This week was highlighted by concern for the participants who live in Christchurch and experienced the earthquake at the weekend, so it was a relief to hear that Michael and Derek are well.
Live meeting
The live meeting this week had mixed success. We could not get DimDim to work properly but Malcolm and Claire did a wonderful job of facilitating us into Elluminate. What interested me was how the group coped with the technical difficulties...a month ago everyone would have been in a mad panic. But this week, people were calm and took everything in their stride....I think that goes to show how far we have come over the last few weeks. Meanwhile, Mireille reflected on what it takes to be 'professional' in the online environment as modeled by Malcolm and Claire.
Wikis
Once we sorted out technology problems, we were able to enjoy a wonderful presentation about wikis and Wikieducator by Dr Wayne Mackintosh. Susan thought Wikieducator would be a great platform for her students. Kim has been looking at how she can become more skilled with using Wikieducator.
Breaking out
A number of people have been talking about the previous week's live meeting in which we played with the Elluminate break-out rooms. Tracey felt a little disconnected because her audio didn't work very well. Willie felt it would be good to have a kaitiaki in each room to take care of people. Katherine gave a very detailed account of what she learned which is a great resource for anyone wanting to use this facility in Elluminate.
Social networking
Several of you have been exploring social networking platforms and thinking about how they can be used for online facilitation. Sharon had a look at LinkedIn. Jane has been hosting an interesting discussion about the connection between social networking and a candy shop. Jean reflected on her use of various sites such as Facebook.
Who's still with us?
Mirielle asked an interesting question the other day...who is still blogging? It has been my observation that whilst people may not be actively blogging, they are still following the course...for example, we had 17 participants at our last live meeting. Rachel is still following the course but has been too swamped by work to blog regularly. Jo would like some advice to how to keep up with what and where things are happening. Matt is continuing his quest to follow the course with his iPhone but has had problems at times. Floyd is struggling to get motivated following his big holiday in the USA....I wish I had that problem!!
This week's star student is Jillian who is forging on ahead with her plans for the mini conference - she would like to hear any suggestions of people she can ask to take part in a discussion about developing online communities.
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