Mentoring Magic #1

You will have noticed that I’m fond of alliterations, especially for my titles of blog posts, and this one sprang to mind as I contemplated what to write about mentoring for teachers in 2010. A little light magic is required to provide engaging and effective mentoring for the ‘new teachers’; technology stewards as Nancy White refers to them in her new book Digital Habitats, EWenger, N White and JD Smith, 2009.

I’d like to share with you some of my techniques of ementoring and utilising as many of the web 2.0 tools as are relevant to produce that magic. You may wish to join me at LearnCentral for the Mentoring Mondays Australia Series in February. Join me online in Elluminate on Feb 1, 8 and 22 at 8.00 pm AEDT.

Creating presence: using Google Talk, Skype and Elluminate

Google Talk is a useful tool for sending instant messages from your Google gmail desktop. I use Google Mail and have added Google Talk (both text and chat) to my Google tools. People can see when you’re online, a green icon shows in your Gtalk panel when you are active, enabling people to contact you briefly. This can help to avoid the ‘phone tag’ game that is played when you phone, they’re not there, they phone back when you’re not there. Gtalk gives you the green light to contact instantly. GTalk can enable you to provide an instant reply to a query from a mentee – just takes a few minutes of your time – easy.

My favourite real time communication tool is Skype. It has been a reliable and robust tool for me for several years now, and I tend to think of it first when suggesting a meeting with those I mentor. Yes first, over and above the telephone, because Skype enables me to have a voice conversation free of charge (important if your mentee is geographically remote from you or even in a difference time zone). Skype enables me to share files and my desktop if required – simple tools that provide instant access to documents and visuals relevant to the conversation. Skype enables me to make notes in text chat whilst listening and these can be seen immediately by the mentee – providing instant validation and summary. Skype can be used as a ‘back channel’ when you are exploring a website together and talking to your mentee about that. Skype can be used in conjunction with Google docs where you are collaborating on a planning document for example. Skype is free and easy to operate, therefore a simple tool to ask your mentees to use.

It is essential that Skype mentoring sessions be planned in advance to ensure that time has been allocated for the task – an agreed schedule that you can share using a Google calendar, gmail or googlewave. Plan these so that they follow a known pattern of conversation and make the mentee comfortable in that space. Let them know that the session text will always be available for them.You may also wish to let people know that if they send you a text message in Skype first you may be available for a voice chat at random opportunities when you and your mentees are online at the same time. Skype enables you to see who is online, away or not to be disturbed. This is an essential element of creating presence. (My Skype identity is coach.carole)

When the mentoring meeting requires more multi media sharing and the ability to multi task for a larger number of mentees, I choose Elluminate. My Elluminate V Office can hold up to 25 people so I can conduct one-to-many mentoring sessions. Application sharing enables me to ’show’ not ‘tell’ how to use a particular web 2.0 tool or can be used to collaborate on the creation and editing of a document live in real time. My group of mentees can also share live presentations, for example when preparing for a face-to-face conference or presentation, by enabling them to upload their PowerPoint slides to Elluminate and to practice navigating through them and talking to the group. Peer support and the building of community is enhanced for such a group by the use of Elluminate sessions on a frequent basis.

Elluminate enables me to mentor on a one-to-one basis. I often use my Elluminate V Room at LearnCentral for this purpose. This room is open all the time, and can be used for ad hoc sessions as well as planned and scheduled ones. I would just send an invite to join me in my V Room from LearnCentral with a note about what date and time. A one step process that is quick and easy to do. I also provide a link to my V Room and V Office on my network site. This enables people to find me quickly and easily. This is another essential ingredient for creating presence.

Next up: Providing support: using Moodle, Wikis and GoogleSites

Auld Lang Syne

My new year started with bright promise and in the company of friends and neighbours. Nothing like a Hogmanay to set the spirits soaring. We celebrated with the usual Scottish songs but Auld Lang Syne had pride of place. Auld Lang Syne literally translates to “Old Long Since,” and more roughly it means “long, long ago” or “days gone by.”

Auld Lang Syne lyrics (English version)

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
and surely I’ll buy mine !
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine† ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

Everything Old is New Again!

A great post from the blog The Human Network – http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/?p=243

November/December: Conferences

Projects have come to an end, reports are written (well most of them) and thank you’s have been expressed. Conferences galore in these few weeks before Christmas and I’ve had my fair share of them. I like to attend a few showcase conferences to help celebrate excellence and achievement and these are the ones I have participated in:

#LT2009

November 18-20 Learning Technologies – now this one was a real inspiration to me, especially being immersed in program of relevant and engaging workshops and keynotes on the way educationalists are making the best use of learning technologies. Loved the rich media exchange with the use of Live Blogs, Twitter and streamed events. Papers available here. Loved the concept of Flipumentaries for this conference – see these on their Ning site.

December 1 Holmesglen Teaching and Learning Showcase – celebrating excellence: I had a vested interest in the success of this one as I had helped in its design and execution. Several of my TEES (teachers embedding e-learning solutions) presented at this showcase to their peers – always a challenge. Live Blog available here.

December 3-4 ConVerge09 – a huge success and a terrific celebration of achievement of the many E-learning Grant and E-learning Fund projects from Victoria. Keynotes were fantastic and the Live Blog (showing on the big screen) was a big draw-card. Particularly proud on those I mentored this year as they delivered their inaugural ConVerge conference presentations. Live Blog available here.

December 7-8 Elearning2009 – tapped into a little bit of this NSW showcase from afar – using Twitter to fill in the gaps and provide the links to the new learning taking place there.

Smart Pen

Time now to synthesize and sift through all the learning and networking that took place and to ‘action’ those tasks that I noted. The first thing to do is make contact with the networks that surrounded each conference – this was made easy by the use of my Tweetdeck and notes taken with my Live Scribe Smart Pen; along with the collaborative notes from the Live Blogs and GoogleWaves.

October: Babes in Thailand

Picture this: dining in the Old Siam, traditional Thai restaurant, by the edge of the Andaman Sea, a candlelight alfresco experience. One of my memories from our recent trip to Thailand where we relaxed in Phuket and shopped in Bangkok.

Or maybe consider swimming, snorkelling or sailing in and around the island of Phi Phi – this scene from The Beach – where scenes were shot for the Leonardo DiCaprio film ‘The  Beach’.

What about the many temples and Buddhist statuary in and around the Grand Palace at Bangkok? So much gold!

But what about this one! My most memorable experience – patting the tigers at the Tiger Temple, Kanchanpuri, Thailand.

Eight days of fun and relaxation spent in Thavorn Beach Resort in Phuket and 4 days of touring and shopping, staying in the Pathumwan Princess hotel Bangkok.

 

 

 

September: ‘don’t talk about the drought’!

This was the call to action that rippled throughout the north east corridor of Victoria soon after the devastating fires of Black Saturday. Communities have been recording their stories of life on the land during droughts and have been turning them into 3 minute videos. People from all walks of life have answered the call to digital storytelling and flocked into the community education centres and neighbourhood houses in Benalla, Corryong, Euroa, King Valley, Mt Beauty, Tatura and Yarrawonga.

I have been an enthusiastic mentor for this government funded project since May and I have learned once again the power of stories in bringing communities together in tough times. I hope that you will be inspired to use stories in your speeches and to enthuse your audiences, as I hope to enthuse you tonight.

I am going to share with you some of the ingredients that have made this community story adventure such a successful and exhilarating one for me, and how the model has empowered these regional adult learning centres to reach deep into their communities and capture the most amazing personal and local history stories. I’ll also share with you some of the revealing tales of resilience, laughter and the unexpected challenges of life in rural and regional Victoria.

As a mentor I have been on hand to:

• facilitate workshops on the use of the various computer software
• help the ‘storytakers’ compile their interview questions and plan to capture the stories
• assist the storytellers as they write their narratives, collect their photos and music
• gather their stories together at the end and collate as a DVD
• upload selected stories to our community story website
• celebrate with them as they showcase their local and family history stories e.g

The big finale will be held during La Dolce Vita in the King Valley in November!

One of the first workshops I conducted was for the YNH Services, a neighbourhood house located in Yarrawonga, who had invited a group of their volunteers to come along and learn how to record voice, write a script and compile a movie. Part of my teaching strategy was to have them interview one another, recording the voice and importing that into Movie Maker. Not an easy task in a busy classroom, but they did it enthusiastically. Pauline, one of the volunteers, finished her movie that same afternoon – gathering suitable images to illustrate the story from her friend about family Christmas events – and adding some suitable music in the background. Pauline gave this story to her friend as a gift. This taught me the importance of ‘ownership’ of the storyline (the narration by the friend) and the importance of collaboration in the process of constructing the movie. This story inspired others in the group.

Stories support friendships!

One of the revelations that stood out for me in ‘listening’ to this group talk about their experiences with interviewing the elderly in the dairy farming regions of Yarrawonga. It was this piece of advice: don’t ask anything that could be misconstrued as ‘bedroom talk’. It was not as you might imagine from the phrase – it was how some storytellers were reluctant to talk about things that may have been discussed behind closed doors between, for example the parents in a family. These discussions often took place in the bedroom as that was well away from the ears of the children – a cautionary tale for me.

Stories can be revealing!

Meanwhile up in Corryong, retired farmer, Ken Jarvis, began making regular visits to the Neighbourhood House in response to the ‘Don’t talk about the drought’ article in their local newspaper.  Whoever was in the office when he visited, would hear the most amazing stories of his ancestors and how they settled the Upper Murray.   They only needed a 3 minute snapshot of Ken’s memories, but this man had a treasure trove of history that would be priceless for his descendants in years to come.  And Ken wanted to share them all. The opportunity was here to train a member of his family in the skill of digital story making, with the long term aim of continuing to record their family history.  Ken’s daughter-in-law, Marja  Jarvis attended one of the digital story workshops and she produced the first Jarvis family history story called “A Good Life”.

Stories capture lives!

Ken’s involvement hasn’t stopped there.  Ken frequently ‘drops in’ to tell a few yarns and lend his written stories to anyone who expresses interest.  One lady, was so taken with Ken’s stories, she has asked him to visit the day care activity centre and talk to the elderly residents.  Ken glowed with pride to think that someone rated his stories worth listening to, and Kylie was enthralled to discover someone willing to share such entertaining and relevant stories to her charges.

Stories entertain!

Some folks have a whole house full of memorabilia and a story to go with each one. The engaging story title ‘Kerosene, snakes and Bath Tubs’  is one of those stories – Len & Betty Lebner provide us with a snapshot in time of life on their farm during the droughts of the past. The old metal bath tub was was placed in front of the open fire in winter time and the whole family shared the water – the four little ones first, then Mum and finally Dad would clean up as best as he could in the murky grey water left for him.

“The rule was: you all had to go to the toilet before you got in the bath” says Len.

Stories illustrate memories!

One of the most moving stories from the Upper Murray is the one called ‘Jim’s Rug’ – its the story of how a prisoner of war, Jim Simpson,  knitted a woollen rug featuring the Australian coat of arms. Jim is now in his nineties but his voice is still strong and entertaining. He tells his story of the dreadful suffering of those soldiers in the P O W camps in WWII and reminds us of their resilience in the face of huge deprivation. Jim’s own bravery shines through as he tells us about how he managed to create his precious knitting needles and used the unravelled wool from his own naval jersey to knit his rug, “I refused to surrender my uniform intact to those ruddy nazis – so I unravelled the bugger.” Says Jim.

Stories show courage!

Often, in such projects, the storytellers don’t have many suitable photos to go with their story, but not so in the case of another story from a young ten year old farm boy – Darcy Roberts. Darcy’s story is a laugh a minute as we view him on his farm wearing his battered akubra hat – to me it looked like the hat out of the Harry Potter movies – the choosing hat with a wide brim and a dented crown.
Darcy likes to tell a yarn in his own style and he has the listener laughing out loud at the antics of his favourite horse, which apparently likes to scratch its bottom on the rough bark of the tree stumps in the paddocks. And yes he has photos to match.

Stories are real!

This project has given centre co-ordinators the opportunity to engage with members of their communities who have been outside their ‘radar’ until now.   People are now more aware of other services that are on offer at these adult community learning centres. The volunteers at the centres have been able to connect people with other individuals, groups and organisations, and this has reduced the social isolation that many people were feeling.  Some have expressed a desire to be involved with Neighbourhood House activities and courses, some have even offered to be volunteers!

Stories do draw people together!

Sharon Roberts, the project co-ordinator for the Corryong Neighbourhood House has said:

“As co-ordinator of this project I feel privileged to have assisted so many volunteers and storytellers, and to be entrusted with their precious stories.  I am inspired to seek the means to continue supporting our community in this way and to encourage those who have not yet told their story, to come forward and do so.”

Stories build champions!

The collection of movies created in this program now provides the communities with an archive of local, family and personal histories – strong and meaningful legacies for their youth. The process has enabled the growth of pride and self-worth in those who build and share their stories – it has been a cathartic and cleansing experience for communities in tough times.

Stories heal wounds!

‘Don’t talk about the drought’ –  has given me is a brand new insight into the power of community stories – I’m very proud of my involvement with this project – and the creation of over 50 entertaining stories. I’m pleased that I have been instrumental in empowering community centres to  capture these real Australian stories and in enabling them to manage the process for themselves.  Most of all I’m humbled by the generosity of spirit of the many storytellers and storymakers across the Hume region of North East Victoria.

Stories inspire and motivate!

I want to leave you with this question:

How will you use stories in your next speech? or next project?

Note: the official Ning website for the Community Stories will be released for the public at the end of September.

August E-learning Actions

This has been the month for a variety of actions that I’ve taken  to make a difference in the innovative practices of other teachers. Most of them revolve around E-learning in one shape or another and all of them have enabled me to take another step forward in my own professional development. These have all been exciting as well as challenging and certainly kept me engaged with mainstream teachers who are exploring the potentials of Web 2.0:

• scheduled and facilitated a series of Speechcraft workshops for the Miss Albury Wodonga Quest entrants; providing leadership for members of the Albury Wodonga Toastmasters
• joined Learn Central and ran a public Elluminate session; I am now using the free V room for ementoring
• facilitated a series of train-the-trainer workshops in digital storytelling; introducing many to storyteller interviewing techniques
• developed a new Ning network site for community stories; presenting the site as a repository for videos
• accepted the role of e-mentor for teachers at Holmesglen Institute of TAFE; supporting them in their embedding of e-learning solutions
• participated in the TRIC conference in Port Lincoln; took away the idea of ‘Conversation Cafes’ for showcasing
• attended a professional development technology day – learning how to use PowerPoint animations and publish as a flash file; intrigued with the whole idea of using PowerPoint to present a series of digital stories and planning to introduce that to others involved in digital storytelling projects

I have learned about some really neat tools available for working with images, videos and stories – thanks to our tutor in the PD Technology Day. I have listed these below for you convenience.

Technology used to create an interactive object:

1. PowerPoint 07 FREE downloadable example slide effects with instructions - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT103366151033.aspx?av=ZPP000
2. Photoscape download FREE - http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php (if you click to the home page you can print a simple page of key features and examples)
3. Photoscape tutorial FREE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8A6QkmYSMI there are a lot more just Google ‘Photoscape tutorial’
4. Pixie download FREE - http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php Run it, simply point to a colour and it will tell you the hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK and HSV values of that colour. You can then use these values to reproduce the selected colour in your favourite programs.
5. Media Converter FREE – you are allowed 5 FREE per day http://www.mediaconverter.org/ you can even convert media you have on your computer (just remember they are in the US so the ‘day ‘change is in the middle of our day so you can do 10 if you need to!)
6. iSpring FREE - http://www.ispringsolutions.com/products/ispring_free.html PowerPoint to Flash converter (I have tested a lot of other FREE converters and this one seems the strongest and most reliable, converts to original views including all your animations, the others will not do that)

Community Centre capers

A great deal of my mentoring has been focussed on the teachers, coordinators and managers of small community centres in the Hume region during June and July.

Stepping into an elearning journey:

A small group of travellers have planned their itineraries for exploring the elearning most useful to them and they are now embarking on a journey of awareness raising and identifying the potentials for such tools as PowerPoint, Skype and Elluminate Live. Along the way I’ll be introducing them to other really powerful practices to assist in the documenting of their journey such as Google Docs, Google Calendar and Wikis.

Each traveller has a different goal and a different set of skills so the ementoring is being done on a much more individual basis. My challenge is to ensure that I am consistently communicating with them and seeking forward momentum – this will probably mean the use of phone calls, SMS messages and emails – within and beyond their comfort zones.

‘Don’t talk about the Drought’ – digital storytelling project:

Community centres have launched into the capturing of personal stories about the impact of drought on them and their families in the North East of Victoria and are busily organising their workshops, home visits and building their skills in interviewing, using DST software like PhotoStory3 and MovieMaker2; and supporting the storytellers in preparing a collection of short movies.

My ementoring for them has taken on a different shape depending on what their needs are for support. I have created and maintain a Moodle site for the collection of resources and sending of News and have prepared and delivered a sample CD with resources for their workshops. For some of the community centres I provide a ‘train-the-trainer in DST’ workshop or co-facilitate workshops with them as they teach their storytellers the finer points of the process.

ACE Development of Executive Personnel Training (ADEPT)

I heard today that this program won the award for Community Services and Health Industry Training Award for Innovation in Assessment and Training – Recognising Competency. This program is the brainchild of Yvonne Evans at the Mt Beauty Neighbourhood Centre in collaboration with Wodonga TAFE and is a credit to her and her team.

My ementoring for this project has been in providing a Moodle site for the resources; tutoring and supporting the ADEPT tutors in the use of Moodle, Skype and Elluminate Live. This has been an interesting challenge for me as an ementor taking on a very different role in working with those who are seeking RPL as coordinators and managers of community centre through the diplomas of Community Education and Community Development.

The latest aspect of this ementoring has been to investigate and explore the potential of using the Mahara eportfolio system for the participants in the ADEPT program to  capture and collect their eportfolio artefacts.

… some interesting community capers …

NECC09 : perspectives from #notatnecc09

ISTE’s National Educational Computing Conference 2009 – oh how I wish I had attended. Maybe next year!

An astonishing set of statistics about this prestigious conference held in Washington DC, June 28 to July 1. Can you believe that 18,000 delegates from more than 61 countries around the world descended on the Washington Convention Centre and joined in the ‘buzz’, the ‘tweets’, the workshops and the presentations. Teachers in all educational environments shared, networked, blogged and party’d for four days – immersed in the world of networks, tools, strategies and models of teaching in the 21st century.

Many more looked on from afar :

• tweeting in the #necc09, #notatnecc09 and #neccunplugged categories
• logging in to the unplugged live events in Elluminate
• viewing the live streaming in Ustream
• checking the photos, conversations and videos shared in the Ning network

Some great ‘reflections’ of NECC09 coming in now from attendees; see this Animoto of My PLN by Donelle O’Brien and this MY NECC Animoto from Chad Lehman. After watching these I just had to convert these images into an Animoto for #notatnecc09.

Here’s some of the learning I took away from my ‘virtual conference attendance’:

Ementors Induction Day

Wow what a buzz!

A group of ementors in the ACFE ementors program met in Melbourne on Friday June 19th and shared their progress and challenges with the group. Here’s some feedback from others who attended.

Jottings from Josie:

Our report back session was interesting and informative – it is great to see such creativity and diversity in regional approaches to supporting the integration and embedding of elearning in delivery  and management practices across a range of organisations –metropolitan, regional, remote, big and small. It looks like we will have around 60 participating organizations.

During our PD session in the afternoon, Sarah and I walked through the wonders of iGoogle and its associated apps. We even had Sue Waters join us for a few minutes-all the way from WA! Sarah showed us how she signed up all her participants to gmail and igoogle, and explained how this will be their communication/ delivery platform of choice. We all agreed that it is a great way to start with individuals and organizations new to  introducing e to their organizations. Michael G showed us how he used RSS to keep track of student blogs, etc as part of accredited courses that he delivers.

Lynne and Jo had us all very excited by a smart pen, some very a nifty video cameras and even a mini  datashow. Jo also showed us some freely downloadable software that changes PPTs in to swf files that can be used for a range of purposes. In fact, we have decided to meet again for a full day PD session where we can each create something under Jo’s guidance that will be useful in our work.

This induction day once again emphasised the need for these real time meetings in the flesh where so much more is shared in conversations and networking opportunities throughout the day.

Messages from Michael Chalk at: http://michalk.id.au/txt/2009/06/e-mentors-set-to-soar/

.. and a session on gadgets including the flip video camera (Lynne Gibb), the sony xacti video cam (Jo Norbury), the LiveScribe digital audio pen (that link points to Alan Levine’s story about LiveScribe). I mentioned my intelli pen at that point but it doesn’t match Lynne’s live scribe for brilliance. Jo also showed us a sweet little data projector that fits in your pocket (Visimax). Nice work.

Plus, Jo showed us how to add extra video and flash capacity to microsoft powerpoint, using a software application called iSpring.

Wow what a day.