It has been about one month since my last blog and it seems like so many things have happened over this time that I have lots to share and reflect on so in order to continue to demonstrate and model blogging for my learners and readers I better get to it.  I thought I might consider a music theme this month as I always think of  October as Rocktober based on my teenage memories of the 3XY radion station in Melbourne having this as a theme in October.   However I have decided it is a little more diifcult to find the music I want to use right now so I will be a bit tangential and as an old biology teacher (in a previous life!) I will  go with the rock and  minerals theme..  Sorry it just allows me to get a bit creative and hopefully provide some perspective and analogies beteen the rock cycle and the learning cycle

PSssssss.....Have you ever had a pet rock?

So here is the rock cycle compliments of a google search

So here is what I have learnt about rocks and the rock cycle and how they relate to my e-learning community and my own learning over the last month as my reflective prompt.   Terms such as weathering, erosion, compaction, cementation, metamorphism, melting, extrusion, crytallisation and uplifting could all be terms related to the changes that take place in a learning cycle.  So let's see how the rock cycle can be aligned to my learning cycle over the last month.

1. Weathering - I have been observing the energy and efforts that training organisations place on audits, standards and compliance issues to ensure that they maintain their RTO status and maintain QUALITY.  This weathering from chemical and biological agents in the rock example has a synergy with what is occurring in organisations.  The chemicals and biological agents in this instance however are managers, auditors and the like who in their interpretation and management of learning place amazing pressure on staff and organisational systems and resources.  This weathering  by these agents appears to drive a compliance driven vocational education and training system.  Often but not always to the detriment of creative learning and assessment approaches by these organisations. Educators and managers are so "busy" dealing with standardised paperwork, documentation, internal and external audits focused on state and national compliance requirements that they are losing the energy and time to revitalise and revise their learning design and management to make it exciting for learners and themselves, not to mention motivational and fun for all!  Don't get me wrong!.  It is important to have standards and benchmarks that people should meet but surely in interpreting these requirements we should be focused on more than systems and processes and standardised paperwork and be about enhancing the actual learning process.  I am sure my e-learning students have been weathered at times by the requirements of assessment tasks and deadlines and the requiremenmts of VET training to have rigorous assessment evidence collection processes, timelines, costs and resource restraints.  I am certainly weathered by rigorous university processes that only provide one option when it comes to submitting assessment tasks (posting academic papers) and this from a program that is focused on "Learning innovation".  However as part of the weathering process, there is the development of new versions of rocks and minerals and the next phase in the "rock cycle" is the erosion process according to the diagram above.  
2. Erosion Is a much more intrinsic process.  I have observed with both my colleagues and learners erosion of confidence, capacity to adjust, change aversion, tiredness,  lethargy, stress, varied coping strategies and giving up.  I have seen positive examples of erosion where large chunks of attitudes, style and approaches have been removed in an erosion process which has been supported by learning experimentation and time and prfessional and organisational support. How do you protect rocks from erosion or promote this erosion for effective learning?  Or is this natural process and cycle a necessary step to push people to the next phase which is where compaction and cementation can occur?  What do we need to erode from learners or colleagues to enable cementation and compaction of new ideas,  and to make this a positive process? 
3. Deposition relates to the the addition of varied materials organic or inorganic to the cycle.  The resonance for the learning context is to consider how people can learn.  Informal,  formal,  incidental , focused.  There are so many definitions and terms used for learning.  In our context terms such as  e-learning, social learning web 2.0 constructivism, connectivism , embedded  learning,  e-learning 2.0 are continously bombarding us as educators and learners.  This learning process could be said to be organic and inorganic and it is being added without us even knowing.  The diversity of what is possible is overwhelming for some and energising for others.  What happens next?
4. Compaction/Cementation.  In this next phase of the rock cycle new sediments and layers are added to the porous rock.  Is this an alignment to learners having an open mind and allowing themselves time and efforts to see the valueof new ideas that are possible and adding this to their learning repertoire.  Researching,  experimenting and adding learning layers may be the analogy.  This responsibility needs to be seen as a professional responsibility for learners and organisations and the option to add layers and embed and compact learning options for the diverse learners that we are and that we deal with is vital.  Scaffolding learning may allow us to be porous to learning, or maybe we just need more water to assist the process or at least some liquid!!!!

Pause.... Have you ever had a pet rock!

5. Metamorphism is the process whereby the previous rock or minerals undergo change to become different  in some way.  For a more articulate  definition click on the wikipedia link.  In the learning cycle this is where the educator begins to see both external and internal changes in the learners or themselves.   They see,  do or think about things related to their learning interst topic or program.  In this e-learning diploma program this can often be seen as either the point where people throw the towel in or they have the "epiphany" in which they recognise that the greatest pressure they have been under does not come from the facilitator or other learners it is from within and that they now have a learning choice rekindle and reignite motivation or move to another learning expereince that is more timely and useful right now.

6. Melting. In the rock cycle melting is pretty self explanatory and yet in the learning context I see it in a number of ways.  I have seen colleagues meltdown recently in terms of stress and efforts, that are placing them under heat and pressure that they are finding it difficult to cope with,  I have seen my e-learners melt down too and some leave and others crstallise where they are at,  take a deep breath and move forward.   I am also have a little bit of a meltdown as I try and redesign the delivery program for the new education cluster and redesign assessment task and delivery methods before the 13th October 2008 combined with a university deadline looming and some online resource products overdue for completion. The melting process for learners can also be about a thawing process where people remove some of the outer layers that have protected them from being open to new ideas and options and are being forced drawn to removing some of the iciness that impacts and prevents learning and change.

7. Extrusion/intrusion crystallisation Crystallisation is the process that makes some of the most amazing gems and famous and precious metals all from the humble rock and mineral cycle.  There are so many shapes and sizes and uses for this new type of product.  They can be ugly, beautiful, useful, and in combination with others can produce useful products and services for use in a variety of services and products. Is this what learners can be if they are open to new approaches designs and experiences.  As an e-learning facilitator what crytallisation process are we designing and encouraging and supporting. Diamonds, coal,  charcoal?  The connectivism conference might have some resonance here.Enjoy the week and I will share all our e-learning community news in the coming weeks.  Don't forget to check out the connectivism conference for some very topical discussions and read about some amazing people from all walks of life!

Rock on and share your thoughts or consider what other cycles are out there that can be a useful analogy with learning cycles?

So to finish on my theme this week here are 10 rock jokes? (loosely speaking)  

What does a rock want to be when it grows up? , What do you call a dog who collects rocks? , What do you do to a baby rock? , What is a rock's favorite kind of music? , Where do rocks sleep? , How do rocks wash their clothes?, What is a rock's favorite transportation?, What is a rock's favorite cereal? , Where is a rock's favorite golf course? , What is a rock's favorite television show?

Fo answers and a prize post comments to my blog "no cheating!" First one with all correct anwers will be the prize winner and no discussion will be entered into!!

  Hi everyone it is now beautiful September in Mission Beach (the best time of the year here!) and time for an update of what is happening in our Diploma of e-learning community right now. We have four current groups of students who are working in this program at the present time.

1. The October Education cluster group are in their final stages of completion.  With some people celebrating their completion with big sighs of relief and others madly scrambling to complete their reports (Assessment tasks 8 and 9) related to their education project and making sure other outstanding assessments are finalised.  Discussions and planning  are still occurring on how to best celebrate the completion of this program and the concept of a virtual graduation is being explored and refined for a November or December.   If you have any ideas for this type of graduation feel free to comment on this blog post and share them with us, especially if you have been involved in this sort of activity yourself. The two co-ordinators of this program have been attempting to get some collaborative development and planning happening by using a wiki which has been very useful  in this type of collaborative activity.

1. The October multimedia cluster are working on their task 7A,B and C and task 8 which all relate to the planning and design of their multimedia project and product. We connected briefly last week for those who were available,  via skype and shared some information about where things were at and what is causing some issues for them in completing this project.  They will join the April and July multimedia groups and commence the education cluster in October with a month of orientation activities.
2. The April multimedia group have just completed their assessment task 6 which is a virtual collaborative team project that presents many challenges.  Connecting, communicating and working in an online environment.  I am looking foward to assessing their prototype websites that they develop as part of this assessment and most importantly reading their reflective reports about working in a virtual team and all the challenges this presented and what they learnt. This week they are also finalising their website review (assessment task 5) and reflecting on what they have learnt and the skills and knowledge they have developed over the last 4 months.
3. The July multimedia group have all completed assessment task 1 this week which is about developing a simple series of linked webpages and are now moving on to the next task which relates to using fireworks and having a play with images and manipulation for a series of page banners.  It is great to see the creativity and persistence of people in this group and the collaborative nature of the group in assisting each other and connecting regularly through discussion forums, msn and most recently in our skype chat last week.  I have also made sure for this group that even though the topics in this cluster are multimedia related that they should continuously focus on their e-learning participation and reflect on what they are learning as an e-learner and what is different or challenging about this e-learning environment.  I even asked them last week in a chat activity "What are you having to unlearn in this e-learning program?"  This proved quite an interesting discussion and perhaps is worth everyone reflecting on at some point in any learning program This was the quote used to promote discussion

   The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.--Alvin Toffler

I have been doing a great deal of reading (*#!!) for my final 2 university subjects on what constitiutes effective professional learning for educators and exploring educational research around the merits and values of e-learning professional development.   Discussion around the critical factors and characteristics of effective learners and professional educators in todays education context.  The relationship between innovation and e-learning is of particular interest to me. If you would like to access readings around this I am happy to share a bibliography with you and provide access to these readings.

Using technology

I have not trialled too many new tools over the last month as there is significant work being done at our TAFE  institute level on audit requirements, reviewing learning and assessment strategies,  aligning assessment documentation and tasks with units of competency and using Institute wide templates.  Whilst this is an agony,  it is also forcing many people to really look at their learning and assessment tools and processes and enure that they not only meet  AQTF audit compliance but that hey now reflect on their learning design.  Now if we could just get the same imperative and support for teachers and administrators to consider flexible options ala the e-learning approach we might move many into the 21st century world of the professional educator.  It is happening... but very slowly!!  I am not very patient, this might have something to do with my current role and my career stage. I did however make the time to check out the latest delivery of the web 2.0 pd program conducted by Tracey Gould as part of an education cluster assesment project.  The topics covered in this five week delivery were twitter, PLE's, Ning, Facebook and a topic on on-line collaborative tools.  If you signed up but didn;t get the time to really check these out, you will have access until December 2008 so there is no panic, check them out when you have time and it is timely for you to do so. If you didn't sign up but would like access now let me know via email and I can provide you with access.

I am currently about to commence a free professional development program that is being conducted by Stephen Downes and George Siemens from the University of Manitoba. This PD program is focused on networked learning and the concept of connectivism.  If you want to check it out,  here are the links to the course blog. and Course wiki .  This program is a 12 weeks and  focused on various topics of interest to me.  It will be using a moodle learning management system and other tools such as elluminate and blogs and wikis. I will keep you updated about the learning activities and things I find interesting that may have application to this Diploma of e-learning program. I have already learnt how to google map and discovered that you can't edit a post in moodle once it has been sent ugh!!. The key to getting the most from this program will be me setting aside a set time each week so that I can explore and participate and this is vital as an e-learner which I am sure that you have all discovered or are discovering. Aligning some of the sessions into my Queensland time zone may become challenging but certainly I believe worth doing.

Website design/Instructional design

http://patrickhaney.com/thinktank/2007/05/28/archiving-inspiration

I am still adding consistently to my delicious links and suggest that you have glance at this site on a weekly basis as I try to add something of interest for all group members no matter what stage of the program you might be at. Some of the students in the April Multimedia group have posted some great information around websites of interest in terms of instructional design so this delicious site is also where I share all our community member links as well.

E-Learning methodologies

I was interested to re read recently some information related to educational research around the uptake of e-learning by VET professionals and some of the criteria that influences this change or lack of change in pedagogical practice and learning innovation by educators. The following criteria are considered .

• Relative advantage - percieved benefit of use of the technology 
• Compatibility - congruence between the innovation, existing values, past experiences and existing needs
• Trialability - Opportunities for possible experimentation
• Observability - The results of an innovation can be observed
• Complexity - What is the perceived complexity of the functionality to be used.

Another criteria identified that the educational practioner will use the technology or e-learning enhancement if it does not impact on their locus of control.  For example if they are still able to design the learning and assessment etc without the need for assistance in the innovative tool or practice they are more likely to "have a go!" as we say.  This report can be accessed here

E-learning organisations

There are always lots of breaking news and reports on how e-learning is being used in organisations today and the best way to stay up to date with this information is to check out subscriptions to relevant practitoners, commentators and networks that discuss e-learning issues and organisational learning. As part of a reflection of my professional learning I tried to do a recent mind map of all the places that contribute to my professional learning.  When I can work out how to format this and save it I will add it here for your interest.

If you are interested in how organisations and industry are using e-learning you can do no better than link to this website and then follow the links to some of these pages, reports and examples.

1. An e-learning benchmarking survey report that has been conducted sonce 2005 surveying the uptake of e-learning in the VET sector.
2. E-learning and Industry and a report on e-learning use. 

I loved this photo accessed from Flickr but what it also reminds me to do is in the next couple of weeks is reward myself with a massage..... bliss.

And finally along with e-learning topic related reflections in this blog there are other thoughts that have gone through my head over the previous month that might be worth adding here to show I do have a work life balance!!!!

1. I am loving and enjoying the opportunity in my grandmother role to once again go to the library with my three year old grandson and do coffee while reading the books we have borrowed and hearing him ask (Why????????? and then be indignant  when he sees a ripped page).  We have talked a little about caring for things that we borrow because we need to take care of these special books,  (Mind you this does not at all apply to his toys or other property)
2. Simple things like I am making sure I go to the beach everyday and appreciate what a beautiful place I live in and am lucky enough to be able to work in as well.
3. A recent article by Kathleen Noonan in the Courier Mail  around the joys of family cooking which again has become a new passion with grandsons as we make our famous cherry ripe slice and sauasage rolls with all the good vegies!  With not a hint of TV!
4. Finally in the spirit of 6 degrees of separation I now know the Russian polevaulter Yelena Isinbaeva who recently won the womens pole vault gold medal in Bejing.  My brother and his family who were in Bejing at the olympics came across this woman at the airport and she graciously consented to have a photo with my three new nephews.  It now has pride of place where everything in my home normally begins its life on the fridge door!  If you don;t believe me here it is.

 Yelena Isinbaeva and my three nephews

Have a good month and don't hesitate to add your piece vai a comment to this post.

Well it is a month since my last blog and these are my sins.... oops wrong confessional got a little confused with all that publicity around the Pope's visit and World Youth Day.  Brought back memories of sitting as an eight year old comparing sins with my classmates before we went to confession.  If all this is gobbledy gook to some of you this is just a part of my catholic school upbringing.  I have been reflecting a little on this as part of some recent experiences and discussions with friends and it aligns somewhat with evaluation processes that I am completing across this program to meet audit and quality requirements.  I must say that as a lapsed catholic whatever that means it is nice to hear positive messages and media around youth instead of the constant bad news stories re drugs, binge drinking and violence.

So what has been happening in our Diploma of E-Learning Community over the last month ?

I am seeing lots of frenetic activity in the forms of emails, forum posts and blog entries from the current e-learning groups in terms of finalising assessment tasks,  undertaking new assessment task projects and completing induction activities. So our current community consists of

1. An education cluster group of students (13 people) who are finalising their assessment tasks and education projects to be finalised by September 2008
2. A multimedia group of students (8 students)  who are planning developing and designing their multimedia products to be finalised by October 2008
3. An education cluster group (6 people) who will begin their program in August 2008 and work their way through the education topics and begin the development of their education project
4. A multimedia group (11 people) who are half way through their mm cluster and are currently working on their assessment task 6 a collaborative web development project in a virtual team
5. A new multimedia group (12 people) who have just started the induction activities for this program to get themselves familiar with the environment and orient themselves to this program.

I am hearing through chat sessions and blogs and phone calls some of the frustration and agonies that come from people who work on this program as part time students and all the issues of work and personal lives that can have an effect on their study program in this online environment.  It is important that they hear from me as the facilitator some consistent messages and maintain a focus on weekly activities and a study schedule that enables them to keep on top of things and not feel overwhelmed by all of the issues that impact on part time learners. I am also hearing the feedback that students have in relation to the induction process in this program via a Janison survey process and reading some insightful reflections from the current students about the multimedia and education cluster via a written survey process sent to all of the 2007 clusters to inform my course review processes. 

I am trying to get a handle on the new quality processes and documentation that our Institute is putting together to ensure a quality documented delivery and learning process for all training programs offered across the institute. This consistent approach is causing some agony for staff and highlights the fact that planning and documentation is vital to meet the AQTF processes that registered training organisations need to have as part of a quality vocational education system.  In an online program such as this there are many aspects of a program that need to be reviewed and refined and ensuring that this is an effective evaluation process is quite a comprehensive task. As part of this review I have developed three videostreams that can be placed on the cluster website to explain a little more about this program.  If you would like to check these out and give me feedback on their quality and content please check out these links.

Overall Diploma of e-learning program overview http://mediasite.videolinq.tafe.net/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=8535d464-b1be-4627-a7d4-b278a5fa5f43

Multimedia cluster overview:http://mediasite.videolinq.tafe.net/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=3494b89e-0b92-4c61-952a-d2861b03eacf

Education cluster: http://mediasite.videolinq.tafe.net/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=5bf3965e-c47b-4b66-a124-b3eff7fa148f

I have also just recently presented a videoconference  update on web 2.0 as part of a Ve Mentoring network that exists across the TAFE Qld Institutes. We will be conducting a web 2.0 self discovery pd program again beginning next week.  So if you would like to be part of this free pd program is is as simple as contacting me and I will give you access to these resources.  You can do as much or as little as you like and the topics for this 5 week program are: twitter, personal learning environments, ning, facebook and collaborative learning tools.  Tracey  an education cluster student will facilitate this program and is responsible for debveloping this promotional flyer below.

The link below might also be of interest to you.  It takes you to a list of presentations that have been given over the last year as part of this VE- mentoring network.  The sessions are all about an hour in length so you might want to tag these and visit those that may be of interest to you, at your leisure.

http://mediasite.videolinq.tafe.net/mediasite/Catalog/Front.aspx?cid=3e821da3-7686-4d2b-ac0d-06ea682b91f6 

I love reading your blog entries so try and blog at least once a month and make it a priority to link to your peers blogs so that you can learn from their experiences and the high and lows they are working through as part of this Diploma program.  Because we are all online and may never meet face to face this means that we can lose this connectnedness and social learning if we don';t build it into our learning routine. Posting to other people's blogs iks a real buzz and really makes you feel part of a group.  So if you haven;t done this lately make it a priority over the enxt weeks.

Finally I have been linking a few interesting things to my delicious account over the last month so check these out and share with me any other interesting stuff.  I really like this idea when doing a presentation.  Check out this idea via my delicious site under the tag presentations

Happy blogging!

PS My final University semester 4 begins this week so if you have any good readings on educational leadership and professional development let me know.  Back to reading theoretical stuff not novels ugh.....