Category: collaboration

Dave, Rachel and a Great Online Meeting Idea

Browsing Rachel Smith’s blog today I came across this terrific idea. She was building on an idea of Dave Gray (of Brainstorming fame) to help people share their current state. Sort of a project emotional barometer. I love things that help us visualize and make discussable this often “internal weather.”

Project Map | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

I can imagine putting the image up on a webmeeting white board.

John Smith introduced me to a barometer for the ongoing health of a community of practice which I really liked. What this one does is taking it a step beyond simple data collection and add the emotive element.

Small Group Creation Ideas

I believe in treating adults as adults. That doesn’t mean I, as a facilitator, cannot be inspired by techniques teachers use with children in their classrooms, right?

Here are a few inspirations from Karen Moler of FlamingoFabulous in 2nd Grade. Facilitators, be inspired! And see if any of Karen’s challenges show up for you working with adults!

Here is a tool I use in my classroom to “randomly” partner my students up for activities. I love giving students the opportunity to choose their own partners but there are always a few who just can’t work together well but insist on doing it anyway. I also pass out cards and find the match to find their partner from time to time. But sometimes you need a quick way to ensure that your students are paired up academically or according to behavior. Soooo…. I created the partner wheel.

via Flamingo Fabulous in Second Grade: More Behavior Management and Freebie!.

And more http://flamingofabulous.blogspot.com/search/label/Behavior

Usually, I have the “turn to your elbow buddy” or use the partner wheel approach to finding thinking partners, but I wanted another mode for finding good thinking partners so I made this variation of  Paula Rutherford’s Feathered Friends or Clock Buddies. Students will take their paper around the classroom and ask classmate’s to be their thinking partners for specific days. So if Johnny wanted to be partners with Sally, and they both had their Monday box available, Johnny would write Sally’s name on his paper and Sally would write Johnny’s name on her paper. It would go like this until everyone has every box filled. If it is done right, there should be no overlaps or duplicates. From then on, all I have to do is say, “Today children, I’d like you to sit with your Friday thinking partner on the carpet.”

Finding Process Ideas From Our Networks

This linked set of tweets tells the story about why we don’t have to k now all the different processes we can use in groups, in our work. (This is also a nice Twitter Story which I can point to when we are talking aboutNetworks at CSIR in Pretoria next week!)

We need to focus not on encyclopedic knowledge, but to know

1) how to learn and practice new processes,

2) how to ask the right questions to select processes (alone and with others) and,

3) to tap the wider knowledge of our networks to identify our options.

via Students self-organize their own curriculum – storify.com.

Monday Video: Art, Creative Messages and Attention

Via a Tweet from John Hagel comes the Enormous forest xylophone plays Bach’s Cantata 147 (Wired UK). A phone handset advert? Yup. But in it beauty, art and music. In our communities and networks, can we use art and music as a way to focus attention, learn and share knowledge? What ideas do you have? Post a comment!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M&feature=player_embedded

Twitter Thanks and Social Media and Public Health

Months ago I got an email from Trish at PKids, an organization devoted to childhood immunization and disease prevention, asking if I’d do a webinar in the way off future of February. Well, today was the day. Last week in preparation I realized I had to get my act together. With most of my current experience in international development and my maternal/child health days nearly 15 years old, it was time to tap my network. So before I share the slides I want to send a Twitter thankyou/shout out to all the people who provided retweets, links and information. You are the best, @eekim, @stephenjdowns,  @SusannahFox, @epatientdave , @garyschwitzer, @SocMediaRckStr, @RavennaBlog, @CAPublicHealth, @paularobeson, @eqpaho, @CDCgov and all you other social media health geeks!

Here are the slides and attached is a PDF file with the slide comments (WhyMeWhyOnlinePKIDSFinalwnotes) which capture the basic narrative of the presentation. If you register on the PKIDS site, you can also access the recording of the webinar.

Why me? Why Online? Social Media and Public Health

View more presentations from Nancy White.

via Why me? Why Online? Social Media and Public Health.