Pontydysgu – Bridge to Learning

This is a pretty remarkable story and shows the potential of Multi User virtual Environments for doing some good! I was there! Sadly I can’t find the snapshots. But here is a (rather small) picture of my avatar, Graham Lightfoot, proudly wearing the trade union t-shirt.

From a press release from the IBM Italy trade untion: “One month after a virtual protest staged in Second Life with almost 2’000 avatars demonstrating on IBM islands, a new contract with IBM Italy has been signed.

The new agreement, which still needs to be approved by the IBM Italy workforce, reinstates the performance bonus that was cut unilaterally by IBM Italy management.

The agreement signed by IBM Italy and the trade union Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie (R.S.U.) not only includes the performance bonuses from 2007 up until 2010 but also payments by IBM into a national health insurance fund and also states that negotiations will continue with respect to IBM industrial and business strategies in Italy and the improvement of internal communication policies.

The situation abruptly improved and negotiation resumed after the former country manager left IBM in the mid of October, who had signed responsible for the pay cuts in the first place. His departure cleared the air and facilitated constructive negotiations between social partners as this could be expected from a professional management of a high-tech company.

The virtual demonstration organized on 27 September for a whole day has certainly had an impact on the positive development. Almost 2000 virtual protesters from 30 countries populating IBM premises in Second Life solicited an unprecedented media echo from all over the world, including TV and radio stations, daily news papers, computer and business magazines. The virtual protest had been supported by global unions such as the International and European Metalworkers Federations (IMF and EMF) and UNI Global Union.”

With all the work of developing the Pontydysgu web site and moving my blog, I have slipped behind with the content.

‘Grab the future with your e-Portfolio‘ (PDF download) is a study I have co-authored for the EU funded Mosep project. The foreword explains the background to the study.

“The willingness to put one’s self esteem on the line may be one of the key factors for self determined learning. Once adolescents are comfortable with determining their own destiny with respect to learning they will become open-minded to new ways of organising their learning. This appears to be a prerequisite for the kind of life-long learning which should become the foundation of the knowledge based society. And the need for change applies to teachers as well: they too, will need new skills and competencies in order to be suitable companions for the self-determined young learners they will be faced with.

The MOSEP project – more self-esteem with my e-portfolio – aimed at providing a study, course materials and on-line information to acquire these competencies.

The study you are reading provides some of the theoretical background and practical guidelines for teachers and vocational counsellors in order to equip them for the challenges that they will face as roles change from “teacher” to “learning companion”.

Chapter two describes the theoretical background for supporting adolescent learners. It then describes the novel concept of e-portfolio and demonstrates its uses in life-long learning for this particular group. Chapter three looks at e-portfolio from an institutional and organisational perspective and points at some of the critical success factors in implementing the methods and tools in a formal educational context. Chapter four specifies new competencies and skills for teachers when their role changes towards supporting the learners in an e-portfolio environment. Chapter five gives a survey of current software tools for e-portfolio work with special emphasis on the functionality expected from such tools. The study also looks at the suitability of these solutions for e-portfolio beginners.

In addition to the study the MOSEP consortium also developed course material for teachers, trainers and vocational counsellors. The course is organised in an open Wiki software containing practical modules on how to implement and support e-portfolio processes. The course is available in English, German, Polish, Lithuanian, and Bulgarian language and can be accessed via http://www.mosep.org.”

Technorati Tags: eportfolio, European_projects