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.

Mid-Program Reflection

[image: Vaeltaja]


We are half way in our 10 week program, so it is definitely time to take stock and reflect on how things are going, and how they could improve. Here are four questions to get you started, but please feel free to add anything else:

1. What has been the most significant learning for you so far, from the Managers in e-Learning LearnScope program?

2. How have you applied in your workplace, what you have been learning to-date?

3. On a scale of 1-5 please rate your experience as a participant in the Managers in e-Learning LearnScope program to-date. (1 being a very negative experience and 5 a very positive experience).

4. What needs to change in the remainder of the program for your experience to be better?

Make life easier with RSS

OK, you're all busy people and haven't got time to check out all these websites to keep abreast of what's new. Understood! So that's what RSS is all about. Get the latest to come to you by using a reader/aggregator. That's how I found all those bits and pieces in my previous post. Oh, and I don't want it all in my email as I get enough of those too.

First of all, what is RSS? Check out RSS in Plain English by Lee and Sachi Le Fever. This really is an explanation for dummies like me. It makes it sound so simple with some very clear instructions on how to set up RSS. Thanks to Nancy White for pointing to it in her Full Circle Online Interaction Blog.

I use Google Reader - it is simple to use and I have it embedded in iGoogle which is set as my browser's home page. That way, when I open my browser, I can see if anyone has been updating their blogs or websites. I can check what they have to say straight away, or I can do it later, but what is important to me is that I can quickly see if there are any updates to read.



More importantly, I can see if any of our Managers in e-Learning participants have been posting to our blog or wiki - check out our Wiki Resources to find out how I did it. This is much easier than visiting the blog and/or wiki daily to see if you have been doing your homework:-)

I found this easy to follow video by Andy Wibbels which shows you how to set up Google Reader .

Interesting Bits and Pieces

My 'bloggers of interest' have been busy this week. Here are a few bits and pieces of interest to share:

They do talk! This week the Framework brought together some IT specialists and educationalists to talk to each other. Finally!!! See what Robyn Jay had to say on the NSW LearnScope blog.

Another posting by Robyn Jay on Personal Knowledge Management. Robyn refers us to an article by Dave Pollard who seems to make it all sound easy - so why does it seem so hard!

We knew that the Framework's next 4-year strategy 2008-2011 was being finalised was released a few weeks ago. Well, it's happened which is great but personally I am a tad concerned with the move from capability development to client engagement. It has to happen of course, but LearnScope has been a valuable professional development (PD)program since its inception (1997) and we're only now just tapping into the critical mass. Oh well, hopefully organisations will continue to support PD and it will be integrated into Client Engagement.

Steven Parker introduced his People Learning Management System. I like it and love the idea of the learning object being the people - puts us at the centre don't you think?

Nancy White pointed me to Graham Wegner's slideshare on Blogging as Professional Learning. Graham has clearly presented a guide as to how we can learn from and contribute to blogs for our own personal learning.

Another terrific slideshare noted by several bloggers this week is Alex Hayes' on m-Learning. I won't spend too much time on this one though as Alex is presenting to us in a few weeks. (By the way, Alex became a Dad this week to Ethan William Hayes -congratulations Alex and Jane. And he was answering emails at 3 am in the morning too - phew!)

George Siemens refers to an article on education as an 'Industry in Crisis'. I fully concur with George's statements. Certainly we in VET are caught betwixt/between, ie we have to meet industry needs but as educationalists we want our students to learn.

Last but not least, is Stephen Downes' reference to Wikipedia's Imminent Demise. We've heard this week about staff in Govt departments changing entries as quickly as someone makes a political statement etc. but it usually sorts itself out. I tend to agree with Stephen - the need to control the entries will lead to disagreements and perhaps its demise. Let's hope not though.

Session 2: e-Learning: Emerging Trends and Issues

It's always interesting when you have two separate groups covering similar topics as is the case with my QLD and NSW Managers in e-Learning LearnScope teams. This week Michael Coghlan from SA presented to our NSW team on e-Learning: Emerging Trends and Issues. He did a similar presentation to our QLD team two weeks ago but this time there seemed to be more interest around the types of e-Learning and the use of open source software.

When Michael presented to the QLD team what resonated most with me was how messy the whole situation was - see my reflections. This time I became more interested in whose responsibility it is to teach or take responsibility and related to Michael's reference to Philip Adams who said:



I'm interested to hear your thoughts. What resonates with you most? Are the AQTF requirements and e-Learning moving closer together or are they mutually exclusive? And whose responsibility is it??

What am I learning?

Hi all

I was just thinking about what I'm learning as part of this process. Well heaps actually is the answer. I began with a bunch of strange words- moodle, flickr, del.icio.us, frappr, blogs, wikis and on it it goes. But at least now I know what they mean and pretty much what each one does. Nothing is automatic yet, I come into the wiki and/or the blog and have to think about where to click to see what I want to see or add a new post but I'm sure that in time it will become like checking my email.

So, small steps, but some progress!

Ann

E-learning implementation strategies

Hi all

yes, it was a most frustrating experience in Connect last week. I was comparing it with Discovere which seems to be a much more simple piece of software and I wondered if it was the sophistication of Connect with all its bells and whistles which makes it more difficult to use and perhaps more prone to technical problems. I have not experienced anything quite like this before (!!!) and it must be quite off-putting for people who have not been in an online room before.

However, what I did take away was the wonderful Australian Flexible Learning Framework's Designing e-Learning resource. It explains so many of the different tools we can use and puts them into a context. I have found it very useful.

See you online!

Ann