18 02 08 The online eCommunications FdA course begins - A very busy couple of weeks

The online eCommunications FdA started yesterday, the 18th of February. We’ve been working towards this date for such a long time now and it feels strange to have passed it. In the event I was too busy to post a blog on the day and I’ve also been too busy to do so in the last few weeks.

There has been such a lot to do – last Thursday, I realised that not only was everything going to be up and running by the start date but that it was all going to be very impressive in terms of content and presentation.
In previous posts I’ve noted how much we have had to do but I am still amazed by how much work everyone has put in. People have agreed to take on huge tasks, often with no idea of what they were agreeing to.
We still need to sort out the wiki, we are using Wikimedia but need to explore have a unique password and username for each user and the possibility of having some areas open only to certain groups. We are trying to resolve this now. In contrast the forum is already working very well. Since the course began more than 20 of the current 26 students on the course have made postings. Most have made multiple posting and often the postings and lengthy, engage with the activities that we have set and are building on the postings of others. All this is very encouraging.

Perhaps the most significant thing to come out of the course starting is a point made by Kate in our authoring meeting this afternoon, which is that we are all getting to know the students and therefore we are now coming to understand our audience. This will be immeasurably helpful as we write further modules and re edit existing content.