[et_pb_section admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off” transparent_background=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” background_color=”#003030″][et_pb_fullwidth_header admin_label=”Fullwidth Header” title=”About Gary” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” content_orientation=”center” image_orientation=”center” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_letter_spacing=”0″ button_one_use_icon=”default” button_one_icon_placement=”right” button_one_on_hover=”on” button_one_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ custom_button_two=”off” button_two_letter_spacing=”0″ button_two_use_icon=”default” button_two_icon_placement=”right” button_two_on_hover=”on” button_two_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ title_font_size=”30″ subhead=”Some background information”] [\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” transparent_background=”on” allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” background_color=”#f4f4f4″ custom_padding=”5|5″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” make_fullwidth=”on” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” padding_mobile=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” make_equal=”off”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_number_counter admin_label=”Number Counter” title=”years of experience teaching adults and university students” number=”8+” percent_sign=”off” counter_color=”#b22323″ background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” title_font_size=”24″ number_font_size=”100″] [\/et_pb_number_counter][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_number_counter admin_label=”Number Counter” title=”years designing & teaching blended university courses” number=”5+” percent_sign=”off” counter_color=”#b22323″ background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” title_font_size=”24″ number_font_size=”100″] [\/et_pb_number_counter][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_number_counter admin_label=”Number Counter” title=”education centered websites created on www since 1999″ number=”20+” percent_sign=”off” counter_color=”#b22323″ background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” title_font_size=”24″ number_font_size=”100″] [\/et_pb_number_counter][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_number_counter admin_label=”Number Counter” title=”video tutorials produced for a wide range of learning styles” number=”180+” percent_sign=”off” counter_color=”#b22323″ background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” title_font_size=”24″ number_font_size=”100″] [\/et_pb_number_counter][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” transparent_background=”off” background_color=”#ededd7″ allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
As detailed in the introduction to this site, I am an Assistant Professor at Hanyang University (HYU) and, in addition to personally redesigning most of my classes into blended (hybrid) courses, I developed a new multimedia writing and blogging course that draws heavily on social constructivist principles.<\/p>\n
From June until December 2014, I co-chaired\u00a0the course redesign project team that, for the first time in HYU’s history, converted a traditional face-to-face English course into a blended (hybrid) course for an entire department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I currently serve as chair for my department’s\u00a0English Film Festival Committee and have also served on the Technology Committee, acted as an emcee for the film festival\u00a0and other extracurricular events on campus.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
I had several years of experience in Special Education as both a classroom educator and a consultant\/trainer. This laid a solid foundation for my current interest in educational technology and led to my firm conviction that, if utilized appropriately, educational technology can help make knowledge and success more equally attainable for students of all backgrounds and abilities.<\/p>\n
As a Special Education teacher from 1994 to 2001, I became familiar with such concepts as multiple intelligences, learning styles, individualized education programs (IEPs), classroom adaptation, collaborative teaching, and adaptive\/assistive technology. From witnessing the positive results of these concepts being successfully implemented\u2014usually with considerable reliance on technology\u2014I developed a serious interest in educational technology.<\/p>\n
As a \u201cconsultant\/trainer\u201d from 2007 to 2009, my research endeavors and practical experience were focused on special needs and literacy resources for teachers, school psychologists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists. These resources involved various technologies and it was my job to learn and then teach the appropriate technology to existing clients and future prospects. To support these efforts, I developed a website that provided current data on the latest Universal Design for Learning (UDL) resources and hosted a number of \u00a0training videos, many of which I produced myself.<\/p>\n
In March 2010, I began developing blended courses for my students at Hanyang University. Some examples of this initiative are posted on the Current E-Learning Spaces<\/a> page.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off” transparent_background=”off” background_color=”#003030″ allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” module_id=”objectives”][et_pb_fullwidth_header admin_label=”Fullwidth Header – objectives and audience” title=”Primary Objective, Questions, and More Objectives” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” content_orientation=”center” image_orientation=”center” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_letter_spacing=”0″ button_one_use_icon=”default” button_one_icon_placement=”right” button_one_on_hover=”on” button_one_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ custom_button_two=”off” button_two_letter_spacing=”0″ button_two_use_icon=”default” button_two_icon_placement=”right” button_two_on_hover=”on” button_two_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ subhead=”extra details for those who are ‘really’ interested”] [\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” transparent_background=”off” background_color=”#cbd6c5″ allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” padding_mobile=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” column_padding_mobile=”on”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_toggle admin_label=”Toggle overarching objective” title=”Overarching Primary Objective (tap\/click to open)” open=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n One primary overarching\u00a0objective for this MET ePortfolio is to\u00a0complete a narrative that can be traced back to high school, when I first began\u00a0making use of my voice to have fun reading announcements on the high-school PA system and spinning vinyl discs as a volunteer disc-jockey at a local\u00a0radio station. After graduating \u00a0from high-school, then working in the logging industry for a few years, I rekindled my passion for merging my voice\/personality with technology by landing a paying job at a radio station in Campbell River, BC, and began an exciting career in radio broadcasting. After two more radio stations and 7 or 8 years, however, the meager salary began to stifle the excitement–and I grew weary of living near the poverty line.\u00a0 So I sought out more lucrative work in other industries and gave up on the dream of becoming a media mogul and potential candidate for public office. (Pragmatism won out over idealism.)<\/p>\n Then, shortly after the emergence of affordable personal computers, that idealistic fascination with merging personality and technology to make a positive difference in the world was rekindled once again when I went back to school, mastered my word processing skills on a 2001 vintage personal computer and learned how to write good academic papers (that were impossible to do without “cut and paste” capability), and in 2004, I graduated with an Honours B.Ed. degree.<\/p>\n Teaching jobs were scarce in those days, so to get started in a classroom as soon as possible, I decided to take a job as a teacher assistant in a special needs program. This was before inclusion<\/em> with mainstream students began, so I was quite impressed with the amount of technology that was being utilized in that special needs classroom. The teacher and her other more experienced assistants were using a small Apple computer and other technologies to help young learners with autism, Down syndrome, and various other “cognitive delays.”<\/p>\n This was the birth of my interest in educational technology and, because I have always had a flair for using technology, it was also my Ralph Waldo Emerson moment<\/a>:\u00a0<\/em>“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” In other words, this was when I first began to really fulfill my destiny and focus on merging my keenest interests with formal education. \u00a0I have been fulfilling that destiny ever since and, with all those years of self-taught DIY hands-on experience, my primary and overarching objective is\u00a0to connect the more scholarly and current knowledge that I have constructed in the MET Program with the prior knowledge that began to develop way back in high school, and then re-emerged when working in that first special education classroom.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle admin_label=”Toggle rationale” title=”Rationale for the Primary Objective (tap\/click to open)” open=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n My reasons for wishing to achieve this objective are based on the following facts:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle admin_label=”Toggle newquestions” title=”Some New Questions (tap\/click to open)” open=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n In addition to that ambitious primary\u00a0objective, the development of this ePortfolio has raised some key questions. Because the audience is\u00a0expected to be more than just myself, friends, and family, those new questions materialized\u00a0from\u00a0the reflections and connections\u00a0that emerged as I considered the various MET courses and artifacts.<\/p>\n While developing this ePortfolio, questions that were repeatedly considered included:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle admin_label=”Toggle secondary objectives” title=”Five Secondary Objectives (tap\/click to open)” open=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n As I formulated answers to those and other emerging questions, additional objectives emerged and these, in turn, had some additional influence on the continually evolving\u00a0purpose of this ePortfolio.<\/p>\n Besides the ongoing peer feedback that comes with most\u00a0MET courses, another key factor in this evolutionary process was\u00a0what is known as Slow Online and Ubiquitous Learning<\/em>\u00a0(SOUL)<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>. SOUL is a learning approach that allows learners a natural, realistic amount of\u00a0 time to\u00a0reflect on course content and discussions,\u00a0thus allowing us\u00a0to more fully develop and apply new knowledge. Being enabled to use the SOUL approach\u00a0resulted in the following secondary objectives:<\/p>\n 1. to acquire a clear and comprehensive perspective on how the various concepts, skills, and artifacts of the MET courses have had an immediate impact on my teaching practice and students<\/p>\n 2. to develop specific plans for continued professional development that draw on the above perspective (Objective #1) and consider the major shifts in direction that, because of advancing technology and continuing pedagogical research, are taking place globally in education<\/p>\n 3. to provide tangible evidence of such basic competencies as critical thinking, targeting needs, following best practices,\u00a0conducting and reporting educational research,\u00a0linking theory to practice, and\u00a0collaborating with others<\/p>\n 4. to make use of an appropriate metaphor\/theme that allows the audience to immediately\u00a0relate to the competencies that are being demonstrated by the artifacts and reflections<\/p>\n 5. to develop and maintain an easy to navigate platform that allows the audience to view and assess content with minimal time\u00a0expenditures<\/p>\n References<\/p>\n \n\n
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