Brenda Hallowes

Good morning All, (or is it evening?) I am very much a lurker in Scope forums but I'm determined this time to make time to read and catch up with the daily digest of posts. This is a subject I am keen to learn more about. I have a Google Wave account but haven't really explored the possibilities for collaboration yet to I'm looking forward to this seminar. I am a computer teacher in a prep school (grades 1 to 3) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I am very keen to get my classes collaborating in projects because it opens up a whole new world to them. In fact today one of my Grade 2 classes is going to be chatting with a class in Switzerland on Skype.
So, let the games begin! :-)

Hi Diedre,
I'm very much a lurker in this seminar. I noticed your list of Delicous links to rubrics. Have you looked at the Intel Education site for assessing projects? There are some wonderful resources there. http://educate.intel.com/en/assessingprojects/

Hi Sue, thanks for your response. I am blogging in Edublogs for daily professional practice. I thought the space was public but I need to check. I am also part of a group of educators training as Intel Teach online facilitators. I have facilitated the f2f version of the course but now we're offering it online. As part of the course we're using Web2.0 tools for reflecting on pedagogical practice.

On Monday I'm starting on an online un-workshop ;-) for teachers.  Could be great fun as the facilitator is a dynamic person with a passion for education and the use of Web2.0. So, things are happening in my cyber world at the moment. I was even considering entering a masters programme on facilitating online learning- but that's for another day.

Regards Brenda

Hi Everyone, I am very much a lurker here. For the past couple of years I have explored all sorts of Web2.0 tools and I've really enjoyed following some of the SCoPE seminars. Like Chris I haven't felt the need to blog, although I signed up for a couple of blogs. I also couldn't think why I would want to jounal my personal space in public. I've now decided to blog my daily reflections on my teaching practice. I've been doing it for about a week now and I'm finding it helpful. So Chris, that's why I would want to blog as a professional - purely to reflect.  I have been exploring some edublogs and I'm impressed by the way in which some teachers are using blogs with their learners. I'll get there - it's still baby steps for now.

Thank you to everyone who is contributing in this space. I just want to say how much I appreciate your contributions to my learning. Have a great day.

Brenda

I would like to add that apart from the availability of bandwidth we have the highest cost in the world for internet connectivity. We have one telephone provider in this country at present. Because of the monopoly up to now they are able to control the cost. My school is about to get an ADSL line capped at 2Gb per month at a cost of R249, which is the price after a 50% discount for an educational institution. That does not include the cost of an ISP which could be the same again and the monthly line rental. I'm not sure of those costs.

 A loaf of bread here costs about R8 so do a little comparison for your country. It would be interesting.

In the online courses that I am involved in the teachers get a cd with all the activities and assignments. They work through the activities and submit their responses via email to their tutor group and interaction is encouraged. However, I think the asynchronis nature of the group means that there's actually very little interaction. It is also evident that teachers are working at the activities in their own time and at their own pace so it's not easy to comment on one anothers' work when they're not on the same page. But, we have made a start. It's better than nothing and there is a huge need to bring thousands of educators into 21st Century learning. It's the old story of the elephant - eat it one bite at a time.