abalone - Lynn Tveskov's blog

BlogHer DC '08: conference swag

Behold!

While I did not win the iPod Touch, or whatever shine.Yahoo.com was giving away, I did score a pair of the fluffy white slippers they handed out when you signed up for the giveaway.

I am pleased.  Oliver remains skeptical...

CCK08: Getting Started (or, I learn so you don't have to)

A screen grab from the "Getting Started" video:

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge - A MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)

Formal description:  Connectivism and Connective Knowledge is a twelve week course that will explore the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. It will outline a connectivist understanding of educational systems of the future.

Notes to myself from the "Getting Started" video

• The course will allow us to experience, "learning in an online environment", "what we [the course designers, George Siemens and Stephen Downes] write about when we talk about network learning or, specifically, connectivism", and "experience learning in an era when technology is abundant and we have the ability to make connections with colleagues around the globe."
• The intent is to have a rigorous degree of dialogue.
• There are numerous ways to engage with the material - experience how you are most comfortable in this large, global conversation
• Acknowledged explicitly and frequently the overwhelm and confusion of a large scale, distributed, online global course.
• Be patient.  In this day, "we are never completely current."  Therefore, it is important to rely on a network.  This is "distributed cognition."  [Huge light bulb for me with that phrase.  Love it! - Lynn]
• Even with the network, "we will never have the complete picture."  Be comfortable with that feeling of "unsettledness."  The course designers will provide a sequence of tools to help manage the overwhelm and complexity.  They also will provide ways to think about how to apply this online, distributed model.

Tools for Participating In and Negotiating the Course

• Hub URL:  http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/connectivism/
• Email:  "The Daily" - "scaffolding service"
• Aggregating device:  CCK08 tag
• Personal blog for reflection, etc.
• moodle for participant introductions, centralized conversations, public forum
• wiki (Mediawiki) for the weekly schedule, assignments, readings, resources, etc.
• Elluminate for synchronous interaction
• ustream.tv (live video streaming, chat) for moderated discussion

Course Rhythm

• Monday - Friday:  Course leaders with send out "The Daily" email
• Wednesday - information session, guest speakers using Elluminate
• Friday - moderated discussion using ustream.tv

 Today's Takeaways

1. Thanks goodness for this past year's experience with cpSquare.  Because of that, I feel comfortable with this model for learning.
2. The "Getting Started" video was really helpful for understanding how all the pieces fit together.  I was a little lost before I watched it.  Also nice to put a face - and voice - to one of the facilitators.
3. There are 1800 participants from around the globe.  I'll be interested to see how this mob gets managed.  Or not.
   
4. Watching with great curiosity the comments of a self-avowed Skeptic.  Facilitator has already given her a warm welcome and invitation to push.
   

Storytelling, a Path to Innovation

Blue Moonlight
April Gornick
www.ArtCollectorsProgram.org

Last December, I attended, as a member of the Association of Knowledgework (AOK), a world café on the future of AOK.  There I met and chatted with Madelyn Blair, President of Pelerei, Inc.  She told me about Golden Fleece, which I also subsequently joined. (Because I have nothing but time to spare, no?  But I've learned not to ignore these signposts in life when they seem to just pop up unannounced).  Golden Fleece is "an international community of practice devoted to storytelling in business and organizations." 

What convinced me to pursue this "line of inquiry" was a simple statement Madelyn made when I asked her about the value of storytelling for learning.  She replied, "Story is context."  You know those moments when  your mindset does that whole tectonic-plates-are-shifting thing?  Well, I had one of those moments when she said that to me.  Click here for a nifty little clip from the October 2007 Golden Fleece event in Copenhagen.

The Ginormous Long Tail: Lynn's informal CoP jargon dictionary

CoP:  shorthand for "communities of practice", and not the uniformed officer who stops you and asks to see your driver's license on the very day you forgot your wallet at home on your dresser because the cat decided to initiate a bout of explosive vomiting two minutes before you walked out of the door on a morning when you were already late for work.

This will be an ongoing, evolving list of the informal jargon I encounter during the "Connected futures" program, with occasional excursions into Internet jargon in general (just because it's fun).  I will not be including the standard jargon terms one encounters in community of practice (CoP) discussions, such as "domain", "practice", etc. Nor is this list in any way meant to be comprehensive, scientific, methodical, organized, or even particularly useful.  Well, maybe somewhat useful.  And definitely alphabetized. 

I'm going to take advantage of my "beginner's eyes" so that some of you may avoid the confusion I've experienced.  Or maybe it's just me.

If you find a word that screams jargon, well, belly on up and let's figure out what it really means.

• affordance:  A visual clue to the function of an object (per dictionary.com).  But I see CoP practitioners using the word in a more expanded way - more like "the elements of a technology platform designed to support, ease and sustain online interaction."  Example:  a graphic of a little flag to highlight newly-posted content; the ability to move a discussion from one area of the online environment to another.  [Note to self:  Add "platform" to jargon list.]  Comments?

Coming up:  "mashup" (has nothing to do with potatoes), "unpack" (has nothing to do with luggage), "trackback" (I accept them, but I'll be damned if I know what they are), "openID", "meh", and my personal favorite, "embiggen".

Image copyright Microsoft Office

First conference call - April 28, 2008

Agenda

• Context setting: how this is a hands-on workshop, a laboratory that tries to compress a year's worth of experience in 5 weeks
• Introduce ourselves, one of our communities & our intentions
• Check on accounts, readings, logistics, different spaces and their connections
• The business: technology stewardship & community orientation.

Will update this post after I listen to the recording.  I can't make this call... 

About CPsquare's "Connected futures" workshop

From the "Connected Futures" Participant Handbook...

Overview
"Connected futures: New social strategies and tools for communities of practice" is a workshop for community managers, designers and conveners to explore social strategies and tools to support them (referred to by some as Web 2.0). This five week online workshop, which starts April 28, 2008, is a hands-on, mind-open, deep-dive into using technology to meet community needs. The workshop is designed to generate productive and lasting social connections between participants, leaders and community conveners while supporting participants in imagining, designing, innovating and sourcing the technology and supporting processes to suit a specific community's needs. New technology stewards are especially encouraged to join.

The workshop includes virtual field trips to successful communities and deep dives into new tool use. We will explore many freely available technologies, including web conferencing, teleconferences, blogging, RSS syndication, microblogging, social bookmarking and tagging, wikis, mashups, and social networking. Each aspect has the support of experts and leaders in areas such as organizational, educational, government and enterprise Communities. Participants will work through a process of developing plans to implement new social strategies and technologies into the ongoing life of their respective communities of practice.

Requirements
While this workshop is designed to be challenging (neither for beginners nor the faint-hearted) it is grounded in today's reality for communities of practice, social strategies and new tools. Our aim is to support practitioners:  participants should be in a leadership role or intending to take one on, or be convening an existing community of practice. Participants need to be:
• Conversant with basic notions such as domain, community and practice and have had experience participating in or organizing online events and learning activities (like the Foundations of Communities of Practice workshop).
• Willing to install, run and experiment with an array of tools (such as Skype) on their computers.
• Confident to converse in English
• Able to commit to 20 to 40 hours of engagement over the 5 weeks. Since several phases and phase changes are designed into the workshop structure (we change technologies, modes of connecting, and frameworks), participants need to be attentive enough to make those changes with us when they are scheduled.

The workshop
• A five-week-long experiential inquiry into more advanced issues than are covered in the Foundations Workshop
• Designed, led and facilitated by leaders in the field whose practice and expertise in distributed communities draw on many years of experience, including people the caliber of: Beth Kanter, Beverly Trayner, Bronwyn Stuckey, Etienne Wenger, John Smith, Nancy White, Nick Noakes, Shawn Callahan, Shirley Williams, and Susanne Nyrop.
• Participants will receive an advance electronic copy of the forthcoming book on "Technology Stewardship for Communities of Practice" (Wenger, White, and Smith)
• Social engagement which can generate productive social connections among participants that persist afterwards
• Participants will work on developing plans to incorporate new social strategies and technologies into the ongoing life of their respective communities of practice.
• This is an individual and group learning excursion, so the workshop content focuses on each participant’s needs and issues
• We will explore many freely available technologies. The workshop will support participants in using web conferencing, teleconferences, blogging, RSS syndication, microblogging, social bookmarking and tagging, wikis, mashups, and social networking.
• Each week begins with an “establishing event” (to establish context, goals, and methods for the week) and has a “culminating event” which brings together the tools and techniques that we have explored that week.

great moments in adult learning

One needs to know when to seize the opportunity to turn a random interaction into a true teaching moment. Watch and learn, kids, as the great Sir Ian McKellen demonstrates.

Pardon our appearance

Under construction.