Kate's Story

Kate’s Distance Education Story.
Kate enrolled in the Early Learning and Childcare program this fall and is currently completing her third and fourth courses in the certificate program. Kate says, “I'm living in Yellowknife” and “I was already working at the Montessori” before beginning in the Early Learning and Childcare program and “chose the distance program so I can continue working.” Kate says the reason she enrolled in the program was because “I've always loved small children, even when I was a small child, I would always gravitate towards the… babies. So I get along well with them and I thought why not make it a career?” Kate adds, “I wanna learn how to better take care of children and teach them.” Kate has also had previous experience with distance learning, and she states, “I've done online schooling for animal behavior.”
Engagement.
When asked about engagement Kate says, “I haven't been in a classroom setting for very long” having begun the program this past fall. Kate says, “we have classes every … week.” “[We] gather on Teams and [the instructor] will do a lesson plan.” Having instructional support in the online classes Kate says is, “really nice… it clears things up; it helps me quite a bit.” “It helps to focus what I'm learning, or I can just ask the teacher a question [in the virtual class]. We can always e-mail her a question, but sometimes it's better to just ask face-to-face on Teams”. Kate also reflects on engagement with other students and says, “when we're using Teams… it's nice because I get to chat with the other students and sometimes … my teachers will break us off into little groups, and we'll discuss a question.” Kate also says, “It's nice having some experience… [and] chats with the other students just to engage with them.”
Supportive Relationships.
Kate says, “I have two of my coworkers [who are] also in the same courses I am [in]... So, during our work we’ll discuss it [school] amongst each other. We'll tell each other how it's going [and] … what problems we're sharing and so it's nice to have a have that support.” Kate also says, “my teachers are … very supportive.” Janna… [is] very good at getting back [to me] and she's very understanding of people's difficulties, so that's … very good. Same with my other teacher … both very understanding and … try to help … us through problems.”
Course Content and Resources.
When Kate was asked about the course format she says, “it's a little hectic. It's a little… crazy sometimes like just with all the… different places we have to send in our assignments, either by e-mail or by the Moodle, Padlets, or by the CAP Excel. So sometimes you're not sure which one you're supposed to use or if there's two of them [or if and when] you're supposed to use [each] at the same time.” Kate adds, “I preferred it when everything was on Moodle, just one thing and that's all we had … I can handle the… three or more programs I need to use… but it's … more difficult and confusing sometimes.”
Kate further elaborates through an example, she says, “the last two courses were on Moodle... it was very straightforward. It was very easy to follow. We only really needed to use that one [program]. [In these current] two courses we need to use different softwares, we use Moodle, we use Excel, we use the Teams, so there's different stuff to get around. I had some difficulties with Excel. I would type in a CAP entry, and then I'd go back and like, well, that entry is gone suddenly. So that was annoying … I also had these four modules we had to do and I wasn't able to access them on my computer. My computer was simply having difficulty just loading it, so … I couldn't do that.” Kate explains, “I had to go [in] on the weekend to the school and do it at the computer library. So again, someone who's living farther up north with not as many resources can't walk over to the computer library, would have a difficult time if they have the same problem … Most of the CAPs I put in [the excel spreadsheet] they stayed. They stayed in, but a few of them just suddenly disappeared … I had to put them in again … I decided to write [the CAP entries first] on Word and then save it on Word, copy, and paste it onto Excel.”
Kate is in now in her third and fourth classes and is using Moodle (for resources), Excel (for CAP assessments), and Teams for her weekly classes. When asked about how that was going for her Kate says, “I think it's okay; I did prefer … just using the Moodle … it was more straightforward, easier, just having everything right there.”
Assignments and Assessments.
When asked about assignments, Kate says, “our teacher will set up a PowerPoint and that's how they teach us in Teams, so they'll upload that PowerPoint so we can go through it ourselves to help us with our work, and they'll also give us our assignments for the week. So that's what we use Moodle for really.”
Assessment requirements are sometime confusing. Instructors also provide students with assignments using Padlet. Kate provides an example and says, “There's a Padlet that we put our assignments in for one class, and then another class we emailed them to our teacher but… I had some difficulty. I emailed my assignments to my teacher, but it was only later that I [realized] …that I had to write an activity points in a CAP [also] … I probably got a point taken off for not writing activity points in the CAP… when I was supposed to, by the deadline, but I had finished the assignment by the deadline so I just didn’t realize until later I had to write that into the CAPs.”
Kate prefers traditional assessments and says, “I'd like to do some more … assignments … or even tests, knowledge tests, because that's something … I can work on. I don't need the experience for that, I can just work on that, but for the CAPs I'm running out of experience to put down on … The CAPs are all right, but we're relying too much on the CAPs.” Kate says, “I know I'm not the only one with this problem with lack of experience; we've discussed it amongst ourselves.”
Challenges.
Kate speaks about challenges with learning and how this impacts her studies and says, “ever since I was younger, I've been very slow with a learning. I had difficulties … reading through something at a fast pace [and] I'll usually … take … longer than everyone else … in writing tests and … getting projects done, I'll take a longer time.” Kate adds, “I tried to speed up but it's difficult for me.” Kate’s preferences for learning include “listening and then reading through” the course materials and assignments.
When asked about the program’s focus on experience and reflection for assessments, Kate says, “That has been very difficult for me … I don't have too much experience … I've volunteered at my church’s nursery … [when] I was a teenager then. I wasn't in charge, I just looked after the kids.” Kate also adds, “I've [also] babysat, I was like basically a nanny for a young infant for a year, but there are some questions on the CAPs … that I just don't have any experience with. So it's like, what do I write? How do I get through this? Because I don't remember having to do any of this, so that's the most difficult part.” Kate questions, “How am I gonna get through that? … I did try to answer the question without some bringing any… experience up because I had no experience.” Kate communicates how the experience she is referencing is important and provides “my understanding of it” but “I don't get a very high mark on that … I'll get feedback saying, ‘you should put in your one experience of this’ … Well, I don't have one experience of this so … that part is difficult.”
Kate has also had challenges with access to computers and technology. Kate says, “I did have some troubles like we were supposed to print out something and I don't have a printer, but I was able to go to the school. Because we're in the same place [Yellowknife] and I printed it off at the school. But for someone who lives up in a northern community and they wouldn't [have access to printing services]. They would have a much more difficult time being able to access a printer if they don't have one.”
One Word to Describe Why You are Successful.
When asked to use one word to describe herself, Kate’s one word was “determined”, and she indicated that she is “determined to just get through it”.
Most Important Thoughts from the Interview.
When asked what were the three most important things Kate shared in her interview, Kate says, “Difficulties about the CAP because that's come up a lot; I'm not the only one … a lot of us seem to be having problems with that.” Kate’s second point is, “How it was … easier just using one program like Moodle and how am I was able to get through some of my problems like by … going to the library to use the school computers but someone farther up north, [a person in a] more secluded community wouldn't have been able to do that. But again, this is online; it's an online course… that's gonna pop up.”
Final Thoughts.
When Kate was asked about why the certificate was important to her Kate says, “It'll show that, that I was able to pass the course … that I have … new [and] more knowledge and [the certificate] will help me be able to get into a job if I move, or just help raise me up into a better position… in a few years or so. I'm good with my position right now, but I may wanna have … [a] higher up [position] like an Assistant Teacher.”