Hi Randy, Good thinking Randy --- there are many strategic elements in your post, which I think we need to incorporate into our evolving strategy for the future:
http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:WikiEducator_3.0 Thinking about Professional Development, clearly this is an important node for development. Thinking about the value proposition, there are two important reasons why an OER approach to professional development makes so much sense: 1) Almost every tertiary education institution has a professional development unit -- yet in my experience most are not adequately resourced in terms of staff or budget to do what needs to be done on campus. 2) An OER approach to professional development should theoretically be less threatening to institutions testing the OER waters because PD courses for academic staff are not necessarily courses on which institutions compete with each other. Back in the early conceptualisation phases of WikiEducator (i.e. before we moved to a hosted server solution) -- on 19 March 2006 I set up a PD development node on WE envisioning rapid growth (http://www.wikieducator.org/index.php?title=Professional_Development_(eLearning_and_Instructional_Design)&oldid=1807 ) -- However, I suspect that the idea was premature and poorly implemented :-), especially given that at the time we only had 10 registered accounts! (Wow -- can you believe that we're nearing the threshold of 7000 users!) So I thinking the timing is right to progress this further. With reference to your suggested refinements on the L4C initiative -- again the timing is just right from a strategic point of view. The current iterration of L4C will run to 30 June 2009 -- as determined by our external funding support from Hewlett. We need to start thinking about where we take L4C in the future --- and I really like your ideas for refocusing and reconfiguring the initiative. I'd be keen to hear what folk think? How should WE provide support for capacity development in the future? In what ways can we improve on our current approaches? Cheers Wayne On Sun, 2008-12-07 at 09:10 -0800, Randy Fisher wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > Great dialogue.....I've been sleeping on this thread here, reflecting > on conversations that I've had with Nellie, Maria and several L4C > students, and what's becoming clear, is that Professional Development > is an essential 'branding opportunity' for WikiEducator. On WE, we > have so many projects and activities, it's easy to get lost in the > fog.... (so a bit of a ramble coming up here - I'm not as eloquent as > Leigh or Wayne... :-) > > I'm thinking back to my economic development days, and how can we > 'package' what we have in a way that's appealing to educators - who > may or may not know about open education. I'm also thinking about > institutions' perennial quest to teach their teachers new stuff - > which is great, but it's for the masses, not customised to the > indivdual interests of teachers.... > > So, I'm thinking.... why not a process of "you scratch my back, I'll > scratch someone else's itch". (Note, I didn't say "you scratch my > back, I'll scratch 'yours'). > > The great thing about the WE community is that we have so many > teacher-educators with so many interests (a network!)... The question > is..., how can we leverage our WE Network in service of Teacher > Educator's Professional Development? I'm thinking that it might make > sense to go with a Centre of Excellence approach for Professional > Development - to help us with branding and outreach to teacher > educators in line with their own ProD interests, not just our wiki > skills approach - (see what I've put up > > http://www.wikieducator.org/Professional_Development > > I'm also thinking that we have to change the L4C messaging around the > requirements for the Learning Contract (i.e., in the 10-day or the > 5-day courses) - put emphasis on what Learners have to Offer and Share > with their Peers, in terms of something that they can Teach another > Educator. (The emphasis on OER is great, but the reality is, that if > you develop it on WikiEducator, it is an OER! :-) > > I think a subtle yet important shift in emphasis could help us convey > our value proposition, particularly those teacher-educators who want > to learn new skills. Of course we want them to develop OERs in our > community, but first things first - let's have them share something > easy, something they're comfortable with, and something they can > "teach" others in our community .... > > Your thoughts, feedback? > > - Randy > > > > > On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 2:06 PM, Leigh Blackall > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > And of course, anyone is free to participate in the 2 teacher > training courses we have on Wikied already (though they are > designed for higher education practitioners who have ready > access to the Internet). > > * Flexible Learning > * Online Facilitation > > These 2 courses run twice a year, and informal participation > is welcome for anyone anywhere. I am continuously looking for > ways in which formal tuition and assessment can be made > entirely free, but at the moment I can only offer informal > participation for free. What's the difference? Personal > learning support and a piece of paper at the end that says you > are good to go to NZ standards. > > Shortly, we will have more of our teacher training courses > available in this model, and many of the others may be more > appropriate for secondary teachers and other practitioners who > do not have ready access to the Internet. > > So, with more and more of these sorts of courses becoming > available in all sorts of versions of FREE, I think teacher > training in Africa could well be offered for free. > > > > > > On Sun, Dec 7, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Wayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > Hi Randy, > > Teacher education is a huge challenge -- particularly > in Sub-Saharan Africa. I think there are ways in > which the WikiEducator community can help. > > A couple of thoughts - > > 1. With considerable surprise and celebration :-) -- I > now see that the Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan > Africa (TESSA) project is using a CC-BY-SA > license!!!!! --- Previously they were using a non-free > content license -- so it seems that some of the > lobbying and noise has rendered positive results :-). > > See: > > http://www.tessafrica.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=119 > > > I'll get in touch with the TESSA organisers and start > exploring ways we can support TESSA in the achievement > of their objectives -- for example, L4C training > workshops in building capacity for content > development. > > 2. Declan McCabe has pioneered and innovative model > for student teachers to engage in OER content > development. We can build on this experience in > connecting teacher education institutions around the > world --- mmm lots of potential here! > > See: > http://www.wikieducator.org/Biology_in_elementary_schools > > 3. Vincent Kiza, is a Ugandan teacher and serves on > our Council. We should get in touch with Vincent for > ideas. In fact, very soon Gayaza High School will be > hosting a L4C workshop. Also, WhiteEagle from Germany > (WE Council member) and Vincent are laying the > foundations for the Center for innovative physics > teaching in Uganda > (http://www.wikieducator.org/Ted/Project_Planning/Uganda ) > > I'm pretty sure that more ideas will emerge --- but we > certainly have a few good leads to follow. Good > thinking Randy! > > Cheers > Wayne > > > > > > > > On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 12:51 -0800, Randy Fisher > wrote: > > > Hi Everyone, > > > > I came across this news item (December, 2008) in the > Independent > > Online, from South Africa) > > > > Teachers should be trained for free in order to try to > close SA's > > current 20 000-plus teacher shortfall, the SA Council of > Educators > > said on Thursday. > > > > "Considering the low levels of intake at teacher-training > facilities > > and the high costs of training... the Council calls for > free teacher > > training for all prospective teachers, with immediate > effect," said > > SACE CEO Rej Brijraj on Thursday. > > > > Link: > http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=105&art_id=nw20081204165824720C518870 > > > > *** > > > > I have a few comments / questions: > > > > * What role could WikiEducator in addressing this skills > shortage in > > general; and in particular with respect to teacher training? > > > > * Do we have teacher training materials available, or how > can we > > facilitate collaborative development of more? > > > > * I recall that our New Zealand colleagues are interested > in teacher > > education, as is India's NCERT - > http://www.ncert.nic.in/welcome.asp > > ~ who specifically is interested in teacher training? > > > > * Please do share your ideas, thoughts and suggestions... > > > > - Randy > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > -- > Leigh Blackall > +64(0)21736539 > skype - leigh_blackall > SL - Leroy Goalpost > http://learnonline.wordpress.com > http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall > > > > > > > > > > -- > ________________ > Randy Fisher - Change Management & Collaboration, Human Performance & > Engagement, Sustainable Communities & Organizations > > * Engaging People in Teams, Communities and Organizations....and > WikiEducator! > > + 1 604.684.2275 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://www.wikieducator.org > http://www.wikieducator.org/Community_Media > http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Randyfisher > > * Cool WikiEducator Video on YouTube: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc9-CNlIqsY > > * Can You Do the Wiki-Wiki? http://www.wikieducator.org/Wiki_Wiki > > Skype: wikirandy > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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