Digital Dialogues

BarCamp Sydney

Looks like a busy week in Sydney - directly following on from Wiki Tuesday is BarCamp Sydney :

When: Saturday 3 March 2007

Where: University of Technology, Sydney - Building 10 (off Jones Street)

More info: About BarCampSydney  BarCampSydney wiki

Signup:BarCampSydney - Signup

Looking at the wiki registrations there's going to be quite a crowd - venue is great (this is also my Faculty building)- lots of good spaces for discussions.

See you there!
Tags: barcampsydney

mLearn Melbourne 2007

The 6th International Conference on mobile learning: "Making Connections"  will be held In Melbourne - 16 - 19 October.

Conference Objectives: This conference will appeal to a wide range of audiences who are interested in enhancing learning, designing content and developing systems for mobile devices and wireless networks. The following objectives serve to define and guide the structure and foundation of the MLearn 2007 Conference.

• To promote the development of mobile learning
• To stimulate critical debate on & research into theories, approaches, principles & applications of mobile learning
• To share local & international developments, experiences & lessons learned.
• To promote networking & business opportunity development.
• To encourage the study & implementation of mobile applications in teaching &learning.
• To stimulate & assist personal professional development & the development of new skills for educators.
• To provide a forum for education & knowledge transfer.
• To facilitate dialogue, sharing & networking between diverse cultures with regard to the optimum use of emerging technologies.
• To bring together providers of technology & services with educators and instructional designers.

The Call for Papers closes 1 June 2007:

• Long papers (8 pages)
• Short papers (4 pages)
• Workshops (2 pages)
• Posters, panels & showcases (500 words)
• Doctoral Consortium (4 pages)

Topics for submission include, but are not limited to:

• mLearning and mobile technology applications in teaching and learning
• mobile technology to support open and distance learning (ODL)
• assessment techniques and practices in mLearning
• design and development of material for mLearning
• informal, lifebased and lifelong learning with the aid of mobile technology
• building and implementing mLearning strategies in public and private organisations
• effective and efficient management of mLearning processes
• creating interactive and collaborative mLearning environments
• the impact of emerging hardware and software for mLearning
• innovation in learning theory and pedagogy
• social and ethical issues of mLearning
• mLearning for community based styles of networking and communicating

Submission guidelines and categories.

Wiki Tuesday in Sydney

If you happen to be in Sydney on Tuesday 27th February - then here's an event not to miss:

"Calling all wiki enthusiasts in the Sydney area! Saikore, wiki consultancy and Atlassian partner, is hosting a 'Wiki Tuesday' event in Australia. This informal gathering is a perfect time to chat, learn about wikis, and among other things, generally cavort. Here are the details:

Event: Wiki Tuesday
Location: The Main Bar of Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney
Date: Tuesday 27th February, 2007
Time: 6:30pm till late
Refreshments: Food and drinks at the bar

Re-Start - don't stop....

I can't believe it's already February - and 2007!
What happened to January?
Actually - I know where January went - it was consumed by a mash-up implementation I've been working on with the Headshift gang in London to produce a social software platform for the MentorNet program.
What's MentorNet?
MentorNet is a 6 month mentoring program for young women entrepreneurs - partially  funded the Australian government (AusIndustry) and sponsored by Webex, Intercall, Headshift, and Atlassian. We've created a dynamic mentoring environment by combining synchronous sessions (webinars) with an asynchronous wiki based platform (using Confluence) where participants keep blogs, and develop their business plans on personal wikis - additionally providing each other with small peer group feedback.
Program 1 launched in Januray, and program 2 is starting early March - followed by a new program kicking off every month up to August 2007!

The challenges have been valuable experiences  - there are too many for this post... briefly though, they could be summarised into a few key issues:

   
• planning information flow and aggregation at 3 levels: whole program, module (business skills education), and personal spaces
   
• thinking in wiki - not blog functionality (particuarly when I'm so blog oriented)
   
• trying to develop seamless interactivity for the participants - without overwhelming  them in technical explanations
   
• processes for running 9 parallel programs - starting 1 month apart
   
• expert presenters - requiring a mind shift from the "sage-on-the-stage" delivery mode, to provoking and engaging participants
   
• staying true to the underpinning education principles of the design: getting mentors aligned, getting experts aligned, and getting mentorees engage

But - MentorNet isn't my main focus for 2007.
2007 is all about completing and submitting my PhD.... phew!
I'm officially on study leave - at least until August - and with that clear space it's just about writing, writing, writing......
I'm acutally feeling rather energised by the prospect.... my work needs to be finished, it needs to be published, and I need to get out more!
I'm also going to be using a Confluence wiki to develop my thesis and will be reviewing how that process assisted the development of my work. My supervisor will also have access to this area and will have the opportunity to make comments  - and all of this will be recorded and archived. I expect the functionality of the wiki to be really valuable - not only from a structural perspective but also in the development of ideas into concrete concepts.

So - aside from MentorNet - I'm a student for 2007!
I have put on hold all other commitments, and I'm slowly practicing the 2-letter word - "No" - although it's usually preceeded with: "I'm really sorry but..... "

There will be more posts as MentorNet evolves - and of course the PhD will feature regularly....
Until then.... here's to mash-ups and thesis writing!

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