Author Archives: John Koetsier

About John Koetsier

I’m John. Glad you stopped by. I’m an English major who got interested in technology a long time ago, spent four years leading a web development team, led product development for a major educational services company, and am starting up a Canadian office for EasyBits. I’m also finishing a master’s degree in educational technology. Sparkplug 9 is a conglomeration of all my previous blogs. The archives go back to 2004, but I was blogging on other platforms (one roll-your-own that I built as an experiment) since before the word blog was invented. View John Koetsier's profile on LinkedIn On a personal note I’m 36, married, and have three kids (Gabrielle - 12, Ethan - 9, Aidan - 5). We live near Vancouver, British Columbia, though I work on both sides of the US-Canada border. I get passionate about aesthetics, design, and usability, and wonder if those three words are really just one concept. And I get excited about new ways of doing business and marketing … ways that respect people as people, ask more than answer, listen more than talk, try to serve, and, most importantly, create absolutely amazingly awesome stuff. I play ice hockey, among other sports, and read history, science fiction, and just about anything else. I like pieces in just about every genre of music except rap, hip hop, and death metal. There’s always more: people are only simple at a distance. Up close they’re granular, craggy, and complex. But I’ve used the word “I” way too much already. So that’s all I’ll write here. Have a great day, and God bless.

Goals for the course

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My goal in this course is to learn more about cashing the check … finding ways to deliver on technology’s promise to education.

The ISTE NETS standards (you gotta love “national” standards from an “international” organization) are compelling:

  • facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity;
  • design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments;
  • model digital-age work and learning;
  • promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility; and
  • engage in professional growth and leadership?

The one that speaks to me most is the first: inspiring student learning and creativity. A good way to start is by working on the following four.

I’m not a teacher. I’m currently in the software industry, and have been in education-related businesses for 15 years. In the last decade, I’ve built and launched 3 learning management systems.

My goal is focused on the second standard: to learn more about “designing and developing digital-age learning experiences” in ways that support clear, simple, and compelling pedagogical purposes.

Even if my job title is not “teacher,” teaching is a huge part of what I do, and it’s a huge part of what I facilitate. I’d love to learn how to do it better, using technology.

For the rest of the standards, I feel confident that I meet them on a high level … modeling digital age work & learning, promoting digital citizenship, and engaging in professional growth.

Improving in the second, and continuing to focus on the final three … I think that will help me to achieve the first.