Hello Carolyn and all,

For City University of Seattle, I work with our Program Directors, Course Managers, and their instructional design teams first as they learn our curriculum development processes, and then as they bring courses for review. I also design training and development experiences for faculty and advise our Academic Technology committee. We are getting ready to redesign our new faculty orientation, and like you, I am also interested in "designing a course using a community-based approach for faculty who are facilitating online and blended courses."

I'm liking the Open Educational Resource work of the Center for Educational Technology at the University of Cape Town. They have a wonderful resource for download: Facilitating online: A course leader's guide.

I'd like to learn more about your approach and platforms for faculty development and what parameters and resources you have encountered.

How could you find out? Are you in a position in your institution to approach someone and discuss this issue? If not you, who would be in the appropriate role?

Well our conversational session has officially ended, and we brought out quite a story of multitasking and managing (or learning to un-manage) our multimembership in social networks. I wish I'd found more time particularly for the business of summarizing themes gathered from all three sources, our VoiceThread, discussions, and the survey. I will try to sum up a bit here, but feel free anyone to gather, refine and extract even further and post onto the wiki.

The survey was not structured to collect the management tips and techniques, but rather some contextual information that might enlighten what we learned here in the seminar. We used some information in the threads, but the open-ended replies generated enough for another discussion we might have fun with. It got to be too much to either summarize or post on the wiki.

You might find it interesting that almost 70 people completed the survey, and Sylvia noticed an even higher number regularly popping in reading all over the discussion areas.

Those who told their stories in the VoiceThread echoed all in one place what we were saying throughout the threads:

Lots of lurking and scanning is one of the most often mentioned strategies for managing our multimembership in social networks. We require alert systems to notify us that something might be relevant if we are to even click into a networked discussion area, event, or community.

Alerting tools like RSS, Google keywords, email subscription are widely employed.

Aggregation tools include the email digests and RSS feedlists, but many of us have discovered Netvibes, Pageflakes, Protopage or a personalized search homepage like Google's where most of our community action can quickly be surveyed. Keeping two browser windows open with at least two or three tabs open to each community and switching back and forth throughout the day was another technique.

I found it interesting how often people mentioned various listing, sorting, and foldering organization strategies, and how often in the same breath they mentioned most that gets sorted away, gets left behind.

AND LEAVING BEHIND IS OK! We miss our online social connections when face to face pressures take priority, but attend to those things that dovetail well with "whatever we are working on in life" as many put it. We tend to experience our peripheral and sporadic online social immersion throughout our work days as much enervating as overwhelming, although sometimes too stimulating and distracting.

I believe it was Julia's "act schedule or let go" that captured the current strategies many are using.

There was a definite evolutionary quality to our attitudes, strategies, techniques and tool adoption. We start out excited, breathless, and swamped. Then we try to get organized. We start to realize there's way too much coming in and cut back. We switch to an integrative approach where we hone in on whatever catches our attention that relates to wahtever we are working on. The most managed state is one where we have found a few tools and cues to keep the most important things in view, while letting much more swirl around. Without worrying too much, we let go of the belief management is even realistic, and instead realize what is most important will always be with us as we need it.

Last, but certainly not least in our learning were the points Nik started a topic on - that many of us blog or write to make sense of all that we are taking in online. Others of us appreciate and subscribe to those who are doing that.

In case you missed the annotations of various threads, here are some quick links to what we captured with the Marginalia plug-in (built here into SCoPE).

Tool tips     Practices and how we learned     Strategies 

<h2>From the thread on tips, tools and techniques, I made a <a href="http://www.wordle.net">Wordle</a> summary:</h2>

Here is a sorted list of the tools people reported using with their networks and communities.

Blackboard-~Elluminate-~Wikispaces
Blog-~Picasso-~Google~Sites-~Ice~Rink!
Classroom20.com~and~Education.Ning.com
Community~Zero-~Elluminate
Community~Zero-~Elluminate-~Google~Reader-~Flickr-~Facebook
Desire2Learn-~Elluminate
Discussion~Board
docs.google
Drupal-~Facebook-~Skype
drupal-~wordpress-~flickr-~delicious-~facebook-~beebo-~mailman~lists
Elluminate-~Google~Groups-~Blogs-~MediaWiki-~Twitter-~FeedDemon
Elluminate-~Google~Groups-~G~Reader-~Blogs-~Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~UStream-~Delicious-~Twine-~Diigo
Elluminate-~Google~Groups-~Google~Reader-~Blogs-~MediaWiki-~Twitter~~~~
Elluminate-~Google~Groups-~Google~Reader-~Blogs-~MediaWiki-~Twitter~~~~
Elluminate-~Google~Groups-~Google~Reader-~Blogs-~MediaWiki-~Twitter~~~~
Elluminate-~Google~Groups-~Google~Reader-~Blogs-~MediaWiki-~Twitter~~~~
elluminate-~google~reader-~blogs-~ustream-~moodle-~twitter-~flickr
Elluminate-~Moodle
Elluminate-~multiple~blogs-~MediaWiki
email
email~list
email~listservs
email-~forum
email-~static~websites-~e-newsletter
ePresence-~listserv
f2f-~Moodle
facebook
FaceBook-~email
First~Class-~Movable~Type
google~group
Google~Groups
Google~Groups
Google~Groups-~WikiSpaces-~email-~interactive~teleconferences
Google~Groups-~WikiSpaces-~Skype~Chat
Google~list-~blogs
Google~List-~SL-~wikis-~blogs
Google~list-~wiki
Google~Reader
Google~Reader-~MediaWiki-~MS~Outlook-~Netvibes
Google:~mail~and~calendar-~Drupal-~Moodle-~Skype-~Facebook-~Twitter-~Technorati-~LinkedIn-~Flickr-~etc
KU~Workgroup's~workstation
LinkedIn
listserv
Listserv
listserv
listserv
listserv
listserv-~forums-~delicious-~twitter
Listserv-~Google~Calendar-~Eventful-~GReader
listserv-~twitter
listserve
listserve
mailman~list-~aggregator~agregating~blogs
Moodle
Moodle
Moodle
Moodle
moodle
Moodle-~Delicious-~MSN-~Skype-~Facebook-~iChat-~Twitter-~blogs
Moodle-~Elluminate-~Blog-~Wiki
Moodle-~Elluminate-~UStream-~Google~Reader-~Wiki
Moodle-~Facebook-~Ning
Moodle-~Google~Reader-~Elluminate-~FB-~Twitter-~Google~Groups-~Flickr-~YH~Groups-~Delicious
Moodle-~Listserv-~Blog
Moodle-~Twitter
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~-~LinkedIn-~MindMeister
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~LinkedIn
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati-~Delicious-~LinkedIn-~MindMeister-~Slideshare
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati-~LinkedIn
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati-~LinkedIn-
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati-~LinkedIn-~MindMeister
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati-~LinkedIn-~MindMeister
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati-~LinkedIn-~MindMeister
Moodle-~Twitter-~Facebook-~Technorati-~LinkedIn-~MindMeister
Moodle-~wiki-~email-~elluminate-~ustream-~twitter-~facebook-~Second~Life-~Google~groups
myspace
Ning
Ning
ning
ning
NING
Ning
Ning
Ning
Ning-~blogs-~Twitter
Ning-~googlegroups-~skype-~blogs
Ning-~wiki
offline
offline~meets-~wordpress-~mailman-~eventwax
offline-~telephone-~boudlr-~email
OS~lists;~email;~blogs;~wikis;~forums;~webcasting;~Google~docs;~Squidoo;~Flickr;~Skype;~Caucus;~YouTube;~assorted~proprietary~applications
own~list-~blogs
previously~delicious
ProBoards
proprietary~PatchworkPortal~of~wiki-~forum-~blog-~idea-mapping;~Google~docs;~email;~Facebook;~LinkedIn;~Skype;~MindMeister;~Technorati;~Squidoo;~Flickr;~Second~Life;~Caucus;~YouTube
proprietary~PatchworkPortal~of~wiki-~forum-~blog-~idea-mapping;~Google~docs;~email;~Facebook;~LinkedIn;~Skype;~MindMeister;~Technorati;~Squidoo;~Second~Life
proprietary~PatchworkPortal~of~wiki-~forum-~blog-~idea-mapping;~Google~docs;~email;~Facebook;~LinkedIn;~Skype;~Technorati;~Squidoo;~Second~Life;~webcasting;~Caucus;~YouTube
proprietary~PatchworkPortal~of~wiki-~forum-~blog-~idea-mapping;~Google~docs;~email;~Flickr;~Facebook;~LinkedIn;~Skype;~MindMeister;~Technorati;~Squidoo;~Second~Life;~~Caucus;~YouTube;~Yugma
shared~office
SL~virtual~world-~twitter-~blogs
Twitter
twitter
Twitter
Twitter-~Blogs-~UStream-~del.icio.us-~chat-~Skype
Twitter-~Facebook-~Skype-~mail
very~sporadic
virtual~world-~listserv-~Facebook-~skype-~blogs
Web~Crossing-~blog-~Elluminate
web~crossing-~wikis-~blogs-~skype-~twitter-~etc
WebCrossing-~Blogs-~Delicious-~skype
Webcrossing-~twitter-~blogs-~phone~bridge
WebCrossings-~blogs-~RSS-~Twitter
WebCT-~email
WebCT/email~listservs/TAG-listservs
webserver/Adobe~contribute
wetpaint~wiki-~blogs-~twitter
wiki
wiki-~blogs~twitter
wiki-~Elluminate-~Google~List-~blogs-~SL
WiZiQ-~Wikieducator-~Youtube
Wordpress
wordpress-~flickr-~vimeo-~delicious
Workstation-~Elluminate-~GoToWebinar-~blog
Yahoo~group
Yahoo~group
yahoo~group~mailing~list
Yahoo~groups
yahoo~groups
Yahoo~Groups-~Tappedin-~Elluminate-~blogs-~SL-~Twitter-~social~networking~sites
YH~Group-~SL-~Wiki-~Twitter-~Ning-~WiZiQ-~+
YH~Groups-~Ning-~Twitter-~Google~Reader-~WiZiQ