e-portfolio of melissa.lavoie

week 13: MOOCS – How do we perceive knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge?

Posted by in weekly readings and responses.

Educational analysts (Bates; Watters) demonstrate that MOOCs development is both a promising movement towards democratizing education and a critically unsustainable technological fad played by the ivy league universities. Having a unified platform for MOOCs makes very different courses look the same to the detriment of learning experience. What do you think about the perspectives of MOOC? I believe that the notion of the MOOC being a “disruptive innovation” is interesting, as I believe any innovation to any field (education or otherwise) has the potential to be disruptive. Changing the trajectory…read more

Aug.11
0

week 6: trinh case study (aka “sanity, where art thou, sanity?”)

Posted by in weekly readings and responses.

While it is admirable that Trinh prefers to foster a learner-centred class environment, the reality is that working with 150 students across various time zones in an online environment provides many logistical challenges, depending on the type of learner-centred teaching techniques employed. The fact that Trinh receives emails on four (!) different platforms tells me that she is not explicit enough in her instructions. Perhaps she is trying to offer choice to her students in a learner-centred environment; however, with a class as large as this, there needs to be…read more

Jun.20
0

week 3. open-concept loft vs. regal, sprawling academic institution.

Posted by in weekly readings and responses.

Learning Management Systems: Affordances and Limitations In their examination of the effects of LMS on university’s teaching and learning practices Coates, James & Baldwin (2005) argue that technologies are not pedagogically neutral, but through their very design, they influence and design teaching. Have you been experiencing some of the pedagogically restricting effects of LMS in your own practice? I have used three different LMS’ in my time as an educator: Blackboard Connect, d2L (Brightspace), and more recently Google Classroom (not exactly an LMS yet). The first two, in my opinion,…read more

May.31
0

week 1. digital age teaching professionals.

Posted by in weekly readings and responses.

Which of the sets of criteria seem the most informative and relevant to your experiences? The first point in Chickering and Ehrmann’s article resonated with me and my experiences in my new position, and ties into the second point as well.  “Good practice encourages contacts between students and faculty”. The fact that communication technologies allow for an availability and access to your professor is hugely important. My school board has adopted Google Apps for Education (GAFE), and this productivity suite is inherently about sharing, communicating and collaborating. On each app…read more

May.24
0

Spam prevention powered by Akismet