Today was Otago Polytechnic graduation. The section in which I work -CAPABLENZ -that works with experienced people to promote critical reflections of that experience towards a presentation to a panel of expert assessors, had 100 graduands. The qualifications included tertiary teaching; Apllied management; Youth Work; Business administration; Building surveying; Counselling;career practice; Construction management;Design (Fashion); Design (Product).

It is an affirmation of the value of experienced people and their timely links to reflection on their experience.
It is also an affirmation of the value of intentionally supportive practice for those who have not been part of the regular education system for some time.

This is what makes the work worth while.
AND the challenge is how to work well with distance people.

I wonder if what we see is what is there? I have brought many biases and interpretations to education and my work with learners that I'm sure have been slightly off-focus. It is in the listening to the learner that the lens is recalibrated.the mini conference topics will allow this focussing to happen I'm sure.

restraining (retraining) Tweets

I have had a Twitter account for a month now. In that time I have followed several people and learned some personal and some professional details of their lives. (I have also connected with a relative and that is a bonus.) the meeting I attended didn't do it for me, as my tweets got lost somewhere and so didn't gain traction.
I have decided that for the moment my on line personality and the platform that Twitter affords this is not of sufficient reward to continue.
I'm interested in the recent work on Web3 presence and wonder if we are simply working through a period of web2 stuff to get us all to be without a computer at all?

which system,which tool?

having experienced several platforms for connecting and found most of them rather frustrating, (including Boldchat that the NZ Career service uses), I'm wondering about the whole notion of having an e-learning prescence.
I find the cautions of Synapsis rather helpful. certainly Plan B is an omnipresent imperative.
alas, we don't always have one.
So we are left with the notion that the technology can (and often does) drive the pedagogy- a situation I find almost intolerable.

beaking out all over

and no it isn't only spring that has broken out.

the breakout time in Elluminate has shown our collective wish to have:
1)timers showing in all the rooms- well the wonderful Jo Hart says yes you choose the "seen by all" option and that will happen.

2) screens loaded in each room. again JoHart gives us plenty of answers and more besides. Thank goodness for such people, as the material from Elluminate itself is really only promotional- what you can do rather than how.

The other suggestions from Sarah around room leaders or what we had called guardians or kaitiaki in our planning, the summaries at the end etc are indeed all real group facilitator musts aren't they? I was so reminded that it is so easy to be tipped off a well balanced perch by technical malfunctions.
and yes it is Spring. so all those blossoms, tulips, dafodils, etc are showing purpose and hope in our gardens.
May you and yours be well tended at this time.

the microwave experience

well I think of todays time in Ellmunate as the "microwave" session.
Jane Scripps analgy for that new appliance in the kitchen is so apt.
This appliance,Elluminate and the possibilities inherent in the use of Breakout Rooms is very seductive and "now", but like all appliances it needs tinme to learn and test its subtleties and for all the contributors to be functiong.
We suffered in that Karen's connection from Canada was highly intermittent both visually and in sound.
In addition we had needed a sample group to try various ways of assigning spaces and the functioning of those spaces.
I think what we did have was a most interesting learning experience from a developmental trio who worked to keep interest and input alive.
Thanks to all those in the group for their careful and thoughtful contributions.

technology tools for sound pedagogy/development

In the last two weeks I have been excited by the Elluminate sessions with Nancy White and Greg Walker and also the blog notes of Jo harte's tips that I can see how this online tool of Elluminate can carry such sound pedagogical and developmental practice.
I am in awe of those who seem to be able to wear the four shoes of e-facilitation.
For me the technological shoe is the challenge and I guess it is much the same challenge as having legible and interesting whiteboard script. just different tools for the visuals.
I have been so heartened by the message that the pedagogy is the important thing and the tool simply supports that to happen. several of our network have reinforced that message.
The educational issues that Sarah finds are much the same as ours in NZ, so we are an internationalo netwrok of people trying top make sound eeucational and develo0pmental sens of the use of online techn ology.
Our endeavours in this course are very valuable. Rayna Dickson acknowledges the value, excitement and motivation of discovering online experiences.She sees the making of connections as a valuble activity and experience,and the "light bulb" happening when a door is opened through this.
I believe we are on the cusp of a new set of learnings and I look forward to those.

communities, networks, links,

An African proverb tells us, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Nancy White distinguishes between the network, a collection of people who link in meaningful ways, but retain a focus on the needs and benfit to the self, and the community where people surrender something of the self in order for the greater good to benefit.What sits between is always something of a dilemma. The identity issues around Social Networking sites and the theft of identities through unsafe levels of disclosure are probably where much of the tension in being involved with those sites will sit.

I have recently happened on Melinda Blau's blog in which she explores the idea that we live in a lonely society and we have encounters with people who seem incosequential to us, but for various sets of human social needs, are in practice consequential. Some of these will be strangers we pay for services (eg. massage therapists, clinical supervisors)others those that have regular role or proximity space in our lives. Further she suggests that we need to seek out these opeople and build ourself a cirlce of consequential strangers. I find her ideas compelling and think it helps explain the popularity of social networking sites.

online groupwork

this is a really delicious jigsaw of online groupwork processes. I'm really simply doing my technical practice and I can't get the insert image tool in the new post box to work at all, so have gone back to HTML and found this worked.
I find each of these components quite a challenge and can see why each might be needed.
Group work is possibly one of the most complex pieces of online work and I would love to know how others have managed it.

Willie

dfiagrams get all the votes.

Well it has been reinfoced again today- diagrams are so powerful.
I've just met two that really fascinate me:

1) a look at Sarah Stewart's Personal learning Environment It is well worth a look and a ponder;

2)Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive demands JeanJacoby's attention to tools that promote particular level;s of learner functioning.

Each of these has made me realise that my major goal for this course is to increase my toolkit. (Yes I know I'm then supposed to put measurable etc statements, but I'll leave that for now).
Stay cool and well.

strengths and networks

well, what a network with great strengths and resouces.

I am very mindful of three things:

1) the way Sarah has fed in information to us over a period of time-a process of warming us up to the main event- the course;

2) the reminder we have been given that we do need to be practising the skills as we move through the theoretical and infmative materials- for to wait until the grand finale is a bit much- we wouldn't do it anywhere else would we?

3) the need for me to refresh many of the micro technical skills such as hyperlinking, uploading images etc, as they6 are not at all intuitive to me and I need to find sets of instructions.

In terms of the micro technicals, there are help pages available-for blogger support

and also wordpress has a similar, also a private site an active Q+A communitythat is very useful.

I look forward to ongoing engagement.

already winter and midyear

this is how I would like to spend my winter- snuggled into some space that I can conform to and if needs be listen to.
Instead I spend mornings that are really dark pretending they and I are light and awake and also evenings that are misty and still, are bught and energetic. What a challenge.
I wonder if the role of the online facilitator might mirror this as international dates, seasons, academic years etc create mismatch, OR are we on the "line" above and beyond that?
I would love peoples' ideas on this.
Stay warm.
Willie

really- is this 2010

As you can see I have neglected this blogspace shamefully. I am looking forward to being one of the memebrs of this group after July, as I need to have a reason to work in this way.
Also, I'm delighted to see that skill in the use of wiki will be developed- I'm very much in favour of open learning resources and wiki is a space for that to happen.
Look forward to meeting you all.
Go well.
Willie