Synthesis
Flight Path
In my flight path I highlighted that my goals for this course were focused primarily on my preparation for an upcoming Web Training program manager role in Cambodia. Specifically that I wanted “to gain a solid grounding in analyzing technological tools and solutions” and “to discover creative ways technology can be used to help with the challenges facing school”. These challenges being:
- Difficulty in finding and retaining local teaching staff.
- Low levels of education, knowledge and practical skills of the local teaching staff. Most of the current teaching team are students who completed the program the year before.
- Low levels of collaboration and interaction between students, between students and teachers as well as between teachers.
The first two challenges in hindsight were not totally relevant for this course and I was overall unable to achieve too much in these areas. However, now that I know more about assessment, particularly automated assessment, I think this can be used to help alleviate some of the 1st issue. Potentially incorporating automated assessment items would allow staff to have more time for other teaching activities as well as improve the quality of student feedback.
For the second challenge, the incorporation of forums, blogs and wikis I think could come in handy to help teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership” (NETS). To help them take ownership and pride in their work and professional growth. I will encourage them to create a learning community amongst themselves using at least one of these tools.
In contrast for the third challenge, relating to collaboration and interaction, I walk away from the course with a lot more knowledge and understanding of these concepts. Knowing more about how and when to use them and what tools and technologies encourage them. When developing my LMS I tried to integrate activities that exploit student collaboration as well as encourage interaction and good communication.
eLearning toolkit
Some of the tools in the ETEC 565 toolkit I have been using for many years both personally and in a professional (software development) work environment. These are web design & html authoring, synchronous communication tools, social software, accessibility, weblogs and wikis. It was a refreshing exercise to look at these in a different (educational) context than what I would usually use them. Specifically from the first three I took away the following:
- Web design & html authoring – it’s always good to review & re-review & re-re-review web design basics and accessibility these are very important things to always keep in mind when authoring web pages/sites.
- Synchronous Communication Tools – Wimba and a couple of the video conferencing tools were new tools for me here. I was amazed at the quantity of video conferencing tool available as 3rd party plug-ins to Moodle – its great to see given communication is such a vital part of online/distance study.
- Social Software – the activity to compare TOS was certainly an eye opener – I think many people (myself included) sign up to try new social media tools without really taking a second glance at the TOS. I now realise the importance of now checking and perhaps double checking again particularly in a school/educational environment.
There were also tools/technologies in the toolkit that I have never used before. These were learning management systems, multimedia & authoring tools and mLearning. Many of these I have wanted to play around with for quite a while and ETEC 565 gave me the push I needed to finally do this. From these I took away the following:
- Learning Management Systems – previously a LMS novice thanks to the toolkit, course activities and assignments I have a much better (while far from expert) idea of what an LMS is, what it can and can not do, what tools and technologies they can support and how to compare and rate them.
- Multimedia & Authoring – my previous experience here was limited to still images. I was happy to have the opportunity to learn more about audio & video formats and the justification for incorporating them into educational environments. Also what tools to use for creating and editing these artefacts and what process to follow during the develop phases.
- mLearning – unfortunately I was unable to access a mobile device in Burkina Faso to test drive so I used the emulators for this toolkit activity. There are still many websites that are playing catch up when it comes to mobile device support (and also many that do a great job as well of course). Overall I think mobile devices are much better suited for multimedia, i.e. video, images and audio than they are for text based resources/items.
Many of these new tools/technologies, where appropriate, I will try to incorporate into both my personal as well as professional life. Professionally I believe they are all useful in both educational as well as non educational settings due to the knowledge management and learning required in most domains.
Reflection of my overall ETEC565 experience
My overall experience of this course was that it was a lot of work (made harder I am sure by the fact that I was in West Africa for 11 weeks of it). However, during this hard work I
- learnt a lot,
- got to try out a bunch of new tools & technologies,
- learnt about a couple of useful frameworks for evaluating & selecting technologies,
- and felt I was really pressed to my limits (and managed to exceed them) particularly in the assignments on assessment, digital story, LMS proposal and LMS course creation.
Some of my particular highlights from the learning module were as follows:
Module 1: Selecting and Using Technologies: Theoretical Frameworks
Overall I think I found this to be the most professionally useful module for me personally. Previously if I have to evaluate technology in an educational environment I would be totally lost. This module gave excellent grounding in framework theory and introduced frameworks that I can use in the future. I think I will have the opportunity to apply both the Bates and Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework and Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education frameworks over the next year or two. They are really great frameworks to have in your evaluation toolkit.
Module 2: Presentation Tools: Spaces, Places and Platforms for Learning
In this module I think the Moodle or WebCT/Vista case study was a very useful activity. Something many schools/educational institutes need to address (with interchanged LMSs perhaps). The rubric activity also built on the selection and evaluation frameworks used in Module 1 – something that I will also hope to use in the future. As far as presentation platforms go I had not considered DVDs as a delivery method for education materials before so to see a case study with justification for making this a valid platform was great.
Module 3: Interaction and Assessment Tools
This was my favourite module as I think learnt the most here. In my flight path I highlighted that I wanted to learn more about interaction tools. Additionally previously I had no idea of the important and intrinsic role assessment played in education.
Having read Anderson’s (2008a) “Towards a Theory of Online Learning” in a previous course it was good to revisit it. I find Anderson’s approach logical and useful when assessing all permutations of classroom interactions between teachers, students and materials.
The course module’s comparison of the benefits and disadvantages and it’s distinction between synchronous and asynchronous communication was very clear and comprehensive to follow. I felt it important to learn the pros & cons of the various communication tools as it’s something I want to improve in the coming months in my professional environment.
Assessment was my epiphany of the course. I was unaware of the importance and the intrinsic role it plays. Also the role technology can play in assessment. The two unit 12 readings “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” and “Unfulfilled Promise: formative assessment using computer-aided assessment” along with the unit sections on “Common weaknesses of assessment” and “Purposes of Assessment” were interesting and informative. The assessment assignment gave me a chance to practice and further investigate assessment in an online environment.
Module 4: Social Media
This module enlightened me on the implications of using social tools in the classroom, the things you need to take into account such as privacy and copyright. Previously naive to the implications and complications of using social media in a classroom setting, the lively Public or private discussion forum really illustrated these points for me.
Module 5: Multimedia
The discussion that came out of the Kwikwetlem case study/discussion really highlighted the quantity of new knowledge and understanding we had gained over the course. The various responses and suggestions were very comprehensive and more than I think most of us would have been capable at the start of the course. It was a great exercise.
Being a New Zealander I was happy to read of a case study and positive feedback of the impact of Digital Learning Objects’ integration into Wellington classrooms in the reading “Digital Learning Objects’ Classroom Impact”. I also found the reading “Using the SECTIONS Framework to Evaluate Flash Media” a useful example of how to apply the SECTIONS framework to one particular type of Media. I think this example can easily be used as an example to easily evaluate other media.
My next steps in educational technology
So far all my experience in the educational technology domain has been as a student. In a couple of weeks I am going to be able to put my learning into practice when I take on a role managing a web development program. I hope to continue exploring new tools and technologies to use in this program as the school is continues to expand into other regions. The school currently uses Moodle as its delivery LMS along with other tools such as google docs and forum software. I hope to look at incorporating more tools, particularly related to collaboration, communication and interaction into their program. I also intend to continue my MET journey, I have 7 more course to complete.
References
- Anderson, T. (2008a). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University.
- Bates A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In A.W.
- Bates & G. Poole, Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education (pp. 75-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 4.
- Boyes, J., Dowie, S. & Rumzan, I. (2005). Using the SECTIONS Framework to Evaluate Flash Media. Innovate Journal of Online Education, 2(1).
- Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), 3-7. Accessed online 15 May 2011 here.
- Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Accessed online 15 May 2011 here.
- Janson, A. & Janson, R. (2009). Integrating Digital Learning Objects in the Classroom: A Need for Educational Leadership. Innovate, 5(3).
- Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31
- Jenkins, M. (2004). Unfulfilled Promise: formative assessment using computer-aided assessment. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, i, 67-80.
- National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Accessed online 15 May 2011 here.