Dr. Ian​​​​ M Cowley​ MEd ePortfolio

Artefact 3

MDDE 610 - Survey of Current Educational Technology Applications

Artefact: Group Project Video

Summary

One of the most challenging assignments I was involved with in the program was a group assignment in MDDE 610 – Survey of Current Educational Technology Applications.

Three of my classmates and I were tasked with the objective of preparing a short presentation of a technology for the rest of the class. Among several objectives, we chose “demonstrate a web conference system and a comparison and contrasting of useful features for distance education”. We decided to demonstrate a Google Hangouts screen capture presentation of several other Google products suitable for potential use in distance education scenarios (2.5, 6.1).

I chose this video artefact for inclusion here because my other artefacts do not have a technology focus. While epistemology, pedagogical theory, leadership, and business best practices are all vital to success in distance education, technology will continue to provide the tools that overcome that distance.

Reflections

I began MDDE 610 and this assignment with the confidence of a lifelong early adopter of electronic technology. While I have always gravitated to the latest computer, software, app, and trend over the past several years, I have learned that technology should not take the lead in education but rather serve as education’s tool. It is easy to be drawn to the latest shiny object, but we must ensure they are more than just shiny – they must be pedagogically sound and aid and improve teaching and learning.

There were two distinct processes at play in the creation of this artefact; 1) learning the technology itself, and 2) researching and producing the resulting video at a distance among four adult learners with differing personal schedules, time zones, and opinions (4.7, 4.8, 6.5).  

Learning the technology was relatively easy for me. I have used many of Google’s products and apps and find them intuitive and simple. I find the key to learning software is, for me, to play with it using a trial and error method, which I did in this case. My portion (timestamp 6:20 to 11:55 of the video, below) included explanations of Google Hangouts and Google Scholar. As a team, we presented a variety of tools for our varied audience of classmates (3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.7).

The more challenging aspect of this assignment was the group work. Though MDDE 610 is concerned principally with “current education technology applications”, experiencing the process of group work at a distance provided learning of a considerable number of MDDE competencies.

We portioned the various pieces of what we had decided would be our content based on our natural abilities and preferences. We then began to research and familiarize ourselves with our components (1.4, 1.5, 5.3). When our group arrived at the point of having conversations about how to stitch the components together, our group process came to a halt.

A controversy arose about what software we would use to combine our individual pieces. We simply could not reach consensus on a preferred platform. We became inactive for a time to avoid hurt feelings and to evade conflict. In the end, all that was needed was a hard conversation and a vote as to which way to proceed (1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 4.2, 4.3). In retrospect, I believe a group agreement or constitution would have mitigated our inactivity and helped move our process along (1.11). Such an agreement should have outlined a firm timeline as well as a pre-determined procedure for moving beyond inactivity due to conflicting ideas.

Conclusions

In the end, our group was happy with our completed video. Our goal was to present a variety of technologies useful in distance education settings, and we did just that (3.4, 3.5, 4.6).

However, while we accomplished what we set out to create, it is obvious to me that when creating multimedia, professionals should be consulted. When designing courses at SAIT, I would never consider creating electronic learning objects on my own. Each of us is exposed to professionally produced media daily and we all recognize quality. To create something less than professional for our distance learners is not advisable unless it is for use, perhaps, on a very limited scale.

It is true that many hands make light work. At the same time, this assignment taught me that pre-determined rules of engagement are necessary to avoid having group work stall mid-stream (4.4, 4.5). I have used group agreements since with great success.

Artefact: Group Project Video