Learning 2009 - Wednesday

The conference is coming to an end today.  At the moment, Betsey Myers is talking about authentic leadership...she is one of the talented professionals that we have here.  I just finished presenting on social media with the CLO of CA (Computer Associates) to a group of about 100.  Got a hand on Veteran's Day and plenty of questions.  The folks from industry were amazed that the military was using tools such as blogs and wikis...they are worried about security even behind their firewalls, but we are using them extensively throughout the Army.  I hope all is well with your group work..I've looked in and some groups are doing quite well and others have a bit of work to do.  I have posted the wiki rubric, which is my key to grading your collaborative work, in the Course Resources Page of the wiki.  You can find it at the bottom of the page when you want to view it.  I look forward to seeing all of you next week.  I'm on my Blackberry if you have questions.

Learning 2009 - Monday

Hello all.  I am in not so summy Orlando waiting to see what Hurricane Ida decides to do.  The first day of this conference has been very interesting, with sessions highlighting learning at Bank of America, weaving diveristy into the courseware at the CIA University (Royce Ann will love this stuff!), and an interview with the author of Twitter for Dummies.  Overall, I am picking up great stuff here...about 1300 professional trainers and educators interacting...basically people who hire folks with the skills you all will have when you finish your course of instruction.  I'm taking a break, had all the small group work I could stand for the moment and working on this blog and the Learning Wiki that the conference is hosting.  I plan to show it to all of you when I get back and we'll see how they make it work for them.  Malcolm Gladwell will speak this afternoon...once I get past his hairdo I'll be interested to hear what he has to say.  Much of this conference is focused on elearning and distance learning...industry is trying to figure out how to help the bottom line by using the new technology.  Just spent a session with the rep from a large uniform company whose organization used to spend $20M in travel each year...they have reduced that by 90% by putting teleconference equipment like what is in the LCC classrooms at all their locations.  It may not be perfect for interactive training, but if it saves jobs then it is worthwhile.  I'll post the rubric for the Wiki later tonight...I don't think it will any surprise, but I want you to have it before you have to finalize the assignment.  Hope all is well.

Off to Newport

  I leave in the morning, but thought I would check in on the Wikis before I left.  Some of you are doing quite well and I would be proud to share the kind of work you are doing with other instructors...others are busily discussing the sexual preferences of the members or discussing underwear styles.  I would ask that you begin to focus more on the former status than the latter.  You have about three more weeks to finish out your project...I'll discuss important topics next Saturday that should be of help, but you have to start picking some of the planning steps up through your reading.  Remember, use the web as a resource to look at real world programs like the one I have asked you to build and then come to me with questions specific to your project.  On Saturday I will be asking you to think through the steps in the planning model we are discussing in reference to your own project and then report that back to the group.  If you have done some of that work ahead of time it will go smoother and we'll get more done.  I will be checking the blog and wikis each day and providing comments through the blog, so it might be helpful to you to stop in during the morning and see what I have shared...as always, it is your call...but I am hoping to be able to provide you some help.  Have a great weekend.

Glad to see you here

   Well, as I write this 13 of you have found your way here as followers and that is a good start.  I realized on the way home that we debated the Saturday class and went back and forth on the date.  I think the best thing, after hearing from everyone, is to stay on October 31st and we'll just be out in plenty of time for the Trick or Treaters.  I will work on our classroom for that day and try to get us away from the mass of retirees who will be in the building.  Now, as for the class last night, I know that we didn't get to the model itself but I was determined to get you started on your blogs and provide some class time if you wanted it to get started.  That meant I curtailed some of what I would normally do on the first night.  We'll start right in with the model on the 20th, but you need to have read through your assigned readings and established at least a modicum of familiarity with Caffarella's model.  It is a very simple model to work with, so I'm not worried about you picking it up.  I will try to focus on discussions on each of the steps so that it relates directly to your case studies...we can use your problem sets as our discussion examples if you just think through the issues and bring them up.
   I'm very glad to see everyone a member of the Wiki...welcome Gerry...and look forward to watching your pages grow.  In order to provide you some assistance, Dr. Collins has allowed me to refer you to the Wiki she has used with her Intro class...you'll be able to view the pages, but will not be able to modify them.  Her Wiki's URL is http://www.AdultEducation.wikispaces.com and the two pages I would like you to take a look at are those on Peter Cooper and Myles Horton.  These provide you good examples of what you can do and the information on Myles Horton will be helpful in your Social Foundations class.  Have a good holiday weekend.

Day One

   If you have found the blog you have accomplished the initial task.  I will blog here after every class with my observations and answers to questions that I receive after class.  I will also blog here during the weeks that we do not meet because of my attendance at conferences or accreditation visits.  Both of these activities are closely related to our topic, so I will discuss them as well as the assigned readings in those blog posts.  I expect you to check the blog at a minimum of once a week, as I will also be asking questions of you that I will pose during our class sessions.  Please join the blog as a follower, that way I know that you have found it and are linked into this Web 2.0 tool.  Thanks.  This is our way of open communication, so that everyone sees the questions that you have about our topics.  If you need to communicate with me privately, use the email address provided on the syllabus.