Initial+Discussions

HI EVERYONE

Will post here each week a copy and paste off our home page discussions for the week, newest at the top, just to keep the home page tidy. Will post a summary of decisions made during the week to the home discussion page and action points/points yet to be decided. Hope thats ok! SUE media type="custom" key="6633057" width="80" height="80"media type="custom" key="6633093" width="80" height="80"media type="custom" key="6633103" width="80" height="80" 1/8 WENDY: Hi Nourah. how about either of these. not sure why the first one is there twice. can't seem to remove it :). Hope it is ok to put it here Gabi. thought it was easier for Nourah to find. 1/8 NOURAH: Hi Wendy, thanks for that! I had stumbled across the 2nd youtube video when I briefly looked for market/HE in youtube... I think the 2nd one is better suited to my activity/topic. What do you guys think? 1/8 NOURAH: Hi all. Bit of an update - I've not had a chance to look for extra resources just yet (Wendy if you come across a youtube/article about marketing in education I'd really appreciate it) I'm busy trying to finish off 2 assignments this week - eeeeek! So apologies if I'm not on the wiki much. I noticed Maggie put up our stream so we can start on that.. I'll start one for my activity and give you the link to put on the website Gabi. We can put a "READ THIS FIRST" also; guess we can keep it short as the website explains everything. See you guys on Tuesday in Adobe :-) p.s. website looks fab Gabi ! 30/7 SUE: Website looks good Gabi - having to shift my son tomorrow morning then will be just reviewing everything here and on my activity. When would everyone like to meet in the Adobe room to go over everything - what about say Tuesday night at 8.00 pm? (Gb): sounds good! WS:Yep I can do that... if it just as easy as linking in from the website...will i need to do anything else?? NOURAH: I shud b able to mk it :) WENDY: 30/7 I have posted the Research info to the WEbpage with an extra reading resource. hope you can find it there. Is there anything else i can do to support you anywhere else? Happy to find more articles or youtubes if this is helpful 28/07 Hi everyone! please check out the website. I think I've nearly finalised it. An important point. We have a rather large shortfall/oversight in that we have not sourced and provided any quality, authoritative resources of our own. Wendy has provided a youtube, but I feel we need to seriously consider providing some high quality resources, in particular journal articles, of our own. I have sourced some for my own activity, and they're on my wiki page that I set up for my activity (click the link from the website). Please can everyone provide 1 possible supporting resource for your activties. We don't want to overwhelm people with too many. Thanks.

=28/07 (GB): URGENT NOTICE = =Wendy: I need to know where and how your research activity is to take place. If it's research activity, technically there should be no discussion...especially as Nourah is leading a discussion, and Sue has a discussion following her guest speaker. How do you intend to structure your activity? = =Many thanks for getting back to me :-) = =28/7 WS: hi Gabi have seen your notice. will work on this tonite. how do you see it looking? do you want a couple of questions to focus everyones thinking on the issue? will they then post these onto stream as a reposne to the questions or do you see this done differently? = (Gb) Over to you...I guess if it's supposed to be research, you need to be directly them to research something. Maybe a great idea would have been be for you and me to combine our activities. You could have directed them to research, and they posted them to my wiki, but we're doing separate topics, so thats a bit of a bummer. I think we need to ask Sue and Nourah to help us out here! ACTION POINTS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
 * Gabi is in the processing of creating a wonderful website at []
 * Sue has posted in the Learning outcomes page proposed learning outcomes for us all to agree to
 * We are all in the process of posting up our activity outlines and introductions for Gabi to put in the website. These are being posted both in our individual activity pages and in Gabi's WEBPAGE link to the right of this screen.
 * There is now a timeline - general seminar outline page - can everyone take a look at this and see what you think?
 * Sunday is the deadline for all activity outlines to be up - what isnt through in draft format by then we will all dive in and do together or Sue will do if that works better as I have time


 * DISCUSSION POINTS: NEWEST AT THE TOP**

24/07 SUE: Random thought from a random person - I really want a doughnut right now. (GB): LMAO! can I have one? and a cup of tea with rice milk please ;-) SUE: Okedokee - coming through the fibre optics right now!

27/07 NOURAH: Hey gang, I made a wordle for our seminar you can view it [|here] Thought it might be fun to put up on the website? Or on the wiki/stream? Have a 'keywords' page? Not necessarily needed but just fun! Anyway have a look if you have time :-) This is me procrastinating... Off to do some study ~ I re-did the wordle but then with purple also... you can see it [|here] OK i really have to go study now lol. Don't feel obliged to include it in our presentation, I know its been a lot of work so far anyway and dont want to add extra just thought it might b fun. :-)

24/07 - NOURAH: Hey Gab I had a quick look at the website but I'm back on the mini so it is small again and hard to read so I'll take a proper look tomorrow sometime. Looks great though and thank you so much for all the time, effort and love you are putting into this website. Let me know if I need to make any other changes on my activity before you put it up.. Like I said I'll plan a mind map for my own sake sometime over the next 2 weeks but if I can lighten your load in any way and help out with something else please let me know :-) Thanks again, may I say you are doing a wonderful job! Time for bed for me too!!

24/07/ - SUE: Thats great Gabi coming along nicely. Just wondering on my page could you please delete Professor out of marg's intro - she hates titles I just found out - Cheerz. Would you like to give each of us access to tweak our own activity webpage then you dont need to be doing it for us? Just wondering too, what if we start using this home page for our general bla bla/alerts only and use each of our activity pages for discussions in the notes section I just put at the bottom. What if we date each posting like we have done above, oldest on the top. Welcome your thoughts.

24/07 - NOURAH: Sounds good Sue, I think dating our posts is good and I agree with using our activty pages for discussions on those. 24/7 WENDY: your activities are looking great. let me know if there is anything that i can do. i really like the look of the website. i think it is a good idea to keep it brief and have the rest of the info in the links. Catch you tomorrow

UP TO 24/7/10

(GB): Thanks for the tidy up Sue. Can everyone take a look at the website? Been a labour of love! Also, I've posted narrative for stream to the page @WEBPAGE SUE: My goodness Gabi this is sensational - and this is your first attempt? Wowwwwww! (GB): I think I'm hooked! They're just templates, but it takes time to figure out how to move everything around and get it right. Enjoying it thats for sure! WS: you have done a fantastic Gabi. your IT skills are fantastic. I am struggling at time with my basic skills


 * GABI CURRENT ACTIVE DISCUSSION RE WEBPAGE BELOW**

Hi ladies, the website is ready for me to insert everything. I have gone with this structure. Can change if required. **Topic 1 Marketing and ICT in Education** Activity 1 thought discussion activity 2 research activity

**Topic 2 Culture and ICT in Education** Activity 3 Wiki Activity Activity 4 Synchronous Discussion

Looks great Gab ! I hope to have the full activity up by tomorrow so that you guys can suggest any changes if need be. I added to the thought discussion page on here last night, do you ladies mind having a quick look if time allows? Greatly appreciate all ur feedback n hard work. Thanks for feedback Gabs n Sue. Notify doesnt seem to be working for any other page than home page. Thanks for the ideas I am hopeful to have everything together and ready tomorrow so it should all b a bit clearer by then. Thanks again. (GB): go to 'notify me' then click on 'wiki-wide notification'

= Hi ladies! I urgently need everyone to write their activity instructions fully for the webpage please. Please list the learning outcomes for your activity. Please post these instructions and learning outcomes urgently to the page I'll set up named "WEBPAGE". You'll need to state clearly and succinctly what your activity is, what is required. You need to keep this as short as possible, but not so short you miss critical information. If your activity refers them back to stream or a wiki etc, you'll need to include those links for me, and then I'll link them in the webpage. I should be able to post the webpage soon so we can all see, and you can email me to edit anything, and tell me if you like it or not. Thanks heaps guys, hopefully see some instructions soon. Cheers Gabi =

Gabi is setting up a web-page, where we list our expectations, and expand our activities. Thought discussions will take place on Stream, where we will set up the forums. Wiki activities will occur on wikispaces, where I will set up a dedicated wiki. Gabi happy to work on the website. Check this out as an example of what we can do (Gabi's Friend Melz designed this) [|//http://www.wix.com/demelza/community-through-cmc//]

(GB): Sue...a big thank you to you for your hard work 'behind the scenes' here while I've been busy developing the website. you'll score 10 out of 10 from me! LO's looking GREAT. Just need to work on ours a bit more to make it more user friendly for my activity. I'll heavily rely on you for this, since you've developed them in line with our student agreement. I don't think Maggie will mind if we change somewhat...given we have 'evolved'. I'm just hoping you have some ideas! :-) you rock! you've been a huge help this past week so thank you!

SUE: Hey Gabi no worries, thank you and a big 10 out of 10 to you too! This website idea of yours is absolutely fantastic and knits the whole thing together nicely. Your idea too for this wiki was superb and is running like a dream now we are finding our little feet. Re the LOs you just tweak away and am more than happy to be there 100% on this for all concerned. Chat soon - timeline will be up tomorrow, Ill make another page if thats okay with you.

I am also thinking that now we are working on the fly to get this up and running, would you think it appropriate to start making a "decision/feedback deadline"? That is to say if we post up a decision making question or a request for feedback, and we post it in the morning we give it to the end of that day of posting, say 9pm before we run with the general consensus on those that have voted so far? Alternatively if the question is posted at night, we give it till lunchtime of the following day for a decision to be reached? With time fast approaching I am getting a bit worried that if we wait too long for general consensus decisions to be reached we will hold back the work in progress perhaps. What does everyone think - is that too pressured?

(GB): Hi Sue, Yes, I think we need to start moving faster, as I it's going to take a huge amount of time to load everything into the website and make sure it all looks right. We then need to test it critically to ensure it makes sense, and is user friendly. I can not leave this for the last minute as I am also running a seminar the same week for my other paper. I am under a fair bit of pressure, and Nourah and Wendy's lack of input is putting quite a strain on the deadlines.All activities were supposed to be finished by 18 July. It's now 23 July, and I intended to have website finished this weekend.

SUE: Yup it is indeed. Hey am more than happy to step up to the plate a bit more here and construct some activities for Wendy and Nourah if life is not treating them well at the moment. Then they can just run them during the seminar week. I think life is treating a lot of people on this planet quite harshly at the moment, the main thing now is that we really put the pedal to the metal and get the job done. Im in quite a strong position re time right now and we really cant wait much longer. Lets say if they are unable to post their activities by Sunday night, Ill pull up the reins and start writing these two activities too eh. I can also jump in and do the fiddly stuff on the website too to take some pressure off you - just let me know. Sometimes for unforseen reasons one member of a team can be in a stronger position time wise, which I am so quite happy - I just want to see this job done. (GB): Hey Sue, thats an excellent idea. Thanks so much for your perspective. I think thats a great idea, we'll arrange the activity ourselves next week if we haven't seen anything come through. Now that the learning outcomes are done, it won't be too hard. I imagine the research will just end up being a thought discussion, backed up with one or two researched references, or something like that. Really complements what I plan to do with my annotated bibiliography for the Wiki. Did you see the LO I made up to cover this/ Love to hear your thoughts. G :-)

Nourah: Hi ladies, thank you so much for your work on the website and LOs they are looking fantastic. I know I have been somewhat inactive with this due to various personal reasons and I know we all have other things to commit to so I very much appreciate all the work that you have put in. I am able to be online more often these days and I am willing to help as much as I can with other activities. I am putting my thought discussion together now and wil try it post asap and get any feedback I can from you all. I agree with letting all the activities run for the full 2 weeks; putting 'due dates' for each will add to pressure and maybe get confusing, I think this was seminar one's downfall. I know what you mean about decision feedback deadlines Sue... Perhaps we could say can everyone have their activity up by Sunday night at the latest and we can give feedback on Monday? Tuesday everything should be 'perfect'...? Like you suggested earlier perhaps we could msn/skype about it sometime next week? We start on the 9th so we have 2 weeks but I say we try to get as much as we can done as early as possible so that we can get feedback from each other and Maggie and any tweaking should be done next week at the latest. We all have other papers/responsibilities to keep up with as well.. what do you guys think? (GB): Hi Nourah, I'm afraid you're going to have to put a fair bit of effort in, as I need to get everything on the website this weekend. Our individual activities were supposed to be finished by 18 July, if you check timeline at the bottom of this page. Sorry to put the 'screws on', but it takes a huge amount of time to get stuff onto website, and I need lots of time to refine, and have time for you guys to check and feedback. I will be sending Wendy an email asking for urgent action also. Thanks. WS: I am catching up with your info here and will work on this today. I had my info completed by the 18th deadline but i reals\ize that others have posted this week. I haven't been unable to check for the last couple of days. I will include my LO's today and give some feedback to the things you have posted. I note your comments about putting in more effort - what would you like me to have input into. what jobs would you like me to do? ​WENDY: i have caught up with the things you have been working on the last few days. a fantastic job on the website gabi - you have done an amazing job. i have a better idea of what you expect of me now - the ideas that you have worked on a great. i will work hard on LO 2 today and tomorrow- i apologise for my misunderstanding. i think working in a primary school is far removed from the tertiary sector - the picture i had in my hear obviously wasn't clear or in line with your ideas (GB): thats fantastic Wendy, great to have you 'back on board'. Glad things are clearer now. If you could take LO2 for Marketing, and work it into your activity, and put together clear and concise instructions, we can take it and run with it. Thanks for the positive feedback too :-) SUE: Looking good everyone - still working on timeline and overall picture that has evolved here. Have football in the morning then will be back on from there.

(Nourah: Looks great Sue thanks for that! Feel free to erase this once you've read it ;) just wanted to say good job! Shall we aim to have everything up on the webpage by Sunday night so we can have next week to tweak any changes that need to be made? Oh and wanted to ask everyone's opinion on keeping the thought discussion open for the full two weeks so they can answer this any time? Or I could only have it running in the first week so they can focus on the culture aspect of things in week 2?

NOURAH: WOW Gab the website looks amazing. I know you have put so much work and effort into it and it does not go unnoticed! It is a top notch job and i'm super impressed. Thank you for putting in all the work for this and like I said I have been rather inactive due to various reasons but I intend to try and make up for lost time and do my best to help with every activity as I can. One wee thing I thoguht I should mention, when I open the webpage through the link it is very small and hard to read... maybe something to do with my computer? However when I open the link of the example below it seems fine.. Thought it was worth mentioning. Can I just say WOW once more and thanks to you and Sue for your great leadership.

Nourah: Hi Gab n Sue, like i said apologies for the lack of involvement, after my uncles death we received another bad piece of news in teh family and I'm trying to deal with it while keeping momentum with working on all my papers. I aim to have everything up tomorrow at the latest, I realise Gab that your website will take time and I hope to make things easier for you. I would also like to help out extra once that it done as you and Sue have done a lot of extra stuff up to now (which I really appreciate, due to my family situation. thank you both for all ur words of encouragement

SUMMARY POINTS FOR THE WEEK

> which will house our whole seminar, with links off to the various discussions in Stream, meeting rooms etc
 * Gabi is in the processing of creating a wonderful website at [|//http://www.wix.com/demelza/community-through-cmc//]
 * I have posted in the Learning outcomes page proposed learning outcomes for us all to agree to
 * We are all in the process of posting up our activity outlines and introductions for Gabi to put in the website
 * There is a timeline currently in development outlining our timeline from here, both in regards to our seminar development and seminar production

DISCUSSIONS FOR WEEKS UP TO 22/07/2010 BELOW

Hi Wendy Sue and Nourah! Well, it's our 'deadline' for our individual contributions/ideas. Hopefully everyone has got a fair idea of how they want to run their activity (with help from us all of course!) I'm looking forward ot getting back into a more collaborative style of working, where we help each other again. I have some ideas for structuring our seminar I'd like to share with you, and get feedback? I'm thinking we could set up a web-page, where we list our expectations, and expand our activities. Thought discussions will take place on Stream, where we will set up the forums. Wiki activities will occur on wikispaces, where I will set up a dedicated wiki. I am happy to work on the website. Check this out as an example of what we can do (My Friend Melz designed this) [|//http://www.wix.com/demelza/community-through-cmc//] Can't wait to hear your thoughts! :-) Cheers Gabs

SUE: Hi Gabi - great thoughts, just wondering, will the web site act as the cohesive agent with links to the wiki, Stream forum, Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro meeting room etc? In other words our first posting in Stream will be quite brief directing them straight to the website which will display a clear road map of what they are to do and the technology tools that they are going to be using? Are you sure you are okay with undertaking design of the website itself - Im more than happy to help you on this. Gab: Hey Sue, yes thats exactly how I thought it might work. I'd love help on the website. I'll try to link you in through wix.com. So you agree I should give the website design a go? SUE: Yup I think it is a fantastic idea - because we are using multiple technologies to run our seminar (even though we need to be probably more content focussed rather than too techo in the Foundations paper) we really need a central point from which to direct them. I also think it is a great idea to take them out of Stream, where they have been working all year, and give them a new place to "go" to work - I think that will spark their interest and motivation instead of the same old same old. Gab: awesome! ok...this is my first time...I'm a website virgin, so there are no guarantees here :-) SUE: Hey - whatever you do is absolutely fantastic! Lets all throw caution to the wind, we can only give it our best shot, dive in there and give it all a go! Let me know where you want me to plug in and help.  Gab: Website is now well underway (I work fast!)...However, in order to continue, I urgently need to know which order we intend to do our activities in....please could you guys urgently provide me with some guidance/ideas/advice as to order. What makes the most logical sense? Thanks heaps!  Nourah: Hi Team good work with the seminar introduction, i will try to add something to it soon... Thanks Sue for getting to the learning objectives. As far as the thought discussions go, I was thinking to leave the forum open for the whole two weeks? That way students will have time to work through the other activities also and not have a tight time frame with the thought discussion... Wendy, I am good to go 7.30 for the discussion, if Gab and others prefer 8.30 thats fine too. Others may be in the same situation as Gab and 8.30 might be a better time for them? Something to consider? I like the idea of allowing everyone to create their own thread for each task... however I plan to lay out the thought discussion as Maggie has done in the past, giving students something familiar to work on as well as allowing some great feedback from peers. So I will set up the discussion threads for the questions and students can initiate discussion and respond etc and we will also have clear structure in terms of keeping track of the discussion questions... thoughts? Once again Gab and Sue can I thank you both for leading the team and keeping us on track. Very much appreciated especially in this hard time we are going through and I thank all of you for your understanding. Sue, sorry to hear about your son, hope he is on the mend. Thanks guys (GB): Hi Nourah, all the instructions for your activity, and the questions, will go on the website. You'll just have the thread themselves for answers in Stream. Otherwise we risk people not looking at the website for full activity instructions. Hope that makes sense. Nourah: Hi Gab, cool thts great I understand. I will make threads for answers in stream... rather than students each making their own threads to each answer resulting in 20+ threads.. do you know what I mean? I am a bit confused about them creating their own threads for each task..am I confusing myself?! (GB): Hi Nourah, probably one thread for each topic will suffice. Sometimes people like to make their own thread, and I guess that's fine too. My thoughts, anyway, for what they're worth :-)

SUE: Hi Guys bit of a lengthy posting but have lots to put forward - am working on learning outcome modifications, working out division of topic 2 between myself and Gabi (Gabi I will take the heavier load here as you are flat tack with the website) and a prototype division of topic 1 for Wendy and Nourah just to get a bit of an outline going to make sure we cover off all the learning outcomes in our activities. Also working on a timeline framework to propose to the group so we hit our goal of delivery. All will be revealed tomorrow for your thoughts. Gabi just wondering if you can hold the bus on the activity order in the website till tomorrow pm, just nutting this out in the overall framework I am working on - would that be ok ? Just trying to wrap it into some sort of logical order around the learning outcomes. (GB): That sounds fine. As long as I have all the info I need by the weekend, I can spend a block of time on it on saturday. Just need to make everyone aware that website takes a lot of time to design, and we will also need time to edit and give feedback on it. Already 21 July! Sue...soooooo appreciate you working so hard on the learning outcomes and overall shape. Thank you for being such a great support.

Nourah just a wee suggestion, sometimes it helps if you work out a bit of a mindmap re how you see your discussion running - I often do this on a big sheet of paper on the floor, lets me figure out variables - what the students see, where the discussion may go etc. Then if you turn this mindmap to your activity page for us all to look at then we can offer any modifications that might help.

Gabi I am wondering - do you think it would be a good idea if we clean this home discussion page of ours off over to our initial discussions page once a week? I can see it getting quite full - more than happy to do. the housework. What I would do is do a bit of summary of points that we have covered and agreed to during the week. (GB): sounds good!

Also, last but not least, I am a full time student so am nailed 6 days a week to the computer at the moment so am more than happy to plug maximum effort from here on to help everyone through this. Just chuck whatever you are stuck with or dont have time for my way and I will beaver away. Nourah I think you are full time too so if you ever want someone to chat with in this lonely land of full time extramural study feel free to give me a tinkle - 09 4242856 - same goes for anyone else who wants a chin wag. This is going to be fun - what a neat team we have here - lets go for gold ladies! (GB): Sue thanks so much. I am working fulltime, and trying to do seminar for my other paper to, so I appreciate this. Website design is also all-consuming. Can't wait to show you what I have. Nourah: Hi Ladies, Sue this sounds great and thank you so much for all your effort and support. Great suggestion about the mindmap I will try to have a clear, succinct plan for the thought discussions up soon as I can hopefully addressing all the learning outcomes and making it clear for you all to understand (and for our fellow classmates to understand!).


 * CAN EVERYONE PLEASE START COMMENTING ON EACH OF THE FOUR ACTIVITIES ON THIS WIKI. PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS DOWN THE BOTTOM OF EACH OF THE PAGES. **

**IDEAS FOR OUR SEMINAR INTRODUCTION** // Hi everyone, // // Welcome to Group Three's seminar on Culture and Marketing!! As a group, we will explore the roles and functions of culture in the uptake of ICT in education, and how Marketing prowess influences what and how we use ICT products in education. // // Everything you need to know is in the opening page; but please make sure you read the ˜guidelines" of every page before starting the tasks (this may save you some time later on). // // Website url: // // Time frame: __2 weeks.__ // // We expect you to complete at least 3 or the four possible tasks taking approximately 4 hours per week (including responding to other participants). Your contribution and responses to other participants will enhance the outcomes of this seminar and there should be sufficient time for this. We realise there will be other demands over the next two weeks; hence, the dates given for each task act as a guideline to work with so you can spread the tasks over two weeks and we have made some of the readings optional in the 'background materials' package- but all are worth a skim read and will help you with the tasks. // // (And something like this for navigation guidance) - Each task can be accessed by using the navigation bar at the top of the opening page. Any readings can be accessed by clicking on the name of the author (under ˜Related Resources"). // // **We have decided to let you create your own threads for each task,** it may get a bit messy but this way it is easy to monitor and see responses/feedback to your contributions. For example, someone may not have any responses then we may need to facilitate some discussion for that thread. // // I hope you benefit from participating in this seminar; you may even enjoy parts!! If you need any clarification at all, let us know through this thread. // // Good luck! // // Gabi, Wendy, Nourah and Sue. //

HI Everyone Just wanting a bit of feedback please - I am thinking of scheduling the synchronous discussion in for Sunday 15th of August at 7.30 pm. What do you think? Cheers. Oh and thinking of using Adobe Connect - Maggie emailed us a link to our own room - are you all in agreement with that too? Regards Sue Gab: Hi Sue, sorry I just noticed your post. Notify doesn't seem to be working. ...personally I'd prefer 8.30 ish so I know my daughter is in bed! But that's just me :-) I'm not convinced about adobe connect after my experience with it last weekend for John Dron. But i'm not sure what other/better options there are....over to you :-) Sue: Hi Gab Okedokee will note that and wait for feedback from the others. Will see what other options I can come up with other than Adobe. Might call the team in just for a quick trial run in our Adobe room and see how it works. Chat soon. Sue: Team update - marg gilling is all good to do a guest speak for us re cultures. Will formulate over the next week exactly what I propose she speaks about then will check in with the team. Wendy: This all looks good. i didn't use the link with Jon Dron - might be good to have a trial Wendy: Hi me again. i have been re-reading our two readings and looking on the net for complementary info. I am aware that we don't want to overload students with too much to do. i know htat each fortnight it is enough for me to read the artilces and comment and carry on any dialogue with the other students. i have tried to find some you tubes as well as articles. i like the international reflections from Leeds Uni [] - would we like to do something along this line? i will include 2 related reading I have found and any you tubes on the research page. what do you think about extra research?? Nourah: Hi Team, apologies for the lack of communication ive been rather busy with assignments for other papers. As far as Adobe connect goes, I have not used it befrore... pretty much any time for the discussion however is good for me. Good idea to have a trial I think. I will get back to you guys before the end of next week with my piece of the puzzle. Hope wikis & other assignments etc are all moving along nicely for you guys. Talk soon :) WENDY: HI team...been checking - how are we going? any feedback? after working on Seminar one i think we have to be really careful of making the tasks too big. what do you guys think??  NOURAH: i team, sorry for my lack of input in Sem1 and also not having put my ideas up on wiki yet. we have recently had a loss in the family, my uncle just passed away so its been a very tough time for family. I will try to have something useful up by wednesday altho i know it is past the 18th. how is everyone else going? ​SUE: Hi everyone. Wendy, I would agree - I am having difficulty in keeping up with Seminar One myself, Im late with postings, so much to read including our prescribed readings for this week. The double workload of trying to work on our own seminar contributions together with the active seminar takes a bit of getting used to! Re your ideas above, if its okay with you will just see the overall contributions from each of us and see how it knits together over the next week. Nourah, thats okay, my condolences to you and the family. Semester One from me was the semester from hell, with loss of a family member and other difficult things occuring so I sympathise with you. I am still catching up the workload. I too will be posting over the next couple of days to our wiki environment. I am quite keen once we have got our our ideas on there to perhaps have a wee Skype chat meeting together to talk them through - what do you guys think? Take care, talk soon. GAB: Hi Nourah, sorry for your loss. Look forward to seeing your activity ideas. Wendy...I AGREE TOTALLY!! Lets keep things simple and easy. If necesary we can even modify each of our activities...e.g...maybe we combine the research activity with my wiki activity...e.g. mayne people research, and then post their ideas on a wiki? I'm ALL for keeping things simple and manageable, but keeping enough depth and breadth to keep the standard high. I am finding seminar one confusing and labourious. Cheers :-) WENDY: agreed. i am happy to change the research page to just the youtubes and the reflection - this could all be refleted on, on the wiki space.  SUE: Just a quick message, had hoped to post today - my son has knocked himself unconcious and cut his head with a concrete saw and is in hospital so will be offline for a bit whilst I sort this out. Chat soon.  SUE: Hi everyone, back again and working in earnest. I am wondering if it would be helpful to our team to have a content point checklist operating somewhere in the background to ensure that between all of our activities we check off each of the learning points that we have loosely detailed in our brief, assigning our name/activity to each point. I have detailed below the learning points as I see them, welcome your feedback on if you think this would be helpful, Gabi if you think this is best deleted or posted in a separate area within our wiki site feel free to do so and if it is to stay within our midst, could everyone please check I have got all the points covered off and havent missed anything. Cheers. Gab: Hi Sue this is awesome stuff. are these our learning outcomes? or could be adapted to learning outcomes? Do they cover all of our activities? I'm going to get started on the website... Could you guys have a look at my wiki activity and give feedback? SUE: Yes these are but will just double check and tickle up into outcomes tomorrow. Would be grateful if you could set up a separate page for these Gabi to take them out of this main page if thats okay and would be grateful if everyone could please just double check that they are all there. Have posted some feedback on your wiki Gabi centred mainly around the learning outcome checking off. Would be grateful if everyone could confirm on my activity page that the date of 15th August at 7.30 pm is okay, that all are happy with using Adobe Connect Pro and also post a date and time suitable in the near future (maybe this Sunday at 7.30pm) that we could all meet to have a bit of a play around with it and just be really sure we are happy with this. Would be possibly a good time for a chin wag too around where we are heading. Gab: Hi Sue....I'll post a page called 'Learning outcomes, and copy over. I have my doubts my internet connection will support a connect meeting, but I can definitely try. I only have a lappy, and a telecom stick for connection. Not great! :-) SUE: Cheers for the page setup. Re the Telecom stick, that was all I had at the John Dron seminar - was at my mother in laws 80th, disappeared off to the car with the laptop and attended the meeting (yeah, naughty eh) and it worked a treat when everyone else was dropping off during the seminar. Definitely coverage/connectivity related as to whether or not it will work well though. Gab: Hi Nourah, thanks for the nomination. Interested to hear what Wendy and Sue think. I will put you in the theme sign up agreement for the discussion, and list Wendy to facilitate the research. No one should panic, as we will all decide together how things should be structured and run, and what the topics and format will be for all the activities. Wendy: I agree you have been doing a great job Gab - definite nomiation for chairperson. happy to do the research. will help with the abstract S  Sue: Yup most definitely - Gab if you are happy to be chairperson. Great stuff.
 * The sign up agreement looks good thus far Gab.. Yes I'm happy to take on the discussion and if Wendy wants to she can take research. If she would rather work together on those however that's okay too, let me know wendy :)**
 * Gab, I'd like to nominate you as chairperson if everyone agrees? :D**

Gab: OK ONE WEEK TO GO AND NO ACTION? SHOULD I BE WORRIED GUYS? // SUE: Yup time is indeedy marching on folks. // //Gab: Hi Sue, I agree. On Wednesday, I'll start throwing some stuff in the agreement. I do not like leaving things to the last minute, so thanks for suggesting a deadline. I don't want to be working this weekend.// // SUE: Hi Gabi will check in again tomorrow and see what you have popped in and will build on that. I am a bit worried that we are moving to the agreement without a topic consensus just yet, but yes time is marching on so we need to get going somewhere. I will be checking in every day including the weekend except for Thursday as I am moving house that day, so will add and build on what everyone submits to the agreement/wiki. Would it be possible that you could just check in on Sunday night say just in case something has been added over the weekend that you would like to modify? // gab: Hi Sue I've started making 'consensus' decisions, but this is not a dictatorship :-) SUE: Cool bananas! - yup know its not a dictatorship - really grateful you have taken the lead to get this one moving on. Just jumping alongside you now to help paddle the waka. The summarising into a consensus is good stuff. Now we are moving. Cheerz. **Gab: Hi Wendy...link looks like gobbeldygoop to me??? How bout I set up another page for 'RESOURCES'...we can throw everything in there, and we can give them to students as extra 'optional stuff' to look at.**

=**DISCUSSION:**=

// Sue: Agreed - did you all see Maggie's response to Mark posted today just clarifying a little more here? // //Gab: Hi Sue, thanks for responding! Yes, I got Maggie's email today...I think I was already on the right track, would you agree?// // Sue: Yup definitely on target with Mod 4 content as our focus. //​
 * Gab: We are scheduled to deliver on during week 17, which is Aug 9 to 13.**
 * This is Module Four: Global Educational Challenges and E-learning.**
 * The related readings are 16 to 22.**

Gab: My personal preference is to stay away from a seminar that is very context specific (such as primary or secondary), since I'm in tertiary. I'd be keen for us to put together a seminar that can be applied cross- context. So maybe something general? What does everyone else think? // Sue: I agree to stay away with anything context specific as I am also in tertiary. Something general is a great idea. Still trying to sift through the readings and come to grips with possible topic focuses. // // ​Sue: So far you and I are in agreement on this one Gabi, just waiting to hear what the other s think then we can tick this point off our list. // SUE: noted and agreed
 * CONSENSUS: Generic context. See topic ideas below.**

TOPIC DISCUSSION:
Gab: So is there any ideas floating around about the topic we might like to focus on (aligning with the global challenges topic)? I'm keen to steer clear of anything that any of us are doing for our Wiki's. Some topics I'm thinking of could include (and these relate to readings 16 and 17): " how has marketing influenced the use of ICT in education globally" or conversely: "How has education become a marketers dream" or completely differently: "how does culture influence the use of ICT in education" // Sue: Not wanting to look like I am taking the easy way and just following your lead, but I actually really like the "How does culture influence the use of ICT in education". How do we bridge the cultural digital divide! For me personally the marketing ones might be a little bit out of my league, never been the worlds greatest at marketing a such. But happy to follow the general consensus. // //Gab: Thanks Sue, I'm glad you like my topic suggestions. I'm no marketing guru (not even close!). However, in defence of the first one from a generalist perspective, it could be a good one for us as a group to advocate, as all the research indicates that the instigation and implementation of ICT measures tends to be driven by marketing...people 'jump on the bandwagon' of the 'next big thing' without researching a products usefullness and utility.....investing big $$$ into something that is not always suitable to their needs. Good food for thoughts for us as future (and current!) leaders in our institutions.// // Sue: Gabi could you just tease out your ideas a bit more re taking the marketing angle? Just wondering are you looking from a statistics perspective, contrast/compare on student preference research only no stats, success/failure stories? Would be great to hear a little more. Cheers. Also am throwing around ....." how has marketing influenced the use of ICT in education globally" // // or conversely: "How has education become a marketers dream" I like the first one as we are specifying globally, using the word "influence" in relation to marketing, which is not so with the second topic which seems to come a little more heavily from the marketing perspective not specifying ICT or global in the topic outline. What do we all think? //
 * CONSENSUS: Seems everyone likes my ideas? no one has suggested any alternatives? So I propose:**
 * **Two discussion topics. Set up similarly to Maggies 'Thought Discussions'.**
 * 1) **how has marketing influenced the use of ICT in education globally**
 * 2) **how does culture influence the use of ICT in education**
 * **OR alternatively, we could have one topic as a thought discussion, and the second one as a Wiki which we set up and ask people to contribute to.**
 * **OR alternatively again, we could have the two thought discussions, and have an optional synchronous discussion with a guest speaker? Maybe Maggie can help us find an 'expert'?**

**SUE: Okay, I have put a proposal below as to the seminar delivery "framework"/methodology weaving in what you have suggested Gabi. What does everyone think?** My proposal is: Seminar framework - Thought Discussion plus Research Activity Seminar framework - Wiki plus 1/2 hour guest speak
 * **TOPIC 1 how has marketing influenced the use of ICT in education globally?**
 * **TOPIC 2 how does culture influence the use of ICT in education**

Re the guest speak we spend some time re a brief synchonous half hour guest speak do you think to start with just to tickle the "culture/education tastebuds? I am thinking of Marg Gilling perhaps - she takes one of my other papers - Culture and Diversity Adult Education - if of course she was available. I would have to check with her and also see how she felt about the ICT slant tho. When I get the consensus, will just ask Maggie if it would be rude/expecting too much to ask Marg to give us a half an hour of her time. Not sure of the protocol re this one. Gab: sounds excellent Sue! Love it if you'd lead the synchronous discussion and organise guest speaker.  WENDY: this sounds great. i have put a youtube link in above to Noam Chomsky on Globalization. could we do something like this for our research rather than more readings?? i like the idea of the guest speaker - good luck with that **Nourah: I like what you have proposed so far ladies thank you for the hard work..** **I think the two discussion topics above area great and I like the idea of a wiki. Guest speaker seems interesting too but Gabs you made a good point about synchronous discussion and how it will be difficult for everyone to attend...** Sue: Okeedokee - away we go then - I will take the sync discussion and get a guest speaker.

SEMINAR ACTIVITIES
Gab: Any ideas about the kind of seminar we might run? I notice form the specifications that it must have an interactive element...so would we want this to just be a discussion, or a debate? maybe a case study? Does anyone have any creative ideas? // Sue: Personally I am intrigued with the use of Adobe Connect and making it synchronous in parts, having used Breeze before. Am wondering how this would sit with everyone? Will have to dig a bit more into the brief then will come back with some thoughts as to possible framework suggestions. // //Gab: Great idea Sue...I do hesitate a little with the prospect of synchronous discussion and activities, as not everyone will be able to schedule// //availability at the same time. I don't want to disadvantage any learners. I myself would have trouble commiting to a schedule with my work commitments. What do you think?// // Sue: Yes just waiting to hear consensus on the topic first. // **I thought the debate idea could be good... Splitting our peers into teams of two and setting up a topic for them to** **be 'for' or 'against... Has it now been decided that we will do a synchronous discussion with guest speaker?** Gab: Hi Nourah....great idea...but I can't figure out how either of our topics fit a 'for/against' format....neither are really moot points.
 * CONSENSUS:** **As above**

S

RESPONSIBLITIES
Gab: I don't think we can plan sharing of responsibility til we've decided an approach to the task. Would be cool to see what you guys think. // Sue: Yes definitely agree here. Cheers Gab! // //Gab: No problem :-) Keen to see the others posting, as I'm a little worried about our deadline now!// // Sue: Yes agreed Gabi - what do you think should be our cut off point to reach a decision on the topic here, I am feeling Wednesday pm because we really need to work out the perspectives we are going to take, roles and responsibilities etc. // SUE: First thought if we follow the proposal I have put above as to the framework - one item each lets say.... one takes the discussion, one the wiki, one the research activity, one the sync discussion (I could take the sync discussion if you like). But that might leave some with more than others to do. Each responsible for their own "activity", stating to us all the focus of their activity before they get started on developing it so that each activity dovetails nicely to give a well rounded seminar. . Waddya think? Just a suggestion if we decide to take this approach, I think we should have say a Skype conference call when we do this suggested knitting of all four activities together before we go away to produce the actual content pre the seminar delivery. Might take us forever on a wiki otherwise do you think? **gab: I'm happy to take the lead on the Wiki. To be honest, I'm happy to do anything and everything.** Gab: Hi Nourah...agree. I see us all planning all of the activities. I think we'd all contribute to each others tasks. Sue: I am going to be out of commission tomorrow Thursday folks - we are moving house tomorrow and broadband will be down until I hope no later than late pm. Will be back on line asap to help polish off any bits in the agreement.
 * Gab: I'd love to see people thinking about their possible area of responsibility.**
 * Nourah: I'm happy to take on the discussion :) I think I will base it around Maggie's past discussions to keep things familiar for our peers and keep it relatively simple.. I need to look into the readings a bit more as I have not had the chance to do that.. As far as responding, encouraging etc in the discussions I'm happy to take a lead in this but I think it would be great if we all contribute and ask questions to our peers.. Same as the Wiki. Perhaps gab you could 'lead' but we could all contribute as well... ? **
 * Agree with you Sue about meeting on skype or the likes before the actual seminar... As far as this proposal goes shall we aim to submit it on Friday? **

[|wendysandifer] hi team. i like your thinking and discussion so far. im feeling a little out of my league as i don't really understand how to get going on this seminar. i think you have come up wioth a great idea. will get to grips with the reading s this weekend and link with you again asap. i am unfamiliar with Breeze cheers Wendy is it possible to see another seminar (model) so we have a better idea of what we are planning/ hoping to achieve?? //Gab: Hi Wendy, I am not familiar with the topic specifically either. I just took a global view of the readings that related to our slot in the timetable, and picked some topics off that. We just need to reach a bit of a consensus about topic etc, and then just 'go for it' !! We must have our proposal in by this weekend, and I don't want to work through the weekend if at all possible.//

Hi Ladies
I wrote a 'reply' in the discussion tab but I'll paste it here in a minute. Had a quick read through now, as I mentioned in my discussion I'm a little busy with other things today but I'll be back tonight. Sue and Gab thank you for the great discussion so far and I think tomorrow eve cut off should be fine. I am liking the idea about 'how does culture influence the use of ICT in education globally', and I'm happy to work towards a cross context seminar because many of us will be in different contexts so we need to create a space where everyone can contribute ideas from their own fields. Thanks for all the hard work so far, I will have a look through our readings tonight and come back online Nourah :)

[|habno640] hi ladies my apologies for coming on so late, have been preoccupied by a million other things (as im sure many of you understand). I will try to be back on tonight and hopefully read through your discussion and write a meaningful reply! Perhaps we can post ideas on here and decide a time to use the synchronous group chat Maggie has set up on stream to discuss/finalize ideas? Will try to write more tonight.

Nourah :) || Type in the content of your page here.media type="custom" key="6633051"