Assignment One

Am feeling very smug - submitted my first assignment a day early (electronically of course)!

Where I am at.......................

After reading and reflecting on most of topic 2 resources, I have scrolled forward to the next topic where resources are available - topic 8.
I reviewed Philip Bournes powerpoint slides on "Thoughts on the future of scientific dissemination" which was presented at the Australian e-research conference in June this year.
I think he accurately describes the current world where students are more e-ready than most of their lecturers with technologies such as streaming, podcasts, blogs, wikis etc. I must admit that I still get overwhelmed, but doing this course is a great form of de-sensitzation. In coffee rooms discussions with many of my 35yr+ colleagues, there is a significant level of resistance to embracing e-learning and I think that we are still half a generation away from realising it's full potential.
Still there has to be the ground breakers in any revolution, and I would like to count myself as an e-learning groundbreaker. I was at a meeting this morning discussing the possibility of running some professional development courses for country-based health staff. I raised the idea of on-line delivery for some of the course - and I was able to provide a range of ideas such as streaming, wikis etc. Those present loved a lot of my ideas and I think they thought I was pretty "up with it" for someone in their forties (am thinking of getting a nose ring next!).
Back to the Bourne ultimatium - whoops presentation. The similarities of the processes involved in publishing a journal article and uploading a web database was clearly demonstrated. I liked Bourne's thoughts on the limitations of text only - eg doesn't capture the excitment/emotion of the work. Also most of our students don't have the lifestyle or motivation to sit down and spend a considerable amount of time reading a print article. They are mult-taskers who want to listen or watch something on their I-Pod on the bus on the way to uni, or when they are out walking etc.
I love the concept of The Protein Data Bank that Bourne describes in his presentation. It's such a wonderful example of the collaboration and sharing of ideas and knowledge that really appeals to me as an academic. I even look it up on Google Scholar! I think that a database such as this should be seen as the norm, but I think that one of the biggest challenges to the evolution of open access date bases is the reluctance on the part of many academics to keep their knowledge close and protected. This would be a quantum leap for many of the current generation.
Well I'm off for another session on the Protein Data Bank!

Some topic 2 reflections

The great thing about an on-line course such as this one, is that it gives you the flexibility to study and touch base around your other committments - and that has also proved to be one of the bad things. The last 2-3 weeks I have been flat out covering for sick colleagues, which has meant that the immediacy of that need overrode my study committments. Anyway I have managed to read through some of the resources for topic 2 and this is what I got out of it: 1. Getting my head around the jargon is still not easy. I think I understand what an 'institutional repository' is - but keep thinking of the schoolbook repository in Dallas where Lee Harvey Oswald was when he allegedly shot JFK. I need to read something 2-3 times to start feeling comfortable with all the e-techno talk. 2. When I was looking over the program for the e-research conference in Brisbane from June of this year, it was interesting to see how they 'streamed' their topics. I would have definitely been most interested in attending the Collaboration Environments - the Access and Data Management streams would not have been my 'thing'. I guess this tells me how I view the possibilities of e-research in terms of the potential to collaborate with other people from around the world. I was particularly interested in reading the abstract from Thorns and Allan on video conferencing and real life simulation - that sounded such an exciting concept. I know that Sophie, who is also doing this course, has made contact with the University of Manitoba to establish some forays into on-line collaboration with their staff and students doing dental hygiene. 3. Richard Levy's session on gateways to e-research was very informative (once I had read the PowerPoint 2-3 times to understand what a federated vs native database vs Google Scholar comparison was. It struck a chord with the approach to a simple research project that my students are currently undertaking. I think they have substituted the word 'research' with 'google'. They have needed to be guided onto other pathways of both e-research and more traditional methods. I think that Google has probably changed the way we access information permanently, but we need to see it as a tool, rather than the undisputed 'gospel'. I hope to never hear the gospel according to Google. Hope you are all finding time to keep up with the course. I have crossed off some time in semester break to google - oops - read and reflect some more.

If at first you don't succeed........

Yes, I have tried, tried again! Welcome to my new Blog - I intend to have my user name and password tattooed on my arm.
I am determined to get on top of this technology - I just wish they didn't rely on you to remember things like passwords!
After our first synchronous classroom yesterday, I felt like a greenhorn in the world of research. But as Ian stressed, the course is designed for academics at all stages of their research careers - so this may be the start of something big.
One of the best things about studying at this time in my life is that it reminds of what it is like to be a student. That way I can empathise with my own students. Our questions on assessment yesterday reminded me very much of the ones I am asked as a lecturer.
Have allocated some time this weekend (priority one over ironing) to start doing some of the reading for the second topic, so will post another blog to debrief soon.
Cathy