Artifacts

Mementos of an empirical voyage

The following artifacts have been selected to depict the knowledge acquired and the research undertaken in the MET courses. My focus has been the discovery of  student-centered approaches and the application of empowering communication technologies to support learning experiences.

On this exploratory promenade you may find some treasures hidden in:

treasure chest

 

  Articles:

  • Article: Assessment in a Situated Learning Environment (ETEC 530)
    • Reflection:
      • As a digital film production teacher, I have often pondered the ramifications of evaluating students working in crews. How do we establish high standards that reflect the individual contributions as well as the group work?
      • The creation of the chosen artifact assisted me in clarifying my assessment procedures and enriched my teaching experience with sound theoretical background.
      • Context: The course for which this artifact was created, “Constructivist Strategies for E-Learning”, inspired me to investigate the challenges related to the evaluation of activities created in a situated learning environment.
  • Article: E-learning Design for Indigenous Communities (ETEC 521) 
    • Reflection:
      • The artifact presented here reflects my utmost respect for the fascinating research that has been conducted among aboriginal academics. I found that many of their perspectives were avant-garde: incorporating the multiple intelligences perspective as well as the situated learning approaches.
      • Context: The course for which this artifact was created, “Indigeneity, Technology, and Education”, offered an analysis of colonial values in mainstream education and made me look at the uniqueness of the aboriginal viewpoint. I immediately found that digital film communication technologies were well suited to satisfy some of the cooperative needs of native educational communities. Furthermore, I started to look at the development of digital storytelling for online education.
  • Article: Female Empowerment Through Educational Technology (ETEC 511) 
    • Reflection:
      • Apart from being specialized in media literacy, I am also particularly interested in the technological experience of high school female students. As the curriculum leader of a digital film communication program entirely populated by young women, I was eager to research their involvement in the field of media technologies.
      • This article helped me clarify my stance when it comes to digital film as an empowering tool for women in technology.
      • Context: The course for which this artifact was created, “Foundations of Educational Technology” encouraged me to explore the various aspects of e-learning, while providing distinctions between diverse forms of educational technology.
  • Article: Student-Produced Digital Films & Social Responsibility (ETEC 500)
    • Reflection:
      • This artifact exemplifies my first attempt at creating an academic paper. My journalistic training made it challenging for me to avoid vivid examples, but helped me keep an objective tone. At this early stage of my master studies, I started to focus on digital film communication and student-centered pedagogical approaches.
      • Context: The course for which this artifact was created, “Research Methodologies in Education” was my first adventure in the master program and initiated me to the criteria and standards of scholarly research. Apart from distinguishing various writing styles, I also learned how to cite references in the APA format.
  • Article: Using Digital Film Production to Learn Spanish (ETEC 532)

Mind Maps:

Moodle (content copied from original site)

  • MOODLE: YouTube & Youth Culture (ETEC 531)
    • Reflecting on the use of Moodle:
      • I learned to use Moodle in the MET program and created learning platforms for my Digital Film Communication 10-11 and 12 courses. This web-based platform brings together a range of resources and tools in one location that is available at any time and from any place via the Internet.
      • Moodle has offered my students and I features such as: Course information & access to electronic readings; multimedia content including video; assessment & e-portfolio collections.
      • Using Moodle offers advantages such as: Resources are always available; improved quality of the student learning experience through the integration of ICT with class teaching; a storage space for all course-related documents, communication and activities.
      • This innovative virtual technological platform has transformed the way I teach and the manner in which my students learn!

PowerPoint Presentations

  • POWER POINT: Manifesto for Cyborg (ETEC 511)
  • POWER POINT: Politics & Educational Technology (ETEC 511)
    • Reflecting on the use of PowerPoint:
      • PowerPoint presentations come in many forms, styles and custom layouts; they showcase material, information and data.
      • I have used slide shows (comprising text; images; graphics; audio clips; sound effects; and animation) to enliven the subject matter I was presenting, and enrich my studies.
      • Flexible: I used PP to customize information and material to suit my specific goals and the needs of the audience.
      • To the point: The slides easily summarize complex key concepts.
      • Educational: Such presentations enrich assignments, projects and general coursework. The available visual tools may add value to the presentations by making them more engaging for viewers.

Wikis

Short Films

  • DIGITAL FILM: Digital film communciation – media studies – TMP 2 (ETEC 531)
  • DIGITAL FILM: Student films – culture – communication – TMP 1 (ETEC 531)
    • Reflection:
      • The challenges I had to face to produce these films are definitely worth an adventure story! For one, it was at the end of the year and my whole school was being moved to another building. Most of the time, I was surrounded with boxes.
      • Despite random vacuum cleaning while I was trying to record the narration; or frequent interruptions by my beloved students when I was about to finally say it just right … These films have allowed me to combine the diverse perspectives I had been presented with in previous courses. It became a place where I could link theoretical and empirical viewpoints while using my tools of predilection: digital film communication technologies.
      • Context: Aside from bringing my educational adventures to new conceptual territories, the course for which this artifact was created,“Cultural and New Media Studies” was the first course in which I scripted, filmed and edited academic movies.
  • DIGITAL FILM: Technology & Spanish (ETEC 532)
    • Reflection:  
      • As I was producing this film, I was simultaneously conducting the experiment in my Spanish classes. My students were actually making digital films in Spanish and learning about the culture and the language while creating their movies.
      • My professional experience combined with the academic research approach proved to be a powerful experiment for both my Spanish students and myself.
      • Context: By the time my adventures led me to this course, I was eager to study technology from an artistic point of view. The course for which this artifact was created, “Technology in the Arts and Humanities Classroom” launched a cultural journey that inspired me to produce a digital film centered on the use of communication technologies for second language acquisition.
Images: http://www.alexkorting.de/Portfolio/Architecture/Treasurechest/Bilder/treasurechest1.jpg