I have a presentation lined up next week and have been reviewing my thinking on flexible learning and learning futures generally.

So far, I’ve returned to two slideshows I loaded to Flickr some time earlier this year and will likely focus my thinking on ideas from these for my presentation.

1. Quality through personalised learning

2. The business of learning (or, 21st century learning)

I think I’ll focus on learning futures and how flexible learning is defined and can be promoted through this thinking. Some of the key themes I’d like to draw out include:

• learner as teacher
• business IS learning
• the learning design process is a collaborative one with the learner

I’ll start with that and see where I head - shall post an update soon! What do you reckon?

Commoncraft come through with the goods again! Ever been stuck for ways to describe the Social Web or Web 2.0? Here’s a way that does it so you don’t have to.

Social media in plain english

On another note, I’ve been working on bringing together action research and networked learning in developing a research proposal. This video also demonstrates the affordances of media rich approaches to research don’t you think? Like this project really…

Digital Ethnography

Most of us have heard of ‘Where’s Wally‘ right? I used to love the ‘great picture hunts’ and the after-school cartoon!

image: Entertainment Rights

Well, ‘where’s Marg’ applies equally well, as I haven’t blogged since end of April! Time just evaporates doesn’t it??

There are many reasons for this which altogether looks and feels like a ‘where’s Wally’ crowded picture! I’ve been active elsewhere that has left me with little time to blog - I’ve only just this week caught up on my blog feeds from other blogs!

I’m co-preparing an action research, action learning conference through ALARA (of which I’m a member), in partnership with CIT’s Centre for Education Excellence, as well as (slowly) working through my masters units, some thoughts of which I’ve posted on my ALARA blog in recent times. I’ve also kept some conversation going regarding the conference via my ALARA blog too. More information regarding the conference will be forthcoming shortly, but if you’re keen to attend, keep September 11th and 12th free in your diaries!

Of course, those of you who have been following my other news now know that the birth of my first bub is imminent! Some pics are here (although some are hidden due to ‘belly-cam’ shyness on my part!)… not long to go now, and as a consequence, you can imagine I’ve been preparing for leave at work, which is in itself a major process (certainly a major ‘unhooking’ process for me particularly)!

The ‘nesting’ syndrome has also hit, and we’ve been renovating as well - we certainly made the most of the long weekend! We’re recording our progress here.

Back to work then, and we’ve been supporting the submissions and successful recipients of the E-learning Innovations funding available this year through the Framework and have 7 projects based at CIT as a result. With us looking down the barrel of the second half of 2008 already, these projects will be our main focus along with supplementary PD activities and the like to ensure the projects are successfully completed by early December!

I’m developing a post on the notion of ‘calm learning’, based on my recent experiences of a wonderful weekend-long workshop on calmbirth, in Bowral NSW. This triggered much in me (for obvious reasons outlined above) and I saw some interesting connections between birthing, conscious parenting and engagement with learning. Stay tuned on that!

Thank you to those who have wished me luck and showed your support for the impending birth and I hope to introduce you to the latest addition sometime around the end of July!!

April 24 saw Canberra host the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay. This was how I saw the day emerging.

My colleague, Colin, has struck out with a new blog focusing on games based approaches to learning. This from his ‘about’ page:

…my particular interest is computer based games but it includes everything from roleplays to quizzes and puzzles and much much more. Games can motivate learners by engaging their imaginations, giving them control over their experiences, challenging them, enabling them to experience authentic and relevant activities and providing multimedia stimulation. I’ve been exploring the use of games in learning for a couple of years now in my work with the Flexible Learning team at the Canberra Institute of Technology…

The Game Learner » About

[image: margoconnell]

What Colin didn’t mention was the fact that he has been researching games through his Masters study; and this blog is, I think, a useful and necessary addition to the edubloggersphere!

Onya Col - will add to my feeds!

technorati tags:gamebased_learning, games, colin_simpson, flexible_learning, computer_games

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Reposted from OTN@CIT:

This from the del.icio.us wikieducator tag via sparkered.

A QR code generated from Wikipedia for use in physical spaces, equals Semapedia.

I tried it out using the kaywa reader and now have the Wikipedia entry to liminality on my phone as I write.

It works like this:

Image: Semapedia

Imagine some of the applications, if you will:

• quick lookup of definitions (those that apply to one’s workplace perhaps)
• find out more about an artist, locale, music band, suburb…
• orientation information within an institute or business or…

At present this is set up for Wikipedia and other ‘Wikisites’. If opened up to Wikiversity, Wikieducator, etc the possibilities are motivating!

technorati tags:QRcode, semacode, semapedia, wiki, wikipedia, mobile, mobile_resources, wikieducator

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Phew! Time flies when lots of things are happening at once! Heads up about a conference happening next week…

I’m off to Adelaide next week for the Action Learning Action Research Assoc (ALARA, formerly ALARPM) national conference. It’s set to be an invigorating event, as the theme is ‘Moving foward: Aboriginal ways of knowing and doing’, with the sub-themes of health, environment and education.

The Assoc has just published a pre-conference edition of it’s journal with some wonderful think pieces leading into the conference, which is running 8-10 August (next week!). The journal isn’t available online until much later, so I thought I’d give you a little taster, so you can get a sense of what the conference will cover and who will be engaging in the discussions.

Judy Atkinson writes about what she’d do if she was Prime Minister, in relation to the abuse of Indigenous children (see the recent report here):

In the medium term, if I was the Prime Minister, I would build a community strengths based approach into all that I do, advancing education at all levels. The strengths based approach would provide educational opportunities for Indigenous Australian to acquire skills so they can work with their own people, and others, for healthy early childhood development, education for lifelong learning, and education for healing (ALARj pre-conference special edition, 2007, p.90).

A full version is available via Judy’s work website, the Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples, Southern Cross Uni.

I wonder how Julie Bishop’s national curriculum masterplan and Rudd’s education revolution make room for Indigenous ways of knowing and doing?

Another piece by Vesper Tjukonai, titled Where First nations’ languages maintain the health of the lands and her peoples, English fails, uncovers how language (is dominance, its death, its power) plays a vital part in reforming our (cultural) ways to re-establish connection to land, to people, to one another. Vesper descrbes in depth the origins of the English language as its colonisation of other languages to strongly illustrate how the power of language can protect histories, hide voices and preference groups in our society. In one part, Vesper says:

English is a ‘vehicular’ language, observed French sociolinguist Louis-Jean Calvert. it is a language of conveyance and commodity. It is the utilitarian currency of the market place. it serves the interests of the speaker, rather than the holisitc needs of a community. In contrast, indigenous langauges are ‘gregarious’. They fster belonging, support relationships, nuture diversity, cross boundaries into liminality and accommodate the ‘inexplicable’ and ‘ineffable’ (ALARj pre-conference special edition, 2007, p.94).

How does this apply to our current efforts with literacy and numeracy I wonder?

Just some thinking points that I’m hoping to take in more of at this conference. I’ll blog some of the related presentations, conversations etc too, here and at the ALARA website itself.

Stay tuned!

technorati tags:ALARPM, ALARA, conference, Aboriginal_knowing, action_learning, action_research, education, journal, ALAR_journal

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Under Labor’s plan, schools will be able to pool capital grants to form School Trade Precincts to provide concentrated state of the art facilities to teach kids in a variety of disciplines. School Trade Precincts will also be capable of bringing together a critical mass of expertise to focus on areas that are important to the State’s economy such as mining related occupations, service and automotive industries. Priority will be given to these projects when a group of schools has consulted with industry and where a precinct includes facilities aimed at addressing an area of skills shortage. In Western Australia there are shortages in the construction, transport, hospitality industries as well as the mining and resources sectors.

Australian Labor Party: Federal Labor’s $284 Million For West Australian Trades Training Centres In Schools Plan

Huh? I’m confused, and I’m sure it’s not just because it’s Friday! If anyone, ANY one can tell me that this picture - painted by Australian Labour’s Kevin Rudd - is wildly different from our current TAFE system, I’ll eat the proverbial!

Seriously, tell me where the “education revolution” is? I think Rudd and his shadow ministers are battling with their terminology around the notion of a revolution. Here’s some definitions:

Now, I can see how things might be a little confusing, don’t you? Let’s see, revolution as a violent and radical change to a society; revolution as a circular or circulating motion; an orbit; cycle; recurring period of time . . . geez I feel like I sound like a stuck record!!

Come on Mr Rudd, is that the best manifestation of a “revolution” you can do? Let’s add re-inventing the wheel too while we’re at it!

How about making an outright commitment to our well-trained, over-worked and under-valued TAFE teachers and fueling the flame for debate in support of your existing, internationally recognised national education and training system, rather than fluttering around like a candle in the wind.

technorati tags:Kevin_Rudd, Labour, ALP, Election2007, Trades, VETinSchools, commentary

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Podcasts are often too long and predictable to hold my attention. That’s why I started making impromptu nanocasts this morning.

By definition, a nanocast is:

* 5 minutes or less in duration.
* Impromptu, not scrpted.

Jay Cross @ Internet Time Blog

(Image: Anatomy of the Human Ear, Wikipedia)

Jay Cross shares some good ideas about nanocasting: bite-sized podcasts. I agree; I’m not a big fan of the lengthy podcast - and my guess is that unless you’re an auditory person who can hold your attention to lengthy and focused listening, I’d say not many others do! YouTube is testament to the fact that we are a predominantly visual culture (also see for example Ways of Seeing by John Berger from 1970s), feasting and consuming with our eyes.

I’d add Jonathan Finkelstein to the list of nanocasters; he usually podcasts (and vodcasts) about 1-2 minute pointers relating to online interaction in synchronous learning environments to great effect. He usually uses a “hook” - mostly a metaphor. He also draws together real-time and asynchronous tasks, events or activities, so that each “nanocast” is not taken in isolation.

My short post on literacy can also be further reflected on here; being able to transform various chunks of information into not only knowledge, but a contextualised, social and participatory experience, is for me the real art of designing for learning in the 21st century. As an ed designer, I’m always looking for ways to do this in my collaborations with teachers, that draw on informal learning settings and workplaces (especially relevant in VET) as well as defining/translating learners’ needs.

There are a couple of key elements I’d add to Jay’s notion of a nanocast:

1. including appropriate imagery with the audio clip can act as an initial “hook”, giving the listener a visual reference point while listening (satisfying our visual wants).
   1. I’ll qualify this from a user’s perspective: When I’m listening to audio, I do tend to surf at the same time - essentially getting other things done as I’m listening. I usually can’t sit still and just listen!
2. adding some key dot points or an intro sentence (as Cross did) outlining the content of the podcast can also be a hook.
   1. however, if you title your pod/nanocast appropriately, that may be all the hook you need!
3. I reckon being able to interact with a podcast in some way can also add value, and you can do this by:
   1. responding to a podcast using the comments feature
   2. responding to a podcast with your own podcast and cross-linking
   3. using a service like Chinswing to link all relevant podcasts together (in a channel) in a linear , asynchronous “conversation” - building you a bigger picture of the discussion as it progresses.

I’m conscious of the type of information we provide and consume via our social software tools and services and often wonder if we really do enough as educators to model our expectations of the benefits these tools have to learning. Recording a 1-hour lecture and podcasting it, is not necessarily better, only different. Where’s the “hook”? The context? And indeed, the learning?

There are practical examples that exist, like Teachers Teaching Teachers and CommunitiesConnect, where audio has a definite purpose and meets specific needs.

I reckon we need to first become better at identifying needs then work at applying the appropriate technology to meet those needs. So too, as educators, we should be teaching learners to better identify needs - in our reality however, it’s often a case of consume (or even produce!) first then think about it some other time - where IS that some other time, when we are always so “busy”?

technorati tags:podcast, nanocast, jay.cross, literacy, chinswing, participatory, social.software, educational.design, time, needs, learning

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Ascilite 2007 - ICT : Providing Choices for Learners and Learning

Get your thinking caps on for ASCILITE 2007! Proposals are due July 23rd.

This conference will be held in Singapore at the Nanyang Technological University.

technorati tags:ASCILITE, 2007, conferences

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