Our initial project was working within Moodle, and I reflected mostly on my group’s dynamics and the organization required to work together across time zones. As our group configuration changed, so did our chosen LMS. For assignment 2, we collectively decided on Eliademy and EdX as our platforms, where we would compare and contrast the affordances and limitations of each. We all wanted to learn an entirely new LMS, to expand our own learning, and to regard a technological tool with new eyes and minds. I personally wanted to explore a cloud-based LMS that was in its infancy as far as LMS’ go, in order to verify my hunch that this platform would appeal to the grade level of our students (Grade 8) due to its simple design and open concept philosophy on education. While Eliademy doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of some of the giants in the industry, it is ever evolving with the help of user input, as evidenced by its lively discussion forums. These forums helped me immensely whenever I came across a limitation while working in Eliademy, and also justified the fact that many of the needs/requirements I would have liked to have in Eliademy, others wanted as well. In assignment 3’s reflection, as we delved deeper into the LMS, we uncovered other tools and ways of delivering content that led us to rethink some of our earlier choices, such as using the calendar native to Eliademy as opposed to embedding a Google calendar.

We had the opportunity to work with quite the variety of platforms and digital tools, all in one course. I learned some aspects of the Moodle, WordPress and Eliademy learning management systems, three systems that I have not yet experienced, and therefore was happy to dive into some new technological tools. My school board has a contract with Desire2Learn (Brightspace) as our “primary” LMS. We are also a GAFE school board, so we are looking into a deep integration of the two as our vision moving forward. We are currently undergoing an important transition, moving from the Microsoft productivity suite (including email) towards GAFE this Fall. Therefore, it is not likely Moodle, WordPress or Eliademy will be used by teachers as an LMS. However, this course has taught me to look at any LMS through a lens of objectivity, to look at its affordances, limitations, and philosophies, and compare and contrast various platforms within various contexts. We administered evaluation tools such as the Flexible, ADDIE and SECTIONS models, in order to provide a framework for a rationale as to our informed recommendations. As this is part of my role as an educational technology teacher in my school board, I will use this knowledge to help me with developing learning repositories for teachers and students. I am also tasked with evaluating various digital tools, whether they are social media, presentation software, mobile apps and/or tools found in an LMS, and I believe this course has equipped me with the proper tools and lens to be able to closely examine whether or not they would be a good fit for the context. I would also like to credit this course with my foray into the WordPress world of blogging. I have been wanting to switch my personal blog from the Weebly platform to WordPress for quite a while, but had been putting it to the side.  I even mentioned this back in the beginning of the course, in my Flight Path page in my e-portfolio. Finally, as my confidence grew throughout the time spent building my e-portfolio for this course, I decided to take the plunge. My personal blog is now up and running on the WordPress site, and I look forward to devoting more time during this upcoming school year to blogging about my experiences and applied classroom research at work and in school.

As for digital tools, I had signed up for Emaze in the Spring for my school board position (I was looking for free presentation software for teachers), but did not have the chance to try it. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to use it to tell my digital story in Week 11, and I’ve since added Emaze to my digital tool belt to bring back to the teachers in my board. It is extremely user-friendly, bright, contains many free themes, and will ultimately help in my quest to reduce the amount of printing in as many classrooms as possible. I’m always on the lookout for new presentation software. I’ve also tried Smore, which is another type of software that mostly deals with posters and infographics, and yet another way students can deliver their content. I also am anxious to try Touchcast, which I learned about from one of my groupmates. I have used Zaption in the past, but Zaption is more limited in that it is mainly for overlaying different types of questions within YouTube videos to test the student’s knowledge while viewing; so, to promote more active viewing. As well, I had the opportunity to test GAFE products in Eliademy, and how these would work in an actual LMS setting. I have previously worked with the integration of GAFE in d2L and Google Classroom, but never with Eliademy until this course. I found that Eliademy is definitely thinking about GAFE, and for good reason (30 million users in September 2014, and this number is growing). As of now, Google Docs can be added as an attachment, or as a link (no embedding available). Google Forms can be embedded, however, there were reports of ghosting (Forms disappearing from a course). When I tried to upload a Google Slides presentation (a How-To manual for students), I found that, like Google Docs, it would have to be a link, but unlike Google Docs, I could not attach. So, I uploaded the presentation to Slideshare, since Eliademy allows for a Slideshare embed. This changed the formatting (mostly font and positioning of some slides), but I wanted the slideshow to be embedded so that the students could actually see and click through it.

While learning and working with many different platforms, as well as a variety of digital tools was eye-opening, at times, I found myself wanting to focus on one or two platforms and really exploring all that they have to offer. I didn’t find the Wiki portion of the course to be utilized enough, so in turn, I mainly stayed within the Connect and WordPress forums. I really enjoyed developing an e-portfolio within WordPress, and added a link to it in my Google Plus profiles to share what I’ve worked on in this course. WordPress also became the platform for my personal blog, so I am continuing to learn beyond the scope of this course. I felt that the reading materials reflected the course content well, and provided us with a solid foundation for our discussions. One article in particular resonated with me, in Week 12: E. Morozov’s “To Save Everything Click Here: The folly of technological solutionism”, Chapter 6 – Less Crime, More Punishment”. I liked how the article compared technological solutions such as algorithms that many giants in the industry employ (such as Facebook) to criminological theories/crime prevention strategies. My undergraduate degree from the University of Ottawa is in Criminology, so much of the content brought about a feeling of familiarity, and it was nice to be able to “marry” two of my interests. It really helped me to understand the content better. I also thought that the case studies were particularly useful. The more practice we get in evaluating digital tools and providing a rationale for their use based on context, the better!

For future courses, Connect and WordPress work well together, however, my suggestion would be to use Connect for all course content, and WordPress for the development of the e-portfolios. I don’t believe the Wiki was utilized enough, therefore I did not understand the purpose of it being present for one fleeting moment. In theory, I understand the affordances of a Wiki, however, there was a disconnect for me here.

Finally, I appreciated having the choice of working individually or within a group. I learned so much from the more “veteran” members of my groups, and for that I am so grateful. This course pushed me to my limits at times, and while I did find myself struggling through some busy weeks, I know from experience that these are the times where you learn what you are made of, and you certainly learn more from being pushed beyond your comfort zone. When I was in the classroom, I often told my students that it is okay to struggle, because that means they are progressing, and learning something new. If they were too comfortable with the material, that means they are not challenged enough.

I find myself taking my own advice in the second course of my journey!