Plaxo : The Pulse

[image : eschipul ]

Today, like any other day my email inbox is full of Bacn.

Today, like any other day I received 11 phone calls, 78 emails, 5 IM’s, two text messages and a host of other link spam which I’m not after although some of it makes hilarious reading despite the paradox of the desperateness inherent.

What I would like though is to use services like Plaxo that effectively centralise personal updates, who send me things by MY election, who promise not to share my details without my consent and who like any other business related profiling web 2.0 company show me who’s connecting to whom and why.

Unlike Facebook, Plaxo seems to be centralising service for purpose without all the fanfare, flashing advertisements and entertainment oriented connections. Sure, like anyone I’m keen to connect for positive practical purpose however I like to to be on my terms. I’m inbedding my services elsewhere and hopefully Plaxo will see that they can ‘out’ my profile as I’m still the same person inside as I am on the outside.

So, today like any other day, whilst I was building a website for one client, installing a Learning Management system for another and generally having fun with my youngest son Ethan , partner Jane and doing the housework in between I got to thinking about this once a week Plaxo message which I generally delete. I opened it this time, logged in, updated my profile a bit and then realised that 870 other people on my gmail list are not part of Plaxo and unlikely to know unless I email them what I’ve been up to or no offer as an E-learning & E-Business Marketing Consultant.

Hence the idea of this blog post which I’ll point to via the Plaxo message I’m sending through to those whom I’d like to re-connect with……not because I went to school with them, nor because I fancy them rather because as business goes the broader the access and connections with others the more likelihood of them returning my message and perhaps even commenting on this blog post……when I’ve worked out what code has dropped off to stop this happening.

In the meantime, please drop me a line via my email which you can find in my contact page above. Looking forward to hearing how your careers are going and how we can connect and have a great time otherwise.

Till then….I’m online.

Skype me if you get a moment to say hi !

AFLF Induction Day

Today was bright and sunny here in Orange, NSW Australia.

I went to the lake and we had a family picnic.

I came home and constructed my presentation for the upcoming Australian Flexible Learning Framework presentation in Sydney - Induction Day involving Kim Cofino, Regan Harding, Carole McCulloch and myself.

Alls well…..

…….that ends well and by the sounds of it at least 8 out of 10 things were covered in the Learning In The 21st Century gig hosted by education.au in Adelaide today.

Many thanks to all who attended both physically, virtually or in spirit.

Mike Seyfrang has preliminary thoughts and I’m sure Michael Coghlan and Graham Wegner will add their piece later.

Graham passed on some links also - http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1843

Framework - http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=51520

Al upton said hello via Skype.

I was driven to Dubbo NSW and sat with three groups of educators talking about networked learning and wikispaces. The knees gradually on the mend.

So is the head

Ten Steps To Facilitating Online

With Nancy White’s guidance and some deep slow thinking I’ve put together a resource for more than one presentation venue on my take for facilitating successfully online today.

I’ve taken the slant of the ‘responsible orgnaisation’ positing responsibility as a collaborative and enduring exercise rather than a teacher compliant model for delivery. I hope this makes sense…please distribute far and wide for comment;

 

 

Wimba: The Next Challenge

It could only happen to me surely….and yet I know it dosent…regularly and it frustrates the hell out of teachers trying to make a go of it and I feel for them as they seek innovation only to have really seemingly simple things stop them in their tracks.

Here I am behind the the four-walled firewall and my VoxPopping DJ dropping attempt at trying to make it into Kerry Johnson’s world has yet again been stopped. I’ll try again from the home office.

Repeat attempts x 5 mean it’s a home job…again.

That also rules out my ideas for Wimba ( with ease ) poking it’s head through the Moodle installs out here in the West. I’ve managed to get Scorm compliant tool box things happening inside and that heartens me somewhat.

Luckily also though I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Graham Wegner , Janet Hawtin and last night Kim Cofino. Some things do work and yet…..

I tried using the CallGraph program to record Kim’s great talk last night but it fell over with no recording present at the conclusion of our Skype talk…..so perhaps Kerry you could extract something from the above MP3 recordings and Vox pop it through EDNA.

There are so many challenges for educators simply with navigation through the web inside large organisations that I’m sure this contributes to the perception that ICT’s are just so close and yet so tantalisingly out of reach hence an attitude of….nice…….if only it would work for us. I’ve eluded to this a little in my presentation which will occur this Thursday in Dubbo with the CSHT& R Faculty…just a little.

Without humour it’s hard to see forward. Without the guts the it’s hard to look back proudly and know that you’ve contributed to breaking down some stereotypes and demystifying some of the fear surrounding networked learning.

Beyond delivery.

I think I’ll invest in the PrettyMay pro. audio Skype recorder. Cant afford to have conversations like this with Kim or others just not record.

Graham, Janet and Kim are all looking for the same thing in this debate. Some sensible approachs to the use of digital technologies involving our most precious asset - our children. having the guts to become a networked and global citizen celebrating difference and celebrating unity where possible.

Beautiful day up here in Orange after the snow fall yesterday.

No Duty Of Care

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An interesting ( it’s has now become more than interesting ) site with content labelled ‘No Duty Of Care: ET GOVICT2008 - A Conference on the Ethical Governance of ICT and the Role of Professional Bodies, Canberra, Australia 1 - 2 May 2008 ‘ dropped into TALO by Janet Hawtin regarding ICT’s, policy, governance and other juicy things to consider .

In the lead up to May 2nd it will be interesting to see what people dig up and tag which ultimately all informs a positive outcome for educators considering the continued use of ICT’s and networked learning.

Diigo : The Begining