I gather from the discussion that there is hesitance to try to have something de...
I gather from the discussion that there is hesitance to try to have something dedicated to the newcomers of Sakai outside of 'newbie' tracks within the overall conference tracks structure. I'm supportive of session presentations that are geared toward the beginners, and clearly advertised as such. That's a good idea. However, I'm concerned that the trend reflected in the attendance expectations, coupled with the general significance of this particular conference meeting (the transition from the grant supported core Sakai project to the establishment of a fully community based Sakai organization) suggests that there will be nearly as many newbies attending as veteran Sakai participants. What we mean by "veteran Sakai participants" may well include those who have been to one other meeting, as well. The point is that there will be a considerable cohort of interested and enthusiastic people with little or no experience with the community they're becoming or are a member of. Couple this with the nascent state of the community overall and it tells me that some directed attention to community building will be important.
Community building involves multiple components. It might include:
Some attention to the history of the initiative and the factors that influence it
The 'players' and how they've engaged over time, and their perspective as to why they've engaged
How the decisions were made early on to build the core Sakai (in effect why we're where we are now)
Technical assessment of the strengths and issues that can be attributed to the current architecture (not as a criticism but as summarization of what has worked well, where the technical issues are greatest, and there implications for the future)
the ever popular governance history - in the beginning it was the gang of four, then five, then six, then..... with some context based on the constraints imposed by the initial funding context (e.g., a grant from the Mellon Foundation that had certain deliverables with certain time lines...etc.)
To the best of everyone's understanding at the time of THIS conference, how is the community organized? Where are the points of engagement? What are the communication channels and how do they work (what's are the cultural norms that have evolved for conducting discussions - is everything really happening in the DGs using the Confluence Wiki or is that were the history is maintained but the discussion is really via email - as for example, is working out to be the practice for this conference planning discussion)?
What's the current role of commercial participants?
All of the above has likely current discussion value and all kinds of differences are likely among the community about these issues going forward - but I'm suggesting that whatever the current diversity of views are there is also a history that new people might find valuable to given them a better perspective from which to contribute to the debates as we move forward. The question is how to convey that in useful way.
My bias is toward something that is akin to a pre-meeting workshop/discussion. The email discussion seems to have dismissed this option but I'm not convinced that is a wise decision. If the reasoning for this was simply logistical, then some creative thinking caps may need to be donned to figure out how to overcome such obstacles It could be as simple as a two-hour panel discussion with some of the key participants from the recent past presenting 15 min. each on their insight into how we got here. The other extreme is to impose a conference theme structure similar to the main conference, but oriented toward conveying the community history on the theme at hand. Perhaps the most important thing for the people coming to this fresh is just to understand how to deal with Sakai - how to interact, expectations for working in the open source (community source?) environment, and how they're local needs can be brought forward productively to advance the community.
This latter topic is of course going to be a major theme for the main conference, as well. I also fully understand this is a new community for all of us. it's being ushered into the world at this conference and therefore marks a significant passage as newborn community. Still there have been several years of Sakai work from which there is much to learn. We'd be well served if we tried to encapsulate those experiences and learnings for the benefit of those who weren't involved so that they can benefit the new Sakai organization.
I'm leaning toward something like a two hour pre- or initial conference 'town meeting' approach that tries in some fashion to recognize, summarize, convey and in a sense 'honor' the work that has led us to Austin.
Mara is out of the office this week, so I'm offering talking points for tomorrow...
Mara is out of the office this week, so I'm offering talking points for tomorrow's phone conference. I'm sure Mara will be back in full swing next week (right, Mara?).
1. If we have between 500 and 800 attendees - and we do need in the next few weeks to settle on a number target to work with for planning – we are looking at a minimum of 10 and as many as 14 concurrent sessions during each set of sessions (the number affects how targeted we want our sessions to be). I'm assuming that our meeting rooms won't hold more than 50 - but please correct me if this is wrong - although one or two rooms might be available during each session-block that can hold more. Nor do I think it's good to have sessions with more than 50 since Q&A loses value beyond that point.
2. With somewhere between 10 and 14 sessions, speaking on behalf of OSP, I'd like 4 to 6 sessions focused on portfolios in each time slot, 2 or 3 appropriate to both Sakai and OSPI, and 4 to 6 sessions focused on Sakai. I'm speaking for myself and OSPI only. I don't know yet what Mara's thinking is on this.
3. I advocate for multiple OSP sessions because portfolios are strongly "coming of age" this year. At least 18 US companies, including Oracle and IBM, are already in or entering the market this fall, most of whom focus almost entirely on electronic portfolios. You will not find one higher ed institution that is not thinking of or actually implementing a portfolio this year (or which has already done so). This is the "year of the portfolio." And, of course, OSP 2.0 was just introduced in June, so interest is high on that account as well.
4. In other words, information about portfolio information will be in demand at SEPP.
5. Finally, "portfolios" is an umbrella term that includes reflective portfolio, assessment management systems, advising management systems, citizen portfolios, resume-builders, faculty portfolios, showcase portfolios, student development portfolios and a few other instantiations of portfolio technology. This means SEPP attendees will arrive with a range of portfolio-information needs which should be addressed with a range of presentations.
Summary of OSPI suggestions for this email and recent discussions:
*plenary portfolio summary, 30 minutes at beginning of conference
*a substantial % of sessions in each time slot focused on portfolios
*And, some repeated sessions, especially for OSP developers and implementers
*And, meeting times and spaces at 2 or 3 times set aside for the "OSPNext" group to meet
OSPI will have sessions appropriate for all four main tracks:
Teaching, Learning, Research, and Assessment
Technology
Community Source
Management and Implementation
Some sessions will address both projects, such as how both open source and commercial can be proprietary and therefore what "support" means in the community source arena. But others, such as implementing assessment management portfolios for tracking student outcomes will be specific to OSP.
Title:
conversation starters (to include OSPI):
SEPP/OSPI Winter Conference
SEPP Winter Conference with OSPI
SEPP Winter Conference Including OSPI
etc.
Maybe none of these is good, but the goal is to identify to OSPI former attendees that this is their next conference.
These talking points are very OSPI-centric, so must be balanced with committee input on behalf of Sakai.
On titles, I think that "SEPP Winter Conference with OSPI" is my choice it signa...
On titles, I think that "SEPP Winter Conference with OSPI" is my choice - it signals to SEPP members that it is still SEPP thus they will find the stuff they expect - and to OSPI community that it is a partnership effort, but they will find plenty of OSP at Austin.
On Tracks, I suggest:
student and faculty views of using OSP/e-portfolios
contributing to the software development of OSP (ie deep technical)
OSP future - where might we go with features, tools, novel uses (this plugs into FX)
critical factors in decision-making on moving to Sakai (I think a lot of people, like me, who carry the 'burden' of leading that decision will be at SEPP)
I would see this as a track with two components: # a requirements discussion com...
I would see this as a track with two components:
a requirements discussion component to discuss and gather a range of requirements like alternative languages, academic discipline differences, alternative pedagogy requirements, etc and
a mechanisms and tools component in which we have presentations about skinning Sakai (maybe by Vivie's team), JSF widgets (maybe by Chuck or his designate), repositories for sharing and re-purposing skins and widgets, creating flexible tools and resources, etc.
I think it would be useful to have a session that covered the steps needed to mo...
I think it would be useful to have a session that covered the steps needed to move a sakai installation into a full Apache installation using mod_jk rather than the shrinkwrapped tomcat.
Comments (16)
Aug 17, 2005
Bill Crosbie says:
Memory and JVM monitoring for a healthy Sakai System Chuck Hedrick RutgersMemory and JVM monitoring for a healthy Sakai System - Chuck Hedrick - Rutgers
Aug 17, 2005
Susan Hardin says:
Strong group of newbie sessionsStrong group of newbie sessions
Aug 26, 2005
Phillip Long says:
I gather from the discussion that there is hesitance to try to have something de...I gather from the discussion that there is hesitance to try to have something dedicated to the newcomers of Sakai outside of 'newbie' tracks within the overall conference tracks structure. I'm supportive of session presentations that are geared toward the beginners, and clearly advertised as such. That's a good idea. However, I'm concerned that the trend reflected in the attendance expectations, coupled with the general significance of this particular conference meeting (the transition from the grant supported core Sakai project to the establishment of a fully community based Sakai organization) suggests that there will be nearly as many newbies attending as veteran Sakai participants. What we mean by "veteran Sakai participants" may well include those who have been to one other meeting, as well. The point is that there will be a considerable cohort of interested and enthusiastic people with little or no experience with the community they're becoming or are a member of. Couple this with the nascent state of the community overall and it tells me that some directed attention to community building will be important.
Community building involves multiple components. It might include:
All of the above has likely current discussion value and all kinds of differences are likely among the community about these issues going forward - but I'm suggesting that whatever the current diversity of views are there is also a history that new people might find valuable to given them a better perspective from which to contribute to the debates as we move forward. The question is how to convey that in useful way.
My bias is toward something that is akin to a pre-meeting workshop/discussion. The email discussion seems to have dismissed this option but I'm not convinced that is a wise decision. If the reasoning for this was simply logistical, then some creative thinking caps may need to be donned to figure out how to overcome such obstacles
It could be as simple as a two-hour panel discussion with some of the key participants from the recent past presenting 15 min. each on their insight into how we got here. The other extreme is to impose a conference theme structure similar to the main conference, but oriented toward conveying the community history on the theme at hand. Perhaps the most important thing for the people coming to this fresh is just to understand how to deal with Sakai - how to interact, expectations for working in the open source (community source?) environment, and how they're local needs can be brought forward productively to advance the community.
This latter topic is of course going to be a major theme for the main conference, as well. I also fully understand this is a new community for all of us. it's being ushered into the world at this conference and therefore marks a significant passage as newborn community. Still there have been several years of Sakai work from which there is much to learn. We'd be well served if we tried to encapsulate those experiences and learnings for the benefit of those who weren't involved so that they can benefit the new Sakai organization.
I'm leaning toward something like a two hour pre- or initial conference 'town meeting' approach that tries in some fashion to recognize, summarize, convey and in a sense 'honor' the work that has led us to Austin.
Phil
Aug 23, 2005
Mara Hancock says:
Panel Learning from Fall Implementation TeamsPanel – Learning from Fall Implementation Teams
Aug 23, 2005
Mara Hancock says:
Contribute to Sakai How to submit code and application development to Sakai proj...Contribute to Sakai – How to submit code and application development to Sakai projects.
Aug 24, 2005
Mara Hancock says:
Web Services and other ways to integrate nonjava applicationsWeb Services and other ways to integrate non-java applications
Aug 25, 2005
Chris Coppola says:
Open source licensing 101Open source licensing 101
Aug 25, 2005
Chris Coppola says:
Community Source TrackCommunity Source Track
Aug 26, 2005
Mara Hancock says:
Open sourcing for Higher Ed. 5 or 10 issues to think about while preparing to sh...Open sourcing for Higher Ed. 5 or 10 issues to think about while preparing to share your code.
Aug 25, 2005
Chris Coppola says:
Management Track Community Source for Small Colleges with few/no developers. Doe...Management Track - Community Source for Small Colleges with few/no developers. Does it work?
Aug 25, 2005
Trent Batson says:
Mara is out of the office this week, so I'm offering talking points for tomorrow...Mara is out of the office this week, so I'm offering talking points for tomorrow's phone conference. I'm sure Mara will be back in full swing next week (right, Mara?).
1. If we have between 500 and 800 attendees - and we do need in the next few weeks to settle on a number target to work with for planning – we are looking at a minimum of 10 and as many as 14 concurrent sessions during each set of sessions (the number affects how targeted we want our sessions to be). I'm assuming that our meeting rooms won't hold more than 50 - but please correct me if this is wrong - although one or two rooms might be available during each session-block that can hold more. Nor do I think it's good to have sessions with more than 50 since Q&A loses value beyond that point.
2. With somewhere between 10 and 14 sessions, speaking on behalf of OSP, I'd like 4 to 6 sessions focused on portfolios in each time slot, 2 or 3 appropriate to both Sakai and OSPI, and 4 to 6 sessions focused on Sakai. I'm speaking for myself and OSPI only. I don't know yet what Mara's thinking is on this.
3. I advocate for multiple OSP sessions because portfolios are strongly "coming of age" this year. At least 18 US companies, including Oracle and IBM, are already in or entering the market this fall, most of whom focus almost entirely on electronic portfolios. You will not find one higher ed institution that is not thinking of or actually implementing a portfolio this year (or which has already done so). This is the "year of the portfolio." And, of course, OSP 2.0 was just introduced in June, so interest is high on that account as well.
4. In other words, information about portfolio information will be in demand at SEPP.
5. Finally, "portfolios" is an umbrella term that includes reflective portfolio, assessment management systems, advising management systems, citizen portfolios, resume-builders, faculty portfolios, showcase portfolios, student development portfolios and a few other instantiations of portfolio technology. This means SEPP attendees will arrive with a range of portfolio-information needs which should be addressed with a range of presentations.
Summary of OSPI suggestions for this email and recent discussions:
*plenary portfolio summary, 30 minutes at beginning of conference
*a substantial % of sessions in each time slot focused on portfolios
*And, some repeated sessions, especially for OSP developers and implementers
*And, meeting times and spaces at 2 or 3 times set aside for the "OSPNext" group to meet
OSPI will have sessions appropriate for all four main tracks:
Teaching, Learning, Research, and Assessment
Technology
Community Source
Management and Implementation
Some sessions will address both projects, such as how both open source and commercial can be proprietary and therefore what "support" means in the community source arena. But others, such as implementing assessment management portfolios for tracking student outcomes will be specific to OSP.
Title:
conversation starters (to include OSPI):
SEPP/OSPI Winter Conference
SEPP Winter Conference with OSPI
SEPP Winter Conference Including OSPI
etc.
Maybe none of these is good, but the goal is to identify to OSPI former attendees that this is their next conference.
These talking points are very OSPI-centric, so must be balanced with committee input on behalf of Sakai.
Cheers
Trent
Aug 25, 2005
Sayeed Choudhury says:
Impressions, feedback, etc. from faculty and/or students who have used Sakai (es...Impressions, feedback, etc. from faculty and/or students who have used Sakai (especially as it relates to pedagogical issues)
Migration plans, tools, accomplishments, processes, etc. from SEPP institutions that migrated content from WebCT or Blackboard into Sakai
Aug 26, 2005
Jeff Haywood says:
On titles, I think that "SEPP Winter Conference with OSPI" is my choice it signa...On titles, I think that "SEPP Winter Conference with OSPI" is my choice - it signals to SEPP members that it is still SEPP thus they will find the stuff they expect - and to OSPI community that it is a partnership effort, but they will find plenty of OSP at Austin.
On Tracks, I suggest:
maybe more thoughts later...
jeff
Aug 26, 2005
Sayeed Choudhury says:
Experiences regarding Sakai used for distance educationExperiences regarding Sakai used for distance education
Aug 29, 2005
Mara Hancock says:
I would see this as a track with two components: # a requirements discussion com...I would see this as a track with two components:
Posted for Jutta
Sep 05, 2005
Steven Githens says:
I think it would be useful to have a session that covered the steps needed to mo...I think it would be useful to have a session that covered the steps needed to move a sakai installation into a full Apache installation using mod_jk rather than the shrinkwrapped tomcat.