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Multiliteracies for Collaborative Learning Environments

Event Cycle 1

Getting to know one another:
setting up the mechanics of a community

Monday, Sept 12 through Sept 14, 2005

Learn about our course Moodle and other web spaces:

The course moodle is a product of collaboration among Webheads in Action. Webheads is a community of educators who have been helping each other understand multiliteracy and its applications to and impacts on our profession since 1998. The Moodle is hosted by Venny Su, a longtime Webheads collaborator from Taiwan. The Moodle is open source software and is set up on a server that Venny runs from his workplace, as he has described it in his recent article in TESL-EJ: "An Open Source Portal for Educators" http://tesl-ej.org/ej33/int.html

What you should do:

• Visit http://www.opensource.idv.tw/moodle/course/view.php?id=23 and enroll in the course Moodle.
  1. First time here? Create a new account
  2. Fill out the form. Give correct first name and surname please, and a valid email address.
  3. Submit the form, check your email, and click on the link.
  4. Enroll in the course. If you're a paid participant, find the key at Desire to Learn
• Find the forum called Pleased to Meet You and post your introduction to it. Make sure you read others' introductions and respond to any that interest you.
• Update your Profile. Upload a picture (100 pixels by 100 pixels) to your Profile. Edit your profile so that it has information about you that you would like to share with other members of the community.
• Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/multilit and enroll in the Yahoo Group for this course from last year (if you aren't a Yahoo ID and password holder, you can subscribe by sending blank email to: multilit-subscribe@yahoogroups.com).
  • Although we'll be using Moodle for most of our forum activities this year, YahooGroups are convenient for file and resource stortage. You'll have access to the files and resources stored there, and to messages sent by last year's participants. You can post on the site if you wish and also email the list by posting to multilit@yahoogroups.com
  • A Yahoo Group gives us file sharing space that any member can use, which is not available to unauthorized users in Moodle. For example, you can upload your photo to the Photos area of this list. Your photos will be reduced to 60 x 70 pixel thumbnails and will appear in a gallery on this web page (see an example of what I have in mind here)

Learn about multiliteracies:

• Obtain and start reading the course text: Selber, Stuart. (2004). Multiliteracies for a digital age. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. This is a requirement for the course this year.
• Do a Google (or any search engine) search on the term 'multiliteracies'. Find at least one article that speaks to you on the topic. Comment on that article (be sure to give its URL) in the discussion forum at our Moodle under the question "What is multiliteracy?"

Record your observations:

• Create an account at http://del.icio.us/doc/about. Visit our 'Multilit' Yahoo Group site and register your del.icio.us address under Links in the 2005 bookmarks folder that I have set up there
• Start a blog: You can keep notes on what you are learning and links you find valuable that you might want to preserve for future reference whether or not you contribute these to our threaded discussion at Desire to Learn. We can link to these blogs from Meet the participants in this portal. You should also visit our 'Multilit' Yahoo Group site and register your blog address under Links in the 2005 Blogs folder that I have set up there. Here are some blog tools that I have used:
  • Blogger at http://www.blogger.com - one of the most widely known and most reliable blog sites. I have created instructions here:
    • How to start a blog at Blogger: http://www.homestead.com/prosites-vstevens/files/efi/blogger_tutorial.htm (these instructions have been updated and I need to alter this link accordingly)
    • How to insert links and pictures in the template: http://www.homestead.com/prosites-vstevens/files/pi/computing2/blogwork/blog_template.htm
  • Buzznet at http://www.buzznet.com - this blog is intuitive to use and allows you to upload photos
  • More information
    • Barbara Dieu has created an excellent introduction to blogs here: http://members.tripod.com/the_english_dept/blog04/.
    • I am compiling what I know about blogs here: http://www.vancestevens.com/blogs.htm

Events in Event Cycle 1

• Check http://www.vancestevens.com/online_events.htm for activities at this time

©opyright 2005 by Vance Stevens