STOU, Jargon alert, Scorm, Reload, and Leslie Richards

Another day at STOU, the workshop I have been participating in has been valuable. Not only is the subject interesting the group of faculty members are a joy to work with. Today I will briefly mention some of the workshop jargon. Leslie Richards is doing an excellent job or exploring the material. One of the purposes of my blog is to document my sabbatical and some of the information, in the workshop today will be immediately valuable.

We saw examples of e-portfolios, we looked at a free course management system called Moogle, and also looked at a software package, Reload, that will take a well constructed web site and convert it to SCORM compatible modules for importation into a course management package. It looks pretty cool. There is some valuable information to explore.

We also looked at LearningMapR, which when it is released, will help the creation of task based courses. I especially was intrigued with the idea of 90 examples of task based exercises that could be used for inspiration. I am eagerly anticipating seeing the task examples and structures. The tool looks useful and practical.

Finally we saw an excellent resume writing set of tasks integrated into the University of Waterloo learning management system. I was very impressed with this tool and would love to adapt something similar into our advising at TVC.

Before we went to the seminar we stopped at our favorite coffee shop at STOU. I was looking at the Thai newspapers. There were a couple computer ads. HP was advertising some Compaq notebooks with the "DOS operating system." I am sure they meant Windows XP, but it was curious. A fairly well configured notebook was around a $1,000. There was also an ad for some desktop computers with Intel processors. The best configured model, with an 80gb hard disk and 512mb of memory was about $500. There were advertised as Family PC's. The computers that I see at Big C usually have 256mb of memory, which is pretty slim.

We visited Nednapa during lunch. I really like visiting the people at the counseling section. The Access database is being used, I think it is the first Access database that I have created that is really useful. We looked at creating a lookup field for disabilities. Dr Sumalee was also at the workshop today. I really like to see people that I have worked with. There is a chance I will be able to participate in another adult education graduate seminar.

It looks like my next assignment area at STOU is getting clarified. People seem to know what I am doing before I do! I think Jit is my agent! I believe I will be looking at courseware and educational design.

I got my immigration letter from STOU. We will try to go the department of Immigration tomorrow or Monday. I want to make sure that my Visa will be extended until we leave, I do not like to encounter governmental decision makers. Anyway we have the letter and will need to get my Visa extension.

This morning as we were waiting for the motorbike to take us to the dock I was looking for the snake, I am not sure I really wanted to find it. Anyway I felt some water falling on me from raindrops the tree I was under, as I looked up a squirrel ran up the tree, It was pretty cool, no snake and a squirrel. There was also a dove in the next tree, it was very fresh and pretty out because of the rain last night, a beautiful morning.

When we got to the Klong Toey pier I saw the devastated women in black, but she was wearing a new outfit, flowered pants, she was still in her same perch and very dirty. Somebody must of intervened a little to get some new clothes for her. She is so out of it, it is scary. Some people are really heartbreaking. Last night when we crossed on the boat a very inebriated man in a cowboy hat and long hair rode across. This morning he was walking to the boat to cross the river again. I am not sure if I am seeing the effect of alcohol, drugs, or mental illness, but there are some very lost people. It is a real challenge to think about photographing devastated people. Usually I do not, the photograph might be powerful, but I sort of feel like I would be stealing, maybe it is just lack of courage. I know, because of some experiences in Alaska, I do not reach out to devastated people. I am not sure what I would communicate or what I could do. I need to reflect on these experiences.