EDUC 431 – December 3, 2019 – REFLECTION

When you are a teacher, you have to be willing to be a LEARNER. One would have to be vulnerable, curious, and resilient. You would also have to have a clear vision, purpose, and efficacy to forge forward and delve into what is possible. The EGO has to step aside and make way, otherwise FEAR will overwhelm you. I felt that way when I was first assigned EDUC 431 – EdTech in Teacher Education. I blog. I maintain a website. I am on Twitter and use it professional learning… but I do not claim to be an EdTech teacher. Over the summer, I was blessed with the serendipitous opportunity to be a guest speaker for Dr. Valerie Irvine’s class at UVIC. She contacted me and asked if I would on DM via Twitter. I said, “of course I would,” but wondered why she would be asking ME to guest speak to her EdTech class. She said, “because you are a regular teacher using EdTech as professional learning.” This is true. I had a great time speaking with her class via video conferencing and I was in very good company, with people other EdTech gurus like Alec Couros, Jesse Miller, and Ian Landy. It was also an opportunity to get to know Valerie and her passion and expertise as a Professor in EdTech at UVIC. Nonetheless, I was inspired by what Valerie did with her intro graduate EdTech course and wondered if I could do that with EDUC 431 at #UNBCED.

I am not an EdTech expert, per se… but I am willing to try and imagine what a learning experience in EdTech with me as the instructor could look like. I am very grateful to Valerie with her willingness to play and try something new. She is a great mentor and she is very generous with her time and knowledge. So, I started to ask people in my PLN (professional learning network) to see if they were willing to participate and share what they knew about EdTech with my EDUC 431 class. I have no budget. I’m not flying anyone in. I just asked if they were willing to share and speak to my students. Not one person said no. (Wow… that was a double negative… let me rephrase that). EVERYONE SAID YES!!! This is the “true educator.” No fear. Passionate. Willing to share and wants to share. The time it would take to prep for my class and then speak to my class OVERWHELMS and HEARTENS ME. I gave out little gifts to each of our speakers because that’s the least I could do. I have so much gratitude for each of my colleagues who stepped up and stepped in. I became the learner and facilitator. I was designing the course. I will assess and evaluate student learning. But it was my colleagues who shared their wealth of knowledge and expertise to my students (aka. soon to be teachers). What I had hoped for was for my students to learn a little bit more about EdTech and how it supports student learning, sample some EdTech tools, and create a digital footprint. In the end, we got so much more out of this course than EdTech.

We walked away with a few big ideas from EdTech. (1) Use EdTech with a PURPOSE. If you can accomplish the same thing without using technology, don’t use technology. (2) Do not be consume… but CREATE. Use technology so that students can create versus consume. Write stories. Connect with others globally. To find one’s voice. (3) Technology makes learning ACCESSIBLE. Technology can be inclusive for students to demonstrate their learning, but also accessible to those who may need additional support with reading or writing… or is unable to attend class and learn face-to-face. I really appreciated these three big ideas about EdTech and how EVERYONE who was invited to speak said very similar things… which tells me, THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW. We also discussed FOIPPA, privacy of students, and where data is kept on appropriate servers. We talked about digital citizenship and digital literacy… but in fact, we were living it. Many of the students, if not most, did not have a digital footprint prior to this course. One of my core beliefs, but also found in my research is, you cannot teach what you have not learned or experienced. So, part of this course was to develop their own e-Portfolio that show exemplars Professional Standards of BC Teachers, expresses their voice and values as a teaching professional, and personalizes and depicts their learning journey in Teacher Education. We also used Twitter.

I think the BIGGEST take-away for me had NOTHING to do with EdTech… but it was the week to week experience of watching and collaborating with an EXPERT TEACHER who is passionate about what they do. That was amazing to me. One example after another, students in EDUC 431 had the opportunity to observe and interact with teachers from all over BC to engage and talk about EdTech in K-12. You can’t get that from anywhere!!! What a gift. I felt that it was a gift and that was the first time that I’ve experienced that degree of professional learning. One can only get excited about EdTech because each of these educators were excited about EdTech and their perspective on EdTech with respect to teaching and learning. It was INCREDIBLE to say the least. My second take-away, which is reminiscent of the book (as seen above), “The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do,” is that you need to accept HELP FROM OTHERS. I am so blessed to have an AMAZING PLN. I may have mentioned that already. Each person was so supportive and caring. I just loved that EDUC 431 was an opportunity for me to deepen my relationships with these people that extended beyond Twitter and for some, was face-to-face. For example, one of our presenters drove 4-hours to Prince George TWICE to share her love for EdTech with my students. I was extremely humbled. Finally, my third take-away was my students’ learning. They had to figure out what would work for them or not as future practitioners. Some really flew with what was being presented but also what they are doing on Twitter and e-Portfolios. I kinda want to say they have EXCEEDED my expectations, but I will say I am HAPPY that they found the “goods internal” to the practice of EdTech. That’s the ultimate win!!!

I want to give a HUGE thanks to Grant Potter at the University who provided much tech support the beginning and throughout this course. I could not have done this course without him and his expertise with WordPress and OpenETC. I want to thank all of my guest speakers (see list below). I know this is only scraping the surface of EdTech. What an amazing field and tool that supports and enhances student learning and student learning experiences. Thank you EDUC 431 students for coming on this ride with me. You have been incredible throughout this course, with the ups and downs of tech issues, but also with what you have learned in this course to personalize your learning and find relevance to your teaching practice. And my last comment is this… why am I writing this blog? I wanted to experience what my students were experiencing. Although I did design the learning experience, took on the role as facilitator versus instructor, and created the course framework, I wanted to engage in what the students were doing and expected to do. I wanted to model learning. And, my e-Portfolio is still in progress, but I will complete this e-Portfolio at the same time as this teacher education cohort.  Here’s to EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING at it’s finest. Yay for learning!!!

THANK YOU… to the following EdTech educators who shared their expertise: