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...............

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.

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!

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:

1. 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.
2. I need to commit more time to making sure I keep in contact with my eleaders
3. We need to contact other organisations to bring in additional organisations who have not been participants.
4. Should the EMR ementor team meet more regularly online to keep ourselves on track and invigorated and also to plan our online sessions?
5. 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?
   
6. Brain-dead now so any suggestions/strategies will be welcome!