Forays into Learning

Facilitation and Evaluation part 2

2009-12-17T19:12:00.005+11:00

To Be an Elf

the end is here!

My Final Thoughts
I have enjoyed this course. From the start I knew I knew a lot, but if you can not learn from anything or something then I don't think you should be in the teaching/training/facilitation game.

What is my biggest discovery?
Interesting question.
In 2002 I went through the discovery game called The NSW Quality Teacher Award. Part of it was about reflecting on my teaching. It was an enlightening process (BTW I got an award). At the time I made a statement I still live by: If I stop learning - I should be dead.
And I still maintain it is true.

What has that to do with an eLF?
Everything!!!!!
I have been involved in online delivery for about 8 years, so some say I know all about it. I get asked to be a mentor on panels for just about every form of online delivery technology that comes out.
But I don't always accept!

How do I really feel?
This year - mostly ahhhh!!
I am drowning in technology.
How do I program this new HDD TV recorder? I get a call from a friend - how do I get my new adobe stuff to work on my new PC? (That was why I missed the last session. What I thought would take 2 hours took over 3!) and yes I did get the recorder to work - now how to edit the recording so as only to keep the bit I want rather than the extra 2 hours worth. O well some thing more.
Back to the question. TALS, moodle, mahara (sounds like a desert) and some other new thing that Beth Hobbs showed me yesterday.
More and more to learn.
But, what is it all about?
Achieving a result - hopefully successful - for the student.
What should I use? - what works for them!
Do I want the new technology? maybe
Do I have to be perfect with it before I use it? no - lets give it a go.

How did I learn? by playing
Did I have time? no - but I tried to make the most of what I could get.
Biggest lesson? on reflection, I was spending up to 3 or 4 times the amount of effort I thought I was doing per student. This was big!!!!

My main evaluation tool? the telephone. I would ring the student and ask how I could improve it? they are usually truthful - I had one person tell me it was all crap! (he had just failed and did not quite do any work!) - but I still looked at the material and changed from totally using wikiversity to including a textbook.

What did I enjoy most about this course? The Monday ( and occasional Thursday) get together on Adobe Connect.

My biggest appreciation? The Facilitators: Kerrie, Deb, Jenny and Phil - I, at least, appreciate what you did during the semester. I felt for you every time the technology played up.
Why do we do it? For the learner. For our learning.

Will I keep doing it? you bet ya. I am already collecting my students for next year.
Will it be better than this year? I hope so.

What is the most important bit to know? ...
... that we, the facilitators should be driving the technology.
... ... that we should be leading by example and taking the learning environment forward...
... ... THAT is the goal. To use the tool to get the student to participate.

Should we be comfortable? Not totally. To be comfortable brings complacently, bring laxity, and short cuts. Therefore the learner can suffer.

Thanks guys - twas good. if only a few more could finish!
also posted on the WSI eLF4Us wiki - today 17/12/2009

I made it - I got to the end.
But I still don't have pointy ears
and definitely will not be wearing the green tights.

Facilitation and Evaluation part 1

2009-12-17T18:57:00.006+11:00

To Be an Elf

the end is nearly there

What is Good eLearning
As we near the end of the eLF training the final segment is on evaluation.

The last edition of the "Professional Educator", Vol 8 No 3 Sept 2009, Australian College of Educators, has a really interesting article (reflection) on what is good and bad elearning. (from Page 10)

A very good question!

Has it to do with technique? the attitude of the learner? maybe some element of the facilitator or is it the technology? More about the article in a minute.

The further we have travelled this semester, I have found myself pondering on this very thing. A week or so ago I (and a co-facilitator) received a thank you card and box of choccies from a certificate 4 Web student who has just completed the course. The comment in the card is her evaluation (- I might copy it and post the picture on my elf page)
Nothing major in that except she was in London and we in Wentworth Falls. This makes my most distant elearner.

What made the difference with her that others haven't got?
We used electronic files sent by email and wikiversity and a couple of books for the materials; questions asked and responded to via email - that 10-11 hour time difference was a killer! Only once did I have what could be considered an email conversation with her - late evening our time - and several emails flew around the world in a very short time. Almost like we were on the phone.

But was it good eLearning?
I think so.

Too often people try to replicate the learning as if it were a normal class room group and plan accordingly and then get frustrated when the learners are everywhere between week 2 and 18.

For me the value of elearning is that it allows the learner the opportunity to engage with the learning in a way that they want, at a time they want, at the speed that they want. It is about their learning and we as facilitators should aim to keep them on their target not ours! This semester I have lost (as in can't find) 2 (what I class as remote) students. I have no contact info - have spoken to both - one from Victoria and one from Bankstown.

Am I concerned? Yes. But there is almost nothing I can do but wait on them to get back to me.
Luckily - I found 1 - she had moved and said sorry for the lack of contact - she will restart next year.

But at the same time I have several others: The one above, a diploma student who is about to finish his IT Diploma (Systems Admin) from the Reserve Bank in Sydney and a fellow in Canberra, who is retraining after an accident. To mention but 3.
They will get there because of the efforts of themselves and the facilitator.

Are the lesson plans good? Not particularly - how hard it is to plan for a phone hook up that can change direction the moment the student asnwers (and no, Kerrie, I am not making excuses.)

What has made most of my elearners successful?

The ability to reach them where they are at, to use the skills they have, to encourage them, to get back to them - even if the game of tag goes on for a week (sorry, Allen). Being adaptable, but above all else it is the responsiveness to facilitate someone who wants to learn.

To quote from John Connell's article...

‘Individual freedom realised in personal interdependence’ – what better way to describe the nature of the relationships we have to nurture in education today?

The quality of personal interdependence in learning now achievable on a global scale, through web technologies, is immeasurably greater than it was before. (from http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/?p=2247 - There’s Good eLearning and there’s Bad eLearning: how do we tell one from the other? [Reprise] posted September 15,2009)
The complete article that is in the magazine can be downloaded at:
http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/files/elearning_jconnell.pdf

originally posted on WSI elf4us wiki as part of the eLF course on 7/11/2009

When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom

2009-09-02T14:56:00.001+10:00

When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom
A comment that many teachers have/are losing their sting (so to speak)by relying on technology The Chronicle Article http://chronicle.com/article/Teach-Naked-Effort-Strips/47398/ explores this but now here they are trying to do this with some big courses.Whilst not strictly elearning, the item is worth a view. It has a video interview as well as the words.
It is an interesting thought in an era where technology is the thrust...

To Be an eLF

2009-08-04T19:39:00.006+10:00

What is an eLF?
Well may you ask? (many famous people said this)

Well...today I started the eLearning Facilitator (eLF) course and thougt I would strt the thought process now before the first session's requirements are due.
Why would I do this after spending probably the last 7 years playing with technology to do deliver in different and interesting ways to people both in and away from the college?
Easy - I want the accreditation for the unit TAADEL501B (facilitate e-learning) from the TAA04 training package.
Secondly - I will learn something new, help more recent converts, and have fun

more to follow, as I do the reflective entries for the program (also to be copied onto the required WSI TAFE wikispace)

elf picture curtesy of TAFE WSI elf wiki

2007-05-15T21:10:00.000+10:00

Workplace learning and the role of VET

Notes/observations on a conference

Rainbird

learning in the workplace - a community of practice - not just an individual activity
standards based (eg CBT) has the problem of not accessing the theoretical knowledge, how to learn-type skills
should be focused on the learner

Cooney (Auto industry)

short-term role of training
so, must demonstrate return to business (in the now) - therefore job specific skills development

Effects -

firm specific/job specific
therefore, not necessarily transferable across the industry
less focus on developmental learning

*** training not leading to the broad-based skill development that leads to innovation and product development

Giselle Mawer -SMEs

experience and skills from on job (especially from supplier training) valued over accredited training
accredited training for mandated requirements
not much knowledge of the formal VET system, RPL and AQF qualifications (knowledge mainly from industry bodies - limited)
individual needs training
or for new pay structures

*** most of trainng undertaken was either free of direct costs or subsidised by govt and statewide subsidies and levies

*** employer responsible for employee currency

Barriers

lack of relevance and unresponsive
difficulties in releasing staff

Possible points of connection

formal recognition of current skills (RPL)
strategically targeted promotion and facilitation
more integration of VET services with workplace business
know industry context

Peter Waterhouse

enterprise based not industry based training
employers often don't place value on quals as much as employees
quals - gateway at recruitment
quals - and a developmental tool & career pathway

we all use the same ingredients - it is what you do with it that makesthe difference

shift from delivery to dialogue on design of programs
Training Package - instrument of policy and instrument of training
contextualised & relevant does not mean reductionist or narrow.

Mary Jones (Indigenous programs - Victoria)

need for program of critical thinking
link of underpinning concepts to the competencies
use of experiential learning (Kolb 1984)
reflective learning
group learning
facilitated - group had ownership
workplace did not always identify tacit knowledge
use of learning journal
workplace issues discussed in the formal learning place

students linked to employers at start of program

also

need to know the students
program for welding - did not work because employers did not want to train - just get pre-skilled workers

Conclusion - John Bucannan

ABS - most workers only have workplace training (WPT)
WPT - being starved of resources
- re-engage with on the job to hit training needs
Problems with training sit with senior business and Government policy
It is not RTOs being unresponsive but constrained to qualifications framework and Training packages
Training packages - enterprises don't need full qualifications but skill sets.

"Looking for Blackfellas' Point"

2007-04-21T22:12:00.001+10:00

I have just finished reading this book. It is a look at the history of place, a story that needed to be told about the history of what happened on the far south coast after the arrival of Europeans. It tells the history as it was - not as it was perceived. It places the history of the area into 4 parts: Dispossession, Forgetting, Abandonment, Confrontation.

The impact is enormous. It tells, using a lot of source material and oral histories, of the dispossession of the aboriginals from there land. It was a movement both open and by stealth. Then it moves into the realm of the way in which the whites conveniently "forgot" about the way in which they tried to wipe out the real locals. The interesting thing about the book is the way it deals with both sides. Part 3 looks at the how the non-Aboriginals felt about their circumstance - they largely had a sense of abandonment. They were at the frontier - a long way form what they saw as civilisation. There was almost no moral/ethical well being.

It wasn't till 30 years after settlement that there was any Christian Church that looked after the people.

And on some occasions the church didn't help the Aboriginal people.

And also, not every one was against the traditional locals. Chapter 6 is the story of Oswald Brierly, a young artist who came to the area with Ben Boyd to manage Boydtown. But he also came with paints, and pencils and made many observations. He tells the story of the locals: black and white. He has a strong empathy with the Aborigines, and often condemned the actions of the whites. "He was a pioneer of understanding rather than a pioneer of industry" (p 134)

Part 4 - Confrontation. (And it was)

Looks at the new history - the forgotten past - the real history. The pasted shaped now by the memory of what happened, about who we are (black and white). It is interesting that in 1967 Bega had the distinction of recording the 2nd highest rejection rate (voted no in the referendum for aboriginal equality). This section is challenging and very confronting as it reflects a lot about us all as a people (section 8 - "we are all one" p 162 ff). It reflects fear and discrimination, it shows heart and compassion.

Above all it showed a way forward. It tells of the move to reconciliation - of the need to be aware of and sensitive to the shame and pain of the white past.

Even though I (we) were not there does not meant that I/we can not have real regret about what happened in the past.

Even though the book is set about the south coast, it tells a story that is mostly true for all the country - there was good and bad everywhere.

It is now that we must understand and walk together. The past may be gone but the future beckons...

One amazing book - well done Mark McKenna.

Book details: Looking for Blackfellas' Point: an Australian History of Place, Mark McKenna , 9780868406442, UNSW Press, August 2002

I came across this interesting link.
It is the blog site for a Sydney Uni History unit about Land, Memory and Place in History (It will probably vanish after the end of semester which will be a shame). Yep it has a new link: http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/writingplace/2007/04/the_relationship_between_place.html (as at 7/3/2008)

Expansion with a difference - Batmania

2007-04-02T20:53:00.001+10:00

in contrast...

3 March 1837: 'Melbourne' it is...

The history of the founding of melbourne is one dominated by a man who was either a hero or a fraud. History is divided.

John Batman, was a fellow who tried something different and 170 years later the dispute continues. What ever way the arguement goes, he shall go down in history as the man who founded the site of Melbourne - and he has statues and plaques to support his memory.

For, me the interesting thing about him is his deed/treaty with the local Aboringinal people in the Port Phillip Bay area in what is today the Melbourne metropolitan area. Whatever his real motive, at face value he wanted to achieve access to the area, to settle, without bloodshed. This is in sharp contrast to the events read about in Blood on the Wattle.

If only more people had tried to talk to the locals.

To discover more about John Batman go to the National Museum of Australia's collection on Batmania. Batmania home page Included in the collection is the transcript of the deed and much more beside. for the FLASH version (Flash 6 compatible)

Whatever the outcome of the discussion, at least he appears to have had some respect for the locals in that at least he appears to have accepted the fact that they had claim to their country. The fact that he talked to them in British legal terms and they in their local country law, misunderstandings aside, at least it was peaceful.

An interesting website:

Worth a visit, virtually and physically

Depressed - 150 years of injustice

2007-04-02T19:23:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday I had a fairly relaxed day, that is till I took to finishing the reading of Blood on the Wattle (Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians Since 1788, 3rd Edition; Bruce Elder; isbn: 174110008-9). This spoilt my day. It is depressing, really horrifying what was done in the name of so called civilisation.

I think the real shock was reading about people I thought had been the "good guys" in early (white) Australian history. William Cox built the the road over the Blue Mountains without losing a single convict labourer. We have always seen him as a humane person - he looked after his workers.

"William Cox took six months to complete the construction of the 101 miles of roadway. It was a great engineering feat for that time in history. He had convicts and soldiers assigned to him and although justice was hard in those days, the men were pleased to work for William, which resulted in their freedom, on completion of the task"
Reference: BLUE MOUNTAINS ROAD FROM PENRITH to BATHURST PLAINS

However, that image is shattered by reading of his life in the Bathurst area, land given to him as a reward for the road. On page 58 of Blood on the Wattle is a quote attributed to Cox: "The best thing that can be done is to shoot all the blacks and manure the ground with their carcasses..." disgusting.

Then to read that William Lawson (one of the 3 explorers that crossed the Blue Mts) had similar sentiments. Too much!

On talking to a friend as we wandered along a track in Faulconbridge that was possibly an Aboriginal highway in times long gone, we discussed the horrors that were perpetrated against these people. The feelings reflected the major injustices that were dealt against these people just wanting to survive in their country.

In promoting better times from the past:

Circles in the Blue Mountains.

A possible meeting place?

ten canoes - a story about life ... and death

2007-03-27T18:42:00.000+10:00

"One hundred and fifty spears, ten canoes, three wives... trouble"

I just watched ten canoes. A very powerful movie. It is about a story. Well 2 stories - it is a story within a story.

The story of the ancients told to a young man.
A story of how to live, how to behave.
It delves into what it is that makes up the people.
It is a story of the people.
It was simple yet complex.

It tells of the connection to the land, and in someways of the circle of life (and death) eg from the little fish in the waterhole, to a person, to return to the waterhole.

Of one with the land, of the law of the land.
The story was both parable and history.

It was captivating and begs to be taken further.

a story to teach ... to learn about a nearly forgotten culture ... to continue to understand the link to the land

...and the filming was truly amazing...

A film worth watching: Ten Canoes *****

ACEP - 4 More on Stories

2007-03-19T19:27:00.000+11:00

Today I had an interesting discussion about what is a story. So just what is a story. most dictionaries have a similar definition which is along the lines of:

A narrative or story in its broadest sense is anything told or recounted; more narrowly, something told
or recounted in the form of a causally-linked set of events; account; tale,: the telling of a happening or connected series of happenings, whether true or fictitious. http://www.stevedenning.com/What_story.html

other definitions can be found at answers.com, or google's definitions.

From thse we see that the story is just a collection of events. My Oxford dictionary has 3 meanings; two of the relate to the telling if events or factual information.
However, many people have this veiw that a story is the telling of a fictional account, like a novel or fib (as in a child telling stories)
This had led to a down-grading of the word story.
Most cultures use story telling to convey their history, their law, the social mores, etc, to the next generation. Generally these are not stories of fiction.
Interpretive guides and teachers also make extensive use of stories. They use them to tell the history of locations, about events about how to do things using examples.
So, in our society there are those who suggest that the term "story" should not be used but rather terms such as histories, lore, mores.
Personally, I think that these terms miss the point.

The term story also conveys a sense of how it is told.
A history can be a string of items , like dates; whereas a historical story is something people are more likely to want to hear, than a string of dates.

So, in using the term story I want it to convey the full sense of the word: the way it is told, the factual content, a way in which information can be conveyed such that the listener may have a comprehension of what is being told and hopefully remember it sometime in the future. It is a means to get an audience to get a sense of feeling about what is being told.

As I said before remove the story: remove the life.
Life would be pretty ordinary without the stories.

acep - 3 About Stereotypes

2007-03-16T22:35:00.000+11:00

One of the topics of discussion on day 1 was something like: "think about what you think an Aboriginal whould look like". Then the group was asked to tell the rest what they thought.
Most people had in their mind something like the "typically scrawny or athletic, dark skinned, curly-haired native in loin cloth" as so often shown in early colonial art works. These are the images, often taught at school in social studies up to the mid 1970's, that have shaped for many what an Aboriginal should look like.
How far off the mark is this?
OK, so the there may be a couple like this, but the person can be as different our 2 facilitators. There is no one size fits all desciption. I had trouble with the question, as I have worked with, taught and known Aboriginal people from all over Australia. I could not come up with single image. But then I have had the opportunity to work in much of this country with many different people.

Consider the differences between Lionel Rose (boxer) and Evonne Cawley (tennis player) as an example. I only know the former from images in the newspapers, etc, but I know Evonne Cawley, not just through the media, but from personally meeting her in 1976. One just an image, the other, a larger than life person. Sitting, writing this I recall the tragic comment often used by commentators about her when she was struggling in a match: "could she hold it together or would she go walkabout?" 30 years on, I find it such a horrible thing to say, displaying an ignorance we need to educate people away from.
Many people I know have not left the "safety" of their own environment, so have not been exposed to the diversity of people I have seen around Australia.
Their view of the Aboriginal is that displayed by their teachers, and by the media in its various forms.

Today, I stumbled across this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. "It was about the World Press Photo of the year, by Spencer Platt, of Getty Images, which has become 'controversial' since it was announced. The problem, it seems, is that the image is not what everyone wants it to be ..." The article "its_all_in_your_mind" is worth a read. But after you get to the page, look at the image. What is it about? Consider this before you read the article .

It seems stereotyping is alive and well

Book of the day: Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians Since 1788, 3rd Edition; Bruce Elder; isbn: 174110008-9

Thought for today: stereotypes have no place in dealing with people and cultures

ACEP - 2 Stories are about life

2007-03-15T08:16:00.000+11:00

The other day Annette (another teacher doing the course) and I had lunch to discuss some of the ideas that had been put forward last week. We looked at the stories in the work book: A Gammon Dreaming Story, The Whale Song and Jinni.
It is good when you can sit and talk to some one about common ideas.
The main theme is the connectedness of the people to the land and how stories are used to pass on things to the next generation - some times without the young person realising it till later. Remove the story - remove the very essence of the culture.
Anyway, yesterday Michael Nelson posted a thing about a great paper about story centred curriculum by Roger Schank. (read about the dragonslayer course). It is about using stories to deliver courses that relate to the outcomes that students require. Great that people are thinking about this as being educationally sound - a few thousand years after other cultures started the same.

Book of the day: Blue Mountains Dreaming: The Aboriginal Heritage Edited by Eugene Stockton

Aboriginal Cultural Education Program - day 1

2007-03-14T19:05:00.001+11:00

Last Thursday I attended day one of this program that is running in the college.
it is about understanding aboriginal culture, and as a consequence some understanding of their link to the land, each other and the relationships and spirituality that goes to to the make up these people and their country.
from the first it was interesting just how some people saw (or more probably did not see) the importance of The Dreaming stories. Some were very aggressive about showing a distinct lack of understanding and at times an unwillingness to accept was the 2 facilitators were trying to put across. So, as in many things I have attended, it really warmed to being an interesting time watching the reactions to people who appeared not to have been involved with the deeper side of aboriginal culture, and its importance to the very essence of who they are (past, present and future).

To the content: we spent much of the time considering the importance of The Dreaming to the people. Its centrality, and interconnectedness between the people, the land, the law and the lore.
This importance starts to give rise to thoughts about how learning is undertaken and a way of life maintained. Not surprisingly the learning is through stories, public and private. Stories that pass on things like who am i?; why am I here? to how did every thing begin? how do we live in this land and the relationship between all things.

Thought for the day on this: there is a need for a respect for the culture, to acknowledge the importance of The Dreaming. From here the relationship exists.

Book of the day: "Prehistory of Australia" by John Mulvaney and Johan Kumminga; isbn 9781864489507

A web site to consider: Lore of the Land

A thank you to our facilitators: Cheryl and Maxine

A small problem called size

2007-02-28T10:14:00.000+11:00

well whoever said doing videos online was easy was making an understatement. It is easy but when you have bulk videos that only shrink to 400 mb it becomes a loading nightmare.
The other frustration is the DET network and its bar on youtube and google video. Currently it still only lets us use bliptv, in my view a poor 2nd to the others.
However we will continue...

a new year - some new ideas.

The joys of Life and DVDs

2006-10-30T12:03:00.000+11:00

as part of our web course last week we had a guest speaker Russ Wheatley. The students videoed the 1 hour session. The joy now is to make it into usable form that can be uploaded to YouTube or Google Video. At the same time I have been playing with the video files from the outdoor rec people and have a 37 second movie of a skill sample ready to roll. tie-in for climbing

Learnscope Postcard from the field

2006-10-18T14:42:00.000+10:00

Edit 28/2/2007 - to see the real postcard go here: http://www.nswlearnscope.com/?p=204

The LiFE team is an amalgamation of groups with a common goal: to improve the lot of our student's experience by investigating, and playing with, new (and not so new) tools to improve the learning experience.

So we have been out and about: on cliffs, in paddocks, in the field looking at plants, in computer rooms, students scattered all over the place, in libraries, and out and about, participated in workshops, joined with other teams, helped facilitate training sessions in related areas to other groups - and generally had a good time.

Outdoor Recreation Instructor, Gil, demonstrating to Laura how to tie-in before a climb. An example of a skill set that will eventually make its way to an instructional video. (Taken at Mt York)

We have taken the opportunity to learn new techniques/tools for our selves and then try them on the students. In one instance, Michael's web group got right into it using gmail chat to conduct a session that had been set down for a lab, but due to electrical problems, the students were scattered in and out of the college. The class went ahead - reinforcing what we knew - a college based class group don't have to be in the same place at one time to be an interactive group.

Michael Nelson running a gmail chat session with his Web students.

The major focus of part of the team has been on how we can take teaching/learning material out of the classroom environment. Often into places where there is no wireless internet, where there is no mobile phone reception (this really upsets some students), where there is no power (sometimes for several days at a time). We have gone forth with laptops and pdas, digital cameras and video cameras, (seen them run out of power), to take ideas and capture ideas about teaching and learning in the field.

Student doing plant identification in the field

But not to be left behind, our librarians, got together to work on how they, too, could come to the party and support those of us rushing around outside. So a word from them:

Life library team members are exploring technologies such as blogs, RSS feeds, sharepoint and (all the) wikis to share information between institute libraries and support teachers and students in their learning. We are also considering the implications of these technologies in the wider world of library services in VET when learning and information access is virtual, mobile and immense. Eg can libraries use social technologies to help people engage with the information explosion by being aggregators, filters and by weighing the importance of information for our clients? The workshop with NSWtox and Leigh Blackall opened our eyes to the exponential potential (!) of the web: first films filmed actors on the stage ~ look film technology now; first internet delivered text ~ now we are beginning to communicate and learn in totally different ways.

Our lessons: not enough time; and the technology doesn't always want to keep up with our ideas.

From

The Learning in the Field Effectively Team October 2006

due to technical problems I will put the images up soon

eBusiness Course 2/2006

2006-09-01T13:29:00.000+10:00

Last night saw night 3 of our current eBusiness course. It is about doing an intro to the world of eBusiness, and so has people from various small business from around the Blue Mts.
Last night we had a visit from a representative from eBay. She was great and also had one of her eBay shop owners (who just happened to be part of the group). They enlighten us to the way it works and the things that can be done as well as the management of the eBay store (thanks to Janine and Charmaine).
As part of the discussion during the course has been the issue of being seen on the WWW, and the importance of having links on other websites. We have also discussed the use of blogs in helping to increase traffic to the ebusiness site. So... I said Iwould put a link to the participants website on this blog.
The links will be in the side bar till the end of the year but I have also included them in the post.

Summit Gear
Resort House.Wandene
Wooldancer Yarn Designs
Wooldancer Yarn Designs blog
Entice Photography
Tortoise Tehnologies
Renostop
French Dressing
French Dressing (eBay)
Blue Mountains Holiday Lets
John turner Gallery

Digital stories

2006-09-01T13:17:00.000+10:00

Last Tuesday saw Jude C, Michael N and I descend to Penrith for a time of playing with digital storytelling with Robyn Jay and Alex Hayes from the NSW Learnscope team. It was a great day with people from other teams based at OTEN. See the digitales wiki for mor info.
I played with making a walk through of a cave at Jenolan whilst Michael did a story of the first 12 (?) months of Miriam's childhood. All this in the name of learning.
As aways I wanted to stretch the limit of the software - not to be content with a frame by frame narrative, I want a continuous talk with music background across the lot. Well it is getting there. The finished version with sound will premier on google videos sometime in the not too distant future.
This was followed up with Alex showing us the uses of de.li.cous and other tools.
We even watched some home movies.

A great day - thanks Robyn and Alex

the last post

2006-08-20T16:47:00.000+10:00

The last post (as opposed to a military one) was done to show a group of "intro to eBusiness" students how easy it is to create a post in the compose screen without knowing any form of html.
It took about 1 minute including logging in.
Some of them then started to think about the potential of the Blog to futher their business.

today is brought to you by the colour purple....

2006-08-17T20:55:00.000+10:00

this is how i do a post

Tagging in Flickr

2006-08-13T23:18:00.000+10:00

I finally got around to playing with flickr. This was another of the things I had listed as one of my learnscope objectives.

So, now my flickr account has images in it. And tagged - one for the caving club I am a member of and one for the Jenolan caves trip from the beginning of August (also tagged bmspeleos) and one for Annelise's textiles major work

So now to get my Outdoor Rec guys to upload their pics to flickr with a tag that they can all use for the groups pictures.

Quikmaps

2006-08-10T20:03:00.000+10:00

My Learnscope goals include the use of a personal learning environment and the things that can be used to enhance learning. (This blog is also a learning tool and journal of that journey). From Sean FitzGerald's PLE session wiki came the link to quikmaps.
A top little tool.

So ... here is my first go. It shows the first two locations in my forays into the field with Outdoor Recreation.

This is what the map looks like. The tags have a comment about the site and activity undertaken there. If you want to try it, the link is: my quikmaps map . Opens in a new window.

Project time - otherwise known as cool tools stories

2006-08-10T18:48:00.000+10:00

Today saw another day to play with toys ==> the digital video camera and mp3 player.
The plan: go to Mt Wilson where the continuing Certificate 3 students were in day 2 of a 3 day camp. The game plan was to video some of the activities being run by the students and to use the mp3 players (1Gb iRivers) to record some of the activity debriefs.
Mt Wilson was surperb - lots of sun, almost no wind and mostly enthusiastic students. Videoing went well but when we tried the mp3 players all we managed to get was the sound of a couple of RAAF Hercules flying overhead and some muffled sounds that may have been people. O well back to the learning board.
Lessons learnt:
the students appreciated seeing themselves on the screen (dvd is finalised in the camera and then shown on the notebook) and they probably handled me filming because most of them were in my group last semester.
need to have a spare battery or 2 for the camera - 108 minutes is not long enough for a day out
need to have really good playtime with the tools before field time
with the mp3 player - Gary and I found the control buttons confusing and did not always respond in the way the manual stated.

Results: still a good day with teachers still interested in the use of technology.

(pictures to come later when I process the dvd)

As another part of the project I intend to plot the locations of the filming/play locations using quikmaps

The blues...

2006-08-09T23:30:00.000+10:00

Annelise (my daughter) is currently doing her HSC. She read the last post and said "learning should be fun? tell that to this stupid HSC thing."
She is more than slightly stressed because she has to finish her textiles major assignment by friday. A mighty work. A dress and amazing big black cape - complete with silver cobwebs.

It really is amazingly good.

Go Anna, go

The the teaching process - she did it through the Sydney Distance High school- left a lot to be desired. A way that certainly didn't suit her at all. Minimal support from the school and lots and lots of time with Judy (her mother and my wife (25 yrs in 2 weeks) ) doing lots to help.

:-(

learning should be fun

2006-08-09T22:31:00.000+10:00

Carmen (see comments to New Toys) makes an interesting point. People (including teachers) often have preconceived ideas on where and when you can use elearning techniques. So....
Why not for rock climbing? or even canoeing? In a cave may be a bit hard but I haven't considered how I can do that - yet. (me in Deep Hole, Walli - June 2006)

but lets have fun, anyway!!

eLearning can be used anywhere, any time. As part of the LiFE learnscope project we are going to look at various things in various situations: for our web students, in horticulture/land management, in outdoor recreation (obvious by the pics and comments) and by librarians to improve the lot of their clients.

As part of this, I attended a LearnScope learning day last Thursday (3/8) to improve my personal learning space. This was lead by Sean FitzGerald . Well, thanks Sean. It was a good day - and apart being somewhere to play with technology, I actually achieved some customisation of this blog.
Then on Friday, the ICVET Powerhouse of learning and the showcase of Cool Tools for elearning. The last post was about the trials getting the videos to work - well at about midnight that night I got the images into MPEG4 format and on a DVD. Those that visited the stand on Friday got to see some movies... and to talk to me about just where and how "cool tools" can be used. How far (or maybe deep) can we go? ... the imagination is the limit.
As an aside - I showed the Cert 3 students some of the movies on Monday in class - certainly gee-ed them up for the afternoon session. The next step - Google video here we come (well - when I get time to try it out)

Tomorrow - Mt Wilson. Another group of students and a few more teachers who have become interested in using some technology in differnet ways.
The issues: the camera only lasts for 108 minutes fully charged and the notebook around 200 minutes.

New Toys

2006-08-03T20:30:00.000+10:00

Over the past couple of weeks I have taken possesion of a few new toys as part of the TOL2 (TAFE OnLine 2) project. These have been HP Notebooks, some iPAC pda's and some MP3 players to be shared around with the project team.
For me - a notebook, pda and some times a couple of MP3 players. I will be using these in the field with the outdoor rec section at varying places in the field to determine how we can utilise the technoly to help the students.
Yesterday afternoon was spent at Mt York with the new Cert 3 as they had thier first go on the cliffs. I had the college's new Handycam. Some of the students wanted to be movie stars! Anyway, about 45minutes of footage later (about 1.75 Gb) I went home, thinking time to play with the movies. Didn't work - put the discs in the dvd player - but no luck. Nothing. File systems said no files! But I knew it had something.
So...as a matter of last resort...read the manual.
But I had the wrong manual. Had I lost it all?

Rolling on - found an online manual - It said I had to finalize the disks - so the images survived to be made on to a single DVD for showing at the ICVET Powerhouse of Learning on 4/8/2006 at ATP.
So - step one has been solved - I can get the images.

Picture shows Gil showing Laura how to tie a figure-of eight knot attachment to her harness in preparation for a climb.
Mt York. Certificate 3 Outdoor Rec. 2 Aug 2006.

Now to find out about manipulating/editing them to be small enough clips to ship up to something like Google-video or youTube.
The objective: short training clips of required skills for outdoor rec activities eg climbing, abseiling, canoeing.

New Learning?

2006-06-29T21:29:00.000+10:00

This week has seen me return to the blog. This was originally set up as part of a training course for encouragaing teachers to venture into the world of learning online. I leave it here to show the past.

The future beckons.
The technology changes, but does our learning and teaching change with it?
I did my original teacher training in the late 70's. At this time the use of videos was just beginning to get solid airplay in the classroom.
Last friday (23 june) I attended a get together on mlearning in Wollongong. Alex Hayes posed a question about the new technologies on offer: is it good pedagogy?
How can technology have a pedogogy? I don't think it is technology that is the issue - it is the thoughts, desires and passion of the teacher that dictates the pedagogy. How can we utilise these things to reach people? Re-engage the learner. But were they really disengaged? Probably it is the system of education that was disengaged, or the teacher. By definition - how can a learner be a disengaged learner? Disengaged from the world - I think not.
They are engaged - it is the teacher that is often are not engaged with the learner. A BIG difference.

To that end this blog will now reflect my thoughts and gleanings from 2 projects I am currently involved with (more on them later) and other things that interupt my thoughts.

Now - to think - about where/how to get the most from what we have - web 2.0? pdas? mobile phones or notebooks on a cliff top?
who knows where it will go...?
..................the holidays appear closer ==> time to reflect

The Joys of a life away from work

2005-05-20T10:15:00.000+10:00

too often we spend our whole life revolving around our work.

For example many people in IT spend their spare time doing computer activities, instead of having a life separate out side of work.

Variety is the spice of life - enjoy the out doors - so visit a national park near you : NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

the joys of blogging

2005-05-20T09:50:00.000+10:00

well - here we go - off on a way to communicate in a totally different way.
People can tell their experiences in their learning journey.

simple and easy!!!!

Col's Exploring elearning

2005-05-20T09:31:00.000+10:00

eLearning is not just about teaching students in an online environment.

There are many ways inwhich to engage in learning that involve the use of "electronic" media.

Engagement can be through the use of simple things like BLOGs.