Oh how we’ll miss you!

Posted on September 19, 2011 by moocepcop

September 17
Oh how we’ll miss you!

Now’s the time to gather up a few of those messages from within the Ning community that will inspire us to do this again. Here are a few that have encouraged us:

… thank-you to you and the moderators, the course (or at least that that I have worked through) has been a real boost, and has given me a lot to think about. I am a little more prepared than I was before!

… I really want to finish this course, and I am wondering if the ePCoP MOOC will stay online for a while longer. I realise there will be no forums etc, but just to work through the information will be more than useful.

Once Again, Thank-You for Everything! This course really has helped, and even if I only get a little bit out of it, I have made a huge step in knowing more about ePortfolios.
Alison

I am immersed in epCOP, sometimes drowning yet increasingly coming to the surface. The organization and flow of the spaces and the support for learners is a credit to you and your team. I am somewhat new to technology so have benefitted (loved) the Challenge Mentors webinars.
Glenis

Well folks, my adventures in E-Portfolios are drawing to a close after nearly two months, but boy, what a fantastic two months of learning it has been!
Denise

I am continuing with my MOOC learning and will catch-up on missed work by doubling up some weeks. I just realised that this course is coming to an end 🙁 I don’t want this to happen).
I thoroughly enjoy being part of this community, learning about eportfolios, connecting with such an amazing group each week, networking, observing excellent eLearning practices and witnessing amazing work.
I will continue to work on my eportfolio as part of my lifelong learning journey. I do have a few immediate goals however:
Kelly

Building a community
The Interaction and feedback from participants has been wonderful over the duration of the MOOC. Many participants have joined into the webinars and Ning and taken part in conversations, forums feedback and learning. The tools presented by the Challenge Mentors are showing up in many participants e-portfolios and has given people the encouragement to think outside the box when it comes to artifect gathering.

The team of presenters have diligently volunteered their time during the MOOC to show others how 21st century ways of doing are not difficult when you have the support and instruction from others .A MOOC is certainly a way of bringing educators and professionals together who see the benefit of self directed learning that offers instruction and guidance. There is certainly a place for the continuation of MOOC,s in the Australian learning environment.

Great News!
The EPCoPMOOC learnspace materials will remain in place and we will use them again for another MOOC experience – perhaps we might consider getting its own domain name. They were produced under the Creative Commons licence in the spirit of sharing so we encourage you to make use of them and to let us know how you plan to do that.

The stories emerge

Posted on September 11, 2011 by moocepcop

Narrative is such a powerful tool for engaging our audiences – we can bring a new perspective into our e-portfolios by telling our stories. Its not just our achievements, its not just our reflections and its much more than our learning, our lifelong e-portfolios present all of the pieces of our lives loosely joined.

Check the narratives being shared in these e-portfolios – new and powerful stories from our e-portfolio practitioners:

Pam Ridd’s googlio: https://sites.google.com/site/pamriddeportfolio/
Sandra Stewart’s PebblePad: https://eportfolio.csu.edu.au/pebblepad/viewasset.aspx?oid=254695&type=webfolio
Junita Lyon’s wikispace: http://junitalyon.acfe.vic.edu.au/
Coach Carole’s googlio: https://sites.google.com/site/coachcaroleeportfolio/

Quotes from MOOCers:

I think the beauty of the design of this self-directed course is that it offers enough for both the independent sprinters and the dawdle -ers of the course. The lack of pressure of deadlines in contrast to the clear goals broken into weekly achievable chunks. The MOOC has offered many conversational environments as well as lots of structure and direction for independent learners. Regardless of your style,pace or needs, the MOOC has been designed with a common meeting space to check back to when you have paused in your journey.

How will you use your e-portfolio (s) for your ongoing studies and lifelong learning?

Please leave a comment below.

E-portfolios are being refined

Posted on September 8, 2011 by moocepcop

36 days since MOOC began

Some of our MOOCers have been busily creating and fine tuning their e-portfolios.

Here’s a few e-portfolio examples that have been shared to date:

Kelly Pickering –
Here is a link to the recent page added to my Foliospaces eportfolio (this course!): http://www.foliospaces.com/view/view.php?id=26654

Liz Grigg –
Here is an image of what my RPL page is like in Mahara is attached as a pdf.
http://epcopmooc.ning.com/forum/attachment/download?id=6413544%3AUploadedFile%3A12728

Fiona Ross –
Mission accomplished for the MOOCman’s eportfolio
http://mahara.e-skills.com.au/view/view.php?t=lWYV1CgaFwxZ478iPKnJ

Adrienne Kajewski
A new e-portfolio beginning in Googlesite at: https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioajkajewski/

Denise Joy Marron

A great eporfolio in wikispaces at: http://denisejoymarron.wikispaces.com/

We have listened to experts on new Eportfolio systems (eg. Myshowcase with Dave Waller and David Sowden) and how to structure your reflections (e.g Wikieducator sample from Bronwyn Hegarty, NZ. We’ve had a practice session on tools like Googlesites and Wordle. Some great graphics from our tagxedo contributors:

A few MOOCers have experienced light bulb moments this week and excitedly exploring ways of capturing their professional development experiences in innovative ways. Stay tuned for some of these exemplars from our visionaries.

Detective Peterovski has been on the EpCoP Case whilst travelling in South Korea – he’s taken us into some unusual locations whilst looking for RPL. He’s even reported in from his hotel whilst feeling very ill – take a look at his latest escapade here in his blog:
http://rowanpeter.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/detective-peterovski-reflects-on-the-last-35-days-of-the-epcop-case/

The MOOCmaid has also taken a little holiday recently and has NOT reported in yet, we look forward to her contributions soon. The MOOCman is already ‘flying’ with his eportfolio at:
http://mahara.e-skills.com.au/view/view.php?t=lWYV1CgaFwxZ478iPKnJ

A recent request from a Mahara user in Queensland recently prompted CC to prepare a short video on how to create collections from a selection of views in her e-portfolio. You can see the video here http://www.screenr.com/cNCs and the collection here http://www.coachcarole.net/mahara/view/view.php?t=w1pjFYPBu3x2eWJfvntC

Midway in e-portfolio land of the MOOCers

Posted on September 1, 2011 by moocepcop

All the MOOCers have been busily creating their assets for showcasing – some are learning about new tools to do that e.g. slideshare and mindmapping.

At last count we have 357 registered for the MOOC with 226 in the Ning Community. Thanks goodness not everyone of them is posting in the forums or blogs (smiles) – we are coping well with the regulars. However we do welcome newbies to post, blog, submit photos and send messages.

Now we’re halfway into week 5 where the real work begins – the design phase. Some experimental explorations into Googlios, has shown us the desire for eportfolios in open source, portable and exportable spaces. A new one on the scene has been Myshowcase.

In the Ning and in my gmail, there have been lots of comments from contributors and lurkers alike – they like the way they can manage the experiences and choose how much and when to immerse themselves in the MOOC. We have now normed as a community.

Looking back over week 4:

we’ve seen some newbies entering the field and reporting on their progress and filing their evidence
specific groups for implementation of e-portfolios are ramping up as they discuss things like group portfolios, and portfolios for research
new blog links have been added to our Netvibes site and bloggers are keen for your comments – please post at least one comment for someone each week
A few additional items (namely the MOOCmen and the MOOCmaids) have been located in various parts of the MOOC – in the learnspace, in the webinars, in the community and soon they’ll be out there on the web popping up in blogs, websites and google maps. Keep your eyes peeled for them.
Oh and be on the lookout for RPL – he’s been leaving a trail of evidence for Detective Ryan Peterovski; you’ll find reference to his latest escapades in this blog.

21 days since MOOC began

Posted on August 22, 2011 by moocepcop

Have you been in in the forums lately? Or a Google+ hangout? Several MOOCers met on Sunday afternoon in a hangout organised by Simon Pankhurst. This new tool is very easy to use and a great way to get in touch. You can try it out for yourself by going over to Google + and clicking on Start a Hangout on the right hand side. Great discussion was had about what everyone was up to with their eportfolios and Simon even showed a YouTube video within the Hangout! Or maybe you have joined a Skype conversation? These are alternative methods of touching base with MOOC ers

We are discovering and using more ways to keep in touch as the MOOC progresses and participants share their ideas with us.
did you catch up with the webinars last week? All our webinars are recorded.

( MISSING MOOC MEN AND WHERE TO FIND THEM) – more news on that in week 4.

Perhaps you have joined in the search for Eportfolio moocmen already! Maybe you have shared some evidence with detective Ryan Peterovski!
Did you decide on a an Eportfolio system or cloud yet? Go ahead and grab your badge for week 3 ? Detective Ryan Peterovski is planning for his artefacts now are you?

The registrations have leveled out to 350 and I am absolutely stoked about the accolades that stream into my gmail inbox from some of our more vocal participants. although we value our quiet achievers as well.
Over 63 participants chose to evaluate their skills inthe survey, which will help us with overall evaluation and about 35 have chosen to add their Eportfolio links and continue to reflect in various ways. It is wonderful seeing people willing to share their ePCop Mooc journey with us and we are hoping that more people will take what can often be a scary plunge into sharing their thoughts with others. Being a safe community this is a great place to start sharing.

A great set of recommended criteria for selecting an Eportfolio tool or cloud were added to the forums and we are on our way to a deeper understanding of the potential for Eportfolios

This week we move on to an exploration of how to plan and select artifacts – watch for further advice for PebblePad users and cloud based Eportfolios in the webinar on August 23 plus some excellent challenge webinars focussed on mindmapping and slide sharing – great for those engaging artifacts.

Week 2 ends and the learning is happening!

Posted on August 15, 2011 by moocepcop

The “Why?” question has provided the members with thoughtful times and as many answers as we have backgrounds and experiences, with most agreeing that the why that is important is whatever you are working towards, planning or working on at the time you start a new e-portfolio.

During the webinar last week Junita shared her Mahara e-portfolio live. Her examples showed how a webfolio can be used to collect evidence for RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning). Sandra showed screen shots of several of her PebblePad e-portfolios and discussed how she uses them as part of her Personal Learning Space to support the development of her learning and reflective practice.

Participants have been engaging with the learning materials in the learnspace and fulfilling their mission to find out why they’d keep an eportfolio following are some of the comments that have appeared on the Ning forums and in participant blogs.

Alicia Boyle on Why she needs an e-portfolio “This time I’m going to try and do it just-for-me.”
and on the MOOC: “The MOOC has already has had an impact….:)…I’ve tried out new tools, some I’m already using daily…just in a week”

Kelly Pickering hopes that “through the use of e-portfolios the process of recording my learning will be that much easier, accessible and relevant to today’s learning and workplace environment.” She also shared with other members her points that she keeps in mind when recording written reflections. Simon Pankhurst shared this statement with the group: “Technology will be the tool that allows me to store and access my learning. Social networking will help me to enhance my learning. Reflection will allow me to build on my learning as well as look back and be inspired and motivated to continue my learning journey.”

Participants, design team members and challemge mentors are eagerly looking forward to engaging with the question for Week 3 Where? as they decide where is the best place for them to create their e-portfolio.

Week Two Begins in the MOOC!

Posted on August 7, 2011 by moocepcop

Reflecting on Week One

As we look back over the activities in the Ning community in week one we have been amazed at the innovative and thoughtful forum posts and blogs. With over 168 members of the community now (wow that was quick to build once we got going) things are going to get even busier in the weeks to come. In the spirit of openness we have now opened up the Ning community for self-enrolment – still needs an approval from one of the administrators and we do still prefer that you register at LearnSpace. We now have nearly 300 registrations and we may, from time to time, send out emails to all.
A few groups have emerged for participants to join – Researchers, Skypers, Novices, Newbies and more – these will give finer focus for those who wish to communicate with like-minded people on how they intend to use their e-portfolios.
From time to time you will see updates in the Webinar Gallery pages at LearnSpace – links to recordings and notifications about guest presenters – we will also include this detail in the MOOC SCOOPs and send these out to you all via email and store in the Resource Kit at LearnSpace.

There have also been updates in the Bloggers Gallery where you can link to individual’s blogs or choose a link to the aggregation of these for convenience.
Comments from the MOOCers:

I see the eportfolio as a great tool to help me to organize my thoughts, track my learning progress and achievements both from my professional and personal life. Erin

I found the opportunity to take part in an open course on e-portfolios quite appealing right away, since it not only provides me with the opportunity to learn about the portfolio concept but also it will allow me to compare two MOOCs and digg deeper into this concept as well. Daniel

It is amazing how EpCoP MOOC has caught up around Australia and all over the world. Mutuota

I hope this course offers a great online learning experience and provides good practice examples of self-directed learning teaching strategies. Kelly

I am looking forward to creating a “Google” ePortfolio and being introduced to more Web2.0 tools. Liz

I am looking forward to this course as I will be able to chat to others about how they use eportfolios, and get some new ideas to inspire my students. Kaye

I had a basic understanding of e-portfolios but what an eye opener to read the other participants’ input! Made me think again… I now a completely different concept of eportfolios and how it can be used in various areas, academically, professionally and personally. Maryke

MOOCers sharing visuals:
Lots of learning taking place about what eportfolios might contain and some really like this diagram to explain it visually. Really great to see this diagram being used in others blogs. (Note: it was based on the original diagram developed by Dr Helen Barrett in 2002 and created by Coach Carole in 2011)

Others have really delved deep into the gaming mode of discovery learning and one featured participant (Detective Ryan Peterovski) has created a twitter stream and a set of short movie clips to reflect on his missions. You can see the first of these at Rowan Peter’s blog. Agents are beginning to join in the missions and uncover evidence for posting to the Map and providing extra tips and links in the Twitter stream at #epcop.

Some extra resources sent by MOOCers this week include:
Are MOOCs the future of online learning?
Eportfolios Balance Act
Reflection for learning

MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses or Massive and Often Obtuse Courses?
We have featured four members of the epcop mooc community this week: Daniel, Kelly, Rowan and Jan, for their innovative and thought provoking posts. We would like to thank all participants for jumping immediately into the open spirit of this EpCoP MOOC.

Week 2 Getting Savvy!
We’re now looking forward to week two and getting a grip on Why we need e-portfolios? the mission for week 2 is: Determine the purpose of your e-portfolio.

There are 3 more webinars to enjoy! Our general one on August 9th where we’ll talk about the impact of eportfolios on our MOOCers and find out what they’ve learned so far. Then we have two more challenge webinars for you on Thursday August 11th to provide tuition and discussion on how you can use WordPress for your blogging reflections and Googledocs for your artefacts.

You can now see the Challenge Mentors in their own googlesite.

But wait there’s more we also have a Voicethread where the MOOCers can begin to give their feedback in voice. You can see this happening at the EpCoP MOOC Voicethread.

Let the Journeys begin!

Posted on August 1, 2011 by moocepcop

August 1: Today is the official start of the EpCoP MOOC!

We have opened up the first forum for the week one focus on What are e-portfolios! Over 220 participants are now preparing to launch into their open course, planning their explorations and fulfilling each quest on the way to claiming their first badge.

The Challenge Mentors have been busy in the wings getting tutorials and resources in place for this week’s Challenge Webinars. A few are joining us today to showcase what they’ve been up to:

Simon Pankhurst
To prepare for the EpCoP MOOC as a Challenge Mentor I have been preparing tutorials in both Screenr and Tildee for Wordle and Glogster. I have set up a blog that will follow my learning about e-portfolios and reflections about how they can be used to deepen students learning and promote lifelong learning. I have also set up a regular time on Thursdays to work though the challenge material on e-portfolios. I have been developing ideas for the presentations to the EpCoP MOOC participants on Wordle, Glogster and Wikis. Lastly, I have helped develop a Google Form for participants to list their social networking tools to allow participants create or expand their personal/professional learning network.

Helen Doyle
To date have created a Facebook page entitled TwitterEd where we currently have 34 members. This has been set up to gather information about using Twitter in education from various media sources.
We encourage MOOC members to join and have their say or read about how Twitter is currently being used. http://www.facebook.com/groups/245490602137453/?ap=1
In the next week or two we will add some surveys to the site to research different uses and opinions that people have about using this social networking tool.

Katt Mathews
Fiona and I put some samples of slide backgrounds into a dropbox folder to be used for presentations etc. We are looking forward to our presentations – Fiona is putting together some slides on Mahara I will be am working on some slideshare and file management slides.
Planning on catching up with Fiona in Blackboard/Collaborate sometime this week to go over how will will do things.
So far have been corresponding through the group on the MOOC ning.

Penny Bentley
I’m Penny Bentley, one of the Volunteer Challenge Mentors for the ePCop MOOC. In preparation for this event my role has been to create tutorials to assist participants who need help with changing file sizes, using Audioboo to create pod-casts, creating a screen-cast with Screenr and getting started with WordPress as a blogging platform. I will also be around to help others in the ePCop MOOC Ning’s “Novice Help Line” Group and Discussion Forum, as well as in several Blackboard/Elluminate Webinars.

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE CHALLENGE MENTORS!!

Count down begins – 7 days to launch date!

Posted on July 24, 2011 by moocepcop

badges for each level

The excitement is now building as we gather our participants in the Ning network. Already some preliminary discussions, welcome messages and helpful advice has begun in the forums there. Additions have been made to the learnspace and our Challenge Mentors are preparing tutorials, templates and webinars for your challenges in creating artefacts with Web 2.0 tools.
There are links on the Challenge Mentors page at the epcop learnspace to the Challenge Mentors blogs so participants can read their bios and get to know who they are. Mentors will help you to learn how to join and interact in the Blackboard/Collaborate live classrooms. As all of the 64+ registered participants join and become part of the Ning Community they can ask the Challenge Mentors to answer those questions of concern in the Novice Help Line group. A new page showing the Challenge Webinar Schedule has been added and will be updated frequently.

The design team are preparing the first introductory webinar scheduled for Wednesday July 27 at 8 pm Sydney time, and invite you to participate at the Australia e-Series room. Graphics, podcasts, newsletters, tutorials, bells and whistles are being added in the final week prior to launch – make a point of revisiting the learnspace soon.

Soon participants will be focussing on the missions and quests at each level and we’ve added ‘page identifiers’ to assist with the navigation. The Level Achiever badges (see above) are now available in each quest page; and we’d like to thank our designer at the Framework for his support in creating these.

We have collaboratively prepared the leanspace googlesite for other e-portfolio enthusiasts to harvest from, take what they need for their own local e-portfolio explorers – note that we have affixed the Creative Commons logo as a reminder about the way in which the content can be used.

We acknowledge the many contributors and shared resources in those pages and our Resource Kit, however, we would like to say a special thank you to those people (EpCoP members and other E-portfolio practitioners) who have given permission for us to use specific links, documents, testimonials, audio/visuals and words of wisdom. We would also like to thank the many e-portfolio leaders for their online resources we have gathered, harvested and acknowledged from the world wide web.

Four months in the making!

Posted on July 18, 2011 by moocepcop

We’ve been sleuthing for e-portfolio resources, examples, words of wisdom and more!

Only two weeks to go before launch of the epcop mooc and we’re looking back over the four months it has taken to get this ready:

April – the idea for a mooc is born among the EpCoPers
May – the design team gathers to share ideas collaboratively
June – the learnspace is developed and the Ning network begins to take shape
July – registrations begin and moocers join, group and talk in the Ning Network

It has been an amazing experience – the collaboration was sensational and the support from the EpCoP practitioners invaluable – we appreciate your help!

In the final weeks of July we’ll be fine tuning the pages in the learnspace and considering our approach to facilitation and mentoring for the 50+ participants who have registered so far.

Already the conversations have begun in the Ning network forums (the walled garden) where participants can discuss their missions and quests from the seven levels of learning about e-portfolios in the learnspace. The learning links continue to grow as more ideas spring out of the early conversations – perhaps we need to stop ‘tinkering’ with the learning materials once the mooc begins, OR DO WE?

What we have learned along the way (as a design team) has been an amazingly generous response to requests for words of wisdom, links to useful resources and for webinar presenters. If you want to contribute either of these please contact the team via email! We are particularly keen to obtain volunteer presenters for the eight weeks of the course.

First webinar Introduction to the EpcoP MOOC is scheduled for July 27 at 8 pm, and we are considering repeating that one for August 2nd at 11 am to suit a greater range of time zones.

epcop MOOC

support for VET practitioners developing a professional e-portfolio