About

The idea for the easierway.ca blog/website came from the realization that unless we (Academics, Educational Technology Experts, Instructional Designers, Information Technology Experts etc.) find ways to encourage faculty, administration and staff to use technology on a daily basis for routine tasks our chances of getting these people to effectively use technology in an academic setting, in the classroom or online are limited.

Much of the technology that we do use or deploy in the academic setting is much too difficult to use so many faculty, administrators and staff do not view technology as  something that can actually save them time and make them more efficient but as something that can easily consume vast amounts of time, requires extensive training and is just too bothersome to learn to use.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Through the easierway.ca blog we hope to change the way that many people view technology and show our subscribers that there always and easier way and if USED APPROPRIATELY technology can make ones life easier, more efficient and can even save valuable time.

All the tools, software, or hardware (herein referred to as tools) that we will review and recommend will only be included in this site based on the following criteria:

• They do not required any training or instruction to be used – if one has to crack a training manual or enroll in a course to use the tool then there must be a better or easier tool.
• The tools must actually make one’s life easier, provide levels of efficiency and actually save time.
• The tools must be free/open source or if they aren’t free, they must provide exceptional value and be of a minimal cost.
• We actually use them.

Finally, the notion of always looking for an easier way or perhaps the better way should be at the heart of learning and at the heart of academia. Education or more specifically learning should be an empowering experience and the tools, systems and methodologies that we use in this process should always provide a way for us to improve and enrich our lives.

Who are we:

As perpetual student of inquiry, Dr. Dwayne Harapnuik has directed his inquisitive nature and focused his scholarly and professional efforts in the field of instructional technology, web-based learning, and constructivism. Dwayne received his PhD. in Educational Psychology from the University of Alberta and is currently the Manager Educational Technology at Lethbridge College and was recenlty an Adjunct Professor for the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. As the Manager Educational Technology, Dwayne’s primary focus is to provide vision, leadership, expertise and creativity to support and develop the use of educational/instructional technology at Lethbridge College.

As an advocate of practical hands-on learning Dwayne puts theory into practice as a consultant and recently served as a Directory of Information Technologies for one of largest private Residential Real Estate firms in North America and also currently serves as a Chief Information Officer for a global mission and relief organization.

Dwayne balances his academic and professional career by regularly volunteering his time and efforts in a variety of community based programs and by focusing on his family which include his wife Marilyn and sons Levi and Caleb.

Tyler Wall:

Excited to teach and inspired to learn are both good descriptions that describe who Tyler wall is and much like his colleague Dwayne,  Tyler has an inquisitive nature that never ceases. His passion for finding the perfect tool for problems in specific situations makes him an ideal candidate to explore the web looking for new and useful web 2.0 tools that he can apply to e-learning.

Tyler graduated from the Multi-Media Production program at Lethbirdge College and is now working there as a Media Specialist where he has his hands in many different projects and is an expert in many desktop and online applications. He is always on call to consult on which tools will work best and if he doesn’t have an answer will find one in short order.

Tyler spends his  off time with his beautiful wife Carmen and working on freelance consulting , web design, and digital painting/illustration projects like his ongoing personal project “Forgotten Empire”.