Z+Group+Discussion+Page

14 May...thanks Yan, I've deleted the points on issues and added points on learning design (in Prezi resources). Feel free to edit them or let me know if you want more! Can you use one or two of the images I've put up? I've got more...but nothing directly related to learning design! Cheers, Mandy

p.s. noticed one typo in the beautiful Prezi - the slide before the pic of the lecture theatre has chinese and needs Chinese! Also, do you think we should add a note above the Prezi saying click on the > symbol to start and move through the Prezi? (took me awhile to work it out!) (and I'm a bit slow today...)

14 May - mandy again...hi yan, I've put in a shortened version of issue points plus some possible images in the prezi resources section just now. Do we need any other points? (Learning Design?) Actually we only need points and images for the Learning Design bit... so about 3-4 points to summarise the issue of learning Design and an image to illustrate the issue. If you view the Prezi on the "Problems" page it should show you what we have already. Cheers. Yan

14 May - mandy Hi all, back in Oz! Have just edited and re-edited my Learning Design page...getting shorter. If anyone can see other ways to cut, go ahead! I'm too close to it to tell now...! Yan - are you still waiting on my points for the prezi? I put some up on the "prezi resources" page...but think they were not what I was meant to (issues and solutions). Since it's on a page called "problems" I guess we don't need solutions! Do you want to put up the issues summary? Or do you need something different from me? Just let me know (sorry, I'm a bit out of touch here...) Yan- Yeah... a few points and a pic/video/diagram to illustrate your point if you can get to it :) I will be able to insert it into the Prezi and update it quickly so take your time. Heather - also was making a few edits on the Tech page then saw you were also in there so got out!!! Can you include the references you have listed in the text and/or delete the ones that you don't refer to? Also, would be good to tie some of the general facts about China back to the learning space...how does this relate to learning/this program! Let me know what else I can do if anything...I can keep contributing up to about 6.30pm today! mandy 14 May - Heathe Have had a nightmare with trying to find my references - no idea what has happened, but in the end I have had to re do my page. I have to train staff in the next hr, but will be right back after that. I am awfully sorry and frustrated with myself as I am always organised, but .....

13 May Roz Ladies I hate to do this but I'm going to have to leave my contributions/editing from now. Sorry I couldn't hang in there tomorrow as well but at least I got a little more time on this tonight than I originally thought I would. Thanx to everyone for your help and contributions - this is looking pretty good now. Just a few bits and pieces to finalise and looks like we're there. Would love to offer to come back late tomorrow and do another roam around but I seriously doubt I'll be near the internet/computer. Will have my blackberry and will get emails/noltificaitons of page changes so if you need me to answer any queries, etc, that's good. But that little device is not particularly special in editing wikis - as we pointed out in this study in the use of mobile devices!

13 May - Yan Hi All... have moved the Prezi and made appropriate amendment Re titles, etc.... Thanks for providing me with stuff to put in the Prezi.... :) The "Please wait" circles means the media is loading.... My internet connection is not great so I see that often :P Have added Prezi to Introduction page. After I receive Mandy's points I can add it. In the meantime... it is ready for viewing and feedback. Cheers Yan, that's pretty impressive eh! Just a couple of things:  Great work and thanx for doing it! Might have a play with that product for something I need to do at work next week. Roz  Thanks so much Yan. I'm "well impressed" (many shades above simply "impressed"). And thanks for being so patient in waiting for our information. - Shelley
 * I know that in our chat on Tues we talked about putting it on the intro page but we now have a problems page and I actually think that it would be better to go there. Also it will mean that it's at the top of the page and could have more effect I think; I agree (Shelley)
 * how difficult would it be to have the titles on the Prezi reflect the new page names? I remember my page was originally the Impact of Learning Styles and you used that on the Prezi but since the reshuffle, it's now called Learning Styles? I think there are some name changes to a couple of the others as well;
 * I'd say that you created the Prezi prior to when I changed my text ie late this afternoon BUT now that I see the 'old' stuff on the Prezi, I think it's better so ignore the other; and
 * I noticed that it has a 'please wait' and suspect that it where the other stuff will go in.

13 May - Shelley Hi Heather, I've given you some feedback on your page in purple. The stuff you've got reads clearly and easily, and I have made some suggestions in terms of focus and given you a few educational references you can use to reinforce the assertions, these are things like; expand around digital literacy, summarise the area on censorship, and remove the area of mirroring (modelling) as that's off-topic for the technology problem (indeed, it's a problem in its own right). I hope this helps out and isn't overly brutal (not intended that way at all). Please ask any questions or make any comments. When you're finished, let me know and I'll make the referencing consistent with the site (am doing this for all of us) and copy it over to the referencing page too. oh yeah, I'll put the cornford and blackall references at the bottom of your text should you wish to use them. Thanks!

13 May - Heather Sorry, work has been mad!! :-( I also like the name "Culture Club" good thinking Roz! I am about to work on Mandy's video, will use the text Shelley added to the graphics on screen shot pg. As we need to ensure PCs and Macs can view, I have decided to upload to YouTube and then put the link in. Not sure how Yan got her movie on the screen, I will play around, but I can definately get a link in as I tested (without sound that is), if you want to double check, it is on screen shot page (I think). thanks! I've commented on screenshots page. Embedding video (specially youtube) is easy, read my comments and have a go, if you still need a hand I'm happy to do it for you. Shelley Hope to spend the next few hours filling in the blanks on my page. Any advise is always gratefully accepted. I have also put my dot points on the Prezi pg for Yan (let me know if you need more detail). I'll have a quick look on your page now. Shelley

13 May - Shelley Thanks Roz :D You mean the context intro stuff? I know I said I'd do it so feel a bit bad. Would you like me to look over it or something? Also going to hop off and do your reference stuff now. Hey you've done heaps so don't worry - very very much wish people to review. Anything else you need me to do in a help instance? Sorry I haven't moved my references over to the 'big' page. Oh that's fine - by the way, your referencing was *fine*! It's easier for me to edit in one place then move them over. Once eeryone's are in there, I'm going to have to remove all the (I suspect) Word code so that the fonts are consistent, but that's something for after everything's done. I noticed a duplicate reference earlier this afternoon on the main reference page so I deleted that earlier - Roz

Am happy to review - I feel as though I haven't been doing enough... and am getting a bit (not a heap) stressed as it seems that there are some things that really aren't too close to complete. I'm a night owl, so alt of this will be done later. BTW. I like the idea of "Culture Club" as our name. Am happy to change this if we have some consensus. 13 May - Roz Just going to try and 'redraft' the Intro page a bit (trying to fit in a bit btw normal work). Also been going thru and checking grammar, etc so you might find the odd changes to your pages. I might be able to do some stuff later tonight - my plans have adjusted a little re my weekend away and look like not heading out tonight now.

13 May - Shelley Ok. Mandy, the home page keeps disappearing because you're deleting all the contents. This is the second time in 24 hours this has happened so please be careful, maybe use the mouse instead of keyboard shortcuts if you need to, I've found that to be a problem with me anyway. Both times I have reverted it, which is really easy. **If you delete the contents of a page you can revert to a previous version by going to the history tab at the top of the page, then selecting the version to revert to, then select "revert to this page" at the top of the text area below the tabs on that page**. If you delete something, you need to revert it reasonably quickly as everything that happens after you delete it (In this case Mandy and Yan both left messages that I will paste over) can't be merged with the old stuff without copying and pasting, and that's bad practice as it essentially deletes our "audit trail".

 13 May - Yan Hi All, have we changed our approach to the Prezi... I though we were going to introduce each issue with some dot points and media but no solutions?

Yan - no change as far as I know, just problems please. Also, I'll order our stuff for you right now. Just temporary numbers that I'll change the format of tonight, as this will make it easier for you. - Shelley Ok... just checking as the "problems and solutions" bit has somehow appeared on Prezi page... all good :)

13 May, Mandy Okay, now Home is gone too!? I didn't touch it honest (not recently anyway). Anybody know what's going on???? <-- answer is always in History tab at top of page. Recent emails with changes should have all the copy, if someone can cut and paste it back in (this page, plus Learning Design Across Cultures page). I'll check back in a little while, but if the copy doesn't reappear I will have it on my email at work and can access it tomorrow, paste it back in and redo the final touches (was ALL DONE this morning and I was delighted with it...what's the old saying "pride goes before a fall" ??!!!?? I'm hands off now in case it's the HK jinx! Mandy Mandy - I'll revert the page for you to the last thing saved, so don't worry. It's easy to do so please see the instructions above. The good thing abut wikis is that each time a change is made, it will sho in the history tab. We all have admin rights to the wiki so can do this. - Shelley 13 May = Mandy

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeelppp, please!!! Just put the final touches on the Learning Design page references and was very happy...hit save and the content of the WHOLE PAGE has disappeared, gone, blank. How can this happen? Did anyone print it recently, or is there a copy retrievable somehow, from somewhere? I've just spent an hour finetuning this, but the content has been pulled together over weeks and weeks from 10 different places including Shelley's brain so would love to somehow retrieve it but I can't see it anywhere. Does anyone know wikis and if stuff can disappear like this???? If so, can it reappear PLEEEEEESE! (Maybe the last time I saved an email report of the save went out, could someone copy and paste it back into the page? Then I can do final touches again!) (I don't have access to my email here....long story!) mandy

12 May - Roz Just wondering if we have any ideas for the name of our wiki. I think Mandy you mentioned Culture Club on the Blackboard when submitting our names to Lynne. What does everyone think? I'm not too good on this but thought I should make some suggestions if I'm going to ask the question - they are little boring I know but..... What's come to mind so far is e-Culture, Culture 'shock', 'Learn' the culture 12 May - Mandy I'm going to add some stuff now that I did en route yesterday...Heather, can't see myself getting that software downloaded and doing the recording while up here. So...can try to do it Friday? Or...?

12 - May - Yan I think Mandy wanted the pictiure of the dragon and the mouse from an issue featuring an article by ZHAO from the Global View Magazine... but I can't seem to locate it. (yes - that's the one - it's in the article on the Rescources page, called "The Life of Internet Colleges, Policies, Problems and Prospects of Online Higher Educatin in China" I don't know if we can cut and paste it?? Mandy)

11May - Heather Shelley, did you ask for a graphic with a dragon? Heather have a look on the Prezi page and think the request you are talking about it is there (Roz). I thought I read that somewhere, but now can't see where - I seem to think someone asked whether it was pos to grab a graphic from one of the resources. I am happy to do that, but now can't find the request or the name of the resource it was on. Let me know and I will do it as soon as I get home tomorrow evening. I will also fix up my stuff. Just completing a deadline for work, so can't do much on this tonight. I also added Mandy's case study 'video' to the context page. Let me know if you are able to open it and if you are still happy to include. Thanks!! Thanx for setting this up but just tried to open the PPS but just got a black screen - did anyone else have any luck?

11 May Roz Just changed my page name to Learning (Styles) and Culture - left the brackets as think the word 'styles' might be omitted but still thinking. Edit my page and got to cut some but want to rethink a little more. Working on solutions now - just put my name beside a couple to start with so will add what I think and continue on. Absolutely if anyone has more to add to same topic, go for it. Would really appreciate if someone could please check my 'references' that I've got them in the right 'mode'?

11 May Yan The prezi will include everything that is listed by people on the resource page. How it would look depends on what kind of source people give me... for example... I would break up the videos with the images...etc... unfortunately there is no point to finalise and package a prezi until I have all the resources... but imagine putting all our resources (e.g. dot points of our probs, related videos/images + introduction on culture and teaching across cultures) on a massive desktop and have a camera move across the desktop and zooms in and out o record the resources in a sequence we designate. does that make sense? I will try and upload a Prezi I have done for an intro to professional development at school on the "Prezi Resources" Page(obviously our will be better since we have better videos and stuff to incorporate).

11 May Roz Just looked thru the survey results - r they worth including as an appendix somewhere? We are still having our skype call tonight aren't we - suspect we are starting about 8pm as in previous times? Perhaps that's the time for much more chat eh!

11 May - Mandy Hi and bye...heading to airport soon. Have included a summary of the research results at bottom of context page...feel free to quote/copy/move elsewhere. Have also emailed it all to you all, including some quotes...time (or lack thereof) was certainly an issue for these folks and I will add that to issues and mention that increased Mobile tech may help although personally I can't type in a reflection on a mobile device...can read tho! There were a few graphs attached to the email also - would they fit into prezi? I can download a graph of any of the survey facts if we want it - just say which facts!!! More soon....

10 May - Heather I am not 100% clear on what we are handing in i.e. is it a wiki + the Prezi file that is, 2 files, or is the wiki going to include the Prezi file? Where does the video showing the screenshots from the case study fit in, are we going to include it? Do we include graphics as part of our 500 words for each section, or only in the Prezi file? Yan, is it pos to see a storyboard of what you are considering doing? Agree re seeing storyboard as well - Roz Yan, if you can just tell me the order of our points, that's fine, all the components are already on the resource page - Shelley Should we be meeting face to face on Wed or Thu to finalise things, or does everyone feel the online meeting on Thu is sufficient? I realise Mandy is away and I think Roz will also be away on Thu night. aren't we meeting tonight at 8pm? I don't think a face to face meeting will be of any great benefit to me personally, but if everyone else wants to do it I'll be there. We are handing in this wiki, this wiki will be "tidied" to include "Introduction" page, which will discuss the context and show th video with voiceover if it gets done, then five pages, one for each problem area, then a solutions page. I am yet to figure out how the Prezi page will fit as it is a summary, but most likely it'll be on the problem home page as it seems as though it is a suitable place for what is essentially an overview of our work. We can discuss this tonight. To get an idea of what a finished wiki will look like, click here - Shelley 10 May - Yan Roz - I am doing the Prezi but I do need everyone to put a few dot points of their part plus some sort of media to illustrate their aspect on the Prezi Resources page so I can put the whole thing together. I was making a suggestion to Shelley for something she could include because she said she was a bit stuck on that bit. Yan so sorry, misread/misunderstood. (from Roz). 10 May - Mandy I'm personally freaked out too Roz but mainly because I have just read everything online and feel there's not much else to say - you guys have been very prolific, well done! In particular with regard to learning design which is covered in various ways all over the place I'm not sure what I can add without overlap. I will add my bit and am feeling we already have way too many words...I thought we were aiming for 500 words each, and I think we are up to about 5000 total!!! (Maybe I'm exaggerating here!???!) So, at this stage I think we need to tidy/edit and put the "summary" on the prezi and remember this is the 30% of our mark, not the 50%...now gotta go and pack. Will add more from HK. Yep think there's definitely value to tidy/edit! To show the collaboration, the overlap is good I think but perhaps we need to just decide if all pages are still required eh!

10 May Roz again - am I freaking out about nothing here but I'm a little worried about us getting this completed in time. We only seem to have 4 more days to get this finished (due Friday) and expect we all can only really work on this after hours. Poor Mandy is really not going to get much time at all being in HK and all - are we going to get there? As I mentioned the other night, I'm not able to do anything for this from late Thurs (heading away about 7pm Thurs) and I really don't want to let the side down so hope I'm doing enough! Anyways..... just a thought!

10 May - Yan Shelley... haven read over your part and everything sounds good...only one bit underlined....maybe left a word out... For your media bit for the prezi you could get a video or even just a photo....(we have a couple of videos already anyway) or a chinese classroom...(i.e heaps of students, one teacher...everyone facing the front..etc etc) this will illustrate the learner's prior experiences ;) Yan - sorry but did I misunderstand last Thurs? I thought you were doing the Prezi! (from Roz)

10 May Roz //Mandy//
 * thanx so much for your input re the organisation of the course and answering my questions.

//Everyone//
 * personally I think this overview of the course organisation should be included in our wiki - maybe as part of the context. Yes it is detailed, but I believe that it adds value to the object of the case study. I'm happy to write it up. Comments????
 * Yes, I agree Roz. It needs to be summarised quite a bit and the academic perspective added. I am happy to have a go at it if you want Roz? I only offer as I worked on the Australian iteration of the project when it started, but if you want to do it, I'm not really going to object. - Shelley
 * Shelley - actually I forgot you were involved so would probably be better constructed under your guidance (Roz)
 * also I'm a little confused. Is everyone just adding information to the solution section and that Mandy had said she would write up? Or did I misunderstand?
 * I've been adding points as I think of them. Not sure if it is what we're supposed to be doing though? Any thoughts on this? - Shelley
 * I'm happy for anyone to add to the issues/solutions page...two reasons, one is lack of time this week (flying to HK tomoz morning) and two is fact that I am too close to this to see wood for trees, so others issues/solutions ideas are most welcome. I'm going to do some more reading and add more references etc. and welcome any other input! Mandy


 * agree with you about the prezi

10 May - Mandy As emailed (sorry, should have uploaded but was leaving office and very tight on time) there are now 9 participants in the survey and 9 out of 12 is not a bad sample so I've summarised it and emailed it to all so we can read and make whatever sense we want of it. Heather - maybe I can record my bit online on Friday? Or, depending on the device for recording, could I record it from HK? Mandy - if this is standard, I can't make any remarks about the software, but it should just me a microphone for your computer that you need as all your doing is inputting sound. Anyone that uses skype lots, or maybe runs webinars will have one. - Shelley

10 may - Shelley (for the fiftieth time or so today) so I've been reading over people's contributions and asking questions, altering some things, and adding references, but I can't really give my own work the same treatment as I wrote it, so making sense to me isn't going to count for much. I would appreciate it if anyone would take the time to read my part and make any changes they think would help, add any references, or ask any questions of things that may not be clear. You won't hurt my feelings at all, so be honest with your feedback!

10 May - Shelley Me again. Just letting you know that I have used letters to order our titles for now. Once we have got things properly organised, I will convert these to numbers - 01, 02 etc so it looks neater. I will also need to shorten our titles at that point so the menu is readable. Please feel free to do this youself using the "Manage Wiki" tab at the top of the left sidebar.

10 May - Shelley So I have been thinking and thinking about ideas for the prezi... and to be honest, I'm a bit stumped. Would a diagram/mindmap type conception be something sufficient for this? Does anyone have any ideas? little help... please?

9May - Heather Thanks for feedback Mandy. I think for stats purposes perhpas include both as I would imagine similar issues. if stats very different then lets just use Shanghai. Do you live near uni? I was just wondering how we can meet so you can do the voice over? It is easy for me to edit. I will remove the last slide when we edit the voice over. I agree it does not fit.

I have added a link on the screen shot page called elearning - I was wondering what you guys feel about including the intro part as part of our presentation i.e. it discuss elearning, we can then go into our specific case study etc etc. Just a thougt.

9 May - Mandy

Thanks for video Heather - I like it and comments are on that "screen shot" page. I will post survey results here tomoz morning. Just want to check - do we want to focus only on the Shanghai course or HK & Shanghai (they were one week apart). HK group was bigger (19) and had greater participation online but only marginally, so I put it down to the dynamics of a bigger group. Their completion rate so far is much lower...less than 50% submitted essay so far (and they are one week behind so may turn out similar). HK group is about 60% Chinese, 40% Western. - no I don't think we do. it starts making things too complex, which we should avoid. also, some of our literature suggests HK and mainland China have different approaches. - Shelley

Should we include them together as one, stick just to Shanghai, or wait to see survey results tomorrow to see if they have similar attititudes/opinions before deciding?

8 May - Heather I have put up a 'video' on the Sceen Shots page for feedback please. I have also tried to rework my section on the Technicalities - Is Internet Access and Issue page. Is this more what we are looking for? I will probably be able to add more stuff, once Mandy has uploaded some of the stats from the survey. 8 May Roz

Directed to Mandy - would you mind reviewing this 'precise' of how I understand the course was run and edit where necessary! I would like to include this detail in my section (NOW EDITED AS BELOW - :-) MANDY 9/5) The online participation section of this program begins three weeks prior to the face to face workshop. The students were asked to set up their profile, agree to basic "netitquette" and participation guidelines, and complete preparatory readings and preview a video (in HK, not in China, due to YouTube restrictions) relevant to the course work. Each student was asked to comment on this prep work, online, in a discussion board. This was followed by attendance at a three day workshop facilitated by a teacher from Australia. The workshop included a far deeper elaboration of the course content, participation in 'real' life coaching scenarios, including feedback from peer observers as well as the facilitator. For the purposes of the online collaboration and reflection, the students mainly worked as individuals in the prep phase. After the workshop they were organised into small groups for coaching practice and to analyse ethical scenarios. Aside from the submission of an essay at the end of the course, the students were required to participate in the online social community in an endeavour to outline their reflections on the knowledge they gained during the course. Participation online and in the face to face workshop, and their final essay are the assessable tasks in this program. Also:


 * what was the duration of the entire course and the duration of the time they spent in the online collaboration section? (8 weeks total - three weeks prep online, three day workshop, four weeks online afterwards, and in small groups for practice...essay due one month after workshop)
 * were groups organised during the workshop time to help them work thru the scenarios? (throughout workshop work in pairs and threes, shifting group throughout. online afterwards assigned, by us, into two groups - one for coaching practice, group of 3, and one to look at ethical scenarios - entire class divided into 3 groups)
 * were these groups the ones they remained in for the online collaboration? (no - see above)
 * were the groups organised by the teacher or by the students themselves? (in class groups are self selecting, shifting. online groups were assigned)
 * there were forums and blogs in the online collaboration - yes? Yes, discussion forums on various topics, and own blog tool for personal reflection (most did not use this!)
 * were the some suggested forums/discussions or were these developed by the students? All suggested by us, though some used other forums like message board to communicate.
 * was there a 'set' topic they were given for the final essay or did they have to develop a theme/idea and write to that (set questions from the manual, given in workshop)
 * what direction were they given with regard to the content of their essay - was it suppose to show their understanding of the knowledge gained from the course, some personal reflection, etc? Essay asks for summary of their learning about coaching, as a practice and how it applies to them, to reflect on and make connections to the readings done prior to the course, and finally to reflect on what difference the learning will make to their life and work...it's called a Reflective Learning Task, rather than an essay, in all comms!)
 * How was the assessment 'distributed' ie 100% final essay, or X% essay, x% Elgg participation, x% in class work, etc. (not distributed by % - all requirements needed to pass, that is online and face to face participation, plus "PASS" on essay (they are marked pass, or "more work required" and 95% pass first go)
 * anything else you can think of? NOt right now...but will no doubt!

Thanx

7 May - Roz Put up the chat from last night and proceeded with our 'revisited' task lists and some 'be aware' things that we discussed. Also just created a page called 'Issues and Solutions' (you may think there is a better name) where we can put our points. Mandy, think you have offered to collaborate all our thoughts and the solutions to the problems we identify.

6 May - Shelley Yep. 8pm is good. I'll start up the call etc again. I'm doing my stuff now. I haven't forgotten the group, just had stuff going on that wasn't conducive to writing 500 quality academic words this past week so sorry for letting everyone down in the speed department :( I have much more free time over the next fortnight so will be back on board and present across our wiki.

5 May - Heather Yes, we said we would start at 8pm.

5 May - Roz R we having another skype chat tomorrow night and if so what time? Sorry I haven't got stuff up on wiki yet - done so much reading and just trying to get in sorted so can write 500 words towards ideas.

29 April - Heather My Skype seems okay. I have sent you and Mandy a message on Skype to add me, as I think we all need each other in our Skype contact.

29 April - Roz I've been testing out my skype and am having trouble even getting it loading at the moment. Anyone else got similar problems.

29 April - Heather yep, will be online at 8pm. We all need to add each other as contacts on Skype.

28 April - Yan Yeah, would be happy to meet tomorrow at 8pm... 28 April - Roz Somehow while I was away I managed to get 'taken' out of this wiki and have only just had a chance to rejoin. Have just updated my skype details. Just want to say that the diagram that Heather has included seems to follow themes to our ideas and am happy to talk to that tomorrow night for further clarification and then to get into some writing for review. Sorry but have to go now as have got called back onto some work for Hong Kong and need to get stuff sorted out for them first thing tomorrow.

28 April - Shelley Hi everyone, It seems that tomorrow night is when our availabilities all cross over, so can we please meet at 8pm? We really need to get this project rolling so I am hoping that everyone can still make it, either way, we need to meet I think. //Remember to let us know your skype name on the Meetings - Logistics page please//. I've never organised a group skype hook-up, only participated, so i am happy to try to work the technology part, but if anyone else has some experience, I'd love to hand this over. Thanks, Shelley

27 April - Mandy I'm really sorry but somehow in trying to create a colour for me I've changed the colours of the two entries below - ooops! I don't know how I managed that but it was easy! ;-) Didn't actually see any of this before now as didn't have "all wiki" alert on...now do and will catch up! Very happy to be videoed discussing the thing and can share screen shots etc. and like the idea of Prezi - have not used it but it sounds good. I'll go look at other pages and work out what I should be doing...hope to speak to you all soon (Thursday night?) I will email Lynne now with the list of us/topic.

26 April - Heather I added a diagram to the resource area representing what I think we have identified as possible areas to work on. Taking Roz comments below into consideration, I have changed my area so we don't have to worry about overlap. I am okay to discuss the technology constraints including population stats. It seems that it is difficult to meet via Skype, but is it pos to tighten up where we are going with our project. I am new to online learning and group work, so not really sure of protocol etc, I am stil worried about the 3rd section, where we are supposed to come up with solutions. I am also not clear about details of the case study. I have no doubt Yan and I can come up with a great creative way to present our work, but we need the content before we can plan that side of things. What might work is if we could tighten up on our specific areas, we could then possibly put up drafts so we can all look at to give further input if necessary and possibly help us to develop 3rd section. What do others feel about this?

22 April Hi Everyone, Considering we can't get a meeting together tonight, and that's the last date the calendar went to on the Meeting - Logistics page, can you fill in your availability for the next week please so we can get a group together? Thanks, Shelley

19 April - Roz All sounds good to me but obviously won't be in call as in Hong Kong. Remember, delegate/let me know what you need me to do. I'll got some stuff I still want to read up on while I'm away. I will check this wiki late next Friday but am away all that weekend.

19 April - Shelley Also, could we add our skype names to the logistics page next to the "Y"? I just realised in my not-so-experienced-with-skype moment that we need to be connected with each other in some way.

19 April - Shelley Yan, love your ideas re: Pressi. I've never used it, but it looks good, and I'm willing to try out alternatives. Also like the idea of an illustraton of the problem. I will go over to the tasks and roles page and check things out, make additions. edit any of our conversations over here into it if need be. I think we should use the meeting to shortlist and confirm problem areas - based on what we contibute to the Task - Roles and Deadlines page. This means we must look at the whole as a group before zeroing in to our areas of speciality (ie, don't worry so much about what you're best to discuss, first worry about what needs to be discussed by the group), if that makes sense. I've added it to Meetings - Agenda Ideas page as something I'd like to cover.

Looks like Thursday is shaping up as most likely for our team meeting. Just waiting on Mandy's response. Thanks.

Mon 19 April - Heather

Yes, I also like Yan's presentaion idea. Yan, happy to help/bounce ideas on this :) Roz, I think your aspect will work! I am not 100% sure Lynn is expecting 500 word per person, but will email her to confirm and post her respone here. Either way, I think it will work as our aspects are not quite the same, but will allow us to lead the one off from the other :) Perhaps once you and I have a little more research under our belts we will need to touch base a little more closely, but that should not be a prob. Sun 18 April - Roz Yan, like the idea of presenting other than plan old text presentation and your other suggestions.

Re a problem to discuss: still doing some reading and research on what aspects of the problem I'm best to discuss. I have an interest generally in how peoples differnt learning styles affect their adoption of learning (including elearning) and am thinking I might be able to link the personality traits and culture idea (discussed by Hofstede, etc) concentrating on uncertainity avoidance and individualism v collectivism but am worried that might overlapt a little with Heather's 'teacher as knowing all'. Mabye that's good to overlap a bit!

Any comments?

Sat 17th April, Had another look at the task guidelines on UTS online and seems like the presentation need not all be chalk and talk. - I think it would be cool to do a video of Mandy introducing the online learning environment she has developed (it would make for good presentation viewing). I would be happy to meet to video this bit or screenshot and voiceover would be ok too. - Let's all write about one aspect of the problem - fully referenced Havard UTS (500 Words - think this might be 500 words per problem?) We can begin by putting what we think we can do on the "Task-Roles and Deadlines" page. If we could also locate one image/video etc to illustrate our problem it might make our final presentation more interesting - the person who is responsible for each problem proposes a 100 word solution to be dumped to a page - everyone will then view the page and comment on appriproate links between solutions to arrive at a more thoughtful conclusion. - We could tie the presentation together with Prezi (Prezi.com). This will seemless integrate our videos, PDFs, images etc and it's NOT a powerpoint.... which might be refereshing. I use Prezi a fair bit and will be happy to compile all the materials into a presentation we can add to our wiki (to keep everything in the one place for ease of access). - We will have a written compilation of our presentation by the end and also an interesting way to present it on the day. I hope I don't sound pushy :( I just wanted to put my mangled thoughts out there...hehhehe - Yan Sat 17 April Mandy, do you think it is pos to get access to a couple of examples used in the elearning courses your company uses? That way we can perhaps get our heads around what they look like and where if nec they can be 'adjusted/adapted' which may help with our solution section of the presentation. It should also help as we do our research, as it will also allow us to refer to it to backup findings etc... using as examples/case study we are basing our work around.

What do others feel about this idea?

Heather (sorry guys, I am jet lagged and thus have all sorts of ideas racing around my head, hopefully helpful in the end)

Sat 17 April

As Mandy has the experience and the particular interest in censorship, I think it would be more beneficial for her to take on that aspect of the presentation, rather than the broad overview mentioned below. Roz, are you perhaps able to add 1 or 2 more problems to those I listed below? That way we can begin to work on our specific areas of the problem. Yan, has identified the area of the problem she is interested in. I had thought I could work on the aspect of students perceiving teachers as all knowing.

If however you guys feel the 3 problems I mentioned below are sufficient, then I suppose someone can take on the responsibility of writting up the first section i.e.the overview?

It is obviously really important we keep proper track of our own refereces etc.

Regarding the 3rd part of the presentation, I suspect each person will be able to 'offer' some kind of a solution, but I think that is where we will really need to brainstorm and work collaboatively as this seems to be the most important part of the whole presenation (and I think the hardest part) if you consider the number of words Lynn is expecting. Actually on the topic of word, she mentions 500 words for the problem area, is that in total for that aspect of the presentation or per person working on that section??

p.s. my computer is playing up, so I had to save as I went, that of course means you see my contribution showing up as 3 or 4 entries, sorry!!

Heather Fri 16 April - Roz Looks like we're getting on a roll now. I'm happy to be nominated for any part but thought that possibly would be more beneficial with my contribution for:

- overview of problem (after reading other contributions and loads of research) - if anyone knows good focus here, let me know. - aspects of problem (ditto to above) - students see teacher as 'all knowing' - little bit of experience from teaching some ESL stuff and other aspects of traditional training so might be able to bring in that perspective since elearning could be viewed as a 'new' approach and then with Mandy's particular close experience, she might be able to develop this further. Sorry Mandy, didn't mean to 'dob' you in here but maybe we can bounce ideas off one another as I'm more experience in the traditional side. - ideas for solutions - could start by jotting down as things get raised by people's comments. Maybe approaching it that way, might allow us to get a good focus.

Since I can't really participate in any discussions after Monday (and am going away for the Anzac weekend), I'm happy to get lots of references for reading, and go for it! Maybe I can then do some summaries and then start some posts.

THU 15 April - Added some text in Orange to some existing points. Groupwork dymanics with chinese students may also be a good topic, I believe there is some research on the behaviour of Chinese students in social learning contexts. I think it might be constructive if we just take an aspect each and read the relevant research - which will offer certain implications for practice that we will then be able to appropriate for our own context. Yan Thu 15 April I thought we might be able to brainstorm under these broad headings for now. Not sure if we can use different text colour for each person if you think that will be helpful? A large component of this assessment is finding solutions, thus bigger than just censorship. 1. Overview of problem (300 - 500 words) Looking at culture of learning in relation to e-learning and chinese students 2. Aspects of problem (500 words) censorship students see teacher as 'all knowing' students prefer to follow instructions rather than create knowledge (is this a fair comment?) (fair, as different people have different perspectives of what knowledge is - I am really interested in this epistemological issue and would love to write about it - ;) equity - availability of computers/internet access - Maybe censhorship can come under this banner, since it is censorship that has prevented Mandy from using some of her resources. 3. Solution to problem (500-1000 words) This I suspect, will be the tough part, i.e. coming up with solutions. I have non to offer at this point :( Heather  Thursday 15th I've added a meetings page (click on "Meetings" on left navigation panel) to get a sense of availability from everyone. If you could let us know when you're available to meet online that'd be great.

I'm just about to add an area for a proposed agenda as Roz and Yan have started a good discussion about narrowing our focus (see discussions tab above) that could do with some thought before we meet.

The jury's still out on what we'll be using to meet at the moment. My personal preference is skype, but I know not everyone may have access to. There's also another tool called Todays' Meet that we used in a group last semester pretty well. Any other thoughts are welcome.

Shelley

Hi Everyone,

Consider this to be our scribble or message page. Want to get our attention? Shout it out here. This page doesn't need to be neat, it's just a collection of notes, like a communal blog. Add your messages above the ones that are already there and put a date infront of them so it's easy to see what's happened when (you can also use the history on any page to see how its evolved).

Thanks, Shelley