A conversation with Sue Braggs

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, professional development

The other week, I opened up the ACFE (LearnLocal) Open House for a repeat session of the introduction to 23 Things, and found Sue Braggs in the room early. (Follow the conversation directly here.) For those who don’t know, Sue was involved in one of the first experiences of this 23 Things approach to learning web2 social technologies, back in 2007. Down East Gippsland way, Denece Sippo from the public library and Jan Roberts from the local adult education provider / community college had joined forces to bring their communities online. Sue started out Read More …

E-learning livens up at Lalor

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

It’s probably time to profile one or two e-projects and their early progress. The other day I took the opportunity to visit Assunta and Carmela at Lalor to assist them with their first e-project and to review some of the resources available for their e-learning and networking generally. Neither of the two e-leaders are teachers of ICT yet they are targeting their first project to beginner ESL students entering the computer room for the first time: developing an enhanced Powerpoint presie showing how to sit, use a mouse and log Read More …

Let’s Google it!

Michael Chalk1 CommentUncategorized

It seems that not only has ‘Google’ entered the English language as a verb describing the most ubiquitous web searching tool/ process on the planet, but its other components are becoming equally obligatory work tools. This year is the Year of Google Documents: not only can you share your docs in the cloud but you can invite others to collaborate, that is, to edit them anywhere anytime – even simultaneously whilst you’re working on the very same one! Other must-have features include: a neat Revisions History that reveals each editor’s Read More …

Do you think Moodle will meet your needs?

Michael Chalk2 CommentsUncategorized

Prabhakar from AMCS and Joanne at Djerriwarrh are both considering using a “learning management system (LMS)” known as Moodle. What is it, and how do you get it? Fundamentally, moodle is an environment where you can set up discussion forums and course outlines. * 1) Talk to eWorks. They can set you up with a “TrainingVC” account, which gives you access to your choice of Blackboard or Moodle (both of these are learning management systems with forums, space for resources, student tracking etc). I think the initial outlay is $2000. Read More …

Follow the stream from Converge conference

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

This could be too much information (TMI) for some of you, but there is some great activity at the Converge conference in Preston right now. I’m currently in a session on the moodle “learning management system” (LMS), where Michael Coghlan is presenting in the room, and co-presenting with Stephen Schmidt who is in Adelaide. If you’re interested in following some of the activity and links emerging from the conversation, you could follow this link, to the “twitter feed”. Many of the people here at the conference are using twitter to Read More …

Best gadgets for audio recording?

Michael Chalk2 CommentsUncategorized

Reel to Reel? Meg and Frith over at Yarraville were asking, “What’s the best audio recording gadget?” Here’s what we know, but we’re definitely on the hunt for more information. A lot of people use the Easi-Speak (for example Sarah Phillips when she was at Continuing Education Bendigo). We  recommend getting the “professional” one, ie a level up from basic. Josie and Ann at the CAE have been using “The Yeti”. Ann says, “The Yeti has been a great tool for both our classes and meetings. Basically the Yeti runs through the Read More …

What’s holding you back? [Please give your input here]

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

We’d like to hear your views about some of the constraints that may be inhibiting your progress at this (early) stage? Could you please fill out the survey below so that we can plan future opportunities to connect and progress the projects? So what are the common constraints? The most obvious ones are lack of physical resources (many sites still don’t have ease of access to computing and data projector in their classrooms). Some of the sites visited need a general upgrade of computing resources OR just some IT assistance Read More …

Common threads across the North-West

Michael ChalkLeave a commentprofessional development, Uncategorized

Common strands of e-ndeavour From our perspective, joining a mentor program to improve your understanding and implementation of e-learning (or “e-business”) isn’t just about what happens in house. It’s also about the connections you’re making with the people and networks around you. Many people have been saying in recent years that professional development these days is about strengthening and expanding your “Personal Learning Network” (PLN). So what do you have in common with the other organisations in the North-West e-mentor projects? There are some clear strands emerging from our discussions Read More …

Search flickr creative commons via “Compfight”

Michael Chalk2 CommentsUncategorized

i have no idea why they called the site “Compfight“, but it’s a terrific way to search flickr for photos that have a “creative commons” license. What creative commons usually means is that you can use the image freely, as long as you credit the original photographer, and pay attention to the specifics of the license (for example ‘no derivate works’, ‘no commercial use’ etc). Here’s a video screencast in which i show how to use compfight to find some really good images. Let me know in the comments how Read More …

The Ten Step Wiki Plan

Michael ChalkLeave a commentprofessional development, Uncategorized

Now that we’ve nearly finished our round of initial site visits to the 11 centres involved in the E-mentor project in 2011, it seems that the Ten Step Wiki Plan originally developed for staff at Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre (CNLC) last year to identify component e-skills has universal and immediate application for a number of centres. If you’re thinking of starting and developing a wiki for students or for staff, or even generally building people’s e-skills for producing internet-ready teaching resources, then this stepped plan will be useful to you. Read More …

Updates and work changes

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, community, technology

So, it’s clearly been years since i’ve posted in this place. There’s been a whole lot going on in the meantime, including pandemic etc. Since 2017, my teaching has focussed mainly on technology aka “digital literacy” within adult community education (ACE), and i haven’t done much in the way of language and literacy teaching at all. I’ve been working as a “learning facilitator” aka Tour Guide at the Polly Woodside Museum, with the National Trust. For those who didn’t grow up in Melbourne, Polly Woodside is an old sailing ship, Read More …

Writings Reclaimed

Michael ChalkLeave a commenttechnology

I decided to bring posts to this blog from other projects, such as: Digital Learning at PRACE Digital Learning at Lalor Living and Learning ACFE Learn Local Communities of Practice the North-West e-mentor projects from ACFE Learn Local iPad for Seniors at PRACE the 23 Things project from ACFE, CAE and PRACE.   Having written nearly all the text in those places, i wanted gather it all together. It was relatively easy to export from Blogger, and then import into WordPress here. Unfortunately, now i’ve discovered several roadblocks, namely: the Read More …

Mark Hopkins’ story translated into many languages

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy

You remember Mark Hopkins, the adult learner from PRACE who told his story so well, not only in our publication, but also on the SBS Insight tv program last year? Well, some of the stories from this Resilience collection have been translated into other languages for the EPALE* site, and the first story to be translated was Mark’s. *EPALE: Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe. https://goo.gl/XqROOX

Adult Learners in Conversation – “A Fuller Sense of Self”

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, community

Last night Tricia Bowen spoke about her experience of reconnecting with the adult learners who have shared their stories in this volume. I talked about how great it was to join with Tricia and Lynne in the whole creative and collaborative process of editing. Then Lynne Matheson invited us to launch the video into the world, so we all made rocket-launching sounds, and the champagne flowed. * It was such a good experience filming and editing these stories with Tricia. I would love to hear any feedback, especially related to Read More …

Reading between the Lines – SBS Insight focus on Adult Literacy

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy

If you think Australia is a highly literate nation, watch this recent episode of Insight from SBS. This powerful and moving episode features Mark Hopkins one of the students from PRACE. I spoke with Mark as part of the “Stories of Resilience” project, and it’s really heartening to hear his voice in this national forum. All these adult learners show real courage and vulnerability, as they describe their experience for people who have no idea of the extent of this hidden problem. Over 40% of Australians experience some level of difficulty Read More …

Dark Side of the Comment Section

Michael ChalkLeave a commentcommunity, technology

If you’re involved with any kind of online facilitation, you may appreciate this article from The Guardian. They’ve done some research into the comment section, finding that much more abuse is directed at female writers than male. (Also, for web designers, some really good layout effects, especially the way they’ve integrated the graphs and the “how would you moderate this comment” bits.) There’s a whole series around this research, articles interviewing people who have experienced the maelstrom of massive online shaming and bullying.. and articles on ideas for making things Read More …

PageTurners has a new online shop

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, community

Just sent out the latest PageTurners newsletter, letting people know that the new shopping-cart style website is up and running!! It’s taken me much time this year to get the site all updated and e-commercey, so i’m very happy that we’ve finally launched. Woot. You can read the newsletter here. Take a look at the site, tell us what you think. Oh, we need a feedback form don’t we. If you’re not subscribed to the PageTurners email list, you can join via the website.

iPad apps especially for Seniors??

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, technology

I wondered if there are any iPad apps that would be especially useful for people over 55, so i searched the web for  “best apps for ipad for seniors“. Sure enough, there are many many lists: “16 helpful apps for seniors”, “27 bet iPad and iPhone apps for senior citizens”. But are any of them useful.. and how many of these apps are FREE..? Well, some of them are designed to help people by improving things like: Visual accessibility: Silver Surf is a web browser with “large navigation buttons, dynamic text Read More …

Some help files for blogger

Michael ChalkLeave a commenthow to

Here’s a basic intro that Michael made – for low level students really (link: pdf stored in google drive). GCF LearnFree don’t have an intro to blogger, but they do have a great section talking about blogs in general, and an intro to Tumblr instead. Tumblr is much more visual than blogger, which can be text-heavy. Google themselves have a fairly decent help section. Grovo has a few videos showing the basics, including this overview. But they’re a commercial mob, and they’ll want you to pay for more. What good Read More …