eXtension’s professional development opportunities are open to all
Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. This month we are
offering “30 Minute Sessions” on topics related to the collaborative work
tools such as the wiki and FAQ, and also on social network tools like
social bookmarking, blogging, and feeds. Give us 30 minutes and we’ll
teach you something useful! These sessions will be held via Breeze at
http://breeze.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join
the session 5 minutes before the starting time.
In addition, from February 12 to March 23, 2007 we’re doing a 6-week
professional development series open to anyone in Extension who is
interested in working in any of the wikis hosted by eXtension.
The goal of this six (6) week seminar series is to allow you to create a
piece of content to share in the CoP or Collaborate wiki. In reaching the
goal, you will learn about using a wiki, create an article/page in a wiki
using the various features available, which may include appropriate use of
lists, links, and graphics. Each week of the seminar series will include a
short video segment to introduce and explain the topic, and then
activities to allow the participant to practice and learn the skills
involved for the topic. Each participant is encouraged to attend “Office
Hours” weekly to ensure he/she is on track before the next week of the
series.
Plan to participate? Go to the seminar series page and add yourself to the
list before February 7. (Go to the Extension Collaborative Wiki. Click on
“Working in MediaWiki – an Article Start to Finish”). Then, the week of
February 12, at a time of your convenience, go to the Week 1 link for the
Series and jump right in! Questions? Please contact Beth Raney at
beth.raney@eXtension.org. We’re looking forward to working with you!
*On Thursday February 8 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time (2:30p CT, 1:30p MT,
12:30p PT, 9:30a HT), “30 Minute Session” Using Collaborate for
agents/educators to share your educational materials… photos, PowerPoints,
diagrams, and other media.
*On Tuesday February 13 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time (2:30p CT, 1:30p MT,
12:30p PT, 9:30a HT), a “30 Minute Session” Social Bookmarking as a
collaborative tool — how to keep your work team on the same page without
burying them in email. Participants will be exposed to several social
bookmarking tools with an emphasis on del.icio.us (for all Extension).
*On Thursday February 15 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time (2:30p CT, 1:30p MT,
12:30p PT, 9:30a HT), a “30 Minute Session” FAQ — FAQ Orientation for
agents/educators to find answers to your clients’ questions, also how
everyone can contribute to enhancing quality of the FAQ System to make it
a more valuable resource..
*On Tuesday February 20 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time (2:30p CT, 1:30p MT,
12:30p PT, 9:30a HT), a “30 Minute Session” Feeding Frenzy – an
introduction to Web syndication. Feeds are everywhere today. Even
eXtension is syndicating everything. So what are these things? How do they
work? And most importantly, how can you use them to save yourself a ton of
time. Come to the Feeding Frenzy session to learn how you can start using
feeds and change your life forever. Participants will be introduced to
Google Reader and its use for managing syndication feeds. (for all
Extension)
*On Wednesday February 28 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time (2:30p CT, 1:30p MT,
12:30p PT, 9:30a HT), a “30 Minute Session” on the CoP to public eXtension
Web site workflow. How does it all work? This session will walk a piece of
content from conception through publishing so participants can see how it
all works. This session will be less skill-based and will focus on the
basics so that CoP members and other can get a feel for the “big picture”
of how it all works. HINT: It’s not really magic.
To participate in any of the 30 Minute sessions…
1. Five minutes before the start time, go to the Breeze meeting room at
http://breeze.extension.iastate.edu/learn.
2. You will be presented with a login screen that has an “Enter as Guest”
option. Select that option and click your mouse on the “Click to Enter”
button.
3. Enter your first name, your last name, and your institution/university,
and then click the “Enter” button to join the conference.
4. To hear the audio of the workshop and participate in the Q&A portion of
the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of
Macromedia’s Breeze conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting
you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number, your
phone will automatically be called. After entering your number you will be
automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web
conference on your phone.
If you or a colleague would like to get notices about upcoming
professional development sessions offered by eXtension, go to
https://lists.extension.org/mailman/listinfo/learn and subscribe to the
“Learn” email list.
Add these to your calendar, and plan to join us on for one or more of
these sessions in February!!