My name is Michael and I live in Ottawa. I am married and I have 4 sons and my wife has 2 daughters, and we are enjoying an empty nest.
I am a carpenter by trade. I completed my early training and licensing in Fort St. John, BC. I currently teach carpentry at Algonquin College. I have a B.Sc. in Math from Carleton U. and 1 year of Teacher Training from McGill U.
Most of my free time is spent building houses, now mostly for Habitat for Humanity in Ottawa or for Global Village in Honduras, Nicaragua, or in the Yukon.
I love the outdoors and I recently rekindled my love for fishing at Queen Charlotte Lodge on Haida Gwai/Graham Island.
I am pursuing the Graduate certificate in Online Teaching and Learning as I know that it will continue to have a greater presence at the college.
I teach Construction courses that include Residential & Commercial Construction, Plan Reading , Building Code, Estimating, Drafting,, Surveying, Trade Calculations, and Construction Geometry, at all 3 levels of Apprenticeship Training. There is very little on line or hybrid found in the current curriculum, except for Construction Safety and the Occupational Health & Safety Act. The apprentices are being prepared to write their Qualification exam which is set in a traditional format, 100 multiple-choice questions. This could be done at computer terminals, but for now security of the exams and the associated costs have them done on paper.
From the TSA, I don’t know if there are areas with which I can be of assistance , seeing that I am a definite ‘digital immigrant’. However, I would like to learn how to teach and evaluate using the technology as opposed to assigning homework ‘on the line’. The Google movie was great. I believe that this series of courses can teach an old dog new tricks.
You can reach me at nauthm13 l at l mytru l .l ca.
Tags: EDDL 5111
Great to meet you Michael.
It is interesting that you have been to Kamloops. I see that you have your degree in Mathematics, so do I! I have also been to Ottawa while I was in high school. I went on a trip called “Encounters with Canada”.
It sounds like you have a wealth of knowledge in MANY areas. Good for you for keeping up to date with the technology 🙂
Hi Michael,
Good to see you in the course. I think there could be a case made for putting more of the theory or regulatory aspects of a trades program online. One area where we have found this to be important is in programs where the typical student is already employed in the field and needs to upgrade their skill set.
A program could expand its offerings by being able give several months of online preparatory instruction prior to an intensive few weeks on campus. Regardless much of what you will learn here also helps with the online support that can be very important even to on-campus skills-based programs.
Good luck,
Keith
Hi Michael…. Are you in 5111 as well? I saw your name on the course blog but it says Michael’s Blog – page not found… I did see that you commented on someones intro so you must be around! Interesting mix of carpentry and “online” — I am an ESL teacher but also an artist / artisan in mosaic so I am thinking of different applications for an online aspect of teaching mosaic work. Look forward to working with you … nina — nina-d/at/hotmail/com
Hi Nina
I replied to your email address. I’ll figure this out soon.
Hi Michael,
Nice to meet you. Looking forward to working with you on the course.
Cheers,
Jo