17 September 2007

Learning is Such a Buzz

Image: [eatingorange]


Last Thursday our NSW and QLD 'Managers in e-Learning' LearnScope teams came together to hear first a presentation by Nigel Paine who talked about Leaders and Managers supporting e-Learning, and then Jo Kay gave a wonderful introduction to Second Life. Both presentations were a real buzz!

The key message for me from Nigel's was that Managers need to 'create the space and protect it'. It might be space for the innovators to try things out, or it might be the 'space' for conversations to occur, for informal learning to take place. What was the key message for you?

The Introduction to Second Life brought home to me personally how you need to be 'ready' to learn about new technologies. Frustrating for the innovators and early adopters I know, when you are trying to encourage the majority to take on new initiatives but readiness I believe is the key! I have had the opportunity to learn about Second Life a few times now and while it interested me, I just never quite got it and wasn't that keen to pursue it - too many other things on my mind and to learn I guess. But this time I was ready and it was such a buzz! I definitely want to dive in now and learn more about Second Life. Jo Kay and Sean Fitzgerald have set up a fabulous wiki - Second Life in Education - exploring the different educational uses of Second Life, and so much more. The other critical link given by Jo was Virtual Worlds - Real Learning - a 2006 Australian Flexible Learning Framework Project - a wonderful resource that covers everything including facilitation techniques, technical requirements, and real case studies in VET.

2 comments:

geoff baldry said...

sorry I missed it, but reading the comments it sounds like it was a good session.

Val Evans said...

Don't forget you can check it out on the recordings Geoff, one of the wonderful features of both Elluminate and Adobe Connect. But don't try connecting to Elluminate from within the TAFE firewall - try from home.

Hey, and great to hear from you and wonderful to see that you are still with us:-) I know workloads and other priorities often push PD down the ladder and it is very difficult for Managers, but hang in there.