Final synthesis

I always find it interesting to look back at my goals from the beginning of the course and reflect on what I have accomplished during these last 13 weeks. I had many goals this course and they were:

  • learn about LMS in general
  • Develop my own expectations for what I want in an ideal LMS
  • Create a course/module in a LMS
  • Use the skills I learned and apply them to my current environment
  • Learn skills and obtain tools that will help incorporate more creativity into my lessons
  • Model digital age works and learning for my students
  • Take away as much as I can from my peers

I believe I have accomplished many of these goals through this course. I certainly learned about LMS and specifically I learned how to use Moodle. Learning how to use Moodle through making a mock course was very effective, as learning was situated in the environment in which it was meant to be used (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989). Not only did this help to learn how to use Moodle, but it was also instrumental in my development as an educator. It helped me think about how I wanted to structure the course and how I wanted to assess what was learned in the course. It made me reflect on my pedagogical beliefs, and how I would incorporate that into an online environment, restricted by the affordances of Moodle.

Working within Moodle helped me to develop my ideas of what I would want in an ideal LMS. For example, from a course editing perspective, I found the chart function not as user friendly as other programs such as Microsoft Word. I also found importing of images to be slightly cumbersome and would ideally like less steps each time I import images. I would also like to make the process of linking pages easier (through hyperlink). Perhaps it was my inexperience with the program which caused my inefficiency but once I hyperlinked one page, and gave it a title, it would be nice if linking it again would be an easier process. I found I had to cut and paste the link each time which was time consuming. I wish moving around module was an easier process, such as a drag and drop. In this version, I had to make my own graphic interface but I wish there was an easier method to do this. I think my expectations for LMS could be further developed if I had the opportunity to be a student using Moodle. I had a chance to look at courses developed by my peers using Moodle, but experiencing a whole course would give me a whole different perspective.

However, I was able to experience Connect and UBC blog as a student, and this also gave me some ideas. For example, I really liked the way the discussion forum was laid out in Connect compared to the blog site. I feel this had a direct impact on my motivation to read each post. I found it easy to look at discussions and reply in Connect whereas the blog made it more cumbersome. Once I read a discssuion thred in the blog site, I found it more difficult to get back to the posted page to look at another post. I also liked the video collaborate session, though my audio/video kept cutting out. I`m not sure if it was a connection problem on my end or an issue with the LMS. I liked the alyout of the blog site over Connect. I found it easy to move from one module to the next and the badge system was an added bonus and motivator. I also really liked getting RSS and mobile access with the blog. Based on my experience, I would like an LMS that has the following:

  • user friendly chart function (especially sizing and outlining of the chart)
  • More drag and drop
  • Easy to import and use images (perhaps with citing images built in so it’s entered once and will appear on the website)
  • Easy to hyperlink existing course pages
  • Easy to make GUI
  • Well laid out discussion forum
  • Video/audio collaborative session activity function
  • Visually appealing interface that’s easy to navigate
  • Mobile compatible
  • RSS feed feature
  • Plus all features already built into Moodle

From a course development perspective, I gained an appreciation for the importance of assessments. Given that student learning is most influenced by assessments, I will place a lot more effort on this aspect of my teaching (Gibbs & Simpson, 2005). This includes the incorporation of frequent, useful feedback as well as group based projects.

Bates` SECTIONS criteria was also a valuable tool I learned and used during this course, which I will surely use during my academic career (2014). The act of reflection and use of this tool during this course has critical in proving its usefulness and practicality.

I am a commited life long learner, both in medicine and education. I will continue my education in Ed Tech by engaging in my remaining ETEC courses and by learning from my peers. As mentioned by many students in this course, I have found very useful information on Ed Tech through social media. I plan to continue to read these feeds to further my education in this field. Furthermore, as I have taken on a bigger role at our medical school as a course coordinator, I will participate both at a local level and national level in medical education planning. This in turn will lead to will continued learning in Ed Tech that is specific to my field of interest.

I believe that simulation will be a large component in medical education in the upcoming years. Therefore, I plan to further my knowledge in this area as well. I am conisdering a course out of McMaster University for this purpose. Of course, I think I will wait until I complete my MET courses first. Other technologies I am interested in are differnt forms of digital media. This course, including experiences of my classmate, has opened my eyes to the pedagogical possibilities of differnt forms of media and I hope to become familiar with them by using them and incorporating them into my classes. I think using them for my projects and classroom activities is the best way to learn to use these varied resources.

As mentiond earlier, I am now a course coordinator for our undergraduate medical program. Our course has much to improve upon as it is rated quite poorly compared to other courses. I am hoping to use what I learned from this course to make improvements. Specifically, I would like to include more team-based learning activities, frequent formative assessments and feedback, and incorporate differnt forms of digital media. I believe this will lead to a greater level of engagement, and help with student learning. I plan to make substantial changes to the current form of assessment, which is single best answer multiple choice examination. I do not think this form of assessment achieves the learning outcomes I am looking for, which is higher order thinking skills specific to our field. None of our patients come to see us with a list of possible diagnoses of which we choose the best one, so why should our students be assessed in this manner? I will be making these changes this summer and starting the course in October of this year. I am exctied that I have an opportunity to apply what I have learned. I am aware that this will be an evolving process, in which my course will change from year to year as I gain more experience and recieve feedback from the students. I am hopeful that the changes I make will be in the positive direction and will help my students become competent physicians.

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone in this course. I have learned immensly from their experiences and discussions. I find that my learning is takne to another level because they share their experiences with me through the course discussion forum. Finally, I find the level of engagement by Natasha to be another aspect of the course that I apprecite greatly and feel that it deserves mention. I have found that in some of my other ETEC courses, my instructors did not have the teaching presence that Natasha gave us and this added greatly to my learning experience.

 

References