Reflections and Recollections on our Mini-conference event.

I’ve been delayed in writing up an evaluation of our Facilitating Online 2010 Mini-conference event.  Now that the pressure of each week's tasks is off and the Christmas is getting closer, it's been hard to prioritise getting back to this blog to finish the last assignment of the course.

I teamed up with Jillian Clarke  to organise a mini-conference event.


Jillian lives in my region, works for the same organisation and has a work interest in communities of practice like me, it was a natural step to link up and collaborate with our mini-conference event. During the FO2010 course, we had several really interested conversations and exchanges, and in these the germ of the idea for our mini-conference was found.

The title of our event  was Driving Change: Introducing a virtual education and training portal into a large government organisation - the opportunities and challenges.

What went well, and what did not go so well.

Overall I think the event went pretty well. It was generally very professionally organised and most importantly it worked as an engaging learning opportunity. We mastered the technology and kept the gremlins at bay. We demonstrated to ourselves that we can work in a team to organise and facilitate an online learning event.  We have come out of this FO2010 course feeling confident in our abilities and with the host of new skills and knowledge to apply this in our work in the future.

Organising and facilitating the event as a duo was a more meaningful learning experience for me because this how I want to organise events in my work. 

Given the need to have a backup plan for everything, I can see real advantages of organising online events in my organisational context in a duo, just in case a server goes down at one site or a person is sick. After all the effort of setting up a synchronistic event, managing the risk that a sole presenter could be sick or have ITC issue, seems like a good practice.

How the event was organised and promoted

Jillian and myself had a lot of delay agreeing on the title and the description for the event. This harmed our efforts to promote the event. 

In organising the event we used Google Docs  and Skype to record our collaborative decisions and share ideas both synchronistically and a synchronistically.


We used the word processor in oogle Docs to make up a table listing responsibilities in sequential order and allocated who was primarily responsible and who was the back-up, and when the task was completed.


Jillian had some unexplained problems with using Google Docs and this slowed down our work.

We had a very useful practice session with our presenter Kayleen Gordon in Elluminate web conferencing platform on the Sunday before the session. This was essential for sorting out some problems that would have otherwise crippled the session.

For both Jillian and myself, both work and homelife combined to make the week leading upto tour mini-conferencing event a week form hell. This impacted on our ability to get on top of our event. Giving adequate attention to the event publicity, was a problem. So it goes. We could have done this better.

When the event started, I could see that of the group attending our event, most were familiar through FO2010  that all but one of the attendants were familiar with the Elluminate environment. Jillian had helped a newby colleague of hers, and provided one on one guidance to her before and during the during the session to nurture her in the use of the Elluminate web conferencing tool.

I think the  topic was relevant to the course and will help courses participants and ourselves put our newly skills and knowledge into practice, whatever their sector or organisation.

I was pleased we attracted seven punters to our event. We were limited in the times that we could organise the event for a range of reasons, and our choice of time, may have limited some attending the event live. So it goes.


We promoted our event with Twitter using the #FO2010 hashtag and via the Facilitating online Google email list group. These linked back to info in the course’s wiki. It was also promoted on Jillian's blog. I did not repeat the publicity on my blog as this seemed excessive.  

On the day, the event went very smoothly so we did not have any unchosen disruptions. I was keen to make the event interactive, so with the agreement of the presenter I encouraged participants to use the chat to ask questions and make comments. I think this worked well. We had a very good discussion at the end.

We made a minimal number of introductions at the start of the session as this saved time.  This seemed appropriate given all but one of the participants had been interacting extensively though the life of the course.


I was pleased with my summary I gave at the end of the session. I  used a mind map to make notes of the presentation. I managed to cover the presentation by Kayleen Gordon and many of the themes in the discussion and question session a the end. Our timing was good. We ran to time and I think we discussed the topic for correct amount of time-not to short and not to long. 


Many issues and learnings came up in the discussion session because of the the sharing of the participants. I at one stage, stepped out of my facilitator's role and gave a comment based on my own perspective. However, I made it clear that , this was what I was doing and then stepped backed into the facilitator role.


The discussion went off the set topic of "opportunities and challenges" but I felt really comfortable about this. I think we adapted to the learning needs and interests of the session's participants. 


We kept to time and a had a good ending.


We had some good feedback on our event which we asked people top post on Jillian's Blog. 


We only got a few comments but we value them highly. The feedback comments above have informed some of this reflection.


My follow-up of the event has been pretty weak again because of work and home issues. The arrival of new baby in my extended family has been a priority. 


There was a mix up in the url link to the recording of the session and no one noticed this for several weeks until I came to listen to the session in preparation for writing this.
In the future as I try to introduce web based conferencing into my workplace,  I'm going to need to put a lot more effort into:

• Guiding and supporting people with the ITC.
• More effort in marketing and getting a large attendance.
• More effort in introductions in order to create relationships. 
• More effort in evaluation.

 I going to follow some advice Tweeted  from Gov 2.0 expert Craig Tomler, which was to "Think Big, Start Small and Fail fast." It makes sense.


My main gaol is to consolidate my skills and learnings from Facilitating Online 2010 course lead by Sarah Stewart and to explore using the new Web 2,0 tools to find better ways of promoting heath.

In concluding, I would like to say that I found this the whole Facilitating Online 2010 course a kick ass learning experience. Thanks to everyone who shared and asked questions throughout this course.


I would particularly like to thank Jillian Clarke my co-facilitator at this mini-conference event and Kayleen Gordon, our most capable presenter.


I also would like to thank Claire Thompson with whom I co-facilitated one of the earlier course sessions.  It didn't go as well as this mini-conference event but it worked OK.  I sure learnt at lot with Claire.
If you want to watch the recording of our mini-conference event the correct link can be found here. 

What is online facilitation?

We were asked to summarise your learning so far in our blog.

This a bit late. I’ve had a hard time getting to this task with kids parties and political parties in our general election. We had a great result for my team, The Greens.

The most important learning for me so far has been that I have a clearer idea of what I need to learn and how to go about that learning.

What is online facilitation?

I’ve been into facilitation for a long time. I wrote a book back the early 1990s that had chapter on facilitation of meetings. Well before that I was doing workshops on meeting skills built around facilitation. I was also doing workshops on concepts of networking and net weaving way back in 1988.

My very first experiences of virtual facilitation was using a “bridge” to hold a teleconferences back in 1985 with people who where interested in forming a national Greens party. This was well before telephone companies offered this service. You needed to go to someone who had an expensive hi-tech device called a “bridge” that linked all the individual calls together.. We were lucky that a technology steward at one of the local universities pointed us towards this technology. I remember the bills for a hook up in of people in six capital cities were comparable to one airfare to Sydney from Brisbane.

Now going on teleconference is often a mundane experience. One to be endured. But I do recall the feelings of the new teleconference bridge. I recall the thrill of the new possibilities from a new technology. I feel that thrill about the Web 2.0 again.

I first started online facilitation in the early days of email. I participated and played a leading role in a swarm of public and a private email groups that debated the best way to form a national Greens Party in Australia.

We joke we got a black belt in cat herding from what we learned from that process.

Curiously, I have not used a lot of online facilitation skills, other than in teleconferences since I started working for Queensland Health.

So I guess I’ve done a lot of online facilitation and found and developed theories and concepts to help myself along.

I seem to have a wider conception of what online facilitation is than most in this course. Also seem to I want to put online facilitation of communities to a wider and more ambitious range of uses than most.

Some of my learning I will use in my professional life and others in my activist and volunteer in NGOs life.

Some of the things that I’m exploring with online facilitation include:

* Promoting social connection (social capital) between people in a geographical community
* Improving community governance and create more effective and responsive services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other newly emerged ethnic communities.
* A self help online community for carers and people experiencing chronic illness.
* Communities of Practice.
* Organising F2F events with social media for families of small children.
* Online advocacy campaigns using viral methods.
* Selling health promotions products, ideas or marketing health related behaviour change.
* Use of social media in planning, consultation and even research.
* Using social media o project development and management.

What skills do you need as an online facilitator?
You need a wide range of skills.
* Generic facilitation skills
* Keep learning
* Play.
* Adapt previous skill and knowledge.
* Understand the tools and help others with them
* Barriers facilitators and risks.
* The ability to plan an coherent session.

My mindmap set out long list of related skill that come in handy in online facilitation.

How does a facilitator build an online community or network?

You need to have suitable purpose/problem in mind. Online tools need to be appropriate to this.

You need to pick the right online tools for the purpose and context. This might mean not using the best but the best fit with the community.

You need enough people for the online community to reach a critical mass. There is no magic number but you do need readiness to use the online tools and to work on the focus problem. You will need a core group of champions.

You will need to be persistence and responsive. You need to Do it and keep doing it. If you strategies need to change, Recognise they need to change.

You need ask questions and listen. Social media is about two communication. Prepared to invest time and effort in doing this.

* You need to acknowledge people for their contribution.
* You need to keep people on topic. The topic might take its own course but as facilitator you need to wisely influence the process so that it get the results that are wanted/needed. (Needed by whom? Wanted by whom?)
* You need to summarise previous discussions and decisions and test for agreement about the main points to at least allow others to give their versions..
* You need to establish social norms via rules and customs and you need to police them. Light policing is probably better than nuclear options.
* You need to model a respectful tone and the norms and skills people need to participate in an effective online community..
* It helps to throw in interesting things into an online discussion and ask for comment.
* You need to be interactive not a broadcaster.
* It is important to use the old publicity skills. Call people, send emails ect, put up posters. What does it take to let people know and to get them interested?


What are the key things to remember when facilitating an event, meeting or education course, especially when working with people who are new to online technology?

* Remember and be prepared it can all turn to Custard.
* Attempt to understand the risks.
* Use the facilitators to over the barriers.
* Explain and help people over the barriers. Screenr is a good tool for this.
* It takes practice to master the tools.
* F2F skills and know need to be modified.

What is the difference between teaching and facilitation?
Teaching and facilitation are just words- contested words.

There is a lot ferment and research and theorising about what good educational practice means in a new online world.

Online tools create new pedagogical possibilities. Teaching is not what it was when I studies teaching at the ends of 1970s.

It is more participatory and learning is co-constructed, and situated. Learning is also becoming more flexible.

I feel it’s a case of change or become irrelevant. Consumer expectations have changed and we need to adapt our methods. The teacher as the expert has been undermined by move to technology. Learning has become more interactive, more responsive, and punters have many more choices.

Learners have needs and are demanding new methods. Web 2.0 has precipitated a powershift between teachers/schools and the consumers of their services.

I really enjoyed this wiki on new understanding about e-learning: http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wikis/etl/index.php/What_we_know_about_learning

What is netiquette?

Netiquette is etiquette in the online world.

Like F2F etiquette, netiquette is a constant flux and is culturally constructed.

Netiquette has the same purpose as F2F etiquette. It si about putting people
at ease. When people are at ease they can learn and perform better. They can also enjoy more.

Netiquette like etiquette consists of rules and customs and social norms so people can cooperate achieve social goods they value.

Netiquette also arrises out the technical issues surrounding online tools.

One of the reasons you don’t hit reply all button to some emails is that it can bring down the email system.

Poor netiquette can waste peoples time, and hog shared resources. Sending big files as attachments can clog up someone system.

There is also tendency to be crueller online than people are face to face. I think this might be related to the perceived lack of consequences There is a greater social distance and reduced empathy.

The lack of social cues can mean people take offence when none was intended.

Risks, Barriers, Facilitators & the way forward to Online Communities

This is a Mindmap that I made up reflecting my understanding of some the Risks, Barriers, Facilitators that I might be facing.

It also Mindmaps other considerations such a return on investment (ROI), project management and adapting a host of F2F skills to the new online world we find ourselves in.

You might need to save the image and open on image software on your computer to view all the detail.

What will this course mean for my future work practices?

This weeks learning task:

Make a plan for what you want to learn and explore, and write it up (or present in another way eg mindmap, video recording) on your blog.

In my recent blog entry I didn’t really, go into detail about what I want to learn in FO2010 and beyond. It was the big picture view.

This post is much more specific.

I’ve kinda been conducting my own Training Needs Analysis.

Part of this has been a stocktake of my own pre-existing skills relevant to the task of mastering Health Promotion 2.0.

I think my personal tool bag is pretty good.

I work as a Health Promotion Officer and I’ve had that job title over 13 years.
Before that mainly worked in NGOs and had fabulous opportunities to learn new skills, many of which I still draw up heavily.

Before 13 years there does not seem to be have been many people in the world who had a job title of Mental Health Promotion Officer. Such is modern life.

My work is in a specialist area of health promotion. Many people have no idea or wrong ideas what Health Promotion is. Health education is a small part of health promotion work. I am not involved in publicity for health services in ant meaningful sense.

A foundational document in health promotion is the Ottawa Charter from the World Health Organisation. I read it years before I was ever involved in health promotion at it stuck with me as a great document.

It reads very well. Few professional groups have such an inspiring and insightful document as a foundation.

My professional association, the Australian Health Promotion Australia LINK is conducted a long process to produce a statement of the core competencies of my profession.

Other bodies in various states and some international organization have also been producing lists of competencies. Notable is the Galway Conference Declaration

What strikes me about the all these lists, is that they will all need an extensive rework because of Web 2.0. I suspect this is the same for the competencies for many other professions.

The Health Promotion Australia Competency List in summary are:

The major competencies required include:
1. Program planning, implementation and evaluation competencies
1.1 Needs (or situational) assessment competencies
1.2 Program planning competencies
1.3 Competencies for planning evidenced-based strategies
1.4 Evaluation and research competencies

2. Partnership building competencies

3. Communication and report writing competencies

4. Technology competencies

5. Knowledge competencies

What strikes me is that new collaborative Web 2.0 technologies are changing our work very fast. The above competencies list will be out of date in few years.

The core technology competencies are pretty basic.

It says:
An entry level health promotion practitioner is able to:
4.1 operate a computer, word processing and email systems;
4.2 use software for footnotes, endnotes, and other report layout requirements;
4.3 manage database and spreadsheet applications;
4.4 use the internet as a work tool;
4.5 use technology based systems to identify and review the literature; and
4.6 operate audiovisual and multimedia equipment

As for the Galway Conference List, I like it much more.

It reads:

The competencies required to engage in health promotion practice fall into eight
domains:

1. Catalyzing change – Enabling change and empowering individuals and communities to improve their health.

2. Leadership – Providing strategic direction and opportunities for participation in developing healthy public policy, mobilizing and managing resources for health promotion, and building capacity.

3. Assessment – Conducting assessment of needs and assets in communities and systems that leads to the identification and analysis of the behavioral, cultural, social, environmental and organizational determinants that promote or compromise health.

4. Planning – Developing measurable goals and objectives in response to assessment of needs and assets, and identifying strategies that are based on knowledge derived from theory, evidence, and practice.

5. Implementation – Carrying out effective and efficient, culturally-sensitive, and ethical strategies to ensure the greatest possible improvements in health, including management of human and material resources.

6. Evaluation – Determining the reach, effectiveness, and impact of health promotion programs and policies. This includes utilizing appropriate evaluation and research methods to support program improvements, sustainability, and dissemination.

7. Advocacy – Advocating with and on behalf of individuals and communities to improve their health and well-being and building their capacity for undertaking actions that can both improve health and strengthen community assets.

8. Partnerships – Working collaboratively across disciplines, sectors, and partners to enhance the impact and sustainability of health promotion programs and policies.

It takes a bit of thinking about to work out what all this means for Health Promotion 2.0.

I can see real power in social network media tools to do all these things. But which tools, and how to use them to what ends.


My head is full of questions about what is the potential and now every use of the Web 2.0 as a work tool in Health Promotion.

Robyn Kalda from Canada has put up a powerpoint on this topic in past few weeks that covers some of the things I want to learn.

Innovative Use of Information Technology for Health Promotion:
Making your Work more Effective, Easier and Possibly Even More Fun

She is linked with the Health Promotion Clearinghouse is one of the best examples of how Web 2.0 might be used.

There is also the empty web site healthpromotion2.org/

I think this clearinghouse are seeing what can be done but not quite yet pulling it off. Bring along your partners to be able to use Web 2.0 seems to be a key challenge.

It takes time to learn these new tools and imagination is a barrier.

I remember when everybody was pretty pleased with the IMB Electric Typewritter then along came this thing call the dedicated word processor in the early 1970s.

With a word processing machine the stored text could be edited. Editing functions was basic including Insert, Delete, Skip (character, line), and so on.

Someone once trained me how to use them just as they were all sent to the dump and replaced by PC based word-processing software.

The labor and cost savings of word processing machines over typing were immediate, and remarkable.

The typing pools were disrupted to say the least. Pages of typing no longer had to be retyped to correct the most basic errors. Projects could be retrieved and worked on or modified.

Next came a wave of change - PC based spreadsheets, databases and then desktop publishing.

With these tools my productively leaped.

The next wave was email and then the World Wide Web.

I've found the internet pretty boring since the arrival of Web 1.0.

While I was involved in spreading email and the www to others, generally I could not have been much bothered with most new internet based technology

But I now find this web 2.0 stuff is really exciting.

As exciting as spreadsheets, databases and then desktop publishing, emails and web pages.

I predict that this Web 2.0 stuff feels like its going to change the way we do things.

Part of the problem is going to be bring along my peers, partners and stakeholders sooner rather than latter.

The Blogging are you serious attitude

I love this post on the blog The Bamboo Project because I feel that blogging in mental health promotion is not seen as respectable.

From http://www.michelemmartin.com/thebambooprojectblog/2010/07/how-to-blog-when-your-industry-or-occupation-isnt-into-it.html

A search of http://technorati.com found 4 blogs that mentioned “health promotion” although many many blogs mention health promotion topics.

My weekly Google Alerts on ‘mental health promotion” gives me a few blog hits every week.

Last week I stumbled upon a health promotion wiki

http://technologyinprevention.wikispaces.com/

I’m still working my way into it but it may be useful to many in this course.

I also found last week a mental health promotion blog Using technology to improve youth mental health http://techmentalhealth.blogspot.com/ which part of Phd study.

I guess I'm saying that one of the learning needs is strategies to draw others into these news methods. Some of this will involve helping them over come barriers and punch in their facilitators.

Now a blogger-Barriers & facilitators

Been pushed through some barriers to finally become a blogger by my desire to do a online course on facilitating communities http://wikieducator.org/Facilitating_Online

Gets me thinking about what have been the barriers and facilitators.

Barriers.

• Time required to get familiar with new software and how and what to use it for.
• Fear of unknown risks – particularly in a work context.
• Our IT Department – Seems to put up barriers.

Facilitators:

* This course.
* A favorable reception to project ideas from work using social media and web 2.0 to advance health promotion.
* Good outcome of dabbling with Facebook for work purposes.
* Reading about Web 2.0 revolution.
* Previous experience with achieving amazing stuff pioneering the use of Desttop publishing, then email and latter WWW back a few decades.
* A very basic organisational policy on use of communications tools that gives a green light to use of things like Facebook and other Web 2.0 .
* Clear organizational expectations that we can chart our own professional development and control of a budget to do it.
*My excitement about what could be achieved –Brighter futures wise. (An instant blog name.)


Facilitators overcome barriers and action.

Guess I need to post a short bio and picture.