It will make it easier for us all to find the pitches in one place.

Got my invite from Google this morning to try Wave.

I shall report next week on how it’s going.  Working with three colleagues in the US on a project to catalog innovative practices of higher education e-learning consortia.

d.

Hello everyone.  Great work by the module teams for Mods 4, 5, 6 and 7. Very engaging activities and a whole new perspective for most of us on the module themes. Excellent media resources and links have been provided for further use and study by the teams.  Thanks Mods 4-7 teams.

Bring it on Mods 8-11 teams!

—

We are now at the halfway point in module team activities.  As instructors, we’re beginning to look at participation levels in the activities from all members of the class.  We realize that there is a lot to do in ETEC 522 and some of you may be taking multiple courses.  However, you may be getting a reminder note in your email from us with respect to participation, and the requirement for such in the overall scheme for the course.  In most cases, you will not receive an email from us because you have been active in most or all modules.

We’re now heading into the home stretch with a few module teams yet to provide us with an activity for their module theme.  Most of you will also be focused on your Assignment 3 pitch.  Please let us know if there is any advice we can provide as we head towards the venture forum, Module 12.

Following up on the OSS Module activity by Group 6, I wanted to note that OpenOffice has posted its version 3.2beta today.

Apparently this version corrects many of the formatting issues with document interoperability that have been the barrier to entry for many, including me.

The blog post about the OO 3.2beta is here:

OpenOffice 3.2beta

I’m currently downloading this version to see whether it addresses my issues.  I would love to walk the “open” talk completely, but document formatting is an issue.  Let’s hope it’s good news.

Hello everyone.

Two of the students that have dropped out from the ETEC 522 course were tagged as members of the Module 10 team on Informal Learning Environments.

In the interest of balancing out our module teams, we’re asking whether anyone from a team of 6 or 5 members would be willing to audition for Mod 10?  If so, please let one of the Davids know via email, or comment here.

d.

Just wanted to write a short post to congratulate the fledgling EVAs of ETEC 522 2009.

Well done. Lots of evaluations (tables and prose) and comments on EVA findings. Thanks also for the useful resources that have been posted to support extensions to the content for Module 2.

d.

By now, everyone has had a chance to introduce her/himself to the ETEC 522 class. You may also have made a few posts or comments based upon the module materials for week 2.

So, we thought this would be a good time to insert a reminder about our expectations for overall participation in the course through your thoughtful posts and constructive commentary.

The rubric for course participation outlines the criteria we use for evaluating online participation.

Our expectation is that you will post at least once per week as well as offer comments on posts made by other students or the course instructors.

We believe the evaluation rubric for participation is clear. Please let us know if it needs further clarification or refinement.

d.

The two linked resources below come from TechCrunch.

The first is about enthusiasm and its importance as an element of a product or service pitch. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the poster child for this resource.

The second is a recipe of sorts that you may wish to consider as you begin to assemble your own pitch for assignment 3 in this course.

This week you have been critiquing pitches, a task that I suspect that you will find more straightforward than crafting your own. It requires a great idea, organizational agility and presentation talent to build and deliver a compelling pitch. Do you have the right stuff?

d.

Here are the teams for Modules 4-11.

We looked at the special requests posts/comments in the blog, as well as those that came to the two Davids via email. Everyone who requested a preference got their first choice. The teams are now set.

MODULE TEAMS:

Module 04: Noah Burdett, Tony Di Palma, Barbara Mair, Ed Stuerle, Erik Van Dusen, Cari Wilson (6)

Module 05: Ammar Al-Attiyat, Iris Chan, Amy Frank, Cindy Leach, Leonard Pelletier, Lorne Upton (6)

Module 06: Barry Carter, Byron Kask, Elizabeth Hood, Greg Lewis, Annette Smith, Eveline Yu (6)

Module 07: Kathleen Cavanagh, Cathy Jung, Mervyn LaBrash, Robert Powell, Erica Toombs (5)

Module 08: Ian Doktor, Sean McMinn, Ernest Pao, Jennie Wong (4)

Module 09: Jay Dixon, Sharon Hann, Jeffrey Laird, Omar Ramroop, Adam Rattray (5)

Module 10: Marjorie Del Mundo, Stuart Edgar, Ashley Jones, Beverley Knutson-Shaw (4)

Module 11: Michel Lacoursiere, Dawinder Mann, Mark Reed, James Richardson, Cecilia Tagliapietra (5)

Additional instructions will be coming along shortly via email to connect you with your team members.

You may wish to get acquainted with your topic and team members in the interim before kickoff on October 5.

When your group convenes to achieve its focus and activities for the class, we suggest that you each take on a specific role on the team (whether these roles are exposed to the full class or not) that you can then use as a framework for the self-evaluation that we’re expecting — outlined in the grading rubric and course requirements for Assignment 2.

d.