Designing and implementing e-learning, the popular web-based guide to planning and delivering e-learning courses, from the national training system’s e-learning strategy, Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework), has undergone a $30,000 makeover.
The upgrade includes new and emerging e-learning strategies and tools, such as wikis and virtual classrooms, added to the website’s extensive online gallery.
I’ve lifted this from the post by Leigh on the WikiEducator list. This is quite a remarkable style of course. A NZ based course with an international flavour. - Derek
That course we ran last year is coming up again. I’ve tweaked it quite a bit - free at last from the learning management system it was locked up inside, running in a wiki schedule, backed up by blogs and an email forum.
This course has been developed by staff in the Educational Development Centre of Otago Polytechnic and is designed to help both formal and informal learners access and interpret models, research and professional dialog in the facilitation of online communities. After completing this course people should be confident in facilitating online and/or be able to critique and offer advice to other people in the facilitation of online communities.
The next facilitated course starts 28 July 2008.
Participation in this course is open. You will need to have regular access the Internet and be comfortable with independently completing tasks. To join simply introduce yourself to the discussion page and include an email address that can be use to add you to an email forum for the course.
In formal learning terms this is a level 7 course registered on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. Formal learning participants engage in this course for a period of 10 weeks with an indicative time commitment of at least 6 hours per week.
Formal learners will receive concentrated learning support throughout this period, and assessment services and formal recognition at the completion of the course. Some people may prefer to engage in this course informally and to set their own pace through the work using the schedule as a guide. Informal engagement is welcome and arrangements can be made for formal assessment and recognition at any time with the course facilitator.
Recently published by the Commonwealth of Learning is this edited e-book titled Education for a Digital World - advice, guidelines and effective practice from around the globe. This 500-page volume contains a comprehensive collection of proven strategies and tools for effective online teaching, based on the principles of learning as a social process. It offers practical, contemporary guidance to support e-learning decision-making, instructional choices, as well as program and course planning, and development.
There are five sections in the book, with contributed chapters under the headings of:
The book itself has been designed in such a way that it could be used as a handbook for a course on the topic - with each of the 31 very informative chapters introduced with a list of learning outcomes that should be achieved as the reader works his/her way through the chapter.
There’s simply too much in this book for me to do it justice with a brief mention here - suffice to say that there is something of value in here for everyone, from the newcomers to the topic to those who are well down the track. Another excellent piece of work from the Commonwealth of Learning!
Another Wikieducator workshop starts tomorrow:
The Learning4Content (L4C) initiative is conducting face-to-face workshops in 52 Commonwealth countries - and online workshops every month. To date, this is the largest wiki skills training project on the planet.
The L4C initiative will help WikiEducator achieve its goal of a free version of the education curriculum by 2015. Each L4C workshop participant receives free wiki skills training in return for providing a free lesson or learning resource to WikiEducator.
Register here: http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Registration
This is a great place to learn about open content and using mediawiki.
These guys are a little modest. This may even be the largest wiki skills training project in the known universe. I dislike the three terms skills, training and project, but this is worth a look.
From the TALO list: “Stephen Downes and George Siemens will be collaborating in an online course this fall”
http://ltc.umanitoba.ca:83/wiki/Connectivism
While this is an Aussie based list (originally) we are still a victim of a northern hemisphere-centric view of the world. In New Zealand, this is spring. Actually it starts in September. And while this is a course, I’d hope it does not turn out to be like one.
Topics: (Obviously subject to change)
I’ve decided to have a little fun with this. I’d like to see if anyone is interested in forming a learning cell as part of this course: either a NZ based (second preference) or Christchurch based (First preference, F2F included, at MCB http://www.madrascafebooks.co.nz or Cafe 101 etc) Feel free to let me know. derekdotchirnsideatgmaildotcom
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Terry Anderson has released the second edition of his popular Theory and Practice of Online Learning. The book is available for purchase or as a free download (click here to download the entire book in .pdf format). Topics include social media, philosophies of technology, mobile learning, cost decisions about technology, libraries, learner support and more. The broad range of subjects, both theoretical and practical, should be of immense interest to readers of the DEANZ blog.
With a long weekend coming up in New Zealand here’s a bit of reading that may be of interest to some. The eLearning Guild have released the latest in their series of free e-books, this one titled 144 Tips on Synchronous e-Learning.
As is usual in previous ELG publications, the tips range in length from one-sentence ideas all the way up to multi-page discourses. You will find tips in these categories…
All of the tips have been submitted by practitioners, and there’s a lot of very useful stuff here - particularly for those who are entering the field, or for those who may be in a position of creating manuals or staff development activities to support those working in your school or institution. There’s quite a bit of advertising included from Adobe about their synchronous eLearning product - but even this is informative and usefully presented.
What a cool new site: the HERDSA website. www.herdsa.org.au Tons of nice papers online, including some of a distance education theme.
And this is even more cool. A Regional Community site:
So this has both the local and the international connection. This uses a great Open Source CMS with forums and so on. Those of you who have been around a bit will recognise it from the image.
To my knowledge, this is the FIRST community of it’s type in New Zealand. I suspect Stanley Freilich could be behind it. If this is true, well done Stanley!!
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DEANZ Online Seminar |
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Tuesday June 17th 10:00-11:30 NZ Time |
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WikiEducator: DE reincarnated or new innovation? Make sure you read the joining instruction at the bottom of the email |
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About the Session: Wikipedia is unquestionably the most significant social phenomenon of our time. In May 2006, the Commonwealth of Learning established Wikieducator — a Commonwealth sponsored project leveraging the power of distributed production systems for developing Open Education Resources (OERs). In this session Wayne will reflect on COL’s experiences to date and assess the success of the project in turning the digital divide into digital dividends. As ODL practitioners, a key question comes to mind: Does the project suggest the reincarnation of distance education or a new innovation? Presenter Biography: Dr. Wayne Mackintosh is a committed advocate and user of free software for education. He was the founding project leader of New Zealand’s eLearning XHTML editor (eXe) project (www.exelearning.org) and responsible for establishing the Commonwealth of Learning’s (COL) WikiEducator (www.WikiEducator.org) - a website that provides free eLearning content that anyone can edit and use. Dr. Mackintosh joined COL as Education Specialist, eLearning and ICT Policy, on 1 May 2006. Formerly, he was Associate Professor and founding director of the Centre for Flexible and Distance Learning (CFDL) at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Wayne has extensive experience in the theory and practice of open and distance learning (ODL). Prior to moving to New Zealand he spent eleven years working at the University of South Africa (UNISA), a distance learning institution and one of the world’s mega-universities. At the University of Auckland, he was tasked with eLearning strategy and leading CFDL’s professional staff team. He has participated in a range of international consultancies and projects including work for COL, the International Monetary Fund, UNESCO and the World Bank. Wayne also serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Open Learning and publishes regularly in the field of flexible and distance learning. Wayne is a member of the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation (wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Advisory_Board). He has a keen interest in pedagogical innovation for sustainable development. “I look forward to my new role assisting countries of the Commonwealth realise their educational potential through ICTs for development. I firmly believe that the future of multi-modal learning in a digital world will be pioneered by the developing nations of our world. Together with COL’s vision for the future and a team of experienced professionals, we can make a real difference in the lives of people throughout the Commonwealth.” |
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How to join the session The session is being run over Elluminate. Please investigate your connectivity to Elluminate EARLY, in the past some people have missed the session due to late preparations. If connecting from a work machine you will probably need the assistance of your IT team. See http://www.elluminate.com/support/ to ensure you have the necessary bits on your machine to run Elluminate. Connect to the session via: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.1FC8F54493B0805D476603F2376A9B Please invite other colleagues. Session Sponsored by Elluminate
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DEANZ www.deanz.org.nz |
The Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 document has been released for public consultation.
Digital Strategy 1.0 was released during 2005. It was designed as an action plan to maximise ICT opportunities and create a vision of a digital future for New Zealand.
The refreshed Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 builds on input from a series of workshops held in late 2007, the Digital Future Summit 2.0 held last year, as well as the significant progress on Digital Strategy 1.0. The Digital Strategy Report on Progress 2007 sets out those achievements.
New Zealand’s research community is essential to innovation. It is responsible for the creation of new technologies and has a key role in supporting new education topics and methodologies. Hence your participation and feedback is important to shape New Zealand’s digital future and the development of an updated Digital Strategy.
The Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 is available on the Digital Strategy website. Consultation on the Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 will be for four weeks, from 14 April to 12 May 2008, and will include opportunities for feedback to be given via new tools, such as a wiki and online dialogue boxes.
DEANZ members are encouraged to familiarise themselves with this document, in particular, the section on “Connection” which outlines a number of action areas that will be of particular interest to those who are exploring the use of online technologies as part of their distance ed programmes.
