My name is Pam Perry and I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I currently work at one of the universities in the area (Dalhousie University) where I am a Business Analyst. I've worked at Dalhousie for 15 years, beginning in a technical role and moving into the Business Analyst role 6 years ago. I realize it may sound odd that a Business Analyst would be interested in taking the MEd. program but as I explain in more detail, it should make a bit more sense. I have loved teaching even as a child. I would teach other classmates Math when students would have difficulties in certain topics. The positions I have held at Dalhousie each have had a teaching aspect. When I was researching Master's programs I realized it was the teaching aspects within each position that I enjoyed most. Initially I took courses through Cape Breton University to determine if this was the direction I wanted to move towards. And the rest is history! Athabasca University was able to integrate my love of teaching and technology while learning content that would benefit not only my current position, but likely many other positions within the university.
Learning Goals
My learning goal at the beginning of the program was to take courses which could not only benefit me personally, but as well be beneficial to the university. It had been many years since my Undergraduate degree, therefore It was a sense of panic when I first began the program. Soon I realized that the program was achievable and was excited to learn so much new knowledge which I could relate to from working within a university setting.
The following are my learning goals:
1. To learn about learning and teaching theories to better understand the direction in which Distance Education should be headed.
2. To determine how learning has changed for present day learners and how this may differ from when I went to university.
3. To gain experience with educational technologies and be able to evaluate those technologies in a distance education environment.
4. To develop a tool box of educational techniques that would benefit me in my current role and potentially future roles within Dalhousie University.
5. To assess how technology has impacted teaching and learning and determine where there are opportunities to leverage technology to meet the requirement of the 21st century.
Courses
The courses which I completed within the program are:
MDDE 601 - Intro to Distance Education and Training - Sept 2012 MDDE 602 - Research Methods in Distance Education - Jan 2013 MDDE 603 - Foundations of Instructional Design - Sept 2013 MDDE 610 - Survey of Current Ed Tech Apps - Jan 2014 MDDE 605 - Planning and Management in Distance Education - Sept 2014 MDDE 617 - Program Evaluation in Distance Education - Sept 2015 MDDE 618 - Instructional Project Management - Jan 2016 MDDE 694 - Capstone e-Portfolio Project - In Progress
Transfer Credits from Cape Breton University: EDUC 533 - Instructional Design in Distance Education (Credit for MDDE 604) EDUC 5106 - Technology Planning for Educational Environments EDUC 5101 - Software Evaluation Model
Artefact Selection
Within my Capstone e-Portfolio Project, five artefacts were chosen to exemplify areas within my personal and professional life where the courses aligned with the program's competencies and for reasons I will explain further, have made an impact throughout my educational journey. A reflection for each artefact can be located by clicking on the title links or the titles along the left-hand side. You will notice numbers in brackets which correspond to the Associated Competencies represented within the artefact reflection.
Artefact One: Artefact one is the third assignment from the MDDE 605 (Planning and Management in Distance Education and Training) course. Students were required to develop a detailed business plan for a proposed distance education enterprise. During this same time at the university, one of our strategic directives was to promote diversity and inclusiveness, which lent the idea to develop a proposed Distant Education Maritime Cultural Program. The Maritime Cultural Program would include Gaelic, Mi'kmaq, Acadian, and African Canadian cultural content. It was a fun assignment in developing a fictional environment but also made me think of all the things which must be considered when a new educational endeavor is being considered. Artefact one touched me personally in two ways: diversity is so important within a university setting and in working as a Business Analyst, a business case is an important tool to understand in project work.
Artefact Two: Artefact two is the first assignment from the MDDE 603 (Foundations of Instructional Design: Systems Analysis and Learning Theory) course. Students were asked to critique a fictional MDDE 601 course, describing proposed changes to the course based on learning theory. In working in a university environment, I am passionate about how improvements could be made to the courses offered at our university. In my current position I advise functional units on best methods and tools for training Dalhousie community members. Artefact two was able to help me understand better ways to perform this portion of my role. I enjoyed this assignment as I like analyzing most things in life for improvements so this assignment was something I found as a nice challenge and the primary reason for choosing to take the course.
Artefact Three: Artefact three is the e-Portfolio project with the MDDE 610 (Introduction to Current Educational Applications) course. I can easily say this was the most fun course I've taken in the program. I originally had chosen this course because I enjoy technology but also wanted to understand tools which would benefit teaching at Dalhousie. Even coming from a technical background, I learned a lot about current technologies and how technologies can support teaching and learning. It was within this course that I first encountered the idea of reflection within a course. Initially it seemed a bit odd to dig deep into reflecting on your thoughts and learning but it really did help me understand more about my journey.
Artefact Four: Artefact four is the fourth assignment in the MDDE 602 (Research Methods in Distance Education) course. I had chosen this artefact for a couple of reasons. I have an interest in understanding student success and successful methods for student retention. In my past position at Dalhousie, I had implemented a system to improve student retention, and therefore I am passionate about the topic. The second reason for choosing this artefact was due to my analysis or skepticism of printed research, which allowed me to learn how to analyze research for validity. As well as, for any future research I may be involved with, what aspects to consider.
Artefact Five: Artefact five is the third assignment in the MDDE 601 (Introduction to Distance Education) course. As this course was the first course in the program and I was still adjusting to writing academic papers (terrified I believe was how I referred to this at the time). Not only was I very proud to have completed the course but this assignment in particular summed up why I wanted to take the MEd. program in the first place. The article described how I envisioned the future of distance education. In working at a university and understanding the important role that distance education can play, while seeing not nearly enough distance education content available, this was an ideal assignment for me to complete. I was able to see what was missing within our university and understand what potential could be possible if more focus was put into the introduction of distance education.
Summary
In learning a bit about my background and my passions, it should be clear as to why I have chosen the journey toward the MEd. at Athabasca University. I deliberately chose each course carefully to ensure each would contribute towards my personal and/or professional growth. The selected artefacts have impacted me in some way and therefore I wanted to include these items as reference throughout my Capstone e-Portfolio Project.