Launch of the Knowledge Tree edition 7

November 2, with guest presenters Ulises Mejias (ideant) Leigh Blackall (TALO), Anne Bartlett Bragg (Learning Technologies), Barry Gordon (Savv-e)and James Farmer (incsub.org). This took place via Elluminate with many sites joining across Australia and Ulises from overseas. Many of the presenters are authors of articles in the current edition.

Ulises - Social Software is both a tool, medium, ecology and a movement.

eduforge FOSS for education

Anne Bartlett Bragg
Challenges implementing technology
- digital literacy of students
- access to technology
- firewalls
gives much better environment if I can bring my students with me

Leigh talked about the issues of being behind firewalls and the issues that can cause. also the process used to write his paper on a wiki.

James Farmer - Alexander (Pattern Language) organic environments grow of own accord. LMS don't allow ad hoc interactions. This is where social software comes in eg blogs wikis eportfolios etc - creating own personal presence and way for interaction.

Ulises (reprise) (45mins in)
SS is grounded in learners' reality.

Barry Gordon Sydney elearning company spoke next.

General Q&A
who owns what?

Reflection: experiencing Elluminate as part of a group did not work as well as being at my own computer as there was peripheral noise and I also found not being able to control switching of windows etc annoying. On the other hand the conversation we had face to face in the room was great and I suspect more free flowing than if we had been online. Also found out that my Learning Design Toolkit was promoted in the NSW LearnScope Newsletter recently.