What I Have Been up to With My Education

Currently I am working my way through my PIDP at VCC. I am almost half way, I am so excited!!! Going back to school has been a huge decision for me. One I have thought about often as my life changed over the years.  Originally I went to college right out of high school. I was determined to pick a career and get started working ASAP. I was happy with my choice but always felt I wanted to do more. I thought about going back to school for Dental Hygiene, but marriage, kids and the factor that there is no hygiene program in the Okanagan, changed my plans.  After 14 years, I found my calling, took the plunge and jumped back in school. I have to say one of the best decisions of my life. Things haven’t been easy. Being an instructor isn’t as easy as my fellow instructors have made it look. Thankfully the courses at VCC have given me great new skills to make things easier.  They help me to appreciate that every student brings different diversity, different learning needs and styles. All my course so far have opened my eyes to these new learning curves and given me the skills to help focus my classroom into a learner-centred classroom.

To date I have completed 3100, 3210, 3250 and near the end of 3260. It has been a long road to this point. I feel 3100 was one of the biggest challenges for me since it was my first course in near 14 years. It was a big one, with an essay, starting a blog, learning how to journal and much more. I had to learn how to use APA formatting, and how to create a blog, both came with their own learning curves but taught me some great skills I have been expanding a pone in the rest of my courses. My last assignment creating a digital project was so much fun. I never knew I could create my own educational cartoon. I can see myself using this in the future.

Since all of my courses have been online I feel it has also opened my eyes to different challenges my students face.  This is the new day and age and technology is a huge part. These course have taught me a lot of new technology and media, I never knew existed. I am so excited to start incorporating these new things into my presentation and into my classroom.  Part of this new technology has been a blog. I never thought I would enjoy creating a blog as much as I have. Reading my classmate’s blogs, has also been a great experience and very helpful in my learning. Reading their post and their life stories helps bring the online classroom together and create more of a comradery that is hard to find in online course. Through my blog, my life, my experiences, my struggles, my triumphs are posted online along with articles and videos I find useful as a beginner instructor.  I am looking forward to continuing to expand my blog or possibly starting a new one. Maybe one targeted more to the program I am instructing or to farther educated CDA in my community, the possibilities are endless. I found my easiest posts have been on something I am passionate about, finding my own articles, instead of commenting on my textbook has been much more interesting to me.

It’s funny that I found it such a huge decision to continue my education when all a long I have been continuing my education, just in different ways. I have always attended Dental conventions, society meetings, elective course but nothing quiet as big as registering for my PIDP. I am a lifelong learner but never realized it before taking these courses. The more I learn, the more excited I get about my next assignment or my next course. I am looking forward to what the future brings next.