist methods. My professional growth has been exceptional throughout this program, from learning to navigate complex research studies or where to start digging for valid research to the theories that backup best practices.

Thank you for taking the time to watch my video tutorial and I hope you get a chance to check out some of the artefacts.