I was unable to attend the live online meetings held in the Elluminate meeting room this past week for the online facilitation course that has just started. Disappointing as that was, I have been delighted to be able to catch up with the conversation through the recorded session made available by Sarah Stewart, our amazing facilitator for the course.
Amazing to know that 59 people from all over the world and with very different occupations have signed up to be part of this course. There are quite a few midwives which is very exciting. Sarah wondered, because of the number of participants, if being in groups that reflect our interest would be a good idea. I like the groupings, because I can see where people are ‘at’ with their interest in course participation, however, I’m really happy to communicate across groups because I’m learning so much from those in various and disparate fields.
For example, one of the participants, ClaireThompson, a teacher in distributed learning from BC, Canada, posted a Google map (see below) for everyone to put their location on the map.
View Larger Map
I was challenged in putting my name on the map. Claire kindly twittered helpful hints which enabled me to successfully add myself and my location to the map. I wondered how to find the various posts on Twitter from the course participants and was introduced to the hashtag idea.
Sarah set up a list hashtag #FO2010 for the people on the course. Creating a hashtag enables people using twitter to keep up with specific conversations. What a great idea! I am having such a good time learning all these different applications for social media. This information came in handy with the Normal Birth Conference in Vancouver over the past few days. There were several people twittering information about the presentations. I was able to click on the hashtag #birthconf and keep up with what was being said – at least, what the individuals reported was being said!
If anyone asks me if twittering, blogging, Facebook and online meetings are of any use, I can easily point to the success of a rapid response to the surprise closing of a birth centre recently. A flurry of social media networking efforts thwarted the closure and demonstrated the power of networking. Mary Sidebotham’s comment on her blog explains how social networking turned the tide for the birth centre.
My next big task is to think about that assessment number 2!
- What am I going to arrange for the mini event?
- What is the best time of day for participants?
- How long is the session to be?
Thanks for a great run down of events. I enjoyed putting my pin up after claire set the programme up. It took me a while to work it out. Normally my ever running husband runs to my aid for all things internet that I don’t understand. Working it out for myself gave me great pleasure.
Hi Lisa, good you were able to work it out for yourself! That ability is awesome. I needed help
I’m finding the way we can help each other online really fascinating. I would have thought it was more difficult to follow instructions online, as I’ve always been more inclined to the ‘hands on, nearby’ approach to all things technical. This time the online instructions Claire gave worked for me. A perfect example of ‘online facilitation’ 
The Google map thing is something I’m still struggling with. But I think its a great way to put meaning into our interactions…one more thing than can be used to take us from disembodied conversations to people who come to mean something
I like looking at the map and seeing where folks come from too. I agree Sarah that knowing someone’s whereabouts makes the process more ‘real’.
I struggled with the Google map too. It felt good to work it out. A lot of this course will involve struggling with nifty new online software tools. Then we evolve into techno evangelists and help others struggle with this barrier.
Then we get a critical mass and the way the we work changes.
After investing all this time learning, we can then save so much time.
I wonder, “What are we going to do with all the time we save”. Learn the next wave of Web 3.0 technology perhaps.