Activity 3.1 - personal & professional development objectives

What have I learned about my strengths and weaknesses?

Weaknesses?
On the whole I'm most vulnerable in a few key areas... researching new developments, issues and academic findings stands out as the most pressing one. When I think about it, I'm more of a "handson" learner .. and thus I tend to avoid it or at the very least only "do" it when something becomes topical enough that it requires learning more about it in formal ways. I'm not one to devote time to do it on a regular basis (and I'm now really curious how others address the same need for it) but the exercise of doing a detailed review of my job description made it pretty obvious that my current strategy won't be enough. I also realized the importance of promoting effective community building - something that I highly value and yet I haven't committed time and resources to learning more on how to effectively realize it in ages and certainly not much in the way of realizing it online.

It's now looking pretty obvious that in addressing these two shortcomings, my game as an Education Technology Specialist is raised .. and it should help feed the other "stronger cards in my hand".

Strengths?
I really wanted to avoid declaring myself an expert of anything. I'm not fond of the term because I don't consider it something that anyone should really be"annointing themselves with. Perhaps with the formal recognition of my peers on the same topic, I would feel more comfortable using the term.. but that hasn't happened anywhere often enough nor with much fanfare for me to do it. I've only learned since being hired how I have a reputation for making and using learning objects effectively. As a result, I managed to convince myself that perhaps I could be bold enough to apply the term "expert" for my effective use of technology / projects in teaching and learning. But only after carefully reviewing it and even still, I'm bound to be brown nosed by someone else out there. My grounds? A now 20 year period of relatively uninterrupted experience with and increased understandng of the use of technology in teaching and learning.

The matter of comparing myself with my peers brought up a number of other interesting problems and unearthed another set of issues. Our rather small department hardly gives me much of anyone to compare myself with and to go outside the University, I'd be hard pressed to know others of our ilke who I could meet to compare notes. Which raises the issue of professional "isolation" and the need to make a conscious effort to overcome this. Thus the only really viable option seems to be online communities. This theme is emerging more and more.

Activity 3.4 - choosing an ePortfolio system

Recall as part of the University's mission, that our student's expect to graduate as bilingual, it literate, global citizens and leaders. The eportfolio concept offers our undergraduates a number of opportunites to evidence their development in these core areas. As possible examples,

• language development via the collection of speaking and writing samples
• IT development via the production and assembly of evidence and in the design of the eportfolio to hold them
• global citizenship realized via the use of ICT tools to facilitate constructive dialogue with people from other cultures around the world
• leadership skill development via documentation of reflection on community based issues and their choice of actions

To support this we should expect to provide students with an eportfolio strategy that addresses the following four key points.

promoting reflection
Fundamental to any strategy's selection will be its ability to promote more than the collection of evidence but a reflection activity cycle (Richards) and host the lifelong and lifewide benefits that it brings (Moon, Richards). To realize this, students may need templates with guided focus questions that encourage them to inter relate concepts learned across their courses of study and to revist these themes throughout their undergrad studies.

flexibility vs structure
It should be flexibile enough to address changing student needs, levels of competency and choice. Undergraduates collecting evidence for the first time may require the highly structured environment as noted above(Stefani, 2005). Yet as students progress, they may wish to customize or even opt out of this structured environment to use the eportfolio strategy to meet other needs as they prepare to move on from their undergrad studies (Jafari).

Ease of Use
During their stay, students may differ widely in their interest in IT skills development. Note they may also need to communicate in both Arabic (L1) and English (L2) . Thus to support the portfolio strategy's development, it needs to facilitate the use of IT at these varying levels of interest and it must do so in two languages (Jafari) Thus the chosen eportfolio strategy needs to be easy enough to master and realizable in such a manner that it does not draw the student away from its prime purpose - to support documentation of evidence and to facilitate reflection.

collaboration
Per work by Vuorikari and Batson, the eportfolio strategy should facilitate interaction and sharing of knowledge with ones peers, advisors and instructors. To do so provides students with both immediate support and learning opportunites via the exchanges with peers. These have also been found to encourage the much sought after higher order learning, thinking and knowledge construction (Richards).

The current review of "off the shelf" eportfolio products leads me to conclude that few come close to addressing the mix of needs listed above. Many provide forms of structure but without much room for student customization at later stages of development (i.e. graduation). Little or no mention is also made of their ability to support the use of languages other than English.

In lieu of these shortcomings, I recommend investigating the use of the growing prevelance of web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis and aggregators. All such utilities are readily available and often for free. Some like blogs inherently support reflection, others like wikis support easy editing, high degrees of customization and personalization. Yet can be readily supported via the use of the same strategies noted above. Via the use of aggregators, mashups of these various tools and their contents are also possible (Batson, 2008) thus making them a much more attractive proposition.

Sources

Batson, Trent (2008) ‘ePortfolios: Hot Once Again’, Campus Technology, [online] Available from: http://campustechnology.com/articles/60933/ (Accessed 26 September 2008).

Jafari, Ali (2004) ‘The “Sticky” ePortfolio System: Tackling Challenges and Identifying Attribute’, Educause Review, [online] Available from: http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/TheStickyePortfolioSystem/40485?time=1222282897 (Accessed 24 September 2008).

Moon, Jenny (2001) ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’, document, [online] Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id72_Reflection_in_Higher_Education_Learning.rtf (Accessed 2 October 2008).

Richards, Cameron (2005) ‘Activity-reflection e-portfolios: An approach to the problem of effectively integrating ICTs in teaching and learning’, Murdoch University - Teaching & Learning Forum 2005, [online] Available from: http://lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf2005/refereed/richards.html (Accessed 5 October 2008).

Stefani, Lorraine (2005) ‘The Role of CPD in Teaching Quality Enhancement’, pdf, Auckland, New Zealand , [online] Available from: http://64.233.183.104/u/LearningTechnology?q=cache:YRY_ajTIbh0J:www.alt.ac.uk/docs/lorraine_stefani_paper.doc+Stefani&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&ie=UTF-8 (Accessed 30 September 2008).

Vuorikari , R. (2006) ‘‘National policies and case studies on the use of portfolios in teacher training' - European Schoolnet 2006’, [online] Available from: http://insight.eun.org/shared/data/insight/documents/e_portfolio_teacher_training_final_10_05.pdf (Accessed 28 September 2008).

Activity 9.2 - synthesizing educational use of blogs (suggestion)

from Jim Buckingham (January 6, 2008)

Suggestion

Wondering if the rest of you have encountered similar issues with the wiki here.
would like to suggest the use of

1) a better collaborative tool ?
The Open U wiki while basic and adequate for realizing this, may slow us down in realizing the task. Nigel's suggestion to use Google docs - likely a spreadsheet - is a good alternative on the grounds that it's easy to use, has limitless width, has a built in chat tool to facilitate collaboration, and supports "real time" revision (i.e. I can "see" another person revising whereas this one blocks out everyone until the person on is finished) . Another suggestion is a wiki in Wetpaint. I've set one up at this link to a wetpaint site and I've got a Google Spreadsheet ready to go .

• Google docs ..New development: now this page opens direct at this link (no gmail account needed?)
• http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pFZM7Vxc2GIEr9BpGoDRmWw

• caveat w/ Wetpaint .. people need to register to get on http://h808annesgroup1.wetpaint.com/ but once on can immediately begin editing

2) a communications tool to support interaction?
I think Google docs has a built in chat function which can be used alongside the spreadsheet.
With Wetpaint, I can add an easy to use chat widget next to the spreadsheet or we could use the discussion threads that are automatically included at the bottom of the page.

In an effort to support such a move, I'll try to copy what has been realized here into both of these options for now..

_________________________________

from Jim Buckingham (January 7)

Note

I'm not fond of simply posting and responding via the wiki (to put it mildly) . I am really missing some sort of a communications tool to be used alongside it.... to make decisions .... especially when we're all time starved. Latency between each other's posts makes this exercise seem like its going on for an eternity - sort of like "Chess by mail" (a bit of an exaggeration but if anyone has had the experience ... you would immediately "get it") .

Now that I've vented :-) ... Can't spend too much more time with this exercise ....

Activity 9.2 - Synthesizing the educational use of blogs (group activity)

(copied from H808 wiki website - January 12, 2009)

This is the link to the final version of a synthesis of educational blog categories (in Google Docs) with contributions from Jim Buckingham, Julie Carle; José Martel Peñate; Emma Nugent; Nicola Robinson; Keely Laycock and Nigel Smellie.

We're sure it's not a final document and many of you can add to it, we started with approx 15 categories and through discussion and voting, Nigel was able to reduce this to 3 over-arching categories.

If anyone on H808 has any comments on our group work please post them here or to the H808 Cafe where we held our discussion.

For good measure a copy of this same FINAL TABLE is also posted to a further page in this wiki.

Activity 8.2 - Knowledge Marketplace

Selling = my skills / abilities that may be of interest to my peers

• Selling - screen cam program use
• Selling - Zotero - referencing utility
• Selling - basic but often not used utilities in MS Word

Buying = skills / abilities that I hope to learn from my peers

• Buying - remote technical support strategies
• Buying - Twitter users?
• Buying - Web 2.0 applications for use in

Selling - screen cam program use

I have made extensive use of screen cam programs such as Captivate ($), Camtasia ($ .. now free), Camstudio (Open Source) and Jing (free) to support remote demonstration of computer based activities. Useful for "showing" clients how to set something up or how something is "supposed to" work on the computer AND for leveraging one's already very limited time.

For example, I received many requests from faculty asking how to realize a listing of student email addresses. I shared with them how to use the CONCATENATE function in MS Excel to do this. I used Jing to support it.

The same information can be placed on an institutional server or remotely (i.e. Jing) for future access.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Selling - Zotero - referencing utility

I have become a habitual user of Zotero (Open Source) as an alternative to EndNote or RefWorks. It is built into Firefox and with the help of a Plugin can be used to easily cite within MS Word. Have used it to create libraries plus related online notes for each Unit of H808.

If you aren't familiar with Zotero... here's a more detailed review (Open U - password protected) I put together back in October 2008 which aims to describe it and present a value proposition.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Selling - basic but often not used utilities in MS Word

Embedding sound files to create listening jigsaw activities, password protecting documents to secure individualized tests, and bookmarking to support digital lesson plans for students.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Buying - remote technical support strategies

Looking for others who have dealt with the problem of remote technical assistance and what other strategies they have found useful / effective. Another technical tool that I'm currently exploring is Yuuguu

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Buying - Twitter users?

Currently used in our department (spread across 2 campuses) to quickly call for and share expertise amongst us. Interested in learning how others might be using Twitter as a communications tool in either an educational or business or support setting .. perhaps setting up a similar support arrangement amongst fellow H808s.

If you aren't familiar with Twitter .. here's a more detailed review (Open U - password protected) I put together back in October 2008 which aims to describe it and present a value proposition.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Buying - Web 2.0 applications for use in

Some of this I've already started to explore but would welcome learning from others who have experience with innovative applications of Web 2.0 tools in such subject areas as Visual Arts, Mathematics and Statistics.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Activity 8.1 - my log on producing a Podcast

software involved

• Audacity (audio editing)
• WinFF (file conversion)
• Juice (Podcast - feed subscription)
• Switchpod (Podcast - file host)
• Google System Blogspot (Code for embedding MP3 players into Blog post)
  

hardware involved

• Olympus DS30 digital recorder

Background

I've worked with Audacity a few times but nothing beyond a quick recording to share with students. As for podcasts, I love listening to them when I'm running on the treadmill or going for a walk on the Corniche but don't see them as useful for much else. I never saw much point in creating them on the belief that unless the emotive qualities of my message or that of others was as important to communicate as the content of the message.. then I could just as easily live without them. This exercise (to produce a podcast) invited a review of that.

Recording

Interesting to think about how to prepare (questions, digital recorder) and then find a stage for my selected "sages" to speak .. then approaching them in a non threatening way to encourage a positive response to my invitation. I was surprised to see the level of support and equally strong responses to the questions. I also recall a sense of excitement about not knowing exactly what to expect..

Converting

Once done with the recording, I discovered a number of obstacles. I was already familiar with the basic operation of Audacity so that was easy. However, I was less familar with the digital recorder that I am using. I was already confronted by one seemingly major issue .. the need to convert wma (the ONLY setting on the recorder) to wav or mp3 files. This meant hunting down a solution .. an wma to wav converter. In the end I selected WinFF because it was free, and looked dead easy to use.

Once converted from wma to wav.. I discovered that it didn't end there.. I then had to open again each file into Audacity for editing. A very time consuming task .. if I wanted to produce something that I felt was worth the time to listen to .

Editing sound files

A new set of challenges with editing. This meant sorting out problems with sampling rates, creating tracks, adding fade ins and fade outs and editing sections. A couple of hang ups of the software stressed to me the importance of frequent saving of files as Audacity projects so that previous editing work would not be lost if tech problems emerged.

I noted how putting together a presentation and making it coherent felt a lot like editing an essay. I likened it to cut and paste in a word processor .. yet with sound bites.

Then the whole thing needed to be saved with consideration given to both the file's size and format. I chose MP3 because its pretty much the norm these days. I also adjusted the sampling rate to 22050 mono because this would reduce the file size to speed up the download for others and yet still provide enough fidelity to be clear and easy to listen to.

Broadcasting

This proved remarkably easy to realize. As per Martin Weller's excellent instructions (compliments of H808) .. I began by registering on Switchpod, I then followed the "Creating your podcast" steps... five in all but only 3 were absolutely necessary.
In the end Switchpod provided both a link directly to the MP3 file
and a feed link for subscription to the podcast (in the event I might want to repeat the whole thing again).
http://www.switchpod.com/users/buck_in_sand/feed.xml
http://www.switchpod.com/p22376.html

However, when attempting to carry out an uploading of the podcast to the Open University podcast wiki page, I confronted the issue of just where to put it - H808 wiki podcast page (to which I appeared to be the first customer) and the Tutor Group Wiki (which seemed to be a collection point for a slew of podcasts). In the end, I attempted to post it in both places... I had success in one site .. but not in the other and for reasons that are still not clear to me I had problems with embedding the podcast into the wiki.

Embedding player into Blog

This proved interesting to sort out. No widget (as of yet) supported in Blogger but an assortment of embedded audio players are out there to use for free. I used Odeo and the following code

Replace
[MP3 file address]

Template
<embed src= "http://www.odeo.com/flash/audio_player_standard_black.swf" quality="high" width="300" height="52" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars= "valid_sample_rate=true&external_url=[MP3 file address]" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>

Refection - Activity 4.1 - creating multimedia components

This Unit got under my skin a bit ... so I let loose on the FCC message board with the following to my group. It started out for me as a pretty simple rant "Multimedia beware" ... then grew into a bit of a reflection piece for me. A confrontation with myself between the academic reasons for using multimedia and the real "fears" or "concerns" for perhaps avoiding them.

_____________

I'm going to go "out on a limb" here and say that I'd like to challenge the use of multimedia. I also want to say that I'm even a bit disappointed by the resources that I've read in Unit 4.1. I say this because I haven't read anything on the appropriate selection of multimedia (perhaps I've missed something on the topic and I'd love to read about it if its there - do tell) From my experience the use of voice and video really only serve a purpose if the affective qualities that they communicate are important to supporting / enhancing the message or are part of the message (ie.. emotion, enthusiasm, body language, visual cues etc.) If these elements are not seen as important..or are not thought of carefully they can even become a distraction from the message or undermine the message. I've seen my share of poorly made TV shows (available on almost 90% of the channels available to us in the UAE) that have only served to reinforce the point.

Now I realize that the opposite can be said about email or text messaging .. and people sometimes go to great lengths to add that emotional quality via "emoticons". I'd argue that email or text messaging works great until there is a need to convey emotion .. to communicate the message with nuances.. or to minimize the risk of an email message sounding too "turse" or "harsh". Then I might consider using audio or video to communicate my message.

This then begs the question. When might I want to use multimedia as part of an eportfolio? Are there situations when I might want to use audio or video? I've been reflecting on this .. and have managed to come up with the following. By "honestly" conveying my message through multimedia.. by "honestly" conveying my message along with all of its non verbal cues .. I may be granting more authenticity to my presentation. I stressed the word "honestly" because I can't help but think that if it isn't done honestly .. then its likely scripted instead .. then the authenticity of the message "goes out the window" - the reader / viewer may not buy it.

Then there's the other side of the issue. Even if I'm trying to be honest and sincere, I know that I'm confronting my own sorted of "performance" anxiety - asking myself all sorts of questions.

• "How did I come across?"
• "Should I repeat this?"
• "I didn't like that part".
• "Let's do it over again".

So while it can seem fun to some.. it can also be work too - creating a slew of anxieties in my quest to realize some sort of "carefully crafted identity".

I guess what I'm saying here is that I'm incredibly conscious of these affective qualities and perhaps how difficult it can be to either confront them (to make the choice to do them), surrender to them (accept the fact that any such performance will not be perfect) or control them (trying to shape the final product through scripting or rehearsing).

Leading me to conclude, how I confront the use of multimedia and when I use it, is always likely to be a display of not only my technical expertise / skill in using them but my level of confidence in confronting how and when I think I can use them effectively.

Activity 2.5 - tools & systems for reflective activity

I've become a real convert to using "blogs" for cataloging my reflections. Much of this I'm pinning down to seeing others modeling this sort of thing for a while now (my list of blogs that I follow are in the right hand column of my H808 - my notes blog). This to my way of thinking (or reflecting?) is the way to go. I really like the ease at which I can add notes, edit the notes, invite comments on those notes, go back to reviewing them .. tagging them.. even commenting on my own notes .. to see my development of ideas and thoughts over time. This process is a continual one - a "reflective continuum". One recent discovery is how I can set up my email to type up a note as if it was a "blog" entry, send it and by doing so, have it immediately posted to the blog. No need to go to the blog and enter it.

As to creating multiple blogs (HLC) - .. I haven't thought to do that .. but wonder if I might get confused. Perhaps if the audience I'm looking to talk to expects a fairly predictable register I might think to do that . A register that is more formal than the one that might come out of the immediate response and informal manner of a "stream of consciousness" blog.. though I then have to wonder about the "integrity / authenticity" of that. However, its apparent to me that to have one blog , the tags and archiving features both become critical to sorting or finding things later one.

Another support resource that I'm finding really useful and would like to share, is "post its" or "turbo notes" (http://turbonote.com - there are slew of them). These are little virtual "stickems" or "epost-its". Their attraction is their immediacy. I can realize one in a "click" when I find myself reacting to something I've read or thought of, jotting down my reaction... and then reflecting on it. The immediacy is the critical thing.. and I can also keep the article that I'm reflecting on up on the screen at the same time. The notes themselves can also be collated, searched and sorted so I can quickly collect and collate them.

Julie mentioned the idea of using video or audio for recording reflections. Hmm... not sure where I stand on that. How easy is it to use? I can't help but think it would take a while for me to get over the "performance" nature of recording .. to make the reflections truly authentic .. and the added value of getting intonation or visual cues seems pretty small compared to the hassles of transferring, cataloguing etc. (though with YouTube I've only discovered recently just how easy it is to tag even videos - amazing).

Activity 2.3. - Reflection & learning

Posting
Karen J.Ogilvie, Reflection - Karen's first thoughts, Sun Sept 28 5:20 pm

Readings
Moon, Jenny (2001)
H808, Assignment guide


My read of the H808 Course Guide and Assignment guide is that the reflective work that we do in the form of "core activities" will become important evidence to support our case for how we have realized "professional" or "personal" development via H808.

The strength of these "core activities" and their reflections will in many ways determine the strength of the work we do later on with the TMAs. I also see how each one of those reflection pieces is really a snap shot of my understanding of a concept at a certain point of time in the course. As we proceed further into the course, I'm anticipating the need to revisit these, to review / edit / revise them based on still more reflection.. I also anticipate discovering how my depth of understanding on certain issues / definitions has changed over time... and that this becomes an important objective of the course.

In theory, the contents and organization of the eportfolio should be a byproduct of these deep reflections. To draw from Schon, I'm also expecting to experience a form of "reflection in action" or "reflection on action" (depending on the "time constraints" I'm under) as we move to realizing an eportfolio. (H808 - Assignment guide - page 3 .. In your reflective commentaries your tutor will be looking for evidences that you have ...."

In reference to Moon, I can already see that reflection is going to occur through the active use of the "reflective continuum". That reflection needs to be academic rather than "common sense" in approach, meaning that we need to strive to put what we read/learn via the material into a clear personal context to improve the depth of understanding of it. The activities that direct us to deeper reflection include summarizing what we've read, integrating it with our personal situations or experiences (i.e. experiences, beliefs, etc.) then testing it with others. I can see myself using the framework developed by Hatton & Smith (Moon) as another means to realizing this depth.

Is the notion that some forms of reflection are better suited to some disciplines relevant to my own subject area or practice?
Yes.. First of I'm conscious of the need to reflect. How it impacts on my own learning. I see it as critical to improving the effectiveness of what I do. It typically takes on some urgency when something doesn't go as planned or was a flop. I then often review assumptions that I made in planning something. It could be about my learners, the context .. but I try to focus on the things that I have control over .. which can be somewhat defeating. I have to remind myself to also examine outside factors that may have contributed to a problem. The biggest problem I encounter with realizing reflection .. is making time to consciously do it and then the issue is to what degree have I done it - or to what depth that I can rely upon it or feel confident about acting upon it.

Choice of other media for reflective activity?
I real find summarizing and writing an ideal reflective activity .. and it's greatly facilitated by word processing. Blogs seem a good place to collect and collate the ideas too, especially for future review and reflection. I already find myself making "comments" to myself.. (which seems a bit odd - sort of like "talking" to yourself asynchronously). I've had experience with podcasting but unless I'd want to review how I said things (i.e. register cues) I can't imagine that it would add much of any value to my reflective process. If anything, I currently see their production and assembly even detracting from realizing meaningful reflection.

Though this last point is being challenged by Karen's note about how medical students she works with are producing video as a reflective activity. Topics include "how well they work with people, how they communicate to ultimately make descisions". How this same video is shared with peers to get feedback on "how well they carried out the task".

I asked ...

Curious? Is this a video that they take of themselves or is it a video that they have arranged be taken of themselves where they do a "voice over" reflective piece on afterwards? What value do you and the students "see" in having the video over writing things down in a journal. Do they not get bogged down with producing it .. or knowing that their peers will "see" them? Do the visual cues (body language) cloud the ability to review the reflection or do they act as sort of a "truth litmus" test for peers to judge and mention in their feedback? Tons of questions here. Sorry.

Activity 2.2 - my blog

This supplementary activity required that we set up a blog to support reflective work. The suggestion was made to set it up using the one provided to me by the Open U. I'm not terribly fond of the one that they have so I've opted to continue to use this one (though I think if I could I'd be looking for one that uses Wordpress so that I could tap into the templates - I think they have still a better look and feel to them).

Sorry everyone at the Open U but it's really not that pleasing to the eye - not at all. No eye candy. Never thought that it would matter to me but when one sees what one can do with Blogger than its IMO no contest. Not that this is that much better but I've got a lot more flexibility as to how I can format / personalize the look of this one .. and I'm familiar with how easy it is to insert multimedia into it.

However, in fairness I understand that it may be easier for Open U instructors to support others who may not be familiar with blogs.

Activity 1.4 Drivers Template - Reflections on the process

Making Assumptions about my colleagues

I realized how I was immediately forced to make assumptions about my colleagues largely because I had very very little information about them .. what their abilities are, their experiences are, their attitudes towards ICT and elearning are. This was in the context of being asked to work with them online to realize a common task (which I wasn't quite sure if I understood the same way they did) and then to do so under time constraints (access to communication tools, differing time zones, differing work / domestic routines) . Problem is further compounded by the absence of immediate feedback that one would typically have access to when working in groups and making decisions in a face to face situation.

Importance of Introductions

As a result, the introductions posted earlier actually took on more importance for me. I went back to them to try to get a glimpse into who my colleagues were and how much they might know about ICT in general or specifically in this case, wikis.

Making Decisions

Extremely difficult to do .. impossible to arrive at consensus (at least on this occasion). Decisions on what to do, in what time frame, what communications tools to use, very little structure or framework in place to realistically arrive at a decision... etc. etc.
All were being made .. but I was very conscious of the need to make such decisions in such a way that they would hopefully realize buy in by my colleagues .

Assuming a leadership role

In the absence of any movement on the task, at least by a point when I expected something to have been initiated, I found myself in an odd position. I felt the need to lead on the task (i.e. setting up a wiki) . Even more odd was to be asserting not one decision as it turned out but a series of decisions without any sort of consensus .. yet time was moving on. It also made me conscious of the need (perhaps even a feeling of guilt) to share my rationale for making such a decision with my colleagues .. on the belief that to do so.. supported "buy in" by them .. to not do so projected a certain "arrogance" which isn't who I think I am. Certainly whatever I did choose to do .. needed to be done with what I now look back on as a set of guiding ethics - fairness, inclusion and respect for my cohorts - hopefully common to them and appreciated by them. This led to the set up of a thread on the wiki entitled "A confessional - why Wetpaint for a wiki?"

Awareness of the need to support

Once the series of decisions was made (i.e. setting up a wiki but not on the Open U system).. I found myself assuming more responsibility for it.. a need to set up support. Even the decision to use Wetpaint was founded on the belief that it would do a better job of facilitating collaboration and discussion amongst colleagues then the Open U wiki. That meant posting links to the wiki on the FC system ..posting a rationale for a possible next move, etc. Expecting a possible challenge from Anne Bradbury. Looking for and carefully observing input from my colleagues Peter and Lisa to see if I was on the right path. Producing new pages. Posting notes on the "utility" to be found on the Wetpaint wiki.

Still a sense that this could be improved upon..

Perhaps by reading the reflections of other members of my cohort .. I'll learn more about the effectiveness of this process and how it could be improved. I have realized for awhile now .. likely through my experience over the years .. the value of "feedback loops" and the need to incorporate them into any decisions on online efforts if I want to ensure their success. The number, type, frequency and immediacy of those responses by my colleagues served as valuable feedback on my decision making in the past.. and I expect that will continue into the future of this task.