Digital Citizenship in K-12 Education

On his blog,  Dave Comier (2017) shares his opportunity to create sustainable technology that supports K-12 education. He addresses the concern around digital citizenship and the Delma many educators face around using new innovative technologies while managing the hidden upsells of these new technologies. As a K-12 educator, I examined the different lenses I would [...]Read More...

Digital Citizenship in K-12 Education

On his blog,  Dave Cormier shares his experience of helping K-12 teachers use sustainable technology to support learning in their classrooms. He addresses the concern around digital citizenship and the dilemma many educators face around using new innovative technologies while managing the hidden upsells of these new technologies. As a K-12 educator, I examined the [...]Read More...

Sustainability and learning technology developers

From an issue perspective, Anne-Marie Scott presented in her post sustainability as an opportunity for change.  This is a topic that I am deeply passionate about and therefore, I would explore the environmental impact of the learning technologies and the role learning technologists can play in the adoption of climate smart digital practices?  Macgilchrist et [...]Read More...

Transitioning Learning Technologies from a “Catch All” workplace solution, to a part of a learning ecosystem

In her blog, Ann-Marie Scott speaks on many issues related to learning technologists (or more aptly – the lack thereof), and one revelation that she speaks of is the need to look at how we are using digital technologies currently and investigate how we may be able to take their usage further, moving away from [...]Read More...

Digital Literacy and learning technology developers

After reading the blog post, Why we need learning technology developers by Anne-Marie Scott, I found one of the main issues that unexpectedly resonated me was digital literacy; as it relates to the role of learning technologists as well as faculty and students. I found myself agreeing to Scott’s inclusion of digital literacy as a [...]Read More...

Keep going… it’s working.

Cormier’s 2017 post, our schools aren’t broken, they’re hard he explores how changes to grade school learning experiences in PEI are adopting to the technology age and brings awareness to the thread of one-size-fixes-everything solutions. Instead, he exemplifies activities change leaders can implement to build momentum, tackle a project with adequate resources, and achieve continued [...]Read More...

Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning

In his post, “Our schools aren’t broken, they’re hard,” Dave Comier (2017) shares his ongoing efforts to create sustainable technology-supported education. He addresses issues pertaining to sustainability and stewardship (for technology and projects) in K-12 settings by offering four pearls of wisdom that support lasting positive change for students and teachers. They include: Building trust [...]Read More...

Evaluating sustainability

As a follow-up to my post on Scott’s sustainability and the role learning technologists can play in the adoption of smart digital practices, the literature provided some thinking to consider.  But first, sustainability and educational technologies is a topic that is not yet specifically explored (Selwyn, 2021).  There is existing data available in the greater [...]Read More...

Unit 3 Activity 1 Gathering Data – Revisiting Managing Change in Digital Learning

  Considering How I understand Data Admittedly, my first response to this assignment and this unit at the mere mention of wading through data via analytics was a wholehearted no way, much like the companies Zettelmeyer mentions. “But many business leaders, overwhelmed by this constant blizzard of metrics, are hesitant to get involved in what [...]Read More...

Data & Sports Coaching

In my last post, I explored how Cormier’s work enacting change at an educational organization in PEI involved social cognition and momentum theory. This week’s post asks us to discuss the impact of data analytics to support change and moderate associated risks of big data. Switching gears to my line of work of developing cycling [...]Read More...

Technologists and Digital Literacy

In this blog post by Scott (2019), various challenges associated with educational technologies are explored. One of the issues that I strongly related to was the issue of digital literacy among staff working at post-secondary institutions. According to Scott, technicians skilled in traditional physical lab work may not possess the required skills to “fabricate” digital [...]Read More...

Open Source vs Closed Source Solutions

Scott (2019) highlights a crucial issue in her article on learning technology developers – the dangers of over-reliance on commercial educational technologies. If such technologies become successful, they tend to monopolize the market, leading to increased dependency on a single tool and hindering innovation. To address this challenge, Scott proposes investing in internal and open-source [...]Read More...

Change Take-a-ways from Our schools aren’t broken, they’re hard

Reading Dave’s blog post, “Our schools aren’t broken, they’re hard,” made me think about many of my past experiences. As a professor and even more as the program coordinator, I tried to be the leader of change. But not change for change’s sake. The change I want to make is to make the students’ learning [...]Read More...

Lessons Learned: Fragility of Technology

In their reflective journey inspired by D’Arcy Norman’s blog post, they delve into the lessons learned from designing AV systems for the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. Throughout this exploration, they come to appreciate the significance of transparency and flexibility amidst the intricate architectural challenges they faced. How do these principles resonate within their [...]Read More...

Change from the Perspective of Administration in HE

In her post Anne-Marie discusses how open source and higher education collaborations can be part of the solution to encourage innovations in HE and become less reliant on market based services. From the perspective of academic upper management questions I would consider are about cost, time, meeting the goals of the strategic plan and reputation. [...]Read More...

Mirroring the Learning Experience from School

D’Arcy’s post about designing a transparent and flexible AV system in the new learning space speaks about sustainability and stewardship for technologies and programs. Although not directly mentioned, the open access for students and instructors to use the collaborative technology freely also promotes digital literacy and the ability to increase diversity in both the technological [...]Read More...

Role of learning technologies with diversity

In her post, Anne-Marie Scott discussed commitment, skills, and digital resources as change enablers of a learning technology ecosystem.  She viewed diversity as a prime commitment with the inclusion of various voices in a learning community of an ecosystem.  She further believed in an expanded role for learning technologists. And she cautioned decision-making based only [...]Read More...

Thoughts on AV systems and Healthcare

D’arcy Norman posts about the successes and challenges with the AV systems design at the Taylor Institute with transparency and flexibility as the key design principles guiding the design. If I were in a healthcare setting considering the sustainability and stewardship of implementing this type of system for virtual healthcare appointments, I would want to [...]Read More...

AV system design

Image Source In his blog post, D’Arcy Norman shares his perception of some of the challenges of designing the Audio Visual (AV) systems at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning’s new building. He also shares his admiration for the architectural and technological design throughout the building which was mainly inspired by the design principles [...]Read More...

Designer, Leader, Change-Maker: What K-12 Public Education Can Learn From Innovative Doers

In his blog post, Some strategies for the Open Homework Systems project, Clint Lalonde begins by acknowledging that the process of developing a list of strategies for Open Homework Systems (OHS) project required collaboration from various groups. Lalonde offers thanks to these groups and shares that they were included within his gathering of knowledge and [...]Read More...

Context Is Key

Context is key, and much of the work is front-loaded in leading change. Diversity of role perspectives is a major contextual factor that must be explored and considered prior to instigating change, then throughout change processes, and even in ongoing maintenance and support. Dave Cormier notes the complexity of this in his blog post, Our [...]Read More...

All for one or one for all?

In my previous post, I explored the role perspective of the student in D’Arcy’s post about implementing a new AV system at their institution. A few of the questions I mentioned included the impact of a new AV system on learning and socioeconomic barriers, access to technology at home, and personal device compatibility with the [...]Read More...

AV Systems Design

D’arcy’s post Lessons learned: AV systems design in the Taylor Institute highlighted for me some of the things that my organisation needs to do. Although our Welcome House Centre was built in 2012 by renowned architect Henrique and Partners who sought to design a building that would be a socially responsible community development and could [...]Read More...

Gathering Data from Different Perspectives

I appreciate the indication from Marsh, Pane, and Hamilton’s research (2006) that anecdotal or quasi-qualitative data such as observations from “learning walks” and interviews may provide valuable information alongside quantitative data such as summative testing. I believe that gathering feedback from stakeholders throughout a change process is the key to initial planning plus iterations of [...]Read More...

Using data to build a case for Virtual Healthcare

In my previous post, I examined different stakeholder’s perspectives on the implementation of an AV systems design for virtual healthcare appointments.  I suggested that Senior leadership would question whether it was necessary to implement an AV system across all health units or only to a select few.  In order to answer that question, it would [...]Read More...

How Data Could be Used to Influence Change in K-12 Education

After exploring data-driven decision-making literature, I have re-examined Dave Cormier’s blog post Our Schools aren’t broken, they are hard. When I read through the article, I challenged myself to look at it through the perspectives of roles and how data could influence change through each of the various roles. Teacher – How can data support [...]Read More...

Learning Technologist – Using data to drive design, upgrades and support

From my perspective as a Learning Technologist, my primary focus for data driven decisions is focused on maintaining, supporting, upgrading, and exploring digital learning tools. This perspective is highlighted by Sclater et al. (2016) explaining the inclusion of support staff benefits in ensuring technical and organizational systems to create a cohesive data strategy. Of course [...]Read More...

AV Systems Design in the Taylor Institute

In their blog post, D’arcy Norman talks about the architecture, design, and technology that makes up the new building for the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. The overall design was guided by flexibility and transparency due to the open space surrounded by glass walls and windows and the ability to move the technology around [...]Read More...

Supporting Faculty Development

In her post, Anne- Marie Scott brings up the issue of the business of learning technology and the need for staff development of digital skills to ensure that the educational sector has control over the learning technology instead of businesses that create learning technology controlling education. She puts forth a need/ opportunity for learning technologists [...]Read More...

The Taylor Institute and Role Perspectives

D’arcy Norman describes the benefits for many individuals in various roles who are welcome to use the newly designed Audio-Visual (AV) systems that are offered in the Taylor Institutes’ new building located on the University of Calgary’s campus. Norman Highlights that roles aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Think about the instructor that works alongside the support [...]Read More...

Expanding the roles of learning technologists

I selected to write a post about Why we need learning technology developers by Anne-Marie Scott because it highlights the need for diversity in learning technologists and communities in higher education.  To start, the writer reflects on their past argument that learning technologists require data handling and programming skills are needed to meet the challenges [...]Read More...

Time and Training: A teacher’s perspective regarding technology plans

Dave Cormier’s (2017) post regarding Canada’s K-12 public education system illustrates the need for sustainable digital strategies. His post gives excellent insights from a director or management point of view, but if we look at some of his ideas from a teacher’s perspective, we can gain some valuable insights and direction. Cormier’s (2017) post highlights [...]Read More...

Relevant Data Can Help Tell the Story

Today’s entry is a review of a past reflection piece I wrote based on the 2013 post by D’arcy Norman, Ph.D., called “Lessons learned: AV systems design in the Taylor Institute.” I will again use this same piece as I consider how administrators might go about understanding and evaluating how users have adopted the audio-visual [...]Read More...

From the Perspective of an Early Childhood Educator

Dave Cormier’s (2017) blog immediately intrigued me when he brought up tech charlatans and how they want to upsell a specific technology that will help you ‘fix’ your current education system. Next, he goes into what he has learned when implementing a digital strategy for an education system in PEI, and he first needed to [...]Read More...

Optimizing Training from a Corporate Learning Perspective

I was really intrigued by Cormier’s (2017) statement, “Don’t tear down a fence unless you know why it was put there in the first place”.  I found myself relating to this message because I’ve experienced many learning solutions in the past to have stemmed from rash decisions in the workplace. With a background in corporate [...]Read More...

A new lens for LMS in general

One of the challenges in developing learning management systems is that we are still looking at it as a system, a tangible environment that we can develop, control, augment, and arrange to facilitate learning from an insitution. And yet, we can barely agree on what type of environment is best suited for learning; one might [...]Read More...

The potential of Open Homework Systems (OHS) to bridge the gap between K-12 and higher ed

Clint Lalonde discussed his work on developing Open Homework Systems (OHS). This project dealt primarily with the issue of open source publishing and academic digital tools. In identifying a need to develop OHS, Lalonde (2019a) referenced the work of Dave Wiley, who looked at student use of educational technologies to practice skills, primarily in courses [...]Read More...

Learning Analytics & Open Homework Systems (OHS)

As I reflect on what I have learned about learning analytics, my thoughts return to my original post about Clint Lalonde’s work on Open Homework Systems (OHS) (Donahue, 2022). As argued, OHS may be beneficial for students transitioning from K-12 into higher education by addressing skill weaknesses or deficits. Learning analytics, understood as “the measurement, [...]Read More...

The Barrier of the Lense of ‘Previous Disappointment’

In Cormier’s blog ‘Our schools aren’t broken, they’re hard’ he identified one of the initial barriers to overcome is the history of teachers being promised a ‘fix all’ technology answer for more than 20 years to no avail, so any new technology implementation would be met with skepticism regarding its possible success. Dave needed to [...]Read More...

Not Just a School, But Also a Workplace

In Cormier’s post, his main topic is Sustainability and Stewardship, specifically of a digital strategy project in a K-12 system. He focused on his perspective as a digital strategist for K-12 education in Canada and talked about the points of view of teachers and school divisions, as well as strategists like himself. He also talked [...]Read More...

Exploring the Need for Learning Technology Developers from a Provicial Credit Union’s Perspective

In her post, Anne-Marie Scott highlights the need to be thoughtful and deliberate about learning technology choices, recognizing that the market cannot always provide and explore the capability to innovate as a sector for specific needs. Anne-Marie recognizes the challenges like budget and resources associated with investing in learning technology development and proposes interesting options [...]Read More...

Challenges for Change in Corporate Learning Settings

Dave Cormier (2017) writes about his experience with a long-term large-scale technology change initiative in the PEI school system. Cormier explains his pragmatic approach to the introduction of new technologies in the school system through a long-term plan that allows space for trial and error and acknowledges the importance of celebrating the small wins along [...]Read More...

Data Use in Corporate Learning Settings

When implementing a digital learning initiative in a corporate setting collecting and analyzing the digital footprints of users could answer several questions to inform future design and development decisions. In my original post, I looked at David Cormier’s experience with change in an education setting and considered the validity of his recommendations in a corporate [...]Read More...

Technology and Space Design in the Workplace

In a blog post, D’arcy Norman (2017) reflects on the lessons learned in designing AV systems at the Taylor Institute (TI) at the University of Calgary. I have had the opportunity to tour the TI and have guest lectured in 2 of the rooms that D’arcy has described, so it was interesting to learn about [...]Read More...

Sustainability of Learning Technology in Corporate Setting

In Anne-Marie’s post, “Why we need learning technology developers”, she discusses issues around learning technology in the education sector where learning technologies are considered as tools or efficiency mechanisms. As a learning technologist, she recognizes the need of having higher level of data handling and programming skills, expanding the role of learning technologist in the [...]Read More...

Sustainability and Stewardship in the Healthcare Setting

In a blog post, D’arcy Norman (2017) reflects on the lessons learned in designing Audio Visual (AV) systems at the University of Calgary’s Taylor Institute (TI). The author described the TI building as a “marvel of architecture, design and technology” and a source of inspiration for all who use it. For example, the first floor [...]Read More...

Corporate Organization Challenges

My organization relies on new tools to fix issues without considering their necessity or collaborating fully with all the stakeholders involved. It’s crucial to assess whether a new technology tool is required and why or whether the existing procedure or knowledge base can be made better. Each new technology tool comes with challenges and change [...]Read More...

Corporate Organization Challenges – Gathering Data

Data science is becoming an increasingly important tool in today’s business world, which is changing quickly. As the amount of data businesses generates grows, data science can provide insights that help organizations improve their operations, identify areas for growth, and make informed decisions. As noted by Cormier’s (2017) experience in implementing a long-term technology change [...]Read More...

Technology and Space Design in the Workplace: Gathering Data to Inform Decisions

In my initial post, I discussed the use of technology to support the design of collaborative learning spaces in a workplace setting and referenced the need to better understand individual and organizational needs and goals to inform planning and implementation. Upon reading and reflecting, I believe that gathering data to inform the decision of whether [...]Read More...

Adapting approaches from Higher Ed for Corporate Learning

Working in corporate learning for a private-sector organization, I’m often faced with the challenge of proposing one-size-fits-all technology solutions to meet the needs of different learning audiences (internal employees in different departments, and external partners who learn about our products). I am challenged to find learning systems which are adaptable to multiple audiences, and which [...]Read More...

Setting Similarities Explored

As I learn more about change models, I compare my experiences with change management in my previous corporate industry and my current post-secondary institution (PSI) professional setting. Dave Cormier (2017) wrote about the digital strategy within the PEI Department of Education. I found I was nodding my head up and down as I related to [...]Read More...

Co-creating change, innovation in health care

The example of the Taylor Institute in Darcy Norman’s blog post can be seen as a case of establishing purposeful and intentional environments to foster digital citizenship and community.  “It feels like a space that matters, and that instructors and students matter because it’s for them” (Norman, 2017). His description of creating audio visual systems [...]Read More...