While thinking about my flight path for interactive and multimedia learning, it has become clear that although I have taken a variety of education courses surrounding multimedia, it can still feel daunting at times. It excites me to further build upon my knowledge, especially in gaining tools as an educator. I have always been drawn to designing and creating interactive resources for my students, or for people in my life in general. This has shaped my relationship with technology and learner-centred methods, along with all of the benefits that come with them. I believe I have gained some strengths in designing interactive presentations, video design, digital art, and design thinking, and I am continually working toward creating stronger lesson plans and materials that truly support a positive learning environment.

I hope to gain more tools to better empathize with learners, understand problems, and respond accordingly. I never want my lack of resources or understanding to limit a student’s growth. Additionally, I acknowledge that I have unlearning to do as well as learning, as I want to lean toward evolving and forward-thinking methods that I may not have experienced as a learner in grade school. I want to learn ways to make learning more accessible and methods to make lesson design or resources more adaptable. Throughout my education degree, there was a large focus on universal design for learning. Through that, I found that, as a new educator, I do not yet have the experience to always anticipate my learners’ needs at the design stage of a lesson. As a result, some of the most important tools I gained were “on-the-fly” accessibility and adaptability strategies, and I hope to continue developing those practical skills and resources. I also hope to gain a better sense of how to choose the type of multimedia that best fits a specific learning goal. Overall, these aims connect to an overarching goal of using multimedia intentionally through a combination of learning theory, design, storytelling, and technology.

As for potential turbulence, candidly, I can struggle with the unstructured nature of an asynchronous course and may fall behind due to a lack of scheduling and planning on my end. However, I have systems that have helped me in the past, such as keeping a synced planner on my phone and laptop so I never miss a due date and can easily add tasks as they come up. Additionally, the support of friends in the class has made all the difference in my education. COVID taught me that I learn best when I have others to bounce ideas off of and confirm understanding. All in all, I need to ensure that I give myself the time and space to plan effectively.

By the end of this course, I would like to have a collection of prototype resources that I could realistically use as a teacher on call or in my future classroom. For example, having a short video as an introduction or icebreaker activity for first-time TTOC-ing in a classroom, or interactive diagrams or presentations that connect to a staple storybook in my TTOC bag. It makes me excited to think about all the possibilities multimedia brings to my career, and I am looking forward to discovering and growing in this course.