Let's get together, and re-focus your mini-projects

Hello Amazing North-West e-learning People. Who can believe we're looking at the final term for these e-mentor projects!

(1) Remember your "e-learning plan"? What about this for an idea: depending where you're at, let's re-work this into a "mini-project" so that you can present with pride to your peers, and feel you've made some progress. It's possible you've done some remarkable things you just don't recognise.

(2) We would very much like to offer you a face-to-face session in term 2 so you can all get together, ask questions, share ideas and network**.

Here are the dates we're looking at (what's your preference?):

• 26 April, 1.30pm – 4.30pm (CAE 278 Flinders Lane) 
• 1 May, 1.30 - 4.30pm (CAE 253 Flinders Lane) 

The menu could include:
=> How to "find the amazing" in what you've done already,
=> Assist each other with your mini-project work,
=> Hands-on workshopping,
=> Tech focus: Powerpoint in the classroom and/or optimising your photos for publishing in online resources.

Please tell us your thoughts As Soon As You Can (asayc):
1) Will you join us in a face-to-face networking workshop day 
    (a) Yes (b) No (c) Please visit me instead.
2) What else does this menu need? (It needs your input).

Please respond via email, a comment reply here, or via the iPadio.

Strategies for engaging with staff and workers in a virtual staffroom

Many of the e-learning leaders in the North-West region are searching for ways to engage their staff in some kind of online communication space, or virtual staffroom. 

Last year we brainstormed a list of ideas for overcoming barriers and connecting with staff (link to document here).

Huge thanks to all who came along to join the discussion, share their ideas and find out how their thinking meshes with others in the wider network. 

We had participants from NW and Barwon regions, as well as further up North (thanks Carole, great to see you). 

Here's the recording of the session from Wednesday, 07 March at 7:30pm.

Remember there are plenty more sessions on offer this semester, from all around the regions of Victorian ACE. More details on the calendar page. 

E-learning at Carlton in focus

Here's our latest guest blogger: Sarah Deasey from Carlton NLC. Thanks so much Sarah, and welcome (michael). 

Hello this is Sarah. I am the Further Education coordinator at CNLC.

There have been many opportunities for development of basic computer and online skills in the last 10 years or more. Past projects include:

• Skillsnet funding in the Nineties for broad community training;
• a telematics trust  grant for disability students; and
• various grants through the flexible learning framework.

Common threads across the North-West

Common strands of e-ndeavour

From our perspective, joining a mentor program to improve your understanding and implementation of e-learning (or "e-business") isn't just about what happens in house. It's also about the connections you're making with the people and networks around you. Many people have been saying in recent years that professional development these days is about strengthening and expanding your "Personal Learning Network" (PLN).

So what do you have in common with the other organisations in the North-West e-mentor projects?

There are some clear strands emerging from our discussions with the e-leaders and e-participants at each of the 11 sites we have visited in the last month. We thought we would summarise these with you and perhaps feature one or two sites as a case study to show similarities in scope, progress and constraints.

Develop a staff communication and networking hub

• AMCS: using a combination of Google sites. docs and possibly Moodle;
• CNLC: build on Staffroom wiki from 2010 by integrating Google docs and calendar;
• Carringbush: a staff wiki to build skills and eventually store teaching resources;
• Djerriwarrh: investigate capacity of Sharepoint to have a wiki interface for communication hub;

The Ten Step Wiki Plan

Now that we've nearly finished our round of initial site visits to the 11 centres involved in the E-mentor project in 2011, it seems that the Ten Step Wiki Plan originally developed for staff at Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre (CNLC) last year to identify component e-skills has universal and immediate application for a number of centres.

If you're thinking of starting and developing a wiki for students or for staff, or even generally building people's e-skills for producing internet-ready teaching resources, then this stepped plan will be useful to you.

I've uploaded it to Google docs now so that any changes will be 'live', that is, you can access them too. Also as I'm learning about the features of Google docs, you can now comment on the doc and I can incorporate any feedback or improvements suggested by you. I like the idea of an evolving document - a truly collaborative effort. So let me know what you think of it for application in your centre: either by replying here or in the doc itself (of course, if you haven't already got a 'google identity' you might not be able to comment in the doc - not sure about that...)

Just in! ***Wiki Training Camp*** 

I found this new resource at the wikispaces blog and it looks really easy to follow. Print Training Camp worksheet pdf as a 'takeaway' to study on the tram.

Next steps for the North-West

Wonderful. Thanks to all the NW e-learning leaders for keying in your availability for the site visits and the regular online drop-in sessions. You'll see from the calendar page that almost everyone has organised a time for their site visit now. Please be in touch if the offered times don't suit at all.

We've also decided to set up a regular online drop-in session. This can be loosely structured, depending on the needs of the people who make it along. From people's input, we've decided to go with 3pm on a Friday, starting on 21 October. We did think about a Thursday evening, but there's another terrific series of workshops on e-learning at that time, run by a group called the Australia e-series.

(more after the break)