well the last face-to-face workshops for the course were run this week. But it doesn't feel anywhere like the end of the course. We are still working with the class individually to get their design plans into good shape AND we are planning another synchronous virtual conferencing session. To me it feels like we have just got started.

Today it was good that people did a bit of a show and tell about what they had been doing and about their planning ideas. We have quite a range of subject areas and interests in the class. This process of sharing appears to be really valuable in that we all get new ideas for how something can be tackled or approached. I have learned so much from everyone's different creative leanings. Plus people get feedback on what they have been doing which is so valuable, I believe. Of course this can also be done online and lots of people are making their stuff available. What we do need to happen regularly though is for everyone to comment on each others' work. Some sort of positive reinforcement, particularly from peers, can be very motivating.

What did we find out today?
The description here is just a snapshot, and if I ramble on too long this posting will get out of control. Soooo...We found out how photos can be given text descriptions which show up when you click on the photo. This would be very useful for students to do to demonstrate their understanding of a topic and to build their own resource bank. And what a wonderfully interesting assessment this would be.

We also found out that video can be used very creatively to show hazards in a workplace. Students are asked to view the video, and look for potential "hot spots". The other elements of the assessment which went with the video were very flexible and gave students the option of choosing how they completed it, either individually or in groups.

We also heard about a great idea for how to use blogs in class to provide professional information which could be kept easily updated. The blog would be something students could continue to access through their programme and long after courses had finished.

Another resource which will benefit the whole organisation is being planned. The intention is to provide a flexible resource to support students who have been through a crisis or bereavement. It would also be very useful in raising the awareness of staff about how to handle such situations, and help them understand that "recovery" is a huge and wide ranging variable. The development of the plan for this resource is turning into quite a collaborative venture, and a contact to help in developing and planning the resource was made in class.

We also saw some creative ways of using Blackboard to present information and activities. Gliffy and Youtube were used effectively to create and store materials for accessing from Blackboard. The course is currently being piloted so it will be very interesting to hear about the evaluations.

Other opensource software mentioned in the session was Flickr and Bubbleshare for creating digital stories. I have a lot of exploring to do. Possibly one of the least expected bits of information is that Steve Irwin's (crocodile man) accident and life has been described in great detail on Wikipedia. Scarey stuff! Off now to log on......
Bronwyn

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