OF2010 what did it do?

Learning.

Educators are that fortunate position of experiencing a lot of education, most often we are giving it and hopefully often we are also receiving it. We are critical evaluators benchmarking against our own vast experience and other examples. We are reflective practitioners much like other professionals, and we take this role seriously. We therefore know when we have been served well and when not.

WE HAVE BEEN!

Did I learn new and useful things? truckloads, I am still overwhelmed by those loads and it will take sometime to work through it all, I am figuring by the time the next course starts I will be in a better position and learn again. So you can take it from the earlier sentence that it was challenging enough. There is challenging and there is challenging. I have recently finished a national certificate in Lit and Num; that was challenging. The challenge was the level of patronage, overworked detail, yawning boredom of the work, the challenge was staying with and completing. The value? I will probably never know, time will be the teller, here and now I give it 2 on a 1-10 scale.

The challenges with this course were many. I would have liked to have been able to spend much more time on-line, the family couldn't believe I was always on my lappie. The headspace to go to the sites and learn over the course of the paper, I just haven't been able to do that, but i now know i have youtube and Sarah's site there as well as other kind people. I need to learn how to make a youtube clip, that is on my list.

The course facilitator did do a good job, she did a very good job. My first meeting with her was on the WE page, now I have seen a few of these and expected this course to run true to them, well it didn't and it hasn't in any way, it has started its own paradigm of excellence, I wonder how long it will be solitary. OP also needs a deal of credit here for being, in my opinion, the benchmark provider in NZ of on-line learning and I am happy for that to go to the CE [Auckland Uni, Waikato, Massey and NorthTec can't get near], and therefore for employing such quality people as Sarah and her colleagues, take a bow OP; love to work in such an environment, they obviously do exist.

I have a thought or suggestion. There a number of basic things I have not learnt, and I guess i could have, anyway how about a glossary of things we really are tripping up and on how to do that?

I will put up, embedding links into blogs, organising the upper ribbon of screens open, I know I have been over that with Sarah but it hasn't sunk in. Maybe on the opening WE page there could be a checklist of tools or skills that would be useful to have started before the course, so that practice continues right the way through, they are simple things but so useful.

Applied learning-

This week I am setting up a FB and Wordpress blog for my business as well as linking my twitter account acethat. My domain goes live as well as my email addresses. I will be in set up mode for a month as well as out F2F marketing "tai chi for this time in your life" the first is For Mums and Mums to Be. I will connect all this together and keep this blog going to have grand explosions, when steam needs to blow, no names. I have asked to included in on-line facilitation opportunities as them come along and will be pitching my skills to a range of organisations as an OLF.

I have recommended this course to a vast range of people and will blogging, FB and emailing them well before it is due to start, I have a list of a dozen people so far.

Personal Evaluation and Review of my mini-conference

• What went well, and what did not go so well- Not too much to report here. I would have liked more participants, however those who said they would come on, didn't, just my business coach Kerene. I also put the event out on Twitter and through Vasi to NorthTec staff, there was no response. I have heaps to learn about marketing with social network tools, heaps. If I were to do be in a similar position next year, there would be a deal more people. A couple of bits like loosing one slide and being late in turning on the recording led me to rethink the value of a backroom person, which would be useful next time, but ofcourse in WizIQ.
• How the event was organised and promoted- I contacted through FB people I know who would be interested in this, also put it out through other networks, as well as FO2010. Perhaps the topic wasn't too thrilling, I don't know. What I do know is most people in my circle think this is way out of their ability range, that could well be the issue.
  • adequate information- I covered this using my blog, wikieducator and emails
  • support (technical and access)- Eluminate was very cooperative, as Sarah was unable to be a staff member I was flying solo and that didn't feel too bad, actually.
  • relevant for the audience- yup it was
• Whether the event was managed and conducted smoothly - particularly noting how you handled any disruptions.- There were few disruptions, 1 only minor when a guest turned up, in such a case I welcome through the text box.
• What efforts you made to ensure that all participants knew where they were supposed to be and when, and arrange technical support for people?- I posted 3 times on the mini-conference site, 3 times by email, and twice by twitter, once mine and once Vasi's account. to each guest i offered them a prior experience in Elluminate, as it happened Kerene came in late and winged it well. Vasi and I spent 2 periods of time on Elluminate to prepare.
• How you set the stage, made introductions, explained the aims, and whether you managed to remain neutral and facilitatory. I set the stage with a welcome, which i will improve on now, the initial slides are useful and we need to cover the base of newbies not knowing how to operate in the space. I had set up my slides to start with a welcome of images, mine was the London Underground tube map, and I was to ask each person to put in a phrase describing themselves and where they came from or an image. I did explain the aims, etcs and facilitation continued to the end.
• How you did a round up, drew closure and indicated where recordings and other follow up materials would be made available. This was not good, I needed to handle this far better, I know I do this F2F all the time, but I think I just had too much on my mind. I had told people in my emails, blog and wikieducator where the recording would be and asked them to comment on my blog. No one has done that.
• Feedback from audience- the audience was excellent, very engaged, nothing after that though
• How you would do things in the future; become much more familiar with WizIQ, i will ask people in FO2010 if they are willing to swap learning sessions. Learn how to do such clever things like placing links into the text box, things that 2nd nature to some and I still have no idea on.
• General comments and additions. As is the case with assessments I was far more nervous about the mini than about the World OT session. That is because this meant so much more to me than other learning I have done in the past. I am committed to doing the course again in 2011 to develop my familiarity and competence.

endings and beginnings

This week I 'attended' a number of mini-conferences. Some inspirational, some thought provoking, and some entertaining; thank you all fellow learners for your time and energy in putting so much of yourselves into the preparation. We have been transported from India, to a boat cabin in a marina somewhere in America I cannot remember, and don't know how to leave this to find out, but I guess that doesn't matter too much. What matters is what was the facilitation experience felt like, was I engaged, and what is my next response? I am grateful to our trio of triers who combined Skype and imeet which provided an opportunity to reflect on this paper. I am also grateful that I have been offered so sessions that have added to my list of 'things to do at the end of the course'.

It seems to me each of us have had our challenges [perhaps not in the truck load that Mark et al] had to deal with, and come through.

Can I say for the record the imeet experience whilst frustrating at times demonstrated clearly how vital experience and confidence with technology won through to provide not only those who managed the entire time but also those who were unable to do so, a session which richly demonstrated facilitating on-line; WELL DONE THAT TEAM!!!!!

Then there was the c0-facilitation from a cabin and a bedroom with I think at least 2 screens running to allow both strands of conversation to take place, WOW.

I have already blogged about e-kerela, that was inspiration on a totally different level.

So where does put me, not leave please note; put me. It puts me in a place I have not been in before from a paper or a qualification. It puts me in charge of my future [on-line]. I have the tools to create that you see; I am quite a beginner on-line but not in the role, so I don't expect upskilling to take too long. I can clearly see that age on-line is really no barrier, really only tools and motivation. to be continued later

Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome-its over

er well, it went kind of ok, I would give myself 6/10; 1 off for forgetting to turn on the recorder at the beginning, I was worried about one of my visitors not getting into the room which distracted me. 1 off for my intro slide and activity was the London Underground Map on which I was going to trace my very regular journeys and ask others to do similar, I stuffed that up totally. I also didn't realise a dial on my headset had been pushed which was the source of my audio problems, would you know it; so that is three points. The forth thing was I went into organiser mode, one my family recognise soo well, and really was a bit of a bamboozleer or sargant major that was through wanting to get it right. All these observations are about my facilitation skills which is what the mini-conference was about. I am a confident facilitator/coach and now I need to tune myself for this alternative platform.

That all said, I feel really relaxed in the arena, its a good place to be. My fellow students joined in and included quite a range, my awesome guest did her stuff and stimulated discussion and comment. The more I do the more I will improve, I do know what I need to work on [at least I think so-all suggestions gratefully received].

I am so pleased I did this paper.

eportfolios must be a journey

I have just re-listened to the voice thread presentation by Coach Carole. When I first started OF2010 I had grand thoughts about doing the eportfolio course as well, ofcourse I took too much on and needed to walk before I ran. Now, as I near the end of OF2010 I see a new opportunity for the use of eportfolio's and being able to support them with online facilitation in a specific area that has for years produced poor results for the resources expended.

So; note to Jane, enrole in the next course Coach Carole runs and learn more, and... have a look at Mahara.

Gobsmacked still: c/o eschool kerela

This morning it was my good luck to join Sebastian Panakal's mini-conference 'Waste to Wealth' Wiki and session. I deeply enjoyed it, deeply appreciated the energy and commitment as well initiative that seems to be rooted in many of the community. I valued anew and was grateful anew for my wonderful life, and I was inspired by his students.

This week my coach used part of this quote to move and affirm me, on looking further into it I found the entire quote and I now gift it onto Sebastian and his students as it seems to me that it just about covers what is happening there.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are younot to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson"

Thankyou Sebastian

Jane Scripps