Nancy White

Interesting commentary by Nancy White. I liked the idea of Twitter(I think)where you can tell your thoughts or get answers to questions from a greater number of people than just those enrolled on your courses. This would work so well in my carpentry trade across the polytechs in New Zealand. There must be a wealth of building knowledge among tutors throughout NZ but getting everyone together physically is a major problem due to work schedules. Online colaboration has to be looked at for this purpose and I must catch up with Matt to talk about this. Encouraging students to show the strugglers how to do things works well for me online, especially those who have limited English and computer skills.
On a separate note, I can relate to the discussion about feeling inadequate online. I tend to struggle with all the word based commentary as I am definitely a visual learner. However I need to understand the rationale of these online processes so I can apply them practically in the online environment.

Back on board

Have been a bit distracted the last week or so, had the flu as well. Can't access Namcy Whites talk here at work so I'll listen at home later and comment tomorrow. And will start responding to other blogs too. My personal community of friends have been busy going to Auck vs Taranaki rugby and Warriors vs Manly league games.

Conrad Glogowski

Listened to Conrad's elluminate session yesterday which was very enlightening. The four parts that should be in place prior to any learning are just as relevant online as they are in f2f teaching. You need to be organised and prepared before you start so that your target audience have buy in to their potential learning.
I wasn't that interested in the persona being important to a community but Conrad's reasoning and discussion shows the importance of the need to have a sense of belonging in a group learning environment.
We need to sort ours out asap.

First Blog

Hi all,

I'm Kerry Brown, programme leader for MIT's Nat Cert Carpentry programme. Been teaching for over ten years after 20 or so years on the building site.

I have two wonderful kids, Todd(11), and Zoe(9) who keep me young when get to see them.
I enjoy alternative/punk rock music, keeping reasonably fit, playing the guitar(learning) and building still.
Looking forward to using this blog and reading others to share thoughts,etc on communities within the elearning sector.

Cheers
Kerry