I would like to begin by thanking all of you for your contributions to this course. I have never been part of a Masters class with a synchronous component before, and while there were undoubtedly scheduling challenges, I feel I was able to learn so much more in direct collaboration with others. Moreover, there is so much I have learned from this course that I have already started to reimagine and incorporate into various aspects of my professional practice and personal life as a student.
Having to narrow my choices to 2-3, I would say Garrison et al.’s Community of Inquiry Model, the F-shape pattern theory and its connection to Dual coding, and the importance of privacy and security in regards to the weaponization of data have resonated with me the most. These are all of significance importance to me as an educator and an administrator as all are student success and safety oriented.
These three learning categories and theories are also even more paramount at this time as a result of COVID-19 and our resulting drastic and dramatic shift to online learning. During this pandemic, I have had the opportunity to participate in a variety of webinars and two of the most thought-provoking quotes I keep going back to are “We are in crisis learning, not online learning”-Armand Doucet and “No one was prepared for this”-Simon Breakspear.
For the last three months, we have been trying our best to function in uncharted waters. While it has been challenging, and difficult, and exhausting, the silver lining of all of this will very likely be our shift in pedagogy! All educators have had to shift their current practices to meet the needs of students in a new and innovative way. Educational Technology integration is no longer optional, it is a necessity! I also think this pandemic has forced us to revisit, from an epistemological standpoint, how students learn best in these environments. Our EDUC 5990-02 coursework has providing an excellent framework to refocus and reimagine learning and teaching in these new domains. This course has been engaging, informative, and a truly a living laboratory for Educational Technology in the curriculum during a crisis!
Wishing everyone the very best as their journey in education continues.
Hello Keri!
Thank You for sharing your thoughts. This course has indeed helped us expand our technological knowledge. I agree with you that this shift from face to face classes to online classes is both challenging as well as illuminating. This drastic change has certainly revamped teaching pedagogies. With advancements in time and trends, a forever evolving of teaching pedagogies is a must. Also, this course has shed light on many creative and interactive ways of teaching and learning which can be an asset for all the teachers.
Kind Regards,
Sarabjit