Distance Education Technology Symposium

June 12 to 14, 2008, was Athabasca University’s 11th Annual Distance Education Technology Symposium (DETS), held at the Delta Centre Suite Hotel in Edmonton. Having attended the first symposium in Banff, in 1998, I continued attending many, with this being my 6th. DETS is presented by the Centre for Distance Education of Athabasca University in conjunction with the Master of Distance Education (MDE) program. If you read my prior entry, you will know the connection with me as a MDE grad. Students, alumni, and others are welcome.

Events such as DETS are inspiring and tend to re-ignite passions. When it comes to teaching others and developing materials, I come alive with distance education and technology. This becomes obvious when I can spend hours working at the computer and wanting more.

The DETS agenda saw us meeting for a social the first evening, renewing and making acquaintances with faculty, staff, alumni, and current students. Friday and Saturday were packed full of presentations by faculty, alumni, and students, with one friend making the trip from Mexico City to stay at my home and make a presentation during the conference. I am not going to cover the presentations here, but it was great to see Dr Jon Baggaley’s session covering his 800 day trip to 21 Asia-Pacific countries where he was involved with distance education research and development projects.

The presence of Web 2.0 in education is certainly noted. Although not new, it is still in its infancy. Just as I am becoming more familiar with the use of Web 2.0 tools in relation to business, I look forward to following the educational applications and their effect on teaching and learning. For my part, I will be incorporating Web 2.0 and educational activities in my business, and I hope to be able to report at a future conference.

My First Blog

To blog or not to blog has been a question on my mind for some time. Obviously, the desire to maintain a blog has won out with this as my inaugural post. My mood strikes me to give a little background to review my interest in distance education, leading up to a second entry that will acknowledge the Distance Education Technology Symposium I attended this past weekend.

My interest in open learning can be traced back to grades 5 and 6 in elementary school with an open concept school and relatively little structure to the day. We were given assignments for the week, there were periodic sessions with the teacher, and there were no classroom walls except dividers. It has been many years, but I vividly recall the opportunity to use Fridays as reading days, lounging on big cushions in the library, if the work was complete.

After grade 12 in Ontario, I entered the workforce as a Police Cadet with the Metropolitan Toronto Police. Four years later, then in Edmonton, I commenced Athabasca University’s Bachelor of Administration Degree through distance learning. It was called correspondence at the time, but it was truly much more due to the dedicated tutor assigned for each course. I can’t believe the time it took to complete, with typical procrastination and life happenings, but I never intended to rush through. Thirteen years later, in 1979, I received my degree.

In 1997, I commenced the Master of Distance Education (MDE) Degree, also through Athabasca University (AU). At the time, I supervised field placement students while working as an investigator in a provincial government department. I was being encouraged to teach at their college, so I agreed to and commenced graduate studies just prior. Still working full-time, the MDE was likely an obvious choice due to the flexibility of study. However, the course of studies was motivating, and along the path I also received an Advanced Graduate Diploma in Distance Education (Technology) from AU and a Certificate in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Alberta. Needless to say, distance education and technology became of great interest to me, and I was able to incorporate some of this with my traditional classroom based students.

Although now captivated by my business as an insurance and financial advisor, I maintain my passion for distance education. I had the pleasure of teaching an online course (on two occasions) and an online workshop for the University of Calgary, and I just completed teaching a second course, Emergency Planning for Industry. As I go forward, I am happy to be an advisor and an educator.

Comments and questions are certainly invited, as I enter the blogosphere.