Building confidence

This week I have used tools and enjoyed experiences.

On Tuesday I facilitated a session for World OT day; a subject I have only a layperson's experience of. Although I had 'played' in Elluminate this was to be the real thing, so armed with a whisky and soda I started up and was relieved to have Sarah there to talk me through lining up 2 PPTs.

It being a world wide event meant an inclusive ice-breaker was required, but a fast one, in addition I wanted to reduce the 'testing equipment' time as much as possible and worked on an assumption most participants had previously been into other rooms, therefore come with experience.

Using the mic I asked everyone to test their audio and put their hand up or text their success. Then I asked people to say high and provide a word or two describing their environment or country but on text.

27 people came into the room, most arriving close together with a few latecomers. The style of presentation was 3 ppts from presenters, plus the one on Elluminate etiquette. This mean there was straight dialogue and no interaction with participants. There was activity on the text I am relieved to say.

Periodically I would pop something onto the text welcoming someone or providing encouragement/affirmation to the speakers. Once the presentation period was done it was question time when I reminded people of etiquette, my final action was to time the conversations out to fit in with the session ending and provide a url to the next session.

As it was a hour long I managed to complete most of a Killer Soduku puzzle and all of my whiskey and soda, phew that was important.

It was a whole lot easier than I planned for, I relaxed and enjoyed myself; I felt a bit for the listeners, as that is all they were. The style of presentation provided a clear example of how important it is to have interaction, some of these sessions were happening at night or during the night and that meant people were waking up or staying up past their normal time, to sit and not be involved would be difficult I think.

The following day I spent time with a fellow 0-lf student in Elluminate and that provided more experience and was a comfortable space of discussion and support. After that my special guest for the 9th met me in Elluminate and we discussed the session construction, her role and the tools she would use to ensure engagement with the group. Tomorrow I am meeting a fellow student in Elluminate to go through a presentation, so all in all I am getting plenty of experience.

I saw that WizIQ is being used for the presentation and that is something I could have done to0; almost regret not doing it now, however to secure learning at a basic level in this case in Elluminate, is useful for me as it suits my learning style and provides a discipline for someone known for their flitting hither and thither.

I have pushed the boat out and advertised my mini on twitter and facebook and course email as well as here, which means I may have other participants than just fellow students. I have not put the url on either site as I want to screen who comes in. I am mindful that this is not my 'property' to be handing out.

I have also used Doodle as an invitation tool, as well as the timeclock and tiny url tool on WikiEducator.

At this time I am committed to participating next semester to enjoy the environment again and become more confident with the tools I have really only started coming to terms with. Like ACE [Adult Community Education] one time round is not enough for me, so twice round will set me up nicely and I hope to provide support to others as they jump into this awesome playpit. Also I am aware that life will come along and subsume me, taking part for a 2nd round will remind me of where I am heading.

As I sign off I have a vision of a great wave coming to shore. I have been apon a surfboard on that wave, enjoying the exhilaration of the ride, I see the shore, the wave is dying, am I coming in or finding another wave?

My favourite things

My mini has continued to be created and now seems to be settled. My former colleague Vasi Doncheva will attend and will discuss her experience of using Delicious and Twitter.

We will take a look at the tools we have most enjoyed using, and why; and why others haven't been successful for our situation or just ourselves and our style.

Some of you may be interested in Vasi Doncheva's e-daily, http://paper.li/playnice_nz/elearning

You see I have removed teams from the concept and moving around rooms, I am aiming for an interesting, informal sharing of learning and information.

My Mini helped by "The path of least resistance- Robert Fritz"

Robert talks about the creative process in way that is freeing but at the same time may be trying for those who need parameters or even 'should do's'.

So I begin with the end picture in mind, much like a 'Merlin' experience I then work back from the success. This approach removes the hopelessness of complex tasks weighing me down.
With a picture I have more information than can possibly be achieved with words; as I describe this picture and how it came to be I provide knowledge on the steps forward.

If I look at the image from many angles, add and take away elements, turn it over to see from below, above, inside and out the terms of reference of the image change or fill out, and thereby fills out the concept.

I will reflect on how this approach helps or hinders my mini preparation.

Learning is a dynamic activity which has been proved yet again with developing my mini approach.

Later I will post what my vision is and then the steps to the reality, I welcome comment from participants and readers of this blog,

If we don't look for and read we can be the looser

Note to self, read other students' blogs more often, so many people are sharing interesting ideas, networks, developments and unless we click onto these blogs they remain undiscovered to us.

After the party finishes- the mini beckons

There is plenty of clearing up to do, as well as seeing if there is anything lingering....

Well in my case 8 days away from on-line facilitation and planning my future have had a significant impact, with one I once again am well behind with my work and reading and with the latter I have changed tack, probably best to do that now rather than further on course.

I missed, through poor time management the 2 2nd life opportunities, which means I will have to find other ways to look through it, I appreciated Sarah's comments on the need to have a thorough look and not make immediate judgements. I am enjoying both listening to recordings and taking part in synchronistic sessions; Tuesday's with Nellie Muller was most interesting and with other speakers she was very stimulating not only in her manner but also with her easy use of various tools we are being introduced to. E-portfolios seem to be available through mahara and google, they are high on the 'get to' list for me. Coach Carole has just put an announcement up about developments for her with e-portfolios, which looks interesting too.

Some of you may be interested in Vasi Doncheva's e-daily, http://paper.li/tag/eqnz I hope this works, it is my first ímplant'. This is fairly recent start-up. Whilst we sat discussing the huge world of on-line tools or applications I mentioned how challenging it was to cope with them all, so Vasi suggested I use tweetdeck http://www.tweetdeck.com/desktop/ try it out and see wha

t you think.

I am thinking deeply about cultural competence at the moment. It's value is highlighted by spending over a week with 3 Taiwanese grand masters [martial arts] and listening to one interpret for the 2 who had minimal English. These 2 travel the world teaching and rely to a vast extent on interpretation by students, cultural competence is hugely important for their messages which are sent kinaesthetically and visually.

I am going to have a look at delicious, it offers a good way to hold all the websites I am gathering, among other things.

Now, onto assessment things. Part of this course requires us to put on a mini-conference. As we have all come to this course with e-skills and are adding to them each day I thought it would be interesting to look at some of them in the mini-conference. So this is my thinking:

Would 4 people volunteer to involved in a discussion? They would be in 2 teams and each team will chose 2 tools to promote to the audience, hopefully made up of other participants. I will ask the 2 teams to go into a room each and put onto a whiteboard the pros and cons of each tool, then after say 15 mins come back into the large room and not only present their whiteboard but also champion their tools to the opposite team, perhaps getting a debate going. I will then ask for a vote for which group of tools is the most favoured from everyone.

SO, can I please have some volunteers!