Author: Brandon Carson

Thank You For This Special Day

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Royal Roads University

Today was a special day. I woke up, put on my Royal Roads University socks, and prepared to defend my Thesis, titled “Breaking Barriers: Understanding and Removing Barriers to OER Use.” I am proud to say that I successfully defended and passed my Thesis, with minor revisions still required to the paper. Soon I will be a proud graduate of the Royal Roads University Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program. I would not be here without my family’s love and support, and friends that encouraged me throughout this academic journey. My wife allowed me to start the program… Read More

Support your students by using Open Educational Resources (OER)

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A street sign that says open.

At many higher education institutions, we have reached the crucial time of year where we select our textbooks for the upcoming academic year. Often, we have textbook companies explaining why their books are the best choice, but there is an alternative option that faculty members may not be aware of… Open Educational Resources (OER). What are OER My favourite definition of OER comes from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO defines OER as: teaching, learning or research materials that are in the public domain or released with intellectual property licenses that facilitate the free use, adaptation… Read More

Building an entire post-secondary course using Open Educational Resources

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HTML code displayed on a screen.

This post is an adaptation from a previous conference presentation, Building an entire post-secondary course using Open Educational Resources – Online Learning 2018. This post will discuss my personal experience building a course solely using Open Educational Resources. I will share the positive and challenging aspects, as well as the learning that occurred along the way. In the 2017-2018 academic year, Durham College, in conjunction with other post-secondary institutions, received funding from eCampusOntario to develop a new program for eLearning Developers. Part of this program was an HTML Introduction course, which I was very familiar with. The course was already being offered… Read More

Diving deeper into Open Educational Resources

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A person diving into the water.

Please note: This blog post is a course related assessment for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University. When I first registered into the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology (MALAT) program, I never envisioned discovering a topic that I would become so passionate about, and that would change my life so much in one year. While completing the readings and residency for the LRNT 521 – Digital Learning Environments, Networks, Communities and LRNT 522 – Introduction to Research: Critical Reading and Writing courses, I was introduced to the topic of OER. The… Read More

My growth as a Leader

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a person holding a plant.

Please note: This blog post is a course related assessment for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University. Taking the LRNT 525 – Leading Change in Digital Learning course could not have come at a more appropriate time in my professional career.  In early March, I started in a new role at eCampusOntario where I will be a project manager to lead a significant digital change within the province of Ontario. The project is title Open at Scale – Business Open Educational Resources (OER) and will focus on nine highly enrolled post-secondary business courses… Read More

Change Management in Digital Environments

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A sign that says something needs to change.

Please note: This blog post is a course related assessment for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University. Assignment two of LRNT 525: Leading Change in Digital Learning tasked students to use their learning network to reach out to colleagues to discuss their experience with change management. As an approach to garner authentic responses, I decided to use a combination of Twitter to promote the communication to my colleagues and Google Forms to capture the data anonymously. Participants were provided with a definition of change management provided by the Society for Human Resource Management… Read More

Leading Change in Higher Education and Digital Learning Environments

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A sign that says change.

Please note: This blog post is a course related assessment for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University. While reviewing the readings for unit two on the topic of leading change, I found myself reflecting on my past two years working within the Centre for Academic and Faculty Enrichment at Durham College. Within my first year in the department, I reported into five separate managers and our department structure and roles within the department significantly changed. The initial changes to our department occurred in small scale changes that were easier to manage and did… Read More

Digital Leadership Within the Field of Education

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A sign that says do something great.

Please note: This blog post is a course related assessment for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University. Unit one of the LRNT 525 – Leading Change in Digital Learning course contained several readings that I was able to relate to in my roles as a Learning Technologies Specialist and Part-time Professor at Durham College. For the purposes of this post, I will focus on my position as a Learning Technologies Specialist within the Centre for Academic and Faculty Enrichment. In my ten years at Durham College, I have had the pleasure of leading… Read More

Selecting the Theory that Effectively Helps Students Mastery a Specific Task

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Students speaking around a laptop.

Please note: This blog post is a course related assessment for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University. After reading Ertmper and Newby’s (2008) article “Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective”, I found myself captivated by Ertmer & Newby’s statement The critical question instructional designers must ask is not “Which is the best theory?” but “Which theory is the most effective in fostering mastery of specific tasks by specific learners?” (p 6.1) The current hybrid course I am teaching for the Winter 2019 semester requires students to learn the… Read More

The Disadvantages of Open Educational Resources

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An open sign.

Please note: This blog post is a course related assessment for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University. When reviewing the unit 1 readings, I was pleased to see Teaching in a digital age by Tony Bates listed. I previously secured a hardcopy edition of Tony’s book at the 2017 World Conference on Online Learning and looked forward to the opportunity to read the book again, after a year of additional studies in the fields of learning and technology. With a new found interest in Open Educational Resources (OER), the first chapter I decided… Read More