Instructor Portfolio

Martin Paul Buck

Overview

Martin Buck has been an instructor at Camosun College since 1987. He has been an active participant in and evaluator of the use of educational technology to help faculty, staff and students gain digital literacy skills.

In 1995 Martin began Learning Webs, a project to develop and deliver online instructional materials for Adult Basic Education math and English students. These are currently being delivered in a blended mode, face-to-face combined with online instruction, in partnership with local community learning centres. As of the spring of 2006 they include the Songhees Employment Learning Centre, Project Literacy Victoria, Saanich Adult Education Centre, Becher Bay Band Learning Centre, Victoria Native Friendship Centre and PEERS.

He is assisting his department and college by meeting the following goals:

· creating and delivering online courseware

· developing local, provincial and national, public and private sector partnerships

· representing the college at local provincial and national committees and conferences

His passion is helping his fellow educators create a " . . . world made transparent by true communications webs (Illich, Ivan. Deschooling Society, 1971, p. 157)." More information is available at the Learning Webs site at http://lwebs.camosun.bc.ca/lwebs/default.html .

Activities

Involved in a wide variety of instructional, project, community, professional and curriculum development, conference and publication activities. A report on the latest project can be found here in MS Word doc format.

Awards

A member of the team that successfully applied for the Federal government’s Community Learning Networks Initiative (February 2005). This partnership of Project Literacy Victoria, the Songhees Employment Learning Centre and Camosun College is creating the South Island Learning Community.

Provincial government’s BCcampus Online Program Development Fund (awarded 2003, completed 2004) to create two new courses and related learning objects.

Award for Outstanding Canadian Distance Educator (October, 2000) from the Instructional Telecommunications Council, an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Instruction

A wide range of subjects including English, French, math, computer studies, introduction to the Internet and HTML. Also consulting and training in the use of WebCT and other online learning technology tools.

Project Work

Member of the following teams:

Project Literacy Victoria board of directors helping implement PLV’s Learning Web project to solicit donations of cast off PC’s, refurbish and make them available to PLV literacy learners. Learners will also be able to access the ABE Learning Webs upgrading program from the PLV site. Received National Literacy Secretariat funding for this project.

Camosun’s International Education Team. Delivered training on online adult learning principles and the use of WebCT to Indonesian educators of SEAMOLEC.

Centre for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology which morphed into BCcampus where he has developed WebCT courses and delivered training.

Professional and Curriculum Development

Continuing to develop the skills necessary to create and deliver online instructional materials. For a portfolio of courses developed, see the results at http://lwebs.camosun.bc.ca/courses

In 1995 completed a Masters’ in Education (Curriculum Development) at the University of Victoria.

In 1989 conducted a pilot of the Pathfinder computer managed learning system for the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education.

Conferences

Presenter at the 2004 e-Learning 2004 Conference of the Instructional Telecommunications Council in San Diego, Ca.

Presenter the first (1999) WebCT conference in Vancouver, BC. Attended the WebCT 2000 international conference at the University of Georgia.

Presenter at the last three of North Island College’s Second Annual Summer Institute on Educational Technology.

A presenter at the 1998 Montreal Summer Institute on Literacy and Technology: Maintaining a Human Face.

Publications

Building Learning Webs -- A Decade or Two Later in the June/July 2003 edition of Connect -- Canada's Resource Publication on Technology and Adult Literacy.

Co-authored with Audrey M. Thomas Analysis Of Integrated Learning Systems And Their Use In Adult Basic Education In British Columbia for the Centre of Curriculum, Transfer and Technology.

Contributed two chapters to Electronic Pathways: Adult learning and the new communication technologies, published by the NIACE, the British National Organisation for Adult Learning.

Masters’ project in Adult Education and Telecommunications completed for the University of Victoria has been used by Faculties of Education at Limerick University in Ireland and George Washington University.

Learning Webs project featured in Best Practices article for WebCT's Online Teaching & Learning Newsletter.