In the fall of 2008, after working as a mechanical engineer for 15 years, I decided to try out a new career in teaching. I put together my program applications and by spring of 2009 I was accepted into the PDP at Simon Fraser University\u2019s Faculty of Education. After a 12-month whirlwind program, I finally received my B.Ed in August of this year.<\/p>\n
In the spring of 2010 I anticipated that I would have temporary work in the coming winter. This, coupled with my new-found interest in learning about education, I decided to apply to the MET program at UBC. I am a keen user of technology and want to learn how to use IT wisely in the classroom, so the MET program seemed like a good fit for me. Secondary math and physics are my principal teaching subjects, and as anticipated these credentials helped me get a job with the Surrey School District as a Teacher-On-Call starting in September 2010.<\/p>\n
Up to now I have had limited exposure to technology that would be useful in a secondary school setting. I have been running a WordPress blog for several years, I put together an environmental math website using Drupal, and have experimented with using Moodle. As well, during my practicum I had students do a unit presentation using Prezi, along with the other typical computer related technologies used in the classroom.<\/p>\n
I really have come into ETEC 565A, and the MET program in general, without preconceptions on what I will be learning. After covering some of the theoretical frameworks that educators can apply to digital technology and teaching, I am starting to develop some clearer ideas on what I can perhaps achieve in ETEC 565A. As I try to construct my own framework for learning, I would like to focus this within the context of 4 of ISTE\u2019s NETS standards. I would like to learn how to inspire creative and innovative thinking, along with engaging students with collaborative tools that promote reflection. I also think it is very important that I improve my ability to develop enriched learning environments that speak to a student\u2019s individuality. Finally, I want to be able to have a variety of formative assessment tools at my disposal to aid in both assessment and learning.<\/p>\n
As for my own personal framework, I will try to work inside something I call the EPIC model (a stripped down medley of the Seven Principles (Chickering & Gamson, 1987) and SECTIONS (Bates & Poole, 2003).<\/p>\n
E<\/strong><\/td>\n| Ease of use and reliability: I especially do not want students to get caught up in technological difficulties that take away from learning.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | P<\/strong><\/td>\n | Prompt feedback between the student and teacher: by being prompt, the students can be empowered to work at an appropriate pace and level.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | I<\/strong><\/td>\n | Interactivity: as with the NETS, I think it is critical that engaging and interactive aspects are present in the technologies.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | C<\/strong><\/td>\n | Collaboration and communication: learning is very much a social activity, and promoting collaboration and cooperation is a significant aspect of constructivist teaching techniques.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n | Considering the above, there are some specific tools that I hope to learn more about. I would like to improve the way that I put together a Moodle site, by making it efficient and visually interesting if possible. As a side note, I\u2019ve beta tested quite a bit of software over the years, and it is clear that visual presentation makes a huge impact on the user, regardless of the interface or mechanics. Clear, pleasing visuals help with initial engagement. Secondly, I am very interested in learning about formative assessment tools that can be added to something like a LMS. Ideally I would very much like to learn about \u201cclicker\u201d polling type devices as I believe these can be a very powerful formative assessment tool (Gauci, Dantas, Williams, & Kemm, 2009), but I\u2019m not sure if this can be investigated during ETEC 565A. In terms of \u201cI<\/strong>\u201d in EPIC, I am open to whatever tools I come across during ETEC 565A. I look forward to learning about these tools by collaborative work with my peers. Finally, I also hope to learn about software and extensions that can help link various technologies, like Moodle, with mobile devices such the Blackberry, Android phone and iPhone. This could become a very advantageous aspect of the \u201cP<\/strong>\u201d in EPIC.<\/p>\n Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n Bates, A., & Poole, G. (2003). Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. New York: Jossey-Bass, An Imprint of Wiley.<\/p>\n Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. AAHE Bulletin, 3-7.<\/p>\n Gauci, S., Dantas, A., Williams, D., & Kemm, R. (2009). Promoting Student-Centered Active Learning in Lectures with a Personal Response System. Advances in Physiology Education, 33(1), 60-71.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the fall of 2008, after working as a mechanical engineer for 15 years, I decided to try out a new career in teaching. I put together my program applications and by spring of 2009 I was accepted into the PDP at Simon Fraser University\u2019s Faculty of Education. After a 12-month whirlwind program, I finally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3283,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions\/43"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/smithetec565a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |