e-portfolio of melissa.lavoie

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

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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
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week 12: educational multimedia – trends and the future development

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In his critique of technological solutionism Evgeny Morozov (Chapter 6), distinguishes the restrictive/prohibitive technological design solutions and those which instead offer a broader range of choices. 1. What examples of the restrictive and the choice broadening types of solutions you know from your professional and learning experiences, or have encountered while working with educational technologies? An example that I can speak to in terms of educational technology is the restrictiveness of some instructors with the use of cellphones in class versus those instructors who are lenient and even promote this…read more

Aug.09
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week 6: trinh case study (aka “sanity, where art thou, sanity?”)

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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
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week 4. the lenora case study: an lms recommendation.

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What would be your advice to Lenora about the LMS choice in this context? Explain your reasoning. Based on several reasons that I will expand on, I would recommend that Lenora utilize a simple, clean and social LMS that also works offline. I believe Google Classroom used in conjunction with Google + communities will serve her needs well, particularly since it is so easy to use, and there are many supports in place to help her implement the tools. Granted, Google Classroom is not considered an LMS (there is no…read more

Jun.05
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week 3. open-concept loft vs. regal, sprawling academic institution.

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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
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week 2. addie vs. agile: evaluations of the d2L LMS.

Posted by in weekly readings and responses.

Choose an organization, which you are familiar with, and evaluate educational technology using the ADDIE model and the “Agile Design” model outlined by Bates’ (2014): How informative these models are for determining whether your organization implements educational technologies in the most effective way? I chose my organization’s long-standing adoption of the Desire2Learn (Brightspace) platform, as “mandated” by Ontario’s Ministry of Education, in that the Ministry had signed a multiyear contract with Desire2Learn (based in Kitchener, Ontario) to provide an LMS to school boards as part of the provincial e-learning strategy….read more

May.30
0

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