Welcome (Again) 4 March (ACCT11059)

Hi

Welcome (again) to ACCT11059 Accounting, Learning & Online Communication.

My name is Martin Turner. I am your Unit Coordinator. This is my third email to you. If you missed my earlier emails, you can find them here and also by clicking on ‘Martin’s Emails’ in the Communication section on the right-hand side of Moodle.

My first email has some important information about how to get started in our unit.

There are over 350 people enrolled in our unit. About 160 people are enrolled online/distance, with over 190 people enrolled at the ten locations around Australia where we are teaching the unit.

We have a great teaching team:

Cairns (about 10 people): Karen McPherson

Townsville (about 8 people): Doug Dunstan

Mackay (about 22 people): Maria Tyler

Rockhampton (about 40 people): Martin Turner

Gladstone (about 9 people): Carmen Barton

Bundaberg (about 17 people): John McGrath

Brisbane (about 40 people): Lois Kempnich

Sydney (about 20 people): Peter Zhang

Melbourne (about 35 people): Mitch Hsu

Perth (about 5 people): Aklema Lema

We also have students enrolled in Geraldton WA.

A lot has been happening in our unit since we opened Moodle last Monday:

  • over 70 people have registered on PeerWise and written 115 questions and given 1,620 answers to these questions. And the top 5 people on PeerWise have each already reached a score of over 2,800 points. If you have not yet registered on PeerWise, go to the PeerWise folder in the top centre section of Moodle where you will find how to register on PeerWise and get started. Also, check out the great video ‘Tips on Using PeerWise‘.
  • 55 people joined our unit Facebook group and have been busily networking and discussing early issues in our unit. If you have not joined our unit Facebook group yet, you should right now. You can then say hi to people in our unit. You can also search for people at your locality or search for key words on areas where you might have some questions (for example, setting up your blog).
  • and 15 people have posted links to their blogs in the Blog Links forum. There are some great blogs already:

“I am currently working at a law firm in Brisbane full-time. I am engaged, a mum to a 3 year old and currently 24 weeks pregnant with our second! I was really happy to read that we don’t have an end of term Exam, which works out much better for me considering my work and family commitments.”

Dominique, we often have one or two people pregnant in our unit, sometimes expecting just after the end of term. It can work well as we do not have an exam. I am very happy to be supportive of you as you juggle work, a toddler, pregnancy and being introduced to accounting … all at once! And why not say hi to Dominique on her blog?

  • Chris Apps has a great blog ‘The Balance of Things‘. His emphasis in his first blog is on getting organised and managing his time – one of the keys for success in our unit. Chris said:

“I wanted to share something with you prior to week 1, which is a free Gantt chart tool to help plan and organise your time.
It is called ‘Team Gantt’ and you can sign up for FREE here.”

Chris, also from Brisbane, is a numbers man – as will be quite a few people in our unit (as well as many who will not!). And do not worry – we can organise and plan our time without having to master ‘Team Gantt’ … however we do need to get organised and plan our way through our unit this term – and ‘Team Gannt’ might be a tool that could really help some people do this.

And Kyl Dunne in his blog “Working our Assets Off!’ tells us about his developing interest in the world of finance and also his need to develop confidence (something quite a few people have mentioned about themselves already in our unit). Kyl said:

“I never really figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and the reason I still don’t know is that I’m yet to grow up. But I’ve grown to find the world of finance rather fascinating, and have taken it upon myself to have a good old crack at a bachelors degree, although to be honest, I’m not the most confident person, and it plays on my mind quite a bit, but that is a work in progress, and it won’t stop me from trying!”

Kyl also includes a cool photo of himself and his girlfriend Naomi in Engelberg Switzerland:

Kyl – my wife and I travelled on the Bernina Express in Switzerland last September. Such a beautiful part of the world – and nothing like Gordonvale, just south of Cairns (where Kyl lives) or Yeppoon…

If you have not already set up your blog, go to ASS#1 Step 2 where you will find instructions on how to do it (and you can find the assignments in the top centre section of Moodle). And visit the blogs of other people and leave a comment and say hi. We all love to have people visit our blogs and leave a comment.

Bye for now.

Martin Turner

Unit Coordinator