Welcome
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Welcome to the ePortfolio of Stephen Walsh. This site will document my journey through the University of British Columbia's Master of Educational Technology (MET) program. Through reflection, interpretation of artifacts, and integration of a variety of resources, I will show my trajectory through the MET program and the direction of my future interests.
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Purpose
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The purpose of this portfolio is twofold. First, I wish to gather the distinct courses and artifacts of my MET program into a cogent product that helps me view my progress throughout. I would like to reflect on the program as a whole through contemplation of each course, the artifacts that they produced, and the connections that weave them into a purposeful fabric. This purpose is personal. It is my need to consolidate the work that I have put in over the last 2 years into an approachable and useful summary.
Secondly, I want to create a professional tool that my peers, teachers, and potential employers can engage with. For my peers, the ePortfolio will allow understanding of my specific path through the program and my personal interpretations of the material we have worked through. For my teachers it will provide evidence of my comprehension and adaptation of the taught concepts. For future employers it will serve as a testimonial of my competencies. It will document my interpretation of the theories and how they augment and guide my own teaching philosophy. Furthermore, it will satisfy the British Columbia TQS Category 6 requirements. I hope to learn a variety of things from this process. Primarily, I hope to gain further insight from interacting with former courses in a reflective manner. At the end of my journey, what have I learned and how have my views and practices changed? How am I going to use these insights as I continue my studies and practice? |
Theme
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To aid in the unfolding of my ePortfolio, I have structured it within a harmonising theme: the development of a master Samurai. In the same way that a Samurai requires a variety of learning, training, and skills to succeed in his duties, I have gained much insight, practice, and ability over the course of the MET program.
In many of my projects throughout the MET program I endeavored to create a narrative to base the assignment around but due to content necessities or creative differences, it was never possible. So for my final MET project, this ePortfolio, I will use the metaphor of a the evolution of a Samurai master and construct a narrative that will accompany the reader throughout the various sections. It should be noted, however, that my usage of the Samurai is not one of strictly historical origins, but rather based on the folk-hero-like characters made famous by the works of great storytellers like Akira Kurosawa and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. In no way are my descriptions and connections a reflection of scholarship or authoritative knowledge of Japanese history or culture. The Samurai I describe is that of 20th century popular imagination. My first literary encounter with the idea of the Samurai was the book Shōgun by James Clavell. I was intrigued by the rigorous training the Samurai must endure and the stoic discipline that they must always exude, much like us students of masters programs. My metaphor will follow the learning, training, and service that a Samurai must undergo in order to truly be considered a master. The ePortfolio will have five sections: Setting, Learning, Training, Service, and Rōnin. These sections can be broken down as follows: |
