When I wrote my flight path, I focused on the experiences that had brought me to begin the ETEC565 course and why. Specifically, being lost in a sea of technology as a high school teacher in Seoul, having the reasons for why I need to master these tools and lead with them so well stated by Marc Prensky (2001) in his essay Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, and later having my eyes opened to the power of social learning by theorists like Vygotsky.
I also focused on what I hoped to achieve in this course. My main goals were to work on finding my voice, to continue to absorb wisdom from my peers, to expand my knowledge of the tools available for myself and my students, and to refine my ability to effectively select the right tool for the job at hand.
One of the resources available to us during this course was the eLearning toolkit. I used this resource only on a few occasions similarly to how one uses Wikipedia or another reference page. I would scan for the information I needed, or to see if anything caught my attention, but didn’t walk through all the steps for any of the activities. This was likely due to the fact that they were never directly assigned, and so remained on the periphery of my focus in the course, which had enough assessed assignments to keep me quite occupied. In hindsight, I feel I have missed an opportunity to utilize much of what the eLearning toolkit had to offer.
When reflecting on my overall experience in ETEC565 however, I can say with confidence that I learned a great deal and achieved the goals I set forth at the start of the course. One of the ideas which has impacted me the most as an educator is that of the Community of Practice, and the people in this particular course were truly that. During the past few months, these people supported each other and myself tremendously and selflessly, and everyone had something valuable to bring to the table to share with the rest. 5600 discussion board posts later (and counting), everyone has made great strides, though I will admit that I was one of those being more often dragged to my feet by my older/wiser/more experienced peers than I was doing the dragging.
The dramatic entrance into the course was during the third or fourth week when we were introduced to the problem-based learning approach and tasked with producing a Learning Management System (LMS) assessment rubric and a rationale for it, something which proved to be no easy task. Working in a group to complete the assignment however, was a valuable bonding experience and a good indicator of the frenzy of activity that would be to come. What I valued most about the activity was the methodical approach it forced us to use in selecting the tool needed to solve the problem at hand. Often in the past, I have reached for the first tool that comes to mind (often a textbook, a video clip, a worksheet), rather than taking that extra time to stop. And think. And evaluate the problem in detail in such a way that the solution presents itself almost without any alternatives. It may not always happen that way, but it will do so more often if given the chance.
Despite the fact that there were several assignments sprinkled throughout this course, I found the discussion scenarios and the questions they raised to be the most valuable element in the course for me. The real-world feel and focus on “local” issues appealed to my rational side and made the problems seem worth taking the time to pick apart. My colleagues seemed to feel the same, and these questions led to many fruitful discussions, some of which diverged significantly from the start, but not from the core issues being addressed.
My appreciation for quality discourse around carefully crafted problems should not be interpreted as a distaste for the other elements of this course, however. Quite the contrary, I found the assignments to be, for the most part useful exercises and even, at times, dare I say, enjoyable experiences.
Our first e-portfolio assignment was the Flight Path, which established a direction for me in the course; an aim. Although I didn’t always have it firmly in mind, I was able to revisit it on occasion in my e-portfolio and remind myself of why I was putting myself through all this in the first place.
The LMS course site proposal was perhaps the most difficult of the assignments for me, even though it came early on in the course and did not carry much weight in terms of an overall mark. In truth, I made it harder on myself than need be by exploring the possibility of turning my office computer into a Moodle server, only to be rebuffed by the intricacies of computer speak I could not understand. Still, there were moments during the process where I solved problems and got results that I had not previously thought myself capable of, and so even as discouraging an experience as that was not without its small rewards.
Our next assignment was the Moodle Quiz. Had I never put together a quiz in Moodle before, this may have been the most frustrating experience imaginable. Luckily, I had some past experience working with quizzes in Moodle, which limited my missteps and afforded me some mental energy to try some of the question features I had not explored previously, making the process much more pleasant than anticipated. Unfortunately, in the latter part of the course I revamped my entire Moodle site, and my wonderful quiz and all its various questions was rendered quite useless for my purposes. I hope to give it new life in a new course down the road, however.
The Digital Story was by far my favorite, and also the assignment in which I invested the most time, other than the Moodle course. I spent a long time debating what kind of story to tell, but once I settled on a narrative with a “moral” at the end, the other pieces fell into place. I had a great time using Toondoo to create my characters, and after I had captured all those created images with Jing, they came together beautifully in Animoto. Even more than just my own story though, it was a singular opportunity to see the world through the eyes of some of my peers who I had not yet gotten to know well. I managed to watch the stories published by each of my peers, and not only learned about them and the way they see the world and educate their students, but about some really spectacular free tools I had never heard of, but will certainly use in my own teaching practice as I move forward.
So where do I go from here?
Building webpages in Dreamweaver and then putting them all together in Moodle taught me skills that I will be able to apply to my teaching practice in the future without a doubt. Perhaps just as important, the theoretical foundation provided in this course regarding proper selection and implementation of techonological tools was exceptional. By creating the SECTIONS model, Bates and Poole (2003) effectively provide a step-by-step manual for choosing (or for the more ambitious – designing) the most effective technology to meet the needs in a given situation. Their model will serve as a guide for me moving forward as I engage with new technologies, and as others emerge. Similarly, Chickering and Gamson (1987) provide with their Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education a thorough approach to meeting the needs of their students, without being so heavily weighted towards technology. Although their words are now nearly 25 years old, they are as valid and valuable now as they no doubt were when they were written.
With my steadily growing technical knowledge, and my developing theoretical awareness in regards to the needs of my students and how to meet them, my next step will be to begin implementing Moodle with a blended learning approach in my courses this September. In addition, I hope to spend time exploring Dreamweaver and what it is capable of. I will admit, much of the discussions of html and xml and css are lost on me, but they have my attention and my interest. Mastering these tools allows for a level of freedom in course and content construction that most teachers, even educational technologists, couldn’t dream of.
I need to start small however, to ensure that I am proceeding with care in my implementation of new technologies, and expect that the SECTIONS model and the Seven Principles will be my primary resources in doing so in the near future.
In terms of lifelong learning, my goal is to put myself at the forefront, so that I have an awareness of new tools as they emerge. Obviously, it is not possible for any individual to keep themselves apprised of all the latest developments, but there are ways to come close. A few of my strategies are:
- Maintain an organized catologue of useful websites in Delicious.
- Subscribe to RSS feeds from Educational Technologists who have their digital fingers on the pulse of new trends.
- Become active on Twitter and in the blogosphere.
- Listen to my students to find out what tools they are using or are interested in, and examine potential applications for learning.
- Make a personal digital portfolio of projects and/or lessons utilizing various free programs and technologies available for educator/student use.
Despite having learned a great deal in the MET so far and in ETEC565 in particular, I am the first to recognize how far I have yet to go. I intend to use all the tools at my disposal to continue educating myself and my students, and to evaluate my successes and failures in meeting their needs, so that I can continue to move forward into the digital frontier.
Resources
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), 3-7. http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples1987.htm
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon. 9(5).p. 1–6.