Meet Grant Potter from The University of Northern British Columbia

Kyle Hunter, Technical Advisor from BCIT, asks Grant Potter from The University of Northern British Columbia about his ETUG experiences.

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

I am a faculty member at UNBC working with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology managing educational technologies and instructional design for the university.

How long been involved in teaching and Learning and ed technology?

I have been working in teaching, learning, and technology since the late 1990s. I started working with educational technologies with the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Employment in the NWT developing the capacity for distributed education across the Western Arctic using the Ardicomm frame relay satellite DCN. I then worked in China for a number of years with an offshore BC private school school teaching AP Computer Science classes, managing their SIS (student information system), system administration with Moodle 1.0, and tinkering with early content management systems. Upon moving back to Canada I worked as a high school principal as administrator of a distributed learning school in Northern BC before beginning my work with UNBC.

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

I love working with educational technologies because it is a perfect blend for me of educator and maker roles. My work challenges me to be creative with my designs and ideas while using my educator lenses to always remain mindful of learning processes and outcomes from a student-centered perspective.

How long have you been a member of ETUG? What do you like best about this community and its activities?

I have been a member of ETUG since 2008. I really enjoy the diversity of talents and perspectives in the ETUG community and the great sense of collaboration and collegiality among the membership.

Do you have a favorite ETUG memory?

Every ETUG event is memorable, but my gold medal ETUG memory would have to be the road trip to the Spring 2011 ETUG Workshop with Jason Toal in the #ds106radio elCamino and the week that followed with friends and colleagues in beautiful Nelson, BC. I had the good fortune to meet lots of fantastic people during the trip, learned a great deal during the ETUG workshops, and discovered a truly wonderful part of the province.

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

It would be great to have a searchable directory of ETUG members that includes areas of expertise. This would be a huge help when looking for inter-institutional collaborators.

Do you have any special interests/hobbies?

I love tinkering and building with open source DIY electronics ( arduino, RPi, circuit-bending ) and enjoy making noise in rock bands. I have been having a blast for the last 2 years playing with open source software to support distributed mobile streaming frameworks with the http://ds106.us clan and have some web audio projects underway in 2013 with a few US universities that I am looking forward to.

Anything special you what to ask or share with members?

If you can’t open it, you don’t own it.