Notes from VET Teaching Conference

NOTES FROM VET TEACHING CONFERENCE (Brisbane, May, 2010)

Kay Giles – No Two Days are the Same

Diversity leads to a degree ofgeneralisation – harder to be specific about what you do; goals of organizationbecome diffuse

“The illiterate of the 21^st century will be those who can't learn,unlearn, and relearn” (Toffler)

quality is a cultural concept. In the UK =reputation; for French, Italian = luxury; Japanese = setting a standard andachieving it; US = size (joke)

Australia: fit for purpose;relationships/trust

(at this point a reference came through on Twitter on the neutral nature of quality by Christopher Alexander, architect, but I can't find it :)

Notion of agility a better word/concept toreplace ‘flexibility’?

VET has a lot of offerings that are nolonger suiting customer/client need (eg 3 wk blocks)

[usevis as intermission! - should have related point though]

Keynote 2 Day 2: Assessment forLearning - Revitalising the Link Beween Assessment and Learning (Rob Stowell)

build a picture of competency

ask open questions – link to self-assessment

scaffold feedback piecemeal over time

Stages of Presentation

Quality Assessment

Relationship between T and L and assessment

Practical ideas for improving assessment inVET

– he has been looking at qualityassessment

Quality Assessment:

1) benchmarks (standards)

2) validity, reliability,fairness, flexibility

3) assessment decision based onevidence

4) quality assured

5) assessment an integral part ofthe t and l process; not separate

6) quality judgements (not sure what this means)

7) should be informed by practicebased research (ie not uni research!)

LEARNING: Deep v Surface

we need people with grasp of principles thatcan link them together

What kind of assessment leads to deeplearning?

1) builds on what learners know?

2) Approach that helps people'make meaning'

3) active and social

future assessment: will assist learnersdevelop capacity to make judgements/problem solve

Assessmentfor Learning requires that students:

understand the competency to be achieved

where they are in relation to the competency

how they can achieve the desired level

KEYNOTE DAY 2 : BeckySaunders (Murdoch Uni)

Contemporary VET Learning – Strategies for now and thefuture

[check Joyce and Showers Skill Training Model]

“people are where they are for good reasons” (the questions ofvalues!)

Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM)

Talked about what seems to be a wonderful PD model that runsfor over a year (can be up to 4 yrs!); focused on Instructional Intelligence (IT) [check Barrie Bennett –

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto]

IT is about ‘how people learn’’ it has 2 aspects:

1) emotional

2) behavioural

it’s a career long journey!

It takes 3-5 yrs to embed systemic change, and this kind ofchange is messy and organic

Links with Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Methodology

“who among you is willing to bell the cat?” ie challengeexisting structures and authority

TERRY O’HANLON (CEO of Australian Trade College – an independentnon-profit): International VET – Meeting Global Needs

TNE = Transnational engagement

- large increase in offshore VET students since2006

Philippines

Only 20% of HE students get jobs; 3000 people leave thePhilippines every day to work abroad

International VET programs mean people in developingcountries can do ‘Australian quality’ training for a fraction of the price; ieit’s affordable

All content for all their courses is online

AFTERNOON KEYNOTE DAY2 – TIGA BAYLES

“we’re hands –on people” (ie indigenous)

Study of a Study

Study of a Study
Originally uploaded by mikecogh

Will this arrive in Twitter?

Notes from IDEA10 Conference

IDEA10 Conference (Melbourne, 11/12 March, 2010)

Katrina Reynen (DEECD Innovation, Vic)


No longer acceptable to have 2 lessons plan – 1 for technology; 1 without

teachers still focusing on blockers that prevent them adopting technology

digital education is about bringing people into classroom – not about Blackboard, LMSs, etc



teachers have not yet made the pedagogical shift



consultants report that teachers learn from each other (more than other occupations?)



employability skills = skills you need to succeed in work, AND be happy in life!!! eg collaboration, teamwork, etc



“be the connectors” (the conduits!)


Dr Larry Fruth (SIF Association) [SIF = systems interoperability framework]

Emerging Technologies to Address the Information Generation



“the global need to address 'global citizenship'



the teachers are the digital divide (or at least the purveyors of it!); kids use the Internet when they get home, not at school



LEARNING DESIGN = PERSONAL + ENVIRONMENT + SOCIAL



technologies promote converesations about teaching that didn't occur before!



Gordon White – Shared Service (ACT) in response to Larry:



interested in getting each student a unique personal identifier (eg an ID number)





SESSION: What Technology do Teachers Want?

CHAIR: Dennis McNamara


Panellist 1: Andrew Douch (Wanganui Park Secondary College)



5 questions to ask when evaluating new tech?



1) does it save time? Or is it quick/

2) does it enable me to do anything I couldn't do before?

3) Can I just pick it up and use now?

4) Desire path (students go where they want to go) eg phones and Facebook are things students want to do anyway

5) ?



Which tools answer these 5 questions?


referred to kids being part of a learning community, but should that be 'network



Pannellist #2: Dr Shirley Reushle (USQ)


sees herself as both 'technologist' and teacher

does what teachers want reflect what students want?

teachers come with “diverse values and beliefs”



Teachers want tech that

• supports and enhance learing

• make job easier

• easy to use (intuitive?)

• stretch imagination



teachers want:



• time

• safe places to practice (sandpits)

• JIT learning



Panellist #3: Harriet Wakelam (eWorks)

“there is a casual disrespect for content” (quoting Frank Furedi)

despite new technolgies fundamental needs of students don't change



the job of technologies and systems people is done when everything is done and it works seamlessly in the background



Question: if you use web 2.0 how can you keep copies of stuff outside the web?

Are eportfolios the answer? As long as they all talk to each other (ie interoperability)



how do we convince the media and wider society of the value of an open approach?



“a good teacher leaves their ego at the door” (Shirley); “teachers need to loosen up a bit”



education is being democratised (Douch) cf From Blogs to Bombs; the nub of the problem: the locked down/centralised/controlled systems v individualised/personal/decentralised/democratised nature of much of today's web



There is no privay anymore (source of quote?) - we need now to deal with the new public nature of private lives.



RESPONSE TO ABOVE PANEL

Can what teachers want be built?

Michael Kirby-Lewis (UNSW)



UNSW has moved from single LMS focus with a 3-4 yr cycle; now multiple technologies and continuous adoption/evaluation; focus now on the pedagogical needs rather than the tool



You are never going to keep people happy with one solution (therefore should TAFESA keep Janison and Moodle???)



David Appleby (Westone)



Moodle in WA has been adopted by school teachers (Janison was resisted) because they don't need the whole course up at once, they want full control over their content- ability to edit and contextualise. (This is Moodle's greatest strength.)



How come Moodle has been successful?


* OS, uncontrolled, non-system approach
* OU (UK) spent several millions of dollars on it!!! ????





SESSION: WHAT INFRASTRUCTURE IS BEING BUILT?
CHAIR: Dr Nigel Ward


Rodney Spark (eWorks)



estandards: “realising the full potential of elearning”



estandards has aided the development of LORN stuff, Toolboxes, accessibility (still content based), mobile content



estandards in training doc: http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/docs/2008-commonly-used-elearning-apps-v1-0.pdf This is a diff kind of standard – having some agreement about a commonly used tools – not interoperability type standards.



Bruce Rigby (DEEC Vic)



Ultranet - http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/ultranet/default.htm a student centred electronic learning environment that supports high quality learning and teaching, connects students, teachers and parents and enables efficient knowledge transfer. It will establish a schools environment for the future that improves the educational outcomes of all Victorians.



James Dalziel (Macquarie)

ALTC Exchange http://www.altcexchange.edu.au/



looking at how research data can be stored/categorised/tagged/described so it can be found quickly



Moodle has community around it – thousands of tech people are part of it; passionate community of teeachers contributing to an iterative process.



James' Concerns:



1) Connection with Web 2.0 and LMS/SSO will probably not happen

2) broad uptake of LORs still not there

3) lots of duplication of big bucks infrastructure projects



Desires:

1) have nationally hosted cloud of apps that teachers can try on demand

2) open content and CC – increased use of



Greg Black (formerly ed.au now Education Services Australia)


data shows that a very small percentage of teachers are actually using technolgies in a way that makes a difference



SESSION: IF IT IS BUILT WILL WE PLAY? (Chaired by Jerry Leeson)

Olivia O'Neill (Brighton Secondary School, SA)



* Brighton has wireless across the school!!
* moved from low risk behavour to high risk
* have eliminated IT Coordinator position
* have adopted 24/7 laptops for kids ($350/yr)
* have used Alan Noble (Mr Google Australia) create an LMS called Gee Whizz; incoporates curriculum, content, student management





Colin Warner (Glenn Waverley Secondary School)

use ICT to transform teaching and learning practice

video shown full of shots of students in front of computers – this will not help those who oppose this approach

“connectivity into the home” - ????


'3 strike rule' – if a teacher experiences 3 tech failures they're gone forever



SESSION: HARVESTING EDUCATIONAL FLORA



Panel Chair: Stuart Tait (Learning Fed)

Paula Bray (Powerhouse Museum)



* Use of Flickr; everything CC licensed; users create mash-ups; re-use (and notify the museum)- great example of the benefits of sharing/giving/OER approaches/CC licensing
* have learnt that one size does not fit all!! as applied to licensing and copyright!!




Liam Wyatt (Wikipedia) wittylama.com
Handing out Paints


* “if you handed out paints on the street there'd be a lot more painters'! And then if you ban painting then you'll have lift off!
* Use wikipedia as a starting point for your research, not an endpoint
* everything on wikipedia is royalty free




QUESTION: we have heard about the huge success of Moodle (OS), Wikipedia OS)l iTunes Ed Store (free), Flickr (free). Why bother with systems, interoperability, standards, when free or OS stuff is already out there and in use.





DAY 2

SESSION: International Perspectives on Interoperability

Chair: Greg Black



includes things like import/export portability of UGC



Dr Rob Abel (IMS Global Consortium)



Lowering the barriers for the Next Gen of Teaching and learning – Now



* in terms of LMSs we are at the bottom of the evolutionary tree
* new IMS base assumption – the cloud is basic infrastructure
* new approaches (Common Cartrideg, LTI, etc) enables importing oof content into LMS, and other applications like Facebook – as long as the platform supports LTI
* we need the 'app store of education; or the iTunes of ed?



Peter Croger (Croger Associates)

Why is interoperability important?

* Interoperability is about the ability to work together; it's about connecting and sharing
* tensions that need to be balanced (good slide – need to chase it)
* Amazon, Apple, Google etc are not interested in working with ed directly – they go direct to customer. So 'standards work' is operating in a world divorced from the really big players



REMOTE PRESENTATION EVOLVING LEARNING – Gilly Salmon

(facilitated by Prof Philip Candy, USQ)



- the 'tree of learning'; an accout of the history of learning; Erasmus was in a sense the father of pedagogy (“On the Method of the Study”)

– the oldest Tweeter is 104


* pic of japanese school bus (pcs on board) [check this slide!]
* this is an Age of Transition
* predicts a renaissance for voice – iTunes, voiceboards, podcasts




Evan Arthur: “the Internet is a standard”



SESSION: Reflections on Technology Impact

Preety Agarwal (Learning Fed)



Scootle – repository for school resources



James Dalziel – LAMS

* world's leading learning design system; 80+ countries
* offers list of pedagogical approaches and advice on how you might use them in practice (a 'Pedagogical Planner')



Peter Higgs (Tasmanian Polytechnic)

Sagrada Familia (Barcelona); began in 1883 and is still being built; open source (ie publicly funded) < > parallel with the standards movement



SESSION: SHARING OUTCOMES, EVIDENCE AND ASSESSMENT

Chair: Nick Nicholas

Dr John Ainley (ACER)

thinks students and teachers will adopt the CoP model for mutual learning and support (would be nice if this is true)



Allison Miller

VET: 3000 RTOs, 200 of which are TAFEs that deliver 80% of the training

myapp (UK): students have access to data shared betw training org and govt


Heather Watson (Learning Fed)



* driver: whole new cohort of students with diff expectations
* all of the new national curriculum will have potential to be delivered digitally



Is the infrastructure in place now to share this kind of information?

Heather: infrastructure exists to share resources (ie inputs), but not outputs? She says if teachers want good resources in a hurry that they do go to LORs......

Standards people do the work so we don't have to.

Things have to be designed so things can be changed at a moment's notice; so flexible standards! ( a contradiction in terms?)



NATIONAL DIRECTIONS FOR DIGITAL ED AND RESEARCH

Evan Arthur (DEEWR)

Reflections:

we are an enormously long way from 'being there'; ie daily and ongoing effective use of ICT in classrooms

the complexity of what we are trying to do

Work has to happen on standards because

1) ed is a collective activity (philosophical)

2) the only way we can achieve 'scale' (practical)



Rodney Sparks

2 themes:


1) evolution – things in state of constant change; towards what? How do we accommodate tech that doesn't exist yet?

2) Sharing – web 2.0 exploits human desire to share

Storytelling with Jon Bennett

Jon Bennett – Storytelling with Jon Bennett
Sugar, Fri Feb 19th
More a sit down than a stand up comic, Jon Bennett declares that he has no jokes and that he will indeed just tell stories. True stories. Like that wonderful SBS program, Front Up, this show is testament to the fact that all our lives are full of stories that are worth telling, and that can make us laugh and cry. The knack is in the choosing of the detail to share and the timing and weight of events, and Jon Bennett has this knack in spades. A refreshing change to see someone not needing to perform or create an act, but rather just rely on their authentic experience of life to entertain others. Delightful stuff.
Final word: charming and laid back.

Single Admissions

Lazy, Young and Talented - Single Admissions
Holden Street Theatres – The Studio, Sun Feb 28

I well remember the angst of the singles dating scene. Lazy, Young and Talented meet it head on. Not that they dwell on the angst. In fact these three young women have a lot of fun with it in a fast-moving dynamic piece of performance art. Playing themselves, mothers, aunties, competitors and casual acquaintances on the ‘slut bus’, they document the struggle of binge drinking, one night stands, looking for meaningful relationships, and the Facebook culture of false friends. Wonderful music and dance routines, and clever use of mobile clothes racks as windows and frames into a perplexing world. Loved the balance between the sad and the funny, the romantic and the raunchy. Great show.

FINAL WORD: Dynamic

Around the World on 80 Quid

Aindrias, Around the World on 80 Quid
The Stables, Mon Mar 1

Irish Aindiras tells the tale of how he exploits his swarthy complexion while travelling the world from Ireland to Italy to cruise ship to Romania to Bangkok, imbibing vast quantities of alcohol and drugs as he goes. This frequently lands him in strife, and while his fiddle does sometimes get him out of trouble it’s amusing to hear how being pigeon-holed as an Irish fiddle player continually lands him in Irish pubs. His stories are neatly linked by music from the places he’s visited, and despite the fast paced delivery he has time to involve his audience in his adventures. Arriving in Australia finally affords him the opportunity of detoxing so he we all leave with the politically correct message!

FINAL WORD: Entertaining

Click Tease: Log on, Get Off

Rebecca Meston, Click Tease: Log on, Get Off
Electric Light Hotel - Bartini, Wed Mar 3

This had to come – theatre that explores the boundaries between the online and offline self. The audience looks in voyeuristically, as if from the other side of a webcam, on the bedroom of Abbie, a cautious Gen Y woman played by Nikki Britton. Abbie creates Debbie89, her more vivacious online identity/avatar (played by Kate Skinner), to mediate racy interactions on Facebook et al. Amusing, beautifully crafted dialogues between her online and offline selves ultimately lead Abbie to an awkward face to face meeting with SlutboyJimmy (Ray Chong Nee), and the discovery that her real self is actually doing OK. Shut down the laptop, turn off your phone, and go and enjoy this entertaining and important new play.

FINAL WORD: Important

Tripping Switches

Transition Theatre, Tripping Switches
Metropolitan Hotel, Tue Mar 2

A series of briefly profiled characters are superbly played by an outstanding cast. A surprise and appropriate beginning for a play about privacy in public spaces finds us on a tram where a chance encounter of commuters establishes a narrative that is interrupted by digs at authority and interviews with the police under the intrusive light of mobile phones – symbolic of a world where we are all at once so connected and so distant from each other. When do you say hello to strangers? When do you give your name? Ask someone’s name? Should one give money to beggars? Bystanders drawn into the offbeat behavior of strangers reveal frailties lurking just beneath the veneer of their public personas. Poignant. Entertaining. Amusing. Wonderful theatre.

FINAL WORD: Outstanding

iexist.com

I Must Not Theatre, iexist.com
Holden Street Theatres – The Studio, Mon Feb 22

This short powerful work combines dialogue, mime, dance and music to delve into the lives of teenagers who spend much of their time online because they find the offline world too hard. It presents a series of scenes and images that alarm, amuse, and instruct, while creating a dream-like and often cacophonous world of online chatter where everyone talks at once. There are moments full of depth and tension – facing the prospect of real-life eye contact for the first time, and a superbly choreographed avatar sequence. A more light-hearted dance routine gives new meaning to the ipod shuffle. It might take a second or third viewing to unravel all the threads of this complex show, but it’s a strong, compelling piece of theatre.

En Route

En Route, Adelaide CBD, Sun Feb 21

We don’t all have to be in the same time and place to share a similar experience. En Route participants are guided by SMS messages and clues in the physical environment in a treasure hunt like experience through city streets. As you listen to a wonderful selection of carefully chosen music you’ll find places you have never been (even if you’re local), and become immersed in a soundtrack that connects you to the places and people around you. Anyone who has ever questioned why people wander through life connected to an ipod should try En Route. This is a totally enthralling experience. You slowly become aware that you are part of the show – as both observer and participant. Cannot recommend this show highly enough.

Final Word: Brilliant

For more about En Route.

Is Feminism Dead for Gen Y?

Note on the audio: I meant to say, "On the other hand, the theatre shows I have been to have been outstanding."

Best of the Fest Late Show
The Gov, Fri Feb 26

There was a misogynistic theme running through this show. Peter Berner rose above it. Daniel Townes told how he’d been accused of it. Carey Marx tried to obscure it with a sort of clever defence of using offensive language that was still in the end just offensive. Lindsay Webb’s opening line was “I can see your vagina” to a woman seated at the front - though he is skilled at building a funny set around audience interaction. It was the late show and much of the crowd were boozed, so any reference to sex or vaginas brought guaranteed laughs. There were funny moments, but Berner aside, this show would be a huge hit at local footy clubs - a sad indictment. Still, the crowd laughed uproariously all the way through.....

A Visual Portfolio?

Ever Changing Flickr Badge

A Few Summer Flip Thoughts

The Sun Goes Down on 2009

The Sun Goes Down on 2009
Originally uploaded by mikecogh

I initially refused to accept the invitation to join the Flickr 2009/365 photos pool. I thought there would be no way I could keep up with posting a photo a day. After a few days mulling it over I decided what the hell and launched into it. I can now say categorically that it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!

I had no idea what good would come from it. Over the course of this year, and because of my involvement in this project I have:

• Become a better photographer
• Opened my eyes to the world around me in a way I imagine children do naturally all the time, and in a way I can’t remember doing for a long long time
• Have enjoyed hundreds of photos from fellow group members
• Made many ‘Flickr friends’, as a result of sharing the minutiae of our daily lives
• Experienced the cycle of the seasons as I watched the photos change from summer to winter and back again over the course of the year
• really appreciated the support and tips from other group members
• used Flickr has a visual Twitter and more readily turned to Flickr rather than Twitter to know what was going on in my network
• eagerly looked forward to my daily walk with my camera to not only get needed exercise, but to take that daily photo
• learned so much about other places I have never seen
• Learned to look forward to every day as an opportunity to catch that special or unusual sight or moment
• Learned that images can connect people with very few words
• Learned that if I took the time to comment on others’ photos then people would reciprocate
• Eagerly Looked at Flickr every day for responses to my photos
• Become more assiduous with tagging and naming all photos

In short, I now appreciate the world around me more than I used to!

I would like to especially thank those who regularly dropped by my
stream, and offered me so much support and encouragement, and information about their lives. To name a few - @konarheim, @dibytes, @siavogel, @azmichelle, @carlaarena, @beedieu, @suehickton, @susanvg, @JanBran, @bgblogging, @windsordi, @lynnjake58, @loonyhiker, and @gibsongolfer. And of course Alan at @cogdogblog for getting this ball rolling in the first place!

I will stay on as a more passive member of 2010/365, and free myself from the commitment to post a photo a day. As much as I have loved it, it has been a significant time commitment that I would now like to allocate to other tasks. But I will be there peeking around at your pix :)

Thank you everyone so much. It has been an absolute privilege to be part of this project and part of your lives.

All the very best for 2010, and keep on Flickring. I will.

Notes from Australian VET eLearning Events (Nov/Dec 09)

EDAYZ (SA)

Martin Westwell

• we are now answer rich and question poor
• socialisation has emerged as the primary reason fro using the Net, not information transmission
• violent games DO cause violent behaviour, but can develop 'attentional capacity’

Mark Drechsler (Netspot)

• Moodle partners contribute to the funding of Moodle
• BOOK Module allows printing of blocks of content

Nancy White

• In contrast to Communities, Networks more objectified; less about the persona; community more about ‘we’n, networks about ‘me’
• we need to create content or we'll miss out; we communicate because of content

Julian Ridden (Moodle)

• if there is no personal connection for student they will fail
• consider removing institution branding to maake students feel like its theirs!!

TASMANIA

Clint Smith - How to write an Innovations Application

1. sus out the funding body (what do they want out of it?)
2008-11: emphasis on increasing capacity to deliver, and delivering more courses
2. pick the right track (business partnerships, or empowering learners; about 50% funding in each)
business partnerships: you're delivering to employees; should build on an existing relationhip; often elearning 1.0 (ie not facilitated)
empowering learners: ie enrolled students; about embedding elearning in an RTO; extending market reach; usually facilitated learning ie not self-standing; should have a target group

• show you've done the r and d; that you’re ready to go, and have got the skills and a plan
• main outcome is a successful elearning delivery solution
• count e-posteriors (ie virtual bums on seats)
• state where this is leading

Tip 5 - Innovations : explain the change

could be business development OR delivery approaches (emphasis is more on business development)
Survey on why people did previous projects revealed that 57% were about developing content

Tip 6 Design - Provide an e-solution
(refer to Designing eLearning site) http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/
Types of Corporate learning
• self-paced
• informal learning

(conclusion - it will be a range of solutions with a variety of tools ie not a single solution)
most common form = blended and support (47%)
facilitated online quite rare (13%)

why add facilitation to elearning offerings?
• assessment
• gp learning
• support
• more motivating

Cathy Moore Workshop

don't state the obvious; get them to DO things
Check readability Indices in spellcheckers
aim for a readability index of around 65
use more verbs, shorter sentences, more people; use active rather than the passive voice
“happiness is boring?” - add people to the scenario and make them suffer!
Ideally use real-world stories

Brad Beach : Tips for Online Facilitation

• is the blended learning model the best model? Or just an excuse to just not do wholly online?
• Who has ever been through a course and neither the teacher nor students said a word?????? So - respond!

Online Community

• community or network? Me or we? Me more related to community
• when trying to work out what is good online practice Brad likes to think back to f2f situations as a reference point

Creating an engaging Discussion Topic

• begin with statement or summary
• ask a single question
• discussion topics in asynch forums more suited to debate rather than content or 'concept clarification' ; ie convergent or divergent thinking; convergent better in real time
Lurking
• even if it is your preferred learning style you should be challenged to try some other method
• a teacher would not allow someone to sit f2f silent for extended periods, so don't online either

WA

Central Institute of Tech (Jeremy Sorensen and ???)

See-Fit Project (not content creation)

• use technology to support trainees (metro and rural)
• used POV, real time OL vid assessment
• vid evidence can be transferred to other contexts (email, YouTube, DVD, etc) and can be used for auditors
• video exemplar - great idea; shows students exactly what is needed for assessment
(YouTube owns the copyright of uploaded content.)

Cyber Assessment (SW Regional TAFE)

Online workplace delivery and assessment; used Moodle, Elluminate and POV glasses, and SMS (no content creation as main focus, but Moodle courses were created in)

Building Studies
Childcare
Metal Trades
Science

Seems like a project where people learnt to teach online/study online, but I wonder how many teachers were involved?
SMS communication draws an immediate response from students! (unlike other channels)

Digital Dogging and Rigging (Sandra Downes) ) Great Southern TAFE

Used the Learning Table (approach) for RFID tags to trigger media


(seems to be content creation; albeit sexy content creation using cutting edge technology)

Sewing program also uses RFID tags for triggering videos


e-Compliance (Abby Chasen; from HBF)

• Gen Y unhappy with current training delivery; dispersed workforce
• not sure, but it's content creation!! boring content was put online (but she says it's interactive...)

VICTORIA

Andrew Douch - ICT Innovations at Secondary College in Victoria

• has won MS Innovative Teacher of the Year Award
• 2 changes in the world and they are converging
• to date, ed has emphasised the left brain (logical, sequential � Maths, Physics, English etc) > left brained careers (Doctor, lawyer etc) ie NOT actor, artist, musician etc
• rise of machinery (took over the role of human strength) and promoted knowledge economy
• here's the Gen Y 'need to be connected story again – is it true, or just a stereotypical view?
• uses MSN with his kids after hours
• use ipadio for phone blogging
• took 3 weeks for his biology podcast to reach #1 on iTunes! With no IT training or tech skills
• 1 minute of Andrew's time = hours for students ie many students can listen to podcast over and over
• simple audio (mp3 tool)
• we need to change assessment methods
• @andrewdouch (Twitter)

Participatory Change - Uni of Ballarat

• using a mentor model - people get 1.5 days/week to improve skills
• but has also realised that PD workshops don't go anywhere (creates a sense of dependence)
• the trick is to get people to realise that they have a role in what elearning looks like in the future!!!!!; referred to the concept of 'consciousization'


Wolf Cocklin - How the ABC Uses Twitter

• Twitter - a combination of stalking, ADHD, and narcissism
• ABC uses Twitter for reporting, monitoring, broadcasting, engaging

ePortfolio Showcase Reflections (Melbourne, 16/10/09)

Allison Miller and Michael Coghlan share their thoughts on the day.

Moodleposium Notes

For what they're worth, my notes from the recent Moodle conference in Canberra. Least I now where they are!

Denise Kirkpatrick (Open Uni): Moodle @ OU

• OU is now 40 yrs old; no campuses; 220000 students; 1200 central academics; 8000 associate lecturers
• Open to people, places,methods, ideas
• no prerequesites to studt at OU (people)
• study from anywhere (places)
• students do not to have to attend any f2f event/location; ie distance ed (methods)
• Challenges for UK Higher Ed: more effective leadership
• chose Moodle in 2004
• couses at OU managed by a team of people; lecturer cannot operate independently (!)
• all tools are piloted and tested for scalability
• have developed a virtual microscope (excellent for geology for example)
• OU has all admin tools in Moodle so staff become familiar enough with Moodle to teach with it
• OU uses Elluminate

Social Networking

• strong SL presence (doesn't using SL conflict with the philosophy of it must work for everyone?)
• OU's version of Moodle is customised and particular
• OU has students in all 5 socio-economic groups (UK) ie people at the top and people at the bottom; for students in lowest gp they will supply laptop and net BB connection!
• 90% of students just enrol in the one subject they are interested in

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Group Work – Fairly Assessable? Amanda Burrell (UC)

• gets students to work fast (Thiagi like maybe?)
• Students require strategic and creative skills
• groups have private forums
• each student allocates effort 'mark' for each gp member weekly
• there is no guaranteed group grade

Kerry Trabinger – Getting them in and keeping them talking

• (Kerry used to work with Qantas College Online); currently working at FlexEd as part of the Centre of Education and Excellence at CIT)
• Context: class and community (separate)

Community Driven development towards...... (Martin Dougiamas)

• check Moodle tracker for summaries of issues being talked about in the Moodle community

Moodle 2.0

ADMIN

increased modularity; other app access – eg iPhone

CONTROL

conditional release will be added

INTEGRATION

• pushing and pulling content in and out
• test.moodle.org/filemanager
• record straight into discussion forum and post!!
• integration with Google Apps (SSO); (Google uses Moodle for its internal training)

USABILITY

• consistent navigation
• collapsible navigation menu (big tick!!!); configured as blocks

PEDAGOGY

• most people just focus on content, a passive forum, or quizzes/assignments2
• how about collaboration, sequencing activities, active forums bring in the content from the Net? Or co-create content? Use survey tools?

COMMUNITY HUBS

courses can be sent to a Hub that makes course available to others!! you could choose, download, and self-install course on your Moodle server


Julian Riddle – Communicating in Moodle

• the CHOICE tool
• St Ignatius (Sydney) use this to run student elections – great idea!!
• SPLIT FORUM TOOL try it
• J recommends we use the Dialogue tool (but it's a plug-in); t can provide private feedback/commentary within a discussion post

DAY 2

10 minute presentations

1.Glossaries (Andrew Reid)

can be used in assessment activities; students get marks for adding entries

2. Margaret Robson (CIT) – Engaging Interfaces

some really good interfaces on some courses – quite customised (we need to improve in this area); done with CSS/style sheets

3. Minh-Tam (Uni of Canberra)

have customised 'my courses' view; this would be handy for me!!!


Julian Riddle – Adding Flavour to Moodle

• “Moodle is elearning's Swiss Army knife”
• Accordeon Format – helps collapse topics
• Lightbox Gallery – image gallery/editor (like this one)
• add Skype to your profile

Derek Chirnside – Lightwork

• downloads all assignments to local PC, so they can be marked and resubmitted to Moodle
• allows inline comments in Word, (and Adobe PDFs?)
• looking for orgs to trial from October

Mark Drechsler

• Utilising Web 2.0 – Tips and Tricks
• Moodle wiki can be replaced by Ouwiki (from Open U)
• Nwiki
• no course blog currently in Moodle
• tag feature drags content sharing that tag into one place
• Mahara can be used for multiple blogs; better features and access control
• using external tools means better features but increased risk and less control
• Compare: feature set, usability, risk
  

Avoiding the Scroll of Death

• use link to directory
• use Book module
• use Label or Summary Tool to break up lists
• use Course Menu
• use Wiki tool !

FLNW3 - the first week

We have spent the last 3 days driving and walking around beautiful Washington state. Conversations have flowed around numerous topics – fall out from the Open Ed conference in Vancouver, and sundry issues as they occur. There has been no agenda, and no grand manifestos. It would appear that none of us has a burning desire to achieve any major goal other than to engage in professional conversations across our fields of expertise and interest.

Leigh has written on OER as the new colonialism how the well-intentioned use of Creative Commons licensing may inadvertently be forcing content creators in the developing world to pay heed to copyright in a way they never did before. My own reservation about what I saw at the Open Ed conference (an otherwise excellent 3 days of consistent high level discourse about learning and methodology) was the fact that it was dominated by well-meaning white folks from the developed world espousing a philosophy that at least in part is supposed to benefit those less able to produce quality content. So why was this conference held in North America? Why wasn't it held in somewhere like Mexico that may have enabled participants from central and South America? Or Nigeria? Or Laos?

I did learn that 'openness' is not just about creating content that is freely available to all, but also an attitude that acknowledges that all nations have educators with talent and enthusiasm that we can exploit together on a level playing field in the sense that we all have something to learn from each other, and further, that it's about an approach that acknowledges the role of the learner in crafting educational offerings, and other multiple resources that may make up an individual's PLE.

We have already explored what a future FLNW event may look like – modelled on a broad unconference approach that would include streams outside of education such as the arts, tourism, and trades. Central to this would be the inclusion of multiple streams running concurrently in different spaces, and examples of how a new model of teaching may look. It was very noticeable once again that the Open Ed conference consisted mainly of stand and deliver presenations – as excellent as they were – but it's time to model what is so often suggested, but rarely seen in practice at conferences.

In our travelling group we have touched on what the world would look like if all schools were closed, the propensity of some to create technical changes because they can (eg single sign-on, learning object repositories) and whether we need them, and the recurring problem of bringing in others less disposed to engage in teaching with technology. We have the gold, we all appreciate the wonders of what the technolgy can bring, but still armies of educators in all sectors resist our advances. “Don't worry about people stealing a new idea.. If it's original you will have to ram it down their throats.” So why is this? After 10 plus years of this technology being available we are still pushing the proverbial uphill. Clearly not everyone is going to adopt this technology in any way that instances significant change. Why not? Is it a teacher's personal values? Is it not as fundamentally good as we converts believe? Is the 'gold' too far away in 'them thar hills.'

We are questioning our assumptions (Nancy is great with clarifying questions and reality checks), pushing each others' boundaries and being honest with each other. Lots more I coud add.....but more to come next time.....

Peter Ellyard - Educational Leadership in the 21st Century

TRIC09 Test

USER GENERATED CONTENT AND THE WORLD OF WEB 2.0 - Facilitation Issues

USER GENERATED CONTENT AND THE WORLD OF WEB 2.0

What is User Generated Content (UGC)?
User Generated Content “refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_generated_content

It has been made possible by the profusion of technological applications that make the production and distribution of content to a wide audience within the reach of anyone with access to a mobile phone, digital camera or the Internet.

Clay Shirky writes eloquently on the impact this has had on society in general in Here Comes Everybody. (Andrew Keen presents a somewhat opposite view in the Cult of the Amateur.)

IMPLICATIONS FOR FACILITATION

This widespread availability of media and text production tools has important implications for facilitators of online communities, and some of these implications are yet to surface.
What is clear is that where not so long ago an online community (or online course) could be housed within a single chosen space (e.g. an LMS like Moodle), it is now quite possible that members of a class or community publish content (blogs, podcasts, wikis, photos, videos) to a number of different Internet sites.
From this point on online educators and facilitators will need to accept that their class or community members may already have a scattered digital presence across the Internet, and be flexible enough to allow that content to be a legitimate part of how people present themselves online to their class or community.
Community or class activity online is no longer confined to a single ‘controllable’ space that tended to be instructor-centric. The new approach acknowledges that an individual operates in other environments they have chosen themselves and that better suit their needs.
This is not to say there is no place for a central space that is the class or community home, but its centrality and degree of importance may be tempered by the attachment and ownership that individuals may feel towards their own chosen spaces.
Web 2.0
This user generated content phenomenon is part of what is known as Web2.0, or the read/write web – the web that we all contribute to and that is a more interactive environment where we all have ownership and the ability to create and modify Internet content.

Can you teach Web 2.0?

The discrete skills of how to blog, podcast, upload photos and videos etc can be taught. For someone to truly know what it is like to be an active participant in this kind of connected world however is a much more complex process. My own belief is that this is best achieved by active immersion in the world of UGC . This is the only way someone can experience the realisation that the world has changed to a place where much of the way we access and process content has altered, and that the production and evaluation of content is no longer the domain of trained experts in their field, but the domain of us all, of everyone.
Facilitating a class or community implies a central role of the person facilitating. Though the role of facilitator (or moderator) is somewhat different to that of teacher (the term teacher has been replaced by facilitator in the online environment for good reason), there is some lingering legacy that a facilitator teaches the members of the class or community. That may still be true, but it should be within the context of a community or group facilitating each others’ learning. Learning in a community of practice (on or off line) is a group activity.

Possible Discussion Topics

1) What do you see are the challenges for online communities in the Web 2.0 world? Are there advantages that we can exploit? How does the role of the facilitator change in this new environment?
2) Is it a case of ‘collective wisdom’ or the ‘stupidity of the masses’? Where do you sit?

Thoughts on Educause Australia Conference

I was going to try and blog about all the sessions I attended at last week’s Educause conference but if I wait for when I have enough time to do that I’ll never do it. So instead I’m going to do a Leigh Blackall and shoot from the hip. And I’ll probably say a few things that people may not like. However....

Educause is principally a higher ed conference so most of the presenters are from the university sector. And it just has to be said. Many of the presentations were appalling. I have never seen so many ppt slides stacked with bullet points which were read to us. I couldn’t believe it the first time, and it kept happening over the 3 days. They were classic examples of what not to do and this is what has given ppt a very bad name. Where have these people been?

The worst offender was a keynote speaker from Microsoft. His presentation was salvaged somewhat when he finally got to the interesting stuff in the last 15 minutes about lifestreams. He and colleagues have calculated that we live a 4 terrabyte life! That is, if we documented everything we ever saw, said, photographed, and filmed each life would accumulate approx 4 terrabyte of data.

And while on the subject of keynotes – it is clear that the organising committee paid no mind to presentations skills when they were selecting their keynote speakers. I’m sorry, but from keynote speakers I expect some semblance of presentation skill, but some had had little or none. And DELL and VM Ware could only have got a keynote slot because they paid a bunch of money for it. They should not have been a keynote event.

There were good keynotes though – Prof Peter Reimann from the University of Sydney spoke about improving students' ability to collaborate effectively. They have developed a wonderful tool that visualizes a student’s participation in a wiki, and I’m sure would also motivate a student to participate more. (Don’t think it’s commercially available.) Leo Plugge from Holland was also engaging, and inspired envy from Australian delegates as he talked of the national initiatives in Holland to provide superfast broadband to all educational sectors. See SURF. Mr Moodle (Martin Dougiamas) gave us a glimpse into the world of Moodle 2.0 and I like what I saw. It is clearly more porous to the outside world, and among other things allows for embedding media from external sites in discussion posts. So finally we may be able to see the discussion form freed from the tyranny of written text. There is a great opportunity for the VET [Vocational Education and Training] sector here – where many students are not great readers/writers but may be quite proficient in creating social media for discussion and assessment. (Or am I dreaming?) Michelle Seliger from Cisco was great too – delivered a strong message on Innovation, Collaboration and Partnership. (Though I did arrogantly think that she was basically delivering the same ideas in keynotes I have given in China and India over the last 2 years.)

Re concurrent sessions, apart from the 'read the ppt dot point bores', Rob Phillips from Murdoch University gave an engaging session where he sadly delivered the message that the use of technology had not yet transformed the nature of teaching and learning. (Should it? Will it?) This message was echoed by Martin D – he says that 90% of Moodle courses around the world consist of nothing more than static content and the occasional token nod to a broadcast style forum (i.e. non-interactive). Garry Allan from RMIT also gave a great session on eportfolios (they are FIRMLY on the agenda – a total of 5 sessions on this topic at the conference) where he talked about the Uni of South Australia and RMIT eport partnership. He asked whether asking students to conform to a one size fits all epf was sustainable in a world where tools are changing so quickly and students are likely to have artefacts spread all over the web in various blogs, wiki, social networking suites, etc. (Frankly I don’t think it is but I like the development of tools like Mahara, and can see them being really useful for many students when it is fully integrated into Moodle 2.0)

There were some other good concurrent sessions too, but these are the ones that stand out without having to go back and check my notes. And if I wrote about all of them I’ll never finish this. Pru Mitchell from ed.au was good on Sustaining Social Networks (“Web 1.0 was organised around pages; web 2.0 is organised around people.”) Peter Tregloan (Uni of Melbourne) was refreshingly honest about their Chemistry Flickr project – staff were positive about the project but many students did not think using Flickr was particularly relevant or useful. Kathleen Bacer (Azusa Pacific Uni) gave an energetic presentation on using Visual and Auditory Tools to Engage 21st C Learners, and urged us all to “break the online silence”.

TWITTER

Twitter is almost as common as the daily paper these days and there was a coterie of around 20 'tweeters' communicating on the back channels. Personally it really added to my enjoyment and appreciation of the conference and issues raised, but there was a strange moment during one presentation where comments on the Twitter stream started to get a little critical. Not long after there seemed to be a collective realisation that this was a little weird (unethical?) to use the backchannel to knock someone up there talking to you who has no idea that it's going on and the critism petered out. But it begs the question - is this legit behaviour for people using Twitter and other live blogging tools like Cover It Live? In this day of the backchannel should speakers realise that it is a possibility and maybe have an 'ombudsman' in the audience to keep them in the loop?

Overall I’m glad I went. It crystallised a lot of ideas for me about where VET stands in relation to other sectors, and their use of web-based technologies. So much so that I scrawled 3 pages of notes on the plane on the way home about a keynote that needs to be given called VET and the NET. :)

EXAMPLES GOOD PRACTICE COURSES USING MOODLE?

I’ve been trying to assemble a list of good practice Moodle sites without much success. Several people have offered examples of well designed Moodle sites with a list of courses that are not publicly accessible without an enrolment key. So I can’t actually get inside the courses themselves. And that of course is one of the beefs of the anti-CMS/LMS lobby. That CMSs and LMSs of any kind, even open source alternatives like Moodle, largely operate behind closed doors. Having to go to moodle.org and log in to see examples in there is a hassle. (Compare with this fully open course)

In addition, many educators are reluctant to share their work because they don’t feel confident that others will value what they do. I know some great sites, but the teachers concerned would rather not make them public. (There is also the issue of getting students’ permission.)

So, here are a few I’ve found that you can cruise straight into. If you would like to add a site you know to the list please send it to me, or add it yourself to this public wiki.


1. Open Learn – the Open University http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/
Lots of unfacilitated open courses to browse. Check out their excellent list of Learning Tools.

2. On Moodle’s own demo site at http://demo.moodle.org/ there are just two courses offered (use logins provided at site):
i) a Moodle Features demo
ii) Film Studies Module

3. On the Moodle commons I found this good example on Digital Photography
http://moodlecommons.org/course/view.php?id=5

That’s all I’ve been able to find that I think are worth showing. There have to be hundreds more. PLEASE ADD THEM HERE

Reaching a Bigger Pond - Tools and Technologies for Forming Community

Keynote presentation given at ACE elearning showcase. Melbourne, 20/3/09

Technology and Community

View more presentations from michaelc.

"You're no one if you're not on Twitter "

Trying out Trippermap

Get your own Trippermap!

Mikidache

Mikidache
Originally uploaded by mikecogh

As it was once some several years ago, one of the highlights of this Womad for me was the music of the Madagascar region - Mikidache from Mayotte, a small island near Madagascar. I love the music from this region. So joyous and melodic and eminently singable. Quite different from the mostly rhythm based music of neighbouring Africa. The other group that blew me away years ago was the Justin Vali Trio. I wonder if I lived in Madagascar in a former (musical) life!

Other musical highlights for me this year were Australia's own Geoffrey Yunupingu, and the wonderful sounds from the Balkans by Paprika Balkonicus.

Rhino Room - Gordon Southern

Rhino Room
Originally uploaded by mikecogh

Gordon Southern: The Unofficial Annual
Rhino Room Downstairs, Tue Mar 3
Gordon Southern is always going to deliver a value-for-money show. He’s sufficiently at ease to try gags that may or may not fly. There were a few curious moments when it felt like the audience was being auditioned for some of his newer material. But mostly he just cruised through entertaining routines that included stories, one-liners, jibes, jingles and a couple of ads. An obvious affection for Adelaide and Australia gives him license to target Australians, but everyone has fun while he assails airlines, Americans, Singapore and of course the hapless George W. Highlights include a wonderful send-up of Australian pollies and a hilarious take on eastern European immigrant workers in the UK. Great stuff!

Bakehouse Theatre - Bad Company

Bakehouse Theatre
Originally uploaded by mikecogh

The Adventures Of Dead Jim/This Place
Bakehouse Theatre (Studio), Tue Mar 3
Two great short plays presented by local group Bad Company. Dead Jim is a black comedy that involves some superb physical manoeuvres with a corpse, while drawing attention to substance addiction and mental illness. Fake bravado, agitation and fragility are played out beautifully by the two ‘living’ actors. This Place is perhaps the stronger piece of the two. Its effective split set reinforces the thin line between madness and sanity as a psychiatrist watches the charade of a stable home life descend into confusion and paranoia at the same time that the patient he is treating at work recovers. Great performances by the cast of three. Decidedly good company for 90 minutes of excellent theatre.

Point of View Cool

Point of View Cool
Originally uploaded by mikecogh

Used these POV glasses to make this short demo. Leigh Blackall models another version of POV glasses.

Stobie Memorial

Stobie Memorial
Originally uploaded by mikecogh

In South Australia 'stobie' refers to the kind of concrete and steel telegraph poles we have here. They, sadly, can be lethal when cars hit them. Named after a man named Stobie - www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=274 These kinds of memorials to accident victims have become quite a common site around Adelaide in the last few years.