Practice what you preach? What are we doing and why are we doing it?

As we embark on this final journey through the MPhil HPE (formally HSE) elective, I experience a sense of bitter-sweet anticipation. Is this the year that it is better than any before? I certainly hope so.

As much as I have asked the student group this year to be self-directed in their approach to the module and clarify their own expectations, I realise that I need to practice what I preach. I realise that over the years one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that most people learn by seeing something in action. So this year I have a major expectation for this module, and that is for the facilitators to practice what they preach, to provide a space for students to experience the ADDIE process required as a framework in the module beyond just theoretical and practical posts.

Throughout this module I know that there will be constant questions, and that is great! I look forward to hearing the answers from others as well as trying to provide some myself. While we engage in this way, we will try to remind everyone of the focus for each week. I can promise you this, the one way to be sure to avoid too much stress in the module is to stick to the schedule for your blog posts.
Each week you will be required to post your thoughts and plans around a planned intervention/change in your curriculum for next year.

Week 1 = Analysis
Week 2 = Design
Week 3 = Development
Week 4 = Implementation and Evaluation

By sticking to this schedule, writing as many blog posts as you like to clarify your thoughts, reading your classmates blogs and engaging in discussion using the comment section; you will succeed.

You will succeed in being able to submit an assignment that shows your understanding of teaching and learning in HPE as it relates to the knowledge you have gained in this field over the past two years. You will be able to use that knowledge to use this module assignment as the beginning phase of a potential proposal for an intervention in 2017. Most importantly, I have yet to find someone who has completed this elective who has not said that they have learned something new in the module, whether about teaching with technology or just their own philosophy of teaching and learning.

So hear goes.....we begin our journey together and I look forward to having you along as travel partners as I embark on the final leg of this epic adventure.