This was my fourth course and it is often described as challenging by many of MET alumni. I, too, would have to agree with this statement for many reasons.

 

First, ETEC 530 was my first course to take after a two term hiatus from the MET program. As previously mentioned, I completed ETEC 500 whilst transitioning from finishing my work in Seoul. Afterwards, I took the summer term off to travel in North America before beginning new work in Suzhou, China. I did plan to take this course in September of 2014, but I was finding the challenges of the new job and the transition to life in China to be quite demanding; taking another term off to settle in seemed wise.

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The second reason this course was challenging relates to the first; getting back into the APA writing style mindset and working full-time by day, then full-time study in the evening routine is as challenging as starting the whole program anew. Luckily, I quickly got over this hurtle.

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Lastly, the material in this course takes you to a whole new level of understanding about constructivism. It constantly challenges your understanding of what you thought you knew, then shapes your perspective in a new way, only to be reshaped again in the next learning module.

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Key long-term takeaways from this course, some of which I'll expand on in my artifacts below, were the various "x"-based learning theories, changes in my views on the way I taught scientific inquiry and concept mapping.