Lao Tzo, the Chinese philosopher (604 BCE – 531 BCE) once stated that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” In consideration of my educational flight path that single step took place in September of 2007 when, in light of finding myself as a teacher on call, with no postings in sights, I decided to apply for a IT job within the district. I could never have imagined how that single step would alter the course of my professional career. As mentioned in my flight path I have been involved in IT for the past five years, starting as computer tech and support for the student information system, then moving more into teacher training surrounding the use of technology. For the first few years I focused on the tool. I would go into pro-d sessions and talk at teachers explaining how to format documents, write formulas, and search the web. It wasn’t until 2010, after visiting the ISTE conference in Denver Colorado, that I began to understand how significant technology integration could be in the future of education.
Two years ago I started to feel anxious about my future. I loved what I did, but felt that there was something missing in my journey. So my wife and I started a search for a Master’s program that would fit my career path, as well as our family situation. That was when we came across the Masters of Educational Technology program offered by the University of British Columbia:
“Skilled Educators create rich learning environments where students are introduced to new ideas, develop new skills, and expand their perspectives. The informed use of technology can engage students in new experiences and create a community of learners across geographical boundaries. The UBC Master of Educational Technology (MET) is a fully online graduate-level program offered by a world-renowned university, that has attracted students from over 35 countries.” (MET home page)
Here was a fit for my path. Engaging students and creating a community of learners seemed to be a sure fit for the direction that I saw my life taking. I knew that I missed the classroom and the interactions with students. I felt that my current job, as convenient as it was, took the focus off the learning and placed it on the tools. I wanted to move back to the learning, I wanted to put the emphasis back onto students. Soon after enrolling in the program I discovered the value of constructivist methodology, and the power of empowering students. I found myself recognizing the value of placing pedagogy before technology (Watson, 2001) and I wanted to learn more.
Fast forward through five excellent MET courses, all of which enhanced my learning and understanding: the foundations of technology, the value of new media, new learning theories, technology in the arts and humanities, and the research methodology that pull it all together, until I find myself sitting in front of a new syllabus, with a teacher sitting 11,348 km away in Auckland, NZ. A daunting schedule filled with readings, discussion threads, and e-portfolio assignments; it appeared to be shaping up to be quite the thirteen week ride. To simply say that I enjoyed the class, and that I benefited from its existence, would not only fail at the criteria set out in this reflection assignment, but would also do me a great disservice as a course reflection. So I am going to spend some time discussing the individual units that we covered through the semesters.
Overall Experience
Digital Age Teaching Professionals: Though I only recently graduated with my teaching certificate, I do not believe that I was properly introduced to teaching in a digital age. By the time I graduated from university I was an incredibly effective stand and deliver teacher. I had learned how to employ technology in a way to enhance my teacher-centric methodology, but I learned nothing on how to connect with students who live in a digital world. As I reflect back on the unit title, and on the NETS standards for teachers, I believe that the focus there should not necessarily only be teachers using technology to teach, but more importantly being a teaching professional in a digital world. Students today are immersed in a world of bits and bytes. They are surround by chips and wires that hold their attention and interest. This unit focused on how I, as a teaching professional, leverage today’s technology in a way that encourages and supports students in a digital culture. The answer? The next 12 units.
Theoretical Frameworks: In assessing how to most effectively deploy technology in an educational environment we have to ensure that we do our due diligence in determining the right technology. After reading through Bates and Poole’s (2003) Framework for Selecting and Using Technology I gained an appreciation for the SECTIONS model in settling on a technology that fits both the needs of the system, and the student. In the SECTIONS framework I found that the area most significant to me, outside of the pedagogical areas such as Teaching and Learning, was that of Cost. In today’s economic struggles, and apparent funding cuts, I believe that districts need to be much more aware of the Cost when assessing new technologies. Too often key decision makers see or hear of something being done using a particular brand (SMART for example) and rather than selecting a technology that accomplishes the same pedagogical intent, then simply drink the cool aid and buy the marketing rather than the technology. When I work with people I often employ the analogy that when I am renovating the tool I reach for is a circular saw, a SkillSaw is just a brand.
LMS: Starting with the unit on Learning Management Systems, we began to look at case studies. I found this method of application to be most useful in thrashing out my thoughts. In this case we look at Benoit’s decision of which LMS to deploy within his department. This, I believe was an excellent follow up to the SECTIONS discussion as we needed to employ the framework to the delivery of a course. This was also a great lead into the development of our own Moodle site. Though I will not discuss the Moodle site in this post at any appreciable length please read my Course Site reflection here. The discussion surrounding Benoit started the dialogue on the amount of time that would be required for me to develop a course – and boy did I underestimate that time! I had no idea what was required to develop an effective online course…
Other Web Based Approaches: Lenora’s Pro-d dilemma is not an uncommon situation. Recently a collaborative Pro-d planning meeting was held at our board office where some of the teachers requested that our district implement a “portal” to allow teachers to communicate and plan using technology… the sad part is that we implemented a Portal three years ago, and yet somehow these teaches were unaware of its existence. So the question becomes; did we meet their needs when we selected and implemented our learning portal? In reality, the portal was selected in a vacuum with no outside consultation at all – so really it isn’t surprise that our teachers were unaware of its existence, they were never involved. During this unit we also worked in groups to develop a rubric for selecting a platform for course delivery. I enjoyed working with my group, and found that the activity renewed my desire to work collaboratively with groups in my professional career in determining where technology should be headed in our district. A practice that is not overly espoused by our senior admin here.
DVD authoring: The issue of DVD authoring brought up some good conversations surrounding differentiated instruction and ensuring that we understand our audience when selecting the medium. Though I don’t believe I will be creating any movies any time soon, the discussions around the needs of the learners were very valuable.
Interactions for Learning: I believe the quote found in the introduction to this unit to be most summative of my own personal experience:
The task of the online course designer and teacher… is to choose, adapt, and perfect, through feedback, assessment, and reflection, educational activities that maximize the affordances of the Web. In doing so, they will create learning-, knowledge-, assessment-, and community-centered educational experiences that will result in high levels of learning by all participants. (Anderson, 2008, p. 68)
The selection of materials for student learning must be done in conjunction with the students you are teaching. For some time I have really struggled with teacher who employ a teaching methodology solely based on the fact that they know it. Rather than stepping out of their comfort zone and focusing on teaching that engages students in learning, they relinquish themselves to their photocopies of overheads from the 1970s. Personally, in this unit I gravitated towards the value of formative assessments. I believe that the value of continual formative assessments, for the purpose of improving student learning, is often overlooked. This takes me back to the constructivist idea of placing the student at the center of the learning experience. Our teaching should be student driven, and their learning needs to be learner-centered.
Communication Tools: The ideas around synchronous and asynchronous learning environments sparked a lot of discussion. Maintaining a balanced and effective line of communication between teacher and student is crucial to the delivery of any course. The case study that we looked at addressed the issue of dealing with students with who live across multiple time zones. This disparity makes synchronous communication arduous at best, however, I do not believe that it makes it impossible. I believe that creating “virtual office hours” that would allow students the opportunity to connect live with the teacher would provide a connection for those students that have a need to connect to the teacher but are unsure of how. The important part of the equation is to be clear and strict from the beginning of the course. If you are only going to receive messages via the LMS, then you must never reply to comments that come in other ways.
Assessment Tools: I believe an assessment should primarily be an extension of the learning experience. Boris’ case is one that highlights this idea. As a teacher he wanted to create an environment that would allow students to assess their own understanding through instant feedback and review. This was one feature that I liked about Moodle’s Quiz Activity; the ability to add individualized feedback for both right and wrong answers. Though this would take a lot of time to set up, the assignment could be used continually, and would allow students to use their assessments as part of their learning experience.
Social media and Collaborative Writing: I have always been confused at the overarching educational value of a wiki. I have seen teachers use them as websites, which is understandable from a usability standpoint, however, from our experience with the group Wiki activity, I think that Wiki’s as a collaborative writing place should be kept to small groups as too many voices make the document difficult to manage. I believe that the activity also highlighted the importance of finding the right tool for the right job. A discussion really belongs in a discussion thread, and an online communication stream belongs on a blog. When we try to make applications cross those boundaries we often run into difficulties.
Personal Publishing and Social Networks: Now here was a controversial topic! The idea of public or private caused quite a stir and division along privacy lines. Aside from that issue, I finally took John’s hint and signed up for the product we were debating – LiveJournal – and was very impressed. What this helped me understand is that there are privacy laws in place to protect both students and teachers. However, these laws should not be used to stifle learning. They should help us consider the educational value of a product, and if it outweighs the work involved in setting up the curriculum, then we should move forward and use it!
Rip, Remix, and Feed: During this unit we worked on our digital stories. Prior to starting this unit I already knew that I am not much of a story writer, so instead I focused on the technology involved. What I found in my own project, and that of my peers, was the power of creation. I was amazed at the sheer number of Web 2.0 technologies that allow students to create and manipulate sound and graphics, and their power to deliver a message. Personally, knowing that I am not a great story teller, I see these technologies as an excellent activity for students to display their own learning; allowing them to creatively express their own ideas, beliefs, and understanding.
Features and Benefits: Dafna’s experience with creating Music videos highlighted the importance of planning through the use of Storyboarding. Lack of planning has caused much consternation in my own teaching experience as I attempted to have my grade nine students create a video without establishing a strong foundation as to the methods and procedures. It also spoke about resource and time management. When we are planning activities we need to ensure that we are giving appropriate time to allow students to plan, and they are giving sufficient resources to accomplish the tasks given. This may require the use of group work, or a flexible time schedule throughout the year.
eLearning Toolkit
One of the difficulties in approaching this course was the wide variety of technologies that were still novel to me. Though I have been involved with educational technology for the last few years, I have not had the opportunity to focus on some aspects found in the toolkit such as
mLearning – With the wide availability of mobile devices teachers need to consider their value in the classroom. However, this can not be a one size fit all solution. Each teacher needs to decide whether or not they can support mobile devices in their own classroom. When I work with teachers who are interested in integrating technology into their classroom I often remind them that technology should make them a “better” teacher, if the inclusion of technology into their lesson inhibits learning – then don’t do it. The use of Mobile devices in a classroom is one of those technologies that can be tempting to throw around. But if the teacher is not ready, willing, or able, to make effective use of the devices they will simply be a distraction in the classroom.
Web design – This is a unit that I spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the elements of good and bad design. Part of my current job is “webmaster” for our district web and portal sites. So web design has always been of interest to me. The links that were included to describe good/bad design were substantial, and gave a lot of direction as to what should and shouldn’t be done. It was because of this reading that I was determined to include collapsible units in my Moodle course. I did not want students to need to scroll forever to find their content.
Weblogs: Not really a new technology, but Weblogs are something that I have gained a greater appreciation for through this course. The idea of getting kids writing is important, and if we can enable them with programs like LiveJournal or WordPress, programs that will help them write more and better, then we can come out on top.
whats next
Moving onwards and upwards. I believe that the lessons that I have taken most out of this course were that of the value of Web 2.0 technology. Coming into this course I have always been very cautious of using, or encouraging teachers to use online sites because of issues surrounding FOIPPA, and protecting students privacy. However, based on my experience creating the digital stories, as well as the engaging discussion threads surrounding private vs. public, I want to work more extensively with teachers at finding appropriate uses of these technologies, and supporting them make sure that their activities fall in line with provincial legislation. In addition to working more with Web 2.0 technologies I also hope to learn more about using Moodle as an LMS. Our District currently uses prefab courses offered by OpenSchool BC, however I believe that with some support teachers may be willing to create their own courses, or use Moodle as a support for their in class curriculum. Starting next week I will being creating a training and accreditation course to be used with the new locally developed Student information System: OpenStudent.ca. With the end of life coming soon for BCeSIS (current provincial Student Information System) districts around the Province are having conversations regarding a replacement product, except for our district I am hoping that the information that I have gained through this course will help me encourage and engage in conversations around the needs surrounding a SIS for admin, clerical, and teachers.
The learning that I have done throughout this semester has, and will continue to, help me understand my position at a teacher, and as a technology enthusiast. It as allowed me opportunity to reflect on my practice, as well as the practice of those I work with. I hope to move forward boldly working on Moodle, and working with teachers to find ways to successfully implement new learning technology in support of student learning .
Signing off – this is Matthew Hull
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University. Accessed online 19 June 2013 http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
Watson, D.M. (2001). Pedagogy before Technology: Re-thinking the Relationship between ICT and Teaching. Education and Information Technologies 6(4). Accessed online 4 August 2013 http://cursa.ihmc.us/rid=1129290598718_1343349371_1835/watson_pedagogy_bef_technol_2001.pdf