Here's a link to a thought provoking article on ROI:
[Click to view link]
It quotes Robert Brinkerhoff who has written extensively on the impact of training from the HRD perspective....
You may recall the impact of the training event figures? Only 7% of impact / transfer of learning occurs as a result of the training (classroom) session!

Here's a link to another useful piece of work on planning & evaluation from Brinkerhoff:
[Click to view link]

I will be attending a conference at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense 20 - 23 September, 2006.
If you want to follow my exploits - follow my main blog: [Click to view link]
or my Flickr photos
[Click to view link]

ABB

For those who attended the LTUG webinar on e-Learning Pathways for Professionals presented by Jean Clendinning - can find the documents referred to in the webinar in my Files section - in the e-Learning Professionals folder!

Here's an article from Chief Learning Officer - New Communication Strategies Offer Old World Results
It may be of interest as we work through our plans for integrating e-Learning into the business!
Here's an excerpt:
"Communication for the modern business is like air for the human body, and learning organizations inside today’s modern businesses have to contend with a variety of challenges. These include communicating across global business lines, evaluating the best delivery methods and creating influential learning activities that meet identified business strategies as well as personal and professional career development objectives for key talent in the workforce. No matter which task CLOs set for themselves and their direct reports, there will be some element of communication required, and the more effective the communication, the higher the potential for learning success.

Dianna Booher, president and CEO, Booher Consultants Inc., has done research on the ins and outs of business communication and has established 10 Cs of communication or strategies to communicate more effectively and purposefully. If you’re having problems, ask yourself if communication in your learning organization is: correct? complete? current? clear? purposefully un-clear? credible? concerned? competent? circular? If not, your work might be harder than it needs to be, and a communication overhaul might be in order."

Not really rocket science - and not really anything new...but there's a couple of clear messages about how you article your plans.
To read the entire article, click on the hyperlink above!

I'm currently attending a 2 day Education Faculty research conference....
There's been some interesting debate drifting around the corridors - what makes good educational research?
hmmmm - research that adds value to the practice of education?
Research that expands the body of knowledge about how people learn?

The afternoon workshop on "Supervision - from both sides" - facilitated by Clive Chappell and Dave Boud - was very thought provoking about the role of the supervisor in research contexts - and the responsbility of the students/candidates...more on that later!

"It's what we think we know that keeps us from learning"
Claude Bernard

The Orientation sessions for the start of the Diploma of e-Learning kicked off today - watch out for a new bunch of e-Portfolios emerging over the next week or so!

Next week is the return of semester and start of the new academic year - that means lots of activities and exciting things happening!

See you online! :-)

All the 1st year students should now have completed the set-up of their e-Portfolios. It might be the end of a subject and end of a semester, but it's just the start of the e-Portfolio development.

Over the semester break this ELGG installation will be upgraded - so if you notice the layout/look alters slightly - we've just done an upgrade - that means more goodies!

In the meantime - enjoy working in this space - see you next semester!

The subject of Adult Learning at Work explores the theories behind Andragogy (Adult Education). In this subject, I learnt about the various learning theories that underpin the education of adults in Australia.

I learned about Cognitive theory, the Behavioural theory, Self-Actualisation and other types of learning theory. This has helped me to identify different types of learning that occur in institutions such as universities and how they differ with workplace or Competency Based Training. The learning theories that I have learned in this subject has also helped me in identifying the most appropriate learning styles for myself and other people.

Weblog for Adult Learning at Work[File does not exist]

HRD in Organisations was an enjoying subject. The lecturer was a good, and I felt that he held the respect of all the students. He was also quite colloquial in his language, which made the things he said easy to understand.

I enjoyed the tutorials as well as a large part of them throughout the semester included student presentations. These presentations were based on whatever the student’s interest. I enjoyed watching the myriad of different topics presented, from language to making balloon poodles. The first assessment for the subject was about discussing the many different and changing roles of Human Resource Development Practitioners. This was challenging as the field is relatively new, with limited amounts of sources to get your information from.

The lessen that I learnt from conducting the presentations is the need for activities. In my experience a person will only pay attention to a presentation for only about 8 minutes. There needs to be a variety in your presentation in order to keep people’s attention

Weblog for HRD in Organisations[File does not exist]HRD Essay

Work and People was another difficult subject for the BAOL degree. This subject was the study of work trends in Australia.

The first assessment was an essay based on the occupation of your choice. The second assessment was an exam with two essays. The subject has no real application for industry, but gives background knowledge of the reasons why work trends exists (e.g. the current industrial reform). Even the lecturer remarked a few times that we probably won’t remember much from this subject.

However, this was the first subject that had the first assessment due since I commenced my Bachelor of Arts in Organisational Learning. While completing the first assessment, I began to remember how to write an essay, since I had worked throughout the previous two years. Through this assignment, I learnt how to reference and form an argument in an essay.
Weblog for Work and People[File does not exist]

This subject is an introductory subject for Management. This subject reminded me more of a giant high school than any other subject. This was because; most of our work was based on one text book. This subject was certainly the most popular subject that I have taken. For the first time, I saw strangers carrying around the same text book on the train.

This subject is about the many different management styles and theories made up on God’s green earth. It was well taught, and our learning was a good balance of lectures, class work and assessments. This was the first subject which had a large amount of the assessment based on an exam. This forced me to study the way I did in high school i.e. memorisation and repetition. Even though I went well in the exam, a lot of what I have studied was surface learning, meaning that as soon as I walked out of the exam room, I would have lost most of what I had studied.

Weblog for Managing People and Organisations[File does not exist]

This subject is a Faculty of Business Subject. I find that this subject is quite relevant to both the Management and Human Resources field.

This subject explores the current trends for Knowledge Management such as Lotus Notes, Intranets, Communities of Practice and also collaborative software.

I quite enjoy this subject as I find it to be quite relevant to industry. A lot of the research that I have undertaken has been based on real organisations. The first assessment task involves an individual report on the effectiveness of the implementation of Knowledge Management in the public and private sector.

Then the next two involves 2 30 minute interactive presentations with 2 2,500 word essays. These are group assignments which involve analysing a technology-focused application of knowledge management and a people-focused approach of Knowledge Management.

My group has worked well so far at this large undertaking. The lessen that I have learned from this subject is to pick your group mates well. Work with people, who work like you do.

Weblog for Knowledge Management[File does not exist]

This BAOL subject at UTS is one of the hardest subjects that I have undertaken. The difficulty is in understanding the concepts and theories of identity, culture and communication.

At the start of the semester, we as the class looked at the many views and theories of our identity. I learnt that “our identity includes our inability to shape the meanings that define our communities and our forms of belonging” (Wenger, E. (1998) “Identity in practice” Communities of practice Cambridge University Press: Cambridge Ch6.)

However, the main lessen that I learnt was that our surrounding cultures shape the way we see ourselves and our identity, and also our identity also shapes the cultures that surround us.

The hardest part of the course in my opinion is the subject of communication, in a wide variety of contexts. This was especially difficult when completing the last assessment where we had to apply what we learned in class, and analyse a communication event, or text. This assessment incorporated the following categories for discussion:
• Context of Culture
• Intertextuality
• Narratives
• Genres
• Discourses
• Cultural rules and conventions surrounding a text
• Field
• Tenor
• Mode
• Language

My experience in this subject has helped me to develop a skill of reading and analysing texts and forming an argument from them. I have also learnt that when completing assignments, it is not a good thing to just read everything, you have to choose to read what is relevant to the question, or else you will run out of time.


Click this link to view assignment for communicationCommunication essay

Weblog for Language, Culture and Communication

Hi everybody,

Just posted some sample assignments for BAOL subjects.

Just click on the following links[File does not exist][File does not exist][File does not exist][File does not exist][File does not exist][File does not exist]

The subject of e-portfolio at UTS has been a challenging one. Not only was the technology new to me at the start of the semester, but also the concept of an e-portfolio. Obtaining the concept of an e-portfolio was difficult to grasp until the third week of the semester. In the first two weeks, all I knew of what an e-portfolio was that it was an “electronic portfolio”.

But, as I completed the module exercises, I started to have an idea of what an e-portfolio is. I found a few useful definitions in class and some examples that could help your understanding:

• An individuals e-portfolio for learning is: a repository of information about a particular learner provided by the learner and by other people and organisations, including products in a range of media that the learner has created or helped to create alongside formal documents from authoritative sources, such as transcripts of assessed achievement, which the learner has chosen to retain; principally owned by the learner, although some of the things it contains may be co-owned
(Jones, P.R. 2005, Definition of e-portfolio, The E-Learning Framework, Date Viewed 31st October 2005, [Click to view link]).

• Definition of an E Portfolio:
What is produced when persons collect, select, reflectively interpret, and/or present their own evidence to support their assertions about what they have learned, know, and can or should do.
(Cambridge, Darren. IMS ePortfolio Request for Requirements. Date Viewed
31st October 2005, [Click to view link]).

• Examples include:

([Click to view link])

([Click to view link])

As I progressed through the subject and completed my modules, I started to have a better idea of what an e-portfolio is. In class we first looked at other e-portfolios to obtain a clearly concept of an e-portfolio. After this, we started planning our purpose statements for our e-portfolios.

After this, we also determined the type of Artefacts that we were going to include in our e-portfolios. We also explored the ethics, privacy and copyright issues related to e-portfolios. Afterwards, we then wrote a code of ethics for our e-portfolio to build credibility for them. After this, we also designed an Information Architecture for our e-portfolios to ensure that they were constructed logically for people to easily navigate through them.

After the mid-semester brake, we started to construct our e-portfolios using digital dialogues. This has been a challenge as I have had to change my Information Architecture to fit the interface of digital dialogues. However, as I began to use it, I have become more familiar with it. I have also become more capable in using its various options to improve my e-portfolio. This learning has been the result making my e-portfolio an assessment task for the subject.

Therefore, my learning so far about e-portfolio’s as mostly been through the completion of modules and assessments. Like most of my learning at university, it has been self-paced and self-directed through the completion of assessments.
E-portfolio Weblog , Information Architecture

This course was chosen after 2 years in the workforce completing my Certificate 3 in Financial Services and working as an Accounts Clerk. The reason that I chose to complete this Bachelor of Arts in Organisational Learning is because I became interested in the field of Human Resource Development. This came about while working and developing an idea of how an organisation works.

The learning experience so far has been quite different to what I have had before. The learning is a lot more dependent on the student. Most of the learning comes from actually completing the assessments. I enjoy completing assessments to a certain degree, and then really hate them on another :P. Group assignments are a big challenge for university students like myself because it forces us to work with others who may not work in the same way. This is particularly difficult as no student has authority over the others.

However, my learning experience in my BAOL degree has been overall an enjoyable one. I have learnt how to research and reference my work. I have learnt how to research about subjects through different sources of information.
Weblog in regards to BAOL[File does not exist]

Toongabbie Christian School is probably the place where I can say has shaped me as a person the most.

Continuing on from year 6 to year 7 was a challenge to every child. I had the benefit to going to the same school as my older brother, who at that time was in year 12 and completing his HSC.

In year 7 and 8, I took quite a relaxed approach to my learning, completing the work that I needed to and nothing more. This was due to the deviant cultures in High School. You were labeled a “Nerd” if you excelled in school and were also treated as an outcast. At my High school, even though this did happen, no one was really bullied for it.

In year 8, I decided to start taking my parents warnings about my grades a bit more seriously. I started a study plan for my school days. This involved planning time for extra studying at certain times of the week. This paid dividends for my grades, moving from intermediate English to advance and coming first in Japanese.

In year 9, this progressively happened, moving from Intermediate mathematics to Advanced Mathematics. I also came first in Commerce in years 9 & 10 and was in the top three of most of my subjects.

By year 11, I was named DUX and came first in Business Studies, 3 Unit Mathematics, Biology and Studies of Religion. I also overcame the fear of public speaking. This came about by learning and playing my guitar in a band at school. We would play in front of other students as well as their parents. This gave me confidence on the stage as well as a taste for it.

However, by the beginning of year 12 in December 2000, I was experienced burn out. I had worked too hard, for too long. I decided to stop doing 3 Unit Mathematics as I learnt that I was spending half of my time on that subject alone. I dropped down to 2 Unit Advanced Mathematics and didn’t really do any extra study on a regular basis. My grades did drop a bit, but I realized that life is more than just the HSC – it is not the be all and end all.

The lessens that I learnt from my High School experience are:
• Memorisation and Repetitious learning can take you far.
• Hard work in studying does pay off
• However, you need to balance it with other factors in your life or else you will get burnt out.
• High School was a marathon, not a sprint, it is important that you pace yourself throughout your educational experience.

Weblog in regards to T.C.S.[File does not exist]Picture of T.C.S

Hi everybody,

Just posted weblinks to the subjects for my BAOL degree[File does not exist]

Hi everybody,

Just compile Weblinks in regards to my High School.[File does not exist]

Hi everbody,

Just compiled related Links about my Primary School,


[File does not exist]

There’s not a lot to remember about the tender years of my Primary School. However, I know that what you experience and learn in those years help shape the person that you are.

In the early years of my primary school education from Kindergarten to year 6, I was not aware of how I learnt. I just did the work that was set out for my by my teachers, and I learnt by Rote Learning (Learning by Repetition and Memorisation).

I look back to those days in Kindergarten and year 1, without homework and pressure with fondness. Unfortunately, that is not how the world works though. The first memory of what I learnt, or had difficulty learning, was the word “the”. Like most children of that age, my pronunciation of words was not as refined. I use to spell the word “the” as “f”. I only learnt the proper way of spelling the word “the” when one of my class mates looked at my work and said, “What’s that?” pointing to my “f” on my paper, standing in between to other words.

By year 2, I started to feel pressure to learn. This came about when we started to learn the multiplications table. My friend and I mustn’t have paid much attention in class. My teacher in year 2 scared me, and I was not brave enough to ask her what multiplying meant. When the time came for a class quiz, I got 0 out of 0 for my exercise. I still remember that day, and the terrible sinking feeling I experienced when my teacher scolded me for getting 0 out of 0. So, I went home and asked my parents that night and asked them about multiplication. Afterwards, I had a clear understanding of the principles of multiplication.

By year 4, an Asian kid growing in a predominantly white school was a challenge. Back then, I was probably one of the shyest kids you’ll know. You couldn’t get a peep out of my. This soon changed as we started conducting speaking exercises in class. This started with the “news” where kids would talk about their weekends. Then by year 5, it was presenting different projects in front of the whole class. I didn’t enjoy speaking in front of the class; it made me terribly self conscious. In years 5 and 6, my parents, like other parents started to place more pressure on my academic abilities. They would stress to me how hard life is, how hard it is to make a living and to be successful. My parents would take me to tutorial classes on Saturday afternoon’s, of which I despised, in an effort to make it to a selective high school. This entailed hours of memorization and exercises outside of class homework.

In year 6, my family decided that I should go to my brothers school; Toongabbie Christian High School. However, the main lessens that I learnt out of my primary school experience were:
• Hard work is unavoidable
• Things don’t come cheaply in life.
• A major part of learning was memorisisation and repetition.

[File does not exist][File does not exist]Picture of Metella Road Public School

My ethics will include the following:
1) Publish as fact only that which I believe to be true.
2) All Materials should be referenced
3) Publicly correct any mistakes in previous published works
4) Review and edit work before publishing
5) Disclose any conflict of interest
6) Do not emphasise unnecessary factors and misrepresent people and organizations
7) Present pictures and sounds in a true and accurate way. Only with notification can I change and manipulate pictures and sounds.
8) Respect the privacy of others
9) Express my opinions and label them only as opinions

Below are also the copyright rules that I will adhere to:

1) Copying all or nearly all of someone else’s text. Taking a whole text will mean an infringement. This means that material online should be my own work with sources that are summarized.
2) Copying a picture from another website onto my e-portfolio - Use only my pictures that I take with my camera.
3) Copying the layout of someone else’s site - Use original layout under my own headings

Coggins, S.A.M.(2005) 4 Basic Questions About Copyright and Weblogs, About Computing Technology, viewed 29 September 2005, .[File does not exist]

Keywords: blogs, Copyright, Ehtics, my, weblogs

Posted by emptyheadwil | 0 comment(s)

Hi,

Just posted a Weblinks for my degree of Bachelor of Arts in Organisational Learning
[File does not exist]

Hi everybody,

Hope you all are well. Just an update on the construction of this e-portfolio of mine. I have had in the last few weeks, some difficulty in the information architecture of this e-portfolio. I have had to make minor changes to the structure, but one has now been set. The "Weblog" part of this e-portfolio (i.e. the part you are now reading) will display the latest information posted onto this e-portfolio. I have recently set up folders and files in "Learning Experiences", "About Me" and "Subjects at UTS". Most of these files are word documents that are linked to various other websites in relation to their subject matter. Just follow the "File" link and navigate your way through. Sample assignments are only accessible to "Logged on Users" for privacy reasons. However, some asssignments may not be uploaded yet, as they are not completed, or not yet due.I will also begin work on the bushwalking component of this e-portfolio before Friday 4th November 2005.