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.

Week 25

My focus this week has been less on course work and more on TMA 04. This was helped greatly by an elluminate session at the beginning of the week which consisted of just a few of us students. It worked really well, very relaxed and thoughts and ideas easily explored. It's nice to hear that others are thinking along the same lines or can clarify areas that are sometimes grey. I've decided that this will be the focus of my ECA.....l had already considered that for my students elluminate could provide them with a better, synchronised forum in which to support each other...almost like a chat room facility. I feel my students would use this and benefit greatly from it. I'd still consider its for tutorials especially for my students who are based in Europe and cannot attend f2f.
So I'm now looking at Kennedy (formal/ informal learning) and Thorpe (not just the tool that needs to be taken into account when researching.....need to account for environment, type of course etc)....well I think that's what they're about!! Then its on to ownership of learning....is there really such a thing....I'm not convinced. We discussed this in the elluminate session and agreed that we were all dubious at this point in time as to whether students could actually gain ownership of their learning. But now I'm rambling......

Week 24

Activity 7
Well this week didn't fair much better. Very slow start so decided to jump in and attend the Tuesday night Elluminate.....well I didn't really have much choice as I wasn't available for this mornings! We discussed Thorpe (2009) ‘It is through practices with technology, rather than the direct effect of the tools themselves, that we create learning contexts.’ exploring what it means and the implications for practitioners. There were only 3 students and the tutor but the session seemed to go pretty well though sometimes I'm not sure what the objective of the session is or what outcome if any has been achieved by the end of it.
So after bouncing to activity 7 I'm now having to work through the rest of week 24. It all seems rushed at the moment because TMA04 and the ECA are looming and I can't seem to grasp the point of the last couple of weeks in relation to the two assessments...fells like I'm meant to be swimming Olympic style but all I can muster is the doggy paddle:( Think I'm lacking the adrenaline buzz..too lethargic!!

Weeks 21/22/23

I take one week off from study in the last 2 years and its a disaster!! Took me ages to get back into the swing of studying again, not helped by having the kids at home all day. Weeks 21 and 22 were combined over a 2 week period but that was no help to me. So after reading and looking at all 3 weeks I don't feel very far forward.
Weller and Sclater don't seem to see eye to eye...its as if Weller is the son that wants all the new top of the range toys to play with and Sclater is his dad who reckons they're far to expensive and by the time Weller gets round to playing with them a whole batch of new ones will be in the shops. Also Sclater feels that some of the toys Weller wants will alienate his friends as they won't know how to play with them as they're too advanced. I agree with Sclater...not because I'm a mum but because I can see that if a Uni implements lots of new technologies then apart from the expense there is the likelihood of alienating some learners and tutors due to their lack of confidence in technologies.
Activity 1 in Week 23 required collaboration in the wiki. Problem was when I work within a wiki I need a purpose...I couldn't fathom out what we were trying to achieve. There was no chair person, no time limit, no stated outcome.
The rest of week 23 looked at metaphors......research papers discussed birdwatching and fungus what??? Still have no idea what it was all about. Tried posting to the forum but there's no one about not even the tutor.....perhaps they're all on holiday?! I know from Twitter that many couldn't fathom out Week 23 and so moved on to start on TMA 04. My concern is if they are all using preferred technologies such as Twitter or blogs to communicate by how will I find the time to track them all down and if I can't then the tutor probably can't either. Whilst ownership of learning is a great thing surely there also needs to be some facilitating of that learning? For me personally I need peers and a tutor to succeed.

Catch up time!!!!

Have just got back from a fantastic week in Spain where I will admit to doing no study at all!!! First time since September 2007. In fact I wrote a TMA on the last family holiday so I reckoned I deserved the break!

So I'm now home and there is no pool, no stunning view, no 30+C heat :-(

Instead there is Week 21/ 22 to catch up on and everyone will now have started Week 23...aaargh!! Doesn't help that the house is full of kids with no school or college to go to. However this happened last year and I coped!!

Got TMA03 back which was fine...now know where I need to focus so not too bad.

New contract

Travelled through horrendous rain to get to Gateshead and OU in the North this afternoon. Had an interview for a new course which is E100 in Early Years. My previous two courses have reached the end of the line (ah bless!) and my contract has now ceased. Lucky for me it looks like I'm getting a new contract this October for a large group or two....yeah me!!!!!!! The new course is now 4 eTMA's and an ECA with all new updated course material...very exciting!
Lesley at OU is going to send an email out to the AL's in the north to see who would be interested in some Elluminate practice sessions with me. Looking to start end of July when I get back from a much needed week long break in Spain....villa, pool, bottle of cava with a straw in it!!!!!

TMA 03

Finally decided on use of Blogs and Elluminate for the ECA. The design will be looking at how Elluminate could be used as a substitution for f2f tutorials for my European students.
Going to have to get a wriggle on with the next week of course work as I'm off to Spain for a week and want to have some quality time with the family....so no study allowed!!!!! I haven't taken a break since starting on H808 in September 2007!!
I'm enjoying twitter just for the info updates and the sites they've suggested for blogs and elluminate. Not sure I'll continue with it was I've completed the MAODE though.
Beginning to dread the end of September and ECA submission day....not because I'm unduly worried about the ECA (which of course I am!!) but because the studying will stop and then what the heck do I do with my time?!!

Twitter

Oh blimey...yet another technology to take up my time!!! Well I've tried to avoid it but as part of H800 I have to get myself an account which I have dutifully done. I've decided not to use my phone but just stick to using it on the web.
I was surprised that there were people I could follow who were linked to Elluminate, blogs, elearning etc and that some of them decided to follow me. I'm being quite picky about who I allow to follow me...had to block a couple of very dubious people already!!!! Not sure what, if any, value I'm going to get from this in the long run but for the moment its given me a couple of links to some helpful websites.
With regard TMA03/ECA I seem to have fathomed something out thanks to my tutor...designing an intro to Elluminate for European students...well something along those lines!!

TMA 03 (ECA proposal)

TMA 03 is due in next week and I need to decide on the 2 technologies to discuss. At the moment it looks like I 'll focus on Blogs and Elluminate but that could well change. I also have to come up with a designing a learning activity, or creating a specification for a course or training package, that uses this technology!!! Going to go back over E123/4 course material and see if there is a way of designing an activity that could be used in Elluminate/Blog.........

Week 19

Activity 5 cont

In reading the chapter in Activity 4, and doing the searching in Activity 5,

• what evidence have you found that mobile practices are blurring the distinction between formal and informal learning? I think the previous post demonstrates this in a small way but I think it will depend on how reliant the courses are on the mobile technology (ies) to support the learning. I'll wait until the Elluminate tutorial tomorrow and see what others in the group post about it.
• Is the ‘ownership’ of learning changing? Yes, students can access information anytime, anyplace, anywhere through mobile technologies.

Week 19

Activity 5
So this week the focus is mobile technologies. Have to say that when I first started reading into this I was dubious. I already mentioned in the last post, I don't really use any. My students are unlikely to use any either. I then found this piece which In used for the tutorial...

......In 2007, students were given T-Mobile MDA Varios for mobile learning and assessments during work placements. Tutors were able to upload assessments to the device for students to fill in while they were taking part in work placements. Each assessment could be customised to individuals, so that they were relevant to course and learning style. Using T-Mobile’s Web’n’walk service, students could also use the mobile to access learning resources from a central virtual learning repository and reflect on their work experience on a blog built into the assessment programme. Assessors used the system to log in to a secure area, connected to the university’s virtual learning environment teaching and business systems, to record and store the student’s assessment. This is possibly the next step on from using eportfolio's in NVQ assessments. In H808 I had looked at Health and Social Care students using eportfolio's as part of assessment. This still needed Internet access, not always easily available in care homes etc, as well as a lap top. Using a mobile phone would make the assessment far more accessible to students and assessors as wella as examining boards.
Success will depend upon mobile phones fitting the purpose, care being taken not to overwhelm students/tutors and meeting the needs of the student. Awareness of the devices limitations is desirable. Students need to know how to use the mobile and access the support on offer.....can’t be assumed. However as more students are likely to own a mobile over any other technology they are likely to have more awareness of how to use it. Many schools and Colleges/Uni’s already use SMS (short message service) for sending information e.g. exam results to students.
Armatas, Holt and Rice (ascilite 2005)
Williams (2007) http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2192952/apls-mobile-learning

I can see now how mobile phone alerts to my students would be really beneficial. OU could send them to let students know TMA hand in dates, tutorial reminders etc. The majority of my students have mobile phones so would probably welcome these alerts.
I discussed this in a recent Elluminate session with my tutor and one other student attending. This session worked well for me....probably due to the small number of people which made it more relaxed. Tried to paste the above info on mobile technologies to the white board but it was having none of it. Obviously I was doing something wrong but there was no time to fathom it out....still have no idea how to paste to the damn board lol!! Any way I managed to paste the URL into Chat so everyone was able to access the site. The sound had problems this time too....feedback if more than one microphone on at a time and I pretty sure when the others were speaking their voices got higher almost like they were inhaling helium!!

Weeks 17 to 18

Blimey I am sooo far behind and we're now starting week 19!!!
Have just spent the last couple of weeks marking and verifying over 100 ECA's...first time marking so took a while to get into the swing.
Had a quick look through week 18...definitely need to go back and do some reading. But I have looked at Google Reader......hmm......may use it may not.....not sure yet.
There are not enough minutes left in my day to start using Twitter.....its a bit frustrating that you just get a snippet...don't think this ones for me at all. Mind you I do say this about most technologies and then I seem to love them lol!!
In terms of social networking I've used social networking via the University of Manitoba which has worked well but I have to admit that I still tend to visit the blogs and websites and not rely on RSS feeds/Google Reader or Twitter.
In terms of personal use as I'm moving to Ontario I've used two social networking sites for research
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33 and
http://www.mymuchmor.com/home.php .....I'm 'Northernlass1'on both.

Have had a look at TMA 03 and the ECA....have a few ideas which are waiting to be ok'd by my tutor.
Off to check through the course work and make sure I can catch up this week.

Week 16

After the busiest week I managed to submit TMA 02 early, changing one of the activities at the last minute which is pretty normal for me!! Then it was off to Milton Keynes for an ECA markers meeting. Spent the lovely sunny weekend in the car on the M1 and then in the OU building...but the food was good. Also the overnight stay at the Hilton was clean, no kids, tv to myself, peace and quiet...bliss!!
I've had a look at week 16 activities/quiz. As far as changes to TMA 02 are concerned I would have suggested doing part 1 as a collaborative activity within small groups. I'm now looking at TMA03 and the ECA. Have an idea about what I'd like to do but need to run it by my tutor. About to start some work on Elluminate for OU in the North with a view to exploring its uses for tutors who have European learners so may use this.
Have just received 104 ECA's to mark over the next 2 weeks so it will be busy but at least there's no big TMA to write for H800. Have also been asked to do some work for an Early Years project but will have to turn it down as I've too much on.
I've added a new gadget...a countdown to ECA submission. As this is my final course on the MAODE its great to see that I'm really near completion. However I have no idea how I'll cope without anything to study as its been my life for the last 2 years!!!!

Week 15 TMA 02

After chopping and changing my mind I think I've finally settled on my 4 activites for the TMA:

• Week 10a Activity 5 Blogs
• Week 11 Activity 1f Debate
• Week 12 Activity 5 Elluminate
• Week 13/14 Activity 3b Wiki's

Also wanted to use Week 4 Activity 12 Richardson (online vs f2f) and may still exchange it for the Debate but at the moment thinking of using Richardson for Part 2 of the TMA as well as LEX (JISC) etc. Blogs/wiki's and now Elluminate are the tools I definitely use as a student but also would like to use as a tutor in the future. I also liked the idea of using an online debate with students. In the past with FE students I have got them to debate smacking. As early years workers its illegal for them to smack in the UK so it's important they understand the consequences of smacking for both themselves and the children in their care. Its easy in a traditional classroom setting but online would be more tricky. Hopefully the online debate could meet that need. It opens he doors for many debates in Early Years.
Trying to complete the TMA by the end of this week (no chance!!) as it's half term next week and family are staying, then I'm at OU in Milton Keynes for an ECA marking. Have just finished 4 weeks of marking and now its that student panic time when they have to sbmit their ECA next week.....my email box is on the verge of collapse and my telephone has resorted to cowering in the corner afraid of its own ring!!