Mini Conference Second Life Interview

Lets be honest here I am still literally bumping into walls or facing the wrong direction in “Second Life” but hey not only has it been a challenge for my mind but it has been a technical challenge as well (cause like your average male my brain is not hardwired for multitasking (i.e. using the keyboard, mouse, headset and the various menu popups or drop downs on the SL GUI all synchronously!).

Just for your FYI the interview guest (avatar: Hat Carter & myself (avatar: Clinty Inglewood) where there at roughly the correct time with script prepared (took a while for us to “find each other” and meeting place. But much to our dismay only one other avatar pitched up – not to worry the interview fell away as we all decided to make the best of the situation and we went discovering. I was shown how to wear a “flight feather” and off we went to visit the platform suspended in the sky above Explorer Island NASA JPL (800 meters up). On the platform is a translucent 3d crater cone into which you can walk your avatar and have a 360 degree view of real photographs of the crater on Mars visited recently by the Mars explorer vehicle – it was awesome! A very interesting sim site – thanx to Hat Carter!

For those still wanting to hear about SL from seasoned user Harold Atkinson I will do a voice recorded interview and make it accessible via a link on the wiki hopefully. I have noted a few of the practical difficulties I experienced in trying to set up the SL event in my previous post – this was a valuable experience which I could not have learnt from a textbook. Thanks to Leigh Blackall for introducing SL to me on this FOC course – pity you did not make it Leigh – but all is not lost as it turned into a useful SDL (self directed learning session) discovery session instead – so no need to be “totally gutted”.

Newbie Philosophical Rambling on Second Life

The quest for a place of Paradise is a strong theme running through the history of human existence from the biblical Garden of Eden to the various paradise places in the plays of Shakespeare (e.g. The Tempest) to Milton’s famous book “Paradise Lost” and contemporary films such as “The Island”. Through the centuries humans have both physically and psychologically searched for Utopia. It would appear now that we can build our respective paradises in the 3d virtual world of Second Life” (SL). Program code today is allowing us to transport our minds into these “artificial cyber worlds”. Is SL the embryo of some sort of future “Matrix”. Having just rewatched two videos on the film “The Matrix” and “Matrix Revisited” (must see the third video!) which to me is like boosting SL a step further I had the constantly nagging thought the are we not already there – albeit in a more primitive sense as we have yet to literally “plug in” our brains via a chip – biological interface – which is technology speaking perhaps not so far away? This “Brave New World” raises so many mind boggling thoughts around the ethics, morals and legalities of behaviour in these virtual worlds which are no longer “terra firma”. Naturally for those of us with a older World View, this is initially like a walk on the wild side (i.e. “Star Trek “type stuff (yes I am a dinosaur!). In any parallel world like SL with human being humans, there is “the good, the bad & the ugly” which naturally evolve whether we are on Earth, in Second Life or perhaps soon on Mars! Despite all this I am becoming addicted to SL!

Second Life is not yet just “Plug & Play!” Message 2

Second Email
Hi Leigh - Nov 3, 2008 at 2:23 PM

Was up half of last night with a different pc with more grunt trying to get SL to run smoothly - still sorting out some minor tech issues as every time I swapped computer something else would not work - got a colleague working on the headphone/microphone glitch - yes it is now working & so it goes on - wow - what a learning curve! Have advertised the SL Interview on the Wiki (hope is Okay) and inserted a SLurl to the Nasa JPL area. Have questions prepared and colleague (Harold) is jumping in to SL from his side of Auckland (friends place) 2morrow morning for 10.00 am (Auckland time) meeting - we can only but try!

Even tried to get access for SL into our pc labs but SL will not run on these machines as our teaching pc specs are not good enough. Good news is that our org is getting new pcs next year - does not help now though.
- What have I learnt so far
- You need good specs to run SL smoothly (especially Memory/graphics card)
- The broadband connection of your pc is also important otherwise it slows or can crash (freeze)
- I have a whole new perspective on these technical issues - SL is not just "Plug & Play'
Cheers for now.

All that Last minute running around meeting each other swapping computers or visiting Internet Cafes to test out whether SL could be run (my café had security settings blocking the download of the SL client set up program) however Harold has found an Internet café where can get into SL okay for a few dollars – cool!!

Bottom line is many technical hurdles to overcome. One of the main problems is that if your computer does not have the correct specs (or better) it is “potluck” whether SL is going to run okay for you – typical problems include slowing of you computer as the cache fills and you run out of uncommitted RAM – my pc ground a halt on 39 processes and 100% Memory usage quite quickly resulting in a “hung screen” or simple crashes Why because I only had minimum specs necessary to run SL. Answer – go find another pc with more “grunt” - this time I got into SL okay but had difficulties going to the Sim wanted – which was Explorer Island – Nasa Jpl site (where all the space stuff is). It kept sending me elsewhere and then disconnected me from SL. I spent many hours going into & out of SL trying to get my spot – and when I got their my sound hardware was not working – tales of woe my friends – when you do finally hook into SL & all the technology is working (i.e. “winds are blowing in your favor”) - you are either mentally exhausted or emotionally over the moon and want to throw an SL party! – but what a learning/patience curve!

These ramblings are not to put any newbie “Lifers” off but just a reality check that it does not always go as planned – i.e. SL is not just “Plug & Play” – but it may be a lot more smoother as it developments & improves down the line.

See you in Second Life – hopefully!
Thanx from Grant (aka Avatar: Clinty Inglewood)

Second Life is not yet just “Plug & Play!” - Message 1

I would like to share the behind the scenes running around whilst trying to set our mini conference event - About Second Life Interview – which seem straight forward to me when I put my hand up to do it. I was “blown away” when Leigh first took me into Second Life and Leigh made it look & feel so easy – kind of passing the buck here! But anyway here is a chronicle of technical woes covering the last few prevent days in the form of email postings between myself Grant, my guest (Harold) and Leigh as follows:

First email: Hi Leigh - Monday, 3 November 2008 9:13 p.m.

Thanx for last chat. Just to let u know I am working on doing your interview idea in Second Life. Have embroiled by Colleague Harold Atkinson (Computer tutor) who has done quite a bit of stuff in Second Life (i.e. he is not a newbie). Last night he was at my place & we were trying to get to a Sim that he likes (but we had tech gremlins not enough pc grunt, freezing & crashing etc) as a venue. We are still sorting out how we can make it happen - problem is we cannot do it from our organizations computers on quick notice - whole approval process, form filling etc - too slow for now). By the way being from South Africa I had not heard of UTC time - so I had to get my head around that too for planning purposes – thanks to Leigh for his words of wisdom on Time issues:

“Hi Grant! This is great news.

NZ is +13 hours on UTC.. so if your event was for 9am NZ time, that would be 8pm the day before at UTC. Here's a world clock and meeting planner.”

Luckily we have found a common free time (in our RL schedules) when he can hook on from his locality (his neighbors pc which has enough grunt) and I can also hook on (my lack of grunt should be sorted today - borrowing my sons pc to hook up tonight - which has good graphics card etc). I did pop in at an nearby Internet cafe today & went into second life but their security does not allow download of second life program (bummer!). I will be meeting Harold again today to firm up when the event can happen - looking at this Thursday at 9.30 or 10.00 am (morning) Auckland time - in meantime I will prep questions etc. I hope to be able to create a Slurl (coordinates) later tonight after my eve class at home. Lots of behind the scenes running about at moment- learning curve! " The show must go on" as they say.

Help please:
Hope you okay with this overall?
How do I work out local Auckland time into UCT time to advertise event?
Hopefully later tonight I can put up a working title & notice advertising this event & post a Slurl link onto the wiki?
Any advice appreciated ASAP - much nervous energy at moment

Reminder needed: Online Facilitators Role?

1. 
   
   Extracts from online Article: Facilitating and Hosting a Virtual Community
   Nancy WhiteLast edited 4/03/04
   
   1. “The core of facilitation and hosting is to serve the group and assist it in reaching its goals or purpose
   2. "Communities are organic in nature and site owners can't make them successful or force them to grow. As site owner can only provide the fertile ground on which a community may grow, and then provide some gentle guidance to help the group thrive. Much of the challenge in fostering an online community is social, rather than technical."
   3. “Facilitators foster member interaction, provide stimulating material for conversations, keep the space cleaned up and help hold the members accountable to the stated community guidelines, rules or norms. They pass on community history and rituals”
   4. “Facilitators use their group facilitation skills to enable the group to meet it's goals. This involves a group of processes which include:
   - Entry and engagement processes which help members become active participants
   - Supporting sociability, relationship and trust building
   - Constructing, adapting and modeling norms, agreements and accountability
   - Support discussion and dialog (foster communication)
   - Support divergent, convergent and task-oriented group processes (help get work done)
   -Anticipate and work with conflict and abrasion to both allow emergence of new ideas and protect people from harassment
   -Work with full understanding of diversity in learning style, culture and personal styles
   - Understand and make visible group participation cycles and "rituals" in the online environment.
   - Summarize, harvest, weave and support appropriate content and connections “
   5. “The social host helps create an environment where the members feel comfortable to participate. Part conversationalist, part counselor, part role model and sometimes even part bouncer. They are also usually part of the conversation.
   Applications include:
   - social, conversational communities
   - helping entrants feel "at home" and acclimated in work groups and communities of practice
   - customer service
   Key skills include:
   - greeter
   - social skills
   - conversation stimulator (content, style, process)
   - sometimes utilizes a persona or a "character."
   - conflict resolution (particularly in open, public online communities)”
   6. “Facilitators are the most emulated members of a group -- no matter if they are modeling positive or negative behaviors. They are often the first members to be challenged. Integrity, patience, a good sense of humor and a love of other people will be valued in any host. And as virtual communitarian Howard Rheingold so aptly wrote, "One point of heart is worth ten points of intellect."
   Source: http://www.fullcirc.com/community/communityfacilitation.htm
   
   

Out of Africa

Mars Rover to Mars Holst the Planets - Click here for funny video clips

Wikis as Epistemological Realities

Epistemology
- Noun [U] SPECIALIZED- the part of philosophy that is about the study of how we know things (from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=101859&dict=CALD

Wikis are popular, as shown by the rapid growth of Wikipedia, but as Cummings (2007) points out to us they are changing the fundamental underpinnings of our knowledge about knowledge per se as follows:

“Wikipedia has fundamentally and finally altered epistemology itself – our commonly held ideas about knowledge.”
http://www.wildwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=%E2%80%9CWhatWas_a_Wiki%2C_and_Why_Do_I_Care%3F_A_Short_and_Usable_History_of_Wikis%E2%80%9D

What does this mean? Through the use of wikis we have shifted away from the past process of where a few credentialed experts had the means and know how to publish works of knowledege for the masses to a process whereby many non-credentialed people now have the means to contribute and builld a collection of common knowledgefor the masses. Cummings (2007) refers to this phenomenon as “global transition to networked epistemology”. Also Cummings (2007) reminds us that wikis as “epistemological realities” are less about reference sources of academic rigour but more about “shared truths”. In this context it is interesting to note that the Maori learners whom I teach also have a collective cultural view of a kete (basket) of knowledge which is shared (accessed) by all. The modern day wiki is an electronic version not dissimiliar to the traditional Maori “kete mātauranga “(basket of knowledge).

Thomas J Nelson in Cumming’s (2007) article makes the point that wikis are powerful examples of the social construction of knowledge through writing. Wikis are “by the people for the people” in that there is no single authority responsible for that knowledge (as in books authored by experts). Where traditonal encylopedias have been a closed shop authored by specific experts wikis are “open source” and “open ended” works in progress.. As suggested by the image above wikis (like the printing press of old) have swung open the door on sharing knowledge allowing the many, and not just the few, to participate in the collective compilation of knowledge.

Certainly wikis are a quantum epistemological leap from the traditonal knowledge acqusition to a new collective order but “are we going to throw the baby out with the bath water” as there are still some niggingly old fashioned concerns to be addressed for me such as standards, scoping, authenticity, academic rigour, and information versus misinformation . Will this new wave of democratic knowledge building create its own internal system of checks and balances (as any natural system on earth has) or are we all going to be surfing a tsunammi of information overload from millions of publishers? Again it is with some comfort that in a recent article about Wikipedia and epistemology Don Fallis (2008) points out that a number of empirical studies have revealed that Wikipedia has good epistemic consequences. How so we ask? Apparently the reliability of Wikipedia compares favorably with the reliability of traditional encyclopedias and the epistemic advantages of Wikipedia are its speed, power and fecundity – okay I admit I had to look up the meaning of the latter which is – fruitful or capable of abundant production!

Source: http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/2400/

Reflection on Encyclopedia vs Wikipedia

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
- encyclopedia, encyclopaedia

- noun - a book or set of books containing many articles arranged in alphabetical order which deal either with the whole of human

- knowledge or with a particular part of it:
Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=25549&dict=CALD

In the past encyclopaedias were bought almost as a status symbol to fill up bookshelves in homes and libraries and were at the time awesome repositories of knowledge produced by well known publishers such as Encyclopaedia Britainnica or Peers. In our household, and all libraries of the day, they were treated with reverance stemming from the fact that the knowledge within had painstakingly been collected, reviewed, checked, edited and then printed – a process which before computers and desktop publishing software took years. They were trusted, quoted and referred to mainly because they had supposedly been compiled by well qualified experts.Then in 2004 the apperace of the “wiki” became the“next big thing on the Internet” (Cummings2007).

Wiki
(n.) A collaborative Web site comprises the perpetual collective work of many authors
Similar to a blog in structure and logic, a wiki allows anyone to edit, delete or modify content that has been placed on the Web site using a browser interface
Source: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/w/wiki.html

It is therefore not surprising that when first referred to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) I was “blown away” as it felt both incredulous and strange. Why? Firstly, it was amazing to see this vast repository of knowledge (multilingual, Web-based, free content encyclopedia project) that had grown organically in just a few years with millions of articles, thousands of contributors and hundreds of languages available all free and easily accessible in electronic format with no registering or payment needed. Secondly, the strange part was that this repository was built up not by well qualified subject experts but by volunteer contributors. As someone who grew up in the age of “books come from experts” this was a “walk on the wild side”. My students use Wikipedia to get some scope on topics we are learning (albeit with a warning that this is a collection of common knowledge) mainly because it is quick and easy knowledge at your fingertips. Why not – we now live in a world of “instant cash, instant food, instant finance” so why not “instant knowledge?” Perhaps what still bothers me on the moral/ethical side is not so much the “instant” part but the credibility part. The issue is of course is whether or not the wiki knowledge can be trusted or not in the same way we used to inherently trust the old encyclopaedias of the past as a recognised source of knowledge? In this vein it is interesting to read in the Robert Cummings article about the Nature 2005 study which showed that after a detailed analysis there was supposedly a negligble difference between the accuracy of articles given in Encyclopedia Britannica and those given in Wikipedia. Something of a comforting thought for the old school amongst us!

Source: http://www.wildwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=%E2%80%9CWhatWas_a_Wiki%2C_and_Why_Do_I_Care%3F_A_Short_and_Usable_History_of_Wikis%E2%80%9D

Kiwis are top bloggers

Newsflash

Article at 5:00AM Tuesday Jul 29, 2008By Eloise Gibson

• Latest survey shows that one in 13 Kiwis (or 1 in 10 Internet Users or 8%) has a weblog
• New Zealand has highest rate of bloggers out of 15 countries surveyed (followed by Japan)
• 31 % Asian, 12 % Pacifika, 6% Pakeha and 2% Maori are blogging in New Zealand
• 78% of New Zealanders use the Internet
• The downside is poor broadband coverage compare to other countries with a high number of Kiwis still using dial up compared to other countries

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10524003

James Farmer (2004) Article Key Concepts

Having recently read and pondered this article three important concepts were revealed to me and have stuck in my mind since. These key concepts are outlined as follows:

• Social presence “is the ability of participants in community of inquiry to project themselves socially and emotionally, as “real people” i.e. their full personality through the medium of communication being used.” (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000, p 94)
• Cognitive presence is “the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection an discourse in a critical community of inquiry” (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000, p 94)
• Teaching presence is “the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes”(Anderson et al, 2001)
  
  The bottom line is that technologies used e.g. OLE, Discussion Boards or Web logs need to allow for the natural elements of “Social presence”, “Cognitive presence” and “Teaching presence” so that “real people” projecting real emotions can participate in a real community of enquiry.
  
  Main Source: Farmer, J. incorporated subversion http://incsub.org/blog/2004/communication-dynamics-discussion-boards-weblogs-and-the-development-of-communities-of-inquiry-in-online-learning-environments
  
  
  
  

1. When does the act of teaching compromise the role of a facilitator of an online community?

One way of answering this question could be to start with the given assumptions made by the Australian Quick Guide to online delivery of VET about the role of a facilitator being that of “manager”, pedagogically using “student-centered” approaches and play a “guide on the side” certain lines can be drawn in the sand with teaching on one side and true facilitating on the other side. Clearly the online facilitator has to try not to compromise the “guide on the side” approach by crossing the role line into the territory of going into assertive “sage on the stage” teaching mode. For the new online facilitator this means a process of constant “self-awareness” as to what mode they are operating in when functioning with learners online. To step out of the face to face classroom and sit in front of the computer for online students clearly requires a “mode switch”. There are conflicts and inner tensions with this process i.e. if we liken the learning process to a railway train - do you put the engine (teacher) at the front and pull the carriages (students) along or do you put the engine at the back and push the carriages along or does the train drive itself and you just ensure it stays on the rails? The teacher role is safer and offers the least line of resistance and is summed up well in Leigh’s (2007) comment that “teaching and instruction is the much easier path for all involved”

(http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/to-facilitate-or-to-teach/.)

Facilitating clearly requires a different skill set and if not done properly could be a bit of a minefield. Can we be taught to facilitate or is this gained through experience only? Does the old cliché of “he/she is a born teacher” apply to facilitating as well?

Source: http://pre2005.flexiblelearning.net.au/guides/facilitation.html

Role of online Moderating

In trying to grapple with the actual role of emoderator I initially looked at Salmons Five Stage Model (shown above). To get my head around these models I summarised key points from them in visual form to help my own understanding of what it is an emoderater is supposed to do. These diagrams are given below and I am hoping they will serve to remind me of the role of emoderater as I have this weird feeling we are going to put on a trial run as emoderators on the programme – this could be both an educative & entertaining challenge (Hope Leigh is close at hand for this one!).

The term moderating takes on a whole new role in the online arena where its main role is to provide feedback on elearning especially as the student is not in a face to face environment. E-modertaion involves managing, facilitating & engendering group based computer mediated communication (CMC) within two different technological approachs of Synchronous (Realtime) and Asynchronous (Delayed) Mediation.

Emoderating essentially involves providing feedback to online learners. The WikiEdProfessional elearning guide identifies some basic types of feedback including :
· Feedback for correcting errors in understanding or performance
· Feedback with affective intentions such as influencing motivation
· Feedback on the understanding of subject matter
· Feedback restating the original task or providing new information
In an online environment where visual cues are lacking the type of feedback given and the manner in which it is given could dictate what type of role is taken by the facilitator and by default will surely impact also on the perception of online learners as to the type of role being adopted by the facilitator

http://wikieducator.org/WikiEdProfessional_eLearning_Guidebook/Assessment%2C_feedback%2C_and_e-moderation/Providing_Feedback

Wrestling with definitions?

What is an ordinary community?

Communis comes from a combination of the Latin prefix com- (which means "together") and the word munis (which has to do with the exchange of services). But it is interesting to note that definitions on the term “community”are many and varied depending on context (ie. sociological, biological, religious, ethnic, business etc). In the old sense of the word there are two important elements, firstly – a group with common values – and secondly – a shared geographic location. Clearly communication technologies now have largely meant the second element is now defunct as Internet technologies mean people can communicate across National & International space (ie “global village”).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community

What is an online community?

A virtual community, e-community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as newsletters, telephone, email, online social networks or instant messages rather than face to face, for social, professional, educational or other purposes. . If the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community. An important part of an online community is the social software used to build social networks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community

What is a social network?

A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

There appear to be some fine lines separating the concepts above:

• Original term Community is broad with a geographic colouring


• Online Community stems from the fact that communication media (computer network) must exist


• Social network is more about the stucture & relationship patterns which are displayed visually by graphs or maps of nodes (ie individuals or organisations) and ties (values, visions, ideas, trade, conflict, kinship etc)
  
  Despite my “focus time” it still seems a bit woolly to me with many overlapping grey areas. Any elucidation from fellow e-colleagues to help clarify for me would be most welcome! Any offers appreciated.
  Thanx GAC.

White Blogo spheres & Black blogo spheres - Why does this sound familiar?

As an ex South African who lived in South Africa under Apartheid where cultures were legally separated and as a result we had buses for whites, buses for blacks, beaches for whites and beaches for blacks etc my knee jerk response when seeing the existence of a “Black blogo sphere” and a “White blogo sphere” was to experience massive “de je vu” and disappointment that even cyberspace is being carved up into race based territories just like real countries have been. Are we witnessing racial conflict history repeat itself on line now. Is once again politics already shaping socialization patterns on the net as it has done for centuries on the ground? I can hear you saying “wake up to reality” but just like the cyber cops now needed to patrol “Second Life” our cyber worlds are not better built worlds of mutual understanding but just mirrors of the same old real world problems & conflicts or as Milton put it “A Paradise Lost”! I can hear you now asking me why be so naive to think that politics, and race relations would not be the driving forces of the internet, along with other vices of crime and greed. As a communications technology it is a pity that it has to be hijacked for soap box speeches or hate speech etc. If on the other hand it can be used to gain better understanding between cultures through what should be a neutral technology then I say - great! Certainly the Afroshpere blog with aims to bring “a variety of experiences, perspectives, ideas, beliefs and values in an effort to foster understanding, wisdom, knowledge and strength between 4 different countries on 3 continents” seems to be a positive way forward to use blogging technology. Better get off my soap box now! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrosphere

Some thoughts on building online communities

As a newbie to elearning I found the paper done by Hill etal (2000) raised a couple of key points for me:

• Firstly - an atmosphere of "adventure spirit" needs to be created with the spin off of a feeling of community coming from the notion that "we are all in this togther" when participating in online connectedness - (ie the proverbial we are all in the same boat!)

• Secondly - creating "teams" or "buddies" to help beginers stay connected


• Thirdly - to realise that there will always be some particpants who are not interested in establishing a community (ie another fact of life)

Although this research focused on a 'constructed' online educational community (ie varsity students doing a grad couse online) it certainly revealed to me the need for distinct strategies to foster the building of an online community (ie it is not just necessarily going to just happen in a vaccuum). Source: http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper46/paper46.htm

Did some browsing for non-educational online communities and came up with these links:

• Online community of Artists - http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/


• "Bro online" - first interactive website for gay men of Maori descent launched March 2008 - http://www.nzaf.org.nz/articles.php?id=930

These sites looked like sites were the community had commonality which was not to do with education.

Signing off for today.

Role tensions in Teaching vs Facilitating

Thanks for sharing your views transparently Leigh in your blog http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2008/09/ – This was refreshing to read and has opened my horizons to some of the didactic dilemmas involved in the online learning realm. I am one of those vocational teachers you mentioned with a couple of decades of traditional classroom experience who is trying to paradigm shift to the online realm. Even in traditional classrooms today we are being asked to be more of a facilitator (“guide on the side”) than teacher (“sage on the stage”) and I have been experiencing similar tensions in attempting to do this in a traditional learning setting and can appreciate how these tensions are exacerbated tenfold further in the on- line environment. To help identify the "tensions " of teaching versus facilitating, as outlined by Leigh Blackall in his blogg, to help me focus I have taken the liberty of trying to capture these different roles by means of a simple diagram below:

Source: http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2008/09/

Superimposed on this are the cultural expectations of my students as I am currently teaching in a Maori learning environment where students expect a “supportive group approach (whanau)” in the classroom lead by a knowledgeable tutor (i.e. sage on the stage) with well structured sessions. I have spent many hours pondering how online learning could be taught online with these cultural expectations also given the fact that my learners are culturally orientated towards learning from the spoken word and are not orientated towards technology learning. I have read a few papers on limited success stories with on line learning for Maori learners but as you pointed out as the technology learning curve improves in future I think some of these barriers will gradually fall away. To both you and Bronwyn I say keep marching on as you are paving the way for newbies like me!

http://gac-outofaafrica.blogspot.com/

What is elearning?

A working definition on this helps to focus thoughts, for example:
"Electronic learning (or e-Learning or eLearning) is a type of education where the medium of instruction is computer technology."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elearning

In a Company context training done on an Intranet comprises elearning . In a University context students will do online study of programmes with little if any traditional face-to-face engagement with tutors and lecturers. Elearning may use differennt technologies to faciliate distance learning as well.

Currently the main technology medium used in delivering elearning is Internet or computer-based multimedia technologies. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elearning

Getting hooked onto RSS at last!

Well fellow bloggers I am gradually managing to get RSS feeds from some of your master blogs onto my blog "Out of Africa" and look forward to playing with this technology. As a late starter I am gradually trying to catch up with "the rest of the pack"
FYI my blog address is under late students as http://gac-outofaafrica.blogspot.com/

Happy Blogging
Gradual Grant

What is Blogging about?

As a newbie I am still getting my head around some basics and hope you guys do not mind if I remind myself with the words of Sarah Stewart (Otago Polytech) that blogging is more than doing posts - it involves hooking onto other blogs, reading and commenting - how I wish I was a touch typist! I found this definiton on the nature of blogging useful:

"Blogs blend personal journaling with social networking to create environments with opportunities for reflection." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_learning_community