Embedded Files
England was the first destination on my first trip to Europe when I was a teenager – my first school group trip overseas! Likewise, ETEC 511: Foundations of Educational Technology was my first UBC MET course; however, I wasn’t a first time traveler. I had visited various locations in North America in the past just as I’d taken a few other Masters courses at different universities (Universities of Calgary & Cincinnati). But, Europe and group traveling were new to me just as online learning, online collaboration and the UBC MET program were also new to me!
My MET journey began in September 2009! As my first MET course, ETEC 511 was my first introduction to online collaboration and wikis! This ‘online thing’, as many call it, was quite intriguing! I couldn’t believe how engaged I was… online! It introduced me to a different kind of learning that afforded different kinds of participation. But, it being all new to me I was kind of blown away and intimidated by the amount of reading and work required – wow… all while working full-time! This was going to be a challenge for sure but a journey I couldn’t wait to embark on!
As we visited two cities in England, London and the port where we caught the ferry to France, I have selected two types of artifacts from this course: my two collaborative wikis and a text document: my philosophy of Education and Technology at the beginning of my journey.
Artifacts:
1. London - Personal Philosophy of Education & Technology
2. Online Group Collaboration & Wikis
Module 6 Wiki: Politics & Educational Technology
Module 10 Wiki: Ecology of Educational Technology
Wiki Reflection
I’m choosing to include the two collaborative wikis as descriptors of my progress in the MET program as they illustrate where my technical skill level started from before this course and how quickly my skills improved within a few short months, yes, within my first course!
England proved to be just as engaging and exciting, from new money (the British Pound), new architecture, new traditions to new driving rules! The best part though, for me, is that I was able to experience it with my fellow travelers and friends and guided by my teachers who took us on this Europe trip back in July of 1988 – 6 countries in 15 days! Similarly, one of the best parts of my MET journey has been meeting new people from across the globe and learning with and from them all! Bonding through a common interest of Education and Technology, we meaningfully participate together and create some amazing projects that would not have been possible without group collaboration! This is largely why my selections for this course include two collaborative project wikis!
Prior to this course I had no idea what a wiki was or what online learning and online collaboration were all about! To complicate matters, with my limited knowledge about wikis, it was just before this module that my mother had had her first heart attack. My group members were very compassionate and understanding and really helped me out! They took the lead role on the first wiki, Module 6, completing all except the conclusion and summary, leaving that minor part for me as it was all I could manage at the time running back & forth from work and the hospital. This family crisis actually highlighted the importance of asynchronous participation working in groups while making time to synchronously meet up and synthesize ideas.
This unfortunate crisis also gave me a bit more time to learn about how to navigate and edit our wiki. As a result, I agreed to start and complete most of Module 10 including creating the site and monitoring and contributing to the discussions as this was my chance to show what I had learned (content-wise and tech-tool-wise) as I was absent for much of Module 6.
I learned many web design rules including:
how to navigate and edit wikis – two different types: Wet Paint & PBworks
what to include;
how to format;
how to create new pages;
how to design online presentations / pages;
how to upload and insert pictures, word documents, links, videos;
page settings and how to make the wiki public or keep it private;
how to create discussion questions; and…
how to monitor and keep discussions on track
and how to be creative using the affordances of the Web!
What a great learning experience!
My group members were instrumental in guiding me through learning about wikis and helping where they could during a very difficult emotional family crisis. Thank You … to my amazing group members! Thanks for: what you all contributed, what you all taught me and all your guidance and hard work! Our two module wikis, Modules 6 & 10, ended up turning out pretty great and they received pretty great grades accordingly! Yay team! And… Hip, Hip, Hooray for online collaboration!
I was looking forward to applying what I had learned to my classroom and so I started dabbling in creating a math wiki for my school, a process that would continue into next term (winter 2010-January to April) before I shared it with my students and fellow teachers. In the Fall of 2008 I dabbled with Wet Paint wikis but soon abandoned this site in the fall of 2009 as it was cluttered with advertisements. Here is the link to my old Wet Paint wiki. I barely had time to start it and get it up and running as it was hard to find the time to finish the site with working full-time and taking MET courses full-time as well. As a result, I converted to only use PBworks wikis which I was introduced to in 511. Here is a link to my Math wiki. It’s currently a site that houses tutorials and links to practice tests, quizzes, practice worksheets & notes for our Alberta Math Curriculum Grades 10-12.
Just as I had to learn how to work a wiki and collaborate with group members online for the first time, I had to learn how to use the metro system with my small group in London to make it to designated locations to meet up with the large group, and all without getting lost. Similarly, both experiences were quite intimidating and scary at first! How do metros work, what are the colors for, how do you read the maps? What were Google Docs and Skype all about? In both cases, I sure found out! How ingenious Google Docs – a program designed so multiple people can collaborate and communicate all on the same document with a built-in chat / message system! Wow – I was hooked! And Skype, don’t get me started – I’m hooked here too! I never knew one could talk on their computer to other people, via text only or video chat! Who knew collaborating with people online could be so easy! It sure spoke to the benefits of having access to both synchronous and asynchronous communication to be able to connect with group members!
In the same way, the metro maps and the metro turned out to be pretty easy to figure out once I calmed down and took the time to look it over. They were all color coded to simplify things! Thank goodness! No more anxiety, I had had my first taste of online learning and my first experience on the metro! My attitude and outlook had changed from a scared and timid learner and traveler to the adventurous!
My new motto after experiencing England, the metro, ETEC 511, my first online course and online group collaboration… Bring it on, I’m ready!
My School Wikis:
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