Help: can we "flexibilise" certificate ii in IT?

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, e-learning, technology

Our adult education co-ordinator at PRACE is looking to develop a flexible learning unit for the certificate ii in information technology – ie self-paced with support. i’ve had a thought to do some kind of blended digital imaging course using web applications and social software. However Robyn Jay says the Cert’s in IT are far too desktop-bound for that, and that we’re better off looking at communications skills or a media unit. i think we’re going to try and run it past the curriculum managers anyway (because we don’t have Read More …

Top 10 Tips – planning innovation (update)

Michael ChalkLeave a commente-learning, how to, innovation

Via amazing Rose inside the Australian flexible learning framework, a video with Top Ten Tips for success in e-learning innovations. (See my viewing notes further down the page.) Great to see Dora and Josie first up, and then Georgina coming in second, followed by Brad and Vanessa. All visionaries with the practical genius to get things done. Top Ten Tips for your E-learning Innovations Project in 2009 from E-learning Innovations on Vimeo. “Successful 2008 project participants share their advice on how to approach your 2009 Australian Flexible Learning Framework E-learning Read More …

Recycle your old box

Michael ChalkLeave a commenthow to, technology

Maria asked me about places to recycle old computers. By coincidence, i visited the Darebin recycling place the other day .. and it’s really close to central Reservoir. The Byteback scheme in Reservoir takes computer that are really broken and not worth fixing, (more about Byteback Victoria here) If you think your computer might be useful to someone else, there are a few different schemes: GreenPC refurbish old computers for people without much cash, Business 2 community recyclers do something very similar (in Thomastown), Computer Bank Victoria has a page Read More …

ACE e-learning showcase: "yes we can"

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace

Closer by the minute, the “E-Learning Showcase ’09: Celebrating good practice in e-learning in ACE” is looking terrific already. The theme of the day is “Yes we can“, and it’s all about finding the easiest ways to give your students more flexible options for learning. Multimedia, group writing, social networking .. online resources for your classroom. With Delia Bradshaw giving her perspective on “The Power of e”, and Michael Coghlan on “Tools and technologies for forming communities: Yes We Can” .. it’s going to be an inspiring day. Friday 20th Read More …

digital literacies ..book arrives

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy, professional development, research

Very exciting news for me: a book landed on my doorstep. “Digital Literacies” edited by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel. Lynne and Sarah from Valbec’s “Fine Print” very kindly asked me to review it. The introduction sets out their agenda: Colin and Michele were looking for writers who would expound upon the notion of digital literacies as social practice, because: there is a huge diversity of understandings of “digital literacy”, which has an impact on policy around digital literacy; socio-cultural perspectives on “literacy as practice” are strong and useful, in Read More …

Workshop at Converge (Can You Hear Us?)

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, e-learning, innovation, professional development

Reflections on the session for Can You Hear Us? .. at the Converge08 e-learning conference (5Dec). The workshop went reasonably well. Really interesting people in the room, and many of the people there had used some kind of audio technologies .. including Skype, language laboratory setup, Wimba voice boards. i came up with a kind of jigsaw / find your partner activity, that i think went well and was fun. (Each person opens a wiki page with instructions for what to do. Eg some people have to wink .. and Read More …

a literacy class goes well

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, classroom

We’ve been studying the local shops and businesses. The other day, students used (digital) cameras to photograph some of the shops. We brainstormed a huge list of all the shops in the area. Then people wrote short descriptive pieces about some of the shops. They could work in ms publisher, powerpoint or on paper. As a group, we created texts on the big screen in powerpoint, and then added audio to the powerpoint slides. Most of the learners were not game to put their voice on record, so i recorded Read More …

Pacific Black Box film chosen for festival

Michael ChalkLeave a commentcommunity, innovation, technology

One of the films made during Georgia’s Pacific Black Box project .. has been selected for screening in the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Good work ;-] Georgie (formerly with PRACE VCAL) went to Bougainville and the Carteret Islands earlier in the year to teach people how to use digital storytelling so they could bring the world into their lives .. You can see some of their films over on the blogspot. ( PS: holdthepress: the film won an award! from community prophets. Brilliant. ) Here’s one about the Read More …

Live session between classes

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, community, innovation

Today was a roaring success, as we held a Live Session between two classes, one at Merrilands Community Centre and the other in Broadway in the heart of Reservoir. Both groups comprised English as a second language (ESL) learners. Tina and Jan and i came up with a way to use Skype to develop people’s language skills. Lately the students have been practising their descriptive skills, so we decided that each student would describe themselves over the skype phone, and the other group would guess who was speaking. Each group 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 …