School 2.0 in SA

At the moment I am busy with a course on online facilitation in preparation for the Emerge 2008 online conference  using the SAKAI online learning invironment .

It is amazing how much you learn by collaborating and sharing ideas, resources and knowledge in an online learning environment! Very exciting.

One of the resources that were mentioned in the lounge is the “144 Tips on Synchronous e-learning: Strategy and research, which is downloadable for free from the E-learning Guild. Apprently the E-Learning Guild “conducted a survey of its members, asking for their favorite tips relating to strategies for effectively creating, managing, and using synchronous e-Learning. Members could submit tips relating to any or all of five different categories. As is usual in our past surveys, the tips range in length from one-sentence ideas all the way up to multi-page discourses. You will find tips in these categories…

• Blending Synchronous Learning with Other Learning Modalities
• Designers of Synchronous Presentations, Courses, and Webinars
• Managers Who Lead Synchronous Learning Efforts
• Synchronous Speakers and Instructors
• Technical Production, Planning, and Preparation “

Very cool and handy indeed!!!

I know that the Thutong portal team has been working hard to give us a more school 2.0 kind of interface with blogs, forums and learning spaces. So now we need to give them some feedback on the things that are not working (yet). I always get very irritated with people moaning about free resources but not willing to put in the time to help the developers to create a better experience. So, let us give feedback about the little bugs in the system so that we can have a better repository of resources!!!

See www.thutong.org.za

Just post problems here…I will nag the developers to fix it (and those who know me know that is what I do best )