Having finished the meeting with our instructor (Micheal) yesterday, I realize that we discussed most of the reflections during that final meeting for the 571 course.  I have learned a lot of different things during the last three months since the course started.  I have had quite a few challenges with setting up the technology. Still, I have persevered and eventually, successfully set up various things such as email, this Word Press blog, and Zotero.  Challenges mean learning is taking place; I feel I have learned a lot so far in the program. 

Working as a student in Brightspace:

  • I have been an online teacher for over two years now.  Our School has recently switched LMS platforms from Moodle to Brightspace.  I have learned how to navigate Brightspace as a student.  It is nice to have gained this knowledge as it will help me understand potential hurdles my new students may face while they start their courses in Bright Space.

Setting up email and linking it to Outlook:

  • I had some trouble setting up email.  As I recall, and my memory is a bit fuzzy here, as I followed the directions step by step, the UVic email was not displaying in the Outlook Program.  I worked at it for quite some time, but the email address would not work like the directions.  In the end, I contacted the help desk, and they managed to get the problem sorted out (so I guess I learned how to use the helpdesk as well.)  It seemed my school district’s security setting may have been causing problems.  I have found the district security settings a recurring, problematic theme during my schooling thus far.  In hindsight, I would use a personal laptop with administrative access.  This would likely eliminate 50% of my issues with setting up programs.

Navigating the UVIC website and finding the course, etc…:

  • A tutorial to find all Ed Tech student resources or putting all course links in one spot on the UVic website would be helpful.  I have spent much time looking for course assignments, readings, and Zoom meeting links.  I like the webpage format that Michael has designed, but a link in Bright Space to the website might be a good thing to help students find it and make them more efficient. 

Reading digitally:

            It has only been in the last year that I have moved to reading digitally, on Kindle (via my cell phone).  Digital highlighting has been fantastic, and the ability to add notes and change the colours of the highlighting to mean different things has been a super powerful learning tool!  I recently learned how to import my saved copy (all highlighted) of the 515 textbook into Zotero.  I was super excited when I discovered it also brought over all my highlighting.  So now I’ll read the text from Zotero so I can quote the text more easily.  😊 (note: Zotero is VERY sluggish when reading this 977 page book)

Adjusting to thinking more academically (Shop Teacher):

            Most of my teaching career has been as an Automotive and Metalwork teacher in a predominantly blue-collar community.  My clientele was there to fix and build things, gaining skills as they went.  Much of my career has consisted of short, group learning sessions, followed by everyone working on their projects, where I circulate and help individual students one-on-one.  Compared to the average teacher, I have spent much less time thinking and writing academically, so adjusting to writing academically again has been an adjustment, to be sure.

Zotero:

            I am so happy that we were directed to learn about Zotero.  This was my first experience with it, and I only wish I had known about it sooner.  The tutorial we watched was excellent!  I have watched all the videos and reviewed the instructions in the  Zotero tutorial thrice.  It is fantastic.  The link is below.

            TStart Here – DIF Workshop – Introduction to Zotero – LibGuides at University of Victoria Libraries (uvic.ca)

            When I added the connector, it wouldn’t work in Google Chrome due to security settings, but I managed to get it to work in MS Edge.  Within Zotero, I learned how to:

  • Build a library.
  • Add citations and bibliographies.
  • Add Annotations and tags.    
  • Citing work in Word and adding a bibliography
  • Setting up and using Group libraries in Zotero was pretty handy during our group presentation.

Where to find Academic writing

            I feel a little embarrassed to admit this, but I was unaware of the existence of:

  • Google Scholar
  • UVic digital library
  • JSTOR
  • ERIC

For some time, I have been interested in how one identifies fake or inaccurate readings, videos, and articles.  Misinformation seems to be rampant, polarizing individuals from each other.  I have heard stories, even within my newfound family (just found my biological father’s side of my family last summer), about parents and offspring not speaking to each other due to the misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine; it is heartbreaking to witness.  Search engines and libraries such as Google Scholar and JSTOR are trusted sites with scientific studies that can be trusted, which is much better than social media and regular websites, where many people get their information.

Setting up Matter most:

            I have found Mattermost a convenient program that has been great for building community.  I have several side chats in the program, as I am sure many of us do in the program.  Mattermost was easy to set up on the computer and my mobile device.  The only issue I found was I didn’t see where to turn on the alert on my phone until recently. This was likely an issue of not spending the time to look for the issue.

Setting up a blog:

            Setting up the blog for me was pretty challenging.  If I remember correctly, we had three blog website options.  I didn’t choose the most highly recommended one because it didn’t seem to work for me, or I didn’t understand how to set it up.  I am going to blame security settings again.   Michael helped me set up the blog correctly with the correct theme (thank you), and I figured out how to post.  I still feel a little rusty, though.  Blog work and YouTube production, along with video editing (which I have done a little), are things I am very interested in.  I do a lot of overland travel, skiing, and camping. One day I would like to start a blog and YouTube channel about my adventures.  I also live in a Tiny Home, so I could post about the great and not-so-great things about that.  A tutorial, a guest speaker, or the instructor walking through the WordPress program with the students would be very beneficial.

Working with word:

            I have used MS Word a bit, but only for basic correspondence.  I have learned how to bullet point form passages, and I learned about styles as well.

What I learned from my group presentation:

  • Supportive partners
  • Meeting via Zoom
  • Difficult to condense our presentation
  • Learned lots of different tech.
  • group libraries in Zotero

            During the group presentations, I learned about many different technologies that I was unfamiliar with.  As a group of three, we had multiple Zoom meetings and used Google Documents.  I didn’t know that all three of us could edit one document.  I thought it was just cloud storage. We also used group libraries in Zotero, which we found most helpful as we reviewed the articles we reviewed together.  I believe all three of us had a big challenge: trying to condense our presentation down to an appropriate time.  I edited my assignment six times once it was finished, cutting out information that I thought was important.

Working with PowerPoint:

  • Design styles
  • Designer
  • Transitions
  • Morph
  • Draw
  • Animations

I have marked many PowerPoint presentations in the careers class that I taught, but I have not used it much myself, and only at a basic level.  During the presentation, I realized, at least in part, how powerful the program is.  I learned about Design Styles and the Designer button as well.  They totally and quickly change the look of your presentation, making them look much more professional.  I knew of transitions but not the different types like morph, drawing and animations.  I am eager to learn more about the program.

Group work with Google Docs: 

            I have never set up a Google Document, but now I see how powerful they can be.  I want to learn how to set up an online Document and add people.  We used Google Docs for our group presentation, which was extremely useful.

515 class textbook:

This textbook is technically not what I learned in this class; however, I wanted to mention it as it is terrific, but large.  The layout is good, and I am learning so much from it.

Reviewing my peer’s writings:

             I see some thoughtful, reflective, and articulate scholars in the group.  I have learned some things from them, and I look forward to reading more reflections and seeing their presentations.

Conclusion:

Moving forward, I hope to learn as many different tech tools as I can.  My long-term goals are to work part-time for Queen’s University (or equivalent) online, teach asynchronous courses, and develop courses for them (retirement plan).  I hope this course will give me the skills to do that.  I also want to establish a Mechanics 9/10 course I can teach online and build other shop classes as well.

Johnson, R. B., & Christensen, L. B. (2014). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (5. ed). SAGE.

Technical-report-writing.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2023, from https://www.theiet.org/media/5182/technical-report-writing.pdf