Biography

Rob Wall’s life in a nutshell

Does anyone else feel vaguely embarassed when writing these things? Does anyone not feel vaguely embarassed?

The short version

  • I am a teacher in the public school system (coming up on 14 years in the game).
  • I am a student in the Educational Communication and Technology program at the University of Saskatchewan.
  • I have been interested in learning, education, teaching and computer technology for about 25 years. What can I say - I was precocious. :^)
  • I believe that the potential exists for the most fundamental shift in education since the invention of the printing press; I hope that current educational institutions are willing to embrace change rather than resist it.

The long version

I was educated in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, including secondary schooling at Old Scona Academic High School. Immediately after graduation, I studied at the University of Alberta, obtaining Bachelor degrees in Science (Specialization in Genetics) and Education (Secondary Education - Biology Major and Social Studies Minor).

My first three years of work as a teacher gave me an opportunity to experience a number of schools and classrooms as a substitute teacher. I also had temporary contracts teaching at Memorial Composite High School in Stony Plain, and Tofield School in Tofield. In a strange, Welcome-Back-Kotterish twist of fate, I taught on a probationary contract with Edmonton Public Schools at Horse Hill School, where I attended as a student from Grades 2 through 9. Wow, the building sure did get smaller in those intervening years; and it took me a few weeks before I really felt comfortable eating my lunch in the staff room.

I would have stayed on to teach permanently with Edmonton Public Schools, except for two reasons. The first reason is the future former Premier of Alberta so I won’t go into too much detail on that. The second reason was that my (now) wife graduated from the U of A, and wanted to return home to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I quickly came to love Saskatoon - I think its one of the greatest places to live! While in Saskatoon, I taught on more temporary contracts at Bishop James Mahoney High School and at Hafford School (which was just over an hour’s drive from Saskatoon, but I managed to make enough to pay for the gas with a bit of spending money for myself).

In 1997, I started teaching at North Battleford Comprehensive High School. I have taught a wide variety of courses - Accounting, Biology, Computer Science, Computer Networking, Information Processing, Science and Theory of Knowledge. From 2000 to 2002, I was the Battlefords School Division computer coordinator, a position that was aimed at helping teachers and students during our transition to a thin-client centered infrastructure within our schools; this transition resulted in a student/computer ratio within the school division of approximately 2 to 1. I also piloted Computer Networking , a Cisco Networking Academy program, within the school division; I still teach students in Grades 10 through 12 in the Networking program. In addition to teaching Biology 20 and Computer Networking, I am also the school computer enhanced learning and technology catalyst (CELTC) teacher.

About the same time as my position as computer coordinator began, I also became a dad. My family is my greatest source of strength, frustration, joy and inspiration (often all at once). As Mr. Incredible says, “(They) are my greatest adventure.” (Update - as of March 14, 2006, I am a double dad after the arrival of my son. Life just keeps getting crazier in the best possible way.)

Since 2002, I have been enrolled in the Educational Communication and Technology program at the University of Saskatchewan. Currently, I am working on my project (an educator’s guide to digital audio). Next year I need to take one more class, then I will have completed my Master’s degree in Education. My academic and research interests are:

  • weblogs as components of decentralized online communities
  • virtual learning communities
  • informal learning
  • distance education (especially online)
  • learning content management systems
  • instructional design
  • audio as an instructional tool, and how audio is produced and used by teachers
  • especially podcasts or netcasts or whatever they’re being called these days
<li>the influence of teachers' tacit theories of learning on integration of computer technology in the classroom</li>
<li>web site usability - most school web sites are not very well planned for usabilty; what kind of message does this send to students, staff, parents and communities?</li>
<li>the open source movement's effect on education and learning</li>
<li>anything else that I think of after this page is written :^)</li>

I have also been a speaker, instructor and consultant in several of the areas mentioned above.

Along with Rick Schwier, Alec Couros and Dean Shareski, I am a co-host/panelist on the EdTech Posse podcast. I also do the post-production and most of the maintenance of the web site.