Meet Keith Webster from University of Victoria

Emily Schudel, Consultant, Distance Ed Services, University of Victoria and member of the Steering Committee for ETUG contributed the following member profile featuring her colleague Keith Webster.

Tell us a bit about where you work and what you do.

I work at Distance Education Services at the University of Victoria.  What I do boils down to a certain amount of instructional design and a certain amount of educational technology support and development, but that isn’t what it says on my business card.  I also teach education technology as a sessional at the Faculty of Education and online at Thompson Rivers.

How long have you been involved in teaching and learning and educational technology?

Teaching, since the mid 1980s, but I started teaching with technology in the ‘90s using a traditional PowerPoint and projector show, and then started teaching online around 1999 using a combination of an LMS and a purpose-built website.  I have been doing instructional design for distance since 2004 at UVic.

What’s one thing you really love about the work you do?

[deafening silence as Keith considers…]
I would say it’s getting to play around with technology, especially for media in learning.  The other would be getting the opportunity to show instructors ways to teach online that they hadn’t considered, so being able to solve a problem in a way that is unexpected, being able to save time with less effort, and making lessons more effective.

4. How long have you been a member of ETUG?

I’m not really sure.  I first went to a spring workshop in maybe 2005 or 2006.  But I’m not certain what makes one a member…I don’t have a membership card…maybe we should have cards.

What do you like best about this community and its activities?

The practical, informal nature of the things ETUG organizes and presents.  So much of it is about how you will manage something next week.  The layout of the workshops makes it easy to ask questions and learn exactly how the topic might fit into your own context.

Do you have a favorite ETUG memory?

Hmm…well, I’d be torn between a few workshop presentations that revealed simple solutions to challenges I faced at work, and watching the Canucks win during the last spring workshop in Nelson!

What would you like ETUG to provide more of in terms of benefits/value to members? Any input or help you want to ask members to provide?

Membership cards, and maybe a secret handshake.  I like the practically-oriented sessions at the workshops,  I think typically there are lots of them, and I’m not sure I would like to see more than 2 workshops per year, and if the Fall workshop became more then one day, I don’t think that would be practical.  The workshops, though, are the biggest value.

Do you have any special interests/hobbies?

I used to, but now I mostly introduce my kids into the things I like to do, for example, hiking, skiing and canoeing.  Someday I hope to have my own hobbies and interests again…

Anything special you what to ask or share with members?

Nope!