When I decided to pursue my MET, I did so because it was offered online, would improve my use of technology, and challenge me academically.  What I did not think about was how I was under the control of the E.  This past January was the perfect storm, both figuratively and literally, to show me how much I relied on E.

The weather here in Chilliwack, BC in January was colder and snowier than normal.  Now, I understand the rest of Canada would not find this a problem but Chilliwack has about 4 plows and I think one might be a Bobcat.  So with this deluge of snow, I’m kidding, came another problem: power outages.  When there is no power there is no E-Learning.  This caused a little stress because assignments were due and posts needed to be made.  During the four snow days we had, our power was out three times.  You would think that four days with no school would allow a lot of time to work on my MET, but there were the power outages.  Because of all the power outages, our Internet connection was also out for about two days.

Now if the snow wasn’t bad enough we had week two.  A fire at a Wood Mill caused some damage to a fibre optic cable for the same Internet provider.  So my Internet at work and home was out for almost two days. With that corrected, a BC Hydo station blew up here and knocked out the power for 12 hours and yes the Internet was down for that day and some of the following.  This all occurred during our Rubric project.  I was in the middle of an Elluminate session when the power went out and I was just finishing the second meeting when the power went out again.  Now there was some luck.  On the day our Rubric project was due I sent my final draft to the group, not ten minutes later the Hydro Station blew up!  I tried frantically to see if the email was received but I had no power, Internet or cell phone capabilities.

All of these bumps in the road taught me that my life is very dependent on the E.  I was getting a little stressed about due dates when my wife asked what I do as a teacher if a student told me this story?  I got the point; I am a student and a teacher.  During the four snow days I returned emails from stressed kids telling them not to worry, I will give extensions.  I figured I might as well tell m Profs the story and see what happens.  So I headed to a Starbucks to use their Internet and sent an email to my two Profs.  There was no need for the stress because they said the same thing to me that I had told all my students, don’t worry and hand it in as soon as possible.

So even though we rely heavily on the E in this MET program, there are still humans that we can connect with and chat with.  This was something I never thought about when I applied, but I really do enjoy the human aspect of E-Learning

After reading the article by Bates and Poole (2003), it made me realize that how we choose technology for our schools is not always the best method.   I think the way technology is introduced in a classroom is because it is the technology that the teacher wants not the technology the teacher needs.  Bates and Poole’s use of the SECTIONS model as a framework for selecting and using technology is so simple yet effective.  It is one of those things you read and say to yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  The first point in the  Bates and Poole model is Students.  This , I think, is the most important of the model.  They say that when choosing technology we should think of the students first and how this technology will affect them.  So often technology is acquired by a teacher or school that has very little impact on the students’s learning.  Technology is purchased because t is new, cool, and helpful to the teacher.  But if we step back and look at how this technology is to be used and can help the students, we may think twice in our purchase.  At our school, a teacher purchased a tablet and used the tablet to write on the notes that were projected on a screen.  The teacher thought this would be really cool and the students would find it interesting to watch him solve a Physics problem on the notes they were copying down.  Other teachers in our school got on the bandwagon and purchased them for their class.  They soon realized that the students were not impressed after the initial showing.  Probably because they did not get to use the technology. The teachers then realized that it did not give them as much freedom to move around the class as they thought and they had to face the screen and not the students.  To say there was some buyer’s remorse would be an understatement.  I think if they had gone through the SECTIONS model they may have made a more informed choice.  I know that I will definitely follow this model when looking for new technology in my classroom