Wink in a Wiki (eLearning Guild Online Forum)

Does m-learning have to involve course material?

I was just considering this question this weekend after pulling out my phone for the 6th or 7th time to look something up. Looking at the wikipedia it appears that maybe I was learning throughout the weekend.

The scope of mobile learning includes:

• Children and students using handheld computers, PDAs or handheld voting systems in a classroom or lecture room.
• Students using mobile devices in the classroom to enhance group collaboration among students and instructors using a Pocket PC.
• On the job training for someone who accesses training on a mobile device "just in time" to solve a problem or gain an update.
• Learning in museums or galleries with handheld or wearable technologies
• Learning outdoors, for example on field trips.
• The use of personal technology to support informal or lifelong learning, such as using handheld dictionaries and other devices for language learning.

So finding my way to that party, looking up a phone number, checking the movie listings, peeking in on facebook. Are those actions considered m-learning? Was looking at a blog or seeing when the next meteor shower was to occur? Maybe. Perhaps m-learning is a much smaller scope then I originally thought and can be facilitated with just small chunks of info. Something to keep a course intriguing, interesting, and a new venue for engagement.

(uh-oh is it mlearning or m-learning....lol....let's not get started)

My 2nd Wiki Was Wonderful (and successful)

So 8 short days ago I set up my second attempt at a wiki. This one was created to survey our management team instead of the traditional surveymonkey or zoomerang ones that we more often used.

This time we wanted to capture from our team those behaviours that we premote and those we permit in relation to the values of the organization. We also had a third question regarding examples of the consequences of either action. I would guess that out of 100+ management staff, only 2 had ever heard of a wiki.

To my great delight the team ate it up. Good thing is used the pbwiki. (get it, ate it up , pb- peanut butter - okay it's been a long day and I want to go home).

I started it simple with only one page. An intro at the top explaining what the wiki was for:

We wanted to try a new format (this is a wiki) to get the collective wisdom of the Management Team regarding "What are we Permitting, thus Promoting". The point of doing it this way is to add and build upon each other's ideas and reduce unnecessary duplication! A wiki is a wonderful way for us to work transparently together and embrace each other's thoughts and opinions openly. This wiki will also to help us embrace new communication tools.
Please add your comments/thoughts/edits to the questions below. There can be as many to each list as the team wishes. We have kept it all on one page for ease of use and ease of collation.

I made sure we highlighted that this was to be a collaborative effort, that we needed more transparency between one another (lots of silos here), and that this was NEW (the excitement factor).

I added 6 small instructions on how open, edit, save a page. Then at the bottom of the page were the 3 questions we wanted members to expand on.

Turned out that we had 36 unique entries for behaviours we promoting (good). 71 bullet points for behaviours we were permitting (bad). 34 examples of consequences.

We now have more detail from this wiki regarding the topic then if we ever did it with a survey. If we had sent this out in survey form and only 16 people looked at it, we would have had 16 individual responses. This method allowed members to brainstorm a little more, build on other ideas and come up with much more detail information that we can then take and use to better our whole organization.

The last step I took in introducing our members to the world of wiki was as the one page got really full (you had to scroll to see it all) I took each question/bullet points and put them on their own page. I didn't want to scare everyone off right from the beginning with 4 pages (insert scream here).

My lessons learner....look for new ways to get your teams to collaborate. Sometimes a new method is enough to generate excitement to participate. Second, KISS (keep it simple sxxxxx), my first wiki may have failed because I had so many pages set up for input on. I thought I was getting things ready for the users, but I more likely overwhelmed them.

I'll end this with some feedback I received:

"So, i think i fall under the category of unhealthy behaviours that we permit,
as i just accessed the wiki page now (better late than never?!). It is
amazing!!! Absolutely love this format and hope to see it again. It provides
great insight into what others are thinking. "

Another Wiki and this one's working!!!

So my first attempt at a wiki hasn't gone so well. It's up, beautiful, and user friendly. But hasn't had one letter added to it. Not even an comma.

So I took another crack at one today, but for a different purpose. We have a management retreat coming up shortly and there were 3 pre-retreat questions we wanted to survey our team with. I told my boss, instead of using an online survey tool (the monkey was giving me grief today) let's start up a wiki. Turn the questions into bullet point lists and see if the team will embrace the tool.

Hallelujah they did. Within 2 minutes one of our VP's had begun adding information to the site.

I've given them until June 19th to add all their ideas/edits, so I'll post an update then to let you know if it was successful or was this just one keener.

Another Plain English Video, Just in Time

"Wiki in Plain English" Yeah!!!
Just in time for a presentation I'm making this Friday to an OD Network about all these tools we already know about, Lee Lefever does it again. Just released is a simple and straight forward explanation of a wiki. His unique presentations are broadcasts over the web but use a format similar to early episodes of Southpark. No fancy animation here (fancy $million animation bad, Boo), that would clutter everything up and take away from the "make it simple for everyone" approach. Lee uses paper cutouts and moves them around as you watch to explain wikis and rss.

Keep up the great work and keep the videos coming. They are fabulous.

My Wiki as of Today

Well so far about 12 of 50 invited people have signed up for my first wiki, however no one has added and new information to the site. I set up lots of templates, suggestion pages, and ideas of where to begin, but nothing.

I can't actually add any content myself as I am unfamiliar with the subject. I just made the site look pretty.

I've decided to ask the staff liasons for these new hires if they understood the purpose of the wiki or how to edit/access it. Perhaps I need to do a face-to-face small presentation on the site. I was hoping I had presented enough detail on the opening page of what was expected.

I shall continue with updates on what happens next, however any ideas are welcome.