What now?!

It's been months since I posted anything on here as I thought I was finished with this blog but now I'm thinking it might be time to revive it.....mind you its taken me many many attempts to access this blog as I couldn't remember my user name or password...doesn't bode well!!
Since my last post I've moved permanently to Barrie in Ontario, Canada. Unfortunately this has meant that I no longer work for the Open University :(
The course I was an AL on needed me to be based in the UK so I now find myself with no students and my Masters completed. I can't work in Canada until September when I've got 2 of my kids settled into school/college...its a long story! So I'm at a loose end but also worried that I'm falling behind with what's occurring in the elearning world! I still follow many on Twitter but feel I need to do more...not sure what though!
Think I may start by reading some blogs and go from there.......

Elluminate session with OU AL's (tutors)

Well I held my first Elluminate session today for Associate Lecturers who work for Open University in my region. We unfortunately never got our own room so ended up in the General Access Space which was OK but not ideal. As guests we were unable to fully explore all Elluminate has to offer in terms of moderator privileges.
There were a couple of problems with microphones not working so two participants voiced their ideas and opinions using Chat.
I felt it was important that the session was very informal so that the tutors (AL's) could decide for themselves whether Elluminate suited them and their learners or not. The overall outcome was that they really liked it but needed more practice using it.
We covered the basics of how Elluminate can be used and then discussed the relevance of using Elluminate in the AL's contexts. We were all agreed that as we have learners throughout Europe that Elluminate allows for synchronised tutorials and greater possibilities for collaborative work by learners. We also felt that there was an opportunity for learners to use Elluminate as a chat room in order to gain peer support and feel part of a team. With this in mind we felt the same opportunity could be used by tutors not only to support each other and to share tips and advice on using Elluminate but also to share good practice.
The group decided that we would have further informal sessions where we could practice using Elluminate at our own pace and gain confidence in its use. I am now arranging the next session to hopefully be held in November and have requested use of our own room.

And hello Elluminate!

As I blogged at some earlier date I've been asked to carry out some Elluminate sessions with Open University Associate Lecturers from my region. The first will be held on 10 October. It will be a very informal session to allow the AL's to explore what Elluminate has to offer. I was hoping for an Elluminate room of my own but that doesn't seem to have materialised.....maybe I'm just not important enough! Anyway I think there will be about 6 of us in total which is a manageable number. I want them to decide for themselves whether Elluminate is a tool that will work for both them and their students rather then being told that they have to use it. Hopefully we may do another session later depending on how well this one does!

Farewell MAODE....I hope!

Well the ECA finally left the building over a week ago!!! It has felt strange suddenly having nothing to study after 2 years. It was also strange not to be part of a learning community anymore. However those feelings didn't last too long. OU provided me with 18 (now 21) students for the final run of E124. It's lovely having a whole group of students who are experienced at studying with OU...hopefully no surprises! The course materials have all changed so that's given me some bedtime reading. As E124 is integrated into new course E100 there are one or tow training sessiosn to complete....think tomorrows telephone conference should iron out most of the kinks.
Then I only went and got swine flu...still feel like death warmed up!

I must say some thank you's to one or two people who have helped me with this MAODE.
Firstly my brilliant hubby who took all my rantings on the chin when the damn internet crashed, went to work in unironed shirts and provided copiuos ampounts of chocolate and wine. My 3 fantastic kids who have practically brought themselves up these past 2 years and have done a better job than I could!! To Enda, my fab study buddy, who along with Clive and Rick cheered me on and on and on practically carrying me to the finish line. To all my MAODE peers over 4 courses....you are all brilliant. To my great OU tutors and the MAODE course team and to OU for paying for it all....huge thanks!!!!!

Final ECA!!!

I can't believe this is the end of the MAODE and my last ECA. It's been two years but feels a lot less. It's not been easy but I've loved every minute of it. Studying at Masters level has been way better than studying at BSc level.
So now the last hurdle has to be jumped! 6000 words by next Monday....yikes! I have actually started and I'm looking at Blogs and Elluminate. My activity (part C) will be related to blogs rather than elluminate which was my initial choice. This is because my learners would likely to be overwhelmed by elluminate but more likely to see that blogging can be related to their learning and practice.
I think I've finally got my head around Part B (thanks Alan!!) and none of my recommendations will be high otherwise OU would likely to have already implemented them.
Part D seems fairly straightforward.....until I actually start writing it of course! Initial feeling is there will always be a need for both individual and collaborative learning.
As this is the last ECA I seem to be almost savouring it...there's no panic yet and I actually quite like the content. I am dreading no more study as I know I'm pretty addicted to it...so I've made sure I have lots to do to fill the void. Decorating son's bedroom, whole bunch of new E124 learners starting in October, arranging elluminate sessions for OU AL's in October, got a trip to Ontario at the end of October to look for a house, putting this house on the market, collecting and sending documents off to the Canadian High Commission by November..oh and Xmas shopping!!
Not too sure what happens to this blog though once H800 finishes and do I still tweet as I won't have anything to contribute to elearning? No point in worrying about that now..... best get this ECA written!!!

TMA 04 and ECA

Well the result was way more than I expected! All that moaning and whining I did and I came away with a very respectable mark indeed. I did actually state in Part A that I had struggled to get past the academic language in Thorpes paper in order to fully appreciate what it was about!
So now its the ECA and the final part I need to do to complete the MAODE. I'm going to look at blogs and elluminate....context will be my own learners. I had thought of elluminate for the design part but blogs would fit in better with my learners, more realistic for them. I found a really nice blog on baby care http://www.ababycare.com/ and I'm looking at how I could incorporate course material into a blog. But I haven't fully read whats required for the design part of the ECA so may need to adapt this....not like I haven't had to do that before in an ECA lol!!
Forgot there's a Bank Holiday this Monday so feel I've lost a day already and littlest one isn't back to school for another week so not chance of getting much done...sigh!

TMA 04...groan!

Last week was a really bad week. TMA 04 was due in yesterday and its not like I've never done a TMA before but I really struggled with this one. I think I was a bit loath to start it as this is my last ever TMA...just an ECA to do and I've finished my MAODE!! So I think I was feeling a bit sad it was nearing the end. I've loved doing this Masters and have worked with some great people. Also I don't think joining Twitter helped me. I seemed to spend more time on there checking on how others were doing than I did on writing the damn TMA...its become an addiction! I struggled big time reading Mary Thorpes research paper.....I just couldn't make sense of the academic language no matter how many times I read it and when I was asked to sum up the intro as a requirement of the TMA I could have cried...hand on heart I'm still not 100% sure what the hell the paper was about! For me, as with the other TMA's in H800, there were just too many components. The TMA seemed to jump from one thing to another so just as I settled into writing Part A I had to jump to Part B and start all over again. I haven't experienced this in any of the other courses. In H808 there was a research piece and a reflective piece which enhanced each other so they worked well. So my last TMA has been the worst and not how I expected to round off MAODE. Just have to hope that the ECA is a better experience.