News and events forum

CLC online sessions this week

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:59:53 CST

by Wendy Zammit.

Tomorrow Tuesday 7th November we will be having two general sessions on how to facilitate in Breeze at 1pm and again at 7pm.
To join us go to http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/omn/ and login as a guest.

At 8pm we will be having a session where we talk about where we are on our learning journey, about what works and what doesn't work in relation to building connected learning communitites as part of our preparation for end of year reporting.

This is a conversation that several groups are having at this time of the year so I'm hoping that we will be able to feed our thoughts into the Advanced Learnscope team on Wednesday afternoon and several wikis gathering case studies.

Wendy

3 Connected Learning Community Breeze sessions this week

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:07:57 CST

by Wendy Zammit.

As the year draws to a close we are encouraging people to explore Breeze, the platform that NSWDET is using for online meetings.

Anyone is welcome to join us for a 30 minute session tonight Tuesday 31st at 7pm (AEST), tomorrow Wednesday 1st August at 12 noon or Thursday 2nd August at 1pm.

We will be talking about the Connected Learning Community and showing you ways to connect up informally with an ongoing professional network.

To participate fully you will need a microphone headset (about $12 from an electronics store). Breeze also allows you to use a simple webcamera- about $50.

It's a really easy program to use even behind a firewall. Just go to http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/omn/then enter as a guest.

See you online

Wendy

Tuesday Breeze sessions

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 07:59:50 CST

by Wendy Zammit.

Hello everyone,

We'll be having two short (30 minute) online sessions today at 1pm and 7pm (AEST) using Breeze to help people learn how to set up their own connected learning communities (see http://clcommunity.wikispaces.com/).

If you haven't tried the online conferencing platform Breeze (which TAFENSW is trialling) this would be a good opportunity for you to tune in from your office, classroom or home and say hello.

Plug in your microphone headset and go to http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/omn/
Enter as a guest and write in the name you want to be known by during the session.

Today we will be looking at how to "tweak" the sidebar of your blog to create links to the blogs of people in your class or personal learning network and (if we get to it) how to create a blogroll using Bloglines.

Look forward to seeing you online.

Wendy

Tuesday Breeze sessions

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:54:02 CST

by Wendy Zammit.

Well it has taken a while (actually about three years but who's counting) but I finally "get" the importance of using RSS feeds!! Sean has been talking to me for that long abut how RSS feeds can revolutionise teaching and learning and make life much easier.

So tomorrow will be RSS day on the OMN / Connected Learning Community.

Please bring your microphone headset and join us at either 1pm or 8pm on Breeze.
To join us go to http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/omn/ and enter as a guest. Then enter the name you will be known by in the session.

Or if you can't make it check out these supershort videos that tell you a bit about Bloglines www.bloglines.com- an account you can set up to take advantage of this wonderful technology.

Video Episode0011 - How to use Bloglines.com A good starter video on how to use bloglines about 4 mins
Adding Web Feeds a 2 min video on subscribing to rss feeds with bloglines-shows how to right click on shortcut button
Add RSS feeds to Bloglines explains that you should only select one feed from each source- very useful for beginners.
Bloglines Registration 1 min video on how to register for Bloglines-Good for very basic distance learners.
Saving Articles about 2 mins. Good tip. Nice voice short video on how to check keep box on bloglines to stop article from disappearing
Subscribing to a Blog using Bloglines about 4 mins- covers basics of rss feeds and how to set up and use bloglines. Also how to insall an update notifier (if you're desperate for stimulation!!)

Before we start linking to each other's blogs via RSS feeds (next week's topic) you might like to set up some feeds to some of these popular sites.

News sources - e.g. Sydney Morning Herald, BBC, Reuters, New Scientist, Time Magazine

Amazon.com Syndicated Content & Lockergnome's Amazon RSS Feed Generator & BookWatch's Amazon RSS Feed-Builder

Custom eBay Searches Delivered by RSS

TV Guides - e.g. ABC TV guide via RSS

RSS Australian Job Search Feeds from Positions VACANT

Yahoo! RSS Feeds

Look forward to connecting with you soon,

Wendy

Re: The Online Mentoring Networking is Morphing !!

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 08:22:52 CST

by Tracie Regan.

Wendy

I still feel like a tweenie - over the very basic stuff yet not ready for CLC. RSS Feeds have me stumped and my bloglines are all tangled. Will join in the Tues night session to unravel these mysteries and try to come up to speed.

thanks for the renewal

Tracie

Re: The Online Mentoring Networking is Morphing !!

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 16:07:01 CST

by Carole McCulloch.

Absolutely, I concur. Thanks Wendy for a heads up on this morph.

I've added my name to the wiki and I'm ready for teleporting!

Coach Carole

Re: The Online Mentoring Networking is Morphing !!

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 12:41:55 CST

by Delia Bradshaw.

Thanks, Wendy. This sounds an enticing new development, one with lots of promise. With best wishes, Delia.

The Online Mentoring Networking is Morphing !!

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 19:51:28 CST

by Wendy Zammit.

Hello Everyone,

Several of you have emailed me to ask what has been happening on the Online Mentoring Network and whether we are going to be having any more online meetings.

I must admit I have been keeping a fairly low profile over the last few weeks as I have been trialling a course for 40 beginning teachers and managers new to things online at Sydney Institute. It has been a wonderful experiment and we have developed a model that seems to be working very well.

Now that weve got a nucleus of people who have the basic skills and are keen and ready for the next step were hoping to show people how to set up their own small connected learning communities with family members, colleagues from work, mentors and mentees.

For a number of years Ive been setting up learning communities using online journals but I feel that the CLC model which Sean Fitzgerald has so beautifully developed http://clcommunity.wikispaces.com/ offers something far more sophisticated- if we can get people past the twin obstacles of lack of time and the basic skills.

Our aim is to morph the Online Mentoring Network into a connected learning community over the next three weeks and move all of our activities and resources onto the open web.

To make that possible over the next few weeks we will be offering some very basic online workshops online on: Tuesday afternoon at 1pm and again on Tuesday nights (8pm to 9pm AEST).

We will be using Breeze, the new platform that NSW TAFE has adopted. Just go to
http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/omn/ and enter as a guest.

We will be showing you how to reduce email overload with RSS feeds, how to how to tweak your blog template to include a blogroll (a list of links to other people's blogs) and how to get lists of great sites delivered direct to your blog.

Please drop in next Tuesday to catch up and say hello. We also need you to leave your name on the Connected Community Wiki http://clcommunity.wikispaces.com/members.

All good wishes,

Wendy

Tuesday night Elluminate session, 22nd August 2006

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:38:16 CST

by Wendy Zammit.

Hello Everyone,

I've started at beginners class for managers and teachers at TAFE so I thought that perhaps for the next few weeks we could go over some basics in the Online Mentoring Network. So if you do know someone who is a beginner please bring them along.

Tuesday night Elluminate session
On Tuesday 22nd August well be using Elluminate for our regular get together from 8-m to 9pm AEST to talk about a few basic things:

* How to use Moodle,
* Ongoing professional development opportunitites through Learnscope and the Networking 2006 projects and
*Toolboxes.

We will also be reviewing the program for the coming Networking 2006 online conference.

So if you have something you want to advertise, share or learn, please drop by.

Instructions for joining the Elluminate session

First - you will need to have your microphone headset (about A$15-$20 from an electronics store) plugged in to the microphone and audio-out sockets on your computer.

To join Tuesday's Elluminate session, click the following link:

https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=995&password=M.E7650A37495D3D5F9C05D5063E9AE1

Your browser will automatically download and install the software needed to participate (about 5 minutes on broadband, 15 - 20 on dial-up).

If you wish to see if your computer has the required software, please go to http://www.elluminate.com/jwsdetect/demos_events/jwsdetect.html and follow the instructions.

If the software does not automatically download and install it is likely that it is being blocked by a network firewall and you may need to contact your IT department for assistance.

You could also look for answers at http://www.elluminate.com/support/faqs/

If your get lost log onto Skype at 8pm make sure you have wendy.zammit added as a contact and I'll guide you in.

See you online,

Wendy

Re: Newsletter Tuesday 15th August 2006

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:28:53 CST

by Carole McCulloch.

Apologies for my non-attendance, I did not get home in time.

I do hope the meeting was a successful one in Breeze, it seems to be flavour of the month right now.

I'd be keen to see some demonstration of a new open source content management system called Joomla. Any experts on that in this group?

Coach Carole