I'm grateful that I was afforded the time to create an eP such as this as a summative task to end my Master's in Educational Technology (MET) experience at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Whilst a traditional thesis project, centered upon one very narrowly focused passion area, would still be arguably relevant, I don't think it would be as equally rewarding as creating this eP. These past several months have given me the time to reflect on my four and a half year MET journey and look back on the wealth of knowledge I have gained. More importantly, it has given me the time to re-consolidate my philosophies as an educator by allowing me to illustrate how theories, introduced to me in this program, have been permanently etched into my pedagogy.

 

Looking back now, I have can confidently say that I am a confident, knowledgeable and balanced educational technologist. I am grounded enough in theory to know that a pencil and paper are sometimes still just as effective educational tools as they were the day that they were invented. However, I also can argue when a digital medium would be far superior, to take their place.

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So where one journey ends, one must ask themselves, "Where to next?"

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First, I must take the time to re-balance work and home life. My (soon to be five year year old) son and wife have missed out on many weekend opportunities spent as a family because of the commitments required for studies within this program. My poor students, too, have come to know the panda-eyed, and sometimes stressed out, Mr. O, all too well.

 

Career wise, I am already in the midst of a robotics proposal at my school; it will be integrated and taught within the elementary school by myself and our tech coaches next year. This will be an exciting challenge and incredible learning curve. I also plan on collecting a few "badges" (i.e. certifications) like that of Google Certified Educator and becoming an ambassador for applications like Book Creator. As well, I had my first taste of presenting at an international tech conference this past teaching year, and would like to continue that trend of coaching adults both in my school and beyond.

 

Ultimately, my grand goal, and part of the reason for taking the UBC-MET program, is to become a technology coach either at my current school or next place of employment. I think it will be the perfect mix of teaching both adults and students, and advance myself professionally in one of my biggest passion areas in pedagogy.