Educational Development

Bronwyn, Merrolee and myself each gave talks at the Online Feedback seminar that Bronwyn organised for Polytech staff on Thursday afternoon. I recorded the talks as best I could with my trusty MP3 recorder with inbuilt mic. Would be nice to get one that can plug in a good mic though... have seen then around for $170..

I've uploaded the audio and created an audio log wiki page for others to edit the synopsis and time code log links that are mentioned. I plan to do this for all the audio tracks I record. Hopefully others will start doing it themselves as it takes a little while. It took me 30 minutes to do my own, but times 3 or more and it starts to take longer than is practical and sustainable. If each of us took ownership of our own recordings and logs however, then I think it is sustainable.

Here's the links to audio and synopsis as I have typed up in the wiki.

Bronwyn Hegarty on initiating online discussion forums.
audio file - 5 meg - 27 minutes - audio quality below average

Bronwyn introduces people to Black Board discussion forums, synchronous and a-synchronous ideas of communicating online, and other tools for online communication. Gilly Salmon ideas for online facilitation are used as a model to consider the stages of learning through online forums. Bronwyn demonstrates ideas and techniques she uses in courses she facilitates and flags problem, issues and things to consider.
NB. Questions and comments come in from the audience and might only be audible using headphones

Merrolee Penman on facilitating online discussion forums.
audio file - 4.6 meg - 27 minutes - audio quality average

Merrolee talks to an example of a discussion forum in a post graduate programme in occupational therapy. Merrolee gives tips and pointers on how to stimulate and sustain discussion in a Black Board forum context, and discusses issues about poor student engagement and participation.

Leigh Blackall on facilitating online communities.
audio file - 2.4 meg - 14 minutes - audio quality average

Leigh challenges listeners to consider what will happen to the learning communities they have developed after the course has finished. "life beyond blackboard" and "life long learning communities". Leigh spoke to an example of tertiary teachers grouping around the Teach and Learn Online eGroup, and how that group of teachers have developed a self managed learning community based on free flowing discussion, content creation, and open networking.