Thursday, 30 October 2008
Short thoughts
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- 12:15 Is everything we do in communities learning? One could say so - all conversations are learning - but it's not a word everyone likes to use #
- 12:17 A favourite use of video on the Web (brill elearning) is www.periodicvideos.com/ - I had dinner with Prof Poliakoff last night :) #
- 18:19 stationary in diversion off m1 #
- 08:38 How difficult can it be to find the JISC conference blog? Help @jamesclay ! #
- 08:44 Still loving Pepys the blogger - a labour of love - www.pepysdiary.com/ #
- 08:47 Online conferences are now all the rage - not all are well done, but I think we can rely on JISC tinyurl.com/6flht5 #
- 08:49 Another notable online conference - lots on Second Life - Learning Futures Festival at Leicester Uni tinyurl.com/67dr26 #
- 11:06 looking for info on effectively teaching via phone or skype - ideas? #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:16 AM
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Short thoughts
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- 12:12 Is there such a thing as a basic free video editor? I just want to chop an avi file in two,,, #
- 13:58 The answer to my own question about free video editing seems to be Windows Movie Maker - who would have thought it! #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:16 AM
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Short thoughts
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- 13:07 @ajcann I was trying to tell someone that just the other day - but they were so pleased they'd had the idea to contact their students on FB #
- 13:09 there should be a way to "ignore" or "exclude" private twitter conversations with tags that don't concern one... #
- 13:18 Yammer is useful for internal training. Only those at the same email domain can join so you can keep it away from everybody's Twitter #
- 17:18 Just lost all my contacts, texts and calendar on my TyTN - I'm in mourning! AND it has to go back for two weeks to be fixed! {sigh} #
- 17:50 What similarities are there in moderating live webinar sessions (e.g., in Elluminate or Connect or Wimba) and in moderating in Second Life? #
- 18:43 Time I checked new followers and did some following back :) #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:17 AM
Monday, 27 October 2008
Online activities for action learning sets
We've been setting up some online spaces to support action learning sets for groups of businesspeople. These groups have some face to face meetings and the online space is to support these. In such cases we don't need strictly defined e-tivities. Action learning is defined by the participants themselves. The online activity is clearly simply to continue discussion. For an e-moderator the job is to facilitate this continuing discussion in a hands-off kind of way. There is no need to set a topic, although it might be useful to summarise and reframe any topics that have come out in the face to face action learning sets just as a reminder to participants about what they may decide to continue the discussions about here.
Action Learning Sets are very similar to Communities of Practice in that the topics come from the participants and the e-moderator's job is to facilitate (not lead) discussion - the ideal e-moderator in this context is virtually invisible, enabling from the sidelines, dealing with technical problems and access, providing information about the system, sending out emails reminding people to take part. People will also need to be assured of confidentiality.
The subject matter expert (live workshop facilitator) may or may not be part of the online discussion - but they will be better able to facilitate future workshops if they have at least popped in to read the discussions or had some kind of report back to them. (If a report of the online discussions is required to feedback to the next live workshop, for example, then the e-moderator's job will be to facilitate the choice of someone from the group do that if necessary, advise on time-scales etc.)Labels: action learning, communities, e-moderating, elearning, emoderator, online action learning sets, online communities
posted by Helen Whitehead 1:31 PM
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 19:53 Just going online with creative writing students in UK and Australia for a role-playing live chat - bound to be fun! #
- 08:13 @chetty the live chat role-play I did with my writing students last night was huge fun and easy even for those who'd never done chat before #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:15 AM
Friday, 24 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 14:04 at a social enterprise course surrounded by people who are passionate about a cause #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 11:44 Such a difference in motivation between learners who believe in CPD and those who are "forced" to take part in it by managers #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 10:20 Colleagues attending a careers fair today... As a firm we are committed to education and work experience #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:12 AM
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 11:42 John Traxler on Mobile e-learning in Kenya: all welcome to webinar from ELKS network Tue (tomorrow) 11-noon tinyurl.com/3e6kfr #
- 13:15 @gpirie congratulations! I didn't expect anything else though... #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:12 AM
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 12:13 More upgrading - Moodle this time! #
- 18:03 One Moodle upgraded, all well. Always takes longer than you think so got a lot of laundry, floor mopping etc while I waited! Now for dinner #
- 18:54 @ajcann Future of Creative Technologies Conference (free!) 20 Nov with Howard Rheingold tinyurl.com/3z2jlm #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:10 AM
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 22:06 Thanks to @jobadge, @gpirie and @crypticfragment for ideas on coping with passwords. Anyone have any more foolproof ways to remember them? #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Friday, 17 October 2008
Twitter tweets including about passwords
- 09:01 Twaiku: Waking from headache / Blessed stillness, till it dawns... / the boys' alarms failed! #
Twitter conversation:Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
- I have over 140 username/password combinations. How many do you have and how do you manage them? eg http://www.passwordcommander.com
CrypticFragment @helenrf I have 3 usernames and about 6 password combos..the computer remembers them for me and I change them annually (or so)! lol
gpirie @helenrf I need something like that - I'm horrendous with usernames and passwords!
jobadge @helenrf went through a phase of using clipperz but mostly use mnemonics now
Labels: passwords
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:12 AM
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Free international webinar on mobile learning
Yesterday I posted on the Reach Further blog for Blog Action Day on how Online communities bring the world together to share I talked about ELKS, the community of expertise for the UN-GAID run by BDRA at the University of Leicester - a network for e-learning practitioners and researchers to share good practice, ideas and opinions.
ELKS is hosting a free webinar on mobile learning, anyone can become a member (it's free) to join in.Tuesday 21st October from 11 am - 12 noon BST
The webinar will take the form of a 20 minute presentation and a live chat followed by a discussion.
Mobile technologies for education in development contexts - challenging the obvious.
Speaker: John Traxler,
Reader in Mobile Technology for e-Learning, Director, Learning Lab, Conference Chair, mLearn2008 Ironbridge, Associate Editor, International Journal of Mobile & Blended Learning (School of Computing and IT, University of Wolverhampton).In the seminar John will talk about his work on mobile learning in Kenya, the lessons learned and their transferability to other developing country educational contexts.
A short introduction to the seminar:
In 2003, the Government of Kenya announce the introduction of Free Primary Education, leading to an increase in primary enrolment of nearly one million. The subsequent fall of the school population pointed to a retention problem aggravated by over-crowding and under-training. A major challenge was to increase the numbers of trained teachers rapidly whilst at the same time improving the quality of the school system and using it as a vehicle for radical social and cultural transformation across issues that included child-marriage and other tribal practices, perceptions of endemic corruption, poor communications, an over-centralisation and widespread adult illiteracy. Ministry developed an in-service distance learning programme intended to meet needs for 200,000 primary school teachers.
Mobile learning in the form of an SMS service was introduced as part of the in-service programme.
The SMS component underwent field trials in 2006. The system is free to authorised users using a short-code. The messages themselves have a limited and predefined syntax, each type starting with a keyword, and the system has been extended to gather and analyse schools’ enrolment data. At the end of the second trials, the technical and organisational achievements of the system are impressive.
A spin-off of the current system making school exam registration and results nationally more accurate, fast and transparent has already become a self-funding service for Kenyan parents.
This presentation looks these projects and at the confusing insights they provide into the notions of ‘development’.
=====
The webinar is free to ELKS members and staff of member institutions but numbers are limited in the chat session so please book your place by emailing hw74@le.ac.ukMembership of the ELKS community is free and open to e-learning practitioners and researchers around the world: email hw74@le.ac.uk to join.
The webinar will take place in Adobe Connect and online in the ELKS forums
Labels: e-learning, elearning, ELKS, free, mlearning, mobile learning, online seminar, webinar
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:17 AM
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 12:40 Online communities bring the world together - for Blog Action Day tinyurl.com/4rzufn #
- 10:47 Free Webinar Mobile technologies for education in development contexts: challenging the obvious 11am-12 Tue 21 Oct tinyurl.com/3e6kfr #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 16:29 Online videocons are still new to so many people - the behaviours and forms have not yet been established. #
- 19:00 Is it a record - Elluminate, Wimba and Adobe Connect web meetings all in one day! #
- 20:52 Writing tomorrow's post for Blog Action Day: are you in? blogactionday.org/ #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 12:43 E-moderating really saves time for online teachers tinyurl.com/4lc9bc #
- 09:19 Icebreaker for physical geography class: what is the most dramatic landscape you've ever visited? Make it personal (but not too) & relevantl #
- 09:21 @jdlasica what a nasty thing to happen - so sorry to hear. #
- 10:56 What's the difference between Investment Bankers & pigeons? Pigeons are still able to make deposits on new BMWs tinyurl.com/3fakrq #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Monday, 13 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 15:31 Upgrading a Drupal installation which is never as straightforward as you think... All working fine now though. #
- 09:37 New e-moderating course starts today - I love meeting the new students and finding out how I can help them use technology more effectively #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:12 AM
E-moderating really saves time for online teachers
A new e-moderating course for practising teachers and tutors in FE starts today and another (for academic staff in HE) is into its second week starting tomorrow. In both cases it is about experiencing e-learning as a student as well as developing practical skills for online teachers. I am always stunned and sometimes humbled by the many different and valuable perspectives and relevant skills that participants bring to the course.
The idea that the teacher is the only person who knows anything about the subject - in this case online tutoring - because they are teaching the course is so inaccurate. Its my job to facilitate discovery, sharing, learning - and, yes, to contribute facts where appropriate about learning technologies or the techniques of e-moderation.
Meanwhile my own writing course (Season of Inspiration) is into its second week - we have had a blistering week with a talented group of students - and it is so encouraging when the framework I teach others to use can be proved to be so effective in my own courses.
Well designed e-tivities in a careful course design facilitate the forming of a supportive group and provide students with a clear framework to develop their work. And for the tutors it means that with routine questions forestalled (or answered for one another by the students themselves) we don't waste time and can concentrate our e-moderating interventions on facilitating a supportive community to develop collaborative learning to everyone's benefit.
Labels: e-moderating, e-moderation, e-tivities, online course, online tutors, season of inspiration, time management, writing courses
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:59 AM
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 11:55 @suethomas If it's the Catherine I know please give her my regards! #
- 12:53 My brain hurts! Can anyone suggest a possible icebreaker for a physical geography class? #
- 12:55 @shanitomorrow Web research could be anything - research ON the web - a mundane google search - or research ABOUT the Web - maybe v techy #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:12 AM
Friday, 10 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 12:28 Bit of sorting out this morning before settling to project work this afternoon. So important to be organised :) #
- 12:35 @AJCann Hello Mike. Twitter is fun - and addictive #
- 15:01 I'd write twaiku on / National Poetry day / But there is no tag… #
- 15:03 Join me in creating a haiku on the subject of "work" for National Poetry Day tinyurl.com/3r4teo #
- 17:05 @josiefraser you've reminded me I had that dish ready for lunch in the fridge and I forgot to eat it! #
- 21:00 TwitterFox - Firefox extension for Twitter allowing multiple accounts tinyurl.com/33bl3p thanks @Eurominuteman #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 11:23 Looking at Elluminate bridge for Moodle. Interesting - anyone used it? #
- 12:31 I've installed the Mind Map module in our Moodle. It's really useful and works well. Pondering adding Google maps next... #
- 13:33 Ten tips for coping with information overload tinyurl.com/4neubj #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 12:20 Looking into how to set up a social enterprise #
- 15:36 Pondering the importance of managing diversity sensitively in online groups #
- 15:37 What happens if you @somebody who's not following you? Does it just disappear into the cybervoid? #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 13:13 reat set of writing students starting today - and I discover the Aussie clock has changed already thiis year! #
- 15:26 Uploaded two replacement icons - one shows, the other doesn't - go figure! #
- 08:06 As a lifelong news junkie this is the first time I can remember that I'm avoiding the news... #
- 08:09 Woke up with ideas for blog but need to do other things first... Now - Drupal, Moodle and WebCT - later Wordpress & Ning. A mixed day! #
- 10:31 I take advantage of the features in VLEs and Wordpress to prepare materials for later release. But there's always a Word or paper plan 1st! #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:12 AM
Monday, 6 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 09:38 What's your current fave tool for working collaboratively on documents? I prefer a wiki to Googledocs... but there are other options... #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 12:27 Setting up student journals on Season of Inspiration writing course starting Monday. #
- 16:32 Writing "The symbolic language of flowers" topic for the writing course. Using it to inspire haiku... #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Friday, 3 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 08:43 @gpirie I knew you'd decide on something football related (was going to suggest it even!) Make it web 2.0 and invite others' fave 5 too... #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 15:01 Figuring out activities to engage teenagers in extra-cirricula science discussion... #
- 07:54 A challenge of creating elearning for an application is when the developers keep tweaking - modular/easily replaceable structure is key. #
- 09:48 Is there a way to easily convert a photo into a cartoon-type drawing? #
- 10:07 Skype may be better for team conf calls than Elluminate. Elluminate is better for a group with a leader or lecturer or live chat with guest #
- 10:07 @andypowe11 nice solution for photo-to-drawing - thanks a lot! #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:11 AM
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Twitter tweets from Helen (helenrf)
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- 11:31 Solved problem with Thunderbird - Windows Firewall objected to updated version. #
- 11:32 How do you deal with blog comments or forum posts that are merely there to link back to the commenter's own site and poach one's users? #
- 12:08 @ajcann @edmittance thanks 4 responses. Some are clearly spam but others are people but with agendas... Don't wish to discourage the genuine #
- 12:10 A clear and visible community or blog editorial policy with regard to "advertising" is sensible. #
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:10 AM
