I enjoyed the opportunity to view several presentations at the MALAT Virtual Symposium. This Symposium provided an opportunity for me to reflect on the journey through the MALAT program, as well as to set new goals and directions for the future. The noteworthy points were the CANeLearn discussion about Online Learning, the interdisciplinary aspects of the field of educational technologies, and the discussion of pedagogy and the research process in a thesis project.  

I was surprised by Crichton and LaBonte’s (2021) involvement with CANeLearn. Having been an Online instructor in K to 12 public schools for 8 years, I have encountered LaBonte during the annual DL Symposium and through Knowplace Moodle hosting site. In the process of the MALAT program, I have had to build silos around my professional and academic tasks in an effort to allocate time for each. However, hearing his discussion with Crichton and LaBonte acted as a reminder of the academic persuasion within the professional context. 

The ideas that were intriguing to me were the interdisciplinary aspect of educational technologies and instructional design (Palahicky, Boyce, and Jones, 2022). This appealed to me when applying to this program and this presentation acted as a good reminder of the benefits of an interdisciplinary field. It is beneficial to be able to draw from a wide variety of disciplines as I have appreciated through this program.

Two points that I agreed with were MacKay’s (2022) approach to researching VR. I appreciated MacKay’s pedagogical focus on his research with VR and his empathetic understanding of the learners. I liked his critical questions about how learners express their experiences and believe this to be a relevant question for all educators. In BC this is additionally relevant as the reported order is moving towards more student-directed assessment, teachers need to be aware of limitations so as to support the students’ learning. I look forward to seeing MacKay’s final research.

In all, I appreciated the time to look back and admire all of the hard work of my peers and set new goals for future goals. 

References

Crichton, S. (2021, April 15). Design Conversations with BC Educator: Lessons Learned During COVID-19 and more – CANeLearn [Symposium presentation]. RRU MALAT Digital Symposium.

MacKay, M. (2022, April 14). Phenomenological Analysis of Purposeful Pedagogy, Design, and Virtual Reality [Symposium presentation]. RRU MALAT Digital Symposium.  

Meyers, M., Veletsianos, G., & DeVries, I. (2022, April 11). Instructional Design In & After COVID-19.  https://youtu.be/FJKfV4QphYc

Palahicky, S., Boyce, C. & Jones, C. (2022, April 12). Top Trends in Instructional Design [Symposium presentation]. RRU MALAT Digital Symposium.  https://youtu.be/Hv4v9f_g7Ws