NSW LearnScope Blog & Podcast

Outback E-Challenge

The target group participating in e-learning technology developed specific skills applicable to extending blended learning.

On the 3/4 August the Outback e-challenge Learnscope group gathered in Dubbo for a 2 day face-to-face session.
16 participants from the original 22 participated in the 2 day session. It was a very intensive, though very informative 2 days, and detailed resource notes were given out.

The trainers were Merelyn Treanor, Kerry Perrin and Corrie Taylor.

Topics covered :-

 Social software
 Dfilm
 Movie maker
 Blogs and Wikis
 Flickr
 EdNa
 Writebaord
 Podcasts
 and videoconferecing

The Outback e-challenge blog can be seen at:
http://outbackcorrie.blogspot.com/

Some evaluation comments were:

“It has been a full on couple of days. Time went really quickly. I guess it was what I was expecting - lollies, quality handouts, coffee breaks, lots of fun things to do, new experiences, meeting lots of new people etc etc etc. It met my initial expectations. The best thing I learnt was not to be frightened of Video Conferencing and having fun with DFILM.”

Meg Donnison

“Today we have had a great time learningabout blogging and other social software. The w/shop definitely met my expectations. The notes are also great to refer to when when losing the plot. Everything has been great . I think the blogging and the writeboard will be very useful and the students will love dfilm. Kerry and Corrie have been fantastic,very helpful and great fun. We always say learning should be FUN. Thanks girls”

Cathy Starr

Learning practice was intregral to the success of the program with the writeboard, dfilm and blogs used in classroom delivery.

On August 24, 12 participants were involved in a multipoint videoconferencing session.

The participants came from:

 Dubbo
 Cowra
 Gilgandra
 Dunedoo
 Lightning Ridge
 Walgett

A few difficulties with the VC were encountered and the Dubbo group were connected with the IDL studio in Dubbo and completed their 5 minute presentations with Denise Smyth as our trainer. The other participants also successfully completed their 5 minute presentations with Sally Delaney as their trainer.

Comments were very positive from the participants and all felt very relieved that their 5 minute presentations were completed. A podcast was created with some comments about the videoconferencing session and also the Outback e-challenge project.

This can be accessed at: http://outbackcorrie.podomatic.com/

Other comments included:

“I found VC very useful for a meeting, saving me a trip to Orange. I will definitely use it again for this purpose.” Anne Shortis

“Great to hear and see Edith- we usually only communicate by email.” Tonia Malone

All participants were encouraged to consolidate their VC training by presenting a 15 minute mini lesson using VC facilities. Margaret, Cathy, Shane, Anne, Shirley, Edith, Tonia, Sue, Meg, Gail, Kerry and Corrie successfully completed the challenge.

Kerry Perrin and Corrie Taylor attended Alex Hayes’ session in Orange on August 25. Both enjoyed the day and found the session very informative. The Outback e-challenge podcast postcard was created as a result of this day. Also a little bit of code sniffling occurred as well.

The project promoted cultural change and work practices of participating staff. Evaluations were overwhelmingly positive with staff indicating that e-learning will be used in the future.
 Sharing an extending ideas
 Outrcomes reported at FMG to determine goals for future use of e-learning technology
 Conference presentation – Access 2007 – hands-on presentation on “Application of Social Software and Podcats in the classroom”
 40 teachers attended and received detailed resources on social software
 Video conferencing will be used in 2007 in isolated communities in Cert III Education Assistant (special)

Overall the project was very successful.

Please visit our EDNA group created for this project.