FSW Distance Learning Second Programme May 2010

Having run the first consultants DL programme in October 2009, there are a number of improvements that I want to incorporate in the second version, which begins on 10th May 2010.

The overall purpose of the programme is to create an extra route to market for our consulting tool, the Excellence Audit. This means that our training programme has three important strands; firstly to introduce and explain the key features of our Future Shape of the Winner Model and Excellence Audit; then to help consultants to work out how the model connects with, and hopefully strengthens their existing consulting practice; finally to help them to identify the client situations in which the model can be of most use and to consider how they can promote its use to these prospects.

On the first programme, I was not clear enough in my own mind about these three different learning objectives.

In effect, this is a progression from articulating meaning right through to making new meaning. On our first programme, one consultant has most successfully made this transition, with another two who are making progress. We would like to improve that performance on the second programme.

In creating the learning plan for Programme number 2, I will encourage participants to create their own learning journal, hopefully on their own blog, and will set assignments that draw attention to these three different strands of the Programme.

It will be most interesting to see whether I can persuade this group of mature professionals to keep a blog record of their reflections, but of the seven participants, three already have their own blog, and two of these three are enthusiastic users of blogging. I am hoping that their example to the rest of the group will encourage others to join in. I have tried to replicate my H808 experience, where an e-portfolio was a required element of the ECA, by pointing out to participants that the blog can be evidence of learning which can be included in their submission for accreditation.

I also plan to use the Elluminate Web Platform for the first time on the Programme. This will be an improvement on the previous Webinar platform that we have used, as it has a number of useful educational features, such as a whiteboard, breakout rooms, a session planner, recording and polling. It also has an audio feature which allows group discussions during a session. The educational features offer us the change to shift from a largely transmission approach to include more interaction. An option we plan to experiment with on programme 2 is to provide some of the inputs in a podcast format, again freeing up web tutorial time for discussions and questions.

The use of this platform seems very 'lumpy' at the moment, but will doubtless get smoother as we become more familiar with the technology. In order to iron out any basic sound or technology issues, we have scheduled an introductory session for all participants to try out the web platform before our first full session.

I am very pleased that we maintained the discipline on Programme 1 of writing scripts for the four web tutorials. Although we will make changes to these, we can go back to a basic structure that has run smoothly. I see that the Elluminate platform has a Planner feature which enables you to set up your session including your script, slides and choreographed actions on the web platform. I plan to begin simply with mainly script, slides and audio discussions, but to experiment with the whiteboard and breakout rooms in later sessions, assuming all goes to plan;-)

Lots to think about, but it is most exciting to have the chance to go again with the benefit of H808 in the forefront of my thinking.

Notes from Video Arts Webinar: Put the Learning Back into E-Learning

Martin Addison, Martyn Sloman 7 years experience of e-learning

3 distinct waves in which e-learning has had an impact
1990s the huge availability of PC - promise of transforming training??? Stand alone cd roms did not have the promised impact
Next wave e-learning - incorporation of the internet (tom peters in ASTS Florida 2001) Very helpful
ASTD records what % is delivered through learning technology (10% plateau) progressively mover to 30% currently.
CIPD 2008 monitors progress of e-learning - latest 12% total training time delivered through e-learning. Roughly half of available e-learning is taken up.

Q e-learning = ? learning delivered or mediated through technology.

We are demanding something from the learner. It is about learning, not technology. Keep your eye on the skills that people need to learn.

Potential of e-learning is huge, but progress is patchy, a lot to learn.

Relevance drives out resistance. Good design engages the learner and embeds activity in the organisation. No good just providing product if it is not linked to what is going on in the organisation.

Good training managers will use good content (like video snippets) and incorporate into their own programmes.

"the second-generation of internet-based communities that encourage collaboration between users" Is this the killer app? I'm a sceptic.

Are learning preferences differences across the generations? Overwhelmingly the learning preferences are the same for all generations, but more comfortable sophistication with technology in younger gens.

Survey (Changing Skills at Work)
47% in the UK report computing is an essential part of their job. (three quarters of workforce use automated or computerised equipment)

What we have got now is that there are a whole series of different ways in which technology will affect learning at work; googlisation of learning, expert opinion, discussion threads, information repositiories, on-line assessment, electronic job aids, webinars, virtual worlds, online support.

EPSS (electronic performance support systems)
As people are using the pc at work, devices will pop up to help them to learn. This has not turned out to be popular (Moorfields Eye Hospital have a good example of this)

Learning is a self-directed work-based process, leading to increased adaptive processes.

We have to align organisational and individual needs.

There are lots of good practice examples.
Cable and Wireless; single portal for learners to access learning programmes. Partnered with Skill Soft. Not worried about how many people access the training - nuggets are available on demand. Search and Learn (iLearn). This assumes high degree of motivation and sophistication. Certain e-learning modules are compulsory (eg health and safety)
Learning technology interventions need to take account of the need for behaviour change.

CIPD website for more information about e-learning.

What next after H808?

Having hacked my way through my toughest ever OU Masters Module, H808, I was delighted with how much of my learning seems to be transferrable to our own Future Shape of the Winner Distance Learning Programme.


There are several different angles which I hope to apply.


Point One: the fact that our learners are so varied in their backgrounds and experience, and also have different reasons for wanting to do the Programme might seem to make the design of a generic programme very tricky. However, this ought to be where the 'distance learning' element comes into its own. If we can get the right structure and the right support material, the differences could be a strength not a weakness. I found the H808 focus on creating a Professional Development Plan (PDP) was a very useful way of encouraging students to set their own framework for their learning. Providing our students with a FSW skills/knowledge template to help them create a PDP structure for FSW is well worth considering. Not only will that focus the students, but it will also give tutors the chance to tailor their inputs/discussions to respond to the objectives of our students. The process of creating that template will be a good discipline for us, as it will make us consider the key dimensions we are aiming to communicate. The PDP discipline may also give us the scope to get academic accreditation for the programme, which would add to its attractiveness to potential students.


Point Two: the 'invisibility' of what learning was taking place on the programme seems to be a weakness. Three months after the end of the first programme, we find ourselves with only one student actively using the Excellence Audit, and we are not in a position to pinpoint what - if anything - is missing from the programme. In my TMA1 I wrote the following:


Moon (2001) outlines a hierarchy of stages of learning; “noticing; making sense; making meaning; working with meaning; transformative learning” (P6). The further up this hierarchy that learners progress, the deeper the learning and the more the learner is able to apply the new meaning creatively in their own situation. Citing the research of Marton, Hounsell and Entwhistle, (1997) Moon (2001) reports “A deep approach is where the intention of the learner is to understand the meaning of the material. She is willing to integrate it into her existing body of previous ideas, and understandings.” (p5). Moon (2001) recommends reflection skills as being key in generating this deep learning.


Being able to track our students' progression through noticing, making sense, making meaning, working with meaning, transformative learning, would give us a fantastic insight into how they were getting on with their learning. Therefore, I am considering two revisions. 1. Changing the accreditation conditions to include the requirement to submit a learning log of their reflections throughout the programme. 2. Encouraging/requiring? the learning log to be kept as a blog, which will allow all the students access to each others' reflections, but also will help tutors to track progress, and make adustments as needed to programme content etc.


Point Three: A major H808 insight was around the overall pedagogy of the programme, which I now recognise is heavily influenced by the face to face bias that all the tutors have. There is still a strong desire for us to tell the students what we think they need to know, rather than encouraging them to explore and make sense of the ideas, and to work out how they might use them. I believe it would be unwise to attempt to make a U turn in pedagogical thinking, not least because we have very limited experience in this more participative virtual approach. So I think a good step forwards would be to convert all of the presentations which we made during the web tutorials into podcasts. These will be incorporated in the pre-work ahead of web tutorials, and the telephone conference will be a chance to discuss and reflect collectively - a much more participative way of using the synchronous forum.


In summary, if I can convince my colleagues that these three modifications to our approach are worth trying, I believe we will have a great deal more insight into the extent to which students are getting to grips with the new knowledge, and this will hopefully enable us to support them more actively in becoming active users of the FSW model.

Core Activity 10.1 Wikis in Our Practice

Learning and Teaching Committee Report

By Madeleine McGrath, 15th January 2010 

Background
The Future Shape of the Winner™ is a new organisation model, designed by Tom Peters Company for use with our own clients. The model, and its accompanying audit instrument, the Excellence Audit, began in 2009 to attract the attention of independent consultants from all over the world, who requested the chance to be trained and accredited as users of the audit and the model. Having identified a group of 8 consultants who were willing to sign up for the pilot programme, we ran our first programme in October 2009. Since the participants came from five different countries, and had many differences in background, education, language etc, a distance learning format was not only the only affordable option, it was also the most effective learning approach.

Whilst there has been much enthusiasm from the students of the first programme, we find ourselves, some two months after the training has finished, with only one student having been able to convince a customer to commission an Excellence Audit. Whilst others may yet have success in this endeavour, the absence of any structured evidence of their learning has emerged as a weakness in the design of this course. As we look ahead to the next course, this paper proposes the incorporation of technologies that will encourage the more public articulation of learning, and will generate deeper learning amongst all participants. 

Current practice

The FSW Distance Learning Programme has been designed and facilitated by a team of tutors whose grounding in teaching took place before the digital era. As a result, the bias of the delivery has tended towards what Ferris & Wilder (2006) would describe as the Print Model of education, with the teacher as expert from whom the students learn. They observed, "instructors continue to equate the authority and ownership of knowledge with the teacher, who controls the text, whether print or electronic, rather than with the learners" Unfortunately in this case, once the classroom training is completed, the success of the programme is dependent on the learners taking ownership of the knowledge and applying it in their own context. So far the evidence is that this transfer has not yet taken place in all but one of the students. 

The existing programme has a substantial written Practitioners Guide, a blog-site on which students are encouraged to contribute to blog threads on the various subjects covered during the programme, four two hour synchronous web tutorials, and pre and post tutorial activities. The final step in the training process is for trainees to participate actively in their first Excellence Audit having sold it to a client of their own. During the course of the audit they will be mentored by one of the course tutors. 

On the first programme, the eight students all attended and participated fully in all four web tutorials, and completed their assignments as requested. All professed themselves very pleased with the training, and had few suggestions for improvement of any substance. However, we are not aware of how well students are able to articulate their learning at this critical half way point in the training. Articulation of their learning is critical for two reasons; firstly, of course, because this is an essential step in making the progression through to deep learning, but secondly, and more importantly, because unless they can convincingly articulate their learning, they will be unable to sell this approach to their own clients.

As we consider ways to make the training more effective in future iterations of the programme, my recommendation is to experiment with a number of design and technology modifications that encourage students to articulate their learning on a more frequent basis, and to document their discoveries throughout the entire course of the training programme. This will enrich their learning, but equally importantly will provide tutors with much greater visibility of how learners are progressing. Shifting more strongly into the digital domain also provides us with the opportunity to encourage greater learner ownership of the material, and to encourage learners to shape the learning activities to suit their own situations.

Greater use of blogging as a domain for individual reflective commentary is one obvious way to shift the focus of the training. Requiring all students to create and keep a reflective commentary on their learning throughout the programme would be a straightforward modification to make, and one which immediately makes more visible the learning that is taking place. This is likely to be uncontroversial for both learners and tutors.

The use of a Wiki or some kind of shared workspace is a second, maybe less obvious option to consider. In the next section I will describe the potential benefits of this technology, and how its use can be piloted in the next programme. The potential issues that are may arise will also be considered.

Recommendation

Ferris & Wilder (2006) describe the wiki as "collaborative Web-based sites with "open editing"." The collaborative activity that is enabled in the wiki-type environment generates interaction and can lead to the creation of strong communities that share a common interest. 

The structure of the wiki is relatively simple, and it can be used in many different ways. Lamb (2004) suggests using them for creating agendas, note taking in group sessions, informal bulletin boards. Ferris & Wilder (2006) see enormous potential for collaborative learning, and suggest joint problem solving, brainstorming and group tasks. Duffy et al (2006) recommend their use for collaborative authorship and writing and point out that the feature of being able to trace the contributions of all participants encourages participation.

Lamb (2004) observes that whilst the lack of structure in a wiki can make it feel disorganised, it also leaves space for learners to make their own links and to organise it for themselves. As well as learning about the subject matter, this also requires groups to work out processes that will enable them to work together. In the longer term, this experience can build a community of users who continue to network as they become experienced users of this approach.

In this programme, we have found significant variability in the technology skills of students. I am therefore recommending that we introduce the use of the wiki progressively, beginning with some simpler tasks, such as generating questions or agenda items for the next meeting, or perhaps by inviting students to add comments to an existing wiki page. We should then re-locate one or two of the existing private study activities to the wiki area, providing us with the chance to discover who is engaging actively in their study. One such activity would be the analysis of the audit results. Rather than just being given a real set of results to study, those results could be posted on some wiki pages, and the group challenged to discuss and agree the main issues uncovered by the audit results. Ideally, as their competence and confidence improves, it would be good to be able to set a final collaborative task for the whole group to pull together their individual and collective learning. The creation of their own slide presentation to explain the approach in their words and terms is one such possibility.

In the true spirit of the wiki, however, learners should be encouraged to create learning projects and activities of their own as they grow in confidence with the subject, with each other, and with the wiki environment.

Issues

Several issues with the use of wikis have been referred to already; the reluctance of Print Paradigm professionals to engage with technology and the lack of structure being the most notable.

Duffy et al (2006) warn that those grounded in the print paradigm have an instinctive distrust of the wiki concept. They also advise that the maximum benefit is gained from wikis when students are allowed complete control of the environment. Both of these issues point to the need for a shift in the approach that tutors have been taking and for the careful application of appropriate pedagogy to exploit the benefits of the wiki environment.

The fact that the wiki is in a constant state of flux may frustrate both learners and tutors, and some may be offended by the interference from others in their text, or may run into disputes about the ownership of written material. However, the reality of the subject matter about which they are learning is that it is not a prescribed and defined model, but one that requires judgement, adaptation and flexibility. All of these features are modeled in the wiki environment.

Another frequent criticism of the wiki environment is the questionable acccuracy or truthfulness of the information presented. Ferris & Wilder (2006) point out that skills to judge the accuracy and reliability of sources of information are becoming critical for any users of the world wide web for data. Learning to operate successfully in a wiki environment could be seen as the chance to develop such skills. 

ConclusionThe ability to convert trainees from all parts of the globe into successful users of our Company’s Excellence Audit has massive potential as a completely new stream of business for our company. This makes the creation of a successful training programme an important priority. In the next iteration of this programme, one of the most important priorities has to be the surfacing of the learning of individual consultants. Increased use of blogs is one way to record and publish this individual learning.

Whilst the gradual introduction of the use of wikis is also a way of showcasing each students’ ability to articulate their learning, it is also a place in which we can introduce more complex group discussions and tasks, and through that, not only enhance individual learning, but also begin to create the extended learning community that we envisage as important for the future.

We need to be conscious of the potential reluctance of colleagues to embrace the new technology, but must remind them of the enormous payoff for us all if we are able to make a radical improvement in the learning performance of students.

References:
Duffy, Peter D. and Bruns, Axel (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities. In: Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, 26 Sep. 2006, Brisbane.
Ferris, S. and Wilder, H. (2006) ‘Uses and potentials of wikis in the classroom’, Innovate, vol. 2, no. 5. Available from: http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol2_issue5/ (accessed 12th January 2010)
Lamb, B. (2004) ‘Wide open space: wikis, ready or not’, Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October), pp. 36–48. Available from: http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp (accessed 11th January 2010)

Core Activity 9.1 Desktop Research into Blogs

In this activity, I studied several papers, visited Warwick University's Website and Blog listings, reviewed a number of Blog accounts on Blogger.com, and considered the Zoe Corbyn Times HE article. Several educational uses of blogging are:

Student
1.Reflection:
Individual maintenance of a blog to enhance reflective thinking. Students at universities like Warwick and the Open Univerisity are encouraged to keep a blog. These can be used to encourage reflective thinking, and to develop skills of self expression and articulation. "A blog offers interaction with reflective comments and also the ability to interlink to related ideas." (Duffy et al, 2006)

2.Organisation of Learning:

Some students find that the structure of blogs provides them with helpful functionality to organise their ideas. Brady (2005   ) reports "For some bloggers their blog is a way of keeping notes and useful URLs in an organised way." These functions are supported by the capability of tagging of blogs, as well as being able to hyperlink to other web based documents and blogs.

Issues:
In both of the above cases there are a number of potential pitfalls;

• the public nature of the blog raises issues of confidentiality and privacy
• learners may be reluctant/nervous to publish their thoughts
• the learner must be able to cope with the technology/software
• the learner must develop skills of self expression and articulation

Group
3. Collect/Give Feedback:
Where blogging is added as part of the course structure, as it is in the OU, students can be encouraged to comment on each others' work and to provide feedback. This enables them to learn critical review skills, and also to experience the use of peer review.

Issues:
However, the same learner reluctance that was mentioned in 1 and 2 above may well come into play. The use of blogs as part of a course requires an understanding on the teacher's part of the underlying pedagogical needs of the case. Duffy et al (2006) explain "Which tools are used by learners and teachers, and whether such tools will be used at all, will always depend on the specific pedagogical needs of a teaching situation."

Teacher
4. Additional Resources

Some teachers use their blog to post additional information and references that emerge as being of interest from class or online discussions. In blogs such as Peter Smith's Logic Matters blog http://www.logicmatters.net/, lecturers share their latest research and engage in discussions with readers. As well as providing a forum for academic expression, this application of blogging enables teachers to model good practice in blogging to their students.

Issues:
One potential issue with this use of blogs is that a teacher may be concerned about falling foul of the politics of their academic institution, by expressing ideas that are judged inappropriate
Other academics are anxious that original research will be plagiarised by others.
In order to be willing to engage in this practice, academics require technology skills

5. Supervision
In courses in which students use blogs to record their learning, teachers are in a position to conduct formative assessment of students' work. I have myself experienced the benefit of timely and focused tutor comments on my published work, enabling much swifter lessons to be learned.

Issues:
Students who sense that their work is being checked may be more reluctant to express opinions

And in conclusion.....

The explosion in the use of blogs in every aspect of life (personal, corporate, political, journalistic etc) makes their use in education increasingly compelling. "It could be argued that it is the connective and contributive attributes of blogging that has caused it to spread so virally throughout the web" (Brady, 2005) The speed of their take up seems to be turning them increasingly into an everyday tool of reflection, and as educators, we are likely to miss a trick if we do not wrestle with the incorporation of blogging into our pedagogy.

Brady, M. (2005) 'Blogging: Personal participation in public knowledge-building on the web.' In 'Participating in the knowledge society: Researchers beyond the university walls'. R. Finnegan. London, Palgrave Macmillan.

Duffy, Peter D. and Bruns, Axel (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities. In: Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, 26 Sep. 2006, Brisbane.

Farmer,J. and Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2005) Blogs at anywhere: High fidelity online communication, ASCILITE, www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/blogs/proceedings/22_Farmer.pdf (accessed 10th January 2010)

Times Higher Education - By the blog: academics tread carefully

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=403827 Zoe Zoe Corbyn, 9 October 2008, Accessed 7th January 2010.

H808 Core Activity 8.1 Learning about Technology

Becoming familiar with technology and its potential always feels rather lumpy when the application is new. So in this exercise, the awkwardness was not so much around the initial creation of material (an audio file and a video file), but in conversion of the files into a format that makes it acceptable for uploading to the internet.

In the case of the audio file the OU recommended Wave pad sound editor provided a cleaning up function, and the Switch sound file gives a number of different audio file options. The file was then suitable for uploading to my own website for broadcasting.

The video was more problematic as the original .mov file was very large, and needed to be converted into a web friendly size and format. The conversion was done on the Mac software, and could then be exported in a couple of m4 file options. It was also possible to take the Mac exported file and upload to You Tube.

I'm sure the next time around, it will be a lot easier, and it certainly makes me keen to incorporate some multi media files on our website. It also encourages me to consider creating a number of podcast files that can be used on our Distance Learning programme, leaving the tutorial sessions for discussions, rather than presentations.

Core Activity 7.3 Approaches to assessment in my setting

The background research on this subject highlighted a number of aspects of assessment that I want to incorporate in my practice.

 

In the PLOT webspace, they refer to a LAMP of learning model which has seven stages. from bottom to top, the stages are; use, connect, internalise, synthesis, apply and use. Progression through these stages leads to Deep Learning, and puts students in a position to interpret and adapt their learning to suit their own situation. Learning activities are designed to prompt learning through these various stages.

 

This progression is essential in my situation, where consultants sign up for training so that they can incorporate our new organisation model into their existing practice. The PLOT website offers a series of structured assessment and personal planning tools to underpin this approach.

 

Burgess has an excellent structure for creating personal development plans around identified areas of weakness.

1 Learning Objective

2 How will you work towards this

3 How will you know about your progress

4 Progress in reaching objective

5 Evidence

6 What got in the way

7 Further work needed

 

Step 5 requires evidence of progress, which enables the learner to create revised learning plans, taking account of step 6 (what got in the way).

 

In my experience in business, tangible evidence is often absent from the assessment process of an individual's performance. Even in peer assessed situations gut-feel scoring is much more typical and tends to lack objectivity. A client of mine has recently introduced a succession planning process in her company which attempts to overcome this assessment weakness. The leadership competences that have been identified for the future have a spectrum of descriptions which are assigned to be low, medium or high performance indicators. Tangible evidence of performance against the competency spectrum is required in the assessment process with the rating being given after consideration of this evidence. Human Resource staff have been trained to use a positive questioning process with managers who are doing the assessing to ensure the robustness of this evidence.

 

'So what' for my learning disciplines?

1. 
   
   Establishing meaningful criteria against which to assess progress and make action plans is essential. These can be compared against the LAMP model. As I assemble my H808 e-portfolio, I will consider the extent to which the goals I have set myself will provide me with the right framework and revise as appropriate. 
2. 
   
   The PDP structure that Burgess recommends also looks very valuable.
3. 
   
   Incorporating peer review of my progress, drawing on feedback from colleagues is a genuine option for me. I hope that this review process may also serve to educate and inform my colleagues about the potential of new approaches to learning.

 

References:

Burgess, H (n.d.) Self and Peer Assessment (online), The Higher Education Academy: Social Work and Social Policy (SWAP). Available from: http://sorubank.ege.edu.tr/~bouo/DLUE/Chapter-08/Chapter-8-makaleler/Assessment%202_%20Self%20and%20peer%20assessment.htm (accessed 19 August 2009). Professional Learning Online Tool (n.d.) Demo (online). Available from: http://www.plotpd.com/Demonstration/Demonstration.htm (accessed 20 December 2009).

 

E-Learning Design - Reflections

The work on H808 TMA 2 made me go back over some of my H802/H804 reading and has reminded me - gulp - of the shift in teaching focus that is offered by the online medium. Prensky and Schank are strong advocates of a learner centric approach to education.

Although in the back of my mind, I was already aware of this, I now realise that the Distance Learning programme that I have just recently delivered to 8 consultants has, at its core, a transmission approach to teaching. Our Web Tutorials had at least 50% of the time devoted to making presentations of materials, which, to be frank, may have felt uninspiring to the audience.

In version 2, I am considering converting some of these sessions into podcasts, which students can listen to in their own time. The Tutorials could be devoted to conversations about the implications and practicalities of the information provided in the podcast, and other background reading.

However, a much more learner centric model is provided by the Carnegie Case Study which I chose in Activity 6.1. If I were to follow Elizabeth Barklay's approach, I would define a number of learning outcomes, and then offer students a variety of exercises/activities to achieve this learning. Whilst this would be a major undertaking in the short term, if we could achieve the increased volume of students that were achieved in the study, the effort would be well worth it;-)

My most significant challenge in the new course design will be with my colleagues, who are all professionals who are genuine experts in the transmission mode of teaching. I am not sure how wholeheartedly they will embrace my proposals.

My own professional values.

My beliefs:

• When people are able to do work that matters (paid or unpaid) they feel useful members of society and therefore feel good about themselves as human beings
• People doing work that matters make a difference to businesses and organisations enabling them to do well
• As a result, society benefits from the above virtuous circle
• Everyone can improve their personal skills and performance, as long as they are willing to take responsibility for this change
• As a learning professional, my job is not only to help people to learn, but also to help them to see the benefit of learning

My professional values therefore include the following:

1. Maintain and develop my skills as a learning professional in business
2. Take an active interest in the context in which my clients are operating
3. Promote excellence in all of my professional interventions
4. Embrace innovation as a key technique in professional and business development 
5. Provide relevant and useful tools and learning experiences to support clients in their pursuit of excellence
6. Keep up to date with technology so that I can offer enhanced learning experiences for my clients 
7. Contribute to an extended global community through which best pratice and learning can be shared
8. Above all, give great service that clients love;-)

H808 Core Activity 7.1 Professional Values

Having reviewed the values statements of four very different professional associations (ALT, BRACP, AMED, RAE), some interesting differences in values and focus are evident.

All emphasize, to a greater or lesser extent, the importance of professional being a credit to their association by pushing themselves to be as knowledgeable and wise about their profession as they can be. In some cases this means that professionals have to meet stringent entry standards, and must be prepared to continue their professional development, and to share their knowledge and experience with others in the association.

Of the four, BRACP and RAE have a much stronger emphasis on the service aspects of their duties as professionals (counselling and psychotherapy on the one hand and engineering on the other).

Perhaps because of the intensely personal relationship that a client develops with a counsellor or therapist, there is a heavy focus on the professional relationship with the client and the quality of outcome that the client can expect. Alleviating personal distress and enhancing the quality of relationships between people are explicit examples of this bias. There is also a strong emphasis on a promoting the role and benefit the profession offers to society. Respecting human rights and dignity and striving for the fair and adequate provision of counselling and psychotherapy services are important enough values to be clearly articulated.

The Royal Academy of Engineering launches their statement of ethical principles with a description of the role of the engineer as being to "work to enhance the welfare, health and safety of all whilst paying due regard to the environment and the sustainability of resources." And whilst professionalism and professional development is clearly at the heart of their ethical principles, these qualities are described much more from the perspective of the value and service that these principles provide to society (Professional engineers have a duty to ensure that they acquire and use wisely and faithfully the knowledge and skills needed in their work in the service of others.)

The Association for Management Education and Development, a UK association which is open to anyone operating in the field of organisation development, places much greater emphasis on the context in which their work is operating. Their values identify important elements that undoubtedly have a significant impact on the effectiveness of OD initiatives; the relationships between people and the organisation, change as a key catalyst in development, the contribution of development to the changing world. The skills and knowledge of members is not mentioned, although openness to feedback is.

In the case of ALT values, particular focus is given to the integration of the two key areas of expertise - technology and learning, both of which play a part in the effectiveness of the ALT professional. ("Learning technology is the broad range of communication, information and related technologies that can be used to support learning, teaching and assessment")

That duality of competence may also account for the fact that learning from others outside of their background and specialism is seen as an important value. In the rapidly changing territory which technology inhabits, the emphasis on being up to date with developments and being open to inputs from other professionals seems essential if Learning Technology is to emerge as a viable and relevant profession.
1. A commitment to exploring and understanding the interplay between technology and learning

2. A commitment to keep up to date with new technologies

3. An empathy with and willingness to learn from colleagues from different backgrounds and specialisms

4. A commitment to communicate and disseminate effective practice

Since the profession of Learning Technologists is very embryonic in its evolution, its values and principles are likely to be at a similarly formative stage. However, the lack of client or learner focus in the current value statement would seem to be a significant oversight, as is the absence of any higher purpose in the application of the professionals' skills.

References:

Association for Learning Technology (2006) Documents (online). Available from: http://www.alt.ac.uk/documents.html  (Accessed 30th November 2009)

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (n.d.) Ethical Framework (online). Available from: http://www.bacp.co.uk/prof_conduct/  (Accessed 3rd December 2009)

Royal Academy of Engineering (2007) Engineering Ethics. Available from: http://www.raeng.org.uk/societygov/engineeringethics/default.htm (Accessed 3rd December 2009)

The Association for Management Education and Development
http://www.amed.org.uk/ (accessed 3rd December 2009),

H808 Activity 6.2 Best Practice Examples: 2

Of the four case studies I looked at, the second most interesting was th Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, (CASTL) Higher Education Program, http://cms.carnegiefoundation.org/gallery_of_tl/supporting_the_process_of_building_and_sharing_knowledge.html
Creating and Nurturing Robust Intellectual Communities

The e-portfolio describes the learning environment in which Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning scholars are able to document and share the progress of their research projects. They describe this workspace as scaffolding for a group of post graduate research students.

Some important principles that would seem to promote and support the learning of these students are:

The Collaborative Workspace serves as an excellent arena for students to showcase their learning. This would be a great example innovation in the design of learning environments.

Much emphasis seems to be given to the use of the snapshot tool. As I understand it, this is a tool which creates a pdf document of an original document or webpage? From the teaching point of view, this seems to be an example of an innovative use of technology to create presentations.

Students are required to give progress reports throughout their project, and this structure must encourage a reflective approach to learning. This could be given as an example of good teaching and learning support.

The fact that each progress report requires the student to respond to a template of open ended and searching questions is an example of an innovation in learning design, which will encourage individual learning and critical thought.

More generally, the posting of these progress reviews in the collaborative workspace creates an environment in which (formal or informal) peer review can thrive. This is an example of the teachers establishing an online community of learners in which learning from other students is potentially as important as learning from traditional academic sources.

Finally, the regular publishing of students research activities also provides the evidence for teachers to assess student progress, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.

Whilst I would not necessarily see this as a stunning example of best e-learning practice, it does show how a period in which students are doing research can be elevated to a group learning experience and would be a neat device that could be added to many programmes, whether or not they were fully delivered online.

Madeleine

H808 Activity 6.2 Best Practice Examples:1

Elizabeth Barkley: From catastrophe to celebration - an analysis of a curricular transformation
This is a compelling case of an improvement in educational performance, that I would like to nominate it as an example of best practice; it is a general education music course in a community college in  Foothill College, Los Altos, California which was heading for disaster back in the mid 1990s. The course was seeing a progressive reduction in admissions which alarmed and discouraged the teaching staff.

The professor, Elizabeth Barkley set about a fundamental redesign of everything about the course; content, design, delivery, assessment and so on. Over a 6 year period, the changes that were introduced transformed participation levels; from a low point of around 45 enrollments per year registration levels increased by 1638% - from 45 enrollments to 782. Assessment of the extent to which deep learning is being achieved was also very positive. Word of mouth from happy students has contributed to the popularity of the course with new student enrollments, the course becoming one of the most popular on the campus.

I have identified best practice examples using several of the characteristics of excellent teaching from NTFS, referenced by Goodyear et al (2001). 

Innovation in Design and Delivery
The new course makes a priority of student engagement with the material. This was done by looking at the learning outcomes that an adult education general music course should achieve, and then linking that back to music genres that would engage the interest to the students. The solution was to focus on the music the five major ethnic groups resident in the USA. The tradition approach in music education of focusing on largely European, classical repertoire was abandoned.

Ability to organise and present material
Students allowed to choose f2f, electronic, or combinations of both for learning. There was immense flexibility in the combinations that students could choose.

Ability to stimulate independent learing and critical thought
Students are encouraged to take ownership of the creation of their own programme of music learning, taking advantage of the modular approach to delivering the curriculum.

Effective and Sympathetic Guidance of Advancement
The aim was for Authentic Assessment using what Barkley calls backward design. This identifies the deep learning outcomes that are required, and then positions a range of activities through which students can achieve this deep learning, and also demonstrate that they have done so for assessment purposes.

Recognised Commitment to Scholarship
The theoretical underpinning of the new course is documented, and a second e-portfolio continues to analyse the development of scholarly thinking around this innovative new course. Students are encouraged to participate in the compilation of this review portfolio. 

Finally, I found the the format and presentation of this portfolio most inspiring, and it has given me many ideas about how to create my own e-portfolio. A combination of video, audio, photographs and graphics surround the text based artefacts most tastefully.

Madeleine

References
Capturing Change A Tale of Two Portfolios             

Elizabeth Barkley

http://web.mac.com/elizabethbarkley/BarkleyPortfolioPortal/Welcome.html 

Goodyear, P., Salmon, G., Spector, J.M., Steeples, C., Tickner, S., (2001) Competences for Online Teaching: A Special Report, ETR&D, Vol 49. No 1. 2001. pp65-72 ISSN 1042-1629

Core Activity 5.5 LSN certification

Having reviewed the CMALT and LSN E-learning competency frameworks, it appears to me that each approaches the challenge from a different angle; the ALT approach focusing more on adding learning on to technology skills and the LSN focusing more on adding technology to learning skills. The LSN approach fits most closely to my own situation, where I am aiming to add an e-learning dimension to my learning portfolio. I have examined how my PDP outcomes might earn me credit under the LSN accreditation scheme.

Not surprisingly, since my learning goals are focused on a current live e-learning programme, the majority of my goals fit under the Practitioner section of the Framework, but since the programme is a pioneering one in my own company, there are also a few design, leadership and staff development angles that will emerge from this PDP.

1. Awareness of Students and their learning needs
My plans to increase my awareness of student knowledge and special needs and to incorporate the learning into future programmes sits under the following LSN competencies:
LSN Competencies:
Practitioner: induct and guide learners entering and e-learning programme.
Developer: Develop e-learning materials and content
Core:What systems, resources and support are required for implementation

2 Creating the right online atmosphere
My plan to monitor and respond to learner participation and interactions fits under the following LSN competencies:
LSN Competencies:
Practitioner: monitor utilization of e-learning and related technologies
Practitioner: Interact with e-learners online/monitor utilization of e-learning and related technologies

3 Generating stickability
The study on learner motivation will qualify under the following LSN competency:
LSN Competency:
Practitioner: monitor utilization of e-learning and related technologies

4 Ability to use IT appropriately
4a Understanding of online course design: how to write online teaching material, how to design online activities, how to transform teaching or training material for the online environment.
LSN Competencies:
Design and Planning: Design and plan programmes that incorporate an e-learning component.
Practitioner: Identify resources for e-learning interventions/establish an e-learning environment.

4b Experience of audio and visual facilities of the web; for example, Netmeeting, Skype, digital photos, webcasting, podcasting
 LSN Competency:
Practitioner: Use specific e-learning tools relating to one’s own work role

4c Understanding of the different text-based communication systems: computer conferencing, bulletin boards, listserves etc
LSN Competency:
Practitioner: Use specific e-learning tools relating to one’s own work role

4d Skill in developing online community: what works and what doesn’t; providing focus, animating online groups, developing collaborative activities
LSN Competency:
Practitioner: Monitor utilization of e-learning packages and assessing effectiveness

5 Student Assessment
5a&b Ability to mark to the department’s standards
LSN Competency:-leadership: Evaluate performance of e-learning systems, tools, policies and procedures.

5c Written feedback on assignments
LSN Competency:
Practitioner: Interact with e-learners online in…..assessment roles.

6a Steps taken to improve your teaching
LSN Competency:
Advisor: Support staff development in e-learning.

7 Organisation and record-keeping
I am not convinced that this objective is specific to an e-learning goal.

8 Collaboration with teaching colleagues
LSN Competency:
Design and planning: Support staff development in e-learning.

H808 Core Activity 5.4

I find myself agreeing with you, Eugene, on your conclusions about Learning Technologists.

Here is my picture of what has been going on in education. We have an established group of professionals, teachers/academics, who find themselves in situ when the biggest revolution of the modern era comes onto the scene - information technology, and its partner revolution, the internet/www.

What becomes obvious to pioneering distance educators such as the OU, is that this new medium (internet) and tools (IT) can transform the way learning is delivered. The potential of this medium is seized upon by management, but the implications of this new direction have to be delivered by the institution. Since teachers and academics are/were totally unqualified to operate in this new digital domain, someone needed to fill the gap - enter a brand new person, the learning technologist. I see this person (under 35, technologically qualified) as being the bridge between the teachers and the IT experts; someone who knows enough about IT AND enough about the specific learning situation to recommend/provide tools, platforms and support wisely.

Incidentally, this same digital transformation is going on in (every?) professional discipline today. Spreadsheets have transformed the job of accountants, CADCAM technology has transformed the job of design engineers, Enterprise Resource Planning systems have transformed the job of production planning engineers and purchasing professionals. So is education any different, or does every profession have its own equivalent of the learning technologist?

Others will have their own opinion about this, but I suspect that the individual focus of the learning process makes the job of the learning technologist much more specialised than that of an IT service provider to other professions. And, let's say that there is a separate and important professionalism called a learning technologist, is it simply a matter of time before the next generation (digital native) teachers and academics with a much more instintive feel for technology will gradually incorporate the role of learning technologist into their own role?

In my own practice, we use Tom Peters' (1999) model of Professional Service, one key element of which positions the job of a Professional Service as being one in which the Professional educates their client to be able to serve themselves. In the meantime, the Professional is developing themself to the next level, and is in a position to serve their client once again at the next level of competence.

This is a long winded way of saying that I think there will always be a role for learning technologists, but any professional accreditation that they establish must be about being the experts on what next, not what is.

Madeleine



Peters, T. (1999) Reinventing Work, the Professional Service Firm 50, Alfred A Knopf Inc, New York

Reflection and Emotion

Since re-joining masters level studies in September, I have been reminded of the turbulence and emotion that accompanies the incorporation of new learning into my own thinking process. The period in which new input is being received, either by reading or through conversations of various kinds feels very stressful. Why would that be so? I suppose my existing 'certainties' have been reached over a significant period of time, and have been re-enforced by experience, which embeds them deeply into my sense of what is true. New information either fits in there, in which case, I have to find a way to make the links, or forces me to reconsider and revise my point of view. In a way, both of these scenarios is uncomfortable, which may account for the emotional reaction.. I think the worst part of the process is the part when the outcome feels uncertain. Just how does this fit? Have I been wrong in the past? Where does the new thought connect?
I am wondering whether my mistake is to keep ploughing on with trying to make the links? My normal way of working is to assume that if I work hard and stay focused, I will find the answer. But Anne Miller describes a mental process (in innovation) which is called hypnagogic creativity.

"It's important not to be always "on", because the creative process needs to alternate periods when you are energetically gathering information or thinking analytically with periods of quieter reflection to incubate ideas and listen to your intuition." (p52)

My recollection of Moon's description of the reflective process had a period in which the new ideas were absorbed. I am beginning to feel that it is important that I develop personal strategies for coping with this emotional period.

One strategy, of course,would simply be to take a break when I reach overflow point and deliberately do something that takes my mind off the subject under consideration.
A second idea is to engage in conversation with others who can add perspective to my thinking. One of two of my work colleagues are especially helpful in this regard, as they are well aware of my existing points of view and can counter them well.
The OU is also a place to see solace, either with tutor group colleagues, or possibly in the public areas of H808?
Maybe there are others?


Miller, A., (2009) How to get your ideas adopted (and change the world), Marshall Cavendish Ltd,. London

H808 Activity 5.1 E-learning roles

The websites I have visited describe e-learning professionals from two different perspectives; those taking a national/international policy view (EIfEL (European Institute for E-Learning and New Zealand Ministry of Education ), and those taking an institutional or organisational view (Research Center for e-Learning Professional Competency and The Training Foundation). Unsurpringly the former focus much more on policy, infrastructure and management issues, whilst the latter focus on the skillset and competencies needed to deliver e-learning.

In both cases, the start point is assumed to be existing learning and development institutions and staff which require 'conversion' into the use/exploitation of information technology. This is very relevant to my own situation, where my business is keen to develop our existing face to face management training offering to be available in Distance Learning formats. To date, this learning is being provided by staff who have limited experience of operating as learning professionals in an e-learning context. They are, however, subject matter experts in their chosen areas of professionalism.

The e-learning professional roles (derived from the above research) that I believe apply in my own e-learning context are listed below. I have identified what I believe are the main developments that will be needed by the professionals in my context.

* Learning Design

E-learning design has a greater emphasis on constructivist principles and identification of the reflection required to enable deep learning. Designers must develop an understanding how technology/multi media can enable learning interactions to take place.

* Materials Design

Materials are a critical element of e-learning. Rather than just providing content input (which would be typical in the f2f setting), the emphasis should be to promote self directed learning, and prompt questions, connections and debates. Learner independence should be seen as a goal.
* Learning Environment Design/Management

The classroom context in e-learning is very different to f2f, and can only work if the learner chooses to engage actively. Creating the right online environment - building rapport - will be a priority.
* Learning Technology

Build up the team's understanding of the range of technology options (CMC, wikis, podcasting, blogs, e-portfolios, social networking etc) for delivering e-learning. This knowledge must be constantly updated.
* Course Facilitation

More hand's off than in a f2f practice. Encouraging of questions not just delivering content and supervising/debriefs. Less transmission, more discussion and expert 'responder'.
Coaching/mentoring

* The visibility of student reflections provided in the e-learning context enables us to offer much greater student support. Building the right bonds of trust and credibility are essential prerequisites for this relationship to thrive.
* Assessment of Student Learning and Evaluation of Programme Effectiveness

Exploit the opportunities to monitor student learning, such as e-portfolios and online discussions, that are offered in the e-learning context.
* Staff Development

Provide staff with the chance progressively to join in with e-learning delivery (legitimate peripheral participation, Lave and Wenger, 1991) and encourage them to create their own PDP in e-learning practice.
* Learning Infrastructure Design/Maintenance

The learning platforms we will use will be from 3rd party providers.

References:

http://cms.steo.govt.nz/eLearning/Projects/Tertiary+eLearning+Research+Fund.htm (accessed 5 November 2009)Research Center for e-Learning Professional Competency, http://elpco.a2en.aoyama.ac.jp/EN/index.cgi (accessed  6^th November 2009).
The Training Foundation, http://www.trainingfoundation.com/index.asp (accessed 6th November 2009).  

EIfEL (European Institute for E-Learning), http://www.eife-l.org/ (accessed 5 November 2009)
Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991), Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Parcitipation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

New Zealand Ministry of Education (?) ‘Tertiary (e)Learning Research Fund’ (online). Available from: Available from: http://cms.steo.govt.nz/eLearning/Projects/Tertiary+eLearning+Research+Fund.htm (Accessed 5th November 2009)

EC: Web Tutorial 4 Some random thoughts

The fourth and final FSW web tutorial focused on the Excellence audit results and how to interpret them. As pre-work, delegates were all asked to complete the audit themselves, so that they could understand the experience their clients will be going through. They were also provided with results from  a real audit, and were asked to read through the practitioners guide section on the audit, and to begin to work out how they would interpret the data.
From the outset, it was clear that a couple, notably Gary and Berta, had spent time studying the data. Others may well have done the same, but did not speak out so confidently in the discussions.
The content delivered by us was quite significant, and I am still very thoughtful about whether this was the best way to deliver the material. For those who had studied the case study, it was probably fine, but others may have been a bit overwhelmed.
The dilemma over whether we should present any content in the webinar format is still on my mind. We will be issuing feedback questions to investigate the experience of the learners, and I am most interested to explore this question. There is no doubt that the students are hungry for input, but I am wondering whether that input needs to be more driven by their questions than by our description of our model.

TMA 1, What was Different?

TMA 1 was the first experience of putting together an assessed academic document in my new 'e-portfolio' era. I want to step back here and think about what was different, compared to my previous H802 and H804 experiences of TMAs.


The TMA 1 fell into two parts, one of which was a reflective summary, and the other of which was a more traditional critical reflection on the main learning of Blocks 1-4 of the course. 


What was noticeable to me was that, as I had gradually cottoned on to the discipline of recording, organising and tagging my course work, the orderliness of my TMA reflections improved. So the least well organised thinking was from blocks 1 and 2 of H808, when I had really failed to grasp the full significance of what the modules were meant to be teaching me. This was a point that I had picked up in a couple of earlier blogs.


The reflective summary felt a great deal easier to complete than the normal academic assignment, as I had kept a pretty good record of my thoughts using my blog right from the very start. I suspect the other reason that it was easier was that I was working with material that had come from my own head, rather than having to describe material that is presented by others. 


A second piece of learning, picked up from previous H80X experience, was that in my planning for the TMA, I outlined the main sections of the assignment, and limited myself to the right general proportion of words per section, in order to meet the TMA requirements. Although there then had to be some editing and reshaping of the final version, I am convinced that I wasted much less time than previously on too many words.


Another discipline that was new was that, having outlined the main sections of the assignment, I left the sections that I thought were the easiest (usually the introductory sections!) until the end, beginning with those where there were the most significant 'gaps' in my thinking. This had the emotional effect of me feeling relieved the closer I got to the finishing line - rather than the opposite effect of feeling like the steepest hills were still left to climb!


One slight confusion was that I have material stored in a few different places. I am tending to gravitate towards Google apps as the main organising centre for my thoughts, as it is such a ubiquitous application, and is incredibly easy to access. However, the formats and range of files types supported do make its use a bit limited. And the fact that the labelling of documents across the Google apps family is not identical is a bit frustrating. But I suspect the main issue for me to come to terms with is the need to be orderly right from the outset - not a natural mind set for me, as I have reflected previously.


So the mental notes to carry forward for the rest of H808 (and maybe my life?!) are;

1. When reading and studying, store and oraganise new material with future use in mind (TMA/EC/work projects)
2. At the outset of every piece of academic work, be clear what I want to get from the activity
3. Where word limits apply to a piece of work, set these limits at the "organising of thoughts" stage
4. Where possible, convert outside inputs (academic or otherwise) into a blog posting, so that these thoughts can begin to be incorporated into my own more fully.

In conclusion, I suspect that the big breakthrough on TMA1 was that being more organised makes the compilation of thinking for TMAs much more efficient. It remains to be seen whether the quality of what was produced is as good as, or better than, previous attempts;-)

H808 E-Portfolio: Web Tutorial 3 Review

In Sessions 1 and 2, we have focused on explaining the background to our organisation model, Future Shape of the winner, and having the students study it and get used to articulating the main features of the model.


In Session 3, we want to move on to have students start the process of integrating FSW into their existing practice. We decided to prompt this thinking by setting some background reading on how the model connects with other well known management theories, and then to explain three case studies which outline the way that we have integrated the model into our practice. These case studies elicited a number of questions, that were at quite a practical level, and indicated to me that students were putting themselves in the position of using the model and having to make sense of its findings. One contacted me after the Web Tutorial with the following comment:

"This is becoming a lot clearer in my mind and am getting a lot of confidence!"

This seems to be an example of someone discovering how to integrate this new knowledge into their existing knowledge bank.


I remain uncomfortable with medium of the webinar platform, and am not convinced that it is the best for presenting data. And whilst the telephone contact enables us to have discussions and answer questions, it is still an imperfect way of judging the audience reactions to the material. 
However, the benefit of the teleconference is that the community of the programme is beginning to strengthen, and students are showing an obligation to each other to contribute. Being honest, the mindset that is probably the most important to shift is that of the tutors, including myself, whose background is almost entirely face to face training. Becoming comfortable with a style of teaching that relies much more on the learner to make sense of the material is difficult, and may not at the outset feel so personally rewarding, but is essential in the Distance Learning arena.


By the end of this first programme, I aim to be able to map the key learning inputs that are essential for the programme, and find ways of delivering that material through a more suitable medium; podcasts, videocasts, quizzes ...etc. And I would want to identify which are the most important subjects for discussion. Setting up activities that engender the right discussions will be the next challenge.


But all in all, we are managing to have the right conversations, and the confidence our students are developing for the material is most heartening.

My Mental Block around E-Portfolios

The first six weeks of H808 have been a period in which I have felt extremely confused. I have had these same emotions on previous H80X programmes, and I have found that if I can trust the expertise of the Open University's course designers, the fog will eventually clear. Or perhaps to be a bit more theoretical about the description of this process, I will find a way to integrate the new knowledge into my existing knowledge bank.

My confusion has largely been around the use of the e-portfolio. The idea of having an electronic place to store, organise and retrieve pieces of work or pieces of interesting research or information is a straightforward enough idea, particularly in the era of Web 2.0. My confusion has arisen around how an established professional, with many years of experience and insights, and with a multitude of uses for an e-portfolio, would begin to set up and organise one.

On reflection, maybe the root of my problem is that I am not someone who thinks in a linear way. My first degree was in Music, and my Belbin team role is Plant; I have always considered myself to have a more creative than scientific mind. Organising thoughts at a meta level is not my strength, and I am lucky to have a business partner for whom this comes naturally. This may therefore have let me off the hook with this discipline in a work context.

My H808 confusion has arisen because I did not grasp quickly enough that to use tools like My Stuff, de-licious, and Google apps (these latter two highly recommended by H808 colleague Eugene), I must first decide how to sort and store my data. When I went back into My Stuff after 5 weeks of collecting, the tags were chaotic, to say the least.

So, I decided to become intensely practical, and to organise my thoughts around the immediate challenge; H808 activities. With that in mind, I was able to organise the My Stuff tags, which meant renaming a few tags, housekeeping the tags I had set up to avoid duplication, and revisiting those artifacts already stored there to include as many tags as are relevant. I then moved on to my Google Docs Application, and carried over as many of the My Stuff tags as are relevant to this (work based) project. Some additional tags were needed to reflect the H808 Skills and Competencies requirements of the EC. And lastly, I revisited the tags I had set up on De-licious, and discovered similar chaos to the other two repositories. Again, I have done an editing and clearing out job here, and have tried to maintain tag consistency with Google and My Stuff.

This all feels as if I have managed to clear out a cluttered kitchen drawer;-)

It will be most interesting to discover whether I am able to hold myself to the discipline of organising my thoughts, my work and my reading beyond H808. I suspect that I will, as my unease with the early clutter of H808 mirrors my general unease with the amount of data that is available in the world today. The explosion of information over the last 10 or so years that the internet and the other publishing media are generating has felt, at times, overwhelming. Having a way of categorising and then storing information which adds value to my practice and my hobbies is beginning to feel like a watershed in my cognitive mapping process.