Out of the Swamp

At the end of the term I can look back and see all the good things that happened and cogitate on those that did not go so well. Good things:

• Every student participated in the technology classes.
• Everyone managed to put something on the wiki.
• The least techno-literate student remained focussed, enthusiastic and asked for more Word exercises in order to improve her skills. She also managed to download them from the wiki on her own at home or with help from her husband.
• Getting more skilled students to help others was beneficial to both.
• Every student started a blog and hopefully these will continue as their own projects progress.
• Every student learned how to make a Powerpoint Presentation and and also a Digital Story.
• Those students who needed it were introduced to or gained more skills in word processing.
• Everyone remained enthusiastic about the technology to the end.
• Nobody wanted the classes to end!

Things which could be improved:

• I went into each class a little underprepared because I was not sure of how to manage the class with so many students at different levels of competency . I certainly could have prepared more competency exercises for those wanting to do them, and had more notes prepared on wikis and blogs before the session.
• I probably should have referred C to an Intro to Word class during the day. This would have helped her become more familiar with the computer.
• A big problem was not getting students to sign up to hotmail or yahoo mail as most of the problems students had logging on were experienced when they were at home and I was not around to help. I also should have insisted that they write down usernames and passwords as some forgot them next time they tried to log on at home.
• Not being totally clear in my objectives was probably at the root of anything that did not work well. It really highlights the importance of this but I think I “fluked” it and “winged” my way through with feedback from students being very positive.

All in all – a good experience and one from which I have learned. Now, hopefully, there will be some time built into the timetable for me to resource and catch up with people experiencing difficulties. I will definitely email everyone in the next two weeks to arrange a time to chat online and see how that goes.

It has been quite some time since I put an entry here. It is now March 2007 and my continuation of the wiki project has begun. I have been given a new role – that of e-learning champion and more hours so I am as busy as ever. However, I have been given the task of introducing to or extending the knowledge of (whichever fits) technology to Diploma of Community Development students. The class is divided in half according to expertise in technology but as the term progresses we have had to make a few changes to better accommodate all the needs of the students and of the other tutor involved.

So far I have carried out a technology skills audit on the students and am pleasantly surprised to see the level of expertise. Those in the advanced group have looked at PowerPoint, and Digital Storytelling and have boned up on some of the wordprocessing details they may have been a bit rusty on. The others have spent a bit longer on Word and a couple progressed to PowerPoint. I set up a wiki called (very creatively I don’t think!) dipcomdev. Now everyone has been introduced to the wiki and been shown how to log on and edit the page. I am happy to see that several of them have managed to find their way in and either put up a comment in the discussion section or add something to one of the pages. A good start I think. One of the best things about all this is the heightened enthusiam of students as they learn new skills. The one student who was the least skilled with technology, managed to be the first to add something to the wiki. She was very thrilled and excited and so was I. I uploaded some smarties for her as a prize!

Next class we will be continuing with wikis and discussing how we can utilise the wiki for projects etc. Next week, we will look at edublogs so that students can get a feel for journalling the life of their project. I am still looking at ways for students to fully utilise the wiki so my EdNA groups have been invaluable here. There are so many links to look at, I am finding it diffcult to fit them in and my brain is nearly splitting with information overload. However, I recognise this symptom now and am trying to organise myself so that I can sift out the useless info and retain the useful.

As the project is now complete, written up and sent off (yay!!) I can now reflect on what being a part of the Learning Circles project has done for me and the rest of the tutors. I can now easily create and work my way around a wiki and a blog although there are still some mysteries in this blog that I have not explored yet because I have been concentrating on the wiki. Many of the tutors have been able to contribute to the wiki and some also to the blog and that is encouraging. Interesting to see that no-one has continued contributing since the project was completed but I will keep on encouraging them to at least add some links to interesting sites.

Then there is the question of getting them to use new technology with their students. I suppose the only way to do that is to be the one to try it first and then let them see that it can be done. A new group of diploma students is starting next year so I aim to set up a wiki for them and they can use a blog as a journal. I am looking forward to this my first real foray into using this technology with students and I can see that it could be very exciting.

Work for the remainder of the year is slowing down and I am getting on top of the marking (hallelujah!) as the count-down to Christmas begins. Yet again I have missed the overseas mail for the relatives so it will be expensive airmail again. I am actually wondering if I can set up wiki for the family – that would be a hoot!

After this weekend in Melbourne of the G20 conference and the Make Poverty History campaign, I wonder when our politicians are really going to “get it”. Still – we must have hope and at least some people in the world actually care about how people in other countries are surviving. I absolutely disagree with the violence perpetrated by protesters thought – can’t people think of ways other than violence to make a point.

Now that the presentation is over, I am feeling quite buoyed up about things. I think it went OK – being first up was both a blessing and a curse but at least the technology worked so that was great.

I was bowled over by all the other presentations. What a talented bunch of people there are in ACE. So many good ideas and so many people working under much more difficult circumstances than me. It was great to see everyone from the wider regions again as well as those from closer areas. I am really keen to get hold of some the presentations and show them to our own tutors and Team Leader as I am sure we would all benefit from their ideas.

I now have the task of writing up my research which should not be too difficult as I have mapped it all out on the wiki. It is just a matter of sitting down and doing it when there are so many other things to be done, but I want it completed in the next couple of days to get it off my plate.

Well here it is Thursday night and I give this presentation tomorrow. I have been fiddling with the wiki, changing the look and feel etc and now I think I should just stop and go to bed!I am feeling quite satisfied with the way things have turned out even though I could have wished for more tutor participation but I have to remember that not everyone is as excited by new technology as I am! What a great adventure this has been.

I look back to that first meeting when it all sounded so big and undoable and then look at what has been achieved in just a few short months. There is still so much more to do but I think we have made a solid start. There has definitely been an upsurge of interest amonst some tutors and I am sure that at least a couple will follow my lead and use technology with students next year. Time is the most precious thing of all for us all and lack of it is possibly what may hamper progress in this area. However, with the strategic plan putting new technology and flexible delivery centre stage for the next 3 years, I think it has a pretty good chance of getting a guernsey.

My thanks to the funding body for funding this project and to the co-opted university staff who helped us – particularly Merryn. I hope the written up final document is acceptable to all and indicates the amount of work put into this project. I now look forward to hearing about all the projects tomorrow.

Well the day of reckoning is almost upon me. On Friday I will be doing my presentation and I am excited about that. There have been a couple of late questionnaires handed in so will have to add the comments to my analysis. The comments so far have mostly been pretty positive. Those who have contributed to the wiki or blog have been the most prolific in their praise (which is not surprising). I am pretty happy with the response to the questionnaire so far. I think I am now up to 8 or 9 replies out of 11 so that is a pretty good response and gives me enough to work on.

Probably, if I had had another meeting and a discussion about the merits or otherwise of the wiki and blog, I may have elicited some richer deeper reflection, however, any more than 2 meetings is probably too much for tutors to attend due to their busy schedules. It was hard enough to find time with the two that I had for everyone to be able to attend. I am really happy that a couple of tutors took me up on my invitiation to give 1:1 tuition. This worked very well in the 3 cases (or six if you count one who had 3 private sessions).
The thought that strikes me most from the questionnaires is the comment that our client base of students is mostly resistant to or technology-poor, meaning they do not have access to technology at home. (Not quite true as most of the students in my classes at least have access to technology at home) However, this is a good question for us to chew on as there has to be a way that technology can be made available to students. Already they have access to support on Friday afternoons with a tutor as well as access to the computers. There is also access on a Wednesday at Kallista Community House and there is always the library. Making the learning of technology a core subject of the training Packages may be a way of doing it but there is no way it can be made compulsory I don’t think.

Perhaps we could start a bank of secondhand computers – perhaps a Work for the Dole project where they recondition old computers people hand in. I know that any computer I finish with is still OK to use so why wouldn’t other peoples’ computers be likewise. It is just a matter of advertising what we are doing. Of course storage of these computers is another question altogether! That suddenly makes the whole project look a bit sick! Anyway – worth a bit of discussion with L. Still does not address the question of fast internet access though.

I am writing this post ACFE Provider Conference and I am feeling pretty tired but happy that everything went so well (but why wouldn’t it with Leanne organising it!) Having realised that I have only until 3rd Nov to get this project together I have been galvanised into action again! I am really happy that a couple of people have attempted to use the wiki and have been successful and that G has followed the link to the slideshow-maker and made a slideshow. That is exactly what I wanted to see happening. I really hope she can get it uploaded so I will make sure she knows I will help her if she needs it.

My next thing to do is to put together the survey for tutors to fill out so I can have it all collated by early next week. Might be stretching it a bit but I will aim for that anyway.

I think this project has been fantastic for my development in elearning as I now feel very confident in using the wiki and the blog and can almost do it in the dark! I have also been contacted by tutors who normally do not converse with me very much so that is a wonderful achievement in itself. From their comments, most appear keen to upgrade their skills in technology and those who before would not attempt it are now saying they would like to try. It seems that time is probably the problem here but I am second-guessing. I hope these things will become clear after the survey results are analysed.

Normally I am starting to feel a bit nervous about presenting the project to an audience but this time I am feeling more excited than anything else as I can see so much potential. What a great idea it was to join the Circles of ACE as I would probably be still tinkering around the edges with wikis etc. and other tutors would still be shunning technology. It was also great that I had become confident in using wikispaces before the ACFE conference as that is using wikispaces as well and I can whip straight in there and contribute. The more I think about it, the more benefits I can see!
Now that I am nearing the end of the project, I can see that there are other ways I could have done things. For one, I could have spent less time learning about wikis myself as I was adept enough after a week or so. I think this is my perfectionist nature rearing its ugly head again – I wanted the site to look really good before I asked for contributors. Perhaps I could have relaxed a bit and just let the look and feel of the front page grow and develop along with the tutors. Then I could have run the workshops earlier so there may have been more participation by them. I can see this project continuing into 2007 as the wiki is becoming a great repository of information. It is great to see L contibuting and her ideas for using wikis are very useful and great food for thought.

A small but enthusiastic team of tutors attended (make that 2, and a half Team Leader if you count Leanne who had to do “mother duties” halfway through!) Great to see Marg our new tutor on deck and keen to learn. I am now hoping that all tutors who attended will be able to contribute to our wiki and give me some feedback. M has accessed it and also D and G so that is a start. Not sure really how to encourage more participation. I am hesitant to put put more onto tutors because all seem so busy. The ACFE Conference will take two whole days out of this week and I also had two whole days out last week at the Learnscope Conference which was an exciting and very valuable experience for me representing Coonara on one of the panels. (Check out the wiki for a report on the conference).

Thank you to the people who came to the workshop. I was chuffed with the depth of discussion that went on – I can see we need more of that so please utilise this forum or the wiki to continue. I think I let the discussion go on a bit long because we did not really have enough time to go over how to use the wiki and blog very much so that was disappointing. I think I will need another session to do that . Time – or lack of it, is the main problem. Having a scribe there to record everything was fantastic. Good thing most people could come on a Tuesday because it may be difficult to get that amount of support again.

The newsletter has gone into temporary abeyance until I can work it out or perhaps scrounge a bit of help from my long-suffering webpage guru friends. I feel better having taken a pro-active stance and sent out an email to everybody to invite them to the workshop rather than just spending more time agonising over the newsletter. Six people have responded so far with a couple only able to come next wed and another couple next Tuesday. The others can’t come at all in the holidays which is not surprising (some people actually take holidays!) so I will have to catch up with them early next term.

I seem to be part of so many projects I can hardly raise my head from one before ducking down into another one – the swamp strikes again! After working with L and D on the Online casting project today, it seems that Coonara will be heading firmly in the direction of including new technology in every area in its strategic plan. That sounds great to me – very exciting and right up my alley but others will need lots of support in coming to grips with it. I am so glad we did the podcasting project as it put us ahead in lots of ways.

For the learnscope project. I think I will be able to combine this one with it and use the wiki as my ‘tool’. That will give me something different to talk about on the panel at the conference. I would dearly love to do another tool – perhaps another webquest but my previous webquest and the Sunsmart CD I made with the online quiz included should qualify as well. Best not to give myself too much to do and add more pressure.

From the replies to my email, I think there is a bit of interest in this project so that sounds promising. There should be about 5 weeks then for people to respond and get into the wiki and make some contributions. Looking forward to next week and the workshops.