Random Thoughts of An Adult Student

Finished !!

2010-01-29T21:10:00.003-07:00

Well, it - meaning my Masters Thesis - is done. Actually is was done back in June when I successfully defended my thesis, then in July when I submitted the final copy and then "officially" when I convocated in November. I admit that I have been very negligent about my updates and posts, but alas my thesis is complete. It is titled "An Exploratory Case Study of Educationally Focused Faculty Development in Engineering" (which by the way does not fit on the binding of my thesis cover!) and is something I am very proud of.

Finally Getting It

2008-07-22T10:28:00.002-06:00

This post is the result of a conversation I had with my engineering supervisor a couple of weeks ago with regards to my thesis. One of his concerns is that for an engineering audience, I must make sure that it is "technically sound". Now at the time I was thinking "This is a more of a qualitative study, what does he mean by "technical"? Is he talking about analysis of data? Well the data I am analyzing is from interviews. Now, after running this over in my head, I think that I finally get what he was talking about. Engineering is a positivist field. Almost everything is fairly black and white. In order for this (or any other) qualitative study to gain acceptance, it must be firmly grounded in theory and practice. I must be sure that the analysis of the text follows a proven methodology and that the theories I am presenting are also backed up by other research. At least I am hoping this is what he meant!!??
I think that one of the hurdles that engineering education researchers must overcome is the fact that many of the theories have never been proven in the engineering context. While various approaches and methods have been tried with individual classes, there is very little to support the idea that these create better engineers. I have found little in the way of follow-up that says that students exposed to these alternative methods perform better in the work-force. An example is the new Olin College which is heavily based on hands-on, constructivist principles and teaching methodologies. But only recently have their graduates entered the work force and there as of yet, been little to show they are superior to graduates from other engineering schools. What I think needs to happen in order for engineering faculties to buy into these new methodologies is concrete proof that they do work. A long term effort must be made that follows students through a "new" curriculum and after to see how they do perform. Only then will engineering educators begin to see the value of the change.

Continuing Forward

2008-06-23T15:43:00.003-06:00

Well, things still seem to be going in the direction I want...It's about time! I have focused my topic to look at the attitudes of engineering faculty with respect to teaching and learning and engineering education. Specifically I will be looking at how the attitudes and teaching strategies/methods of engineering faculty are affected by educationally focused faculty development. What effect does participation in educationally focused workshops, seminars, conferences, etc. have on engineering faculty's attitudes towards engineering education? The intended result is to show the positive(??) effects of faculty development and to make engineering faculty aware of these benefits. Also, to make engineering faculty aware of the importance of having a (strong?) foundation in education in order to become more effective teachers. Show that engineering education is about more than just lecturing and note-taking and that there are more effective teaching strategies available.

I guess that my biggest frustration with engineering education (especially here in Canada) seems to the complete disregard for engineering education! It seems that few engineering faculty care to take the time and effort required to understand what it is that they do - namely teach! And university administrators are little help because the main requirements for hiring, promotion, and tenure are all related to research, i.e. publications, grants, conference presentations and the like. Let's face it, research into engineering education does not bring in the "big bucks" or the high profile as other forms of research, so it is dis-regarded as unimportant. Industry continues to complain about a lack of many skills (communication, team-work, business, etc) in new graduates, but I think they have gotten so used to the fact that this is what they get that they simply incorporate their own training programs/procedures to deal with it. It's like "Ok, this is what we will get, so let's just deal with it" instead of pressuring universities to do something about it. Despite various reports calling for a change (Boyer, NAE) little seems to be being done in Canada. Is it because we are simply waiting to see how things turn out with our neighbour to the south? We seem to be stuck in this mode of following and not innovating in this area. Very frustrating...

Ok, I'll step off my soapbox now...

Another shift

2008-05-20T10:43:00.004-06:00

Well, here we go again, but this time I think I have found the path. While it is not fully finalized yet, I have the basic framework and direction and it fits in with my goal of researching engineering education and faculty training/development. It has also prompted a interesting discussion with one of my faculty advisors. While I can't really post the exact commentary, it has been interesting. We both seem to have the same basic view of engineering education, but I think the approaches are a little different. As I said, interesting...

I am a little (OK, a lot) more satisfied with the direction I am heading now. As I said, it fits in more with my interest in engineering education and the belief that the systems needs to be changed. I also believe that faculty are the key to this change, but they must be given the knowledge in order to make informed decisions about which direction this change should take. I believe that if they can see the difference that a change in methodology in teaching can take, then they will better understand what needs to be done with the system as a whole. All faculty have an opinion about teaching and learning, but many don't have the slightest clue when it comes to trying to change. They may be the smartest person when it comes to electrical, or civel, or chemical engineering, but they don't have the slightest idea how to get there ideas across in a meaningful way.

Another major complaint is that of student motivation. This is a very difficult problem to deal with and can be very draining for faculty. But, I think that if faculty were given more knowledge and tools, then they would be better able to deal with this issue. At least they would have a better chance at connecting with a majority of students instead of the minority.

So then the questions becomes, if faculty are given the knowledge and tools, what do they do with them? Do they try to change and be innovative or do they simply say "That's nice" and then go back to what they were doing...focus on research, forget about effective teaching?

Keeping this up

2008-04-24T12:44:00.003-06:00

Well, in the hopes of keeping up some consistency, I decided to write a short note today. There are two themes today, relevant to my research and one not.

With regards to my research, I have been looking at the assessment of work-placed learning in addition to the evaluation of an internship program. I'm not yet sure of the exact direction of this, but I think the two will be related. I am looking at a program evaluation with the emphasis on Outcomes and Impacts. As many have stated, the assessment of students in a work environment is very difficult. An article by Toohey and Ryan (1996) does a good job of looking at the literature of the time and determining the effectiveness of the methods used. I always find it interesting (and somewhat gratifying) when I can see the connections between the literature and environment I am looking at or in. The issue now is what has changed and what has not. After reviewing the article, I find distinct parallels between their descriptions and the program I am looking at. Another avenue for examination is assessment in ill-structured domains which is what most work environments are.

On the personal side:

GO HABS GO !!
Downloaded from www.canadiens.com

Reference

Toohey, S.;Ryan, G. (1996) Assessing the Practicum, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol.21, No.3, pp 215-228

One last thing...

2008-04-22T10:17:00.002-06:00

Go Habs Go !!!!!

Another Change in Direction...

2008-04-22T09:51:00.004-06:00

Let's step back a moment and see what has transpired over the past 3 years. It started with the decision to go back to school and get a Master's degree. The purpose for this was so that I could continue to teach at a post-secondary level. I had been teaching for 5 years and decided that this is what I wanted to do. Unfortunately due to the politics etc, this was only an option if I upgraded my education. I had previously tried doing this online while working but I felt that it was too much at once.
I made the decision to get my degree in Electrical Engineering because that is the field I had been teaching in. I soon realized however, that the skills I had relied so many years ago had left me. I understood the concepts and could explain how things worked in a practical way, but the skills needed to prove these things mathematically were lost to meet. After struggling through 2 semesters, I made the decision to join my EE with education in the form of Educational Technology. I "created" the first ever inter-disciplinary degree with Electrical Engineering and Educational Technology. My next year was spent taking courses related to instructional design and research methodologies which I passed with flying covers. I felt that I had found my niche.
The next step was to decide on a direction for my thesis. I had some ideas coming in, but the trick was to make it relevant to both engineering and educational technology. Looking back now, I am not really sure what pushed me into the area of work experience, but I decided to look at what skills students were lacking for industry and how they could get them. This brought me to the engineering internship program. The direction wasn't really clear, but I met with the office to see what was possible. Well, this changed things again as they offered me a chance to work part time in the office. I jumped at the chance since I felt that this would provide me with a unique insight that would boost my thesis topic. While I wasn't wrong, it has provided me with valuable information, I'm not really sure it it was the best decision. I ended up falling into the same trap that I had before where I was trying to focus on too many things at once. Consequently, this resulted in my "mental block" and my inability to progress to the level that I expected with my research.
Now I am faced with the reality of almost starting over. Here is where I have been and here is where I am at with my ideas:

Engineering education - I feel that the education we are providing to our engineering undergraduates is lacking. I don't believe that it is delivering the skills and attributes that industry is looking for. I also don't feel that universities provide faculty with the support and resources they need to make teaching a priority. They are more concerned with research and the prestige (and money!) it brings and less concerned with delivering effective education to its students.
Program Evaluation - This is a new area for me, but one I feel is long overdue. This could have two focuses, the internship program or the engineering program. Both I feel are important and relevant and I feel that both need to be explored further. The hesitation I have is in the scope of the project. This could become very big very quickly.

My interests have gone from engineering to instructional design to engineering education to assessment to evaluation.

Where do I go from here? Stay tuned...

A Change in Educational Priorities

2008-04-08T08:09:00.006-06:00

I've been doing a lot of reading lately related to learning theories along with what and how we should be teaching our students. I've also been looking at what people (engineers specifically) do in their work. What has become very obvious is the fact that we really don't need the majority of what we learn in school after say grade 5 or 6 except in a specialized way. Now I don't know how this might work, but a redesign and re-emphasis of the entire system may be in order. Now, although my focus has been on post-secondary engineering education, I have seen and read enough to realize that the same problems exist throughout the educational system.
In a study being done in Australia, James Trevelyan and his group are looking at what it is that engineers actually do in their everyday work. What they have found is that very few (even new grads) spend a lot of time applying their "technical" knowledge. The majority of an engineer's time is spent dealing with and interacting with people. Whether this be with co-workers or clients or suppliers, a large percentage of their time is taken up with this task. So this begs the question, what is it that we are really teaching and how relevant is it to the real world?
Part of what got me started on this was the book Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins. It talks about the idea of "backward design" but what triggered these thoughts was the idea around the "essential questions". These are questions that are designed to stimulate inquiry and create a directions for an area of study. As I started thinking about the essential questions for engineering, it got me thinking about the curriculum and what it is that engineers really learn and do. My conclusion is that much of what they learn, they don't use in any real sense. While engineers do need an understanding of the principles, it is more important for them to be able to synthesize and analyze the information in order to determine potential effects of their decision making. So, while a solid understanding of engineering principles is important, what may be more important is an understanding of how the parts fit in with the whole. It's all about context and change. Change the context and it is likely that the whole system will change. This is where the education system fails miserably, especially in engineering. Most engineering faculty are researchers and scientists. Very few are educators or even understand the process of education. They teach the way they were taught, with an eye on the material and little or no outside support. Outside of a few cookbook type problems that are regurgitated year after year, there is little or no effort or thought put into the application of the material. Rote learning and memorization are the order of the day.
My idea is that we start with the first 5 or 6 years and teach our children the basics of life. This includes basic math, reading, writing, etc. From there we work on the higher order functions like self-directed learning and problem-solving. Let the students effectively pick their course of study but do it in a way that allows them to build on the knowledge they have. While this may seem somewhat ad-hoc and difficult to manage, I believe that once the students see the value in what they are learning and realize that they are somewhat in control of their own learning, then they will become much more productive and willing students. By forcing them to sit quietly in class while a teacher rambles on about meaningless facts, we are only inviting the dislike that many students feel for school. Lets face it, other than basic math, reading, and writing, how many of us use what we learned (or even remember what we learned) in grade school? The majority of what we use everyday is what we have picked up later on as a requirement for our jobs. Everything else we have picked up because we wanted to. We had a desire to learn more about arts, history, education, or whatever so we became willing and eager students of the subject. This is when true learning takes place; when we have interest and passion about a subject.

A Long Time Ago...

2008-03-17T09:49:00.003-06:00

A long time ago in a distant land, a lost student sat down to ponder. He realized that his thoughts and ideas had left him and he was indeed lost. He felt that he had no direction and could barely remember his purpose in education. While he stilled recognized that he had a great passion for teaching and learning, the exact focus seemed to be lacking. A mental block had occurred and the result had been stagnation and a deficiency in his production. Now, after weeks of inactivity, a chance meeting with a trusted advisor has sparked some renewed interest.

I think that the biggest issue may be that I am not totally sold on the concept being presented or the post-secondary system in general. I feel that the system is failing our students yet no one seems to want to take ownership of the problems. Again, these are my opinions, but I have had the advantage of being involved in post-secondary education in various capacities for the past 8 years. I am not sure what it all means but I hope I can figure it out soon...

Thoughts on Research Methodology

2007-08-08T08:12:00.001-06:00

Well, we start out with the best of intentions...It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted so I figured it was time. I had to attend the funeral of a family friend last weekend. It was a long drive (12 hours one way), but at least we got a chance to visit with my sister and her family. I got a good workout playing on the trampoline with my niece and nephew and my two kids. It was fun though!

I'm about half way through my quantitative analysis course. We have finished the "math" portion and we are now concentrating on the analysis of quant. research. I am finding that I can relate a little more since my background is in science, but probably what I like the most is the fact that the text and the instructor(s) are not die-hard advocates of one method. When I took qualitative analysis last winter, the instructor was very much one-sided. I believe that a good researcher should be amenable to all types of research. different types of research requires different approaches, so nothing should be discounted. Validity is another area that must be taken in context. For a data collection method to be considered valid, it must be verified in the context it was meant for. Only then can the method be verified properly. As I have been saying all along, context is important in everything.

Long Time

2007-07-27T08:25:00.001-06:00

Well, it's been quite some time since I sat down and composed anything here (over a month! Ouch!) But, in my defense, I have been on holidays with the family over the last few weeks and I am just getting back into the school mode. I just started what should be my last class and then work on the thesis. I have started writing some preliminary chapters including the intro and lit reviews, so I haven't been totally on holidays. Also, on the recommendation of one of my supervisors, I have started to read "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman. I have to admit that so far it is a very interesting read. I agree generally with much of what he is saying. I just find it fascinating what some countries are doing to promote themselves.

Anyways, I just needed to get something down as a way of trying to kick start the process again. My plan is to use this blog as my reflection for the course I am currently taking (Quantitative Research Methods) and then also for my thesis. One more thing; I have just installed Ubuntu which is a flavor of Linux. I am using it in conjunction with Windows on my Laptop. I have only been using it for a couple of days, but so far I like it. I guess now I just need to dust off the old command line skills from when I used to use DOS...! I will also try to keep this updated as to my experiences with it.

Happy Sunday

2007-06-24T17:11:00.000-06:00

The title is not just for everyone else, but for me and my U10 girls soccer team. We had our season ending tournament this weekend and the girls walked away with the Gold Medal!! To say I am proud would be an understatement! We kind of got off slow in the first two games but managed to squeeze out two wins on Sat. We won our third game Sun. and then it all game down to the last game. We ended up playing the top team in the league from the season who had also won all of their other games. We had to win as they would have beaten us on goal diff in a tie. Well, the girls responded and played their best game of the weekend. We staked a 2-0 lead and ended the game at 2-1. It was a great game and a great finish for the kids.

Well, I just had to post this and brag a little...Cheers all!

Another Monday

2007-06-18T13:11:00.000-06:00

Well, after being totally water logged yesterday, today is shaping up to to be quite nice. I hope it lasts for my daughter's soccer practice tonight! Unfortunately, I am inside trying to organize my office space so that I can get to work on my thesis. My mind hasn't been totally focused lately, but I think it's time I refocus and dig in.

As I was going through some of my many papers and articles spread haphazardly around the room, I came across one that I had highlighted and kind of struck me. It was in an article about online learning and was a quote from Barry Dahl: "Everybody has this mantra that you really have to build community among your online students, but [community] ranks as so incredibly unimportant to students. My theory is that online learners have jobs and lives outside school. They've got several communities that their involved with, and the idea that they need to develop another community here is our idea, not theirs" I must admit that I agree with him in this instance. Having taken a couple of online courses recently, I admit that I am not that interested in forming another "community" outside of what is required for the class. Now on the other side of that argument, I also agree that as far as learning goes, it is often beneficial to collaborate with people that may have different perspectives. Often times, others in a group will come up with ideas that I would not have thought of since they have different experiences to draw from. I think the point is (at least mine anyways!) that people do have other things to do and other groups that they associate on a more regular basis. This does not mean that friendships and future contact lists cannot be made through this interaction. I think also that the definition of community needs to made. Certainly any course that requires interaction between the learners, whether it be through group work or discussions, will form a "short-term" community based on the common course. People realize this short-term nature of these relationships and hence are not as highly invested in them as they are in their everyday lives.

A Web 2.0 debate

2007-06-13T15:20:00.000-06:00

I have been reading the debate regarding Web 2.0 started by Michael Gorman on the Britannica Blog. The first thing that struck me as I read his 2 part blog was the irony (as was pointed out by several others) of it all. Here he is making a claim against Web 2.0 on a blog...I won't belabour that point as it has been done already. What I would like to comment on is my interpretation.

Now, I never have and never will claim to be an expert. My kids once thought I was, but as they grow older I fear that pleasant fantasy is fading. What I have come to know and realize is that anyone can claim to be an expert given the proper subject and the proper audience. People throughout history have been called experts in various disciplines (Shakespeare, Darwin, Washington) yet we have often shown that many of these "expert opinions" can be skewed. Even before I started my research, I knew that most research is skewed and biased by the researcher. At the same time, research can also be skewed by the reader as well. When we write or read anything, we bring our own thoughts and ideas into the process. If we know ourselves well enough we will acknowledge these and react accordingly. Our interpretations and musings should be considered based on these biases. In my opinion, the key is to be as open minded as possible and as Meredith Farkas points out, be critical of everything we see, especially if the author claims to be an expert. I remember when I was a teacher preparing for class, I would almost always consult 3 or 4 textbooks as well as other sources just to be sure I got my facts right. The result was usually at least one textbook (written by an expert!) that was not in agreement with a multitude of other sources. Does this mean there was simply a typo, or was it more than that? The point is that we all need to be critical of the information we access, especially in the case of the internet. As Farkas also points out, we are failing our children by not properly preparing them for this critical task. We are training our children to blindly accept all that we give them. We tell them that this source is good and this one is bad without telling them why or how to tell the difference. So much of education is based on output. If we ask for a report on a particular subject, students will simply look at the closest source they have produce what we ask for. How many can recall a time when writing a report in high school; you went to the library, pulled out the first book you could find (or encyclopedia) wrote down the required number of pages and then simply filled in the bibliography with 5 other books that were related but never opened? Let's face it, other than a few exceptions, most students will take the shortest and easiest route possible to achieve the grade. It is our job as educators to get them out of that mindset and to see the value in learning. Get away from standardized testing and rote learning. Teach students to think (critically or otherwise) and to prepare them for lifelong learning.

Ok, I kind of got off topic somewhat. My point is that we need to give humanity a little bit of credit. Web 2.0 is simply another tool that people can use to share knowledge. It is up to each of us to decide (and verify) if the information is correct or relevant. We need to be able to critically analyze the information we view. We need to be able to teach the next generation how to do this. My hope is that they already have an idea. My fear is that they we are too busy trying to hold onto the past that we fail to prepare for the future. Ignorance is best shown by people who don't understand.

It's Friday!

2007-06-08T14:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, I must confess that I have been a little lax in my efforts this week. For some reason my motivation has been off. Ah well, today I have read a couple of things that I wanted to comment on.

I'll start off with a couple of comments on PLE's. Now, I will state up front that I have not read near enough on this subject to make myself anywhere near knowledgeable enough, but there are some things that struck me. This all started with a comment post by Jay Cross concerning comments made by Stephen Downes. Admittedly the title is what first attracted me as I have come to respect Stephen's opinion even if I don't always agree with him. In defense of "personal" in PLE, I have to agree that it is very much personal learning as we all learn in different ways. For some this may mean collaboration with others is part of their learning environment. For others it may mean burning the midnight oil alone at home. In my opinion (for what it's worth!) these could both be considered PLE's since individuals are learning. I have always believed that learning is a very personal endeavour as is how one accomplishes this. So no matter what is involved, we all have our own PLE. Now, I admit that my knowledge in this area is limited and I probably should have read more before commenting, but it was something that I had in my mind that I wanted to get out.
In addition to PLE's, Jay also comment on corporations and schools and their similarities (and differences). Jay says "Corporations don’t tell employees to stay silent unless they are called on. They don’t aspire to behavior modification and thought control. They don’t assume that management has all the right answers." Now these comments are kind of extreme, but there are definitely companies that don't want disruption in the ranks. They don't want to be told that their way isn't working, especially by the working class. Some do believe that management does have all the answers and consequently are top-heavy, meaning too many managers, not enough workers (It think gov't...but I digress). They feel that they can train them to work better by simply running a corporate strategy course every once in awhile, or by having the CEO's come around with a Rah Rah speech once a year. They fail to listen to the people that are on the front lines and see what is going on. Now, does that mean that we should all rise up and tell management that they are wrong? No. But we do need to recognize that these environments do exist. Things are changing, but who nows if this will be for the better or worse. And no I don't think that corporate learning specialists are simply saying things because that is what is wanted (at least not all of them...) but unfortunately again, they do exist and it is usually the good ones that are hurt because of them (one bad apple...!).
Schools on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, but in some ways they need to be. Kids today are exposed to so much and given way more freedom than past generations. This is good for the ones that have the common-sense and restraint to know how to react, but bad for the ones who don't. Again, it is all based on what we perceive to be right and wrong. Society changes as do it's values even if we don't agree with it.

Another article I wanted to comment on was from Educational Discourse as is again related to the access to technology today. As stated we must be careful to teach our children what is good and what is bad information. We must be able to teach them how to corroborate there sources and determine the relative value. As is stated, the negative aspects of information will always be there, whether it be from newspapers, TV, or the internet. If we can teach people to question and not trust blindly, there is a better chance that what they learn will be more valuable and relevant and chances are, the bad ones will eventually go away. Technology and the information it brings is here to stay. It is up to us as educators to show our students what is valuable and how to tell the difference from what is not.

Well, as I said before, take my comments for what they are worth. I know I have not been in the arena long, but I am learning to skate.

It's Monday

2007-06-04T11:05:00.000-06:00

Well, the title kinda says it all. The weekend was spent running kids around to various activities. We did take time and go see Shrek 3 on Sun. I have to say that it was pretty good for a third installment. That's the advantage of having children...we can get away with going to see kids movies!!

I'm still plodding through my research. I have to admit that I've hit a bit of a wall recently and am not sure how to break through. I am still waiting for some confirmation from my supervisor's with regards to the scope of my topic, so I've been trying to continue with lit review etc. I guess that I just have to keep plugging away.

I also have to confess that my inspiration for doing this came in a roundabout way. I recently took a course on distributed learning and the "textbook" happened to be Stephen Downes' OLDaily. I have to admit that I first thought it a little strange to have this as a "textbook". But after looking at the information and the links he provides, I realized what a wealth of information was being made available to me. I have since subscribed to various RSS feeds found through his links and have set up my Netvibes homepage for my reader. I can spend a lot of time simply going through the information provided. I had also created an e-portfolio as part of the same class, but had to move it when I changed ISPs. I am hoping to revise it some day (soon...!). I like the idea of having a place to keep my work as it progresses. This is a long journey and one that I hope can be chronicled some day. Anyways, thanks Stephen for your information and inspiration. I still subscribe to and read your newsletter daily!

Well, back to my readings...maybe some lunch first!

Today's View

2007-05-31T16:48:00.000-06:00

Well, I guess if I want this to be even remotely successful, I have to actually post regularly. Today I was busy chaperoning for my daughter's Gr.3 class at the zoo. Fortunately it was a nice day (maybe a little hot!) and the kids were fairly well behaved so it was a good day. I have to say that one of the things I enjoy about being a full time student is the ability to partake in these little adventures with my kids. I have essentially become "Mr. Mom" the last couple of years and I enjoy it (I'm cooking dinner as I type this...). At the same time I am looking forward to getting back into the workforce.

With regards to my studies, I have to say that my interests lie in anything to do with Ed Tech. I must admit that I had somewhat of a misguided view as to what Ed Tech really was when I started. I thought it only dealt with "technology" in education, but then learned that it encompassed much more. In particular, the area if ID has become a central focus for me. I have taken 3 courses in ID and would love to get some real world experience in the field. Even though I am still defining it, my thesis work is in the area of accreditation in engineering and how internship programs support certain criteria. I would also like to look at how this type of experience can be expanded to all students, either through the regular curriculum or through university based programs. One of the main themes that I have latched onto is that of "context" Everything is better learned if the student is able to see what happens when in certain situations. I believe that it helps students to better appreciate the complexities of a problem when they are able to see the results first hand; when they are able to manipulate the variables and see the results first hand. There is no comparison for first-hand and hands-on learning. This is true, not only when designing instructional events, but also in engineering design. What looks good on paper doesn't always work in real life since the context/environment may be different. The best designers have to be able to think outside the box to discover problems and solutions that may exist outside the normal parameters. Context is, in my opinion, the most important consideration in design.

Introduction

2007-05-29T08:02:00.001-06:00

Well, here it is. My first ever Blog post. I have been thinking about this for some time...ever since I took a Distributed Learning course as part of my graduate degree. I am currently pursuing a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Educational Technology. I know, the combination is a little unusual. I originally started my degree in EE, but soon realized (Ok, a year later!) that I did not want to do EE research. I had been a teacher for 5 years at a post-secondary institution, and realized that that is where my passion was. I wanted to be involved in teaching somehow, so I switched to an inter-disciplinary and have not regretted it. I am much more involved and interested in educational topics (not to mention my marks are better also!!). I have pretty much finished my course work and am beginning my thesis work. I am currently trying to nail down my focus, but it will probably be in the area of accreditation, internship programs and industry needs.

My goal for this blog is to interact with the community and expand my knowledge base. I subscribe to various RSS feeds and like to see what is going on in the area of education, specifically post-secondary/higher education. I will be posting my thoughts on what I read as well as information from my research. I hope that this will be productive for all of us.