Competency 6: Participate Actively in the Profession

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• Identifies and participates in communities of practice within the field of Educational Technology

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Being a multimedia professional and growing up during the boom of personal computers (and now handheld devices), I have a strong interest in e-learning and learning with technology.  When I began my program in Learning Design and Technology, I knew that this was the field that I wanted to become part of.  It allows me to bring my skills and knowledge of multimedia production to a new audience and hopefully inspire the next generation of content producers.  Over the past few months, I’ve developed professional relationships with two educational organizations that I hope to become more involved with once I graduate.  The first is my undergraduate college.  While not a new relationship per se, I have been in close contact with the digital film professors.  They are  continually impressed with the work that I produce and have already offered me an adjunct position to teach students in the digital film program.  I hope to pursue this opportunity in the Fall of 2017 or Spring of 2018, as I believe that teaching digital film incorporates all of the aspects that I have been working toward:  sharing my love and expansive knowledge of media production, discussing and utilizing Web 2.0 tools, and practicing the various pedagogy styles that I have learned throughout my graduate program.

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The second organization that I have taken a strong interest in is the Digital Learning Lab (DLL) at Princeton University.  The DLL is part of the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning and has a strong focus on peer-to-peer learning. The lab hosts a variety of software and digital literacy workshops throughout the semester, some taught by students and some taught by instructors or DLL staff.   The first Artifact that I provided is an e-Learning course on Adobe Premiere that I developed in the Summer of 2016 and will soon become part of the DLL Online Knowledge Base.  I plan to continue to develop online courses for the DLL as both references for students who have taken in-person workshops and as a way for students to acquire new digital literacies and skills on their own time between their already busy schedules.  My contributions to the Online Knowledge Base will be video series’ adapted from my previously developed course material during my time as a graduate student, as well as new material to meet the needs of the DLL and student demand.  Additionally, I have been invited to teach workshops this coming Fall on Adobe Premiere and audio recording/editing, which I have also developed an e-Learning course for and can be seen in Artifact 2.  I also hope to become a mentor to the student instructors and guide them to becoming more effective teachers.  Participating within these two organizations affords me the opportunity to not only share my knowledge, but also help to shape my future in education and better define what where I want to take my career.

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​In addition to these future plans, I have joined both The eLearning Guild and eLearning Industry online.  Both of these organizations will provide me access to the latest information, conferences, and webinars to stay current in the field of online learning.  As I browse articles and gain new perspectives, I synthesize my new knowledge with my current professional experience in a Blogger account.  This serves as a space for me to gather my thoughts and encourages me to stay current on the latest technologies and how they can be applied to the classroom.