Hi!

I’m Janelle, and you have found my e-Portfolio! If you are an educator, colleague, professor, or administrator, you have come to the right place! While this ePortfolio is primarily a tool of reflection and self-growth, there is much to be gained exploring here!
First, a little about myself.  I began my post-secondary education stumbling along, trying to find my way.  I completed a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, at the University of Alberta; moved to Japan, where I taught English for a year; came back to Canada and worked in childcare, until going back to school in 2009 for an Education After Degree. By now, I had a little more perspective and life experience.  I was becoming a better learner because I was learning about learning itself!  What I learned was relevant and applicable to me immediately! Not only that, but my growing cache of experiences gave me richer content to draw upon in constructing knowledge. 
Needless to say, I fell in love with both learning and teaching that year. Upon completion of my B.Ed, I taught grade three in Maskwacis, AB for two years, then at NorQuest College in Wetaskiwin, AB for three years (I began the MET program during this time).  Now, I teach at NorQuest College in Edmonton, AB in a program called Youth in Transition.  
I knew I wanted to purse a master's degree, and I knew I wanted to be able to do it while working.  I shopped around and settled on UBC's Master of Educational Technology program. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into, and it has been quite a journey! I have been challenged all along the way.  This was the first time I got to be both student and teacher concurrently, and I really enjoyed it! Being able to see the theories and concepts I was learning about being applied to myself and my classmates, at the same time as experimenting with applying those same theories and concepts in my own context was very engaging! This combination of perspectives continued to grow my love of learning and passion for teaching.
Ready to see what I learned?
As you hover your mouse over the image below, you will see a “hotspot” for each course from the program. Each hotspot offers the title of the course, overarching themes, cross-course connections, as well as linking to the pages containing the artifacts themselves and detailed reflections on each (by clicking the pop-up images).
Reflections are categorized into the themes of “Teaching and Learning”, “Technology”, and “Personal Growth” and "Metacognition". The interconnectedness of these themes, and the overarching metaphor of "An Expanding Neural Network" can be seen in the reflections on each artifact, but is also highlighted visually through the use of the interactive image below, with the tangled and messy network in the background representing the nonlinear process of learning, knowing, understanding, reflecting, and making connections.
For more about the organization of, and rationale behind, the ePortfolio, click here.  Otherwise, use the image below to explore!
Certain themes, concepts, or ideas permeated the program at large.  Those have been included in the table below for conciseness.  Please consider these in addition to those cross-course and program connections presented in the context of the interactive image above. Furthermore, metacognitive themes were present across all courses, thus only presented here.