About Me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi everybody and welcome to my Master of Educational Technology (MET) ePortfolio website!

 

My name is Milorad Zivkovic, and I am an Educational and Information Technology Support Specialist at NorQuest College in Edmonton, Alberta. I have a few backgrounds (micro electronic, computers, political science and educational technology) and fruitful 32 years of combined experience in different capacities, so during all these years I perfected my learning strategies, increased my learning capacity, so I easily learn whatever interests me, and is needed in my professional field of practice.

 

The above Napoleon Hill's quote is among the most intriguing truths and light motives, and one of the most inspiring quotes for me.

 

Beside helping and supporting teaching and learning of post secondary instructors and learners, I have been practicing and promoting self-directed lifelong learning and actively researching the optimization, design and application of new media and emerging mobile technologies in various learning environments, to enable and support teachers and students seamless access to LMS, OER and other available learning resources for synergical and meaningful knowledge building, individually and collectively, synchronously/asynchronously in their PLCs and PLNs, for fully technologically supported interactions with the wide pools of various learners, for dynamically and effectively addressing of their learning needs, and scaffolding their overall success.  

 

I’m also an avid follower, researcher, analyst, experimenter and critic of Information and Communication Technology developments in general, and especially the ones meaningful for decent improving of education and general well being of people worldwide.

I prefer new and improved pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy, and even though I take the best learning approaches and practices from every major learning theory, I base my learning philosophy on the tenets of social constructivism, highly appreciating the works of Dewey, Piaget, Bruner and Vygotsky, constantly trying to implement them in my practices, whenever possible.

 

I just completed my Master of Educational Technology Program at the University of British Columbia, and I hold a B.A. and Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. During all those years, I’ve strived to continuously educated myself, so I taken lots of various professional exams and courses, earned many certificates, and gained lots of valuable theoretical and practical experience in microelectronics, telecommunications, computer software and hardware, technical and web design, and various desktop and mobile Windows and Mac OS based professional applications and suites.

 

I've been learning about computers and microelectronic since 1974, and after the revolutionary take off of Apple desktops intended for educational environments in early1980's and later, I saw a tremendous potential of computers for learning.

It is nicely summarized in the two of Steve Jobs famous quotes:

 

"Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn."

and

"You'll see more and more perfection of that - computer as servant. But the next thing is going to be computer as a guide or agent."

- Steve Jobs

 

After the extensive research on educational technology master programs available in Canada and US, I chose, applied and enrolled into the UBC world class MET program to build, improve and sharpen my theoretical, practical and digital art skills and design frameworks in the general field of education, and especially in the dynamic field of educational technologies, to gradually acquire leading edge knowledge in educational research theory and practice, educational ventures, selection, design, and application, learning environments, distributed learning and e-learning, pedagogical, andragogical and heutagogical learning theories and practices, mobile education, digital arts, social and new media, ePortfolios, etc., essential for managing the technological opportunities and challenges for delivery of the leading edge teaching and learning in the 21st century.

 

Even though, I was professionally supporting various technologically supported learning environments for more than a decade, the MET program online delivery has fully immersed me into a world of online learning, where I’ve enjoyed learning about and applying decent educational technology theoretical and practical frameworks, collaborating with colleagues and building new knowledge, as well as designing engaging lessons and projects using various types of social media and web tools, which resulted in exceptional synergy and additional sharpening and total strengthening of my theoretical and practical skills, frameworks and perspectives.

 

My future goals include pursuing doctoral degree in educational leadership, for the sake of pursuing my quest of further personal development for constant improvement of educational technologies, instructional design and delivery by researching and applying all kinds of new learning theories and novelty technologies, UDL and UDI, use of social and new media, e-learning, mobile learning, distributed learning, differentiated learning and assistive technologies for fully achieving the 21st century learning outcomes.

 

My personal interests are focused on current policy analysis and improvement, exploring educational potentials and application of emerging information communication software and hardware technologies, social media, digital publishing, entertainment, gaming, music, movies, books, arts and traveling, etc. for the sake of my personal fulfillment and supporting people development worldwide.

 

I believe that good education can positively change the world, as emphasized in Nelson Mandela's two sound and famous quotes:

 

'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.'

and

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
- Nelson Mandela

 

Therefore, I feel that there are many more hills to climb, and naturally I want to continue my education and further pursue my quest of excellence, so I look for the next leading edge educational journey, to climb higher and broaden my horizons, as much as possible. That way, I will be personally fulfilled and much more empowered to help improving all aspects of educational technologies. 

 

Currently, there are three excellent students in my family, my two high school daughters and I, synergicaly united in never-ending pursuing of our mutual quest to achieving excellence and doing our best in learning and knowledge building, so you can imagine dynamical learning and knowledge building atmosphere, especially during the assignment and exam preparation times. 

 

I am really thankful to my spouse, daughters, wide family, relatives, friends, supporters and the NorQuest College management, teachers, staff and students for their patience, full understanding and unconditional support during my three year MET journey. 

 

About the MET program

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Master of Educational Technology (MET) is the World Class program that offers a fully online graduate degree that explores the potential use and impact of learning technologies in a variety of contexts. UBC is an internationally-recognized leader in distributed education, and the Faculty members work on the leading edge of curriculum design and technology integration.

Skilled Educators create rich learning environments where students are introduced to new ideas, develop new skills, and expand their perspectives. The informed use of technology can engage students in new experiences and create a community of learners across geographical boundaries. The UBC Master of Educational Technology (MET) is a fully online graduate-level program offered by a world-renowned university, that has attracted students from over 35 countries.  In addition to the master’s degree, there are two specialized graduate certificates both of which ladder into the degree program.

The master’s program consists of ten 3-credit courses and provides an in-depth opportunity for students to interact online with colleagues around the globe who are working in technology-supported learning environments. Students in the master’s program must complete all four required core courses and six electives.

 

This innovative program provides an excellent environment in which to learn and engage in:

 

– Teaching/Instruction using Learning Technologies
– Planning and Management of Learning Technologies
– Design and Development of Learning Technologies

 

During my MET@UBC journey I really learned a lot, was lucky that I was taught by some of the best graduate level instructors in

the educational technology field worldwide, shared decent theoretical perspectives and practices, actively learned with/from and collaborated with/from some of the most dedicated colleagues/professionals/experts in their respective educational and other fields from many world countries, was a part of the class where the average class grade was awesome 92%, so I can truly and proudly witness that the UBC MET program is the best choice for leading edge educational technology education in Canada and wider!

 

MET is a WAY to GO!

 

Thanks for your time dedicated to visiting of my ePortfolio website. I promise it will be quite interesting learning experience.

 

 

References:

 

Napoleon Hill (n.d.). Proverbia.net. Retrieved from http://en.proverbia.net/citasautor.asp?autor=13441

 

Nelson Mandela (n.d) GoodReads.com. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/367338.Nelson_Mandela

 

Steve Jobs. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stevejobs416899.html

 

Steve Jobs. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved  from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stevejobs416901.html