OTN @ CIT

Sketchup is an easy to use 3D modelling tool now owned by Google. I first tried it out a couple of years back and then, not having any reason to use it, put it away in a dark virtual cupboard.

I needed to create a model today though so I reached deep into the back of the cupboard and was able to whip this up in a couple of hours (in between meetings and reacquainting myself with elements of how it works).

There is also a nifty third party plugin with the imaginative name of Sketchup Web Exporter that enables you to display your models in a web browser - you can actually click and drag on this object to rotate it.

Today’s forum sessions were fun! There was Wink and wiki and audio, not to mention weird echoes!

Diana’s session on using Wink to capture your lectures and audio was a hit, as was Aaron’s discussion on using wiki in your classroom. Participants began to compile a list of ideas on how to engage learners in discussion on a wiki - a great collaborative activity in itself! I think a very useful guide will develop from this.

Moir’s session on adding audio lecturers to your online course was simple, effective and downright practical!

Image: http://www.tomrafteryit.net/

Sue and Kerry went to town on using ARED(v2) and this is now available for CIT teachers via a quick download to your log-in profile. ARED is a quick way to get your content looking great and is easy to use - no special web design knowledge is required!

Day 2 of the forum looks set to engage as well, beginning with your virtual presence at the CIT strategic planning meeting - jump into VET Virtual and have your say about CIT’s future. Colin will be facilitating the online aspects of this discussion.

Marg Robson presents some tips on getting interactive with VET Virtual, while Anne and Moir tell us about their e-learning innovations project. Following that, David bravely jumps into the world of quizzes, and then we finish up the forum with a look at the national LORN, with Kerry and Sue.

What a great way to see in the semester break, don’t you think!

See you online tomorrow…!

The Customising Toolbox workshop of June 4 held in B107 went down well. The coffee was hot and most came early so there was time for introductions and a chat. Sixteen Trainers from ActewGAL, Retail and Office Training Centre, ACT Education Learning Technologies, LEAD, Supabarn, Accolade and CIT attended. They brought with them family photos on thumb drives so they could immortalise loved ones and valued pets in customised learning objects (forever beautiful, digital and forever here). They took away free and open source software packages for web editing and image manipulation. Ive already had one phone call about video files and NVU. I expect a few more as everyone learns to feel comfortable with WYSIWYG web editing.

There were more than a few trainers who had little knowledge of Toolboxes (shock, horror). It turns out they are from newly ACT registered RTO’s who have recently opened for business. Just as well or Marketing and National Positioning would have my (in late anglo saxon terms) “guts for garters“.

My thanks to Tenille Piagno for helping out with patience, grace and that ineffible 20 something unflappability!!!

Come to the next workshop and see what I mean: Web 2.0, Toolboxes and Toolbox learning objects
Web 2.0 has given us wonderful social software applications like Blogs, Wikis, Youtube and Widgets that we can use to add new levels of interactivity and collaboration to our online learning. The challenge for VET teachers is to make use of these tools for teaching and learning and to incorporate them into existing e-learning resources such as Toolboxes and Toolbox learning objects. This workshop shows you just how easy it is to embed, frame, RSS and link Web 2.0 applications in Toolboxes and Toolbox Learning Objects Some examples of Web 2.0 applications: Wiki, Voicethread, Youtube, Blog, Flickr, del.icio.us

WHEN Wednesday, June 18th, 8.15am to 9.30am
WHERE B107 B Block, Upstairs
Southside Campus , Canberra Institute of Technology
Cnr Ainsworth Street and Hindmarsh Drive, Phillip.
Register: Call or email Helen Lynch, 6207 4031 or helen.lynch@cit.act.edu.au

We had a gathering for CITFLN at Reid campus on Friday with a number of things on our agenda, some of which we didn’t get to as time ticked away from us!

One highlight was a demonstration by Moir of a digital graphics pen which Moir has trialled with her Physics students (most of whom work in the AFP) in a tutorial fashion online.

Moir showed the pen in action and then showed an online whiteboard through which she encourages students to interact (if you have no pen you can still use a mouse apparently). The service is partly free and is called Skrbl. The possibilities for such interactions are endless - you could develop a floor plan with interior design students, map out an orienteering course for sports students, annotate images and graphs (as Moir does) - even animated gifs work on the whiteboard too! In fact, Michael Coghlan also blogged about a similar setup recently.

The bringing together of virtual and physical activities is the real key here. Connecting students with one another is one aspect, but connecting students to ideas and support is entirely different. Engaging in practice is paramount for students who are isolated from a classroom setting where a teacher is on-hand to offer timely pedagogical support. The interface between teacher-student communication and the ability to interact in the way the pen and online whiteboard show, affords much in terms of hands-on activities that at one time many said couldn’t be done online!