Learning Technologies: Design and Application

My name is Anthony Di Palma.  I am a secondary science teacher in Ontario hoping to complete the MET degree this year.  I have chosen this near the end of my studies purposely as I hope it will provide somewhat of a culmination to bridge the theories, practices and procedures I have studied in other MET courses into a usable practical and somewhat tangible form.

I have been teaching in Ontario for 5 years now and I took leave last year in order to train myself in these studies while coupling them with immersed second language learning in other areas of the globe.  As I have evolved as an educator I have become increasingly interested in new and exciting ways to present material to engage students in meaningful ways and hope to expand my practice to involve adult learners looking to upgrade qualifications and have life-long learning experiences.

My hope is that this course will provide me with opportunities to familiarize myself with different Learning Management Systems to assess their individual benefits and drawbacks specifically with regards to the following components:

• Assessment: How can I use Learning Management Systems in order to assess student learning and provide timely feedback with is both accurate and meaningful.
• Social Software: What types of applications are available to be incorporated into Learning Management Systems that promote collaboration and cooperation among students?  How can I use these applications to create a learning environment that affords similar communication opportunities found in a face to face classroom and solidify my role as a facilitator of building knowledge rather than a dictator who demands regurgitation of facts and terms?
• Multimedia: Explore options for multimedia use and order to create realistic, meaningful and engaging lessons that motivate learners in interesting and interactive ways.

With my somewhat limited direct experience with using Learning Management Systems I have found the SECTIONS framework developed by Bates and Poole (2003) to help guide my understandings of the pros and cons of the systems I will be exposed to throughout the course.  Some of the components taken from the SECTIONS framework which I will pay particular attention to during the course are the following:

• Ease of use and reliability: how easy is it for both teachers and students to use? How reliable and well tested is the technology?
• Costs: what is the cost structure of each technology?  What is the unit cost per learner?
• Teaching and learning: what kinds of learning are needed? What instructional approaches will best meet these needs? What are the best technologies for supporting this teaching and learning?
• Organizational issues: What are the organizational requirements and the barriers to be removed before this technology can be used successfully?  What changes in organization need to be made

(Bates & Poole, 2003, pp. 79-80)

I hope that with the time I have to familiarize myself with the LMSs presented I will continue to evolve my pedagogical beliefs and be on the cutting edge of instructional practice involving the use of learning technologies.

REFERENCES

1. 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.

Me in Sydney Australia