A quick one but long!

Last night was the first big, formal chat. We had invited some learning facilitators, but they didn't show up. I assume Christmas, the re-organisation and the time of the chat play a role here.
It was successful anyway. Trudy and I did a Research in Action by moderating the chat with the Hands Up feature.

This is what I thought of it:

Good
- more organized
- easier to read and follow the discussion
- just like a real meeting
- late arrivals arrived quietly (well done!)

Bad
- not many people there, but some people said too many people were there*1
- The amount of time and the handling of calling people up was not quite perfected yet, understandably. We need to work on this.

*1: A big formal chat is planned for twice a module starting with module 3. I see this as the chance for everyone, incl. LFs to come together. The smaller informal ones will be much easier

I hope people do not think Trudy and I were trying to be special here. It was all about trying to organize this. I think we make a good team.

After the chat, I took the time to get together the transcript, then revised it and made a short version out of it:

Hello everyone,
In an attempt to give a short and easy overview of the chat on Tuesday, December 19, 2006, I have summed up the questions raised and answers given.
Please feel free to add to them!


1. Learning Activity 1: Quotes
How do we quote, what do we do with screen shots, etc!

1.1 Anthony Russell said on FC concerning first class messages to try and keep them concise and minimal!


This is what he said exactly:
I think one main issue emerged - How do you show and reference involvement in both Plone and First Class?

You may wish to include a screen shot to demonstate competence (or excellence!) involving skills. By all means do so but do not forget to explain to the reader why you are including that particular screen shot. How does it demonstrate learning? if you are starting from a low skills base then do not be afraid to say so and to demonstate your struggles. We fully appreciate that our researchers have arrived with a wide variety of skills - It is learning that is important!

You may wish to use a quote from a piece of dialogue in Plone or First Class. Quotes should not be large 'lumps' of text. No more than a few sentences will suffice and very often one or two sentences will be all that is required.
However in the appendices it is good to provide the context from which the quote is taken - This need not be a huge piece but it should help the reader understand why the quote was chosen - provide the time,date and location. It could well be a screen shot but remember it has to be uploaded!

It is not good to simply refer the reader to a 'lump' of text in the appendices. This is leaving the reader to do the analysis.

Examples

"I had a discussion with six people about Plone (see appendix 3)" Would not be good. This might be better:

On the 8th of December I was involved in a dialogue with six other researchers about the advantages and disadvantages of using Plone as an online community tool. The general opinion was that it had more strengths than weaknesses. The following quote is typical." I like Plone beacuse it provides an image of the person you are talking to. It is like a conversation with one person following on from the next." (Appendix 3) However two of the group thought that the lack of a thread, as in FC, was a disadvantage. Cuthbert pointed out that he was especailly interested in Tiddlywinks but that it took him hours identifying specific 'tiddlywink' contributions. He objected to, "endless scrolling." (Appendix 4)





1.2 Question: Do you put screen shots in an appendix and quote in the main work?

Answer: You can put the screenshots in the work - see Anthony Russells message today for clarification about explainig them
It is not sufficient to say 'see appendix 3' need to explain context





2. Learning Activity 2

2.1 Question: Discuss criteria for evaluation and how we are filling in the table

Answer:
About criteria for assessing - I searched the web and found some really useful ideas - just put in "evaluating websites"

2.2 Detail in column

Answers:
• I have put Good- then a comment why i think this
• i used 3 columns: the format in LO, but used a traffic light system, red = bad green = good
LF liked that idea, the comments in each column keeps it KISS like Tony B used to say






2.3 Do words in tables count in word count?
UNANSWERED- needs clarification

Words in Tables do NOT count in Word Count
Are you sure about that? I cannot find proof for it!
No tables do not count - unless they are an obvious attempt to 'hide' words. If they are genuine tables, essential to the piece, they do not count. (LF)


2.4 What about annotations in word count for screen shots etc.

Annotations count, screen shots don't. I have this confirmed by Sarah , my LF (on PLone)



3. Learning Activity 3


3.1 Reflection
http://www.trainer.org.uk/members/theory/process/reflective_cycle.htm



3.2 Evidence
Am I correct in thinking that the names of the people should remain anonymous as with the quotes from researchers in first class?

Researchers cannot be identified

Someone raised the question of how to evidence without mentioning names... my choice is to say 'a fellow researcher...' and to evidence with a screenprint if applicable with names blacked out


3.3 Presentation how is everyone presenting LA3?



3.4 Referencing:
I read somewhere in notes from an LF that quotes from researchers had to "harvard referenced" - can any explain that for me please?

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/ref.html

[ http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm ]http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

Harvard referencing — also known as the author-date system[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_reference#_note-0 ][1] and parenthetical system[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_reference#_note-1 ][2] — is a format for writing and organizing [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation ]citations of source materials.

Under the Harvard referencing system, a brief citation to a source is given in the text of an article, and full citations collected in alphabetical order under a "References" or "Works Cited" heading at the end. The citation is placed in parentheses after the sentence or part of one, followed by the year of publication, as in (Smith 2005), and a page number where appropriate (Smith 2005, p. 1) or (Smith 2005:1). Then in a References section:



Smith, John. (2005) Harvard Referencing, Florida:Wikimedia Foundation. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&isbn=1899235744 ]ISBN 1-899235-74-4.





3.5 Referencing
In LA3 and 4 it says to make notes in our LJs how is everyone referencing them?

copy and pasted - giving a hyperlink would lead to a page with my face on

Incidentally I intend to have a document of supporting evidence with screenshots in context - fuller transcripts and relevant bits of learning journal in context
Screen shots with annotations. E.g. As you can see from the included entry in my LJ, I have....


3.6 Screen shots:
When we have screen shots, would they be better placed in the document or an appendix?

Anthony Russell's message today says to give context in your text
Remember apependix are not marked


I also think that screenshots break up text and make it more reader friendly... James?

Short extracts with the fuller version in the appendix giving context if they want to check seems good compromise





4. Learning Activity 4

In LA4 you need to analysis the theorist you can disagree with their comments as long as you can back it up with your experiences





5. Learning Activity 5


5.1 Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Select a range of appropriate online learning tools for communication with peers. LAs 1,2&5
2. Consider how online community can support learning. LAs 4&5
3. Give examples of their particiaption in the online learning community
LAs 1&5
4. Discuss the development of their ICT capability with reference to the development of their online learning spaces. LAs 1,3,4&5
5. Consider and identify how online community can support the process of learning. LA5


5.2 Assessment criteria
Assessment Criteria is the same as module 1 but with one extra - it is on Plone if you want to download it
[ http://researchers.ultraversity.net/modules/level-one-assessment-criteria-v2 ]http://researchers.ultraversity.net/modules/level-one-assessment-criteria-v2



5.3 Presentation: How are people presenting this Module what media are you using?
I am not using an extensive range of media-
I will be in Word when I get to do it.
I
In fact, everyone said Word!

Reflection on yesterday's chat discussion

Yesterday was the first time we arranged a chat discussion using the new feature 'Meeting Room Live'. Lindsey and I talked on MSN beforehand and agreed to moderate one chatroom each: She opted for the LA 1 and 2 discussion and I took on the LA 3, 4 and 5 discussion. The General Discussion was going to be left unmoderated.

In an attempt to make the chat discussion easy, short and to the point, I did post a thread on FirstClass earlier with some ground rules and the questions we asked people to submit during the week.
I stated that the chat should not be used for private discussion, that it should not last longer than 30 min and so on.
Before I submitted the post, I had sent it to Lindsey to see if it was okay. She agreed with it and it was posted.

At 9.30 pm people started joining the LA 1 and 2 discussion. The LA 3, 4 and 5 discussion was left deserted. I assume that most people just have not started those yet and wanted to clarify all questions for LA 1 and 2 before continuing the journey.
The chat room was unnecessary, but I'm still happy I created it. Even though there was no demand for it, it was good to have it on offer.
I had also joined the LA 1 and 2 discussion to keep on top of things.

The first thing I realized was that, even though it was posted in the chat room itself (and catch-up was enabled) and in several posts on FC beforehand, people asked if there would be a transcript available and if the chat had started yet.
Also, some of the questions asked and discussed were already answered by Learning Facilitators in Plone and FC. Therefore, I would consider them 'a waste of time'. It also showed that some people have not yet really gotten the hang of checking Plone, FC and previous posts on a regular basis.
Some things were discussed in early chats, which can be read as transcripts. I understand that 30-page transcripts can be daunting, so I have decided to extract the main questions and answers from this chat discussion, once I find the time. I will also ask fellow 'moderators' to do so.

Reading through the chat transcript of the LA1 and 2 discussion, I am impressed that Lindsey kept the conversations to the point, even though people were tempted to discuss other things.

My hope is that people will start posting any questions they have on FC (under the respective threads), so we can arrange the chats upfront.

I was also busy in the General Discussion. It was not really about Module 2 this time, but something, that effects all people in Cohort 6 in regards to Module 2.
Ultraversity and ARU have announced a complete server downtime just before christmas and an 'at risk' connection that cannot be guaranteed and may produce loss of data, until the new year.
This is going to be a real problem for some people in Cohort 6, because this module is based on online communication within the group. This will be impossible at that time. The deadline for the module is January 5th, so most researchers will have planned that time (christmas and new years) for intensive online discussion.

Looking back at Module 1, the last two weeks before the deadline were very busy in the community. I can only assume this will be the same for Module 2.
We have decided to propose a 7 day extension on the deadline due to the downtime.

This is all for now.