When I initially enrolled in this as my sixth course, I thought it would predominantly look at practical integration of educational technologies in the context of reading and writing subjects. Whilst part of this was true, ETEC 540 took much more of a historical perspective into how we read and write -- looking at how the past helps informs the future.

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This course was another that looked to take some of the learning outside of Blackboard and try new things; one of those ways was using Social Book. I was open-minded about using the medium for one of our course texts, yet there were a few things that I didn't like. Social Book does allow for collaborative discourse over highlighted parts of the text, yet it could be dominating and distracting. Personally, I like to read my literature away from a laptop or desktop screen, make my own personal annotations, dissect important connections, then partake in discourse after I have summarized my ideas into a way that has personal meaning. Social Book made it hard to do this, particularly since it locked you into reading the text from a bigger monitor screen. Nonetheless, the medium was a perfect fit to try out in a course that looked at the changing spaces of reading and writing.

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While the readings may have been a bit esoteric for my liking, they helped me seek out the historical perspective I need as an educational technologist. Understanding the past helps inform the future. This is particularly true when considering when a digital technology may or may not be the best learning tool for that present moment. 

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Finally, I do think that this course would benefit its learners more if it had created more social opportunities to construct knowledge. All major projects, like some of the artifacts I have chosen to share below, left little opportunity for group work. However, that does not take away from the rich learning experiences that they held.