ETEC 511 - Foundations of Educational Technology
While ETEC 520 was the first course that I took upon my return to Canada, I felt that this was the more appropriate point in my ePortfolio to reflect upon my time away. The first seven years of my career were spent working at Sardis Secondary, a school of 1400 students in a fairly affluent area. Like most Canadian schools we were fairly well equipped with a variety of technology. By the time I left for Costa Rica, most classrooms were equipped with LCD projectors, we had a mobile laptop cart and a SmartBoard that gathered dust in the storage room. Most of my lessons used a variety of technological tools including PowerPoint, computers for projects, microscopes, a variety of Vernier test probes, motion sensors etc.
Taking a job in the jungle, on a mountaintop in Costa Rica, I knew that I would have to change my approach to teaching, but I wasn't prepared for just how much. The first six months the only technology I had access to was my own personal laptop that I had brought down from Canada. No internet. Those funny youtube videos that I had shown as icebreakers; the great digital animations that I had used to demonstrate abstract process; that mobile laptop cart that I used for research projects; none of it was available to me. What I did have available was 106 acres of cloud forest and a whole lot of time to be creative. As a Biology teacher, teaching in the cloud forest was an amazing experience. Rather than having to show my students a video on frogs, we'd just go off in search of them. Students understood the significance of the disappearance of the Golden Toad because their family's livelihoods depended on the integrity of the local ecosystems. I still had to be creative with abstract concepts such as photosynthesis, for example having students create plays that I filmed on my camera to help them better understand the process. Students and parents responded well to my teaching techniques and my students excelled. This experience helped me to realize you don't need technology to be a good teacher. Technology is just one of the many tools we have available to us in order to create an effective learning environment. What matters the most is choosing the right tool for the right task. Showing a video to explain strangler figs would have been pointless when we could walk out the door of the classroom and climb one. However, later, when I finally did get internet access and students could crowd around my laptop, the simulation for explaining genetic cloning was much more effective than any drawing or explanation I could provide. For me, these two years away from the MET program reinforced the importance of a balanced educational model. The importance of choosing the right tool for the job. I feel fortunate to have started the MET program prior to travelling to Costa Rica, because I don't think I would have been as mindful of the effects of technology (or no technology) on my teaching if I hadn't.
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Artifact #1 - Final Paper
My final paper for ETEC 511, A Blended Model for Biology Education, ties in very nicely with the lessons I learned while living abroad. In it I argue that what is needed in Biology education is a balanced model including both high-tech and no-tech approaches. In my investigation of alternative approaches to biology education, I found a great deal of support for a more holistic approach to education, with the importance of learning situated in the natural environment being central. One particular point that really resonated with me was that students will understand more deeply if they are using their senses and working directly with natural phenomena, and that instruments are to be used to extend the power of their senses (Haury, 1993). Next year I will be teaching an Environmental Biology course and I feel that this particular paper will help guide much of my practice. As I begin my outline and planning for this course it will be important that I take students out into the natural environment we are studying as much as time/budget will afford. I really enjoyed the process of researching and writing this particular paper, and I felt pleased with the final product that I handed in. This made the feedback I received from the course instructor especially nice to hear. He appreciated my use of "meta-research" and stated that this work was "at the PhD level and could be used as a sample of scholarly writing". I was very proud to receive such positive feedback for an assignment that I had enjoyed so much.
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Artifact #2 - Group Project
The second artifact that I am including for ETEC 511 is a case study that I produced with a group, focusing on Online Privacy. At a time when the vulnerability of Apple products is prevalent in the media, I found this particular project quite pertinent. While targeted at a high school audience, I feel that this case study serves to caution us all about what we are sharing online. One example that we came across as we were building our case study was of an American teacher who had posted a picture of herself from summer holidays at the Guinness factory, holding a beer in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. She had set the privacy setting on her Facebook account to "Friends only", however a disgruntled co-worker decided to share the picture with her administrator, who then forced her resignation. While I think this is an extreme example (and she is currently in a wrongful dismissal suite with the district) it does serve as an excellent reminder of how careful we need to be of what we are putting online. I would also recommend taking a moment to watch this video that was created as a commercial to promote safe internet banking, and again reinforces that fact that nothing we do online is private! |
Final Reflections for ETEC 511
I really enjoyed this particular course and feel that it has caused me to reevaluate how I approach Biology education. While cost and time limitations make it difficult to directly expose students to natural phenomena, when I am able to it will be important to choose the correct technology tools to help extend students' senses.
I really enjoyed this particular course and feel that it has caused me to reevaluate how I approach Biology education. While cost and time limitations make it difficult to directly expose students to natural phenomena, when I am able to it will be important to choose the correct technology tools to help extend students' senses.
Return to Intermediate Species
References
Haury, D.L., (1993) Teaching Science Through Inquiry, Eric Clearinghouse for Science Mathematics and Environmental Education.
© Long, J., (2010). Stream in the Reserve [photograph].
© Long, J., (2011). Yellow flower [photograph].
© Long, J., (2011). Chicken's feet [photograph].
© Long, J., (2011). Reforestation plot [photograph].
Long, J., (2013). Final Project. (Unpublished graduate essay). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Bos, J., Otify, S., St. Pierre, R., (2013). Case Study in Online Privacy. Retrieved from http://rodneystpierre.com/captivate_projects/privacy2
Haury, D.L., (1993) Teaching Science Through Inquiry, Eric Clearinghouse for Science Mathematics and Environmental Education.
© Long, J., (2010). Stream in the Reserve [photograph].
© Long, J., (2011). Yellow flower [photograph].
© Long, J., (2011). Chicken's feet [photograph].
© Long, J., (2011). Reforestation plot [photograph].
Long, J., (2013). Final Project. (Unpublished graduate essay). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Bos, J., Otify, S., St. Pierre, R., (2013). Case Study in Online Privacy. Retrieved from http://rodneystpierre.com/captivate_projects/privacy2