Learning4Content/Workshops/Online schedule/eL4C40/Workshop Report

Workshop Report
40th Learning4Content Online Workshop - Homepage Welcome to the 40th free Learning4Content Online Workshop!!

Open Education Resources (OER) is becoming much more pervasive in tertiary education. Developing content which can be shared within one institution, or across continents represents a powerful paradigm shift in the distribution methods of learning content and courseware from traditional publishing models to those which are open and collaborative in nature. Major initiatives from leading institutions to provide open courseware further support the growth of this segment of online learning.

WE extend an open invitation to all educators around the world to join us on WikiEducator to receive a free basic Wiki editing skills online training in exchange for one Open Education Resource (free lesson plan, student guide, teacher handout or other lesson) developed on the Wiki.

eL4C40 Workshop Report This is the report resulting from the eL4C40 Learning4Content Online training workshop.

'''I am writing this report of online workshop eL4C40. I would be happy if Patricia & the participants collaborate on this.--Gita Mathur 06:10, 17 June 2010 (UTC)'''

=Workshop Resources Generated & Report=

Expected Output
The expected outcomes of this workshop were to:


 * to teach and train the use of the new Rich Text Editing WikiEducator tutorials 1-10;
 * explore the concept of open education using an open source software platform and integrated technologies in the process;
 * inform about WikiEducator's concept and new developments including inform on active OER content on WE.

Overview
EL4C40 was a 10-day basic wiki editing skills Learning4content online Workshop teaching Rich Text Editing under the Learning4Content initiative of the OER Foundation, which took place from June 07-18, 2010. The workshop was one of the OER Foundation's monthly Learning4Content workshops and was led by Dr. Gita Mathur, Gargi College, India, in addition Patricia Schlicht, kindly offered to assist with facilitating this workshop.

The facilitators used Google Docs to share workshop instructions, to edit and to improve on content, where appropriate.

Participants received instructions daily using Gmail Group emails.

The tutorials and forum discussions were conducted on WikiEducator

Pre-Workshop Activities
The following boxes were created on my userpage:--Gita Mathur 07:56, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Workshop template
=My Profile=

My Sandbox
/My sandbox/

Workshop Poster
Here is a poster which was sent to friends, students and perspective participants of the eL4C40 workshop. The poster was also printed & displayed in various academic institutions.



Live Session on WIZIQ
EL4C40 had one live online session over one hour on WiZiQ, on Saturday, June 12, the end of week 1. The live session was attended by 23 Learners. Both facilitators attended and presented on experiences, gave guidance or background information.

The recording of the Live Session is available here:'''

Click here to see the recording of the Live Session



Presentation Slides of Dr. Gita Mathur
Online presentation at the eL4C40 Live Session on 12.6.2010, at 07.00am(IST) at WiZiQ. [[Media:Gita_Mathur_Presentation_for_eL4C40.swf|Wiki Skills and Collaborative Development of e-resources: ]] file=Gita_Mathur_Presentation_for_eL4C40.swf|width=200|height=150|quality=best
 * See the full size presentation at the above link and a small preview below.

Outcome and Demographics
The workshop consisted of the following demongraphics:

Demographics
 Participants: 66 (Female: 46 / Male: 20) Including Facilitators: 2 (Female: 2 / Male: 0) Countries: 13

Country Participation
13 countries participated. They were:


 * India
 * Canada
 * Finland
 * USA
 * Malaysia
 * Oman
 * South Africa
 * Australia
 * Qatar
 * Zambia
 * Uganda
 * Finland
 * Pakistan

North America
 COUNTRY,TOTAL COUNT,Male,Female''' Canada,2,,2 USA,3,1,2

Africa
 COUNTRY,TOTAL COUNT,Male,Female'''

Uganda,2,1,1 Zambia,1,1,

Southeast and South Asia
 COUNTRY,TOTAL COUNT,Male,Female''' India,47,12,35 Bangladesh,1,1,

Europe
 COUNTRY,TOTAL COUNT,Male,Female''' Finland,1,1,

Middle East
 COUNTRY,TOTAL COUNT,Male,Female''' Qatar,1,,1

Oceania/Pacific
 COUNTRY,TOTAL COUNT,Male,Female''' Australia,4,3,1

To ADD
 * Malaysia: 1F
 * Oman:1M
 * South Africa: 1F + 1M
 * Kenya: 2F = 1M

Workshop Highlights

 * First online workshop with 48/66 participants from one country, India.
 * Certifications Attained: (Other participants did not reach any certification level)

(Participants you may add your name here after 18 June 2010.)


 * Apprentice Level 1 = 10


 * Apprentice Level 2 = 6


 * WikiBuddy = 8


 * 1) KD Shijo [India]
 * 2) Cynthia D'Costa (India)
 * 3) vaishali [India]
 * 4) Laxmi Narayan [India}


 * Total number of emails received by me regarding the workshop including messages from Wiki Admin for watch pages was an amazing 708 and sent emails 126. That is total emails handled was 708+126= 834! (May 5,2010 till 5:37 june 17, 2010). Add to this the comments &amp; notes added to the userpages of the 66 participants including creating all the newbie pages.--Gita Mathur 14:08, 17 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Updated on 24 June, 2010

Received +82 &amp; Sent + 14; 82+14= 96. 834 + 96 = 930 emails All emails sent to 2 facilitators and 66 participants as a group have been counted as one :-)--Dr. Gita Mathur 04:12, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

Conclusion
I am very grateful to Patricia Schlicht for having come in, to assist with facilitation. I enjoyed the interactions and active participation from her as facilitator, and from participants.

eL4C40 used the Gmail Group email as integrated tool to communicate with participants. While I found, it worked well for communicating instructions, I find the flow of return emails not very user-friendly in Gmail and interactions are more difficult to monitor. I also had more one-on-one time with individual participants compared to before where I would have had both, one-on-one teaching time and group responses that let's others benefit more from the learning experience others have. I had to keep repeating myself many times as participants asked similar questions. Same email to the whole group together makes more sense. Many participants get answers without asking the same question.

While it cuts the incoming email traffic a facilitator normally has to manage, I am not sure if Gmail is the most effective way of communicating with participants. It is a great tool for sharing documents you collectively work on (Google docs) such as instructions before sharing.

Learning Contract is another area WE need to pay attention to. Many participants do not have access to printing & scanning facilities and some work in public computer facility so can not get access to open office either, so the .odt & .pdf formats are not enough. My suggestion is to have an editable contract on WE itself and participants can fill & sign with their wiki signatures.

Overall I am satisfied with the outcome of this workshop and hope to be able to conduct many more. Special thanks once more to Patricia for being the help & support. HER PRESENCE ADDED A LOT OF CONFIDENCE IN ME AS A FACILITATOR.--Gita Mathur 06:55, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Participants' Comments &amp; Observations
'''Dear Participants, You can place here on record how your learning experience with the facilitators was. Also add the plus &amp; minus points of eL4C40 in particular, to help us do better in future, You may continue to add general comments for L4C to the workshop discussion pages. THANKS--Gita Mathur 06:35, 17 June 2010 (UTC)''' Please add your wiki signatures to all your comments.

--KD Shijo 15:24, 17 June 2010 (UTC)