Hello Siti
Wishing you and your family Selemat Hari Raya! (Folks, is the end of the fasting month and is a day of celebration for Muslims!)
Sorry Siti, but I think I am a day late in sending the greetings? But better late than never.... :-)
Enjoy this joyous ocassion!
Cheerio
Jenny
Hi all,
Wenda, your relating of this discussion to counselling "'when things are going well' what is happening, and how can we draw on those strenghts and resources to move back to that scenario once again.' shows you are always cross-referencing your experiences - so valuable, and what a pool of experience you appear to have to draw on!
Jenny that notion of providing enough framework to (virtually) liberate people has popped up with me intermittently in the past, in designing forums, conferences, etc. Have you ever noticed the way panel discussion time is LEAST productive when everyone gathers together at the day and the invitation is put "Would anyone like to ask or discuss anything with the panel?" My mind goes blank, everytime, along with, it would seem, everyone else's in the room. Compare this with some well-thought out discussion seeds carefully planted, asking for opinions, etc. (and you're right about this group as an invaluable contingency measure!!!).
Wenda, I'm sorry I haven't had the opportunity to be online long enough lately to try to help you with your access problems, but I fear that is what caused Kirsty to warn us not to change passwords, etc. (Correct, Kirsty?) Is all OK now?
Cheers
Kathi
Hello All!
Reading through all the recent postings brought back our days of intense exchanges in our Emoderating course ;-)
Kathi’s comment about the use of “framework” vs “structure” reminded me of an article I read recently about the importance of having a good design that is clear and defined, yet providing participants with the flexibility to response as they negotiate and construct their own meaning. Goodyear distinguished these differences as learning tasks (ie. our designed tasks for participants) and learning activities (what the participants actually did). With this type of design in mind, I suppose that will address Kirsty’s comment regarding Jonassen’s viewpoint that the “endpoint is different for each learner”?
Thanks to you all, as I read and re-read the recent postings, I am also now of the view that the design process is a continuously evolving process and is not an end point by itself. This supports Grace’s observation that much depends on the group dynamic. I must also bear in mind Wenda’s strategy of using these strategies to evaluate our strengths and resources
I am attaching the article (mentioned above). It is based on Wenger concept of COP (community of practice). Hope this works!
Happy reading and a big thank you to all again!
Jenny
P/s: But Folks….wait….there is still an existing contingency plan: this Emoderating Group! :-) Hooray!!!
Hi All,
Just to let you know that if you change the username and password, that will affect all the other people who use the shared username. If you like, I can set up individual logins for you, drop me a line with your preferred username and I'll organise it. Any problems logging in etc just send me an email to kirsty@otheredge.com.au
Cheers,
Kirsty
If you think about it, the course taught us to monitor and employ strategies as necessary to address contingencies that our learning and planning has told us will be warning signs of potential problems (e.g. someone lurking a long time - send a private email to check, encourage, assist, etc).
Thus, our contingency response forms part of many of our strategies. Think about it as "Which tactics are we using when things are humming along perfectly?" vs "Which tactics swing into action, or are enhanced, when things aren't going ideally?" The latter reflect our readiness for deviation from the ideal - our contingency planning.
Unfortunately, the BIG contingency, like mass defection and no return, would constitute a mass failure of the whole concept. Here would one suspect inaccurate initial feasibility and other research?
Disasters do happen, but advances are not made without well-informed pioneering efforts! We must be one of the best-placed groups for success in our endeavours!
Kathi:-)
Like several of you Contingency plan anyone? I am puzzling around the design of a training program with a two-fold purpose - both to complete a uni assignment and also as a program to be used in-house. I found I have to be very wary of slipping into old habits as I worked on developing the course. When I went back to review the first chunk I had worked on, all of a suddent I realised a really crucial part was missing - the interaction!!! So reading through your combined thoughts about contingency plans and structured beginnings has helped me get back on the right path.
While I was researching my assignment I came across a quote from Fischer who states: ‘It is impossible for design processes to account for every aspect that might affect the designed artifact. Therefore design must be treated as an evolutionary process in which designers continue to learn new things as the process unfolds. . My reading of this is that whilst we can plan, we'll never really get it all right, so those contingency plans might be best devised as the need arises, rather than trying to foresee all the disasters (maybe just the really obvious ones?)
Any thoughts?
Kirsty