Non-participating participant

I have got completely lost in teaching, marking, midwifing and studying. I am still following the course and blogs using RSS feeds and the email list. I think this will have to do for now. Keep up the good work everyone and safe travelling Sarah!

Week 4: Skimming

I feel as though I am merely skimming the surface of this course and could gain so much more if I had the time to delve in. Full time work + births + phd = no time for anything. Anyhow, I listened to the Eluminate meeting and found it really interesting and thought provoking. How much to we share online? I think I have two online identities which do overlap - the 'midwife' and the 'personal'. I use twitter and my blog for the midwife and facebook for personal. However, some of my facebook friends are also midwives so the edges blur. I also have the rule that I will not post anything online that I wouldn't mind ANYONE reading or seeing. There are some issues with facebook photos as anyone can see a photo of you if someone else uploads it and tags you. I've had some interesting photos of my kids (19 and 16) turn up on my news feed that I'm sure they would rather I didn't see (ha ha).

The netiquette link is a great resource for those new to online communication. I liked Nancy White's how to select the right tool for the right learning activity and Gilly Salmon's easy to follow moderation model.

I will try and attend the Elluminate meeting tomorrow - but won't promise.

Week 3: Overwhelmed

I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all the different online bits and pieces I have started using. I feel like they are developing a life of their own and I am struggling to keep track/control of it all. Whenever, I get stressed or overwhelmed I get organised and if there is one thing I am good at it is wasting time getting organised.

Organisation strategies:
- Cleaned up my incoming feeds, emails etc by trying to make sure there is only ONE way I am getting the info ie. email OR rss
- Set up smart folders in mobileme mail so mail is filtered into relevant folders as it comes in
- Set up lists on twitter so I am not struggling with hundreds of tweets about hundreds of topics

Evernote:
For those who are serious organisation freaks check out Evernote. This is a fantastic tool to keep all your information (from pdfs, websites, powerpoints, photos, diagrams, webclips) in one place and searchable. It also syncs from your home computer to an internet account which you can then access anywhere. I have found it an invaluable teaching tool and have it open and ready in all tutorials. Then when the students are discussing eg. umbilical cords I can pull up relevant photos, diagrams etc on the spot using search words. Having it all there makes teaching student led and responsive (and never fails to impress - ha ha). I also use it for all areas of life - I have everything in my Evernote account. OK advert over.

Activities for week 3:
I have done these and in summary here are my thoughts:
1. Did you know: wow the face of communication has changed so much in less than a generation
2. Nancy White - communities and networks: I still find this a little confusing
3. Building online communities: found this extremely useful and set up an email group based on this info
4. Seven key skills of workshop facilitation: I know I need to work on this as I am a bit of a tangent follower
Laureen Hudson re. online presence for midwives - fantastic!

What else I have been up to:
Thinking about communities and reflecting on a number of interactions with nursing students this week led me to set up a yahoo email group. The group is for USC Midwifery students past, present and future. There are around 100 nursing students who are planning to become midwives and they are thirsty for midwifery. This results is nursing lectures and tutorials being diverted by these keen students which is probably annoying for the nursing students who do not want to be midwives. Basically this group is for them to get together, chat midwifery and access the knowledge and experience of current midwifery students and past students. I am hoping the current and past students will field most of the questions and in turn this will build confidence in their own expertise.
I have also moved my midwifery blog to wordpress. Although it is more difficult to use it is more adaptable and faster than my original iweb version.
I met face to face today (shock horror) with a FO2010 fellow student Jillian Clarke. It was lovely to discuss the course and midwifery off line for a change.

I can't make the web conference this week but I will try to keep up with the activities etc and check out the recording.

Week 2 - Setting the Scene

What I would like to achieve in this course...

I am a lecturer and currently use Blackboard for a blended learning approach. I can see real potential for the use of online teaching tools / resources and I'm keen to develop my knowledge and skills in this area. I am still pondering exactly what and how but here are some tentative ideas for the Masters of Midwifery program that I would like to explore:

• The use of blogs as part of an online portfolio
• Conferencing with other students / midwives (long distance)
• Guest speakers who are not local - presentations, Q&A sessions

In my midwifery life I would like to maintain a blog that is practice focussed and challenges the current mainstream approach to midwifery practice and birth. I have found it quite liberating being able to write about practice without the constraints of writing for publication (journals). It's great to be able to say what you think and not water it down (well maybe a little). I will probably avoid the larger scale politics of birth/midwifery as there are lots of great blogs covering these issues already.

Familiar?

(http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0q5n1GIup1qzrsy6o1_400.png)

Week 1 Summary - Blogmania

In week one I played with 4 blog types:

1. Blogger (this one) - very intuitive and easy to set up.
2. Wordpress - found this difficult to navigate and gave up - I have no patience. Liked the look of it though ie. the design.
3. iweb on my Mac (http://web.me.com/rachel_reed/MidwifeThinking/Blog/Blog.html). The blog feature of iweb doesn't have all the inbuilt widgets but maybe less is more. I did find a site for widgets here: http://www.widgetbox.com/list/most_popular. But, I like the clean look of iweb and it is very easy to use.
4. Blackboard at the university. I have set up blogs for the new midwifery students as a way for them to gather evidence for their 'portfolio' - I will see how it goes.

I have also subscribed to a handful of diverse blogs from participants of this course and worked out how to get the updates to turn up in my email account. I'm looking forward to following others on this online journey of discovery.

Procrastination

Well I am supposed to be analysing data but this course has given me the perfect excuse to busy myself doing other very valuable activities. The lastest is setting up another midwifery focussed blog using iweb on the Mac. Got me thinking about ownership of content etc. I feel a little better knowing the content is on my computer and only I can lose it all. Also on blog sites such as this one - who owns the content? The blogger or the company? Anyone know?

Online Conferencing - tick

Took part in an online conference (introduction) yesterday evening. I have avoided this ?platform ?tool whatever the term is for a long time. However, I now feel confident taking part in future online conferences (thanks). I also discovered I can talk to my Mac and other people can hear me! I still have no idea how or where the microphone is though. It was great hearing the other participants who are a very diverse and interesting crowd.

Blogging is weird. I feel a bit like I am talking to myself (or my Mac). I'm not used to this format but can see some fantastic potential. In the spirit of putting all this into practice I have set up blogs on the uni blackboard site for the Masters of Midwifery students. This can be another way for them to provide evidence of reflection on practice and a fun way to share their learning and experience. I won't make it mandatory but it will be interesting to see if any take it up as an option and see where it goes.

ps. the baby arrived last night.

In Limbo

I have managed to subscribe to some blogs via rss through my mobile me account = they turn up in my mail. I was going around in circles trying to work out how to follow blogs easily - so progress has been made.

I believe there is some Eluminate thing happening later today. I have downloaded the thingo and looked at the interface - confused. I am also waiting for a birth to happen. Waters broke Tuesday am, so I really hope I will be there and not here by 6pm.

Realised I didn't mention why I am doing the course...

- It will be useful for my uni teaching. Another teaching tool (or many)

- I need a kick up the arse to get online and try new webby type things

- I need to face the fear

I am also hoping that one day I may be able to rescue my abandoned other self who I left behind in SecondLife. I realised I was in over my head when I appeared naked and I couldn't work out how to dress myself. After being approached by a floating man saying 'hey baby' my real self fled.

OK I've signed up for this Online Facilitating course. Not sure it was the right thing to do. It took me 3 attempts to get the squiggly words correct and prove I wasn't a computer. Now what?