ANTHONY VANDARAKIS, PHD
McGill University
(Department of Integrated Studies in Education)
-Course Instructor
-Remote Learning Coordinator (Faculty)
-Research Investigator
EDUCATOR
My educational experience for the past twenty-three years has provided me with a wide and rich perspective on formal education and school leadership. I have lived in four countries on three continents where I have contributed to grade K-12 education in a range of educational contexts, including high achieving public schools, charter schools serving marginalized urban students, and prominent international schools for children of diplomats and business leaders. I have served as teacher, program coordinator and, for eleven years, as vice principal and principal. Today I am excited about living in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, and researching in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University.
MY RESEARCH:
LIBERATION EDUCATION & EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
In order to situate my thesis research, I would like to provide some school based historical context by examining the work of John Dewey, Kurt Hahn and Paulo Freire as well as share important indigenous contributions by Luther Standing Bear and Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa).
Theoretical Grounding on Trello
MY METHODOLOGY:
PARTICIPANT ETHNOGRAPHY & MULTI-SENSORIAL APPROACH
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has forced society’s hand in recognizing and implementing whole system technology mediated education. Any current study of Western educational institutions or students must include analysis of remote instruction mediated by technology. The pandemic’s seismic shift has also necessitated innovation in communication, telemetry, geo-location and health tracking, and has furthered the integration of screens as necessary for everyday life. Medical exams, doctor’s visits, physical therapy and training are possible through personal health telemetry. Sensory Ethnography is a way of approaching the world that accounts for the ways in which we are emplaced; a growing part of the everyday environment in which we now live is digital and will require studies capable of examining Human Computer Interaction (HCI).
MCGILL UNIVERSITY WORK:
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: EDEC 262
Overview Curriculum and Instruction :
Orientation to the equipment and systems of educational technology. Examination of theories of educational technology, media education and technology education and the exploration and development of possible applications in school settings.
Terms Taught: Winter 2020 (2 sections), Winter 2021 (2 Sections) & Fall 2021 (2 Sections)
EDEC 201 & EDSL 210
E-PORTFOLIO CREATION & SUPPORT
Purpose:
A digital catalogue of your projects, assignments, over the course of your journey will benefit you.
1. Everything you want to showcase is in one place
2. Web publication forces you to pare down exemplars and write tersely
3. As you curate your experiences and reflect on what you have begun, your identity as a burgeoning educator takes further shape
4. Your body of work should help to inform your ideal student placement focus as well as your initial areas of employment interest
Pedagogy:
In my experience in schools: students, curricular units, programs, and departments organize around online platforms.
Your work designing an e-portfolio has direct implications for your work in the classroom
A. Teachers have multiple class sites that incorporate blended and flipped instructional practices & the core practices of site creation/maintenance
B. Students create and maintain mini-sites: demonstrating standards progress, to house project work, and to satisfy third party validation (Ib, AP)
C. Educational Technology (real time/ formative assessments ) connect with most hosting providers
DISE REMOTE LEARNING COORDINATOR: SUPPORT FOR DISE FACULTY
● Curate sources of guidance on remote instruction
○ signpost technologies of note connected to teaching and learning at DISE
○ explain relevant videoconference, software, apps for education and hardware
○ continue the work of Professor Harvey, initially on this g-document and eventually migrate to a page in the McGill/DISE website
● Initiate and maintain a dialogue with professors, instructors and student learners
○ ascertain what is working or not, through various modes of inquiry
○ troubleshoot problematic areas, offer extension to successful practices
○ share best practices, and generalized student feedback
● Serve as a resource to DISE professors, instructors and teams of educators
○ provide 1:1 assistance in remote course: redesign, class activities, assessment
○ as remote support through Fall Term 2020, Winter 2020 format TBD
