Hi LTT bloggers !

I’ve put together a little wiki and I would love you to check it out, and let me know what you think.

I would also like to know what is happening in your Faculty/workplace…all I need is one link from you…a wiki, a blog, a podcast…anything to show those IT geeks what others are doing with Web 2.0 tools.

Thanks and have a great break!

Cheers,

Neal

Training O2 is a social resource gathering site for Australian vocational education students and trainers.

On this site you’ll find links to over 15,000 nationally recognised subjects. For each one you can submit links to resources; vote and comment on what other people have posted; and form on-line communities with folks who are studying the same units as you.

Read through the FAQ or work through some quick tutorials, then register for free and start building your own web-based resource collection.

Alltop is an “online magazine rack” of popular topics.

“Tell us what you’re interested in, and we’ll bring you stories from the best websites and blogs on the topic. All the topics, all the time.”

This link’s pretty amazing – watch the tutorial first. It claims to be an ‘online magazine rack’ and takes you to all the top blogs and web pages in one place and you can easily choose your topic or suggest more.

http://alltop.com/

Let me know what you think…..

Lexie

Team Work

Team work: “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work.”

“Don’t be afraid” to do something new!

There are many benefits I have noticed since being a member of the LTT

• Staff are approaching me more often to help them with their technology queries.
• I am now able to speak with confidence on the benefits of using new technology.
• I am now confident that if a staff member has a query on new elearning technology I now know where to direct them if I can’t handle their enquiry.
• It is great having a one stop shop with our ELearning Kit for initial enquiries and help.
• I am now enthusiastic about eLearning.
• I am no longer afraid about technology and being an older teacher I am able to assure other teachers – “If an ‘old duck’ like me can do these things – like making Wikis and movies etc, then you sure can.”

I have noticed that some of our teachers who are resistant to change are approaching me to help them with Adobe Connect and Bridgit and Wikis.

Stop! You are not authorised to install that software!

Don’t worry, you might be able to find something to install on your thumb drive on one of these sites;

• PortableApps.com

• App-Stick.com

Why would I want to do this?

Well, there are many reasons, as you’ll find out when you look through the list. One of the most useful might be some accessibilty software for any students with visual impairments.

The Accessibility category on the PortableApps.com website has a couple of useful ones, including a Virtual, portable magnifying glass and an on-screen keyboard.

Have a look at some of the portable educational tools on this site!

I have really enjoyed being part of the LT team this year

Some of the benefits I have had include:

• Having access to other people (including the Hub) with skills in all sorts of things that I now feel I can call upon for advice. Now that we have met and we are in a team together I feel more comfortable in asking them for advice. It also gives you more confidence in trying new technologies.
• becoming better at using Adobe Connect which I think will be useful for me both for communicating with staff as well as students.
• Seeing the possibilities of new technologies which I didn’t even know existed before and being able see how they have been used in a variety of learning situations.
• From a section perspective I pass on what I have learnt to my team (especially Moodle) and I am learning from them also as they are working out new ways to use Moodle.
• From a faculty perspective I am introducing other teachers to Moodle so we will slowly increase the use of eLearning across the faculty
• Personally my vocabulary is improving I can use words like Wikki, blog, ning and so on and have half an idea of what they are, I also like the fact that we are sent “tasks” to do which are quick but expose us to different things – like the Blog confidence – I have never done a blog before , have though I should have a look at it but it wasn’t until I was set a task to do that I actually went and did it!!!

I just wish I had more time to experiment and increase my skills!!!  That is the biggest issue I have.

Things we covered in our Technology Session

This session was to support the LTT (Learning Technology Technology Team) in using this blog!

Have you done Connect Confidence 4 yet?

Here are the tasks…

connect_confidence_4

* Click to download

Got directed to this video by my science teachers distribution list and thought it was well worth sharing.

What do you think?

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html

An interactive whiteboard for a fraction of the cost of the real thing and any board becomes one. Worth investigating don’t you think?

Having trouble embedding the video – any tips?

What has changed during the last 2 years?

Institute: The Institute generally has become much more accepting and aware of the role of technology in the learning environment and has really put in the hard yards in encouraging a greater emphasis on flexible and online delivery and has been willing to support innovation and creativity. This seems to be a direction which is supported by the majority of staff and many more are coming on board.

Faculty: As the Business Faculty e-Learning Contact – it’s been very rewarding to get feedback from some parts of the Business faculty that the technology and resources made available through the LTT have been of benefit and that they have used these technologies in their teaching environment, e.g. Moodle, delicious, Adobe Connect – but where are the rest of them??? Hard to tell. Some stuff seems to fall into a bit of a black hole. On the positive side, several staff are now becoming much more confident in their use of the Adobe Connect rooms and big thanks have to go to Des and the rest of the LTT team for building this confidence. With the help of Alex I have begun developing Moodle templates for the faculty to use for delivering courses online. It’s hoped that these templates will make the setting up of courses much less of a chore and encourage greater participation in the Moodle environment.

Lessons Learned Time – where does it go? Time to do all the things I would like to do!!! To become really comfortable in using and recommending technologies for learning requires time to become fully immersed in these domains and to have the opportunity for experimentation and feedback and I just seem to run out of it.

Personally I’ve loved every minute and have thoroughly enjoyed being able to add an extra dimension in my online and classroom teaching and I get a real buzz when someone in the faculty tells me they’ve benefited from the info I’ve provided and any support I can give.

Interesting info from the UK. This came from a colleague from the Access & General Education Curriculum Centre.

I suspect that a lot of teachers don’t have access to the hardware that they need to access these web 2.0 technologies in their classrooms. This is always an issue for us in Gen Ed.

Teachers shun web 2.0
4 September 2008

Poor training and security fears are stopping teachers from using YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook in the classroom, says a survey on web 2.0 technologies

Fewer than a fifth of teachers used the online reference source Wikipedia as a classroom resource, 5% used video site YouTube and even general information websites were only used by 14% of teachers, according to research commissioned by ntl:Telewest Business.

1,500 teachers, parents and secondary school pupils from across the UK were interviewed by LM Research for the survey.

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, told GC News: “Whereas web 2.0 tools engage children in a number of positive respects, it is essential that teachers are given sufficient professional development time in their school day with which to upgrade their skills.”

On the merits of web 2.0 services, the survey found that teachers are divided. Half said they felt such websites added value to education, but the remainder said they were a distraction without academic benefits.

Parents were more enthusiastic, with 66% saying that web 2.0 tools were useful in engaging and teaching their children.

The survey also found that:

• 20% of teachers felt they didn’t know enough about web 2.0 applications to use them in lessons;
• 25% of teachers worried about the security implications of web 2.0 with regard to student privacy;
• 54% of 13-18 year olds use YouTube in their spare time;
• 44% of children felt that Wikipedia would be useful at school – but only 20% of teachers use it as a resource in the classroom.

Source: Kable’s Government Computing
Publication date: 04/09/2008

Below are the benefits I’ve gained from a really fantastic 2 year experience working with amazing team!

Institute Benefits:

• Working as part of institute  team, sharing ideas, skills, building confidence thro acceptance, gaining skills thro experts
• Assisted Institute TVET Coordinator to create interactive presentation with links, to deliver to school based staff re new courses in 2009
• Accessed both national & international resources via internet and learning resource portals in order to keep NC TAFE current in delivery methods & resources
• Presented at State conference to enhance NC TAFE profile
• Contributed to delivery using online platforms and technology to assist NC TAFE to customise delivery to suit student needs & goals.
• Assisted staff to use NC TAFE’s admin systems more effiently

Faculty Benefits:

• Training staff in Moodle, Adobe Connect
• Maintaining & training staff in Share Point
• Encouraging , supporting Gen Ed staff to use technology to engage youth students
• Assisting in Assessment validation in Gen Ed because of confidence in technology, using Share Point, using Office 7- assisted in creating Gen Ed proformas for Footers in validation process.
• Assisting with LLNP web site training and support
• Worked on team to set up CGVE Business Services Electives on Moodle
• Forward useful links re web sites and Gen Ed topics eg Youth using internet sites.
• Working on team to put CGVE Core units into moodle
• Assisted faculty to fulfil Business Plan & to implement NC TAFE Charter thro flexible delivery and client customisation.
• Encouraged staff to work on submissions & documents in shared work spaces

Campus Benefits:

• Forwarding links to other section staff eg great Art history series of videos from NC TAFE Library link to Art teacher.
• Web sites for Aboriginal art group looking at Aboriginal Bush Foods sent to teacher.
• Creating slideshows for art teacher using photos taken from excursions to Newcastle, local beaches and showing stages of planning thro to completion of art projects.
• Helping plan wiki for art section.
• Work with WeLC to support local staff in tech training
• Assist to deliver Englsh units using Moviemaker
• Assisting staff/students in my section with:
  • Using ipods, cameras, internet, email, Office 7
  • Using wikis, vokis, internet, TaLE objects, LFR with Gen Ed students, LLNP students, Aboriginal students, using Moodle with Flexible delivery students
  • Engaging  youth student sby using technology
  • Assisted our staff to access & contribute to our Gen Ed Great Lakes Staff Development site on Moodle
  • Delivering CGVE units via Moodle

Personal Benefits:

• Using the technology skills to enhance using music with my ipod & speakers- able to keep music collection together more efficiently and add to it as it is organised at last! Love it.
• Also doing more with family photographs- using www.slide.com to make shows, get code and load into wikis.
• Set up a family wiki- planning to do lots with 2 family weddings in November.
• Able to keep up with younger family members as have a bit more cred at being able to at least know what wikis, blogs etc are!!
• Using Skype to chat to friends & family who live away.