Introduction
Digital Story Ed Tech Portfolio from Rich Chris Hum on Vimeo.
This is the digital portfolio for my Master's in Ed Tech
Weaving of Experience into Story
Copyright Richard Hum
This master’s portfolio is a demonstration of the mastery of my abilities to utilize, exemplify, and lead technology in education. The following portfolio will provide examples and demonstrations of my mastery based on the ISTE NETs standards and the University of Alaska Southeast’s Standards of Excellence. But of more interest is the story of the path of learning to demonstrate my mastery of learning, as well as a common theme that was consistent in all of my learning experiences, “Will I inspire others?”
I was inspired by my students.
Copyright Richard Hum
I began my master’s degree 8 years ago. At the time, I did not know that I would enter into the Masters Program, but knew that I had a passion for utilizing technology to teach. While working on my teaching certificate, I found myself mesmerized by the possibilities of technology in the classroom. At that time we only had 1 teacher computer, and video laser discs the size of records to provide multimedia lessons. I would use the Internet constantly to provide up to date information and a variety of activities for my students to explore, learn and demonstrate the mastery of their own standards. Each year in the classroom, new technology, such as digital cameras or video cameras, was made available and I constantly sought to bring it into the classroom to help provide quality lessons. My students continually inspired me to bring in more, new and different kinds of technology as they showed mastery of their standards in more depth, through creativity and collaboration. Which is what led me to attending my first technology conference, Alaska’s Society for Technology in Education (ASTE).
I was inspired by Professional Development
Alaska's Society for Technology in Education
from http://www.aste.org
It was so exciting being around so much technology, and so many new ideas to bring back to my classroom. But I was inspired to move to a whole new level of technology use after attending a session on videoconferencing, pushing me into the realm of real-time communication. I was inspired to “to share these successes with other educators and students, as well as seek more possibilities and solutions” for providing a means for all students to learn. I decided to take a sabbatical from the classroom, where I was teaching 9-12 Math/Science in Bering Straits School District, and pursue my master’s degree in educational technology part-time while I grew a business as a videoconference content provider, utilizing the new skills I was learning.
I was inspired by Social Learning
John Dewey
from Wikipedia
from Wikipedia
But there was a great deal of learning, beyond the basics of technology to create an effective and quality business. My philosophy of education incorporated a pragmatic constructivist view of learning in social environments, echoing Dewey, Vygotsky and Bandura’s perspectives on education, providing me a firm base for applying Wiggins and Mctighe’s Backwards Design Model. Every single last part of me believed that every child could and wanted to learn, it was more of an issue of motivation, inspiration, passion and meeting a learners needs. The first year of classes provided a basis for curriculum design with technology and best practices for using the Internet in the classroom. I was able to produce a Backward’s Design unit based on Wiggin’s and Mctighe’s model that became WebQuest’s and integrated videoconferencing, chatting and digital submissions of student-generated collaborative solutions. As a result, a series were created for BSSD, along with our first full online course for teachers and students walking them through a unit that resulted in the culmination of several products that would make up a cultural map of their communities. In addition, professional development was created for other teacher to integrate videoconferencing into their classrooms, just as I was inspired to integrate it into my classroom.
Amidst all of this, I was spending copious amounts of time creating the online course that would house the Virtual Sled Dog Race, applying many concepts that I had learned in Ed Tech 632, Classroom Internet Integration. For this videoconference/ Internet-based program, students would compete against other students from around the United States in a simulation of being a musher competing in the Iditarod, a 1,000-mile sled dog race competition, with success in the race represented by their mastery of their reading, writing, and math standards.
Amidst all of this, I was spending copious amounts of time creating the online course that would house the Virtual Sled Dog Race, applying many concepts that I had learned in Ed Tech 632, Classroom Internet Integration. For this videoconference/ Internet-based program, students would compete against other students from around the United States in a simulation of being a musher competing in the Iditarod, a 1,000-mile sled dog race competition, with success in the race represented by their mastery of their reading, writing, and math standards.
I was inspired by Leadership
Denali Susitna Exploration Camp
Copyright Christina Hum
Copyright Christina Hum
The more projects, collaborations, and social networks I became a part of, the more I was inspired by others’ ideas, thoughts and leadership, the first of which was Mark Standley. Mr. Standley, whom I first had met during an ASTE videoconference session, had inspired me to explore the possibilities of videoconference. Several years later, we met again working on projects together at Highland Tech High, where he again inspired me to be a part of one of several Denali Digital Storytelling Camps, helping students to explore the concept of using sense of place, video and connecting with others to share in our collective knowledge and experiences, and express these collaborations in digital media. As a result of this work, I was asked to put together a camp, Denali-Susitna Exploration Camp, for the south-side of Denali in our small town that we were living in, Talkeetna, Alaska. We produced several 2 week-long units to teach our local youth about sense of place through the lens of technology.
Our Virtual Sled Dog Race competition continued each year, as we partnered with GCI, Alaska Injury Prevention, and Denali National Park. Our successes with Kigluait Adventures mushing videoconference programs were growing, and we were getting great feedback and word-of-mouth was helping our business to grow rapidly.
It was at this point that I met Rick Schreiber, Wendy Battino and Richard DeLorenzo who inspired me to reach out to students and help them to grow their own leadership skills, and become empowered to own their learning. I wrote a curriculum to help other teachers create their own student leadership programs. At the same time, I began work with Marcia Howell from Alaska Injury Prevention to create a curriculum to teach youth about Media Literacy and Underage Drinking. This time period also marks the last class I took, Ed Tech 635, Thinking about Technology, helping me to see the importance of technology in context of education, also reinforcing the importance of my current work.
Our Virtual Sled Dog Race competition continued each year, as we partnered with GCI, Alaska Injury Prevention, and Denali National Park. Our successes with Kigluait Adventures mushing videoconference programs were growing, and we were getting great feedback and word-of-mouth was helping our business to grow rapidly.
It was at this point that I met Rick Schreiber, Wendy Battino and Richard DeLorenzo who inspired me to reach out to students and help them to grow their own leadership skills, and become empowered to own their learning. I wrote a curriculum to help other teachers create their own student leadership programs. At the same time, I began work with Marcia Howell from Alaska Injury Prevention to create a curriculum to teach youth about Media Literacy and Underage Drinking. This time period also marks the last class I took, Ed Tech 635, Thinking about Technology, helping me to see the importance of technology in context of education, also reinforcing the importance of my current work.
As a leader, I aim to inspire others.
During this intermittent period, in which I had paused taking courses from UAS, our educational videoconference business was growing by over 100% each year. We won numerous awards between 2006-2010 and presented at numerous conferences, including ISTE and ASTE, and we were often in the news. We continued our work with Denali Susitna Exploration Camp, Our Reality Media Literacy, and RISC and of course providing videoconference programs, including the Virtual Sled Dog Race. The media gallery shares much of our student work and letters sent to us to share in their excitement of learning.
Our Social Network was growing, as we maintained several Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Kigluait Social Network, Flickr, YouTube, Teachertube, Vimeo, so on and so forth, all of which can be found on the Technology Through Time Blog. We were creating our Digital Footprint and we were beginning to inspire others. From our blogs to our Twitter feeds, people were following and linking to us.
Our Social Network was growing, as we maintained several Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Kigluait Social Network, Flickr, YouTube, Teachertube, Vimeo, so on and so forth, all of which can be found on the Technology Through Time Blog. We were creating our Digital Footprint and we were beginning to inspire others. From our blogs to our Twitter feeds, people were following and linking to us.
As a collective group, we inspire one another.
Each year, with growth in business and partnerships, we would reflect on the growth and consider what would be most beneficial for the upcoming year. It was during one of these planning conversations in 2010 that I decided to complete the Master’s Program at UAS and begin to share my skills with other teachers. Though we continued our programming and growing our digital footprint, I took on a new project, Alaska’s Learning Network, under SERRC (Southeast Regional Resource Center). I worked with them in their initial stages to produce the first pieces of a growing database of online courses that would be offered to students all over Alaska. As part of this position I was asked by Ryan Stanley to put together an Individualized Technology Learning Program training for teachers to learn how to use technology properly, so they could begin to create their own courses by presenting an example of a model course online that participants used. As a result, I created a course that would walk teachers through the process of supportive technology implementation through goal setting and distance support.
The timing for this project coincided really well with the current courses I was completing, ED 668 Ed Tech leadership and ED 673 Educational Application of Networking. I was able to apply much of the leadership skills gleaned form the class to be a better mentor for participating teachers, as well as learning more about how best to provide CTE skills to teachers. I also took the time to really consider how to better provide online course content to students at a distance. Though this was not my first action research completed on the topic, because prior to that semester I had completed ED 626 Classroom Research, in which I focused on examining my perceptions of being an online teacher. It was towards the end of this year, with these experiences and courses under my belt, that I decided that my new career direction would be distance education focused on game design embedded within the instructional design.
As this project wrapped up, I began one last project before returning to the classroom, working with AVTEC as a collaborative group to learn and discover more about iOS, app design and programming. This was a great opportunity for me to utilize my ED 633 Classroom Integration of Multimedia and my ED 634 Classroom Integration of Audio/ Video Tech, creating rich interactive lessons to demonstrate the power of design in iOS development. It also provided stepping-stones for considering how to implement game design into a classroom, for my own personal research and continued education.
I finally decided, though, it was time for a return to the classroom. After so much coursework I wanted to implement many of my ideas and thoughts directly back into the classroom. Thus began my year-long journey with Hutchison High School as the PE/ Earth Science teacher in Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. I also enrolled in the fall semester for ED Tech 628, which integrated design with technology. Though I had already taken the course, the refresher was exactly what I needed for the Independent Study Course that I had also enrolled in, and was focused on Game Design in the Classroom. My plan was to create several units throughout the year that integrated game design using the FNSBSD standards. This was definitely a challenge, but the rewards were worth it. Alaska’s Digital Sandbox and Alaska’s Learning Network helped to provide me with a set of classroom iPads that I could use to implement the units. I shared these back out in the Sandbox.
As the year comes to a close, and as I work through putting this portfolio together, I am able to reflect on all of the experiences that have led up to this very point in time. My students, my classmates, project partners, my social networks and my business inspired me throughout. And in reviewing all of this, I am certain that we helped to inspire a few others. If anything the collective knowledge through social learning had occurred, and I am certain I have helped to have effect in this fast flowing river of technology, picking up our experiences and depositing them in collective sandbars of knowledge. And with each new season, I am also certain that I will again be picked up and deposited on another social learning sandbar with other collective social learners.
The timing for this project coincided really well with the current courses I was completing, ED 668 Ed Tech leadership and ED 673 Educational Application of Networking. I was able to apply much of the leadership skills gleaned form the class to be a better mentor for participating teachers, as well as learning more about how best to provide CTE skills to teachers. I also took the time to really consider how to better provide online course content to students at a distance. Though this was not my first action research completed on the topic, because prior to that semester I had completed ED 626 Classroom Research, in which I focused on examining my perceptions of being an online teacher. It was towards the end of this year, with these experiences and courses under my belt, that I decided that my new career direction would be distance education focused on game design embedded within the instructional design.
As this project wrapped up, I began one last project before returning to the classroom, working with AVTEC as a collaborative group to learn and discover more about iOS, app design and programming. This was a great opportunity for me to utilize my ED 633 Classroom Integration of Multimedia and my ED 634 Classroom Integration of Audio/ Video Tech, creating rich interactive lessons to demonstrate the power of design in iOS development. It also provided stepping-stones for considering how to implement game design into a classroom, for my own personal research and continued education.
I finally decided, though, it was time for a return to the classroom. After so much coursework I wanted to implement many of my ideas and thoughts directly back into the classroom. Thus began my year-long journey with Hutchison High School as the PE/ Earth Science teacher in Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. I also enrolled in the fall semester for ED Tech 628, which integrated design with technology. Though I had already taken the course, the refresher was exactly what I needed for the Independent Study Course that I had also enrolled in, and was focused on Game Design in the Classroom. My plan was to create several units throughout the year that integrated game design using the FNSBSD standards. This was definitely a challenge, but the rewards were worth it. Alaska’s Digital Sandbox and Alaska’s Learning Network helped to provide me with a set of classroom iPads that I could use to implement the units. I shared these back out in the Sandbox.
As the year comes to a close, and as I work through putting this portfolio together, I am able to reflect on all of the experiences that have led up to this very point in time. My students, my classmates, project partners, my social networks and my business inspired me throughout. And in reviewing all of this, I am certain that we helped to inspire a few others. If anything the collective knowledge through social learning had occurred, and I am certain I have helped to have effect in this fast flowing river of technology, picking up our experiences and depositing them in collective sandbars of knowledge. And with each new season, I am also certain that I will again be picked up and deposited on another social learning sandbar with other collective social learners.