Hi

We are now one week away from the start of Term. I call this week “Week minus 1” (Week -1).

Last week, we opened Moodle and a number of people have got started; getting ready for our unit.

PeerWise

Over 100 people have registered on PeerWise. Of these, about 30 people have written over 100 questions; and about 75 people have given over 1,700 answers to these questions and made over 250 comments. So quite a bit is happening already.

Here are my top three tips for PeerWise. These are really great tips on how to maximise what you get out of PeerWise. One of these tips is to get started early, as some people are already doing. So if you have not yet dived into PeerWise, I recommend you register and start answering a few questions now.

Also, check out the PeerWise page on my blog for some further great advice on how to get the most out of PeerWise. This is a great guide to keep coming back to during term.

Unit Facebook page

Over 60 people have joined our unit Facebook page. The page has over 300 members, as some people stay joined to the page after they finish the unit (in previous terms).

Lots of great posts from people already. And remember, you can search our Facebook page by key terms to help you locate posts. For example, if you are from Bundaberg, you could search ‘Bundaberg’ to help you connect with others from your region.

Blogs

So many great blogs are being posted already. So far, there are links to about 30 blogs posted in the Blogs Links Forum in the Communciation section on the right-hand side of Moodle.

Let me encourage you to check out as many as you can. You should certainly have a look at 5-10 blogs (at least) this coming week and leave a comment (including a link to your own blog). Everyone has a story about why they are studying with us this term; and everyone comes to our unit with a range of different experiences and backgrounds. What a great group of people to learn with and from. So, take the time to contact others, introduce yourself and start building a network. This will really help you later in the term.

I just read Jennifer Martin’s blog Between the Spreadsheets. Love the title. And great introductory post, Jennifer. Here is a quote at the end of her post:

I’d actually initially applied for this unit to be credited due to my past experiences at QUT and work.  However, after reading Martin’s Week 1 study guide on how we truly learn, it made me think this unit could be of real value. My primary role in my business was to train our team members and a lot of what Martin touches on makes sense to me based on how I’ve seen people learn in the past.

Jennifer, here is an email I got a few days ago from a student I taught in NZ in 2008 (in a third year financial statement analysis unit):

Almost nine years on, I keep my course notes in my office. Just used them again today. There were about a half-dozen courses that were really worth going to uni for, and that was certainly one.

I get a steady stream of emails from past students, who drop me a line every so often and let me know how they are getting on. Others just want to tell me that years later they still find real value from what they learnt in our unit.

Jennifer, hopefully you and many others in our unit will feel the same in future years when you look back at what we learn together about Accounting, Learning and Online Communication. The key to this is to learn for understanding and developing personal meaning. This involves much more than simply ‘rote learning’ material which we may not understand very well. We will be discussing how we learn quite a bit in the first two weeks; and we will have lots of opportunities to reflect on our learning through the term.

Learning is about lasting change. I want to support everyone to pass (or get a good grade) in our unit; and also learn meaningfully and for real. Should be fun!

Regards

Martin