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

Reflections on TMA 2

I spent a wack of time on Part 2 ... integrating my understanding of our work in Acitivity 5.2 with the concepts of good practice in elearning.. and applying reflection to unearth them. An excellent assignment in my view because of how it caused me to really reflect on the level and quality of my interaction in the assignment. Perhaps pinpointing strengths and weaknesses in my reponses (or non responses) at various stages within .. and challenging my near knee jerk reaction to cry "foul" for the absence of a more comprehensive framework to guide the activity.

Key observation?

It must be a real difficult balancing act for an elearning course designer to realize a properly scaffolded assignment. The balance is between not providing too much structure so as to avoid guiding learners in a prescriptive fashion.. and not providing enough structure so as to minimize student guess work as to the purpose of the project assigned.

What I did with the reflective component in TMA 1. I did with the essay component of TMA 2. I made the mistake of underestimating the demands of the question ... Great question .. but not enough time for me to "weave" the assortment of themes the activity asked us to review - values, good practice, pd issues, pd strategies, evidence selection, reflection, collaboration, assessment, support tools .... to then reflect upon their relevance in my own context (my choice of contexts to use) to realize a comprehensive and well organized enough answer.

Key observation?

Caused me to conclude the need to have a comprehensive professional development plan that is self directed, "do"able and supported by solid evidence.... and to execute it to support other possibilites. I am keen to realize some sort of post H808 learning community to realize some sort of online community that supports peer review / collaboration. I think I may even be a candidate for the CMALT accreditation some time down the road..

Lessons learned from the TMA this time? Start even earlier with the ECA. Perhaps getting both the reflective component and eportfolio component behind me so that I can concentrate on the final essay.

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).

Reflection - Eureka moment? Reactive vs proactive approaches to my work

Mentally welcoming change(?)
Two days ago, I was having a chat with a colleague who had ventured by my office on a small matter. She was asking how I was adjusting to my new position. I shared the usual comments about adjustment but I also told her how I felt marooned in working almost entirely at my desk researching, preparing learning materials, setting up workshops and creating follow up support utilities (ie. blogs, surveys, tipsheets, and wikis) . Yet I noted a feeling of detachment in working on serving the needs of my colleagues. She suggested that I just take a "walk" around the place and get to meet others. She also pointed out to me that to stay put was only reinforcing the idea of the CTL being unapproachable. It seemed so brutally obvious, so brutally true .. but it hadn't occured to me to get up and explore.

Making change happen (?)
So I decided to pursue the matter and set aside some time yesterday to try it. I really had no idea how it would go. To my surprise it took me over three hours to do what I anticipated might take only one maximum. I figured that it could have gone on longer if it hadn't been for a previously scheduled commitment.

As I went around soliciting questions / answering questions.. I became aware of two things. The obvious first one was how important it was to get out and interact - response from others in seeing me was generally very positive. It also became apparent just how many people really were not aware of the role our small department had in supporting them. The second thing I became aware of came about from responding to the many impromptu querries they came up with.

An Aspect of Professionalism revealled?
In answering these I became aware of the depth of my own understanding of elearning. Aligning learning needs with the affordances presented via various web tools. How I was also going to present a possible tool, strategy, or resource to help meet their needs. It occured to me more afterwards, how I was quickly drawing on my past experience with these resources, with these similar questions, with implementing them.. but as well, the reading that I've had on them to put together what I thought were solid, "professional responses". Professional aspect being .. negating self interest (i.e. suggesting more than one strategy or option to address a need), sharing what I knew and in a way that made the material approachable, and making my focus that of the client's needs, not my own. The whole exercise has made me more aware of how important it is to project that to others .. to build trust and confidence .. if one hopes to help someone make a move towards change.

I'm also looking back on what I was doing before .. I was taking a reactive position to faculty needs - limiting it to responding to email, telephone calls, and the rare face to face visit to the office. What I learned here is the equal need for proactivity, reaching out to solicit needs .. and probably just as important, establishing face to face contact to build a report so people get to know me, trust me, build a relationship of confidence in me. It's now got me reflecting on how this can be realized in an online environment (another point of reflection).

Still more questions. Now sold on the need for proactivity ..

• How can I find a balance between the reactive approach thrust upon me each day and the proactive approach that I now know is so useful and important to my work?
• How can I manage to lessen the reactivity side .. and maximize the proactive?
• Am I raising expectations amongst those I met that I can be counted on to address any of their ICT integration needs or issues in the future?
  
• Can I anticipate a need to somehow manage these expectations? Do I need to worry about managing expectations right now?

Activity 2.1. - reflection on Karen's Post

Books
Moon (2001)
Lister (2007)

Karen's note about relating this to professional practice got me to thinking about my own context. After reading Moon (2001) and then Lister (2007) I think that I've been encouraging reflection from my learners in the IT training that I give. I've recently put together a post workshop.. skills checklist. This checklist is given to my visitors (and those who are "no shows") a day or two after the presentation.. As simple as it sounds, I'm asking people if they can answer a series of "I can" statements .. yes no or unsure .. without anyone being present. I realize now that I'm expecting this to be a reflective exercise where they then can decide on their next move.. and to guide the next move back to us for follow up support. thus the reason for adding on the same sheet a set of contact names, numbers and email addresses from our department . But because I've only just started with the idea, I'm not sure if it works.. I'm also now thinking that each of those I can statements could be linked back to "learning objects" as another option for self study.

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.