participant+survey

<- Back to main workshop page
 * Do you currently maintain a blog? If so, where?
 * Do you currently use a feed reader? If so, which ones?
 * What do //you// think a PLE is?
 * This workshop has two tracks: beginner and intermediate. Intermediate is for folks who already have an active blog and understand how RSS feeds work. **Which track would you place yourself?**
 * Check any of the following that you already use //regularly//:
 * **Bookmarking:** Delicious, Diigo
 * **Writing and Publishing:** Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Zoho, Google Notebook, wikis, a blog
 * **Personal home/portal page:** iGoogle, MyYahoo, NetVibes, PagFlakes
 * **Feed readers:** GReader, Bloglines
 * **Communicating:** Twitter, Ning, IM, Skype
 * Which is more important to you? Learning to use new tools or Growing my social/professional network.


 * Which streams do they plan to attend? (J&S - see my email-- can they mix and match)

How about, as Scott suggested, asking them to set up accounts they do not have, a set for each session? I agree: I //need// them to have a Google account at least. It would be cool if they set up Diigo, but I can't expect them to (and in fact I think that would instantly and uncomfortably separate "intermediate" from "advanced"). --JS

My primary question: do we want really to require RSS use of some kind for the intermediate section or not? I assume so, and the bullets above say so, but the description below gives some wriggle room (which I've edited away for the moment). Or we could leave it in, perhaps to facilitate those who want to do beginner in the morning and intermediate in the afternoon?

Also, should we change "would be greatly enhanced" to "please complete the following steps to prepare for the workshop"?

Draft Survey

=Draft Email to participants=

Dear WCET Pre-conference Workshop Participant:

First off, thanks for signing up for this workshop. Jared, Chris and Scott are working hard to make it a meaningful and engaging day for you, and you can help by taking the time to read this email, fill in a quick survey, and doing a few things in preparation for the workshop.

Survey
It will help the session organizers immensely to have an idea of what experiences participants are bringing to the workshop. Please take 5 minutes to fill in this brief survey - it truly will help us tailor the sessions so that more people get more out of it!

[|Take the survey]

Which section should I attend?
PLEs (and the technology and approaches that attend them) are an immense topic, and we are fortunate to have 3 people co-facilitating the session. Because of this, we decided to create 2 different 'strands' or 'sections' for the workshop. The workshop will begin and end as a single group, with discussions on the importance of PLEs and their applicability to contemporary teaching and learning. But the actual hands-on portions will be split into two different sections. You can see the full program at http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/PLE+workshop

Section 1 - Introduction to PLEs
This section will primarily focus on creating a personal learning network through the effective reading and writing of weblogs. Participants who do not currently write a weblog, or who do not currently have their own network of weblogs with which they interact (or who wish to improve their skills in this area) are **strongly** recommended to attend this section. This section presumes only basic web browser skills and internet use as prerequisites.

Section 2 - Intermediate PLEs
This section is primarily for participants who are already well versed in blogging and wish to extended and enhance their personal learning environments through the use of online "office" tools and other "mashup" techniques. This section presumes the participant has a blog (or some other regular online publishing facility), regularly reads other blogs, and uses some kind of feed reader.

Mix and Match
Participants are free to combine these sections as they see fit. For instance, if you only want to focus on the morning session, "Writing Blogs" from Section 1 and would like to combine it with the "Mashing up your PLE" session from Section 2, you are free to do so.

Laptops
Since PLEs are "Personal" you may find that having your own laptop along with you increases the usefulness of the session. However, the majority of the session will focus on online tools and services, so having your own laptop is not essential. The host institution for this year's conference, the University of Arizona, have graciously volunteered a number of laptops for use in the session by those who have not brought their own.

Pre-Workshop Preparations
Finally, as there is a lot of material to cover in the one day, if you have a chance to take the following steps youself, it will mean we can cover more material.

If you are considering taking the Section 1 - Introduction to PLEs, please:
 * get a free account at Google (if you do not have one you can get one at https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount)
 * get a free edublogs account (if you do not already have one you can get one at http://edublogs.org/wp-signup.php)
 * install ScribeFire for Firefox (http://www.scribefire.com/)

If you are considering taking the Section 2 - Intermediate PLEs, please:
 * get a free account at Google (if you do not have one you can get one at https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount)
 * get a Yahoo Pipes account (http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/)

We look forward to seeing you next week in Phoenix! Sincerely, Scott Leslie, Chris Lott and Jared Stein