OCE2012 Gathering: Before and After

Hi Folks!

Here are my notes from the Open Space session on: How can we engage busy people without being too "in the middle?"

Thanks for the great conversation and feel free to keep it going!

Hi everyone,

June 14 marked my first time attending a Gathering. I remain excited and thoughtful about the day. You can check out my thoughts here: http://mikafryling.wordpress.com/.

Cheers,

Mika

Some free form notes from the "Make it Fun (damnit)" session- a big thanks to D'Arcy Norman for doing visual notes (see attached image)

Fun can be thought of as silly "Whimsy" but also as a sign of engagement, are we not wired for fun? We want meaningful fun. If there is a group of people laughing out loud and one quiet, arent we drawn to be part of the laughing group?

When things are designed for fun, they are generally more active for the group, but more importantly portray our humanity. There is a large differrence in our language e.g. "Check this out!" versus "If we a referred to ..."

The question was how to we carry this out in an online space? The question was asked does the technology platform steer this ("blackboard is not fun") or is it the activities done there (we think the latter). Also the analogy of hosting a dinner party seems apt (this is from Jonathan Finkelstein's "Learning in Real Time".

Also pictures/photos/stories bring both fun and humanity into our communication, that we bring our whole person to the situation (not a projectoed persona), and friends always make things more fun.

There was the discussion on the acknowlegded value of ice breakers but how can the feelings and energy be sustained longer? Relevance being key, but do things like badges and awards have long lasting impact?

To conclude, we demosntrated fun by an act of interpretive dance- the act aloing let the other groups how much fun the fun group was having.

Ug, I wrote a nice piece, and linked twitter profiles, but I lost the page.  So, here is the

Will do up proper with reflections as part of ds 106 radio show, as promised, at a future date.

Here are the notes I took duing our open space discussion on designing work/learning spaces in your home.

• when working at home have to constantly battle self interruptions - trips to the fridge, surfing media, ...
• it can be hard to concentrate at home. Don't fight it, try moving around to different locations in the home
• find a local cafe that has Internet and do occaisional field trips to work there
• some have an emergency took kit for online visibility to make yourself quickly presentable if you get an unexpected Skype call
• drink lots of water and pee often
• have natural light, consider glass doors
• setup with outdoor sight lines that show people walking by and other signs of life
• make sure your work/learning space is aesthetically beautiful. You have to want to go there.
• get lockable drawers (for those with young children and/or to protect work related data and other materials that require security or privacy)
• focus on ensuring ergonomics are great. Consider a standup desk arrangement not just sitting down all the time
• have a separate office, separate work from the rest of the home
• buy whiteboard paint (or blackboard paint) and paint one of your walls as a whiteboard
• do jumping jacks while waiting for printing or other processing intensive computer work
• set timer for breaks - some people are using apps such as Timey Interval Timer and TimeOut
• you are your own IT dept so remember to do backups
• get an all-in-one printer, copier, scanner (camscanner app also works as a copier/scanner)
• organize meetings outside the home and maintain your networks
• share your work schedule with housemates so activities can be coordinated to minimally impact others
• get something like Magic Jack for business phone use
• get a good wireless bluetooth headset with directional microphone. Blue Snowball recommended as a USB mic
• use Dropbox
• laptops can cause stiff neck. Try hooking laptop to a larger separate monitor or event to big screen TV
• move around a lot
• have ambient music but also have fast on/off within arms reach. Control your home audio system with AirTunes
• schedule working out and showers - get fit, do workouts outside the home. Exercise first thing in the morning.
• Go for walks - get a dog (or a kid). If you're stuck or can't think something through - go for a walk.
• Have healthy snacks at hand and eat every 3 hours or so
• Have rituals - regular tea time, end day with some song, ...
• Flow work/home together - do house chores - laundry is good, baking something in an oven not good as it requires monitoring time, get a whistling kettle, ...
• Make sure your phone has a soothing ring tone - consider using headset with white noise
• Consider using Kanban as method for managing your projects - try Kanbanpad project management tool or Pivotal Tracker

Thanks everyone for such great suggestions. I'll get to apply them to my own context soon.

Paul

http://storify.com/bccampus/oce-2012 

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OCE 2012 Storify :)

As promised, I did play the show out on DS106 radio, with my thoughts added in.

As usual, I didn't archive it.

But here is the audio.  File one in the zip is a bit of a lead in... file two is the audio captured.

http://blip.tv/bccampus/oce-workshop-2012-6237543

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OCE 2012 video :)

The space i hosted was looking at what the natural approaches to learning should be in an online setting. It was a great conversation but I when I sat down to decipher the brainstorm notes we made I could not reconsitute a lot of what we had written. Sorry! (I shoulda gone to Rossland last weekend!)   However the conversation lead to to think more about what 'natural' actually means and lead to look at permacultre design as a model or metaphor for instructional design. I wrote a blog about it this morning here, reproduced below:

A Permaculture of Online Learning


I’ve been trying to identify a ‘natural’ approach to the design and facilitation of online learning. That is, how does learning most naturally take place in real world and how would this look within the emerging sophistication of the web? The stumbling block is that we have barely been able to answer this question pre-web anyway as we have learned (or not) to our cost.

I recently stumbled upon David Holmgren’s Essence of Permaculture and was grabbed by how well his twelve Permaculture Principles can be used to help formulate a framework of intent for online learning.

Here is a very initial brainstorm around each of the 12 principles and I see this as a living document. There is a collaborative google doc here if you would like to add, question, challenge and share.

1 Observing and interacting

Making time to stand back and watch, or listening to those who do.
Interaction is fluid and ongoing, never fixed.
Change comes through independent, heretical and long-term thinking.
All conclusions are subjective and contextual.
Discerning what is natural from what is simply present.


2 Catching and Storing Energy

Increasing the velocity of content by amplifying peer moderation and input.
Making archives of peer and mentor input channels that flow from course to course.
Embedding cognitive strategies to enhance the impact and memorability of input
Integrating learning with parallel commitments to action.

3 Obtaining a Yield

Embedding rewards that encourage and motivate and create positive feedback loops.
Ensuring the rewards have real, lasting and recognized value.

4 Applying Self Regulation and Accepting Feedback

Clearly stating boundaries and expectations.
Encouraging, and responding to, honesty.
Observing, interacting and listening.
Continually simplifying the learning environment.
Continually increasing intuitiveness of the program.
Continually maintaining the relevance of the program.

5 Using and Valuing Renewable Resources and Services

Making learning, action, accountability and connectivity a core focus of, and not an addition to, time spent online.
Maximizing the impact of this time through cognitive reinforcement strategies.
Designing online learning for inclusion not exclusion.

6 Producing No Waste

Maximizing of intuitive and connected design to direct learner to topic and task.
Avoidance of cognitive overload.
Keeping of topics and tasks relevant and requiring the minimum.

7 Designing from Pattern to Details

Questioning of  ‘ADDIE’ approach.
Exploring of shared needs.
Designing platforms that embed a universal, natural approach to learning design.
Fitting of content to platforms more than vice-vera.

8 Integrating rather than Segregate

Embedding of all that is needed within the minimum possible pages.
Minimization of need to leave the site or window.
Embedding of note fields and discussions within tasks not elsewhere.
Enabling of access to insights of students and mentors is parallel courses.
Archiving and access to insights of students and mentors in prior courses.
Archiving and access to insights of students and mentors in future courses.

9 Usiong Small and Slow Solutions

Agile design and education business models.
Designing platforms for growth and adaptation.
Increasing universality of platforms for allow more time and focus for content creation.


10 Using and Value Diversity

Employing and engage with the array of learning styles and intelligence types.
Enshrining Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition.
Peer negotiation and moderation of course content.
Having peer observation, analysis and creativity at the heart of the program.
Assessment elements based on contribution and sharing.

11 Using Edges and Value the Marginal

Allowing for recognition of nonconformity and daring within the learning process.
Expectation of the trainer to be challenged.
Develop and encourage overlap with and borrowing from other courses/subject areas when assessing learner responses.
Encourage application of course to action.

12 Creatively Using and Responding to Change

Seeing things as they will be.
Seeing that the agility and adaptability that allows for small-scale change ensures greater higher-order system stability.
Making time to stand back and watch, or listening to those who do.