GLOBAL COLLABORATOR
Students use digital tools to broaden their
perspectives and enrich their learning by
collaborating with others and working
effectively in teams locally and globally.
(ISTE, 2016)
perspectives and enrich their learning by
collaborating with others and working
effectively in teams locally and globally.
(ISTE, 2016)
Coursework Artefact #1
In September 2014, I began my first course in the MET program ETEC 511: Foundations of Educational Technology which explored the “cultural-historical, ecological-natural, ethical-personal, existential-spiritual, sociopolitical and technical-empirical dimensions of technology with implications for curriculum and instructional design” (UBC, 2017). One of the primary assessment projects for this course was the creation of a collaborative website to engage peers in a discussion about the history and philosophy of educational technology. Since my group members and I lived in three different countries and time zones, we utilised Google Docs and the commenting function to prepare our work collaboratively. Next, we selected to display our work and the learning activities on the Google Sites platform so we could construct the pages collaboratively. Below is an image of the website's homepage (unable to embed) or the full website can be found here.
Thus, from the first course in this program I experienced how to use collaborative technologies to contribute constructively to project teams, assume various roles and work effectively towards a common goal as a global collaborator.
Application to Practice
When I began this program, it was also the inaugural year of my school in Hong Kong moving onto a Google for Education domain. As the new ICT Educational Specialist of the secondary section of the school, it was my duty to support teachers in the effective use of the Google Apps Suite including Google Docs, Slides and Sheets for teaching and learning. I soon became a Google for Education Certified Educator which provided me with various additional ideas for utilising the collaborative tools to connect students to each other and to transcend the boundaries of the classroom walls. Later in the academic year, I also became a Google for Education Certified Trainer to join a community of educational coaches from around the world. I used my knowledge of the Google Apps Suite to design a bootcamp program to certified the teachers at my school to in turn teach the skills to their students.
Coursework Artefact #2
In January 2015, I began my third course in the MET program ETEC 532: Technology in the Arts and Humanities Classroom to learn more about the role of technology in the arts. One of the themes in this course was the importance of collaboration for today’s learners. In Tapscott's (2008) 10 Cultural Attributes of a Net-Generation, he notes that such children are more collaborative in their search for knowledge. He states, “Much contemporary knowledge is not contained in documents but exists in people’s minds. . .Digital skills - and collaborative mindset - help [them] learn from experts online” (Tapscott, 2008). During this course I exemplified this type of learning by participating with four on my peers on a Collaborative Inquiry Project (CIP) to produce a website on the topic of digital fluency in the classroom. For this website, we used The Global Digital Citizen Foundation framework to ground our work. This organisation names five categories of digital fluency: media, information, solution, creativity and collaboration.
See the full website below:
As the website explains, collaboration fluency is “team working proficiency that has reached the unconscious ability to work cooperatively with virtual and real partners in an online environment to solve problems and create original products” (Jukes, 2015). The site contained an explanation of this fluency, challenges educators may face as well as practical classroom activities to encourage such skills in students. Furthermore, through the process of constructing the site, my group members and I were required to use collaborative fluency ourselves to cooperatively produce a finished product. Digital tools connected me to other learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures to engage in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning to become a global collaborator.
References
Dalgleish, S. [SmaeDal_]. (2015, May 5). Finally a level 1 Google Certified Educator [Twitter moment]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/SmaeDal/status/728461536486789120.
Jukes, I. (2015). Global Digital Citizen Foundation: 21st century fluencies. Retrieved from https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/21st-century-fluencies.
McFarland, C. [CMcFarland34]. (2016, June 23). Middle School is Live Streaming the Final Pitches [Twitter moment]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/CMcFarland34/status/746221798677585921.
Tapscott, D. (2008). Net geners relate to news in new ways. Nieman Reports: Winter 2008, Vol. 62 Issue 4, p 18-19.
University of British Columbia (2017). ETEC 511: Foundations of educational technology (core credit). Retrieved from http://met.ubc.ca/etec-511/.