My Support Network

A reflective piece on my support network

This activity has made me  identify the various types of support networks available to me and where the gaps are.

I have always been very happy to have a strong offline support networks both personal and professional.  The connections I care most about, and love to be with, are my family, friends and my dogs.  I am lucky enough to have a great support network at work too with my colleagues, the community and resources available to me.

My online support network is good however, I need to work a little harder at: "Finding more Time" and "My turn on the computer" at home, being factors.  I have given myself a challenge and intend to investigate more web 2.0 tools regularly.  I realise that I need to contribute and nurture online support networks to keep me up to date with current developments in my field, I am a member of classroom 2.0, but need to make time and dedicate myself to a local resources as well, like ICT, ACFE, Skills Victoria, and more, for current updates in my field. 

I have made a great network of connections by participating in this course "Reflect and Connect". I will look forward to talking with participants of the course online in the future, also publicly through Twitter and classroom 2.0 and all those other networks I'm a member of through my elearning journey. I really enjoy regularly posting to my blog and reading other blogs which I will continue to do. 

In the future, to participate as a "digital citizen" and to help my learners, I will look forward to connecting and building my online support networks to grow my resources and skills.

Community of Practice (CoP)

The task for Team B - Liz, Manjit, Penny, Gary, Sheryl and me, this week was to evaluate a Community of Practice (CoP) we chose "Classroom 2.0" - its a global network mainly for school teachers.

After signing up and looking into it,  I now see the many benefits of it.  I have always felt that I need to grow in my profession as a teacher, I need to be better supported, to have many opportunities to collaborate with other teachers and professionals.   This support network, Classroom 2.0,  will help me in that it allows collaboration among those in the teaching profession around the world, to participate in ongoing dialog with an online community to...

• Problem solve
• Request information
• Seek experience
• Discussing developments
• Documentation of Projects
• Mapping Knowledge and identifying gaps

To gain from this site I will need to be committed to this domain, and making time to regularly access this site, to get involved  in relevant content and discussions, replying to comments made by community members, post topics and entering in the discussion forums.

Follow the link to Team B's presentation on Classroom 2.0
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AbBCWzpB3xlfZGhncGZibTdfOWdra3ZqbWh0&hl=en&authkey=CKmhu7EP

Critical Success Factors in Building Community

Management Challenge

1.      Focus on topics important to the business and community members.

2.    Find a well-respected community member to coordinate the community.

3.      Make sure people have time and encouragement to participate.

4.      Build on the core values of the organization.

Community Challenge

5.      Get key thought leaders involved.

6.      Build personal relationships among community members.

7.      Develop an active passionate core group.

8.      Create forums for thinking together as well as systems for sharing information.

Technical Challenge

9.   Make it easy to contribute and access the community’s knowledge and practices.

      Personal Challenge

10. Create real dialogue about cutting edge issues.

Cycling and e-learning





I remember that I absolutely loved cycling when I was younger, I haven't cycled for the last 30 years, at least.  We have a bike in the shed, so when the weather warmed up in December of last year, I started cycling, that was about 4 months ago.  I recall that It was so difficult when I started, all that pedaling,  I wasn't even going fast,  my heart was pumping at a million miles an hour, I had to make regular stops, to catch my breath, my legs were so sore from the muscles I hadn't used for years, going up hills was such  hard work, when I'd finally return home I would collapse in an exhausted heap. This bike had gears, I learnt how to operate them too (another challenge).  I persevered, slowly it got easier and easier, I now cycle every day and feel so much better, healthier and fitter, toned up those flabby muscles and lost a bit of weight too.

I can relate my cycling to my  e-learning journey, lots of hard work in learning new technologies, learning theories,  getting them to make sense,  then thinking of ways to incorporate them into existing educational programs, regular reflecting on what I have learnt.  There are lots of challenges in this course of "Reflect and connect", all well worth the effort, with the potential benefit for greater student learning in a ever changing technological world.  

I'm so glad that I took advantage of these fantastic opportunities that came into my life. I am happy to admit that I am now addicted to both cycling and learning about new technologies, and will keep them up as part of my lifelong ambition, as they are both so important.

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