Finally managed to connect up with Alison from Outlook. She had arranged for the manager Di to be present and this was a good move as I could see she was solidly behind the project and also about extending the "e" in their organisation. They did not appear to have much idea about a project, however, after going through all the paperwork with them I was able to get them to think through what would be an achievable project.
Their two main client groups are seniors and clients with disabilities. The seniors do Intro and Next Step level computers including internet and email and the other group are divided into those with severe disabilities and those with higher order skills. The idea that came through from the conversation was that they would like a way for the seniors to communicate with each other outside of class time, a place for them (the centre) to post up links and other information and for them to share ideas. Of course a wiki was my immediate thought as it does all of those things easily and is relatively user-friendly.
The clients with disabilities (the higher level group) also do intro level computers and some are at the stage of wanting to communicate with each other during the class - but online. For instance, some kind of text messaging across the room would be exciting and engaging for them and may lead to communicating outside class time in the future. I also reminded Alison about my online session on Voki coming up and suggested she invite Alex (computer tutor) to attend as vokis could be a great thing for the students with disabilities to have a go at as they are very engaging.
I felt that both of these mini projects were achieveable in the time-frame left to us particularly as the tutor for both groups was the same person - a young computer-savvy male with a lifetime of community development skills behind him as his mother was and still is a House Co-ordinator and has instilled in him a wonderful sense of community service and engagement. It appears Alex will probably pick up the wiki skills and the online chat very quickly and be enthusiastic about the ideas. He has already been approached and appeared to be open to it.
My homework is to find a safe online chat facility and Alison will set up a wikispaces account with the $60.00 PA single wiki option. She will get back to me with a date and time when she and Alex will be available for wiki training and to discuss the project together. The timeline is for the wiki to be set up by the end of this year ready for new classes in Feb 2013. This will give the tutor time to introduce the idea of online communication gradually this year so they will all be primed and ready to start in 2013. I am happy that their project is small and achievable and I feel confident that it will definitely get off the ground.
Alison gave some good feedback about the online sessions - said they were really useful and will definitely attend as many as possible. She will also attend the PD day and Di hopes to get there for the afternoon sessions if possible.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Japara Visit
 |
| Lynne making sure Ros blogs before she leaves the building! |
The Project:
To build up an online community to link art students with disabilities and other students and art lovers together to share, collaborate and support each other with folio development. The vehicle proposed is a blog - either a Wordpress or Blogger. The art teacher Lyn, teaches at Burrinja in Upwey as well as at Japara and is keen to connect the students from both centres online. She also wants to broaden it and invite other students, artists etc from anywhere to become a part of the community and share their art, experiences and expertise. Ros has already approached a similar art group in Canada to sound them out about the idea. Additionally, Ros would like the families of the students to be able to go online and view their child's work and comment on it. This would be beneficial for both student and family.
According to Ros, the art teacher is quite technology savvy and is keen on the idea. We set out a plan in steps, the first being to decide with Lyn which blog she wanted to use, train her in its use, and get her to set it up. Ros felt that realistically, this might take until the Christmas holidays but that would mean the goal to start the student blog training and participation would be for the start of 2013 which is well-within the project time frame. I suggested that Lyn include the students in discussions about the blog, their ideas etc to keep them interested and excited and wanting to start in early 2013. It may be that she can start them earlier.
We also discussed ways the students might be able to use multimedia - eg film interviews with each other and post online and also audio interviews for those who feel shy about being filmed. We also addressed the issue of getting written permission from everyone involved before putting either film or audio online.
I feel pretty satisfied with the session - Ros appears very excited and enthusiatic about the project and together we have set timeframes, dates, review dates etc. While I was there, I encouraged Ros to blog about the session and she had started this when I left. She had also not been able to access the dropbox folder from The elearning Showcase so I helped with this and shared a folder from my dropbox account. She was really pleased with the result.
EMR online PD - Familiarize yourself with Elluminate
Our first online PD went well. Karen did a great job facilitating the session with little help from Lynne and I. Not quite sure why but I kept dropping out - very frustrating but it reconnected and off I went again. Fortunately our participants did not have this problem.
Participants
We had 8 participants!! We were delighted and they were so keen. They all had a go at using lots of the Elluminate tools and were all talking, drawing, chatting and writing. They were smiling, frowning and applauding. Their hands went up and down. They participated in Polls and Icebreakers. It was good to see.
The Session
Karen did a wonderful job facilitating - she involved the participants and timed things well. She gave them enough time to play increasing their confidence and answered all the questions.
I believe that they will be very confident to attend Elluminate sessions in the future.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
New Project 2012-13 - off to a good start
Tuesday 18 September 2012
Our first group f2f meeting with the new group of participants went well. Good to see them all with heads down thoughtfully filling out their e-Leader Profile forms. I was amazed later when I read the forms at how much thought had gone into them. They will really help us with defining a project. |
| Jenny and Pete concentrating hard on their forms at the first group meeting |
Monday 24 September 2012
My first meeting with Jenny Carson at Pines Learning. We filled at the small project form but, on reflection they (we) are trying to achieve a lot, so when I got home and typed the info into the small project form, I decided to have a go at the medium project form. I suspect that we really should be filling out the large project form!I think that what I will do is divide it into achievable chunks: one for 2012 and one for 2013. Pity we got such a late start as it will be difficult to achieve a project between now and the end of the year. Will catch up with Jenny again to see what she thinks will be achievable this year.
Next Steps
Will email Pete at MDLC and see if we can catch up in the holidays. Will try to catch Celeste as well. Will email Sandy and Sarah at Avenue NH closer to the end of the holidays as they do not work through the holidays and I don't want the email to get lost. Will try to catch up with them in the first week back.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
QR Codes
I read with interest on the moodle Leo's post about using QR codes and that they were self explanatory. Not to me sadly. Good thing I'm pretty ok with researching :) I then talked to Lynne about it. Of course Lynne was on it!!
We played for a bit with our phones and the different apps offered to read and make the code. The ones we did use weren't really that user friendly. I did, however, find a site that allows for 255 characters to enable a bit fuller text.
I played further and printed a few out. I happened to be chatting to a Cert III Children's Services tutor and showed her my new gadget. Lynne had introduced the idea at a meeting so she sort of knew what I was on about. I told her Lynne and I had talked about how the codes could be used. She thought it sounded like fun. It takes time for things to gel as a good idea. Maybe that's what is needed......a two pronged approach. 1. Introduce...........allow thinking time 2. Re-introduce.
The codes designed purely for linking to websites are a great thing for advertising. I went home with my newly found skill/gadget and there, on my coffee table, was a magazine my hubby & son love to read. There were QR codes EVERYWHERE! Of course I had to test them out. All the while my son is shaking his head at his mother's geekiness. I must say though, who did he ask to help him with his eBay purchased laptop??
I have now produced some helpful QR code to support information for the E-mentor Showcase.
And the learning continues...............
We played for a bit with our phones and the different apps offered to read and make the code. The ones we did use weren't really that user friendly. I did, however, find a site that allows for 255 characters to enable a bit fuller text.
I played further and printed a few out. I happened to be chatting to a Cert III Children's Services tutor and showed her my new gadget. Lynne had introduced the idea at a meeting so she sort of knew what I was on about. I told her Lynne and I had talked about how the codes could be used. She thought it sounded like fun. It takes time for things to gel as a good idea. Maybe that's what is needed......a two pronged approach. 1. Introduce...........allow thinking time 2. Re-introduce.
The codes designed purely for linking to websites are a great thing for advertising. I went home with my newly found skill/gadget and there, on my coffee table, was a magazine my hubby & son love to read. There were QR codes EVERYWHERE! Of course I had to test them out. All the while my son is shaking his head at his mother's geekiness. I must say though, who did he ask to help him with his eBay purchased laptop??
I have now produced some helpful QR code to support information for the E-mentor Showcase.
And the learning continues...............
Karen's Leader Catch Up
I have been sadly lacking in the follow up department with my e-leaders but have been in contact with two of them. The third, I am hoping to ring today.
Orana Neighbourhood House
I arranged an early meeting with Leeann, Karin & Lisa so as not to impact too much on their day. Their ongoing use of their private label wiki has been encouraging. There have been issues over time on how to do certain things and not because Lisa, their admin person, doesn't have the skill. Wiki keeps changing! A method learned has to be relearned by me and then retaught to our eleaders. Good thing Lisa is a quick learner.
At the meeting we spoke about continuing with the project and there was the same concern that most orgs have."There is only the 3 of us...time is a huge factor". I am sure others have said to them that the role could be passed onto a tutor or other suitable person. This time it clicked. We discussed ways of utilising technology such as another wiki. They then informed me that they have gmail set up for their garden group and that they wanted some sort of calendar. Bing! Google calendar and docs to link in. The group had wanted to keep a record of their plantings and jobs to do so again, we could use the google doc system for them to share information. They suggested a computer teacher who may benefit from the use of technology and I also see her as being the internal 'go to' person in the long term.
Leeann felt inspired to apply for a grant for a laptop for the group to take outside with them to take notes etc. She was even so grateful for our chat, that while ringing Coonara for another reason, asked to speak to me to purely thank me. Very, very excited about her response :)
Waverley Adult Literacy Program (WALP)
Trish & I had been playing telephone ping pong for a few days and I finally got to speak to her.
She had been working with her photography students using a wiki. Their course work was there with instructions for an activity/assessment. The students had to send in a photo they had edited to a certain size. Trish gathered the photos and put them into a video using Windows DVD maker provided with the Windows 7 package.
Trish expressed how excited she was about uploading her movie. I viewed it and it's wonderful!!!
Trish is a quiet achiever and has been plugging away with the wiki. She would now like to learn how to make individual student pages for the students to upload their images. I will visit and teach her this.
Trish has been attending the online sessions regularly but without a microphone to speak. I will look at her set up when I get there.
Some great outcomes within a relatively short space of time considering Trish is very much a jack of all trades in a very busy centre.
Wavlink
Sadly Judy has gone home sick so I will catch her some other time. She is booked to attend the E-mentor showcase tomorrow so I am hoping she is well enough to attend.
Orana Neighbourhood House
I arranged an early meeting with Leeann, Karin & Lisa so as not to impact too much on their day. Their ongoing use of their private label wiki has been encouraging. There have been issues over time on how to do certain things and not because Lisa, their admin person, doesn't have the skill. Wiki keeps changing! A method learned has to be relearned by me and then retaught to our eleaders. Good thing Lisa is a quick learner.
At the meeting we spoke about continuing with the project and there was the same concern that most orgs have."There is only the 3 of us...time is a huge factor". I am sure others have said to them that the role could be passed onto a tutor or other suitable person. This time it clicked. We discussed ways of utilising technology such as another wiki. They then informed me that they have gmail set up for their garden group and that they wanted some sort of calendar. Bing! Google calendar and docs to link in. The group had wanted to keep a record of their plantings and jobs to do so again, we could use the google doc system for them to share information. They suggested a computer teacher who may benefit from the use of technology and I also see her as being the internal 'go to' person in the long term.
Leeann felt inspired to apply for a grant for a laptop for the group to take outside with them to take notes etc. She was even so grateful for our chat, that while ringing Coonara for another reason, asked to speak to me to purely thank me. Very, very excited about her response :)
Waverley Adult Literacy Program (WALP)
Trish & I had been playing telephone ping pong for a few days and I finally got to speak to her.
She had been working with her photography students using a wiki. Their course work was there with instructions for an activity/assessment. The students had to send in a photo they had edited to a certain size. Trish gathered the photos and put them into a video using Windows DVD maker provided with the Windows 7 package.
Trish expressed how excited she was about uploading her movie. I viewed it and it's wonderful!!!
Trish is a quiet achiever and has been plugging away with the wiki. She would now like to learn how to make individual student pages for the students to upload their images. I will visit and teach her this.
Trish has been attending the online sessions regularly but without a microphone to speak. I will look at her set up when I get there.
Some great outcomes within a relatively short space of time considering Trish is very much a jack of all trades in a very busy centre.
Wavlink
Sadly Judy has gone home sick so I will catch her some other time. She is booked to attend the E-mentor showcase tomorrow so I am hoping she is well enough to attend.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
State Wide PD 7 June 2012
I enjoyed our state wide PD.
iSpring Free
I covered ppt and iSpring Free - recording a narration to ppt and converting the presentation to a flash movie. Then uploading to wiki. This is something I do often to create extra learning resources for my learners.
Embedding Video
Karen showed us how to embed videos into a wiki. I had been doing this by downloading a video from YouTube then uploading the file. Karen showed us an easier way to use the code in the Video widget. As I had a video that was too big to upload to wiki I was thrilled and couldn't wait to try it - 2 minutes after the session finished I had embedded The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard to my Sustainability wiki. Great stuff - thanks, Karen
Uploading Audio
Lynne showed us how to upload audio to a wiki. This was also very timely for me as I am delivering Cert IV TAE units next semester and hope to use audio files as learning resources. I liked the way that Lynne did an application share to show us then reinforced the instructions with her ppt.
Reflection
I found the planning and preparation was painless - could have to do with the wonderful team I work with!! We each did our bit of the ppt and Lynne collated them. Thanks, Lynne.
Tech Room
I like the Tech room that Karen created, though we didn't need to use it, it is good to know that it is there. The idea is that Karen has created a breakout room where one of us can take any participant who is having troubles eg: with their audio. Hopefully the problem can be solved and the participant returns to the session without the other participants losing 10 to 15 minutes of the session while problems are sorted out.
My Feedback
Lynne had asked Debbie to give us constructive feedback on our presentation. Debbie missed my presentation and gave me later feedback after she watched the recording.
Debbie gave me very positive feedback:
"Christine, I just watched your presentation back and it was so well paced and so well explained that I dont actually have anything constructive to feedback to you."
She also told me that she has downloaded iSpring Free and completed a quick trial - she intends to use it in the future. One convert already!
Attendance
A bit disappointing. We had five participants, surprisingly only one from Eastern Region. We did receive some apologies. It was good to see Jen from Sandy Beach and Andrea from Robinvale (why do I feel that they travelled a long way to attend?). Unfortunately most of our participants did not have microphones but they participated well in the text chat and writing on the whiteboard.
Overview
I enjoyed the presentation - painless to produce, interesting to attend (I learnt new things or was reminded about things I have forgotten), great to see attendees from other regions. Good idea to get some feedback on our presentation - we can always improve!
iSpring Free
I covered ppt and iSpring Free - recording a narration to ppt and converting the presentation to a flash movie. Then uploading to wiki. This is something I do often to create extra learning resources for my learners.
Embedding Video
Karen showed us how to embed videos into a wiki. I had been doing this by downloading a video from YouTube then uploading the file. Karen showed us an easier way to use the code in the Video widget. As I had a video that was too big to upload to wiki I was thrilled and couldn't wait to try it - 2 minutes after the session finished I had embedded The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard to my Sustainability wiki. Great stuff - thanks, Karen
Uploading Audio
Lynne showed us how to upload audio to a wiki. This was also very timely for me as I am delivering Cert IV TAE units next semester and hope to use audio files as learning resources. I liked the way that Lynne did an application share to show us then reinforced the instructions with her ppt.
Reflection
I found the planning and preparation was painless - could have to do with the wonderful team I work with!! We each did our bit of the ppt and Lynne collated them. Thanks, Lynne.
Tech Room
I like the Tech room that Karen created, though we didn't need to use it, it is good to know that it is there. The idea is that Karen has created a breakout room where one of us can take any participant who is having troubles eg: with their audio. Hopefully the problem can be solved and the participant returns to the session without the other participants losing 10 to 15 minutes of the session while problems are sorted out.
My Feedback
Lynne had asked Debbie to give us constructive feedback on our presentation. Debbie missed my presentation and gave me later feedback after she watched the recording.
Debbie gave me very positive feedback:
"Christine, I just watched your presentation back and it was so well paced and so well explained that I dont actually have anything constructive to feedback to you."
She also told me that she has downloaded iSpring Free and completed a quick trial - she intends to use it in the future. One convert already!
Attendance
A bit disappointing. We had five participants, surprisingly only one from Eastern Region. We did receive some apologies. It was good to see Jen from Sandy Beach and Andrea from Robinvale (why do I feel that they travelled a long way to attend?). Unfortunately most of our participants did not have microphones but they participated well in the text chat and writing on the whiteboard.
Overview
I enjoyed the presentation - painless to produce, interesting to attend (I learnt new things or was reminded about things I have forgotten), great to see attendees from other regions. Good idea to get some feedback on our presentation - we can always improve!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Updates on eleaders
North Ringwood:
They appear to want to be involved but difficult to pin them down to anything concrete. Looked at their Moodle they have set up for Disability and Aged Care students. Janine appeared keen to try out Elluminate but Chris talked about their students not being computer-savvy enough to use the online classroom. However, I questioned this if they can use the Moodle they must be pretty computer-literate. I asked how they taught them the Moodle and the answer was by teaching face to face. I explained that this was the way I taught new students how to use the onliune classroom and offered the use of Coonara's room and time to come out and train their students (and tutors) on its use. We discussed various other ways they could be involved in the project and left them to contact me when they had had a chance to get together and work out what they wanted to do.They suggested that sending out a schedule of online session times might allow them to choose which sessions they wanted to attend - an idea I think we all agree would be a good one. They also complained that sessions were generally held on days that they were not working. I explained that we sent out the Doodle to try and work out the best times for everybody but as most people were only working part time, it didnt matter which day of the week or time of day we tried, it would not suit everyone. They also said they had stopped attending sessions (as well as them not being held on a day when they were working) because each time, new people to the classroom attended and we had to go through the same routine of how to use the classroom. I suggested that now we would be using the tech Support room which would help alleviate that.
All in all, I am moderately (sort of) confident they may want to be involved.
Rowville:
Have contacted Kerry and she explained that Lisa has pretty-much completed setting up her wiki for volunteers - well done! Kerry is still working on hers for Online Orientation but believes this will be a really useful tool. She suggested that another of their students who is setting up her wiki for the TAE might be a good one to showcase for the ementor showcase that the ementor project ripple effect is working. They have recieved help from Karen and Christine along the way so they have been well-resourced even if not by me! I have set a time on Friday 15th June to meet with Lisa to talk about next steps.OELP:
Contacted Sue and set a date Thursday 21st June to drop on over and help her to add to her wiki skills. She wants to know how to make a members-only section and multimedia upload, particularly audio. I suggested she come to out statewide session tomorrow but she is unable to come. However, she was excited about having the powerpoint available and access to the recorded session as well as having me come out and help her.
Japara:
They have set up their committee wiki and now want to start thinking about their tutors and students - excellent! Have set a date on 13th June to go and have a think-tank session with Ros and Jo to explore options for further.Things to think about out of this:
- We need to get together and work out a schedule of sessions for the rest of the year (loosely). Perhaps we just need to pick a different day of the week each time as Janine (and Karen) suggest and just hope that the topic will interest people enough that they opt to come in their own time.
- I need to commit more time to making sure I keep in contact with my eleaders
- We need to contact other organisations to bring in additional organisations who have not been participants.
- Should the EMR ementor team meet more regularly online to keep ourselves on track and invigorated and also to plan our online sessions?
- Should we start an EMR blog community (or someother sort of community even a facebook perhaps? ) and link it to the EMR wiki as a way to push notifications and encourage involvement - eg take a leaf out of other regions' books?
- Brain-dead now so any suggestions/strategies will be welcome!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
EMR PD sessions
Quizlet
On 7 May I presented Quizlet as it is something that I have just discovered and am using with my students. I felt that it went quite well - well planned but not quite as well presented :-(
I have had some good feedback and know that one of my e-leaders has already used Quizlet to create fun learning resources for her students. I appreciate Karen's assistance - it really does make it easier to know that there is someone there to watch your back and jump in with help if necessary.
Giving the participants the opportunity to actually create a Quizlet while we were online seemed to work well and gave me the chance to demonstrate the use of the timer.
Google Docs
Karen presented Google docs today. She did a great job - I hadn't realised that it was the first time she has presented in Elluminate - it certainly didn't show. Celeste had audio problems and that gave us the opportunity to learn how to create a breakout room - wonderful for me as it was something Lynne had told me about but I didn't know how to do it.
Five (5) e-leaders attended the session so that was great. I felt proud that all three of my RTO's were represented.
Karen demonstrated using Google spreadsheets with the 2 of us editing the same worksheet at the same time. It actually worked after we realised that we had to login to edit! I haven't used Google spreadsheet so I learnt a lot - thanks, Karen
Karen did a great job - she's a natural!
I think it might be worth while doing another Google docs to demonstrate Google forms sometime in the future.
Reflections on PD Sessions
I benefit from these PD's in 3 ways:
1. I learn about something new, am reminded about a tool or see a different way to use a tool.
2. If I am presenting I have to refresh my knowledge and think about other uses of a tool.
3. I refresh my knowledge and learn new ways to use Elluminate.
It really is win/win for me.
On 7 May I presented Quizlet as it is something that I have just discovered and am using with my students. I felt that it went quite well - well planned but not quite as well presented :-(
I have had some good feedback and know that one of my e-leaders has already used Quizlet to create fun learning resources for her students. I appreciate Karen's assistance - it really does make it easier to know that there is someone there to watch your back and jump in with help if necessary.
Giving the participants the opportunity to actually create a Quizlet while we were online seemed to work well and gave me the chance to demonstrate the use of the timer.
Google Docs
Karen presented Google docs today. She did a great job - I hadn't realised that it was the first time she has presented in Elluminate - it certainly didn't show. Celeste had audio problems and that gave us the opportunity to learn how to create a breakout room - wonderful for me as it was something Lynne had told me about but I didn't know how to do it.
Five (5) e-leaders attended the session so that was great. I felt proud that all three of my RTO's were represented.
Karen demonstrated using Google spreadsheets with the 2 of us editing the same worksheet at the same time. It actually worked after we realised that we had to login to edit! I haven't used Google spreadsheet so I learnt a lot - thanks, Karen
Karen did a great job - she's a natural!
I think it might be worth while doing another Google docs to demonstrate Google forms sometime in the future.
Reflections on PD Sessions
I benefit from these PD's in 3 ways:
1. I learn about something new, am reminded about a tool or see a different way to use a tool.
2. If I am presenting I have to refresh my knowledge and think about other uses of a tool.
3. I refresh my knowledge and learn new ways to use Elluminate.
It really is win/win for me.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Catching up with my eLeaders
Finally made time to catch up with my eLeaders by phone. Feeling guilty that it has been some time since I have been able to do that but glad that I have at last done it.
OELP - Sue was very happy to hear from me. She has pretty much put aside the wiki for the moment as she is snowed under with other things. However, she is still keen to get it happening and was able to tell me what she wanted to learn to do next.
North Ringwood - Janine spoke with me and talked about how they had independently set up Moodle and were already doing classes in the Moodle environment. I congratulated her on this and asked how I might be able to help her with that or anything else - perhaps some other tools that might be useful in conjunction with Moodle. She said she didnt know what tools were available so didnt know what to ask. I suggested that maybe she watch some of the online recorded sessions as we had showcased a variety of useful tools already and that there were samples on the wiki. She appeared interested in having me come out and see her so I suggested that if she came across anything she thought looked interesting in the interim before I came out that she email me and let me know. I will go to her interview armed with samples of tools she might like to use. I might start by asking her if she has any systems or processes that are not working well at the centre or things that she wishes worked better and maybe I could show her some etools that might help her. If she doesnt like that idea then I can show her a couple of tools that might work well with Moodle (or something entirely different ) eg Google sites or google docs perhaps.
Janine also suggested that she would be happy to talk at one of our online sessions on how she had gone about setting up Moodle which might be interesting for others. That might work well and keep her interested so I might follow that up for a future session. I suggested that she have other staff either admin or preferably tutors for our session which is booked for 30th May. She complained that she couldnt come to our online sessions any more because they were always on a day she wasnt working. I did explain that we had to go with the majority and did try to change the days around and this time, on the days she could come there were only one or two people able to attend. She suggested that maybe we could repeat the session later in the week and I quickly glossed over that as I am sure we have more than enough to do rather than do the same thing twice and she can always replay the recording. She only works Wed, Thurs and Frid and doesnt seem prepared to make herself available at any other time so not much we can do about that.
Rowville - Phoned today and neither Lisa or Kerry were available to talk so will call again tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Final point - trying to get more organised and follow up on things more quickly so people dont lose impetus. Juggling lots of balls in the air at the moment so even more important that I get myself organised!
OELP - Sue was very happy to hear from me. She has pretty much put aside the wiki for the moment as she is snowed under with other things. However, she is still keen to get it happening and was able to tell me what she wanted to learn to do next.
- How to add audio to a wiki page
- How to take better photos that really depict what she wants them to say and how to do some basic editing
- Set up a members only page for tutors and staff on the same wiki
North Ringwood - Janine spoke with me and talked about how they had independently set up Moodle and were already doing classes in the Moodle environment. I congratulated her on this and asked how I might be able to help her with that or anything else - perhaps some other tools that might be useful in conjunction with Moodle. She said she didnt know what tools were available so didnt know what to ask. I suggested that maybe she watch some of the online recorded sessions as we had showcased a variety of useful tools already and that there were samples on the wiki. She appeared interested in having me come out and see her so I suggested that if she came across anything she thought looked interesting in the interim before I came out that she email me and let me know. I will go to her interview armed with samples of tools she might like to use. I might start by asking her if she has any systems or processes that are not working well at the centre or things that she wishes worked better and maybe I could show her some etools that might help her. If she doesnt like that idea then I can show her a couple of tools that might work well with Moodle (or something entirely different ) eg Google sites or google docs perhaps.
Janine also suggested that she would be happy to talk at one of our online sessions on how she had gone about setting up Moodle which might be interesting for others. That might work well and keep her interested so I might follow that up for a future session. I suggested that she have other staff either admin or preferably tutors for our session which is booked for 30th May. She complained that she couldnt come to our online sessions any more because they were always on a day she wasnt working. I did explain that we had to go with the majority and did try to change the days around and this time, on the days she could come there were only one or two people able to attend. She suggested that maybe we could repeat the session later in the week and I quickly glossed over that as I am sure we have more than enough to do rather than do the same thing twice and she can always replay the recording. She only works Wed, Thurs and Frid and doesnt seem prepared to make herself available at any other time so not much we can do about that.
Rowville - Phoned today and neither Lisa or Kerry were available to talk so will call again tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Final point - trying to get more organised and follow up on things more quickly so people dont lose impetus. Juggling lots of balls in the air at the moment so even more important that I get myself organised!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Working holiday?
I was quite amazed at the amount of technology being used on the cruise and I'm not talking about the overpriced internet area of the ship. That was mostly vacant. $0.75 per minute?? Ridiculous.
What I saw were a multitude of Kindles, iPads, Tablets & all sorts of phones and not all being used by young people.
We sat in the waiting area before embarking on the ship and an older couple sat there peacefully reading their books on their Kindle. Close by sat a young couple playing spider solitaire with the girl giving her partner instructions on how to play.
We get on the ship and there are photos being taken with iPhones etc (yes one of them was me) and fabulous digital cameras.
There were theme night dinners and the girl I sat next to, early 30's, had an iPad. I asked her what she used it for. Mostly photos and movies but she liked Shazam to identify songs being played around her. She showed us what she had saved.
I then had breakfast with a retired gentleman and his wife. His love was his iPhone 4S. He told me all about taking photos and how it geotagged everything so he didn't have to remember where or when he took the photo. He also told me about an online alternative to windows called Ubuntu. I will look this up and see what it offers. His wife on the other hand didn't want a bar of it and doesn't even own a mobile phone.
I really enjoyed chatting to these other tech savvy people and really felt it related to what we are doing with this project, encouraging people to get the best out of technology to suit their particular needs.
What I saw were a multitude of Kindles, iPads, Tablets & all sorts of phones and not all being used by young people.
We sat in the waiting area before embarking on the ship and an older couple sat there peacefully reading their books on their Kindle. Close by sat a young couple playing spider solitaire with the girl giving her partner instructions on how to play.
We get on the ship and there are photos being taken with iPhones etc (yes one of them was me) and fabulous digital cameras.
There were theme night dinners and the girl I sat next to, early 30's, had an iPad. I asked her what she used it for. Mostly photos and movies but she liked Shazam to identify songs being played around her. She showed us what she had saved.
I then had breakfast with a retired gentleman and his wife. His love was his iPhone 4S. He told me all about taking photos and how it geotagged everything so he didn't have to remember where or when he took the photo. He also told me about an online alternative to windows called Ubuntu. I will look this up and see what it offers. His wife on the other hand didn't want a bar of it and doesn't even own a mobile phone.
I really enjoyed chatting to these other tech savvy people and really felt it related to what we are doing with this project, encouraging people to get the best out of technology to suit their particular needs.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Voki Online PD
13 April 2012 Online PD
Planning
Lynne and I planned the online PD - poor Karen is on a cruise so she missed out, poor thing ;-). Lynne was going to do Voki and I was going to do Quizlet. We both created our PowerPoints and then when we discussed it we had both thought that our presentations could take longer. We decided that we are better to cover these online tools in more depth and decided that Lynne would present Voki today and I would present Quizlet in a fortnight.
What went wrong
First of all Lynne had trouble getting in - her laptop is working slowly.
Then, Jenny had trouble with her audio - she ended up participating through the text chat
Then, Lynne couldn't do an Application Share - why? we have no idea!
How we got round it
I did an Application Share with my Voki. Fortunately I had gone onto mine earlier and left it open. Trouble was that I haven't created a Voki for some time. I tried to give Lynne control over my Voki but we couldn't get that bit of Elluminate to work. We soldiered on and created a Voki, recorded audio and posted it to the Ementor wiki as a Widget.
After the session
I was not happy with the Voki's glasses so I went back in and changed the glasses, the hair colour, eye colour and the audio.
I also uploaded it to the Ementor wiki on the Online Tools page.
Our Voki
Ementor wiki
We will add a page to our Ementor wiki so thaat our e-leaders can upload their Vokis
Planning
Lynne and I planned the online PD - poor Karen is on a cruise so she missed out, poor thing ;-). Lynne was going to do Voki and I was going to do Quizlet. We both created our PowerPoints and then when we discussed it we had both thought that our presentations could take longer. We decided that we are better to cover these online tools in more depth and decided that Lynne would present Voki today and I would present Quizlet in a fortnight.
What went wrong
First of all Lynne had trouble getting in - her laptop is working slowly.
Then, Jenny had trouble with her audio - she ended up participating through the text chat
Then, Lynne couldn't do an Application Share - why? we have no idea!
How we got round it
I did an Application Share with my Voki. Fortunately I had gone onto mine earlier and left it open. Trouble was that I haven't created a Voki for some time. I tried to give Lynne control over my Voki but we couldn't get that bit of Elluminate to work. We soldiered on and created a Voki, recorded audio and posted it to the Ementor wiki as a Widget.
After the session
I was not happy with the Voki's glasses so I went back in and changed the glasses, the hair colour, eye colour and the audio.
I also uploaded it to the Ementor wiki on the Online Tools page.
Our Voki
Ementor wiki
We will add a page to our Ementor wiki so thaat our e-leaders can upload their Vokis
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Celeste is blogging
I saw Celeste today and finally remembered to tell her of her obligation to blog.
Next thing I knew I checked my email and she had started her blog!
http://alittleatatimeblog.wordpress.com/
Great work and I love the name of her blog.
I look forward to following her blog.
Jenny has also been blogging http://ementorproject2011pl.blogspot.com.au
I expect Colleen to update her blog as she contacted me last last term to tell me that she had lost her blog password and ask if I had it. I didn't but I worked it out and emailed it to her. She has been away for the holidays so should get my email next week when she returns to work.
http://colleensaunderson.blogspot.com.au
Great work, ladies!
Next thing I knew I checked my email and she had started her blog!
http://alittleatatimeblog.wordpress.com/
Great work and I love the name of her blog.
I look forward to following her blog.
Jenny has also been blogging http://ementorproject2011pl.blogspot.com.au
I expect Colleen to update her blog as she contacted me last last term to tell me that she had lost her blog password and ask if I had it. I didn't but I worked it out and emailed it to her. She has been away for the holidays so should get my email next week when she returns to work.
http://colleensaunderson.blogspot.com.au
Great work, ladies!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Busy week
Last week of term is always busy but I have managed to catch up with all my e-leaders for a brief chat.
Pines Learning: as Jenny is using the wiki she is developing for her uni course, I suggested that she use a new wiki and restrict access to her and her assessor. Automatically started to make it for her when I got home then thought that it would be better if she made it. So, emailed instructions to her to make it. Not a good idea that I am the only one who knows how to create new wikis at Pines Learning. What is that bus gets me ...
Avenue NH Colleen rang me as she hasn't updated her blog and has now forgotten her password. i must follow this up and get back to her. Great to see her enthusiasm. Also asked if she could add another e-leader from her centre for the second semester. I am happy for her to do that.
MDLC Had a chat to Celeste in passing. She is very busy at present but intends to get some work done on her wiki during the holidays. Once again I forgot to remind her to respond to the Doodle and to tell her about the obligation to blog. Will have to schedule a session with her early next term to see how she is going and explain about the blog.
I am proud of my e-leaders
Pines Learning: as Jenny is using the wiki she is developing for her uni course, I suggested that she use a new wiki and restrict access to her and her assessor. Automatically started to make it for her when I got home then thought that it would be better if she made it. So, emailed instructions to her to make it. Not a good idea that I am the only one who knows how to create new wikis at Pines Learning. What is that bus gets me ...
Avenue NH Colleen rang me as she hasn't updated her blog and has now forgotten her password. i must follow this up and get back to her. Great to see her enthusiasm. Also asked if she could add another e-leader from her centre for the second semester. I am happy for her to do that.
MDLC Had a chat to Celeste in passing. She is very busy at present but intends to get some work done on her wiki during the holidays. Once again I forgot to remind her to respond to the Doodle and to tell her about the obligation to blog. Will have to schedule a session with her early next term to see how she is going and explain about the blog.
I am proud of my e-leaders
Friday, March 30, 2012
And we're off.........
I met with Judy & Frank from Wavlink today. Judy had informed Frank of his involvement in the project only 3 hours before my arrival. That's the community sector for you - lol.
Frank volunteers at Wavlink helping with their computer class on a Friday. His students have a wide range of skills. We thought it might be an idea to set up basic wikis for those who needed a little more of a challenge. They could tell the class a little about themselves, add pictures etc and when I mentioned they could upload youtube, Frank's eyes lit up although with it came a caution. One of their learners likes 'questionable' sites. I told Frank about the difference between organisers and members and what it meant in relation to monitoring these sites. Delete is a wonderful thing!
I suggested that we start up a wiki for Frank so he could have a bit of a play with it before introducing it to students. I took him on a short tour around the wiki. I showed him how to start a few pages to work on and he seemed pretty keen. Judy also decided after the time we spent together that she would be giving it a go too.
During the discussions they mentioned a group who are gaining skills for employment and I suggested e-portfolios. Simple ones, but it will give them computer skills and confidence. They liked that idea too.
I will let Frank have a play and see how he manages on his own. I made sure I added a disclaimer for Frank........"That I wouldn't be held responsible for the late hours he would be awake playing with his new toy".
I think they were both inspired and keen to get students involved as another tool but we will be taking small steps to begin with so they feel confident in using them with others.
I will be returning to them after the holidays to catch up and get them onto blogging. In the meantime, Judy will be sharing Frank's email with us so he can attend the PD sessions.
Frank volunteers at Wavlink helping with their computer class on a Friday. His students have a wide range of skills. We thought it might be an idea to set up basic wikis for those who needed a little more of a challenge. They could tell the class a little about themselves, add pictures etc and when I mentioned they could upload youtube, Frank's eyes lit up although with it came a caution. One of their learners likes 'questionable' sites. I told Frank about the difference between organisers and members and what it meant in relation to monitoring these sites. Delete is a wonderful thing!
I suggested that we start up a wiki for Frank so he could have a bit of a play with it before introducing it to students. I took him on a short tour around the wiki. I showed him how to start a few pages to work on and he seemed pretty keen. Judy also decided after the time we spent together that she would be giving it a go too.
During the discussions they mentioned a group who are gaining skills for employment and I suggested e-portfolios. Simple ones, but it will give them computer skills and confidence. They liked that idea too.
I will let Frank have a play and see how he manages on his own. I made sure I added a disclaimer for Frank........"That I wouldn't be held responsible for the late hours he would be awake playing with his new toy".
I think they were both inspired and keen to get students involved as another tool but we will be taking small steps to begin with so they feel confident in using them with others.
I will be returning to them after the holidays to catch up and get them onto blogging. In the meantime, Judy will be sharing Frank's email with us so he can attend the PD sessions.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Starting over
This morning, I met with Judy from Wavlink. It had been a while since she even thought about the project and seemed a bit overwhelmed with getting going again. She had her old notes from previous meetings with ideas but it was dated early December. Christmas came and went and the new year began without having the time to go back and think about what to do next.
It seemed starting fresh was going to be the best way and when I asked who was involved, she pointed to herself. We then discussed who else at Wavlink would benefit from getting involved. She's pinpointed the person. A real "Aha!" moment. He helps out with their disability computer class as a volunteer. We have made another appointment to talk together this Friday to make a firm plan.
Judy felt much better after we talked as she is very keen to be involved herself but moreso by working with another person. I think things will roll a little smoother and will take the pressure off Judy herself.
This afternoon I met with Karin & Lisa from Orana. Leeann (manager) was ill unfortunately but they were still keen to meet. Who was I to argue? Orana hadn't started anything on the project so far so it was another blank canvas to work with. Lisa has been managing the Orana website for at least 12 months now and has been doing a brilliant job :)
Orana have a private label wiki which is currently under-utilised but that is set to change. The plan they came up with is to make a wiki to house the tutor's A-Frames, and any other documentation they may need to access if they are working offsite. They also wanted to add a calendar, listing the room bookings so if they wished to add another class, they could see what rooms were available. I think I might pinch that idea :)
Their aim is to have the tutors involved in the process so I am hoping that by learning how the wikis work, they could be utilised in their computer classes.
In the absence of Leeann, we came up with a good plan to present to her when she is well and plan to meet after the holidays.
I also showed them the elluminate room and how it worked, including how to set up their audio. A few funny things happened on their computer but in the end we got there. They have been given the link to the ementor wiki and the recordings so they can see what's happened before.
In both cases, we are starting from scratch but it won't take me long to get things happening.
It seemed starting fresh was going to be the best way and when I asked who was involved, she pointed to herself. We then discussed who else at Wavlink would benefit from getting involved. She's pinpointed the person. A real "Aha!" moment. He helps out with their disability computer class as a volunteer. We have made another appointment to talk together this Friday to make a firm plan.
Judy felt much better after we talked as she is very keen to be involved herself but moreso by working with another person. I think things will roll a little smoother and will take the pressure off Judy herself.
This afternoon I met with Karin & Lisa from Orana. Leeann (manager) was ill unfortunately but they were still keen to meet. Who was I to argue? Orana hadn't started anything on the project so far so it was another blank canvas to work with. Lisa has been managing the Orana website for at least 12 months now and has been doing a brilliant job :)
Orana have a private label wiki which is currently under-utilised but that is set to change. The plan they came up with is to make a wiki to house the tutor's A-Frames, and any other documentation they may need to access if they are working offsite. They also wanted to add a calendar, listing the room bookings so if they wished to add another class, they could see what rooms were available. I think I might pinch that idea :)
Their aim is to have the tutors involved in the process so I am hoping that by learning how the wikis work, they could be utilised in their computer classes.
In the absence of Leeann, we came up with a good plan to present to her when she is well and plan to meet after the holidays.
I also showed them the elluminate room and how it worked, including how to set up their audio. A few funny things happened on their computer but in the end we got there. They have been given the link to the ementor wiki and the recordings so they can see what's happened before.
In both cases, we are starting from scratch but it won't take me long to get things happening.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Gotcha!!
I spent last Thursday & Friday at the ANHLC conference. Day one, presented a basic introduction to Twitter and Day two presented information on the Vic Govt Volunteer Portal.
The twitter presentation turned out to be a time to inspire others to take their first steps into using social media. It's not much different to what we are doing in this project.........getting people to take their first steps.
Unlike those who are involved with this project, many have already made the decison. My audience weren't all convinced that social media was for them.
My first question was, "What brought you to this workshop?".
A couple said they wanted to know the basics so the basics was what they got. Such as...what is twitter, what's a hashtag, what's a retweet and and what's a tweet and who's a twit and who on earth were tweeps? They also benefited from the conversations that followed.
One person was told to attend the session by her organisation and by the end of it, she was excited and couldn't wait to give it a go.
There is always one who is difficult and needed to be convinced in a variety of ways. She hadn't decided to attend any particular session on the day and simply followed the crowd.
We talked about twitter being an instant way of getting news. The statement I made to her was..."Who said we can't be part of that news?". I suggested she use key words that people may search for and she became silent and thoughtful. I think I had her - lol.
We also talked about the need to have our ducks in a row, so to speak, before engaging in social media. Was their website effective and up to date for people to find out more about their organisation? Which, ultimately, that's where we want them to go. Did their twitter description lead them to the website and explain enough about their particular organisation? I personally think that social media needs to be part of a holistic approach to marketing. Everything needs to compliment and support the other to be effective.
I gave them plenty of simple handouts and utilised Coonara's website, twitter and facebook accounts.
We tweeted, used hashtags and watched tweets show up on the screen as we chatted.
Another big concern was time. How long did all this take? I encouraged them to link their facebook & twitter accounts so it was a single job, rather than two and that neither of them took any longer than sending out an email to their network. When you relate it back to something they are already managing, it made sense. I think this is also a factor in this current project ....time.
Of the 8 attendees, 8 planned to give it a go in some way. Some asked for help along the way and I mentioned this project as a way to link into their local e-mentors for some initial support. Hope that was ok.
The twitter presentation turned out to be a time to inspire others to take their first steps into using social media. It's not much different to what we are doing in this project.........getting people to take their first steps.
Unlike those who are involved with this project, many have already made the decison. My audience weren't all convinced that social media was for them.
My first question was, "What brought you to this workshop?".
A couple said they wanted to know the basics so the basics was what they got. Such as...what is twitter, what's a hashtag, what's a retweet and and what's a tweet and who's a twit and who on earth were tweeps? They also benefited from the conversations that followed.
One person was told to attend the session by her organisation and by the end of it, she was excited and couldn't wait to give it a go.
There is always one who is difficult and needed to be convinced in a variety of ways. She hadn't decided to attend any particular session on the day and simply followed the crowd.
We talked about twitter being an instant way of getting news. The statement I made to her was..."Who said we can't be part of that news?". I suggested she use key words that people may search for and she became silent and thoughtful. I think I had her - lol.
We also talked about the need to have our ducks in a row, so to speak, before engaging in social media. Was their website effective and up to date for people to find out more about their organisation? Which, ultimately, that's where we want them to go. Did their twitter description lead them to the website and explain enough about their particular organisation? I personally think that social media needs to be part of a holistic approach to marketing. Everything needs to compliment and support the other to be effective.
I gave them plenty of simple handouts and utilised Coonara's website, twitter and facebook accounts.
We tweeted, used hashtags and watched tweets show up on the screen as we chatted.
Another big concern was time. How long did all this take? I encouraged them to link their facebook & twitter accounts so it was a single job, rather than two and that neither of them took any longer than sending out an email to their network. When you relate it back to something they are already managing, it made sense. I think this is also a factor in this current project ....time.
Of the 8 attendees, 8 planned to give it a go in some way. Some asked for help along the way and I mentioned this project as a way to link into their local e-mentors for some initial support. Hope that was ok.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Jenny is a Star!
I was greeted by Jenny yesterday with 'did you get my email?'
Well I had not checked my emails and I don't have a fancy phone so she had to explain.
She had made a video!! and uploaded it to her wiki!!!!
But...
It didn't show - just a black screen!
Help!
On investigating this we found that her .wmv file was not viewable. Converting it to a .flv file solved the problem.
Jenny's video welcoming her learners and explaining the course is a great addition to her wiki
Well done, Jenny!
A nice mix of formal and friendly
She has inspired me to create a video to add to my wiki
Well I had not checked my emails and I don't have a fancy phone so she had to explain.
She had made a video!! and uploaded it to her wiki!!!!
But...
Help!
On investigating this we found that her .wmv file was not viewable. Converting it to a .flv file solved the problem.
Jenny's video welcoming her learners and explaining the course is a great addition to her wiki
Well done, Jenny!
A nice mix of formal and friendly
She has inspired me to create a video to add to my wiki
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Guilty of not blogging
Shame
One of the e-leaders (I think it was Lisa) today at our online PD put me to shame - she said that she blogs after every session. She has set the bar for us all to aspire to. Great work!
On-line PD
Attendance was disappointing again but it was great to have 3 enthusiastic attendees. I enjoyed our get together lunch last Thursday where we planned todays session and I met Karen. We got some good work done while we ate.
The session went well and seemed to be appreciated. We gave a showcase of a number of different e-learning tools. Forgot to file share the glossary that Karen had obtained but we can do that next time. Colleen did a great job with an ice breaker and so did Karen.
A lot of things have been happening with me and mine.
MDLC
Wendy is extra busy at present preparing a qualification to add to scope so she is not attending PDs but I see her regularly and address any problems she encounters. She is using the wiki with her Cert IV TAE students.
Celeste has come on board. I had a lively interview (chat) with her and she is keen to use the wiki with her VCE Studio Arts students. We tossed about a number of ideas and she is very keen. She has been unable to attend the last 2 online PDs as she is in the city on Tuesdays. She has tried to access the recordings but has had problems. I saw her again last week and will keep in regular touch with her.
Avenue NH
Caught up with Colleen again last Friday and saw the wiki she has set up for ANHCHA - it looks fabulous! She has done a great job! Now up to inviting participants. She is keen to learn to facilitate in Elluminate for ANHCHA meetings. She has attended the last 2 online PDs and was blown away by what we can do in Elluminate.
Pines Learning
Have been having fortnightly meetings with Jenny. She is going great guns. She has created 4 Jings for her blended delivery Publisher class. She has also used Hot Potatoes to create multiple choice tests for the learners. In fact, I came home today to an email from her asking about Wordle. So when I see her tomorrow I expect that she will have created a Wordle to add interest to her wiki.
bestchance
Unfortunately bestchance have had to withdraw due to pressure of work. This is a great pity as Nooraini was very keen. I am sorry to lose Nooraini. The pressure of work in this industry is becoming crippling.
Me
I have had a wonderful time. The great thing about being an e-Champ is that you are continually reminded about tools that you had not found time to try.
Wordle - I had a go at this and now my Access and Excel class wikipages are adorned with Wordles. So is our Cert IV in TAE wiki.
Quizlet
Found the address written on the first page of my e-learning book so I went in to look at it. Now I am creating flash cards and scatter games of medical word parts as extra resources for my medical terminology students, these will go with the iSpringFree flash movies and Hot Potatoes crosswords I created a couple of years ago.
One of the e-leaders (I think it was Lisa) today at our online PD put me to shame - she said that she blogs after every session. She has set the bar for us all to aspire to. Great work!
On-line PD
Attendance was disappointing again but it was great to have 3 enthusiastic attendees. I enjoyed our get together lunch last Thursday where we planned todays session and I met Karen. We got some good work done while we ate.
The session went well and seemed to be appreciated. We gave a showcase of a number of different e-learning tools. Forgot to file share the glossary that Karen had obtained but we can do that next time. Colleen did a great job with an ice breaker and so did Karen.
A lot of things have been happening with me and mine.
MDLC
Wendy is extra busy at present preparing a qualification to add to scope so she is not attending PDs but I see her regularly and address any problems she encounters. She is using the wiki with her Cert IV TAE students.
Celeste has come on board. I had a lively interview (chat) with her and she is keen to use the wiki with her VCE Studio Arts students. We tossed about a number of ideas and she is very keen. She has been unable to attend the last 2 online PDs as she is in the city on Tuesdays. She has tried to access the recordings but has had problems. I saw her again last week and will keep in regular touch with her.
Avenue NH
Caught up with Colleen again last Friday and saw the wiki she has set up for ANHCHA - it looks fabulous! She has done a great job! Now up to inviting participants. She is keen to learn to facilitate in Elluminate for ANHCHA meetings. She has attended the last 2 online PDs and was blown away by what we can do in Elluminate.
Pines Learning
Have been having fortnightly meetings with Jenny. She is going great guns. She has created 4 Jings for her blended delivery Publisher class. She has also used Hot Potatoes to create multiple choice tests for the learners. In fact, I came home today to an email from her asking about Wordle. So when I see her tomorrow I expect that she will have created a Wordle to add interest to her wiki.
bestchance
Unfortunately bestchance have had to withdraw due to pressure of work. This is a great pity as Nooraini was very keen. I am sorry to lose Nooraini. The pressure of work in this industry is becoming crippling.
Me
I have had a wonderful time. The great thing about being an e-Champ is that you are continually reminded about tools that you had not found time to try.
Wordle - I had a go at this and now my Access and Excel class wikipages are adorned with Wordles. So is our Cert IV in TAE wiki.
Quizlet
Found the address written on the first page of my e-learning book so I went in to look at it. Now I am creating flash cards and scatter games of medical word parts as extra resources for my medical terminology students, these will go with the iSpringFree flash movies and Hot Potatoes crosswords I created a couple of years ago.
Getting to know you
I have just visited Patricia from Waverley Adult Literacy in Chadstone to find out her progress. Gloria unfortunately didn't make it to the meeting but I hope to catch up with her some time soon.
Patricia & Gloria had already started a wiki and the aim was to use it for students and tutors. To date, not many tutors have accessed the site and it seemed one person was in charge of updating. We spoke about others uploading information so that it was managed by all and not just one...sense of ownership.
The wiki had a page to be used for the students to get their homework. Homework consisted of downloading an image to their computer and then cropping the image. The cropped image could then be uploaded to the site or link to Flickr, her chosen method of keeping the photos 'in the cloud'.
We spoke about linking to individual student pages from this homework pages to separate student work for their records. She seemed to like that idea :)
There will be meeting with the tutors next week to go through a new course for getting photos to email and the wiki would hopefully become part of that. I offered to go in and talk to the tutors to encourage some enthusiasm. I do hope they take me up on the offer.
Patricia asked about the next blackboard session. Hopefully she will manage to attend our session this afternoon and gain more information about the technologies out there on offer.
I also phoned Karin from Orana to ask if they would like to re-engage in the project. I am yet to receive confirmation from the Manager but if Karin's enthusiasm is anything to go by, I think we'll be working together very shortly!! We came up with a few ideas over the phone and she even emailed me with more........embedding a calendar listing the room allocations! It was something I might even adopt for Coonara :) She was quite keen to use it for tutors to remain in contact about things.
It's really nice to finally get out there and meet with these people who are taking these steps into the E-world.
Patricia & Gloria had already started a wiki and the aim was to use it for students and tutors. To date, not many tutors have accessed the site and it seemed one person was in charge of updating. We spoke about others uploading information so that it was managed by all and not just one...sense of ownership.
The wiki had a page to be used for the students to get their homework. Homework consisted of downloading an image to their computer and then cropping the image. The cropped image could then be uploaded to the site or link to Flickr, her chosen method of keeping the photos 'in the cloud'.
We spoke about linking to individual student pages from this homework pages to separate student work for their records. She seemed to like that idea :)
There will be meeting with the tutors next week to go through a new course for getting photos to email and the wiki would hopefully become part of that. I offered to go in and talk to the tutors to encourage some enthusiasm. I do hope they take me up on the offer.
Patricia asked about the next blackboard session. Hopefully she will manage to attend our session this afternoon and gain more information about the technologies out there on offer.
I also phoned Karin from Orana to ask if they would like to re-engage in the project. I am yet to receive confirmation from the Manager but if Karin's enthusiasm is anything to go by, I think we'll be working together very shortly!! We came up with a few ideas over the phone and she even emailed me with more........embedding a calendar listing the room allocations! It was something I might even adopt for Coonara :) She was quite keen to use it for tutors to remain in contact about things.
It's really nice to finally get out there and meet with these people who are taking these steps into the E-world.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Journey Continues
New Year - 2012
A new year and we have given our e-leaders time to settle in - now it is all go.
Lynne, Karen and I have a f2f meeting scheduled for Monday to plan the program. We will still customise training and advice to e-leaders' projects.
Elluminate Session
Lynne sent out a Doodle so that we can time our Elluminate session next week to suit as many of our e-learders as possible.
This session will be a get together, review session and where to from here with a bit of facilitating in Elluminate thrown in.
F2F
I have had f2f meetings with 2 of my e-leaders:
MDLC
Had a chat to Wendy and Rowan - Wendy is flat out busy and Rowan is not too keen. Wendy asked me if we could swap Celeste for Rowan. It is fine with me.
Had a chat to Celeste and she is keen to use the private wikispace with her VCE studio arts students. I did suggest to her that if she sets up the wiki for her students and they use it then it may contribute to her evidence for Facilitate e-Learning which is one of the electives for the Cert IV TAE that she has just started this week. She was delighted and is very keen.
Wendy has been working on a new wikispace for the current intake of Cert IV TAE students and also the proposed Cert II in Desktop Publishing.
Pines Learning
Met with Jenny today. Showed her Wordle which I have been having fun playing with. She has created a great Wordle for the home page of her Certificate III in Business Administration wiki.
She has decided to concentrate on creating learning resources for the on line component of her blended delivery course.
We will meet again in a fortnight by which time she intends to have created:
- 2 Jings
- 1 iSpringFree
I have promised to look into on line quizzes and make a recommendation. She intends to use her existing quizzes on line - a good use of existing resources!
I look forward to our next meeting to see what she produces!
I have also been working with Board Chairman, Julie, helping her with Pines Learning's Board of Management wiki. I will contact her early next week to see how she is going and if she needs any help at present. She is very keen and is doing a great job with the wiki.
bestchance training & Avenue Neighourhood House
I have been in email contact with these e-leaders and will ring them tomorrow to have a chat, see where they are and plan the next steps.
So it is all back on again - I am looking forward to meeting Karen next week and also looking forward to catching up with Nooraini and Colleen.
A new year and we have given our e-leaders time to settle in - now it is all go.
Lynne, Karen and I have a f2f meeting scheduled for Monday to plan the program. We will still customise training and advice to e-leaders' projects.
Elluminate Session
Lynne sent out a Doodle so that we can time our Elluminate session next week to suit as many of our e-learders as possible.
This session will be a get together, review session and where to from here with a bit of facilitating in Elluminate thrown in.
F2F
I have had f2f meetings with 2 of my e-leaders:
MDLC
Had a chat to Wendy and Rowan - Wendy is flat out busy and Rowan is not too keen. Wendy asked me if we could swap Celeste for Rowan. It is fine with me.
Had a chat to Celeste and she is keen to use the private wikispace with her VCE studio arts students. I did suggest to her that if she sets up the wiki for her students and they use it then it may contribute to her evidence for Facilitate e-Learning which is one of the electives for the Cert IV TAE that she has just started this week. She was delighted and is very keen.
Wendy has been working on a new wikispace for the current intake of Cert IV TAE students and also the proposed Cert II in Desktop Publishing.
Pines Learning
Met with Jenny today. Showed her Wordle which I have been having fun playing with. She has created a great Wordle for the home page of her Certificate III in Business Administration wiki.
She has decided to concentrate on creating learning resources for the on line component of her blended delivery course.
We will meet again in a fortnight by which time she intends to have created:
- 2 Jings
- 1 iSpringFree
I have promised to look into on line quizzes and make a recommendation. She intends to use her existing quizzes on line - a good use of existing resources!
I look forward to our next meeting to see what she produces!
I have also been working with Board Chairman, Julie, helping her with Pines Learning's Board of Management wiki. I will contact her early next week to see how she is going and if she needs any help at present. She is very keen and is doing a great job with the wiki.
bestchance training & Avenue Neighourhood House
I have been in email contact with these e-leaders and will ring them tomorrow to have a chat, see where they are and plan the next steps.
So it is all back on again - I am looking forward to meeting Karen next week and also looking forward to catching up with Nooraini and Colleen.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
A new journey begins
I attended my first online meeting for the 2011 e-mentor project.
What an amazing array of skills we have. I'll have to admit I didn't understand all the technologies mentioned but as this is a learning experience I know I'll get to know more.
For those who missed the meeting. A little about me. I work for Coonara Community House with Lynne Gibb & Liz Grigg and was a student at the time wikis were introduced as part of our learning in Cert III Community Services work.
I was already a moderator of a private website, learning as I went, so this was very exciting. I went home and taught myself more on what these collaborative sites could do and then shared what I found with Lynne and Sally (my tutor) and offered to help other students to use this new tool. I got involved in a project as part of my Cert III and we used a wiki to document our progress and results. I learned how to embed photostory by scouring google for answers. I learned how to add backgrounds and all sorts of things.
I went on to do my Diploma Community Development and also did Cert IV TAA and started teaching "computers for the timid" and have since gone on to teach Cert III Community Services and training for student wikis.
I also manage Coonara Community House website and some of our internal sites, The Basin CH website and have rebuilt Orana NH website and taught one of their staff members how to manage it.
I developed the use of google docs for staff to fill in pay sheets from home. We have domain name google email and this fit in perfectly reducing the need for sessional tutors to come in and fill in hard copy paysheets. A one stop shop.
As part of my Dipcomdev placement, I worked for Care Connect to establish a support group for families of children with Autism which we named Spectrum Connections and of course it has a wiki to support it.
I have also worked for Scope - Eastern Recharge, developing their wiki for clients with disabilties to access information about activities and obtain booking forms.
I am currently doing the same for the Metro Access officer at Boroondara Council.
I'm sure that list is incomplete but I think you get the idea.
I look forward to working with everyone on the project and encouraging the organisations to get the best out of technology.
What an amazing array of skills we have. I'll have to admit I didn't understand all the technologies mentioned but as this is a learning experience I know I'll get to know more.
For those who missed the meeting. A little about me. I work for Coonara Community House with Lynne Gibb & Liz Grigg and was a student at the time wikis were introduced as part of our learning in Cert III Community Services work.
I was already a moderator of a private website, learning as I went, so this was very exciting. I went home and taught myself more on what these collaborative sites could do and then shared what I found with Lynne and Sally (my tutor) and offered to help other students to use this new tool. I got involved in a project as part of my Cert III and we used a wiki to document our progress and results. I learned how to embed photostory by scouring google for answers. I learned how to add backgrounds and all sorts of things.
I went on to do my Diploma Community Development and also did Cert IV TAA and started teaching "computers for the timid" and have since gone on to teach Cert III Community Services and training for student wikis.
I also manage Coonara Community House website and some of our internal sites, The Basin CH website and have rebuilt Orana NH website and taught one of their staff members how to manage it.
I developed the use of google docs for staff to fill in pay sheets from home. We have domain name google email and this fit in perfectly reducing the need for sessional tutors to come in and fill in hard copy paysheets. A one stop shop.
As part of my Dipcomdev placement, I worked for Care Connect to establish a support group for families of children with Autism which we named Spectrum Connections and of course it has a wiki to support it.
I have also worked for Scope - Eastern Recharge, developing their wiki for clients with disabilties to access information about activities and obtain booking forms.
I am currently doing the same for the Metro Access officer at Boroondara Council.
I'm sure that list is incomplete but I think you get the idea.
I look forward to working with everyone on the project and encouraging the organisations to get the best out of technology.
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