Directions : Our Futures

Image : Tallawana

I’ve arrived at Parnngurr School to 10mbps satellite internet connection (when it’s on ) and a thumping outback band playing in the school compound. Honestly it’s gem sitting in the Westen Desert heartlands. Did someone say podcast their creations ?

As industry ? As a business ? Too right……
Gary Lienert from TAFE WA Newman Campus drove me out from Newman airport in the latest Outback 4wd and we passed three people on the way out. One degree centigrade on the tarmac.

It’s taken 32 hours from Sydney to get here. Past the industry which is sucking all the ore out of the Pilbara. Providing jobs. Building cities.

Creating our townie futures.

Image : Iron ore out

Going out at three trains a day each with up to 336 carraiges with $25,000 ore in each carraige. You do the maths.

Thats the average. The topper is the record at 682 carraiges and 7.4 kilometres in length. How many engines is anybody’s guess. Carbon neutral my ………

Gary reckons that the trains use more fuel getting back from the coast than too it. It’s downhill of sorts.

I sat with 90 fly-in-fly-outs this morning. They “man” the machines . More women than men in my estimation and all of them making a killing. No wonder no one wants to be a mechanic in the city.

Then it was a further 7 hours down the Tallawana Track. To the peace ( or so it seems ) of the Western Desert down by the Rudall River.

The Parnngurr School has changed so much…….last time I was here was actioning the Digital Outback project with Karen Higgins and Mardi Dwyer.

The CDEP shed has gone and Gary’s TAFE kids are now all grown up and working in the mines or playing in the band.

The community garden is on it’s way back and the school garden is looking amazing. Kids mill around and adults stick their nose in on all thats happening.

There’s an Artist up here working on a mural with the primary kids and the women Elders.

It’s 17 degrees and 5.53pm.

We have been bombarded all day on the satellite radio with news that law enforcements and child protection agencies are being sent into communities not far from here with the intent to implement the latest in the political decisions governing Indigenous Australians.

The atmosphere is tense to say the least however the future is bright.

We ( educators ) have the sense and goodwill to ensure that we connect conversations and avert yet another humanitarian disaster. Our views on this matter must be heard.

We are in the hub of the Parnngurr Community - the school. Where are you and what are you doing ?

This is civil action. This is active citizenship.

Dog Tired : Going North

Well the time has finally come around to taking a short break of sorts and getting back to the roots of it all outback with the mobdeadly mob.

I’ll be off-line for all of 24 hours. Sheesh ! Can I cope ?
There’s been a lot of running around to balance the responsibilities of getting some semblance of visitation timetable in order for all NSW LearnScope teams prior to my trip out to Parnngurr, Western Australia  (and hopefully Punmu if it’s accessible ).

Then compiling the regional visit’s EOI’s amongst TOL2 showcasing and a squillion forecasting the AFLF papers and reports. Robyn and I have been phone / emailing / mailing  extorting times and dates out of everyone available to tee -up times to meet at least once face-to-face with teams who are spread far and wide .

Behind the scenes we have three calendar’s to balance, a diary each, a plethora of official travel submissions , travel authorities and the like ……probably much like what your subject to also as you endeavor to connect people together and showcase what’s happening in your organization.

What I can report is that despite our reservations and hiccups with MediaWiki to begin with the platform is relatively responsive to a cross-collaborative spot to get information housed and usable. So is WikiSpaces and a billion other sites …..which one to choose and why.

So for now I’m going moblogging as the internet is a bore when your on the move.

Besides.

I’m kind of looking  forward to the challenge of reconnecting with what for me is real industry. Verb. Action.

Making a difference with minimal input, lateral community connections and a whole heap of spiritual big sky in between.

See you online.

StudyTxt : FLNW2

StudyTxT - one that may interest the mlearners out there in LearnScope.

E-Trends : AFLF Networks

image : e-trends

Robyn and I gained permission to access the E-trends Online Networks Conference last Tuesday and Wednesday. We did so using the new SIT TAFE NSW Wireless lounge thanks to the superhuman efforts of Julie Collareda and Stephan Ridgway.

Well done folks. Real innovation hitting the ground.

People from all over the globe were presenting and many others participating from afar and near. Congratulations to Cathy Baxter and team for ensuring the success of this event which brings people together to discuss and debate what’s working and what’s not working in e-learning today.

For many people this is an opportunity to connect with others and to bring ideas to the table and connect vocational and technical education (VTE) professionals within an environment of online networking and knowledge sharing.

The recorded sessions will be available for those who have registered for the event.

Alexandra Miller : Champion

image : wufoo

Alexandra Miller and team 048 have also been exploring ways to use Wufoo to create a permission to publish form for parents / guardians / significant others to gain access to learners visual depictions, audio content and other data which may be used for NSW LearnScope project purposes.

This is an incredibly important thing to consider when you FIRST engage learners in any web 2.0 activity or open web publishing environment.

Alexandra has also been hard at work building a most impressive personal blog which I hope ( sincerely will be authored for many years to come. A project wiki grows the teams connections which all link back to NSW LearnScope and deep into the Framework. Check them out. Drop in a comment.

I’m sure Alexandra would only be too happy to assist you in building your own form or to simply ensure that if you do use Alexandra’s wording or ideas ( within something that you develop yourself ) then to attribute Alexandra’s development ……make a note in your own online space pointing back to Alexandra’s hard work and effort.

050 : Web 2 4 U

image : davesaq 

I met with Patrick Barrett, Education Officer, Catholic Education Parramatta and Melinda Phillips - Lighthouse Project Coordinator, Catholic Education Parramatta  recently out at the Angus Kavanagh Centre  in Mt. Druitt.

Both inspiring individuals head up Team 50  and the host of project offspring which are getting into some funky web 2.0 interrogation and engaging clients with all sorts of new ways of working. The team blog attests to their commitment to getting others involved as active participants in the conversation  and the team wiki is agreat way to see what’s happening where - a crossroads in fact.

Bob at McAuley’s now blogging, connecting with a number of other project team members including Magda.

Whilst I was there I spoke with them both about what’s in store for the team and you can listen to our short chat by subscribing to / downloading from our NSW LearnScope podcast site
Race you there…..

Wagga Wagga Woy Woy Woop Woop

It’s wet and muffin territory here in Sydney as I wait for the 8.05am boarding call to depart for Wagga Wagga, NSW Australia.

I’m off to meet with Robyn Honeman’s team and Sharon Chapman from the CTCA team.

These face-to-face meetings (by either Robyn Jay or myself ) occur with teams at least once during the journey for a team in addition to Induction Day and our end of year E-learning07 event.

In many circumstances these visits provide the glue between concepts, projects and other key events which teams might not otherwise have access to. It also serves the purpose of conduit for Robyn, Lynne Stallard ( Capability Programs Manager ), Donna Hensley ( LearnScope National Manager ) and other ICVET staff who manage NSW LearnScope - gives a real life view of the projects as they develop.

It means we are on the road so to speak for five months out of the eight month LearnScope journey with many early starts, frosty muffins, broken travel bags and early morning wake up calls. We consider it important to talk with people face-to-face to complement our virtual contact with teams.

I feel privileged to have this position where I can get to see real innovation growing from the ground up. I also acknowledge that without your valuable input into this process of visit organisation I’d be missing more taxi’s and sitting in an office chair with fingers flying over keyboards more often.

Thank you NSW LearnScope teams for making my working career a pleasure. I look forward to meeting with you sooner than later.

More on the Web 2 4 U project when I get more than ten minutes somewhere in the deep south of this state.

So-So : E-Business

Lost something ? …….or perhaps your wondering how many other search engines are faster and deeper than good old Google ?

So-So and Plazoo assures us the right of finding things deleted or at least cached deeply.

I found  publications worth a gander and the odd AFLF gig to attend.

I was wondering where the  e’s were coming from.

See you there folks !

Tweet-Fest

LearnScope Is Dead

image : Night Owl

Some would say that LearnScope has lost it’s way in the current e-ducation industry stakes such as John Mitchell as we “muck around with technologies ” and “experiment” , harking back to critical refrains of 1998.

False.

Is industry a noun or a verb ? What of community ? Shall we spill all educator positions and ensure they walk between the RTO and the employers whom they train for ?

It’s reality for a few and a massive cultural shift for others.

I wonder where, as we are seeking to tie outcomes to real world application USING technology, whether John would agree ( with his extensive ACE consultation roles in the past ) with the change in bringing men’s sheds into the training space for example….developing checklists to ensure enduring outcomes……whether this direction is about ‘interactivity’ and real world economy for VET consideration.

Micro-industry. Acknowledging business uses information communication technology too.

Well Sue Waters, we here at LearnScope ( I say that because as your aware it’s national and international ) really enjoy your podcasts, not because they are there for listening, nor for your fanaticism rather your ability to draw in others to the VET critique of the use of technology in education. Your ability to connect us to your audience and without your passion for the use of technology in education , perhaps we’d be reading your thoughts in a PDF of your real attempts to engage “new industry “. Erk.

Educators learn too by playing with technology folks. Prensky made some money from telling us that one.

I certainly see that myself as a Project Officer everyday…….. however if we are realistic about this conversation…..come on folks….. then it’s got little to do with the gadgets and more about getting involved with where learners and where the world is at, as we all prepare ( or continue ) for a life long quest in business and working careers.

Educators learn by immersing themselves in what they don’t know. They know what they know. Learners make sure they acknowledge what they don’t know. …….and yet learning comes out of the don’t know, don’t know space.

Good educators NEVER lose sight of what’s real for their learners.

They are,( generally speaking here John ) restrained by the archaic technologies that they are forced to squeeze their interaction with learners through in their quest to realise real engagement. Take the existing technology away and what do you have ? The same body of learners and the same needs.

Only technology, industry and learners are not static. LearnScope ensures VET realises that.

Educators in LearnScope realise more than e-learning…..they realise curiosity, networked extensivety, grow business awareness and most all , develop relevant connections between learners, business and industry.

Their OWN love for learning is being nourished by the AFLF……who cares what we call it.

Heaven forbid if we remove that small luxury in immersing educators in new ways of growing knowledge.

Leadership happens on the ground. It also happens quietly in corners where the bright lights of speaking circuits fail to frequent.

Leadership is in USING technology as part of an learning actualisation process……putting money and time where the gob is.

Leadership is providing ways forward for educators which pave the way into the knowledge era , building bridges from Bunnings to Bourke and back. LearnScope may well be dead but using technology mediated learning sure isn’t and it’s not going away.

Let’s build sheds and rip down the museums. It will definitely rev the economy and make us all feel good for a time. We will still need some innovation and capability development of PEOPLE along the way or has that fallen out of favour …yet again ?

Mens’ Sheds : New Industry ?

image : Harry Harris

Whilst we are on the topic of RPL and the new COAG agenda, today I discovered the PDF of the NCVER report available through the ICVET and the DET access portal to other subscribed DEST documentation.

It’s heartening to note that we have access to this document both via the web and TALE.

I’m bringing to your attention the wealth of research information re: VET which NCVER has in it’s archives. Go there …it’s worth it.

The document I speak of is the “….Men’s sheds in Australia: Learning through community contexts” written by Barry Golding, Mike Brown, Annette Foley, Jack Harvey, Lynne Gleeson.

Although I’m taken with the acknowledgment of men’s personal spaces I’m slightly perturbed by statements in the forward such as ;

“..This project investigates the use of community-run ‘men’s sheds’ which have proliferated in southern Australia in recent years. Men’s sheds are informal spaces and programs devised for, and used mainly by, men.”

Proliferated ? Mainly by men ?

I’m sure Bunnings would agree however from a VET perspective and having worked in industry, with tradies and so on….sheds take on all sorts of meanings, shapes , forms and locations……frequented by both members of the human species.

I saw this topic explored heavily in 2005 / 2005 via ABC who pointed to a Men Sheds Au.

New industry ? I can point back to 1997 working with Graham Seal and ‘Men and Their Sheds’ was a little coffee shop journal with quirky tell-tales.

So we’ve come full circle to building bigger sheds and making sure men learn in them ? What of the current agenda of “flying squads of trainers” ? Are men’s sheds an industry in their own right ?

As Robyn questioned , “…..How can we justify commodification and monetisation of what appears to be a cultural abstraction of personal space ? ”

Says it all for me.

Capability Building : Not Report Building

 

 image : sd

 As we discussed at our Induction Day in Sydney for NSW LearnScope, we ( Robyn, myself and those managing NSW LearnScope )  are NOT encouraging team Managers and Facilitators to conduct skills audits nor surveys which identify strengths and weaknesses in any capacity of individuals nor teams at the outset of the project, during nor at the conclusion of the project.

We ARE encouraging Managers and Facilitators to consider using strength based feedback collection using a multitude of multimedia formats ( ie. podcasting ) from individuals and teams as to the manner in which they are engaging clients already, what they percieve they can benefit from with a LearnScope investigation of new and emergent communication technology and what they realised with their clients and/or reflections on what they learnt themselves as result of the project.

We ARE encouraging Managers and facilitators to do the above openly using a range of online spaces and places to “house ” and connect this material with others.Some people refer to this as action learning and others refer to this shift as capability building and personal development, with a shift away from expert centred models of didactic instruction which was known as Professional Development.

The reason we are NOT encouraging skills audits and quantitative analysis of an individuals weaknesses and strengths is that engaging in these activities often implemented in isolation leads to  competitive and devisive behaviour and unreliable results which in our circumstance are of no real use for reporting purposes.

NSW LearnScope is looking for how clients have been engaged with what team members have applied whilst in the action of learning. NSW LearnScope is looking for exemplars of sustainable practice and community building which has come about as a result of team members strengths cognisant of others and working in collaboration with other teams.

NSW LearnScope is looking for connections between teams, between states, between individuals on the ground working with clients and stakeholders in the learning process.

NSW LearnScope values people in the learning process and the accounting process will be measured in how well we APPLIED our learning investigations, not in what we dont have in the begining, middle and end.

Twingly : Blogospherecity

image : alexanderhayes

It’s finally arrived !!!!

Go to Twingly. Download and read instructions carefully.

Use keyboard prompts when fully unzipped.

Awesome.

* Note :Be careful. This is a non mediated world blog visualizer.

Why Social Software ?

Like it or not social software aint going away.

It’s only coming closer.

In fact it’s becoming more mainstream than ever. A cool online open-web-publishing collective is growing over at Corante.

More cool tools.

Free Content : FreeMinds

I’m not a big fan of the term ‘free content’ as some of you may already know, however , I am becoming more interested in the notion of “free” globally shareable learning-ware.

The OWPFOSS event has sure made a difference in LearnScope discourse and if your not already a WikiEducator or a WikiVersity member then I encourage you to make the minor time investment immediately.

Another vital thing to do is have a good look through Chris Harvey’s awesome resource page he built in our wiki.

Click on the linked pictures.