My latest eLearning endeavour is “Facilitating Learning Online” and assignment 1 is to create a biography/introduction to myself. I decided that I also wanted to capture it here so that as I write where I have come from and where I want to go that I can reference back to it a year from now and see if I have indeed accomplished my goals for the year. Hopefully further into the future it will become a great source pride to look back to and see where I was and how far I have come. (When I saw that this assignment was to be 400-600 words I thought, what am I going to write….lots of slashing and several edits later I finally got it to just under 570…it was turning into a book.)
That all being said, my name is Tracy Hamilton and I live in Newmarket, Ontario Canada. I am currently employed as the Education Assistant in the Organization Development Department of Southlake Regional Health Centre. My department is responsible for much of the management training, staff development, team building, computer training, facilitating, and coaching types of activities that typically occur in corporations. We do not do the clinical training of staff as that is left to the capable hands of our nurse educators.
It’s and interesting journey how I got to this position and the path that now lies in front of me. I graduated from high school unsure of what career I wanted, so I bounced around trying various majors of subjects I excelled in school. Computer Science was my first adventure at university and I may have been an executive at Pixar had I realized where animation was heading. Naiveties lead me to believe that a biology degree could only lead to the laboratory or a doctor’s office. Geography excited me greatly even though many would consider this subject sadistic and unfortunately I was convinced at the time that the only job I would find would be a weather girl. Mental note to grade school teachers, let students know all the opportunities and doors that can open from one small subject. I could have been an Egyptologist sitting beside Dr. Zahi Hawass discovering what is up the two secret passages from the Queen’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid later this year. (March 20, 2007 Discovery.com)
I continued my educational journey progressing onward towards mathematics and I completed a 3 year accounting diploma with honours. Several temporary accounts receivable positions later I finally achieved permanent employment at a media production company which soured me enough to quit my job and dedicate myself to looking after my brother, who has cerebral palsy, for a year. Several months into my summer of fun with my brother a secretarial position came up at the local hospital in the Organization Development Department. My various background and job experience actually gave me a very rounded resume that allowed me to present myself as a jack-of-all-trades. I was successful in getting the job and since then have developed it into a completely new scope of work.
One day my manager told me something I found very provoking, “The years will go by no matter what you do, so you might as well have something to show for it when they are gone.” (Janice Baynham) After she told me that I enrolled and completed, through online courses, my Adult Education – Staff Training & Development Certificate. With this new education behind me my manger was able to advocate changing my secretary position into an education assistant. The new found fascination with online learning drove me to now pursue a certificate in eLearning.
My goal now is to continue down this path of education and e-exploration. I am an active member in the eLearning Guild and recently attending their Annual Gathering in Boston. The wealth of knowledge I gained there was incredible and priceless. The people I met were so fascinating and inspiring that I am now determined to change my job yet again and develop it into a Learning Management Systems Coordinator. A little more training, developing and e-exploring I’m sure will get me there by the end of the year.