Your stories - where were you when you did the MOOC?

David Vize attended our workshop in Townsville, in April, as part of the collaboration between the CSER team and the Smith Family to provide opportunity and support for disadvantaged schools to participate in the Young ICT Explorers competition. CSER Project Officer, Toni Falusi, shares David's story.

His technology teaching story began with a career change after being made redundant. He decided that although the overall fiscal benefits of working in mining were evident, it did not allow him to be present on a daily basis in his family’s life. Faced with the prospect of travelling offshore to pursue future employment David decided to embrace a change and an Education degree. He had always enjoyed teaching others and sharing skills that he had mastered, including guitar and rock climbing so it seemed a logical path for him to follow.

Completing a Diploma of Education, together with his experience in coding, he quickly found employment at Townsville State High School and took on the responsibility of teaching technologies. Realising at the end of his first year in 2016 that he needed to quickly develop his understanding of the Digital Technologies curriculum, he discovered the CSER MOOCs.

David spent the January holidays holed up in an attic in Belgium and worked through the 7-8: Next Steps and 9-10 Explore! MOOCs, whilst his family explored the sights and sounds of the beautiful city. He credits the MOOCs with providing him with the ability to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to align the school programs to the curriculum requirements. In addition, it also taught him about the processes involved in project development and management as well as links to resources and learning tools.

David’s story got me thinking, how many other teachers have worked through the MOOCs in interesting locations? We would love to hear your story.