I am very impressed with the design and thinking that lay behind this video. I think it’s a great example of using social media to present a story that pushes people to rethink very complex social problems related to power, culture and gender that affects people around the world. The potential for viewers to contribute through financial donations or other forms of contributions is significantly increased after viewing the video. It’s a powerful example of using social media (pictures & text) to communicate effectively and simply to mass audiences. The Girl Effect web site tells and even more detailed story of the changes that can be achieved if resources where put in the hands of girls rather than men.

Brent Education, Presentation, politics girl_effect, poverty, socialmedia

I had a meeting with Marco Campana, Online Capacity Development Coordinator with OCASI (Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants) a few days ago. I initially met Marco at the Maytree Foundation’s 5 Good Ideas – lunch and learn series. He and his colleague Christopher were speaking about using social media with non profit organizations, a subject that I am extremely passionate about and that has become my new vocation. Marco is assisting many groups across the GTA use social media in their services and his Settlement.org site is a great example of what can be accomplished with these simple and inexpensive (mostly free) tools.

We had a great discussion and Marco helped me immeasurably by letting me know about the Net Tuesday group that meets monthly and discusses common interests and issues related to using social media in non profit organizations. I look forward to continued sharing, learning, refering and collaborating with Marco. I made a brief video that talks about my meeting and also gives me a chance to test out my new Kodack Zi6 camcorder.

Brent Learning Community, Services, portfolio networking socialmedia

CCK08 – Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Course. This post comes from Teach Web 2.0 blog and its really the “homework” completed by one of the online participants. I joined this course a few months back but with my work load and other priorities I just couldn’t give it the energy and attention to get much out of the course. I did follow the newsletter and the writings however and they helped my understand connectivism and connective knowledge. I like this video a lot as it gives like so many of the Common Craft videos a clear understanding of new tools and in this case new understanding of network learning.

As a grand finale for the Connectivism course, George asked participants to respond to the following questions:

Questions 2 and 4 are addressed in the video below. The presented scenario is definitely not a complete picture of connectivism. I think it’s a good start for a k12 classroom. I view the work with my students as networked learning incubation.

Brent Education, Learning Community, Research, purpose connectivism network cck08

An article from Times Higher Education discusses the digital divide within higher education. One of my goals is to provide training and support for students and faculty in learning how to effectively use social media tools for work and learning. This article resonates with my new career aspirations very closely. The article introduces a new term for me – “transliteracy” This term points to the ability to use a variety of skills to interact with everyday life and a person’s capacity to contribute to society (or conversely to be excluded from society). Read more…

Brent Education, Learning Community divide e-literacy

This slideshow, with only seven slides, comes from Nancy White (Full Circle Associates) who is attending and a leader in the Corporate Learning Trends & Innovation 2008 online conference. The slides do an excellent job of capturing and showcasing what online and network learning is about. There are some excellent links to the other massive online course called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge hosted by Canada’s own, Stephen Downes and George Siemens.

Brent Learning Community, Presentation, Services Learning Community, nancywhite, onlinelearning

A colleague with an International NGO organization asked me if I had suggestions for using video along with a a web authoring tool in her work with K-12 youth. The audience is pre-high school and grades 9 – 12 students and staff, mainly in Canada but with potential for international use.

Barring constraints within the the different school boards she is involved with, my first choice is the Ning Networks. I’ve recently been involved with 3 online learning experiences involving hundreds of people around the world using the Ning Network and I’m very impressed how well this tool works.

For educators, I’ve being told that advertisements will be removed and that their support is excellent. Ning allows you to upload video from YouTube etc.; share photos and slide shows, create discussions forums and groups, add widgets to increase overall site functions and much more. You can see all the features on their web site.

I’m including a link to Jeff Utecht’s Ning Network that connects to the Learning 2.008 Conference held in Shangai. I think she will see the potential applications by browsing this site. I recommended that the best way to learn about the features is to set up a Ning Network for practice (who knows, you may decide to launch it).

I stumbled across Sir Ken Robinson’s talk at TED a few years ago and I thought it timely to include in this post as well. His 15 minute presentation is titled “Do Schools Today Kill Creativity”. It’s a must see for those in the edu sector.

Brent Education, Services globaled, Learning Community, ning

I had a very insightful and exciting time this morning in my new online course titled Corporate Learning Trends & Innovations 2008. This is a free course that covers a lot of social media ground and led by notables in the online learning field. It’s not too late to join the course and take part in the Elluminate sessions. The slideshare is from Jane Hart, Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies and one of the course leaders. I’ll link more to this learning experience throughout the week and make available the resources covered in the course.

Brent Business, Education, purpose course, Learning Community, tools

A few days ago I discovered the UK Online Centres and the incredible work that is been accomplished in Britain to address digital and social inclusion. I went looking for Canada’s strategy in this regard and have found evidence of some progress. I’ll be posting regularly on this subject as I believe the government’s leadership in delivering accessible ICT opportunities for all citizens is critical in a world reliant on digital literacy. My hope is that with leadership coming from the government (like Britain), the non profit and educational sectors will understand the cultural changes occurring and be more open (responsive) to using social media tools as an integral aspect to working with their communities. Social media tools are effective mechanisms for building inclusiveness in society. It’s not about the tools though! It’s about including people in a networked world so they are not left out or kept out of our communities and economy.

Below is an excerpt from IT Business Canada that gives an overview of Canada’s work in adopting social media and web 2.0 tools.

The Federal government’s decision to create a comprehensive system for future online collaboration and social networking projects is growing proof that Canada acknowledges the explosive potential of Web 2.0, industry experts say.

“This definitely signals a long term commitment on the part of the government to move forward on Web 2.0,” according to Michelle Warren, analyst for Info-Tech Research Group based in London, Ont.

She said governments are usually cautious in adopting new technology, and Canada hasn’t been an exception.

The term Web 2.0 is used to refer to online collaboration and user-generated content and the tools that enable these – such as blogs and wikis. Government 2.0 refers to the application of these tools by government agencies. Read the full article……

picture from Digital Inclusion & Enterprise Program

Brent Business, politics, purpose government, inclusion, web2.0

Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event

Michele Martin, along with Tony Karrer and Harold Jarche facilitated the Work Literacy experience. This post comes from Michele. I’m very pleased to have been part of the course and these comments by Michele are so helpful in my work with local groups in my area (Greater Toronto Area). I’m going to put together a Ning community especially after reading your endorsement of this software Michele. Being part of this work helped me see what could work in my community so the course is definitely a valuable building block for me.

The Work Literacy online learning event is over and Harold Jarche has posted some of what he learned from our facilitation of the course. Time for me to share some of my thoughts. . Read Michele’s full post here.. it’s well worth it especially for those interested in community organizing using online tools.

Brent Learning Community, Services Learning Community, ning

Jane Hart has a marvelous consultancy called Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies. She has great ideas for showcasing social media tools and I will surely pick over them carefully. Her Slideshare below is one of the organizational issues in my area and how social media can address those issues.

Brent Presentation, Services slideshare, socialmedia