Mark Berthelemy :: Blog

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Mark Berthelemy's Connections

This is a paper I've written recently as part of a Masters in eLearning:

http://elgg.cpdconnections.net/berthelemy/weblog/64.html

The paper looks at professional development in the content of the UK's DfES National Strategies (a massive CPD programme for teachers). It addresses the issues around the cascade model of professional development, looking at communities of practice as a more suitable model.

It then goes on to investigate network theory and how it may be applied using online social networking tools (such as Elgg) to build the social capital necessary for communities of practice to develop and grow.

Any comments gratefully received.

[Edit: the paper is stored on the www.cpdconnections.net site - part of a service offered by Capita Learning & Development, my employers. However, it should be stressed that my postings here or there do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Capita Group PLC, nor the National Strategies, and should thus be treated as my personal opinions. CPD Connections is powered by Elgg - a social networking environment designed around the needs of learners.]

http://www.berthelemy-family.org.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=introduction_to_web_accessibility&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_introtoaccessibility/index.html

This isn't saying anything new. But, as usual with materials from Step Two, it gives a clear and concise explanation of why designing for accessibility is important - if not essential.

http://www.berthelemy-family.org.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=explorations_in_educational_research_met&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

I'm just about to start a new module in my Masters degree programme. It's all about Research Methods.

Initial reactions - is this what I really want to be doing? to be learning about? The whole course is about elearning... why do I want to know about research methods?

I suppose it's all about getting ready to write the dissertation next year. So perhaps I need to be thinking in that context.

Anyway - I'm going to try to use this blog to keep a record of what I learn. It'll help with writing the assessed reflective journal (which I always struggle to do - mainly because I leave the reflection until it's too late).

PS. Apologies to everyone who wants to make a comment on this within my own site (www.berthelemy-family.org.uk/blogs). I've had to switch off comments completely because the spammers were becoming too prolific. If you want to make comments on my postings it's best to go to http://elgg.net/berthelemy/weblog/ where a copy of my postings will always appear. Thank you Elgg developers!

http://www.berthelemy-family.org.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=title&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

http://www.snapshirts.com/

An image from Snapshirts - about this blog...

Via Gordon Cotterill

http://www.berthelemy-family.org.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=thumbstacks_com_live_presentations_on_th&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

http://www.thumbstacks.com/index.php

Picked this up from Mark Oehlert.

Thumbstacks lets you create Powerpoint-style presentations from inside a browser. Looks very slick and easy to use.

http://www.berthelemy-family.org.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=staff_development_is_no_more&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

David Warlick - a commentator on teaching and learning in the US - has posted a thought-provoking piece entitled: "OK, no more staff development" in which he proposes we should be aiming for a school environment in which teachers:

* Have the time to reflect and retool (at least three hours a day),

* Have ready access to local and global ideas and resources that are logically and socially indexed,

* Have the skills to research, evaluate, collaborate, remix, and implement new tools and techniques (contemporary literacy),

* Are part of an ongoing professional conversation where the expressed purpose is to provoke change (adapt),

* Leave the school from time to time to have their heads turned by new experiences,

* Share what they and their students are doing with what they teach and learn %u2014 their information products and relics of learning become an explicit and irresistibly interwoven part of the school%u2019s culture.

He goes on to say: "If we are trying to help our students to become life-long-learners, then this is what teachers should be right now."

Then Jeff, a teacher in Shanghai, posts his reflections on his 25% CPD time, in which he says:

This has been the best day of PD I could ever hope for. I was in control of my learning. I was able to click on links that were interesting and ignore the information that I felt didn%u2019t apply to me. I read, commented, reflected, bookmarked, and just felt the excitement inside me grow as I found some great stuff.

Does this sound too idealistic to you - or is this something we should be aiming at?

Just tried to create a community (called "test") on elgg.net - but now I can't delete it... Oops, sorry everyone! Does anyone need a test community - it's already made for you....

 The reason I was trying this out was to see if there was any way to import OPML files, so a community could have a shared resource of feeds. There's no apparent way of doing that for an individual yet.

It would be great if Elgg could become a good aggregator of feeds a la Bloglines (or perhaps Bloglines bring in some Elgg ideas?), ie. with folders, posts marked as read etc. At the moment, I'm still having to recommend a separate Bloglines account to sit alongside Elgg. Or perhaps Elgg could use the Bloglines API (like Greatnews)? But then you still get the problem of multiple accounts, which new users just do not want the hassle of.

 

Is it possible to keep communities private, by giving them a password? Even though I can make my posts viewable by only certain communities, anyone can join those communities, which bypasses the restriction I've placed on the post?

Context:: Elgg is good. It does what it sets out to do. These thoughts are really to make it easier for the non-techie person to use....

Wouldn't it be good if comments could be notified somehow? either by email or via RSS?

The "Friends blogs" feature should have its own RSS feed, so a single subscription can keep track of all my friends in one go.

Each RSS feed within Elgg should have a button that allows me to immediately add it to my Elgg Resources without having to copy & paste RSS URLs.

A subscribe bookmarklet (cf. Bloglines), would be useful, as well as an API that on offline reader can plug into (like Greatnews with Bloglines)


Oh yes, and some way of stopping RSS & FOAF links just displaying a pile of XML with the back button being the only way out. That is going to put a fair number of people off. Perhaps use an XSLT like Derek Morrison (http://www.bath.ac.uk/dacs/cdntl/pMachine/auricle.xml)