Out of the Swamp

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.

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.