Converge 2011

Well, am currently attending my annual digital technology / networking infusion! Taking some time out from the office to meet up with old friends make some new ones  and learn all about exciting new digital technologies / education / e-learning trends  at Converge 2011 at the Rydges Bell City in Melbourne!
Day 1:
Here I am with my friend Ann!

And here is a little animoto account of my day 1 highlights:

After Reflect and Connect

Well,  sadly the reflect and connect course is now behind us, however learned a great deal about myself as well as lots of new ways to improve my performance in my professional life also.
As one of my final tasks I have developed an e-portfolio of my journey through the course and all the exciting technology I found and had heaps of fun with to hopefully meet all the competencies needed to gain an RPL for;
CHCORG428A Reflect on and improve own professional practice, just now awaiting final assessment. :)
Here are some screen shots of my e-portfolio:

Reflect & Connect - my first mind map!

This was an interesting assignment for me as I have never put together a mind map before and as usual my mind went into overdrive and immediately the idea of a mind map became very complicated lol.
So, struggled a little to get myself to think in a more micro way than my normal macro. After looking at some examples and reading up on mind maps I came up with the pic below. Although it looks a little busy with all the connecting lines I hope you will see, my map is a reflection of week 2 using tools and resources and my experience of the week and how, why, when and who with we used some of these tools.

Reflect & Connect - my e-idea action plan!

The next thing was to put those goals into action and here is the my e-idea action plan.
This took me a while to get in order and lots of writing it in and reviewing and changing however we have a finished product that I am pretty happy with and of course always up for renegotiation should things start to go pear shaped or head into another pathway and I will always have this great reference tool (my e-idea action plan) to either bring me mack onto track or review and explore a new pathway!

 

Name: Kathryn Matthews	Focus area
	Reflecting and Connecting on course performance

My E-dea Statement

Gather my artifacts from this reflect and connect course to develop my e portfolio to use as an RPL for CHCORG428A Reflect on and improve own professional practice.

Action Steps What will need to be done?	Resources A.    Resources Available B.    Resources Needed (financial, human, political & other)	Potential Barriers A.    What problems could occur with this step? B.    What might you do to overcome them?	Timeline When do you plan to have this done by?
Step 1: Determine goals and aims for the course	A. Reflect & Connect forums B. Time and thought processes. Ability to break goals into bite sized pieces.	A. Making unrealistic/unachievable goals. B. Make sure goals /aims can be achieved in time frame. Break goals down into small steps each building upon the other. Put some rewards in place as an incentive to move onto the next goal step.	By Week 4
Step 2: Contribute and share in course activities and give feedback. Participation in weekly online meetings	A. Computer and internet service. Fellow course participants. Blog. B. Time, good feedback techniques. 11/2 hours each Monday night for meeting. Elluminate skills,	A. Not enough interaction in forums and blogs. Not dedicating time each week to update blog. Conflict with work engagements/commitments. B. Dedicate time to interact in forums blog and Monday night meetings each week. Use forum posts to update blog. Make sure read and provide positive feedback to fellow participants. Visit fellow learners’ blogs and leave positive comments. Plan and prioritize tasks required.	By end of course
Step 3: Gather artifacts as make way through course	A. Artifacts produced as moving through course ie; assignments and interaction, team assignments. Templates and resources on Reflect & Connect Moodle and internet. B. File and folder management skills. Skills in determining	A. Don’t get  assignments done on time or at all. Getting bogged down in artifacts B. Allot regular timeframes for gathering artifacts in folder on PC ready for upload to Mahara. Resource templates to pick one that suits my learning style. Just pick one or two artifacts that best describe the activity. Don’t forget to ask for help if needed. Put ideas into forums for feedback if not sure.	By end of course
Step 4: Produce a view in Mahara to share with fellow learners and to use for RPL	A. Mahara. Resources and templates within Mahara environment and on internet. B. Skills needed to understand Mahara environment and use of Mahara tools.	A. Getting bogged down in trying to fit too much in. B. Resource templates to pick one that suits my learning style. Pick one or two artifacts that best describe the activity Investigate and explore Mahara before starting to upload and make view. Don’t forget to ask for help if needed. Put ideas into forums for feedback if not sure.	By end of course

Evidence Of Success (How will you know that you are making progress? What are your benchmarks?)

1.      Interaction in Reflect & Connect forums

2.      Interactions in my blog and other learners’ blogs

3.      Completion of set assignments

4.      Attendance at Weekly online meetings.

5.      Positive feedback through the forums and my blog

6.      Self-satisfaction of performance

7.      Connection with fellow learners

Evaluation Process (How will you determine that your goal has been reached? What are your measures?)

1.      Reflection of experience

2.      Critical reflection of practices, assignments and Mahara view, goals and aims.

3.      Peer feedback

4.      Evaluation by Course facilitators

Reflect & Connect - it started with a goal

For the next few weeks or so will be concentrating on reflecting and connecting as I grow and develop my reflecting and connecting skills. Doing this great course - Reflect and Connect based on CHCORG428A Reflect on and improve own professional practice with Carole and Junita. So far have learned much. Watch my progress here - started with a goal:
"Firstly to develop a personal learning network and secondly to establish an eportfolio of my work to bring some order to bits and pieces I have scattered all over the internet. I would like to be able to show competencies to RPL towards my TAE qualification and to have them in an ordered place would be extremely helpful."
On some thought and reflection, came to the realization that:

"That my eyes were bigger than my belly: Like Sandra and following Monday night's session I have re-thought my goal and decided as usual, I was trying to fit way too much into my goal to be successfully achievable in the time frame available. On reflection I think it is much more reasonable to take one of those small steps and focus on a smaller more achievable goal in the time frame I have. Therefore my goal has altered to now gather my artifacts from this reflect and connect course to develop my e portfolio to use as an RPL for CHCORG428A Reflect on and improve own professional practice. Thinking about it, for me - this is what this course is all about.... reflecting and evaluating as you go and making adjustments to goals to make them more achievable. If I can accomplish this small step, it is then just a matter of applying the theory to the bigger picture ."

Reflect & Connect - my progress with mahara

Well it has been an interesting week! Have begun to sort out my eportfolio in Mahara.
Mahara seems to be a very professional looking and involved program to use however with a little playing in there I have managed to start filling in my profile, my resume and actually made a view to load in artifacts for the CHCORG428A  RPL process.
How would i rate Mahara ? It does take a little time to work it out, not a simple program to use, you need a little time to get your head around it and really you do need to plan what you are going to do before you start in Mahara, however I can see the merit in it. I have to say I was most impressed to find I could embed my external blog into there although not so impressed that I cant post into the blog from Mahara :(
Bottom line - I am very glad to have been able to experience Mahara under the support and guidance of the Reflect and Connect Team - Carole and Junita.

Reflect and Connect - A new beginning....

Started a course - Reflect and Connect!
My goals to achieve during the course - to develop an e-portfolio to use as a showcase of my abilities, gathering all the bits and pieces together as well as demonstrate the necessary competencies towards gaining my TAE via the RPL process.
I will use Mahara for this purpose and so will evaluate the process and mahara as an e-portfolio tool. Watch my journey through the course as I evaluate my processes and tools used. Post titles will contain the words "reflect and connect"!