This is a follow up to the scope that I posted last March, just prior to leaving earthquake-prone New Zealand for earthquake-prone Japan. I want to address two linked questions:
- Where am I at?
- Where should I be headed?
I've been in Uto City three months now. On the home front, the accommodation question has been solved through forming an extended family of three generations (this is Japan, after all). For an office, I use my mother-in-law's bedroom. Internet access (wireless) has been organized (expensive at about $100 per month), and the issue of 100V electrical power instead of 230V has disappeared, after I discovered that the laptop's adapter handles both.
Other bugs I've been able to 'exterminate' include Microsoft Office authentication, a PDF problem, and the hacking of my Gmail account (the first two with the help our friendly IT people, using Bomgar). Another issue-that-wasn't was my need for a microphone and headphones, because my laptop is equipped with them (though as I write, there's an audio feedback issue that I need to have fixed).
I'm largely set up with all the tools that I require to offer students support online. Skype's up and running (as are Gmail and Facebook video chat). I seem to be green for go concerning Elluminate . I have installed Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube (as well as Yoono to keep simultaneous tabs on them all). And, of course, I've maintained this blog, with 2000 hits to date, averaging 200-400 per month
Likewise, I've made and maintained contact with various staff and colleagues on these various social networking platforms, depending each person's predilection. Prior to relocating, I had set up relationships with, and created distribution lists for, several groups of students. Finally, Bronwyn Hegarty and Sarah Stewart have offered useful professional advice that I mean to follow up.
I've dabbled in some possibilities for projects, such as using Windows Movie Maker to create an introductory video. I've started a YouTube Maths channel for interesting and useful numeracy clips. I've explored several vlogging models, with a view to creating one myself. Now, I need to ascertain exactly where to apply my efforts to get the biggest bang for our buck. The next task would be to report back to the team and work towards a consensus.
The key issue to address, it seems to me, is how to encourage students to actually utilize online support. Without their buy-in, there won't be much of a pay-off. I have sent out several global emails inviting them to contact me, but very few have. I, certainly, and perhaps the Learning Centre as a whole, need to ponder about how to reach out and sell ourselves. Proactivity is meant to be the name of the game. The original intent was to spend 80% of my time working with students both individually and in groups, 20% of my time working on a project, and a small portion of my time facilitating the training of S.S. staff in Skype and other online communication tools. I'm not yet there by any means. Students have never contacted me using Facebook or Twitter, and only occasionally by email.
Consequently, I've been exploring several options. If I take part in a regular Elluminate session for distance students, I could build up a relationship with them. I've already sounded this out with Judy Magee, who suggests that I join the distance Bioscience 2 stream. I could change my working hours, though I'm not sure that this would make a difference. We could set up fixed appointments through the front desk (there could be weekly Elluminate and or Skype sessions that students sign up for). I also feel that we could tweak our paradigm of mostly just working with students with needs. We are already doing this with Peer Tutors, but could actively seek the collaboration of abler students to help build up some sort of a wiki of learning resources that students take co-ownership of (I've set up a Wikispaces shell for that). I'm also toying with a weekly good study idea/website sent out globally so as to keep us in the public eye (for staff as well as students?). It is probably more productive to find or organize pre-existing material, rather than create them from scratch, though in areas where good resources do not exist, I could. Above all, though, I need to limit my focus to just a few things. Do them well and regularly.
Q: How long is a piece of string?
A: As thin as you can spread the jam
A: As thin as you can spread the jam
4 comments:
I will be interested in hearing how you get on as a virtual commuter. I find the teaching aspect to be really easy. What I am having more problems with is the institutional processes. These are difficult partly because I don't hear the office gossip about the best way to do things.
Hi William. This is great. I will send the link to all the distant students on my Jasper cohort. Best wishes, Marlene
Hi William,
I am wondering why you have decided to re-invent the wheel with wikispaces? Why do you not want to collaborate with me and our other ATLAANZ colleagues in wikieducator?
Hi Sarah, Marlene and Helen. Thank you for commenting. Sarah, I agree with you about what what is easy and what is difficult. Marlene, I'm going to send you a better link to pass on to the students. And Helen, I need to write a fuller response to you, and will, but for now I don't see the wheels as being the same. The main part of my brief is to engage with students more online, and to do that, I'm going to have to collaborate with them more than with staff. I'm happy if some of what I develop/discover can be used in wikieducator, and you may be sure that I'm going to 'mine' its archives to dish up to students, but hopefully more palatively (yikes, I didn't think that was a word). Watch this space.
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