AllanADL's blog

We continue our conversation and talk about "Not School". This amazing 5 years old, multi million pound sterling a year, project sounds radical, and it is radical, but in this episode Stephen Heppell also points out that the learning outcomes of "Not School" are absolutely breathtaking. e.g. 93% of the kids on the project within 3 months of starting get some external accreditation and most have been out of the school system for 18 months to two years. This podcast is really worth a listen and "Not School" definitely supports Stephen's comment: "There is the future, the 21st Century - bang! By people, for people, with people, what a democratised century we are in"

I arrived in Dublin after flying overnight from Washington DC and was suffering from redeye, but the time with Stephen and Gavin was certainly energizing ... oh yeah the Guinness helped too. When I was podcasting with Stephen and Gavin my jetlag was completely negated by my level of engagement in hearing about this incredible experiment in learning.

When I was setting up this journey of course Educause 2005 was the centre piece of the trip. Yet the economics of around the world tickets, with multiple stop overs, made it economically possible to add places, and new people to meet, into the itinerary, as long as I was flying in the same direction. A colleague in Adelaide told me if I was going to the United Kingdom I had to meet Stephen Heppell. I did some research, sent some email and got this wonderful invitation to jump over to Dublin and say G'day. I decided I had better do some research on my host.

The first indicator to what lay ahead is the amazing fact that "Stephen Heppell" gets 19,900 hits on Google and if you navigate to the very last entry it is still the Stephen Heppell I was travelling to meet - I know this as I did it. I also read the following from the web before leaving and thought, this is just media hype. A reporter from Design Magazine reported in 1999 "When I finally spotted him, Stephen Heppell didn't look at all like I imagined. This geek of geeks, this net-head of all times, this revolutionary who is yanking the British education system out of its Victorian slumber and shaping it for the digital information age, surely it couldn't be this genial fellow before me with his whitening Father Christmas beard and Hush Puppy fashion sense".  How wrong I was, after less the 48 hours in Dublin I can confidently say that it describes Stephen to a tee. He is truly a visionary, a pioneer and a great "bloke" too :-).

For our nine years as staff in the University of the Nations in Kona Hawaii I was constantly amazed how ordinary people did extraordinary things when they had faith and vision and a deep inner conviction that they could make a difference. I "dropped in" for an overnight stay in Washington DC to see some old friends just to catch up. However I left Washington having been challenged to look at my life and again think about what I am doing. I had to ask myself "Am I doing things because of a calling and sense of destiny? Am I making every minute count? Ask yourself the same thing ... honesty and action about the answer can make a difference.

Having worked with David Boyd and sitting through some really interesting meetings requiring diplomacy I have always felt he should have been an ambassador. I have actually shared this with people before I visited Washington. It is something built into him and I cant quite put my finger on it. All I know is I believe he has been trained and chosen for such a time and job as he describes in the podcast.

In 1989 we went to Kona Hawaii for a three month course at the University of the Nations (UofN) ... but stayed for nine years . We volunteered as staff and became school leaders with the College of Communication, spending a couple of years in Texas and travelled to many nations during that time. David and Carol Boyd were our leaders. David was the Chancellor of the university in Kona and Carol was the International Dean of the College of Education. They became both mentors and very good friends. Recently both of them laid aside their roles in the university and moved to Washingon DC and started a completely new season in their lives. When I realised the way I was getting from VIrginia Beach to Dublin was through DC, I organised an overnight stopover just to see them and share old times even if for only a short while. I never intended to do podcasts while there, however after listening to them share what they were doing, I realised each of them had an amazing story to tell. They have challenged my thinking deeply and I believe these podcasts, recorded in their home, will do the same for others. Here are normal people doing extraordinary things and making a difference.

I have a confession to make. I find it somewhat curious that I am employed by one of Australia's leading research institutions and I have never been particularly excited about research. That is until I met Associate Professor Dr Jason Baker and his family and my visit to Regent University. In fact it was during the recording of the podcast attached to this blog that things really started to change.

Before I actually met Jason face to face, we have had months of online collaboration and during that time Jason has put together and submitted a Fulbright Scholarship application to come to Australia for six months to do research with me and the Centre of Learning and Professional Development. We have not heard back yet as to its success but we are hoping and believing the Baker family will be in Adelaide for 2007. The learning and teaching in both the University of Adelaide and Regent University will be much better off if this happens. How do I know? Just listen to the podcast and consider the possibilities not just for us but may it prompt those listening to think about possible research areas that could help them and their institutions.

The podcast attached to this blog was also recorded with SKYPE and Wire Tap Pro on Friday Nov 11, and I am talking again to Glen Moriarty from Regent University in Virginina Beach VA USA. Glen founded 5 loaves.net a social network for Christians and is pioneering a new concept in Learning Management based on a Social Networking model, called Scholar 360.

This exciting new concept in learning management systems is in stage one development now and will "go public" in the middle of December 2005 The website will have demonstration capability and visitors can try out the system. There is a look and feel concept image at http://www.5loaves.net/scholar360/ Glen will announce the release of the website here and redirect visitors to the correct site once the LMS is operational in December. Please bookmark the site and visit again during December.

The previous blog and podcast was my first from Virginia Beach. Jason Baker from Regent University and I began talking about Social Networks and an exciting new concept in Learning Management Systems based on a Social Networking model, called Scholar 360. The podcast is so engaging I just had to capture more from Glen Moriarty the creator and project leader. So Glen and Jason joined me from the other side of the world and we recorded a podcast this very day (Nov 11 ... at least in Australia it is ) using the wonderful social networking software SKYPE There are more details on how we did this at the end of this blog if you are interested.

On Friday Oct 21, the last day of the Educause conference, one of the most popular gathering places in the lobby of the conference centre was the computers attached to a printer. People everywhere were changing their flights out of Orlando ... Wilma was coming! At the time we were not sure exactly when this Hurricane was going to hit Orlando and most people had decided to leave Florida as soon as possible. They were printing out their boarding passes. My flight was at the end of Friday and my next stopover was Virginia Beach via Charlotte NC. My host Jason Baker another online colleague and friend whom I hadn't met face to face until now, met me at the airport. Thus began four great days with the Bakers and visits to Regent University, where Jason is an Associate Professor. In the attached podcast Jason tells us about Regent University and an excting new concept in Learning Management Systems.

Before visting Regent University we had a weekend and at the end of week two I was beginning to miss my family so the time with the Baker family was just what I needed. Saturday turned into a totally different fun day. It was a photographers dream. We went to a Cub Scout Derby. When I was told of the rules I realised that being part of this was a must. The children have to wear the cardboard cut out cars their families had made for them and run around the prescribed track. That was straight forward enough but the real fun started when they were directed to the pits. It was a hoot. In car racing terms they had to change tires, clean the windscreen and refuel - in reality the pit crew (the parents) had to take off and replace the drivers shoes, squirt whipped cream on the drivers goggles and wash it off again and finally the driver had to drink through a straw an amount of liquid. What was it like? ... well to be honest most of the parents would never get a job in the pit area of the Indianopolis 500 ... . All families had a great time, the kids went home tired but excited and it definitely was a creative community building game.

When I saw that John Moore, Shelli Fowler and Anne Moore from Virginia Tech (VT) were making a presentation at the conference I was so happy that I could meet more online friends and colleagues face to face. John, Shelli and Anne presented the third of a series of synchronous online events we called Educating the Net Generation Webinar Series and the third was titled "Faculty Development for the Net Generation". These live webinars were attended by participants from 14 universities across Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. At one point we had 230+ people online simultaneously and the series reached over 500 people. These sort of live online events, where more than one location have numbers of people in attendance, are called Multiple Venue Presentations (MVPs) and I had to develop some new ways to manage the participation and interactivity.

The podcast attached to this blog is the first time I used my new podcasting recording equipment. When I knew I was to visit the USA and be part of the excitng Educause 2005 podcasting project, I began to research how to best produce quality podcasting. This four week around the world expedition has been a journey of discovery and I know I will continue to improve in how to best plan and make educational podcasts. Please read on to see the equipment I chose to get good sound quality and in futher blogs I will continue to share what I have discovered and hope people will comment and give me further hints and of course share even better ways ... as there is always a better way.

About this podcast - I was living in Hawaii when I first developed an interest in the Internet and the amazing possibilities it allowed in education. My family and I lived there for nine years and were volunter missionaries with a very special Christian Missions Organisation called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We had run a print shop and pubishing house for years prior to our nine years in Hawaii and were training people from around the world in Print Production. The Christian Church had no trouble embracing the opportunties presented by the invention of moveable type with of course the world famous Guttenberg Bible being the first major work using this process. As I entered university to get the first of my masters degrees and undergo a complete career change at the age of 51, I couldn't help but wonder how the Church was going to embrace and use this new revolution in communication and education. Over the years I have worked at the edge of the education revolution and have been on a learning adventure. I have not worked full time as a Christian missionary for a number of years but I know my heart lives in two worlds, that of online education and that of Global Christian missions. The podcast attached to this blog was a very encouraging encounter at the conference which helped my worlds merge for a short while. I was able to take a break from the rigorous podcasting schedule to chat with Dr Reed Sneard and Randy Meredith from the well known Christian institution, Spring Arbor University. We talked about the importance of the Church using educational technology to get on with the job of missions and how the local church can better educate and train its community family.

I have been waiting three and a half years to meet Steve Gilbert face to face. Steve is President of the Teaching, Learning and Technology Group. I can't remember how I first got to know about the work of the TLT Group but my first recollection of Steve was the multiple emails we had together as he edited and fine tuned my submission to his highly moderated list serve on teaching learning and technology. In this podcast recorded as part of the Educause podcast project, Steve and I discuss a interesting and provocative project he is managing called "Dangerous Discussions Initiative - Engaging Dangerous Discussions: Heat and Light Without Flames" .... now that's a title worth thinking about!

The TLT Group list-serv has been around for a long time and goes to thousands of educators around the world. It was there my relationship with Steve began, however things really started to get interesting when the TLT Group established a Learningtimes Community and started running online synchronous events using a virtual classroom I couldn't resist joining in. Time zones are unforgiving and because these events were targeting the learning and teaching community in the USA, Aussies who live upside down and half the planet away have to do some unusual things to be part of these live events. Many a time I have rolled out of bed at the ridiculous time of 3.00am washed my face grabbed a hot drink and participated in a stimulating live event then gone back to bed. If you search the TLT archives you will many jokes about Allan in his jammies.

I know I'm going to get into trouble for this photo but it is worth the stirring Diana will give me - getting the VP of Educause in Mickey Mouse Ears may never happen again and it definitely qualifies for a memorable moment. Accompanying this blog is a great podcast with Diana, reflecting on the Educause 2005 conference and dreaming about some possibilities for next year.

I am writing this from England and I am visiting another Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Base for the weekend. Since Educause I have been to Regent University in Virgina Beach and then visited some very special friends in Washington DC and yesterday I was in Dublin Ireland and now I am on the last stopover before leaving Tuesday Nov 1 for home ... Yyyeees! I have not stopped long enough or had stable enough internet connections to post any further podcasts until now. ... I experienced my very first internet cafe in Dublin ... quite and experience. I have some excellent podcasts in production and will post them as soon as possible either before getting home or soon after.

Leaving Kona always is a emotional time for me. So many wonderful family memories. Our children virtually grew up in Hawaii and it is very special in our family heritage. I had a great time with some old friends and we ran a wonderful online learning event where we connected in real time with colleagues from Regent University in Virginia, Spring Arbor University in Michigan, University of Wisconsin Madison and Charles Sturt University NSW Australia.

I began this trip through a window of opportunity you almost could say, between two potential terrorist attacks. Well that is how they were considered by the authorities and rightly so. On the day before I was to fly, a bag of white powder was discovered left on a plane and it threw Adelaide airport into a spin with delayed flights. I flew out the next morning to Sydney at the early hour of 6.00am with a routine departure. Only hours later more white powder was discovered and the spin turned to chaos with such bad delays people actually missed international connections. Me I got out in the corridor of quiet in between. I never heard of the disruption of course until I got to Hawaii.

My connection was made smoothly in Sydney and the flight to Honolulu was great. I think this is about the 15th time I have done this but it never looses its appeal, especially returning to the islands were our family lived for nine years. As the plane approached Honolulu aiport it was close to midnight local time and I knew the graveyard stopover was upon me. What I mean is that I was destined for Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii a different island to that of Honolulu and the connecting flight was not for 6 hours after we landed. Not enough time to get a room but long enough to cause you to miss a night's sleep so there appears a community of people huddled around the airport terminal waiting for the first interisland flight the next morning. It gets even funnier when you see travellers wheeling their trolleys around this large airport looking for power outlets to recharge their laptops because the battery was flattened on the long flight across the Pacific.

G'day and greetings from Adelaide South Australia On the map it is on the bottom of Australia in the middle - sort of downunder Downunder. It is Thursday Oct 6th and in three days time I leave Adelaide for EDUCAUSE 2005 in Orlando FL. That's excting enough but this journey has become a lot more. I am travelling 27,000 miles around the world. First stop is Kona Hawaii, then Madison WI USA. Then Orlando for the conference and onto VIrginia Beach From there to Dublin Ireland and finally to London before returning to Adelaide by way of Singapore.

Welcome to my first podcast for the journey. While preparing for a presentaion I suddenly realized what is critical for online learning communities to thrive. I hope it is a "ah aha" for you too. Enjoy the podcast and tell me if I am on the right track.