Talk:Facilitating online communities
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Contents
| Thread title | Replies | Last modified |
|---|---|---|
| Global Alliance for Self Management Support (online community) | 2 | 01:02, 2 September 2009 |
| Buddies | 19 | 07:42, 13 October 2008 |
| Storytelling | 0 | 09:33, 5 October 2008 |
| Online Communities in Developing Countries | 0 | 00:26, 4 October 2008 |
| Introductions | 171 | 09:59, 20 August 2008 |
| Tools, tools tools: Signpost | 0 | 07:33, 17 August 2008 |
| Making a start | 6 | 16:57, 6 August 2008 |
| THE Blog list | 0 | 14:32, 6 August 2008 |
| Crumbs... | 0 | 10:24, 1 August 2008 |
| General Questions | 6 | 02:04, 29 July 2008 |
| FOC Google Group | 1 | 17:33, 28 July 2008 |
| Suggestion for evaluate a facilitation event | 3 | 15:09, 9 July 2008 |
| Taking off | 0 | 21:46, 17 June 2008 |
| Planning for FOC | 0 | 02:07, 4 May 2008 |
This is Manuel Serrano, I am the Director of the Global Alliance for Self Management Support-GASMS. Our goal is to promote self management support and patient empowerment worldwide through the use of ICT an mass collaboration. (Look at Wiziq recordingfor more info).
We want to train online facilitators to implement the GASMS through crowdsourcing and volunteers. That is the reason why just started with a blog in spanishand a network in Wikieducator. Please, join our plattform and start working collaborativelly in specific projects. We think that having a specific group for a project on facilitating online at the GASMS would be a big help to start with. (Check http://3four50.globalalliancesms.org for a specific group example)
Many thanks Manuel. I believe this is a very good initiative. I will like to get updates and see how i can support in any way i can. Cheers.
Manuel,
Congratulations on taking the initiative to start a workshop. Gladys Gahona and I have developed a format for online workshops. See the list and let me know if I can be of help.
Warm wishes, Nellie
Illya and a few others in the course have had the great idea to try and coordinate a buddy system. Buddies can be a great way to help each other through difficult or technically challenging periods of the course. A bit like when scuba diving - buddies should never lose sight of each other, they should make sure they are in the same place at the same time.
This thread is an attempt to help with the formation of buddies. If you think a buddy would be helpful to you, please leave a message as a reply to this that explains what you might need from your buddy. Hopefully someone with confidence in the things you are not so confident will come along and reply to your message for you two to take it from there. If you have technical confidence but don't yet see a request for buddy, then please go ahead and leave your offer for buddy help for someone to come along and reply to that and take it from there.
Thanks Leigh for setting this up.
I'd be glad to be a buddy for anyone needing a bit of help on the techy/web tools side. I feel it's always a two-way street and that I can also learn a lot from my buddy and hopefully help at least as much. Anyone interested? (gee, I feel like I'm advertising! Sorry if it sounds that way too)
Illya
Hi Illya,
I am Vida from Otago Polytechnic in New Zealand. I work as a Facilitator in the Community Learning Centre in Alexandra (Central Otago). I am Ok with blogs & Wiki but could do with some help on RSS readers & probably lots of other things. Need an update on Delicious as I haven't used that for a while.
If you would like to be my buddy that would be great & I'm sure I will be able to help you also.
Cheers,
Vida
Hi Vida I'd love to be your buddy! I have little experience on the facilitating side, so you can help me there as well. I'm sure we'll be a great team. Cheerio Illya
Sounds good to me Illya. Cheers, Vida
Hi Vida, I will like to be your buddy. I am experienced in the use of open learning platform like Fronter and Moodle. I and want to know more about Blog and Wikis which I have used but not very well. RSS etc. My main concern is that I want to know more about web 2.0 tools and how to set them up and link them to another site for group communication. I have enlisted in some of them but have not used them well e.g. second life. I am not sure if I am putting this needs well but I hope you could understand my request. Olufemi
Hi Olufemi, That would be great. I am a Facilitator. I know how to blog, am learning about RSS feeders. I have had a look around in Second Life but not really experienced with it. I would really like to know more about Open Learning Platform & Moodle. We are going to be using Moodle for another course I am doing. Look forward to learning & facilitating. Cheers, Vida
Jan Hunter here. I would really appreciate having a buddy for this course as I am the newest of the newbies. Unfortunately for my buddy, it will be a bit of a one way street as I need a bit of help with this Course.
Cheers Jan Hunter
Jan, I can be your buddy, if you don't mind. I would be happy to help in anything I can.
Thank you Joao. I am really appreciative. Cheers Jan
It's really a great idea to set up buddies between us! This is Joy, a facilitator from MIT, NZ. And I am one of the newbies and will be really grateful if someone would like to be my buddy and help me with the course. I hope I can contribute to my budy too, thou maybe not that much :-)
Hi Joy, I can be your buddy! Just get in touch when you feel like and I will try to share the little I know.
An idea would be to have a back channel skype chat which can work synchronously and asynchronously. We can also get more people on board then.
My skype ID is navysternchen
Hi! My name's Violeta Cautin. I'm sorry for entering late to this course and I would love to go through this course with a buddy. If there's someone here who is interested in Spanish it would be even better that way I can help him/her to improve with that. :)
Hi Violeta, looks like we have spontaneously become buddies. Do you have a skype account?
I'd like a buddy. I'm self-taught so fairly frequently I run into a gap in what I know how to do. I can offer lots of experience in f2f facilitating. Thanks
Hi Nancy I don't know if you already have a buddy. I too am self-taught, but maybe we can figure out things together. I have little facilitating experience.
Illya, I'd like to have you as a buddy. Thanks for your offer. How do I get in touch with you?
Hello, I'm Barbara Dieu and joined the course a bit late but am willing to give a hand with the tools and Second Life (Tuesday 10 pm UTC). If you need any help you can beep me in Skype. My ID is beedieu.
Hi Bee, How are you? I added your skype id and sent you a message. I would be interested in following your lead into SL if you have the time and would be willing to give me a hand. My id is Nellie Homewood. I have made many attempts to join others on SL but I must be missing something because I don't seem to get it.
Thank you. Nellie
Thank you, Barbara. I do not need your guidance to SL anymore. I managed to find my way around with Kip and others.
Hi,
Please join the storytelling miniconference and/or add your comments or questions here.
Thank you.
Nellie
If you would like to be included in the next facilitated course starting 28 July 2008 please introduce yourself by replying to this thread (you will need to create an account on Wikieducator to be able to reply to threads). Please include an email address in your introduction, that can be added to an email forum for the course.
My name is Leigh Blackall and I will be facilitating this course from 28 July. I work for the Educational Development Centre at Otago Polytechnic and specialise in the use of the Internet for teaching and learning. My full profile can be viewed here. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone who wants to be a part of the next course in Facilitating online communities, and seeing where our journeys will take us. I hope you will contact me if you need any further information (email: leighblackallATgmailDOTcom), otherwise I'll see you back here in the week starting 28 July when I will collect up all contact details and create an email forum for the course.
My name is Minhaaj ur Rehman. I am an educator in Pakistan. I have been teaching for 5 years now. I am willing to participate and collaborate in Facilitating online communities. my email is minhaajATgmailDOTcom
Dear Leigh,
I would like to join in. I am new to providing online courses. I have created a platform on moodle and I think this course may help!
Thank you.
How could I possibly miss this opportunity? :-) My name is Sylvia Currie and I have been facilitating online communities for the past 10 years. A few months ago I started a new job as manager of online community services for BCcampus.ca, and more than ever I'm helping others to become comfortable in an online facilitation role. There's always so much to learn and I'm thrilled to be part of this course. I'm taking some mini holidays in July and August but hope to be active throughout the 10 (17? - even better!) weeks. Leigh, feel free to throw some jobs my way if you need any help!
I will be using my Webbed Feat blog for the course since it already is primarily related to online communities. As suggested I'm using the tag FOC08 for posts related to this course.
My name is Shane Roberts. I am a secondary teacher in Australia exploring as much "tech" teaching and learning as I can. In my school context I am a Health and Physical Education teacher, with an attraction to all things tech. The best way to describe myself is somewhere between jock and geek. Within my school I'm seen as an ICT innovator and leader, and I assume responsibility for developing the ICT integration skills of other teachers. Within our system, I've recently been appointed a Regional Facilitator for ICTs in Learning which sees me working in a small team of three to provide workshops throughout our region. I have recently started a blog, so will post items relevant to this course there using the agreed tag FOC08. The address is [1].
I'll apologise now for what may seem at times like a "lurking" presence. I am attempting to join this course around my work schedule which will result in my attention to it early in my mornings or late at my nights. I hope my contribution can be productive.
Hi all, my name is Chris Haller and I'm working as an eParticipation consultant. I've facilitated a couple of online dialogues while I was at Zebralog in Berlin, Germany and am looking forward to new insights. Great list of folks in this course! challer at eparticipation dot com
Dear Leigh,
Apologies for the late introduction (I thought I had already posted). I seem to have gotten this course confused with a course on wikis running also from wikieducator next week (which I am also enrolled on).
My name is Andrew Chambers. I work at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Austraia, in the area of elearning as a trainer of staff for Learning & Teaching @ UNSW (yes I work with Mike Bogle). I presently teach academic, support and admin staff the Blackboard Vista Learning Management System via a series of workshops.
I have been working in eLearning since 1995 and have now used learning management systems since 1997 (Working also at University of Waikato and Massey University in New Zealand).
I also teach elearning to pre-service high school teachers for the school of education here at UNSW. This has been a very valuable experience. The enthusiasm shown by the prospective high school teachers in applying technology to student activities has taught me a thing or two.
LMS systems are one thing but the range of new web 2 tools has re-excited me and I can see many opportunities for their introduction to the learning process...
BTW I have recently started using facebook, ning, delicious (atscatsc), twitter (atsc), skype (atscatsc), blogging ([1]) and a few other tools just to keep in touch with other professionals working in this area but don't as yet use them for the elearning course I teach (I used the "traditional" LMS.
I am interested in this course as I need to pick up new skills in the technologies and new ideas that I can pass on to staff and students.
I look forward to the course (assuming you will accept me!). I appreciate the efort you need to put in to organise us all!
With Regards, Andrew Chambers
Hello Andrew,
I found your blog to be http://elearningthoughts.wordpress.com/ (I think your link above left off the 's') - must be the rush you had getting in here :) I see though, with your experience, blog and connection with Mike, you (and he) should make a formidable team in this course. Looking forward to seeing your enthusiasm come through for the things we'll discuss and look at. I'll need your email address Andrew.. so I can add you to the course email forum: http://groups.google.com/group/facilitating-online-communities
Hi Leigh, My name is Lynn MacEachern and I have worked as a face to face facilitator for many years. I am excited to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of facilitating interactions via the internet. My e-mail is lynn@facilitate2yes.com. Thanks for letting me join the class at this late date. I just learned about it a few minutes ago.
Hello Lynn! I was hoping a professional facilitator would be joining us. Evidently this course attracts professional educators - mostly teachers, so it is good that we have at least one voice to offer prespectives on the differences between teaching and facilitating. I'm hoping some day that this course will attract journalists, talk back hosts, and more professional facilitators such as your self.
Hi Leigh,
This is ben. A development worker for the past 12 years with experience working with various donor and humanitarian organizations in the Island of Mindanao, Philippines. In most part I worked and stayed in the more culturally diverse, politically unstable conflicted affected areas of the island. While engaged in (independent) consultancy work to earn a living, at least during the last eight years, I was also involved in volunteer work, most specifically in helping develop the capacity of local-home grown NGOs and peoples organizations (POs) working with marginalized farmers, fisherfolks, IPs and Moro (local Muslim) communities in different parts of Mindanao.
This is a personal crusade that I intend to sustain, as I also intend to continue my journey and hand-holding with the organizations and communities I have been working with and working for in the past years. This volunteer work is mostly carried out through coaching and mentoring through leadership and membership development, setting up organizational systems and procedures, helping local organizations participate in local governance, project development, linking local organizations with regional and national service providers and to some extent assisting local organizations and communities mobilize resources.
“Facilitation of Online Communities” is a new concept to me. I still do not fully understand the concept and mechanics, but it seems (in may initial understanding) that this learning facility can help me provide and extend a more organized and programmatic capacity building interventions. While all of these NGOs and POs are in rural areas, most if not all have already access to the internet.
This is the social context and the situation that I am in – this is also the motivation why I intend to participate and avail of this course. I would appreciate receiving advice and guidance from you. THANK SO MUCH.
Hello Ben! Impressive, and you will bring a valuable perspective to this course relating to access and relavence to people in rural/regional, if not marginalised society. Here in NZ, connectivity is still a very big issue with as much as 67% of homes not connected to broadband Internet. 33% are not even connected to dial up Internet! My first response to your thinking about how this might be useful for the sort of work you do would be that an online community might be useful for other people that do the sorts of work you do. So less for the people you work for, but more for the people that do work like you. I wonder if you would benefit from being connected to an online community like this? We'll see hey :)
As Salaam-o-Alykum, Hi, Gutan Tag, Bonjour...
Hope You and family are fine.
I am Syed Tanvir Ali from Karachi Pakistan. I am working in the field of IT since 1989. My teaching experience is more then 10 years now. I want to learn from this course whatever I could and then use that information well in my teaching sessions.
Take care,
Warm regards,
Tanvir. tanvirlodiATyahooDOTcom
Hi everyone... I just found out about this course via Nancy White. A few years ago I participated in Etienne Wenger's "Foundations of Communities of Practice" online course and shortly after I facilitated an online community for service providers interested in health literacy. I'm very interested in the challenges and joys of the online experience.
I'm a librarian and have worked for the past 10 years as a program director in health and wellness for a cross-disability non-profit organization in Vancouver Canada. In addition I have a business and offer workshops and coaching on issues relating to change, creativity and resilience. My email address is shelley@shourstonandassociates.com. I look forward to meeting everyone.
Hi Shelly, I reckon Nancy's post might explain a lot of the sudden popularity of this course (Thanks Nancy :)
Shelly, I trust you will use your blog to journal this course? http://www.shourstonandassociates.com/blog/ That's a nice website you having rolling there.
I'm glad we have someone with experience in Etienne Wenger's thinking, as well as Nancy's work. These two are pretty much the foundation of our question over weeks 2 and 3, What is an online community. So I hope you will help us with that.
Welcome.
I cannot resist. I have tried, but the force is strong. I'll be on the road for 2.5 weeks of this workshop, so I'll be more a lurker than anything else, but hey, who can resist and facilitator's party?
My blog/site is http://www.fullcirc.com
Currently finishing up a book w/ Etienne Wenger and John Smith on Stewarding Technologies for Communities of Practice - and that means technology and social practices! ;-)
I'm addicted to figuring out how we make the most of this magical and often overwhelming "online world!"
(Plus for those of you in NZ, I arrive there on August 8 - 23rd! )
My name is emad ghaeni.there are a lot of e-learning courses in my country but unfortunatly none of the facilitators know how to manage an online community. i want to learn this skill and teach them. my email: emad.ghaeni [AT] yahoo [DOT] com
Hello Emad Ghaeni, actually I think the world is full of people who don't know how to manage online community... such a recent phanominon, I can safely say I am still learning myself. The thing about this course is, that I'm hoping to make an opportunity for us to share our insights and experiences around a certain range of topics that I think (from my experiences) are important to understand in terms of online communities. I hope we can all learn how to better participate in and develop better facilitation techniques along the way.
Hi Leigh, Randy and everyone in the community!
I am Greg Barcelon with postal address in Mission, BC, Canada but works as a Management Consultant and part-time Missionary in Asia. I am new to Wiki and have joined to learn how I can integrate this great technology into my activities.
Looking forward to learning, contributing and collaborating with all of you!
Cheers,
Greg B.
Hello Greg,
It sounds as if you might be confused between this course: Facilitating Online Communities, and the one Randy and I are facilitating: Learning4Content - in which a large number of people are learning how to edit Wikieducator.. ? If it IS this course you are interested in, I will need your email address :)
Hi everyone,
I'm Stephanie Razmjou, a freelance education consultant working in the UK. I have had some experience with online faciliatation over the last three years, both at a course level (Moodle based) and for a national programme for teachers which was an attempt to build an online community to help improve teaching and learning practice. But I'm by no means an expert and I I know I still have a lot to learn. I'm sure I'll do that here and hope I can contribute something too. :) email: razzATairtimeDOTcoDOTuk
Hi Leigh
My name is Bronwyn Collins and I work as an Educational Officer at TAFE NSW, Riverina Institute.
I would like to be part of this group. I have been working with eLearning since the start of this year (although I have been in TAFE in various roles for over 14 years). I am also involved in formal studies this year so hope that I have time to fit everything in.
My email address is: bronwynDOTcollinsATtafenswDOTeduDOTau
My blog [1] http://brononline.blogspot.com
Hello Leigh, I am Sue Wolff in Seattle, WA and learned of your course through Nancy White's blog. I consider myself primarily a researcher, but also an online community facilitator when the occasion presents itself.
My online facilitation experience has involved both secondary students in career and technical coursework and adults associating for a variety of organizational learning purposes. I'm very interested in the design of community learning environments, particularly how the interactive tools help and hinder, and how the participant interaction ebbs and flows in informal or formal contexts.
I want to always be improving my facilitation skills by learning from/with others. By putting ourselves in the very situations we espouse, we get a great feel for what people will experience. You have such an interesting mix planned, so this seems like a great opportunity.
The best email for this course will be suewolff at learning hubs (all one word) dot net.
Hi Leigh I'm Carole Hunter, an educational designer from Charles Sturt University in Bathurst. I work mainly with the academics in the School of Communications, though also work on other projects, mostly related to eportfolios at the moment. I've been involved in educational design for about 8 or so years now, both in Australia and Fiji. Looking forward to exploring some new strategies for effectively facilitiating online collaboration.
Carole
My name is Sean McKee and I am working as online trainer and community facility on a freelance basis. As I regularly find myself relocating among overseas locations, I am working on developing skills that can be more "portable" in nature. I believe this course would be valuable in this regard. Although I am replying on the start date of the course, I hope to be included in the roster of participants. My email is seanpmckeeATgmailDOTcom. UPDATE: I have set up a category for posts and trackbacks related to FOC08 at Sean McKee's blog.
Hi there, my name is Russell Thorp. I am academic manager and distance co-ordinator at a College in Auckland, New Zealand. I am foremost an educationalist who wants to use the facilities of web 2 to enhance learning for all students. I am a novice at the technical aspects of this subject and look forward to trying new things and learning togther with you all. My blog for this course (I couldn't think of a better name) is found at http://russtreflect.wordpress.com
Hi Leigh, Sorry I missed the meeting this morning but have just returned from leave. For the benefit of the other participants I am Vida Thompson and I work at Otago Polytechnic in the Community Learning Centre in Alexandra, Central Otago. We facilitate computing training and our students range in age from 16 to 80+, with a variety of skill levels. I am looking forward to participating in this course to improve my facilitating skills and to improve my knowledge of online resources which could be useful for both online and face-to-face facilitating. I have set up a blog:http//:VidaFOC.blogspot.com I am looking forward to exchanging ideas with everyone. Cheers, Vida
hi vida the blog address you gave http//:VidaFOC.blogspot.com diverts to a site called hypertext protocol. It works if you write it as http://VidaFOC.blogspot.com
bronh
Hi Leigh at all,
Sorry for late arrival, I only heard about this last night. (28th) Hope I can still be included.
I live in South Africa, where from time to time I faciltate a number of very different workshops.
One is a hands on introduction to Sacred Geometry where participants study patterns in nature and how these have been used over millenia in the construction of sacred sites and buildings. (My previous website used to promote this and promised a web course on it - but I never created it. Maybe now, with new skills, I will!)
Another is self-awareness through group work and examination of the games the mind plays - particularly in projecting our own issues onto others..
It's been a while since I did any of these as I've been struggling with Chronic Fatigue Syndrom, but
now I seem to have mastered that one (through candida diet and very careful eating from then on)
SO....now with renewed energy and a new focus (a podcast on positive thinking and ones relationship
with creating a positive world) ...I look forward to new facilitation skills to put into creative practice!
Thanks for putting this course together and sharing it freely....what a gift!
Rob H oneheartATimaginetDOTcoDOTza
Hi Rob,
Welcome, and glad you could make it....I hope that WE can help encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas on WikiEd, and perhaps even develop that web course, or even a module that you were thinking of...
Randy Fisher 21:11, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
Hi, My name is Cristina Costa and I am an EFL teacher and a learning technologies development officer. I used to involve students in ICT activities. Currently I am working at the University of Salford, helping academic staff in the efficient use of edu-technology. I believe in the power of learning technologies to involve learners in collaborative learning opportunities. CoPs has been on of my research areas and I see one's activie involvement in it as a relevant way to pursue lifelong learning....being my observation that participation in CoPs often bears more fruits than enrollment in official, formalized courses. I like interacting , learning and help others learning online. :-) More about me here: http://www.knowmansland.com
hello Leigh I have decided that although I am supposed to be on leave working on my thesis it would be intriguing to see how this iteration of the course goes now that it is truly open. I am having a hard time keeping my fingers off the keyboard and not participating - yeah cos distractions such as FOC will kill my study leave goals...to get a draft of the thesis finished.
I am absolutely intrigued by the numbers who have registered in the FOC08 course now it is openly advertised. Last year we ran the course for the first time using wikiEd, however students were given access via Blackboard and a formal enrolment process. This year we got the go ahead to have informal enrolments...wow it is proof of the open concept and evidence of the need for people to keep increasing their skills in facilitating online communities...so many experienced people.
So my way to manage having meager participation will be to check in on key blogs so I can get a sense of how it is all going...for the next time I get to facilitate the course. Also so I can keep the debate about teaching versus facilitation going with you Leigh. :)
my blog: http://bahtings.blogspot.com --bron 05:01, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
My name is Lily. I am a friend of Joy, who introduced me this course. I'd like to join and catch up with some modern technology.
Hi All,
I am a teacher out on Groote Eylandt, a small island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia. My learning journey is taking me towards investigating the use of social learning and CoPs to facilitate professional learning. I am also a facilitator of a Professional Learning Community of mathematics teachers, whose vision it is to enhance the competence and confidence of maths educators with the ultimate goal of improving student outcomes. I have taken up the challenge of creating an online community, and would love to discuss this venture with anyone who has an interest/expertise in this area. Participation may be sporadic as influenced by my work, coursework (completing a masters on the use of PLCs to promote PD); and being dad to a 3 year old and 1 week old (hence the late start here :-) ). My blog is here: [1]
Hello My name is Mireille said like (me-ray). I just noticed this wonderful opportunity. I look forward to contributing as much as I can
Mireille Toronto, Canada
Dear Leigh,
I have been facilitating online courses for a number of years via Moodle. I am also an online doctoral student at the University of Phoenix scheduled to complete the program and dissertation in August 2009. I don't have any formal accreditation for online facilitation, but I do for face-to-face instruction. I have been teaching English as a foreign and second language for 32 years. I have facilitated a 3 week session on e-learning in developing countries at SCoPE and Knowplace. I would love to join the course and/or co-moderate with you.
Thank you.
Nellie Deutsch
Blog (for this course): Blended Learning and Instuction .
email: nellie.muller.deutsch at gmail dot com
Hello Nellie, it is great to have you on board. Having experienced people like yourself is very important for the course in general because I think it helps keep the course authentic and relevant for people new to the topic. So I appreciate your involvement. I hope the course will take you into new territory too, as you can see we are boldly exploring a lot in a very short period. This is because it is impossible to generalise "online" these days, and so we are aiming to experience online-s :)
Thank you, Leigh. I appreciate your feedback and kind words.
Hi Leigh,
I'm going to join you as a more casual participant ( time willing ) and in doing so I'd like to think that what I'm entering here is an opportunity to model to others whom I work with, ways in which to engage in knowledge acquisition and learning beyond the confines of the almighty LMS.
As always my thoughts are primarily authored at my blog
Kia ora koutou My name is Naketa Ferguson. I am a Regional ICT Facilitator with a great passion for OLC's as a way of supporting teachers in professional learning. Looking forward to participating in a less formal capacity i.e. not assessments just yet. Although I have heard that once you start engaging in this course you kind of want to participate in the assessments.
Naku noa na, Naketa naketaferguson@gmail.com You can access my blog here[ http://blog.core-ed.net/naketa/]
Hi Leigh, We met each other at the Etienne Wenger workshop. I'd like to join the course as an informal learner (although like Naketa I may get more formal as we go!) I'm currently facilitating a wee on-line community for NZ media teachers through TKI.It can be found at: http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/ I'd like to learn more about the facilitation process. My address is deborah.thompson@auckland.ac.nz Cheers - Deb p.s a question!!! I'm reasonably au fait with the wiki editing system but I couldn't get the external links to work here - what am I doing wrong! D
thanks for the advice Leigh. time to try it out: My blog, where i'll be posting my course comments is mediateachspace blog I won't be able to make the conference this morning as I'm visiting a teacher, but Jan from Australia and I had a great chat yesterday when we got the time wrong! Will tune in when I get back to the office cheers deb
Hi Deb, nice to see follow up from conference meetings. Doesn't happen to me very often :) external links require a single square bracket around the link. Following the link (but inside the bracket) include a space and then the text you want to be clicked. [http://example.com example]
It will be interesting to explore the notion of online facilitation while at the same time many of the different platforms that make up vastly different online experience. Its going to be a doozy, but I'm sure we'll all be getting good stuff out of the experience together.
Hi Leigh, My name is Octavio Lima. I'm from Portugal. I've been teaching English as a foreign language for 33 years now. I've been blogging for 4 years on environmental issues (http://ondas3.blogs.sapo.pt/) and I made two tentative approaches with Moodle this school year (http://moodle.esec-dr-m-gomes-almeida.rcts.pt/course/view.php?id=51) and (http://moodle.esec-dr-m-gomes-almeida.rcts.pt/course/view.php?id=52). I'm going to join Facilitating Online Communities as a casual participant. I'm eager to learn a lot, participate and collaborate in everything you'll present and suggest. I'm posting all my notes, ideas and comments her, in this blog at Ning: http://education.ning.com/profile/OctavioLima
My email is otlima@gmail.com
Cheers,
Octavio Lima
Hi Leigh,
Bronwyn Stuckey http://www.bronwyn.ws here. I would love to join you on this course. Having scanned the schedule I think it will help me fill some possible gaps in my view of community and I hope that I will be able to contribute to the knowledge sharing with the findings of my doctoral research on factors in online community development. What the heck it looks like a very cool bunch of people are assembling to hang out with you ;-)
My email address is: bstuckey@intraceptives.com.au
My web site is: http://www.bronwyn.ws here
My personal blog is http://bronst.wordpress.com/
I am running a brand new blog-based project: http://communitycapers.wordpress.com/ The activities showcase case studies of Internet-mediated communities and this might be an additional resource of interest for participants of this course.
Thanks
Bron
Hi Leigh I would like to participate in the next course. I have been involved hosting and supporting on line learning activities using Blackboard and Moodle for the last 7 or 8 years. My experience is extremely varied ranging from students with intellectual disabilities, postgraduate students in education and teaching, and the support and hosting of a platform for the professional development and training for Nursing and Midwifery in a large Metropolitan Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia.
Cheers Greg Carey (greg.carey@gregcareyandassociates.com.au)
I'm in. derekdotchirnside<at>gmaildotcom Peripheral participation maybe. - --Derekc 05:02, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
My name is Mike Bogle. I work in the central Learning & Teaching department at the University of New South Wales as the eLearning Research Officer. Primarily this involves tracking and evaluating emerging technology and assessing ways they can be used to support learning and teaching. As such I've got a firm grasp on what new technologies exist or are just coming out, however there are significant gaps in what I know about facilitation and learning theory. I come primarily from a technical background and have reached the point where I really want to expand my understanding of pedagogy, learning theory, and the more practical aspects of organising courses and facilitating/supporting learning experiences.
This time around I'd like to participate in this course in an informal capacity initially (due to time constraints), but look forward to really getting my teeth into the resources and discussions that lay ahead.
My contact details are as follows:
- Email: michael.s.bogle@gmail.com
- Blog: http://techticker.net
- Skype: m.bogle
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/mbogle
- Seesmic: http://seesmic.com/mbogle
Cheers,
Mike Bogle
Hi Mike, I am really looking forward to the first week where we get a chance to meet through web conferencing and tease out the many perspective people like yourself are bringing to this course. I hope you can keep 6 hours a week open for the course, but we all understand if you can't. I expect many here will be in the same boat.. so as long as we have you some of the time and others for other times, we should be good all the way through :)
Howdy, my name is Pedro Markun, i'm the director of Jornal de Debates ( www.jornaldedebates.com.br ), which is a Brazilian online collaborative newspaper and online community with more than 10k members (well... barelly 2k active ones). Curiously, I'm currently in a small brazilian city called 'Cataguases' giving a four day workshop on how to facilitate online communities to 60 local cultural activists ;) Hope we can share some experiences regarding that.
my email pedromarkunATjornaldedebates.com.br
thx, Pedro Markun
Absolutely! With all these people joining the course, it is tempting to rewrite the schedule when we meet in the web conference for the first week. Pedro, I expect you will have valuable things to contribute to the debate on teaching vs facilitation in weeks 4 - 5. It sounds to me that you come to online facilitation less from a teaching background and more from a community group background. This is great! It is sometimes difficult to shift teachers into a space purely about facilitation, so the more people we can have who will balance the number of teachers will be helpful for us all.
Hi all! My name is Mike Taylor and I am a learning development consultant here in the US. (Ohio) My company is looking into some form or online learning communities and this seems like a perfect introduction. I'm very much looking forward to learning from and with everyone here. ( my email is tDOTmikeDOTtaylorATgooglemailDOTcom )
My blog for this course is located here: http://foc08.wordpress.com/
My Name is Sarah Stewart and I am a lecturer in midwifery at Otago Polytechnic. I did this course last year and found it to be a great learning experience. Have fun everyone. Leigh: if you want any support, give me a bell.
Thanks, Leigh. This is a great opportunity to work with you on an educational adventure. I teach online courses at a community college, and despite my best efforts, facilitation does not always workout the way I think it might. Need some serious learning, so the timing couldn't be better.
Valerie Taylor
Instructor, CIS 2 Computers and the Internet in Society
DeAnza College
taylorvalerie at deanza dot edu
Hi Valerie, I hope we can work out that problem together.. it plagues us from time to time too. Good facilitation is more often than not dependent on the group asking for facilitation. We have an excellent group with us this course, so I'm expecting it to be a pretty neat learning experience for us all!
Hello,
Hi My name is andoss Tausefoki and Iam from the SOLOMON ISLANDS .I really enjoy the WE . Please include me in ths taining. email.roots44@gmail.com
Hi,
My name is Greg Szczotka. I come from Poland. I've been teaching English online for 3 years. Earlier, I was a private teacher and a teacher in school. I study psychology. I work as a translator. I'm interested in CALL and CAL and (e-)learning (2.0) and all similiar fields. I want to participate in your course! My email is: greg606@gmail.com
With kindest regards, Greg
Hello Greg. CALL and CAL.. I'm not sure I know what that stands for? I wonder if the C stands for community, and if it is something I should know about if I'm to lead the charge into this course :) Oh well, we can't know everything, and all going well we will be happy learning from each other. Welcome to you from Poland :)
Thanks! :) What is CALL/CAL
Oh, First time I heard about CAL(e-)L. I'm also a language teacher so I already knew what CALL was. I'm already learning!
Dzien dobry, Greg and nice to meet you. We have lots of things in common. Although I was born in Brazil, I am of Polish origin (speak, understand and read...but unfortunately have not learnt how to write it). I have been teaching English as a Foreign Language at a secondary school and have been online developing and participating in collaborative projects with my students since 1997 and also organizing and facilitating CPD online for teachers. My mail is beeonline (at) gmail (dot) com
Hi Leigh, I would very much appreciate to participate in this course. It will be a completely new experience for me since I have never participated in a course like this before. I am an EFL and German teacher in Portugal and I have already had the chance to know Wikieducator during a wiki course here at Wikieducator. Can you please tell me how long the course is going to last?
Best wishes,
Joao
Email: j.alves46ATgmailDOTcom
Blog: http://joaocarlosalves.eu
Twitter: joaoa
Hello Joao, let me just check the course schedule... :) Officially, it lasts for 17 weeks, but its flexible. Some people might like to go through it quickly, others might like to take longer. As long as the assignments are done and you try to participate in as many of our meetings as possible, then you will be fine (in terms of assessment). Those of us who choose to go at our own pace will perhaps loose a little in terms of common communications with the rest of the participants, but it can work out quite well too. Those that go ahead can test out the new topic for the rest of us and feed back things to watch out for. Those that go slower obviously benefit from the majority of us having already been through the topic. Hopefully most of us will pace ourselves with the schedule, but we'll see :)
Hello my name is Wayne. I have been working in the field of instructional design for the past 6 years. I spent some time developing online courses at Intel Corporation and now develop eLearning courses in higher education. My email is weanders@gmail.com - I look forward to working with everyone on the lists. It appears like a unique and interesting group.
Hello, My name is Karolina and I work for SWPS e-learning centre in Warsaw. I have conducted several courses online but still feel I need to broaden my knowledge and experience. I would like to join this course since 10th of August as I won't be able to use the Internet during the next three weeks. My e-mail address is: kkrzywicka@swps.edu.pl
No problems Karolina, the first few weeks you will still be sent email.. just use them to catch up when you are back online.. you will be fine.. the schedule is a rough guide and people will inevitably go faster or slower at different points. The important thing is, that you are with us through weeks 12 and 13. At least I hope you can be.
Hi,
My name is Olaug (Ollie) Gardener and I am working as the Global Knowledge Manager for Nemko Group, based in Norway.
I have previoulsy studied "International Communication" in New Zealand and has "always" been interested in IT-assisted communication, learning and knowledge management.
In my current role, I am just about to start three pilot-groups testing the use of wiki, blog and chat for knowledge sharing between our offices in US, Europe and Asia.
The course is therefore higly timely and relevant for me right now!! ;) Ideally, I could combine what I need to do as coursework with the assistance and support I need to give the three pilot-projects.. I would also LOVE any support and guidance I could get from you and other participants as my project progresses.
Please include me in the maillist. My email is ollienorATmyfastmailDOTcom
Cheers,
Ollie
Excellent Ollie! In fact we could make your project a focus for some of the course. A case study and peer assist project. Look up peer assist as a concept.. you should find a nice little flash movie about it on Nancy White's blog. Perhaps you could run a peer assist session for the course mini conference in weeks 12 and 13? Just a suggestion. Good to have you with us.
Hello again,
Been trying to find the result of the discussion around where we should write what our blogs are.
I realize I am a little late off the mark, but my blog is now started on
http://olliegardener.blogspot.com/
Let me know if I need to add this to a list elsewhere :)
Warm regards,
Ollie
My name is Maria Pophristova, and I work for Warsaw School of Social Psychology, Poland as a distance learning specialist and a lecturer. I have just started doing my PhD in the field of virtual communities. So I hope that this course would help me further my thesis and deepen the knowledge. :) My e-mail is: mpophristova@swps.edu.pl My blog is available at: http://mimonche.blogspot.com/
Hello My nam is Brian Shmelonis and I would like to sign up for the Facilitating online communities course. I am looking to learn as much as I can about online communities and thought this was a good course to take :)
My email address is: brianshimelonis@yahoo.com
Brian Shimelonis
My Blog for this course: http://bcsfoc.blogspot.com
Greetings, My name is Terry Yelmene (online aka tyelmene). I develop information systems; one which is used by individuals to become extremely effective finding, communicating, and structuring information for themselves to solve problems and one that organizations use to improve their innovation practices. I have been a long time observer/participant in on-line communities and welcome this course as an opportunity to broaden my own knowledge and meet others who may broaden my thinking. You can reach me at: tyelmene@capabilitysystems.com
Hi, This is Tom Murray (tommurray.us@gmai.com). Heard about this course through the online facilitation listserve and am eager to pick up some hints. I have worked doing R&D in computer-based learning environments, and have a more recent interest in online communities and collaborative tools. More about me at http://www.tommurray.us and http://www.perspegrity.com. I am traveling through much of the next several weeks but will have internet access much of the time. Thanks for offering this Leigh!
Hi. My name is LaDonna Coy and I am very excited to find this course (Thank you Nancy). It is, I believe, a good fit. I am doing a lot of work these days with social media and prevention (social change), especially with state providers and communities. Increasingly I find myself engaged in networks and doing more web-based meetings, courses, and workshops - all involving facilitation. Long story short I am looking to improve my online facilitation skills given the new media and collaborative methods that are emerging (like this wiki) and happy to participate and make a contribution. Please email LaDonna Coy (coyenator at gmail dot com)
Hi, I'm Daryl. I run my own consulting business as a facilitator. Most of my work is face-to-face, but having come to this work from a technology background I'd like to learn more about online facilitation and try and blend the two. Also looking forward to reconnecting with a few familiar faces here :). Contact and blog details here.
Hi Leigh and everybody,
It seems like all the different places that have been set up to communicate are scattered, so I thought I'd start a thread to collect all the tools, and maybe we could even add names here as well.
I hope you all will find this a useful place of orientation. Feel free to add!
Blog feeds:
http://www.netvibes.com/joaoalves#FOC08
http://www.pageflakes.com/mbogle/24146159
Social bookmarking:
http://groups.diigo.com/groups/facilitating-online-communication-08
Microblogging:
http://twemes.com/FOC08 (collection of twitter posts)
names: Illya Arnet: illyac
Second Life
(I'll need some help here since my computer doesn't like second life. Just delete this short message and add the information)
Avatars
Semantic Interests Network- TWINE Online Communities of Practice:
http://www.twine.com/twine/11dqybl19-3c0/online-communities-of-practice-cops
Ok, by now everyone who has expressed interest before the 28th of July should have been added to an email forum and received an email telling you that. That email forum will become a space in which announcements will be posted and discussion can take place. However, your personal blog will become your primary objective in this course, as per the first assignment outline. By posting to your blog and reading others blogs we should achieve a deeper state of learning and personal enquirer for the topics (not to mention keeping our email sanity :) I will post announcements and summaries for the course - to the course blog, as well as copy them to the email forum as reminders. This is especially designed for those of us that live in email and might need a gentle prod now and again to come in and update themselves for the course. So.. at the very least, watch your email for new announcements, better still subscribe to the blog, best yet is to follow the instructions for week 1 and set up your own blog for the course and slowly subscribe to others in the course. Good luck, (I hope I can manage this OK) thanks for your interest, and I'll be seeing you online.
If your name does not appear below, it means I have missed you. If that's so, please email me personally leighblackall at gmail dot com
Sorry for the non order below - I'm rushing :(
Elaine Dittert
Craig Hansen
Kay Lewis: my blog: http://906703fockaylewis.blogspot.com/
Vida Thompson http://VidaFOC.blogspot.com
Russell Thorp blog http://russtreflect.wordpress.com
Joy Zhao blogging at http://joyzw.blogspot.com
Minhaaj ur Rehman: http://minhaaj.blogspot.com/
Vishal Roopun and here is my blog
Sylvia Currie blogging at http://blog.webbedfeat.com
Shane Roberts
Chris Haller
Nellie Deutsch blogging for this course at http://nelliemuller.blogspot.com/
Alexander Hayes - blogging at http://alexanderhayes.com - FOC08 tagged foco8
Naketa Ferguson blogging at http://blog.core-ed.net/naketa/ :)
Deb Thompson blogging at http://mediateachspace.blogspot.com/
Octavio Lima
Bronwyn Stuckey blogging at http://bronst.wordpress.com/ FOC08 specific posts http://bronst.wordpress.com/tag/foc08/
Greg Carey
Derek Chirnside - http://lits.gen.nz
Mike Bogle - blogging @ techticker.net: All blog posts OR Just FOC08 Posts
Pedro Markun
Mike Taylor - http://foc08.wordpress.com
Sarah Stewart
Valerie Taylor - http://valerie.posterous.com/
Andoss Tausefoki
Greg Szczotka - http://onlinecommunites.wordpress.com/
Joao Alves - http://joaocarlosalves.eu
Wayne - http://www.waynethinks.com
Karolina
Olaug (Ollie) Gardener
Maria Pophristova
Brian Shimelonis Blogging at: http://bcsfoc.blogspot.com
Olubodun Olufemi J: http://tutoring-e-online.blogspot.com
Lynn MacEachern
Ben
Syed Tanvir Ali
Shelley Hourston Blogging at:http://www.shourstonandassociates.com/blog/
Emad Ghaeni
Terry Yelmene
Tom Murray
LaDonna Coy
Daryl Cook: All blog posts OR FOC08 posts only
Bernadette Harris
Dreig
Sumita Johnson
Mariana Syrotiak
Bruna Ori http://curlygrl.blogspot.com/
Gabriela Sellart http://foc08.tumblr.com/ (in English) http://andamiada.blogspot.com/ (in Spanish)
Jennifer Verschoor
Tim Davies
Amy Lenzo - My Main Blog: http://www.beautydialogues.com * My Blog for this course: http://allislight.typepad.com/facilitating_online_commu/
Illya Arnet-Clark http://illyasoet.wordpress.com
Malik Richardson blogging at http://mrarrah.teacherlingo.com/default.aspx
Greg Barcelon: http://servant02.wordpress.com/
Bronwyn Collins blogging at http://brononline.blogspot.com/
Sue Wolff blogging at http://suewolff.com/Perspectance/
Deb Hosking
Concetta
Wm. Beasley
Tajalli Love
Lynne Gilliland
Stephen Powell
Jeffrey Keefer http://silenceandvoice.com/
Stephanie Burke
Carole Hunter
Robyn Honeman http://rhoneman.blogspot.com
Cathy Deckers http://cdeck77.wordpress.com/ changed spot (sorry)
Jan Hunter
Sean McKee http://www.seanpmckee.net/blog
Diane Holmes http://dianez.wordpress.com
Russell Thorp
Lynn MacEachernt
Robert Hitchings
Mary Loftus - blogging at http://livnlern.blogspot.com/
Cristina Costa blogging @ http://knowmansland.com/learningpath
Mary-Doug Wright blogging at http://www.apexinformation.com/meldinme/
Elizabeth Crouch blog coming soon
Peter Efland - blogging for this course at: http://phefland.wordpress.com/
Bronwyn Hegarty - posts about education including this course: http://bahtings.blogspot.com
I think you will add my blog address to the list above www.tutoring-e-online.blogspot.com
Hi! This is Violeta (vcautin or viovio) I created this blog for the course: http://fco08violeta.blogspot.com/
That's what I have in terms of who in the course has a blog set up, and therefore will be proceeding with the course. Very sorry if I missed you somehow (highly likely in fact as I was juggling many lists - will do better next time). If you do not see your name and blog here, please email me directly so that I may update my lists.
G'day,
...from the heartlands of South Australia. Where rivers are running dry and where politics packs a punch like polly put the kettle on.
In the midst of the furore of connections and disconnections I thought I might raise some form of blog post and ellucidate a little of what's happening my way with contextual respect to this WikiEducator enterprise.
Yes.....I'm a little behind but rest assured at some stage either today or tommorow whilst on the road I'll compose a blog post to begin this interesting learning journey over at my blog--alexanderhayes 21:24, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
(Reposting these questions from an email as requested)
Hi Leigh,
I have a couple of questions I wanted to ask you.
First off regarding the blog posts, you mentioned that it's ok if we use our existing blogs for the course so long as the course-related posts are clearly defined. I was thinking of implementing a new category and/or tagging convention and thought a course code would work the best - however I don't think I've seen one. How would you like me to categorise things? I'll also mention the course at the beginning of each post.
Also, given the fact there is a fair amount of overlap between what we're covering in the course and what I write about normally I'm not sure where to draw the line with what posts I tag and what I don't. I don't want to inundate the other learners with material that hasn't been requested. Should I keep it to specific exercises and activities?
Secondly, the programme website indicates that "Most of these activities will also incorporate participation in online discussions." This is a combination of synchronous and asynchronous discussion I assume, right? Do you have any idea what a rough percentage will be? The reason I ask is I've got a huge commute to and from UNSW everyday (2 hours + each way) and had anticipated doing much of the reading and blog-writing during this period - with postings to discussion forums (etc) you peppered throughout the day.
If it's largely synchronous discussion I can find a way to work it :)
Cheers,
Mike
[NB: Leigh, I'm not sure if you want your response reposted so I might leave that to you to decide ;)]
(Hi Mike, thanks. I thought our email contained questions and suggestions that others may find useful...)
Regarding the blogging.. I think a tag or category would be fine, especially if you can generate a feed from it. That way people could simply subscribe to that feed instead of the main one.. I will subscribe to both :) Your main one for general interest, and your course feed for, well, the course :) as for where to draw the line, I think anything that is relevant to the course should be included in the course feed... I can handle it, so I'll leave it to your discretion.
As for communications.. from time to time we will be web conferencing. At the moment the two platforms pegged for that will be Elluminate and Second Life... maybe Skype as well. Any planned meetings of this nature are written in the schedule on the week they are to occur. Depending on the group preferences of course, but I'm thinking 10am NZ time (8am your time) will be the likely meeting time (as it is good for Australia, most of America as well as Western Europe). All meetings will be audio recorded of course, so if connectivity is an issue on your commute (I know that commute well) you'll be able to access the recordings. I had heard that the Blue Mountains train line is all WiFi now? I like to think I planted that seed if its true :)
Hope that covers it.. I think it would be good to have this on the wiki discussion page.. can you restart the thread there? Maybe a new thread called General questions?
Hi All,
First off, in case you weren't aware, Leigh has created a Google Group for this course here: FOC @ Google Groups. If you have an existing Google account you can login and join the group using the same credentials, otherwise I suspect you'll need to create a new Google account first. Now on to my question...
Given the fact the wiki link for "Discussion Forum" (atop the main course page) resolves to the Google group I assume that is meant to be the primary forum. Am I right? If so, is this discussion page meant to serve as the space where we introduce ourselves and all discussion after that takes place on the Google Group?
Cheers,
Mike
Hi Mike, thanks for the pointer. My plan was to have introductions captured here on the wiki discussion page, and then use the Google group from then on. I wanted to avoid the over whelming email that can come from a round of introductions by just posting them here to begin with. What I didn't account on is the numbers of people interested (which is great) so its taking me a while to gather all the email addresses and add them to the email forum .. nearly there though.
Is it different if someone is self-evaluating or evaluating someone else's facilitation? I believe it is. When self-evaluating the person knows the "other stuff" in their mind - it is subjective. When reviewing someone else's work you can be more objective. My suggestion is that you do one or the other not give them a choice - this is fairer in my opinion.
"Self-criticism and self-evaluation are a way to underline ones own mistakes, to notice what your weak and strong points are. It is the most effective way to learn from your mistakes, for the critique does not come from outside". See Julie Gruchy, workshop notes. In the peer review toolkit, self-evaluation is seen as a more reflective exercise which can be used to reflect on peer review.
I suggest you get them to gather peer feedback and reflect on it as well as on the facilitation event and how well they handled it.
Also, I am not sure how "Did the facilitator make efforts to ensure that all participants knew where they were supposed to be and when, and arrange technical support for people?" is different to the first item for assignment three.
Leigh You have some great resources for the participants to explore - it is shaping up to be a really interesting course. Some suggestions - as you have 17 weeks to run this course I would spread it out a bit more and give more time to some of the key topics & some time to explore and reflect on the different kinds of communities. check out the course descriptor sent separately. Also a 10 am first meeting is not likely to get many working participants there - perhaps offer an evening slot as well. 7 or 730 pm was popular in the course I ran this semester - it also allows the people who are working with private organisations to come in from home as many cannot get past the firewalls.
- give them two weeks for the week three topic (Facilitating, moderating, or teaching 11 - 17 August) as this is a biggee. Perhaps the second half of the topic in week 4 - you could take a look at the skills an online facilitator needs in more depth. (course descriptor - 2. Articulate the skills required for maintaining a successful online community.)
- after they have had a look at some of the examples of online communities - give them a week (around wk 9 or 10) to reflect on the skills needed to facilitate the different kinds of online communities & take them back to the idea you introduced in week two - how to differentiate between a community and a group etc.
- somewhere have something about open versus closed communities
- when are you introducing ways of communicating in a community - synchronous versus asynchronous - perhaps early after introducing the idea of community - Elluminate, Skype, instant messengering etc.
- week four/five - Discussion forums - use Blackboard as an example of how to use closed discussion forums versus an open forum like Google Groups.
- perhaps bring in someone from health to facilitate a discussion around confidential discussions - Sarah Stewart and Merrolee as they have different perspectives.
- The stuff in week 9 about organising a mini conference needs to be on week 6 when they start the wiki page - or else introduce the wiki and then the week after tell them about the type of event they might facilitate. No good leaving it until the actual week - they need the info up front. Give them a couple of weeks to get the handle on wikis.
week 9 - "This week you will focus on your event that you are facilitating as part of the course mini conference. The idea is for you to organise something for the conference, such as a guest speaker or a discussion panel through webconfernece; a discussion forum on a social networking platform; or assisting with the preparation and promotion of the mini conference generally. This will be your chance to facilitate real events and communication online, and explore more dimensions to facilitating online communities."
Some extra points
- three weeks to organise speakers for a mini conference is not long enough. I would give then 6 weeks to plan - two weeks for the mini conference and two weeks to evaluate one other and do their self-evaluation. There is 17 weeks to play with.
- Give them a week or a way to do the following either with each topic or later on in the course (course descriptor - 3. Evaluate online communication and collaboration tools in given learning contexts.)
- what happened to the gaming communities?
- Make sure you get the assessment criteria up early.
- Don't forget to put some focus on facilitations skills and ice breakers - to use or not to use?
- And strategies to motivate people to participate.
- as you will have newbies to online facilitation - give them more time to investigate and do activities around - Effective Online Facilitation - Australian Flexible Learning Framework guide
- Some good strategies in this article by Zenios - Table 1: Strategies for building a sense of an online community - includes netiquette which is not covered in the course and needs to be mentioned. Remember, you will have people new to the whole concept of interacting online.
Table 2: Strategies for promoting student involvement in reflective discussion
- Zenios, M. (2006). Teaching through technology-enhanced environments in higher education: Moderating for effective computer conferencing. Proceedings of the 23rd annual ascilite conference: Who's learning? Whose technology? http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney06/proceeding/pdf_papers/p199.pdf
Leigh because I have started getting enquiries for the course for formal enrolments I thought it was a good idea to make some changes already to help with accuracy. Of course the extra topics and re-arrangement of the timetable may not suit your plans...how I love wikis. :)--bron 00:07, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
Hello Bron, I'm not sure why I thought it was a 10 week course! I think it had something to do with initial content structuring meetings we had early on. I hope turning it into a 17 week course will not put people off.. it is considerably more time than a nice round 10 weeks.. but your suggestion to allow more time for the preparation and running of the course mini conference is a good one. I reckon we could finish the topics before starting to plan for the conference, rather than over lapping prep with specific weekly topics.
Just took a peek at the wiki and see you have been in there and made some excellent adjustments. Thanks! This really helps me as I am on the road a bit lately and don't have a lot of access time for a few days.
Thanks
wow this is really taking on a life of its own. It is looking really good. when I get a breather I will have a proper look but so far it looks impressive. An excellent idea to introduce the teacher/facilitator debate right at the start. A good warm up but you may have to get out the boxing gloves. have you seen alexander hayes 2008 slide show on online facilitating? See: http://www.slideshare.net/alexanderhayes/2008-ten-steps-to-successful-online-facilitation-for-teachers
I tagged it onlinecommunities in del.icio.us
I still think the assignments should be at the bottom of the page or on a separate page cos the eye wants to get straight to the schedule. Don't forget the criteria :)--bron 08:46, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
Week one: Introductions - set up blog, RSS
To do
- Post an overview about your interest in online communities, your understanding about them and a description of what you hope to get out of this course. You may include some examples of communities you are involved in or have participated in previously.
- Attend a web conference to meet and greet the participants and facilitator.
Week two: What is an online community?
Definitions:
To do
- Attend a web conference to discuss terminology and definitions relating to online communities.
Week three: Discussions open and closed.
- base the discussions on two scenarios depicting facilitation versus teaching.
Week 4: Social presence
- How to build a community.
- What skills are required.
Guest speakers
- Wayne mcIntosh - WikiEducator community
- Beth NGO
- Colette Blockley - HIVAIDS block course - guest speaker facilitation in f2f course ???
Assessments
Kill the wiki assessment. Use the DFLP model - blogging to weekly schedule and summary under learning objectives, facilitation plan - involves class participants discussing a topic - can invite outside speakers and experts to help), reflection on facilitation event on blog.
