I have to admit that when I started the Education Baccalaureate at VIU in September of 2023, I was nervous. I wasn't intimidated by the workload, the tuition costs, or whether I wanted to be (or could be) a teacher. It was because, as a very mature student, I didn't know if I would be left behind in some areas of the coursework. I graduated high school in 1991. I graduated from university in 1998 after starting in the Music Education Degree program and finishing with a B.Mus Performance degree. Would I be able to relate to students and their technologically advanced minds? No one had mobile devices or laptop computers when I graduated high school. It was dial-up modems and dot printers with a home computer for those who could afford them. The educational technology I remember was VHS, Camcorders, the Walkman, overhead projectors, and even reel-to-reel films! I remember feeling left behind back then by technology and that things were moving so fast that I wouldn't have a chance in the workplace. Then, I had kids, and as they grew up, I heard talk of 'whiteboards' and 'Google Classroom' and cloud technology. They played video games in the classroom that taught them things and assessed their learning. It was so foreign that I thought twice about being a teacher. It was intimidating.
On my first day in EDPB530: Instructional Design, Application of Educational Technology, I remember taking a deep breath before I walked in, telling myself to keep an open mind. I didn't need to know about all the technology because I was here to learn about it. It calmed me down a bit, but what really helped was Anneke Nussbaum, our amazing teacher for the course. One of the first things that came out of her mouth was, "Technology is a tool for learning. You don't have to know every little thing right now about the technology as we will explore it, use it and come to understand what you can do with it in the classroom," and we did exactly that. We not only learned about platforms for collaborating in a classroom, gathering ideas, or sharing information, Nussbaum used the technology with us in her teaching so we could experience it as students. The learning curve was steep for me, but in a very short time, I saw that I wasn't as far behind as I had thought. I was already incorporating technology for learning in my practice as a private music teacher and content expert in schools. I brought in video examples, and programs to slow down music, change the key, and make the learning easier and more accessible. I used audio examples and created instructional videos tailored to individual students, demonstrating skills they could refer to and practice with outside the lesson. I have experience with music production software and have done extensive graphic design work for my band. I understood how to set up sound systems and do digital sound recording.
However, one of my most important learning pieces in this class was not HOW technology was used, but WHY it is used. We discussed the dreaded topic of cell phone use in class. When we started the conversation, I was dead set against mobile devices in the classroom. I can't even get my OWN kids (or myself, for that matter) to regulate their time on their devices of their own accord. By the end of the class, and with experience doing my practicum under my belt, my view of mobile devices softened. I feel like there IS a place for it in the classroom when parameters are established. I saw students use it to help with Wordle ideas, participate in digital gamification activities, and research topics. I saw them collaborate on whiteboards and access information that they needed on Google Classroom. That's not to say that it wasn't a distraction to some or that it was always used in an academically positive way. There was a lot of regulation and oversight in the grade 8 Humanities class that I was privileged to observe and teach during my practicum.
The class also provided much-needed parameters for the questions of HOW and WHY you would use technology in designing your class. Using ed tech development rubrics like PICRAT and SAMR, then applying Multimedia Principles combined with teaching strategies and knowledge of how people learn (Cognitive Load Theory, Bloom taxonomy, etc.) provided a rich and fertile foundation for understanding the HOW and WHY of technology and educational design. Using PowerPoint as a lesson tool is one way to enhance a lesson using technology and provides learners with a visual, but it isn't transformative. It doesn't truly involve technology in a way that deepens learning outcomes. Students are passive viewers of the information instead of being involved in generating, discussing, researching, collaborating or sharing learning and information via technology. Evaluating technology and its use in/ impacts on, educational design gave me the tools to make connections to lesson planning that I began to use effectively during my practicum. It also gave me insight when I developed and designed my Digital Learning Resource for the class. It helped me identify weaknesses in the platform I was using to design it and what I needed to transform it into more than just a tool for information sharing (for more information on this resource, check out my Songwriting 101 DLR here!).
In the future, I would like to look at ways to work with technology for collaborative learning opportunities that enhance learning past ‘gamification’. How can a lesson on narrative writing incorporate a collaborative brainstorming session? How could it be used for ice-breakers and creating a connected classroom community? What pitfalls do I need to avoid in using technology in teaching? Perhaps most important is where technology is headed in the future and how I prepare myself and my students for those changes.
At the beginning of the course, I was nervous about how far behind I was in this area. I realized during the course that I will probably always be behind in many technological areas, but that is ok. As an educator, I need to look ahead to what is coming and prepare students for that. In that sense, I suppose I am further ahead than they are.
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