Lesley Anderson

Meeting 7

Tonight we got together and finalised our recommendations. Even though it has been a hard slog and each member of the group has had their challenges, I think we have really pulled together as a group to create them. It has been amazing watching that final document evolving over the last couple of days and see how contributions were made for the good of the group and its overall goal - not for individuals. No-one was precious about the writing and we edited and revised what went on the page as well as discussing in the chat window of Etherpad, about the best way to go about things, whether things looked right or made sense. Overall, I think that this was probably the best learning session of all - thanks to RedPod members Liz, Ben and Mel.

Meeting 6

Wow, I am actually quite blown away after tonight’s meeting. I really think RedPod outdid itself tonight. It has been a pretty long haul this semester for most of us. Personally I have found the constant input quite difficult - with two subjects at CSU, a family to cater to as well as work. I know I will never take on this workload again and I began to think that none of it would come together.

It looks like we have just abou achieved it after tonight, though.  This was our meeting to put together all our findings and make some recommendations to our CIO in our Podtask scenario. As we needed to be able to edit our work together we decided to meet in Etherpad so we could take advantage of the interactive pad we could use to write on together. Our meeting began at about 8.30 - had to be a little later because Liz is an hour and a half behind us. We chatted and worked and chatted and roused each other and worked some more and joked around a bit.  Our meeting ended just after 11.00pm and we had the major part of our document done. I was impressed with the way we collaborated on this document it was a great job. Not so good was Etherpad, we had quite a few issues with it dropping in and out which was a nuisance, but, as we were all determined to get this done - we worked around it.  I am hoping to get into Etherpad again tomorrow and do some tweaking so that our document is just about ready for another meeting tomorrow night to finish off.  An excellent, productive, meeting.

PS - Liz and I have both spent some time on Etherpad today and we have a great document nearly ready to be published.  Tonight we should zoom through to get it finished.

Meeting 5

Just the girls met tonight, as Ben was busy, being a Satuday evening.
Mel and I met together first as Liz wasn’t able to join us until a little later - due to the time difference.

I helped Mel with setting up pages in the blog we have set up at http://redpod.wordpress.com/.  We had made a group decision to create pages for the blog instead of using categories as our information will be static and we need to access it all in one place.

Mel had the blog site open and I helped her with step by step instructions on how to set up a page, write to it and publish it as Mel hadn’t used Word Press previously.  I actually enjoyed the interaction and seeing the blog change as Mel worked on it at her end and I was checking it to see how she was going.

Meeting 3

After Ken’s message back to the whole group - prompted by Liz’s email to him, I’m guessing - all seems well for RedPod again. As teachers, we are used to setting up collaborative activities and it makes sense to us to approach this task in that vain. We had a great discussion tonight about just what collaborative activities are and how they are set up and organised. 

Now that everyone is on the same page and happy with the direction we are taking we can move forward with the main part of the task - the research and investigation. I am working on the use of Skype for Professional Development and I have started looking at lots of different websites already.

I’m hoping to have something ready to post to the blog ASAP.

Research and evaluation in Government 2.0

1. Summarise the use of

• 1. Wiki drafts of papers for public discussion and
• 2. Twitter in Government.

Wikis appear to be a favoured way of creating some documents where public discussion is to be included. On the Public Sphere2  site. http://wiki.katelundy.com.au/PublicSphere2 an outline is given of the steps that were undertaken to create a collaborative document on - Government 2.0: Policy and Practice - which would ultimately be given to the Gov2.0 taskforce when it was completed.  Use of a wiki was central to this process, enabling people from throughout the Australian general public to have their say about the topic by adding to the wiki file.  This has also been the process for Public Sphere3 and other Government bodies are embracing the idea of public forum set up in this way with a view to decision making being collaborative with and transparent to the general public.

Twitter also seems to be gathering momentum for use in such forums. Both the Public Sphere reports mentioned above and passed on the Gov2.0 taskforce included documentation of twitter feeds in which members of the government and public added comments and information to the discussion taking place. On all the Gov2.0 sites are icons for twitter encouraging people to follow the government on it. Read the rest of this entry »

Wiki and Moodle design

Using your CSU Interact wiki or other wiki experience and your short
experience as a Moodle member, answer the following:

a. What is it about the design of the wiki and Moodle that you liked or disliked?

a. I have often seen my daughter access homework documents or class notes from the school Moodle site, however, I haven’t had any previous experience using Moodle myself.
Logging in was new to me.  I spent about an hour touring the site after creating an account, verifying  my email address and signing in to the Moodle for 510/213. The account was easy to set up and along with the password from Ken I got into the site without a problem.

I liked what I saw and was impressed with the uncluttered layout of the Moodle interface - to me, that reflects the professional purpose of the site. I have to admit, I like some colour and personality, but I can make up for that on other sites that I visit. The interface reminded me of Blog sites I use or have used - central area and different tools around it with highlighted links to connect to other pages/areas of Moodle. Read the rest of this entry »

Design rules and your CSU Forum experience

 EMT 501 - was my first contact with a subject that was relatively unstructured.  We had basic guidelines, but could focus on any area we liked and present our work in any format we liked as an e-portfolio. We were given particular tasks to complete for inclusion in the portfolio but were encouraged to look in depth at a particular area where we felt a need to develop skills.

As students undertaking the course we had to make the effort to join the CSU forum initially - that was our responsibility. It didn’t just magically appear - we had to go looking for it and add it to our forum group. I know this gave me a sense of joining a group of like-minded people and helped me focus on the subject and processes I needed to undertake  it successfully.

My experience with the online forum for this subject was that we were a large, varied group driven by a common goal -  understanding of the task/s at hand and subject completion. This helped us support each other particularly during the times leading up to assessment submission and completion. We often pooled ideas or called on a member’s skills in particular areas of ICT to help with tasks. Read the rest of this entry »

Using Facebook - Wednesday 9/09/09

Working together to get things done!

Ken sent an email on Tuesday 8/09/09 which included an invitation to join the ITC 510/ITC 213 Facebook site in preparation for an online collaboration with the group on Wednesday.  Unfortunately I was unable to get the links etc to work for me, so I was unable to join the group. 

For one of our earlier topics, there was mention of a 510/213 Facebook page and I had gone searching for it.  Unable to find it - it is fairly well hidden apparently, I created a page that was accessible to the group and used the picture here as our ID.

I am only new to Facebook, so I’m still getting my head around it. My older children have been using it for ages and much prefer it to other online pages such as MySpace.  I think it is a great, personal, quick and easy way to keep in contact, either by instant messaging/chat or leaving messages on someone’s “wall”. Read the rest of this entry »

Hosting good conversations: House Rules!

Howard Rheingold wrote the The Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online in 1998.
What three rules or tips did you find interesting or have experienced so far in your online meetings or interaction?