Community Engagement

In the humid surrounds of Cairns, community leaders and interested parties gathered to learn about this year’s incarnations of the Community Engagement project. You can find presentation slides on the wikispace, and add your comments via the “discussion” tab.

Kaye Bowman highlighted the successes from the three years of projects, and Gail Short told a remarkable tale of sustainability in partnerships, while Michael Coghlan gave some stirring insights into further possibilities around the warmth and depth of connections in online communities.

Tremendous efforts from the community leaders of 2007 projects, who had spent the day before in a session of celebration and debriefing.

Thanks to all who participated, including project leaders and workers, keynotes and speakers Gail Short, Michael Coghlan, Kaye Bowman, and Vaughan Croucher who facilitated discussions.

Michael spent some time with the people at ACE Byron Shire: Richard, Rob, Kirsty, Diane and Rex. Things were hectic, because most of them were also involved with the Online Facilitation course run by Frankie and Josie.

A good time of year for this crew, as many aspects of their project are coming together. Part one is all about getting their sustainable housing project online, while part two focusses on allowing the people in local government to more actively connect with local communities.

ACE Byron has been running their sustainable housing course for many years now, and this project was an opportunity to put the course online, to enable people to study and interact from many different locations. Rex put the course into a web site, while Rod used wikispaces to set up an interactive companion site, inviting trial course participants into collective discussion and publishing.

The local government in Byron Bay Shire has been wanting to interact more closely with their community around issues of concern. But there aren’t really any models of community engagement using online technologies.

Kirsty and the team from from ACE Byron spent time interviewing council members on topics of local environmental importance, then Rex put this audio online.
So then, to enable community interaction trials, Rod has installed some open source forum software known as “phpbb2″.

This software has just moved to version three, and Rod found this version much better than the earlier model. One requirement of the council, was the ability to moderate discussion very pro-actively; it looks like the new version will allow this.

The team has shown considerable good sense in this project, trialling each aspect before going public. They’ve had plenty of obstacles but due to good spirits and good teamwork, have managed to overcome all their difficulties so far.

Janie McOmish from Adult Learning Australia participated in the recent presentation in Canberra by Alan Levine. The following words are from Janie as she reflected on this opportunity to listen and learn from Alan.

Presentations in eight Australian cities in eleven days, that’s the programme ALAN LEVINE undertook on his Australian Flexible Learning Framework in October.

The Vice-President of NMC Community has spent years promoting creative uses of technology in learning for the Maricopa Community Colleges and is currently involved in using a campus on Second Life (a 3D online virtual world) to explore educational gaming and the potential of virtual world environments.

Alan presented six engaging discourses during his tour.

In Canberra, he engaged his audience on the topic “Being There”. Building on the themes emerging on the Peter Sellers film of the same name, he explored the notion that we need to face the future of social networking in an open ‘wide eyed’ manner. He stressed that we need to ‘be there’ not just look in and observe.

People, he said, should not worry about being an expert, rather we should ‘stand up’, trust and connect.

Using the example of the rapid growth of such social networking groups as Facebook (which he pointed out had grown by 80% in the month of June 2007 in Australia), he recounted that we should not think about how we could best use such emerging networks but that once we were engaged, we would “find a use”.

The figures he presented were astounding. Would you believe that 120 blogs are created each day, in May 2007, 70 million blogs were tracked or that 17 posts are created each second?

The audience were given an extensive look at Twitter (another social network ) and were amazed at how many responses Alan received during the time he spent talking to us.

A number of other premises surfaced:

• you can’t blame the technology for inappropriate content, only the people controlling it
• always remember that a sense of play is important – it keeps you interested and makes engagement easier
• people don’t have to ‘master’ everything – it’s fine to make mistakes – it’s all part of the learning experience and
• just like Hansel and Gretel, leave yourself a trail – it makes it easier for you and others to return.

So, as Alan emphasised, dive into it; you’re a part of it, so make the most of it!

The community engagement project is about to embark on their third and last online facilitation course for 2007. The final group of 20 teachers across the 6 projects in Queensland, NSW, Tasmania and Victoria, are getting ready!

The project has partnered with Gippstafe in Victoria to deliver their very popular three week intensive online facilitation skills course. This course is delivered by Frankie Forsyth – an internationally recognised expert on online facilitation - and supported by Josie Rose, member of the national project team.

Although a very intensive three weeks, previous participants from all 6 projects have found it very worthwhile, as they are presented with a highly structured yet immensely workable model of online facilitation. The knowledge and skills they gain form the course is immediately transferable to their own e-learning projects.

Participants gain skills in how to facilitate synchronous ( text and voice chat as well as Elluminate) and asynchronous (discussion topics) events.

Previous participants have commented that they found the discussion topics, which make up the majority of the work tasks, the most useful aspect of the course. They commented that they enjoyed the discussion topics because of the range of ideas and the different perspectives that others expressed as well as appreciating the support from the facilitators.

Some comments from individual participants were:

• I think the debates around topics such as “assess or not assess” - “private or public” were great. They were informative and gave lots of different views.
• Being new to e-learning I found it very user friendly and engaging.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the course.
• Thank you! I have really enjoyed being part of this course. I wish all of my trainers could have done it.
• I personally have enjoyed the interaction I am now looking more closely at toolboxes and am glad that I am able to continue to learn even with the course finished.

It is often difficult to know as a project team how we can best support our projects, and to what measure. This online course enables us to help practitioners discuss and debate issues that they are likely to face online and work together as a group to come up with strategies. It has provided them with models, skills and tools that will be of direct benefit to them in delivering their project outcomes.

We look forward to welcoming the final group starting on the 24^th September!

In the lush surrounds of the University of Tasmania’s Launceston campus, many people - co-ordinators, volunteers, mentors and more - came from all around Tasmania for the annual Online Access Centres (OAC) conference / networking days. There were many enjoyable sessions:

• Kathleen led people through an induction into their new moodle-based networking environment;
• Cheryl and Tina shared some terrific strategies for building partnerships;
• One session demonstrated progress in a home-grown computer booking system;
• Michael caused some chaos while exploring a wikispace, and embedding audio/ powerpoint;

Highlights for me included Andy Norris’ brief history of the OAC network - and what a history they’ve had! One pivotal moment was the research which showed the deep and positive impact these centres have had in regional Tasmanian communities, connecting people and providing much needed access. A fundamental feature of these centres is the one-to-one support they give people who need to learn new ways with information.

There is plenty of enthusiasm amongst people in the network for future possibilities, and some concern around coming changes; as considerable re-structuring occurs within Tasmania. The OAC network and centres are being re-configured within a larger model of joining together Adult Education, Branch Libraries and OAC, in Adult and Community Learning Services. Andy Norris assured people that they would be well placed for the changes.

Selected co-ordinators and mentors are creating ‘negotiated projects’ to build capacity within their region. Several people are interested in enabling local groups to build and share their local histories.

(by michael chalk)

On Friday the 15th June the East Gippsland Online communities launched their project with great success and tremendous enthusiasm.The day started with partner organisations meeting to discuss project business, and at lunchtime a crowd of about 30 had gathered for the launch.The launch was attended by local members of the East Gippsland Shire Council, library staff members and two guests from the Yarra Plenty library services, who will be supporting Denence and Jan in the introduction of the 23 things program into the more remote communities of East Gippsland. The project was also pleased to acknowledge the attendance of both East Gippsland Institute of TAFE and GippsTAFE (as a previously funded project) to the launch.

The project was officially launched by Ray Ferres OAM – Director of Community College East Gippsland (CCEG). Ray spoke about the tyranny of distance, the tremendous potential of e-learning to reach remote communities, and the importance of projects like this and programs like 23 things to give communities experiences with and exposure to theweb, and its potential for personal and professional development.

In the afternoon Josie conducted a session for project partners and other interested attendees on how the Community Engagement project uses web 2.0 tools to promote the project, and support the community leaders. The participants were on a steep learning curve but very excited by the potential for their communities. Jan and Denece were well pleased with the level of excitement and enthusiasm generated by the end of the day. Everyone is looking forward to the training day on the 28^th June, where they will be meeting the first of their 23 things!

SO, what are these 23 things?

Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library in North Carolina developed a self-discovery training program called “23 Things”. These are 23 small exercises you can do on the web to explore and expand your knowledge of Web 2.0 tools and new technologies.With support from Helen Blowers of Public Library Charlotte Mecklenberg County (PLCMC) and Yarra Plenty Regional Library, Melbourne, Denece and Jan have incorporated the “23 Things” into their project. The East Gippsland library service have set up access to the project and the program though this link at egipps.vic.gov.au/

Denece told us that Helen Blowers is in fact coming out to Australia later this year, and may have opportunity to visit them – a fabulous example of how community education and regional library staff are working together to forge international partnerships and at the same time develop opportunties for greater access to education in East Gippsland.

Certainly for our 2007 project leaders, the recent Community Engagement project induction workshop, created an agreed ‘wow’ factor. Our twelve community leaders returned to their communities and project planning committees with a range of new ideas, resources and tools to support their project’s aims and objectives throughout 2007 and beyond.

The two-day workshop, held in Sydney, brought together projects from Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales who shared their project aims and objectives and also were given an opportunity to have a ’shared understanding’ of the expectations and operating environment for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework).

Well known Framework identities including Jeff Saul and his NSW team, Clint Smith, Cathy Baxter, Hayley Beck, Rhonda Appo, Carole McCulloch and Phil Wheeler helped to create a feeling of commitment, enthusiasm and excitement. Jeff ’set the scene’ with his official welcome in place of Simon Paine who at late notice was unable to attend the workshop. Robyn Jay handled the microphone with great professionalism. After hearing from Jeff, Robyn and Shane we all have a better understanding of e-learning in New South Wales.

Phil’s session left us all excited about the range of free tools available, where to find them and how to customise and upload them. Clint wowed us with a session on the Designing E-learning online resource, using the Tasmanian Communities Online as an exemplar.

Carole introduced us to the notion of personal learning environments and we are now ‘iGoogle‘ enthusiasts madly creating our own online presence. So much learning and so much fun!

Our two project community leaders representing 2005 and 2006 (John Tucker and Carole McCulloch) facilitated a study circle experience for the 2007 project community leaders using the following questions to stimulate the discussion:

• What are your best hopes for adding technology to teaching and learning?
• What are your worst fears for adding technology to teaching and learning?

The conversation was captured on a visual mind map which helped to summarise the main points providing a range of thoughts and perhaps challenges for the project team and project community leaders to consider as we move forward with the 2007 Community Engagement projects.

Other participants included Ron Anderson from Adult Learning Australia and Dr Kaye Bowman who is conducting an evaluation of the Community Engagement project.

It seemed everyone left the Community Engagement project induction workshop with a lot of energy and a sense of working together to achieve the project’s aims to create sustainable demand for and use of e-learning in communities, building human capacity and facilitating adult learning. You’ll find a collection of photos at flickr.

The Milang Old School House Community Centre (a 2005 Framework Community Engagement Project) was recently awarded the inaugural Australian Community ICT Award for the “Best use of software in non profit settings”.

MOSHCC received the award for its innovative use of open source software to deliver educational and engaging ICT experiences for people who participate in volunteering and adult learning programs in the region.

Karyn Bradford, Shirley Smith and Stuart Jones were at the Connecting Up Conference Dinner to receive the Award.

The MOSHCC team are really pushing ahead in embedding e-learning in their community, another success for the team was the news that they were a selected network within the 2007 Framework E-learning Networks Project. The MOSHCC team will work with the Community and Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association in South Australia.

The project - CANH E-NET - will support Centre coordinators and ACE workers to investigate and develop e-learning strategies, while also strengthening the communication and partnerships between SA centres through enhanced IT strategies and understanding of available technologies. Links with other interstate ACE providers will also be made.

In 2006 MOSHCC were also the winners of the South Australian Adult Learners’ Week (ALW) “Learning Community of the Year”.

Well done to everyone at MOSHCC!

Six projects will be funded in 2007 representing a range of models supporting economic and regional development in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. This year there will be a strong emphasis on isolated learners. The successful projects are:

• VoluntElearning (Community Technology Centres Association, New South Wales)
• Building online communities in East Gippsland (BACE Inc, Victoria)
• CultureLink Queensland (Queensland Community Arts Network, Queensland)
• E-learning for natural resource management (Queensland Murray-Darling Committee, Queensland)
• Supporting e-learning in rural and regional communities (Tasmanian Communities Online, Tasmania)
• Regional skills for a changing environment (Byron Regional Community College, New South Wales).

The project team will meet with project community leaders at the project’s induction workshop to be held in Sydney 9 - 10 May 2007. The induction session will help to build a shared understanding of the expectations and operating environment for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework in 2007 and beyond and be a great opportunity to learn about online resources and provide an opportunity for networking and information-sharing to strengthen links between projects.

Members of the Project Team for the Community Engagement Project recently attended a day which featured Jimmy Wales, the creator of Wikipedia, as keynote speaker and a Panel Discussion and Workshop facilitated by Mark Pesce. The project team members, Mary Hannan and Janie McOmish, attended the day hosted by education.au hoping to increase their knowledge and understanding of the uses and benefits of wikis.

The Community Engagement Project wiki, established in 2006, is seen by the team as a valuable, user-friendly tool whose extended use will enable information to be disseminated and explored by the many and varied community participants in even more effective and efficient ways.

However, as happened with Wikipedia, the team believes they need to develop people’s belief and trust in this new medium. In the six years since it has been launched, Wikipedia has become the thirteenth most visited website in the world but its existence has raised questions as to how readers decipher fact from fiction when multiple users have the capacity to both create and edit content. Jimmy Wales believes everyone should be given free access to information. Intrinsically, this belief brings problems:

• How can one ensure that this information is neither biased nor incorrect?
• How can one ensure that all changes will be comprehensively tracked?
• How can users store earlier versions or return to information or ideas that have been previously entered?

Therefore, Wales and his team set about developing guidelines that would allow these potential difficulties to be overcome. In doing so they faced the same problem that face today’s educators:

• What are the implications for education in using an online culture?
• What opportunities exist to best develop and utilise collaborative learning in our global community?
• Who holds knowledge in the world today?
• What barriers may stop us sharing knowledge?

The protocols Wikipedia developed have led to the online encyclopedia becoming one of the most recognised wikis in the world; one which utilises “a culture of sharing and creativity which is not based on market exchange but rather intellectual exchange.” As Wales states, “communities are becoming aware of the knowledge latent within them.” He added that educators must continue to build on these concepts and let communities of learners manage themselves rather than educators taking on the role of an umpire.

These words reflect the environment that the project team is dealing with. Community engagement programs appear to be fertile ground for developments such as wikis but, just as Wales has had to encourage participants to feel “safe” when they contribute to the on-line encyclopedia, so community leaders need to feel safe when they contribute their content. Just as Elites revel in the concept that “knowledge is power”, participants need to be assured that their knowledge and integrity will be protected and that other special interest groups will not be able to shape existent knowledge to suit their own ends.

With all fledgling development, people need to pool information and one of the strategies Wales suggested to instil confidence in wary stakeholders was to encourage them to examine the progress and protocols that have been developed at Wikipedia.

It would seem that this, together with the team’s continual fostering of the use of the online environment, the Community Engagement Project wiki will become a valuable tool that will permit intelligence to be more widely distributed.