Thank you, FO2010

This is pretty much the last blog post for FO2010.

I wanted to thank you all for your participation and commitment for the course this year. There are a couple of people who are yet to organise their events, so keep an eye out for information on how to join them.

I have really enjoyed myself, yet at the same time am left asking questions about how the course can be improved to increase a community approach to learning, and retain more people right the way through to the end of the course. A few of you have given me some really useful feedback for how things may be refined for next year, so 'thank you' for that. Please keep an eye on my blog over the next few weeks because that is where I will process the feedback I have received with the suggestions for next year.

The next course will start on March 7th 2011. There will be some changes to the funding model we use. There will continue to be free access to the course materials, blogs and the live sessions. However, there will be a charge if you want to have individual mentoring by the course facilitator. I will announce details about this once they have been finalised.

Finally, I will be starting a research project shortly that is going to explore open education and how we can attract and retain people in courses such as this. So look out for information about how you can be involved.

Thank you all once again for contributing to the success of FO2010. I would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas break and success in 2011.

Sarah


Image: 'Warm Fuzzies'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124348109@N01/333542752

Nearly done....

I can't believe it...another mini conference almost over. We do have a couple of outliers, so keep an ear open for when those sessions will be. In the meantime, Lyn has organised her event for Thursday 18th November at 4pm New Zealand time, and she will be facilitating a conversation about how (or how not) to use Facebook for online facilitation - keep an eye on her blog and/or the course wiki for all the details.

Recordings
For those of you who used the Elluminate classroom and recorded your session, let me know and I will send you the link to your recording. Please can you put your recording on your blog and in the course wiki.

Enrolled students
Those of you who are enrolled, please check assignments one and two and make sure you have addressed all the requirements. Once you are happy that your blog contains everything that is needed, please get in touch with me and let me know so that I can complete your work assessment.

NB: the submission date is the 19th November, but if you need a little longer, please let me know. Some of you who already have extension dates, so please stick to those dates as agreed.

Informal students
Those of you who have been taking part as informal student, please let me know when you feel you have met all the requirements of the assignments and if you want a certificate of completion.

Course evaluation and future research
Enrolled students will be asked to complete a formal course evaluation. I will be carrying out a formal research project in early 2011, looking at open education and funding models so I will be getting in touch with you to ask your opinion about this course, what attracted you to it, what made you complete the course and/or what got in the way of you completing the course - more about that research later.

Thank you...
for all the hard work you put into the mini conference. I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I look forward to reading your reflections. Sarah

November 15th Sum up of course and evaluation of mini event

So, did we survive the course mini conference? More importantly, did we learn a thing or two about facilitating online and our responsibilities to our online community, network, virtual team or class? This week we reflect on the experience and make note of the things that happened and what we learned from it all.

Web Conferencing
Attend an Elluminate meeting to debrief the mini conference and the course. You have a choice of two times:

• Thursday 18th November 20.00 hours (World Clock).
• Friday 19th November 12.00 hours (World Clock).

1. Finish the course with a closing post with feedback about the course. Did you learn new and useful things? Was it challenging enough? What could have been better? What could you have done better. Did the course facilitator do a good job? How will you apply what you have learned? Who would you recommend to do this course next time?
2. Students who are enrolled will be asked to complete a formal course evaluation.
3. Complete Assignment Two.


Image: 'Flaming Lips New Years Eve Freakout'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8531589@N05/3158472560

Sustainability in the e-World

Here is a late edition to the mini conference program.

Title of the Event: Driving change into an on line society via sustainable practices
Date and Time: Wednesday 10 November, 1pm NZ time
Facilitator Peter Brook: peter.brook@op.ac.nz
Presenter: Nicola Bould. Nicola is the sustainability coordinator for Otago Polytechnic which has made a strong commitment in this area. She has researched many aspects of a sustainable society and her talk will focus on e-waste, exemplars and collaborative strategies.
Venue: : Elluminate meeting room. Here is information about how to access the virtual meeting room
Description: While social networking and collaborative tools have changed they way we communicate there still remains the unsatisfied question of how we can sustain this in a world of more difficult compliance and decreasing resources.
Back Up Plan:If there is a total IT failure, we will record another presenter session on Elluminate and open an asynchronous discussion over the next week in Peter's Blog
Recording Information: Will be recorded and available on Peter's blog
Evaluation : It would be appreciated if participants could answer a few simple questions to provide the faciliatators with some constructive feedback. Please go to Peter's blog to answer the questions and leave comments

Great second week lined up for the FO2010 mini conference

The first week of the mini conference is done and we're about to launch into the second week. There were two great sessions this week: Gillian and Malcolm did a fantastic job which got us thinking about networking in a large organisation, and Sebastian introduced us to the brilliant work being done in education in India.

Next week things are really hotting up with more sessions with a range of topics.

• Building a Successful Blog
• Which lollies in this on-line facilitation lolly jar
• Cultural Competency in the online environment
• Creating an online prescence
• Pulling It All Together: Wrapping it Up and Reflecting on FO2010 with Karen, Mark and Tracy

Please check out the wiki for full details.

Please do all you can to come along and support each other.


Image: 'Plone Conference 2009 Group Photo'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77941960@N00/4074083883