Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Demystifying the Student Perspective

Hilda Anggraeni and Diana Chan, two very talented co-op students from Simon Fraser University, have come up with a great idea. They have created the Demystifying the Student Perspective discussion space in SCoPE to bring together undergraduate students and post-secondary faculty to discuss issues around social media and educational technology. They are doing the planning from beginning to end, which has involved learning the ins and outs of Moodle and Elluminate, creating this excellent logo, experimenting with various ways to promote the event, designing the learning space.... the list goes on.

Here is their description and invitation:
Demystifying the Student Perspective was created to bridge the gap between post secondary instructors and undergraduate students. This was first established in response to the call for a better understanding between instructors and students to share their experiences to better teaching and learning.
Does feedback through in class evaluations improve teaching? How do educators accommodate students with different learning habits? Will social media help teachers reach students? What are the best ways to evolve teaching as social media progresses in everyday life? There are some of the questions that will be answered in this seminar.

By participating in our online discussion and seminar, this will strengthen collaborations between educators and students to enhance the teaching and learning experience.
They are kicking off with an event this week, April 26-29, 2011, that combines 4 days of asynchronous discussion with an interactive web conference.

Also, a couple polls are waiting for your response, and a glossary that we will build together. 

Hope to see you there!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Get Your Moose On!

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Michelle Laurie and I will be attempting to 'fly the visual flag' so to speak by carrying on the tradition started by Nancy White and Rachel Smith at previous Northern Voice conferences. We're rookies in comparison but really enthusiastic about sharing what we have learned! We hope you'll come to our Drawing on Walls session and get your hands dirty.

We'll also be setting up a sandbox at Moosecamp. We will bring supplies and provide a little coaching (and lots of enthusiasm) for participants to practice graphic recording during Moosecamp sessions.

Here's the description for our session. The schedule is TBA:
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Sometimes our imaginations are sparked by a visual where words fail us. Think about when communities plan and imagine their futures, when teams consider the possible outcomes for their projects, when groups create maps to track their progress. These are all opportunities to use visuals to engage and deepen community dialogue. In this session we’ll touch the paper, play with the pens, and loosen up our drawing muscles. Warning: You will stretch beyond the confines of typing on a keyboard! Learn the basics and practice with us at Moose Camp!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Two events about events

This is an open invitation to two upcoming events related to planning events (cross-posted at CP2)

1) SCoPE seminar (online)

Online Conferences: Professional Development for a Networked Era, a 2-week online seminar at SCoPE, begins on Monday, April 11, 2011. During this event we will share experiences and advice on how to plan or participate effectively in an online professional development conference. Our facilitators, Lynn Anderson and Terry Anderson, have written a book based on their research and experiences. It will be of interest to anyone who has participated in an online conference of any kind, which is just about everybody! As with all SCoPE activities, you are welcome to participate according to your own time and interests, and there is no registration required. Just show up! Please join the dialogue; together we can improve the online conference experience.
We will kick off the seminar with a Web Conference in Elluminate - Monday, April 11, 10:00 PDT, 17:00 GMT

2) Gathering of Online Community Enthusiasts
problems The second event is the 3rd annual Gathering of Online Community Enthusiasts, (OCE2011) May 12, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The theme this year is planning excellent community events and will be a full day of talking about and experiencing various event formats, strategies, and technologies. There will be an opportunity to participate from a distance as well, so watch the OCE2011 space in SCoPE. If you plan to attend, RSVP here.

Monday, April 4, 2011

MicroSCoPE: April 2011 Issue

This newsletter is cross-posted from SCoPE.


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MicroSCoPE: A Close Look at What's Happening in the SCoPE Community
April, 2011
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In This Issue
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1. Open Learning & Open Collaboration
2. Online Conferences: Professional Developemnt for a Networked Era
3. Engaging Students in Inquiry Learning
4. Moodle 2.0 Workshop
5. Demystifying the Student Perspective
6. Quarterly Field Trip
7. Online Community Enthusiasts
8. SCoPE Improvements
9. Follow up from #LAK11
10 Cases in Online Interview Research
11. PeriSCoPE
12. About SCoPE
13. About MicroSCoPE

1. Open Learning & Open Collaboration
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April 5, 2011, 20:30 GMT
Facilitators: Randy LaBonte
Join the 2011 Canada Moodle Moot program team for an interactive session about the upcoming conference May 1-5 online and in Edmonton, Alberta. Explore the panel topics, and find out more about what is in store for the closing plenary.

2. Online Conferences: Professional Development for a Networked Era
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April 11-22, 2011
Web Conference: April 11 @ 17:00 GMT
Facilitators: Lynn Anderson and Terry Anderson
What contributes to the success of an online conference? How can we improve the experience for all participants? We will kick off this 2-week seminar with a 1-hour overview and discussion in Elluminate. This seminar is part of SCoPE's Professional Reading Group Series. Buy the book or download excerpts and related reading, and if you don't have time to do the background reading, join is anyway!

3. Engaging Students in Inquiry Learning
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This seminar and video series was originally scheduled March 21 - April 8 2011. We are postponing this seminar with Neil Smith until a later date. Meanwhile, SCoPE members were keen to get started! As Nicholas Bowskill put it: "In the spirit of open education we could always examine the issue amongst ourselves".

4. Moodle 2.0 Workshop
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Curious about Moodle 2.0? Plan to participate in a free, open, online workshop April 18 - May 13, with a 1-week hiatus for the Canada Moodle Moot conference. The workshop will be hosted at the KnowMoodle Sandbox, part of the Knowplace family of sites. More details will be posted on the sandbox site in the next week.

5. Demystifying the Student Perspective
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April 26-29, 2011
Facilitators: Hilda Anggraeni and Diana Chan
This event is organized by students, for faculty! The first topic in this series will explore social media and educational technology. A 2-day asynchronous discussion will be followed by an interactive web conference in Elluminate, and a 1-day wrap-up discussion.

6. Quarterly Field Trip
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For our next field trip we will visit KM4Dev, a community of international development practitioners who are interested in knowledge management and knowledge sharing issues and approaches. Field Trips are visits to living communities organized in collaboration with CPSquare, the community of practice on communities of practice. Check the wiki for a date and time later in April.

7. Online Community Enthusiasts
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The third annual gathering of online community enthusiasts will take place in Vancouver May 12, 2011. This year's theme is 'planning excellent community event'. Check the special interest group for details, ask questions and offer suggestions in the forum, and be sure to RSVP.

8. SCoPE Improvements
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Thanks to Diana Chan and Hilda Anggraeni, our talented co-op students from Simon Fraser University, we have a new background for the SCoPE twitter page and a SCoPE badge for you to place on your own blog or website.

9. Follow up from #LAK11
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Calling all participants in the Learning and Knowledge Analytics course! Your involvement in this research on the use of the Student Activity Meter is much appreciated.

10. Cases in Online Interview Research
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In preparation for an upcoming book and SCoPE seminar scheduled for fall, 2011, Janet Salmons extends this invitation to individuals who a) teach qualitative research methods, b) sever on doctoral committees, or 3) are on IRB or other review boards.

11. PeriSCoPE
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* The Flexible Learning Network (#FLNchat) hosts bi-weekly chats in Twitter to share resources and provide support to a learning community of higher education professionals. The next chat is scheduled for April 12 at 23:00 GMT.

* Registration for Canada Moodle Moot 2010! Participate online or on location in Edmonton, Alberta.
* MobiMOOC runs April 2 - May 14, 2011

* The next CIDER Session is 'The Chinese Top Level Courses: Improving the quality of online courses in a new educational climate', April 6, 2011. CIDER sessions are targeted at distance education researchers, graduate students, and practitioners. Each session features an active researcher talking about their project, methodologies used, and their results. Are you a Distance Education Researchers interested in sharing your research? Contact Lynn Anderson,
lynnlo@cogeco.ca, with a brief description of your proposed presentation.
* Just published: Special IRRODL issue on Connectivism.
* Keep up-to-date on the OER university planning.
* The next WikiEducator Learning4Content Online Workshop runs April 27-May 11, 2011.
* Space is available in the 2011 Graphic Facilitation Workshop located in Rossland, British Columbia, July 13-15, 2011.

12. About SCoPE
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*SCoPE brings together individuals who share an interest in educational research and practice, and offers opportunities for dialogue across disciplines, geographical borders, professions, levels of expertise, and education sectors. Our activities are facilitated by volunteers in the community, and membership is free and open to everyone. Past SCoPE seminar discussions and other open events are always available for reading and afterthoughts. We welcome requests to host or promote professional development activities related to teaching and learning.

SCoPE forms collaborating partnerships with many organizations to implement and promote community activities and products. This is a mutual exchange of support and services.

Self-register at http://scope.bccampus.ca
Join the SCoPE group at Linkedin to connect with others who are interested in employment in education or in connecting professionally on projects, follow SCoPE on Twitter and check out the SCoPE Facebook Page to keep in the loop. We gather our seminar resources in Diigo, and maintain a list of upcoming events in the Learn Together Collaboratory.

13. About MicroSCoPE
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SCoPE members receive MicroSCoPE issues automatically. If you prefer to read MicroSCoPE on the website or via RSS, login to SCoPE and manage your subscription here:
http://scope.bccampus.ca/mod/forum/view.php?f=5

MicroSCoPE is prepared by Sylvia Currie (scurrie@bccampus.ca).

Please spread the word about SCoPE activities. Distribute this newsletter!

BC Healthy Minds, Healthy Campuses Summit


In preparation for our 3rd annual Gathering of Online Community Enthusiasts (OCE2011) to be held in Vancouver on May 12, 2011, I am revisiting examples of community events that I've been collecting. The theme for OCE2011 is Planning Excellent Community Events.

The "Healthy Minds, Healthy Campuses" Dialogue for Change held on October 1-2, 2010 is a fantastic example of how to run an event. This 2-day Summit used an Open Space format, and was a huge success. There were 75 participants, of which 25 were students.

A few things that stand out:
  • Well organized website
  • Graphic recording, which became part of the proceedings
  • Opportunities for dialogue before, during, and after the event
  • Advanced organizer in the form of four themes to catalyze discussion at the summit
  • Use of Eventbrite, which makes it easy to register AND help to promote the event through Facebook and Twitter

Scrumblr

I came across Scrumblr last week just as I was getting my head into ways to bridge online and on location participants for the upcoming Online Community Enthusiasts event. I gave it a quick test drive, then during a meeting with Susan Stewart and LaDonna Coy, two colleagues with whom I am exploring ways to design venue-challenged learning activities (for lack of a better way to describe it!), we played around with Scrumblr some more. The verdict: this simple little tool has heaps of potential! Click on the image to see some of the notes we made on advantages and tips for implementation.


Scrumblr is designed by Ali Asaria from Ottawa. As a side note, I got a kick out of his website