Mackenzie's ETEC Blog

  Reflect on your understanding of “folio thinking.”   As a graduate student trying to become a better educator, I am committed to my growth as a lifelong learner. The portfolio approach to documenting my progress and growth in this Master's program is relevant and meaningful to me because it is an artifact that can live and grow with me and be used as a reference for myself, colleagues or administrators to share my philosophy, resources and insights into educational technology.  In comparison to quizzes, tests, or other instructor-assigned assessments, the portfolio approach has several advantages. Firstly, that is allows my professors in the program to better follow the trajectory of my learning process, rather than rely on snapshots of individual assignments. This will help make gaps in my knowledge, flaws in my logic, or deficiencies in my communication more obvious and addressable. Secondly, the artifacts I choose to collect, prioritize and reflect on in my...

     In this first playtesting assignment, I explored several versions of blogging and vlogging in the context of playtesting the technology for use in education. 1. I started by testing several different blogging websites and formats. Blogging platforms such as Weebly, Wix and Wordpress were easy to access and sign up for, but included a lot of ads in the free platforms. I wasn't willing to pay for the upgraded versions, so I continued searching for other platforms. I also wanted to experiment with video blogging (or vlogging) which wasn't easily available via these platforms.  2. I decided to move forward with the Google-based "Blogger" platform because it integrated with other Google products and allowed me to post blogs without ads. This affords   the learner a cleaner and less distracting technology landscape without advertising. It also affords me the opportunity to incorporate files via my Google drive to enhance my blog posts and add depth and complexity...