Here we all are at the first day of eFest. The feeling is relaxed and friendly and it looks like the emphasis is going to be on round table conversations – well the set up of the room has set the scene. Lots of familiar faces and it is good to have time to catch up with old friends and eLearning colleagues.

Presentation from NorthTec introduced by the CEO and several staff – They have six campuses and lots of Learning Centres scattered around Northland. They use Moodle and have set up wireless and computing and video conferencing in all the LC. Also have a staff portal to provide information management, ICT access which is the same for all staff – RSS, document sharing, web space. They have Mobile programmes – f2f courses delivered in communities including on marae – horticulture, forestry, environmental studies, construction, sport and recreation.

Case studies
1. Bachelor of Nursing – five semester development, e-capability eCDF funding, team approach. Supported by senior management and evaluated by action research – Dr Nancy George. Video interview with a nursing student illustrated how important it is for a woman with children and a part-time job to be able to study flexibly.

2. Certificate in eLearning Design and Development (eCDF) – video clips of students talking about what they got out of the programme.

3. Mobile programmes teach skills as part of a community project. For example, gardening in schools.

4. Learning support – eTech support, online counselling, online learning objects. also reconfiguring technologies and buildings around the flexible approach.

Nursing communication scenarios using actors – example in palliative care – appropriate and non-appropriate.

Also have a student portal – blogs, portfolios. also have virtual classrooms.
Staff development in staff and student portals.

Polytechnics and universites are going to be connecting to KAREN (advanced research network) – ultra fast Internet connection.

Presentation by Murray Brown from Ministry of Educationjoined the dots about what has been happening – funding, eLearning advisory etc.

Barry Ogilvie from Tertiary Education Commission speaking about eLearning project updateThey have four projects under discussion. Looking for a vision for network capability. Also flexible and distance learning options. Looking for a range of methodologies for assessing capabilities across ITP sector – e.g. maturity model.

District Health Boards – Wintec and Northgate – nursing education – use mentoring, reflection, innovation. Staff want to have fun when learning. Mandatory training – national online campus, generic material with local contexts. Liked Moodle.

NorthTec nursing programmeDevelopment and action research of Bachelor of Nursing programme. using a blended model as they do not want to lose face-to-face component. Have students who can study even though they live in isolated areas in Northland. Gave away online discussion as not popular with students.

Contextualisation of multimedia resourcesDeveloped communication modules. Read information and choose correct answers. simple to change text. Originally created by WELTEC – not available in a repository and not sure abut IP issues. Have Grammar online. have a lesson and go through and choose options. Read information and do a test – so they changed it. Flash object with xml file at the back – replace text here and leave the codes. Could be easy to delete code if staff are unaware. Design perspective given and then pedagogical perspective given. How does it affect the learner?

I have recently come back from a Xmas holiday spent in a stunning spot as shown in the pic to join – Week one of the MOOC – Learning Design for a 21st Century Curriculum – organised by Open University in the UK. I am curious to see how they approach this, and am looking for some fresh ideas.

One big question looms for me. Will this course have anything different about learning design compared to what we did in 2008 with Flexible Learning and Facilitating Online – in the pre-MOOC era before the name of Moocs and interacting with large numbers of participants became fashionable?

My goals this week are to:

• Engage in all the activities – my introduction and initial interest in a design project has been conveyed on writing this.
• Explore the study circles with the intention of joining a project group.
• Find a definition of learning design that resonates.

I have decided to join a project with Ellie Brewster (Dr Sharon Collingwood) exploring learning design for creating presence in virtual worlds using open resources and mobile devices.Peter Miller\’s tip about Lumiya for android devices is a goodie so I will look into that so I can play on my eepad.

Day Five
I had a refresher in Second Life today and rejuvenated Branwen Trewellion – she now has a new haircut. For some reason, I found it more challenging to change the appearance of my avatar and to move her around. It looks like there have been some changes in SL since I was last there. I went to Koru (NMIT\’s space) and made it my homepage. Before that I encountered some strangers and one was attacking an avatar and there was lots of swearing so I felt the need to get out of the area quickly so went to a familiar space – Koru. However, once there, it felt quite lonely as no-one was around. Psychologically the beauty of a virtual world is the presence of others to interact with in a meaningful way, and I felt this need acutely when I was exploring today.  Next time I will take a pic to put on here. I want to explore OpenSim next and some of the other virtual worlds platforms being mentioned, e.g., Cloud party and Twinity.

A big issue for me is accessibility for students when using virtual worlds so if they can use their mobile devices – i or android phones, e or ipads and notebooks that would be fabulous.  As Sharon has mentioned orientation to the environment is key to success but it does take up a lot of time. I have been on the mind map and added some initial ideas. Next up the readings which I hope to enjoy with my feet up reading on the eepad….my back is killing me at the mo so I cant do much else. So in between hanging upside down and visiting the physio the Mooc (and a pile of library books, of course) is keeping me occupied.

Jharkhand High Court is the high court of Jharkhand state in India. It is one of the newest high courts established in India. Jharkhand High Court came into existence after reorganization of state of Bihar in existing states of Bihar and Jharkhand on 15th November 2000.

The seat of Jharkhand High Court is at Ranchi. Ranchi is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. The high court has a sanctioned judge strength of 20. Hon\’ble Sri Vinod Kumar Gupta was the first Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court.