Having read over the LA3 again I note that I should have noted any significant points regarding the literature which we were asked to read.
The Tools of Online Connection
Having read this report I felt that it was not really telling me anything I did not know already. The report talks about finding the "right tool for the audience". I think this is important as although I may have the technology to e mail, instant message and chat as well as other online tools. The person I wish to "speak" to may not have the same technology. It would be important to discuss with the other person first to see if they had the technology to reply to you or actually read messages.
E mail is a good way of sending and receiving information. Althought unsolicited e mails (spam) and viruses can be a concern.
E mail newsletters are a good way to reach a large audience of people at the same time.
Online Conferencing and Bulletin Boards ( First Class) This can allow participants to share ideas
in a community group who have something in common. Disadvantage is that there is no face to face conversation or even tones of voice. This can sometimes mean that the written word is misinterpretated.
Chat good for a small group to chat or one to one chat. All participants need to be available to chat at the same time.
Instant Message, again good for chat amongst a small group or one to one. Drawback is a slow typist.
Internet Broadcasts. Good for training programmes.
Still need for traditional communication methods. For example phone, direct mail.
Tool Tour
This literature gives a range os sites to look at. It introduces a range of online interaction and collaberation tools which are available.
Full Circle Associates Online Interaction Tools Resource Sheet
This document is a "work in progress". It lists in a table Tool Features and the purpose or function of each feature.
Each of these documents I feel will be good reference material for me in this degree.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Getting on with things
Getting on with things today. Working very hard. Had a conversation with H today about LA4. Decided to change the layout. Harvard Referencing - I need a crash course. All a big mystery to me no matter how many time I read the bumff. Seem to be working backwards today. Got lots and lots of scraps of paper but not much typed into the computer. Will be a late night tonight I think. Getting a bit frantic ehich is not anything new for me. never mind will keep going. Had a nice e mail from EM today. Someone believes in me. Actually lots of people believe in me. I wish I could.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
LA4 Processes of Learning Online
Social Development theory - L Vygotsky
The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be obtained alone.
This is particularly true for me. Being part of the online Ultraversity community allows me to develop my own skills at my own pace, but also enables me to "pick the brains" of fellow researchers and Learning Facilitators. My own skills have so far exceeded my expectations and this is due to the information, help and support given by fellow researchers and LF`s. By accessing shared folders and home sites I am able to view different technical ideas and layouts which till now would have been unattainable to me. No one in the online community appears to mind the "How did you do thet" questions from others. By having the support of my peers I am encouraged to try new things. I think this reflects in my previous power point, webspace and movie. Previously I would never have attempted this.
Situated Learning ( J Lave)
Social interaction is a critical component of situated learning - learners become involved in a "community of practice" which embodies certain beliefs and behaviours to be acquired. As the beginner or newcomer, moves from the periphery of this community to it`s center, they become more active and engaged within the culture and hence assume the role of expert or old timer.
This is certainly true of the Ultraversity community. In C4 there are researchers who seem to have become experts. This may be because they are more actively involved in the community than others and because of this they are asked for help or advice from the other researchers. Often asked before the researcher has contacted their LF. In the Ultraversity Community, researchers from previous cohorts seem far more knowledgable than those in C4. I think that they would all have been beginners at one time and are now becoming old timers. I would expect that by next year when there is a C5, I might become an old timer.
In all cases there was a gradual acquisition of knowledge and skills as novices learned from experts in the context of everyday activities.
This has happened in C4. Some researchers have entered this degree course with far more ICT skills than others. In fact some are employed in this field. For me, who has very basic knowledge this has been both a negative and a positive effect. Negative because when others were able to produce very technically skilled pieces of work, I was struggling to produce basic things. A positive effect was that I pushed myself harder to produce more elaborate ( for me) pieces of work than I would have done had I been working alone.
Many found that they began to form bonds of one sort of another.
I think that I started of as a lurker. Happy to read other peoples comments and find out a bit about them. I was still bit unsure and not confident about posting too many messages myself. Everyone seemed very knowledgable and I did not want to appear stupid. I then bacame happy to " dip my toe in" every now and then. As my confidence increased I was able to add to conversations and even start some. As my confidence increases further I hope to contribute more. There are some researchers named as members of the Ultraversity community who have never contributed any messages within First Class or Plone. I wonder if they have either never actually started the course or had to drop out for some reason after starting. If they are still researchers within the community and "lurking" I find it strange that they are able to complete the course work as part of the work has been to communicate with others within the community.
The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be obtained alone.
This is particularly true for me. Being part of the online Ultraversity community allows me to develop my own skills at my own pace, but also enables me to "pick the brains" of fellow researchers and Learning Facilitators. My own skills have so far exceeded my expectations and this is due to the information, help and support given by fellow researchers and LF`s. By accessing shared folders and home sites I am able to view different technical ideas and layouts which till now would have been unattainable to me. No one in the online community appears to mind the "How did you do thet" questions from others. By having the support of my peers I am encouraged to try new things. I think this reflects in my previous power point, webspace and movie. Previously I would never have attempted this.
Situated Learning ( J Lave)
Social interaction is a critical component of situated learning - learners become involved in a "community of practice" which embodies certain beliefs and behaviours to be acquired. As the beginner or newcomer, moves from the periphery of this community to it`s center, they become more active and engaged within the culture and hence assume the role of expert or old timer.
This is certainly true of the Ultraversity community. In C4 there are researchers who seem to have become experts. This may be because they are more actively involved in the community than others and because of this they are asked for help or advice from the other researchers. Often asked before the researcher has contacted their LF. In the Ultraversity Community, researchers from previous cohorts seem far more knowledgable than those in C4. I think that they would all have been beginners at one time and are now becoming old timers. I would expect that by next year when there is a C5, I might become an old timer.
In all cases there was a gradual acquisition of knowledge and skills as novices learned from experts in the context of everyday activities.
This has happened in C4. Some researchers have entered this degree course with far more ICT skills than others. In fact some are employed in this field. For me, who has very basic knowledge this has been both a negative and a positive effect. Negative because when others were able to produce very technically skilled pieces of work, I was struggling to produce basic things. A positive effect was that I pushed myself harder to produce more elaborate ( for me) pieces of work than I would have done had I been working alone.
Many found that they began to form bonds of one sort of another.
Bonds have been developed among researchers for many reasons. Here are some that I have witnessed
Location - live close by or "used to".
Employment - work in the same field. i.e. education or health. Soome even in the same workplace.
Common circumstances - Parents
Knowledge - expert to expert
expert to novice
novice to expert
novice to novice
relationships - I believe there are researchers who are related
Hobbies - share the same hobbies and can become part of other communities. eg gardening,christian
Personal attributes - sense of humour, same wave length.
In general the existance of particiapents called lurkers, who post very few or no messages in an online community is widely known. It is stated that lurkers might have a negative influence on an online community because many people regard them as free riders. On the other hand, some researchers have argued that lurkers play an important and necessary role. For example this can be merely a stage of membership shift. ( stranger, passer-by, lurker, participant and regular member.I think that I started of as a lurker. Happy to read other peoples comments and find out a bit about them. I was still bit unsure and not confident about posting too many messages myself. Everyone seemed very knowledgable and I did not want to appear stupid. I then bacame happy to " dip my toe in" every now and then. As my confidence increased I was able to add to conversations and even start some. As my confidence increases further I hope to contribute more. There are some researchers named as members of the Ultraversity community who have never contributed any messages within First Class or Plone. I wonder if they have either never actually started the course or had to drop out for some reason after starting. If they are still researchers within the community and "lurking" I find it strange that they are able to complete the course work as part of the work has been to communicate with others within the community.
Somefolk not happy
Oh seems to have been a problem with a lot of peoples results. I realise I was lucky. Thank goodness. I got my results and did`nt have to wait too long. Some other had to wait till today. Seems a bit sad. Glad it wasn`t me, I would have been very depressed. Not only that but some others seem unhappy with their mark.
Just for the record I am happy. I passed and can`t ask for anything more.
Seems like some folk are never happy.
Burns night tonight - haggis, neeps and tatties for tea.
Just for the record I am happy. I passed and can`t ask for anything more.
Seems like some folk are never happy.
Burns night tonight - haggis, neeps and tatties for tea.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
I passed
Yee haa
I passed module UNB2601. Some others had their results last night. Came in after Drama group, logged on and discovered "marks are out". But not mine. waited up till after midnight. Gave up and went to bed. Did`nt sleep much but when I did, I dreamt my computer crashed and had to enlist help of school teachers. Took three weeks to fix and when it worked "computer said fail" in front of all the teachers. Wowwwwww what a bad dream thank goodness.
Checked my file at 7.30 this morning and a good fairy ( Ian Tindell- hope he`s a burly man) had put my results in and I passed.
Thank goodness.
Trying to finish of UNB2603 for Monday and the whole process starts again.
I might be on valium soon.
I passed module UNB2601. Some others had their results last night. Came in after Drama group, logged on and discovered "marks are out". But not mine. waited up till after midnight. Gave up and went to bed. Did`nt sleep much but when I did, I dreamt my computer crashed and had to enlist help of school teachers. Took three weeks to fix and when it worked "computer said fail" in front of all the teachers. Wowwwwww what a bad dream thank goodness.
Checked my file at 7.30 this morning and a good fairy ( Ian Tindell- hope he`s a burly man) had put my results in and I passed.
Thank goodness.
Trying to finish of UNB2603 for Monday and the whole process starts again.
I might be on valium soon.
Online tools
For Activity 3 in UNB2603 I have been asked to list the online tools that I have used in Ultraversity in my learning journal and briefly describe them.
I have used Skype which is a means of communicating with other researchers. This communication is either "speaking" or using words to instant chat. There is also a facility for video but I have not used this yet. I like the audio side to this as you are having a chat with a "real person" and can hear their voice. I t is also possible to have a conference call. For me the downside is that not all the researchers are using this or have the ability to use it.
First Class seems to be working better for me and the other researchers. It would seem more researchers are using the Ultraversity Community and the Cohort 4 message boards as their main method of communicating with each other. I think this is because it is very responsive both from the Learning Facilitators and other researchers. There are other community message boards within the First Class overall community. I have "dabbled" in the Parents community but that seems to have been abandoned by most at the moment. I did make a posting asking where everyone had gone and got several replies back. Most "parents" had joined other groups are there did not seem to be many in the "Parent" group. One drawback I find is that some researchers carry out a one to one conversation with other researchers which are really private chat and should probably be conducted from their private mail box`s. This often makes a thread too long. The mail box within First Class is good as this allows for private messages which you may not want the community to read. For example messages to LF`s. Instant messages is another way of communicating using First Class. This allows chats between two or more people. The Technical Support within FC is excellent and the response time can be almost instantaneous. I have used this and found the friendly support encouraging.
Another downside I find to First Class is that when working on course work, I tend to keep my FC permanently on. This allows me to read any new messages. However I find it hard to ignore invitations to an instant message chat. This sometimes leads me to spend far more time instant chatting when I should be getting on with course work.
Plone was the original method of communicating which researchers were introduced too. Plone is an ideal place to have a Home Page and for storing our course work. It is also a place to view other researchers shared folders. The message boards in Plone - of which I feel there are far too many- don`t seem to be getting used as much as FC. This might be because most researchers are using FC for messaging as their first choice. Plone is not as responsive as first Class. The "blue" group is where I look for messages form my LF and other researchers within the "blue group". The "members" gives me a list of all members of the Ultraversity community. For most this includes their resume and a home page which gives background information on each member. Plone also gives details of Course work and deadlines for modules. There are tabs to information about Ultraversity, Student information, Hotseats and a classified section. The classified is used by researchers to "advertise". This is mostly asking for help with research or invitations to join online groups.
Frapper is a map of the world. On this map you locate where you live and "add yourself". This allows everybody to see where others within our Ultraversity community are located. I was able to see that, according to Frapper, there are only two researchers in Scotland. I was surprised and wondered why? Frapper is just for fun but quite interesting. Unfortunately everytime I switch on Frapper my computer crashes. I don`t know why but I tend not to look at frapper very often.
Webnote Brainstorm seems to be a message board but just in another form. It takes the for of "post it`s" attached to a notice board. I am not sure why we need another message board but have joined in anyway. The colours are a bit bright for me.
E Mail is still my biggest form of communicating with others within www. I can check my emails when it is convenient for me and don`t need to interupt what I am doing to instant answer them the way I would have to a telephone call. Drawbacks to this are that I don`t have the "voice" contact with others which I like. E mails are also not good for Urgent conversations ( for me) as I sometimes don`t get the chance to check them as often as I would like.
My blog is very new to me. I am still not sure of the advantages of making my learning journey available for anyone to read and comment on. I can see the advantage of actually writing about my journey but not the "open to all" bit.
I have used Skype which is a means of communicating with other researchers. This communication is either "speaking" or using words to instant chat. There is also a facility for video but I have not used this yet. I like the audio side to this as you are having a chat with a "real person" and can hear their voice. I t is also possible to have a conference call. For me the downside is that not all the researchers are using this or have the ability to use it.
First Class seems to be working better for me and the other researchers. It would seem more researchers are using the Ultraversity Community and the Cohort 4 message boards as their main method of communicating with each other. I think this is because it is very responsive both from the Learning Facilitators and other researchers. There are other community message boards within the First Class overall community. I have "dabbled" in the Parents community but that seems to have been abandoned by most at the moment. I did make a posting asking where everyone had gone and got several replies back. Most "parents" had joined other groups are there did not seem to be many in the "Parent" group. One drawback I find is that some researchers carry out a one to one conversation with other researchers which are really private chat and should probably be conducted from their private mail box`s. This often makes a thread too long. The mail box within First Class is good as this allows for private messages which you may not want the community to read. For example messages to LF`s. Instant messages is another way of communicating using First Class. This allows chats between two or more people. The Technical Support within FC is excellent and the response time can be almost instantaneous. I have used this and found the friendly support encouraging.
Another downside I find to First Class is that when working on course work, I tend to keep my FC permanently on. This allows me to read any new messages. However I find it hard to ignore invitations to an instant message chat. This sometimes leads me to spend far more time instant chatting when I should be getting on with course work.
Plone was the original method of communicating which researchers were introduced too. Plone is an ideal place to have a Home Page and for storing our course work. It is also a place to view other researchers shared folders. The message boards in Plone - of which I feel there are far too many- don`t seem to be getting used as much as FC. This might be because most researchers are using FC for messaging as their first choice. Plone is not as responsive as first Class. The "blue" group is where I look for messages form my LF and other researchers within the "blue group". The "members" gives me a list of all members of the Ultraversity community. For most this includes their resume and a home page which gives background information on each member. Plone also gives details of Course work and deadlines for modules. There are tabs to information about Ultraversity, Student information, Hotseats and a classified section. The classified is used by researchers to "advertise". This is mostly asking for help with research or invitations to join online groups.
Frapper is a map of the world. On this map you locate where you live and "add yourself". This allows everybody to see where others within our Ultraversity community are located. I was able to see that, according to Frapper, there are only two researchers in Scotland. I was surprised and wondered why? Frapper is just for fun but quite interesting. Unfortunately everytime I switch on Frapper my computer crashes. I don`t know why but I tend not to look at frapper very often.
Webnote Brainstorm seems to be a message board but just in another form. It takes the for of "post it`s" attached to a notice board. I am not sure why we need another message board but have joined in anyway. The colours are a bit bright for me.
E Mail is still my biggest form of communicating with others within www. I can check my emails when it is convenient for me and don`t need to interupt what I am doing to instant answer them the way I would have to a telephone call. Drawbacks to this are that I don`t have the "voice" contact with others which I like. E mails are also not good for Urgent conversations ( for me) as I sometimes don`t get the chance to check them as often as I would like.
My blog is very new to me. I am still not sure of the advantages of making my learning journey available for anyone to read and comment on. I can see the advantage of actually writing about my journey but not the "open to all" bit.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Onwards and upwards
Well it was pride before a fall. Just cannot get my First Class Home Page up and running. Thought I had managed after 2 nights of trying and got ags to look for me. No pictures and text everywhere. Had enough of this. Got too much to do and too little time to do it. E mailed Hamish and asked for help - well begged actually. Had a look at another researchers draft and got a bit upset as although she had similar things to me - hope I don`t get accused of copying - she has used all sorts of fancy words and layouts. If that is the standard they expect i may as well get a fail now.
I notice that she has not used any pics of the children she works with. I have asked permission and have it in writing from the parents of the children I have to use their pics for my power point and also for my Plone page. I would`nt want to put the powerpoint presentation in First Class as this would be available to others and not just our other researchers.
my next posting later on will be all about the online tools I have used.
I notice that she has not used any pics of the children she works with. I have asked permission and have it in writing from the parents of the children I have to use their pics for my power point and also for my Plone page. I would`nt want to put the powerpoint presentation in First Class as this would be available to others and not just our other researchers.
my next posting later on will be all about the online tools I have used.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
By Jove, She`s got it
I did it, I did it. Last night I got my home page up and running in Plone. I have got power point, links, photos and all sorts in there. The only thing I could`nt get in was my movie that I made about my learning Journey. It just might be too long I think. I will look at that another day. I have already had feedback from others on my site - all positive. Feeling just a tiny bit smug and happy.
Not so happy with the First class Home Page I have to do as well. Decided not to waste masses of time messing about. Much better to be dim and ask for help at the start. Clive has given me links which I have printed and I`ll have a good read through and stat this tonight.
Oh but I am proud of myself for the plone Page. Hope it`s not pride before a fall.
Not so happy with the First class Home Page I have to do as well. Decided not to waste masses of time messing about. Much better to be dim and ask for help at the start. Clive has given me links which I have printed and I`ll have a good read through and stat this tonight.
Oh but I am proud of myself for the plone Page. Hope it`s not pride before a fall.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Another day
Another day and things get no easier. Having lots of problems loading images into my plone homepage. Tried and tried and just about to give up. Spoke to another researcher on First Class who said she would skype me. Just at that point I had to answer the door, fell over the wire for my headset and broke the bl........dy thing. Not funny as this means a trip to the mainland on Saturday to buy another one. I will probably laugh another day but not now.
E mailed Greta in Technical and , bless them both, her and Mark showed me what to do. Feeling a bit better now and just might crack this plone homepage tonight. Hopefully. Feeling just a bit dim as this technical stuff really fazes me. I suppose I am learning but it does`nt feel like I am ever going to get there.
E mailed Greta in Technical and , bless them both, her and Mark showed me what to do. Feeling a bit better now and just might crack this plone homepage tonight. Hopefully. Feeling just a bit dim as this technical stuff really fazes me. I suppose I am learning but it does`nt feel like I am ever going to get there.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Well here I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well here I am . I have been up early today and have managed at last to create this here Blog. The aim of this is to use it as a Learning Journal while completeing ( hopefully) a degree course. My technology skills are limited and the whole thing is quite frightening to me. I have to hand in my next module on 30th January 2006 and the day is getting closer and closer. Managing to create this blog this morning has been quite an achievement for me and I`m feelling a bit pleased with myself. Am going to work all day today and see if I can manage the get a website in Plone and a Home Page in First Class. Not very confident but you never know.
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