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.

Well it looks like everyone is finding the place to post entries to the ETEC 522 course blog. That’s excellent.

There are a few more students still to come and I expect we’ll see their introductory posts shortly.

A few reminders:

Last call for module group preferences. Let us know if you have a preference for a working group for Modules 4 -11. On Friday evening (Pacific Daylight Time), I’ll post a list of module groups based on preferences we’ve received, with the remaining students grouped to balance team sizes, etc.

Please also remember to think about Categories and Tags as you create your posts. Getting into that pattern now will help us all to find specific posts for review using the tag cloud and search tool downstream. You can also go back in and edit your posts to add tags or specify categories.

Also consider whether a “feed reader” (RSS aggregator) will suit you as a means for quickly reading and scanning posts. I wrote a short blog entry outlining the potential, and…

You can find other announcements from your instructors in the Announcements category in the right-side column.

Keep us posted on any questions you have, and especially ones that might be helpful to all. We can put those questions and answers in the Q/A category.

One of the ways to track this blog, its posts and comments and have them delivered to you, rather you have to go and find them, is to use the RSS (really simple syndication) links for our entries (posts) and comments.

You’ll see the RSS links at the top of the left-side column of the ETEC522 blog.

A web-based RSS reader like Google Reader, or a dedicated software tool like NetNewsWire (Mac) or FeedDemon (PC) can be used to keep all the entries (posts) and comments coming to you automatically.

The YouTube video below explains the concept…

If you would like to suggest other RSS readers, please add them to the comments section below.

~d

Hi all. Welcome to ETEC 522.

We’re about to begin a shared journey over the next 14 weeks. So, let’s use this place for introductions and getting started.

I’m David Porter (davidp), a co-instructor for this course. You can reach me by email at –> dporter at bccampus dot ca.

Please add your own introduction. Include any web sites or bio info that you like. Add a photo.

Tell us your interest and/or experience with the theme of this course, and expectations you have for it. We’re really looking forward to navigating the venture terrain with you.

As a convention for posts in this module, please use these tags, separated with commas, in your posts:

introductions, M1, your last name.

You’ll begin to see our tag cloud in the right-side column for this course begin to grow and segment as we add posts and additional tags.

—

Below is an overview diagram for the course blog that is a quick reference to its features.

If you have any questions, please write a post and use the Questions & Answers category label for your post.

You’ll see additional instructions for using the course blog on the left column, under Pages.

Please jump in.

d.