This week we were lucky enough to take a trip around the fashion houses of the world! We watched video and saw fantastic photos on a very slick looking site called style.com. Jennifer is a fashion designer by trade and took us on this exciting web tour. Next Helen showed us her Ning site which is using with a group of teachers who are learning about Photoshop Elements through digital scrap booking. Both presentations used web tours as their tool of choice but unfortunately our technology let us down and synchronised browsing didn't work! So we each entered the URL into our own browsers and then moved around as directed by our presenters. This was definitely a challenge for both presenters as it's difficult to make sure that everyone is with you. This is an example of how different it is to facilitate online versus face to face. What we learned is that there are many ways to engage the senses online. style.com is very exciting, fast and generated (for me at least) a sense of entering a world which I never would in reality. The web can do this for us and we can do this for our learners - we can give them access to experiences through technology that they otherwise might miss. This idea flowed into the second presentation. The Ning site created it's own atmosphere - it's pink and girly. The theme was selected specifically for it's audience. Participants in the scrap booking program are posting their photos. There are videos and a couple of blogs and places for students to access resources. Helen described how she set up the site and said it took her about half an hour. Even if we multiply that by 10 for a person who is less technologically confident, it's still not a lot of time to set up a brand new learning space.
Through the week Jennifer and Helen facilitated our forum. This has been a challenge for everyone so far and I am beginning to question its value in this context. On the one hand, if I don't introduce the concept to the group they will never understand how it can be used. On the other hand, to introduce the concept and fail to engage the group in this way is may discourage people from joining a forum in the future.
My intention was to create a collaborative learning environment. To some extent this has been achieved by sharing our discoveries each week in the virtual conference room. In those sessions there is a feeling of an established group. However there is little activity in the forums and even less collaboration.
As the weeks pass it is becoming clear to me that a series of "How to..." classes would benefit many in the group and this is something I will endeavour to provide in 2009.
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2 comments:
Good point at the end Ann - maybe a simple 'how to set up a resource blog for your class' with each student at a computer would be of value. Using Blogger.
Then the focus is on what to write - one session would have everyone off to a flying start. Topic ideas, how to add a link, how to add a photo, how to embed a video etc -fun!
I still think the forums are a valuable tool for learning even in this situation. Although not every one was engaging in the forum alot was being learnt by just observing and reading what others were thinking. Not everyone is going to be active participator, creators or leaders.I think its referred to as lurking in Web 2.0 circles.
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