Category: e-learning

Victorian e-learning innovations: mid-year sessions

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, e-learning

i’ve just listened to the mid-year presentations for the Victorian e-learning innovations.. As well as our own “flexivet” project (flexible delivery in ACE), here are my highlights from all the interesting projects out there.. Lynne Gibb presents: Coonara Community House using collaborative wiki, flip camera and mp3 players to build up resources for learning cultural diversity. Martin Bride from OnTrack in the Wimmera region: delivering literacy at a distance via wiki, with volunteer literacy tutors (Certificate of General Education for Adults (CGEA). A hugely challenging idea, given how difficult it Read More …

Psst.. knowledge-worker? You have mad skills?

Michael Chalk2 Commentse-learning, professional development

Nancy White was spurred into action by Tony Karrer’s “big question” of the month: what skills do knowledge-workers (or “learning professionals”) need (as we head into the teenies). But Tony was disappointed that Nancy listed only 4 “meta skills”: self-awareness, generosity, humility, and willingness to risk. .. because Tony was looking for the technical details, the actual “how do i learn” skills. So Nancy wrote a second version, this time elaborating on the abilities to: scan and filter (manage the “river of information”), connect with other people, synthesise the streams Read More …

How stylish and strategic are you?

Michael ChalkLeave a commente-learning, how to

Most people enjoy getting some feedback on their inner “nature”.. some better idea of who they are in different contexts. Surely this is why horoscopes are so popular, as well as identity quizzes (huge on Facebook – eg “Which Buffy character are you?“). A symptom of our Western cultural heritage where self-knowledge is not explicitly taught, leaving people hungry for any basic clues to who they might be. For any kind of structured learning, self-knowledge can be vital to your effectiveness. i know that i learn best when i have Read More …

e-mentors set to soar

Michael Chalk1 Commentace, e-learning, innovation, professional development

Amazing work from the network of Victorian ACE e-mentors. Each (ACE) region across Victoria has one (or 2) mentors to support teachers and organisations learning to develop their plans for e-learning at strategy and classroom levels. On Friday there were demonstrations of “all things google” – how to chat with gmail, how to synch your google calendar, use the reader for following student blog feeds .. set up groups and sites, use the gmail app for your domain. (Coach Carole, Michael Gwyther, Sarah Phillips) .. and a session on gadgets Read More …

Huge list of places to find learning materials

Michael ChalkLeave a commente-learning, how to

Over at PRACE we’re setting up flexible delivery for ICT (information technology) and VET (vocational education & training). (Wrote about this before here, in an attempt to find someone who had the answer already.) But who wants to invent the wheel.. we want to use existing learning materials. Where do we start? So i compiled a big list of places to start searching for learning materials, including: Tied firmly to training packages, the Flexible learning toolboxes, from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework .. or the flexible learning toolbox “repository” (where Read More …

ESL teacher uses "Online Banking" resource

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, classroom, e-learning

Inspiring adventures from Dale Pobega of Duke St community centre in Sunshine Victoria, who has recently started using blogger to engage and educate his English as a second language (ESL) students. Great to see Dale using the tremendous resource “Online Banking“. This resource came out of Olympic Adult Education about 6 years ago, and remains one of the best online resources for adult numeracy. There’s a few broken elements on the site (eg the bulletin board no longer exists, and the sim bank doesn’t work).. but much of it works Read More …

Colleagues diving into web2 with gusto (flickr)

Michael Chalk2 Commentsace, e-learning, how to, professional development

Imagine my delight when Jane the wonderful VCAL co-ordinator at Preston Reservoir Adult Community Education (PRACE) said she wanted to try out flickr for building a slideshow on our website!! 1) Jane had already chosen the photos to go online, and copied them into a folder on her desktop. We used a free image editor called XNview to re-size and optimise for the web. XNview is great because you can do the whole folder in one “batch process”. .. (More details about xnview over on my wiki page .. including Read More …

Ways to publish "flip-style" magazines

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, e-learning

Ann H, one of the amazing ACE e-learning practitioners on the research circles adventure, wrote that she had had some progress with blogs and wikis in her classroom. But the learners weren’t so happy with the look of a wiki, they wanted something more like a print-style magazine. A couple of ideas emerged for someone wanting the “look and feel” of a magazine. 1) the visual book (“MyEbook“)that Dale looked at a few weeks back 2) a site called Issuu gets good reviews: example showing optical illusions. (That second review Read More …

Screencast [and budget] for fun

Michael ChalkLeave a commentclassroom, e-learning, how to

Part of the new PRACE flexible delivery project is about showing information technology teachers how to set up a screencast in their classroom. Because there are a few different products on offer, i thought it would be useful to trial some of them up front. Last year, we looked at Jing, as Lisa from Moreland showed her MYOB students some new skills. (Part 1, part 2.) This time around, the buzz is on Screencastle. Recording is straightforward and fast. You set the size of your screen grab and go. It’s Read More …

Snapshots and stories: e-learning ’08

Michael ChalkLeave a commente-learning, innovation

Via Rose on the innovations blog (gone now), found this video (below) showcasing stories from the 2008 e-learning innovations projects. People talking about different tools, such as wikis, web conferencing, scenario based learning, blended learning, using a virtual classroom for companionship and classroom buddies. These are many people i worked with as part of the Flexible Learning Framework’s Community Engagement projects. Snapshots and Stories: 2008 E-learning Innovations Projects from E-learning Innovations on Vimeo. All sorts of good stories, including these: Georgina Nou on how they recreated the Alice Springs Telegraph Read More …