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!

To be honest, E-portfolio has been a mixed bag. Like every subject taught, it's interpretation is entirely subjective. There's always the case of whether you're interested in the subjects or you have to be there to fulfil the attendence requirements.
E-portfolio is very different from other subjects I've studied in the sense that it's much more technology-based. Instead of learning a whole load of theory, memorising it and regurgitating it during the final exam, E-portfolio has been about developing, compiling and collecting work and ideas and publishing them onto the internet. Like other texts (novels, music etc.), I believe it's a form of expression, it's about sending a message to others. You choose what you want the show people and what you select determines the message you send.
Working in class was more difficult than I thought, personally and the class as a whole. Most of us owned or were used to using PCs, the classroom however, was filled with iMacs. Many students (myself included) became very frustrated from experiencing so much techncal difficulty (there were times when I felt like hurling a computer out the window). Adding to that, I'm very used to having physical copies of my notes and E-portfolio required uploading and downloading things from the internet. I think it's a bit risky not having physical copies of work because computers are vulnerable to problems which could lead to loss of data.
Some of us didn't understand the purpose of an E-portfolio and the benefits of having one. At the beginning, many of us were concerned about our privacy and confidentiality, especially in terms of what information we would upload and be available to the public. Also, we had to think about copyright issues, which affected what we could or couldn't upload (music being very popular to upload).
Overall, E-portfolio has been very interesting. It's very much self-directed and you'll have to be computer literate. I've learnt the pros and cons concerning the use of computers and how to get around them and make the most out of the subject.

This is a 'digital story' recorded about myself

DIGITAL STORY

Compared to doing the HSC last year, this year feels like a breeze. Work at uni is much more self-directed and there isn't an evil teacher breathing down your neck to chase you up on assignments (though i think that it's sometimes a good thing to have someone give you that extra push to do your work). But I also miss high school, the atmosphere (horrid smelling toilets which lead you to believe that an axe murderer was working there), lunch breaks (which constituted to waiting in line for ages to buy really greasy food and trying to stuff it down your throat before the bell rings), roll call (where if you forgot to bring a book to read for 20 mins you had to write lines instead, this didn't happen to the seniors though) and the nice teachers who looked out for me.

I'm crrently studying in BAOL (Bachelor of Arts in Organisational Learning) and this is what i've been studying during my first year:
Adult Learning at Work (studying the methods of how people learn and teach, with emphasis on behaviourist theory, cognitive theory, social learning theory, self actualisation, organisational learning and individual lifelong learning)

Managing People and Organisations (this is the more business focused subject of the course, we looked at the hisory of workplaces and their development, including efficiency in the workplace ranging from Fordism to acknowledging private enterprise)

Human Resources Developemnt (HRD in Australia, focusing on changes and amendments in the Australian workplace to make them safer, eg. competencies, Occupational Health and Safety)

Work and People (a history and development of the Australian Workplace, mainly focusing on industrial relations and brushing on the Australian economy)

Language, Culture and Communication (looking at the identity of the individual and how they interact with others, focusing on ethnicity, culture and methods of communication)

Analysing Organisational Learning Needs (looking at Traning Needs Analysis in organisations and whether they really need training or not)

E-portfolio (creating and developing an E-portfolio to represent yourself)

Knowledge Management (it's about managing knowledge, if there is such a concept)

I've enclosed some of my work in the files section

I'm pretty picky when it domes down to what i watch and read. I can't stand reality tv shows, game shows or anything that you can figure out the ending to within 2 minutes of watching. During Year 12, our 3 unit English class studied postmodernism and it's made an impact on the way I read now. Reading a text through a postmodern light really changes your outlook.

My favourite films include:
Amelie
Lost in Translation
American Psycho
Closer
Dirty Pretty Things
Run Lola Run
Orlando
Shaun of the Dead
The Town is Quiet
Requim For a Dream
Happiness
The Joy Luck Club
9 songs


My favourite texts include:
American Psycho- Bret Easton Ellis (currently reading)
A home at the End of the World- Michael Cunningham
The Hours- Michael Cunningham
Most of the texts by- Mario Puzo
Works by- Edgar Allan Poe
If on a winter's night a traveler- Italo Calvino

I've always wanted to be creative in the kitchen but my mother would rarely let me help out, she thought i'd just slow her down. She makes great dishes but she hasn't passed them down to me. I'm not totally inexperienced in the kitchen though, I can whip up some quick simple stuff I learnt in Design and Tech at high school. I've been trying to perfect the horrible omelettes I'm making lately and the most enjoyable food to make is baking cookies.

Welcome to all those students who are currently setting up their e-Portfolios!
I'm hoping this experience will be a valuable, ongoing adventure through your learning experiences....

See you online!
ABB :-)

Welcome to this Elgg installation.