The Experts

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Every renovation project requires a few experts who have done a particular project before, have specific expertise or have skills needed for the renovations. Here are my 'resident experts'. These are the thinkers or researchers I returned to many times during this renovation project. They have shaped the renewal of my concepts about education, technology and teaching. Embedded into the framework of my teaching and learning are the theories and ideas of J. Piaget and L. Vygotsky.

David Jonassen
Designing Constructivist Learning Environments

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David Jonassen's model for the design of constructivist learning environments (CLE's) provided a framework for my renovations. This included looking at tasks for meaningful learning, accepting ill defined and complex problems, collaboration, contextual conversations, and claiming ownership of my learning experiences. Each of these elements is present in the MET program and the individual course offerings.

George Siemens
Connectivism, Social Learning Networks

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Reading G. Siemens' seminal work "Knowing Knowledge" exposed me to new learning technologies, knowledge networks and structures of e-learning  spaces. This Canadian thinker and MOOC creator investigates how we learn in connected networks. It has changed my ideas about isolationist teaching to one of teaching within technically connected worlds. Applying learning within globally connected communities of inquiry, as first experience in the MET program, will continue to feed my need for self-renewal.

Joseph D. Novak
Concept Mapping-Theory and Construction

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Concept mapping has become an increasingly useful way for me to expose my own tacit and explicit knowledge, build meaningful connections and share my thinking with others. Learning how to build a concept map, by creating maps in many of my MET courses, extended my understanding of how to integrate this tool into my teaching. By engaging in conversations about concept mapping, creating concept maps, and evaluating maps created by others, I have renovated my understanding about thinking, learning and teaching. See more of my own concept maps on the 'Many Maps' page of this eportfolio.

Etienne Wenger
Communities of Practice & Social Learning Theory

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Communities learn together. They practice what they learn and attribute value to the work. Membership in the community varies from peripheral to core. My presence and place in the MET community has evolved in position and value as I renewed my teaching and learning practice. The theoretical framework proposed by Wenger, Trayner and DeLaat is explored further in a slide presentation found on THE WORK section of this portfolio. This will continue to provide a framework for my professional endeavours.

Donald Schon
Reflective Practice

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Exploring ideas from Donald Schon renovated me to become a deeply reflective practitioner of, on, and in my teaching and learning. The concept of 'double-loop learning' to examine professional effectiveness led to skills in critical analysis of educational technology. Applying a 'generative metaphor' (such as the one used for this eportfolio) has become an explicit strategy in my learning and teaching practice.

Michael Fullan
Change Theory, Leadership

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Beginning with research during ETEC 511 and continuing with my recent participation in the annual ECOO conference, Michael Fullan has renovated, reshaped and renewed my thinking about technology and education. Reading books such as The Six Secrets of Change, Motion Leadership and Stratosphere provide ideas about my place in the changing environments of education. In Stratosphere, Fullan's latest work, he states that educational reform will come about through the concentration of three forces - pedagogy (make it all about learning), technology (let it permeate) and change knowledge (engaging the whole system). Through my professional renovations in the MET program, each of these forces have renovated and reformed my practice.

Many other 'experts' in the field - 

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There are many other experts in the field of education, technology, teaching and learning that have influenced and added to my renovations. Their impact and ideas are integrated within the deeper reflections for each of the MET courses found in THE WORK section of this portfolio. Some of these additional 'resident experts' include John Dewey, Seymour Papert, Howard Gardner, Sherry Turkle, Jay Bolter, Terry Anderson, Marlene Scardamalia, A.W. Bates & G. Poole, and A. Chickering & Z. Gamson.
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'My Renovations' HOME