This event was held between 6 – 11th August 2003 and facilitated by NSW LearnScope project officers Gaele Adamson and Janet Burstall.

The aim of "Favourite Sites" was to share recommendations of really useful websites to save some of the hours that the internet can absorb in sifting through a high volume of low relevance websites, and so that LearnScope teams wouldn’t miss out on terrific web resources.

Here are the recommendations that were generated during the event:

Guidelines for Developing Resource Registers
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/accessresource/stage1/guidelines.htm
This set of guidelines prints out at 11 pages and provides a very useful checklist for anyone setting up a database to share resources. You might not be able to meet all the criteria, or not all at once anyway, but you’ll be able to check what qualities matter most in the resources that you are sharing.

Communities of Practice and Community-enabled Strategic Results from Self-Organisation
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/index.shtml
Set in the context of a broader knowledge management website, this site is shaped by its emphasis on the value of Communities of Practice to organisations. It has lots of short pithy quotes as well as links to case studies, analysis and dreams, including a page called the Web of High play, which opens with the claim: "The inability for totalitarian governments to control the flow of information made possible by the Internet, fax, telecommunication satellites, and other electronic media not only brought down the Berlin Wall and dissolved the Soviet Union, but these new media promise to bring the human adventure to a new level of democracy. People all over the planet are being bound together in a vast global network that is not only changing how we see the world, but how we see ourselves." (David J. Brown). In response I am moved to ask – will it also bring down the world of business secrecy and intellectual property, so that democracy might penetrate the economy?

Full Circle Associates
http://www.fullcirc.com/
Nancy White and associates’ website focuses especially on online communities. The Online Community Toolkit is particularly useful if you are trying to grow one yourself. The many links provided on this site can be trusted on the authority of the work of Nancy White. They cover social, cultural and technical aspects of community. Its philosophical emphasis is on the value of the community to the members.

Networking – Communities of Pratice
http://flexiblelearning.net.au/nw2002/extras/commsofpractice.pdf
A summary of discussion from Net*Working 2002 by Nancy White, clearly presented with diagrams too. This has the advantage of outlining the issues that practitioners in the Australian VET sector have identified.

MERLOT = Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
http://www.merlot.org/help/AddComment.po
The guidelines for site users in evaluating the quality of learning resources on MERLOT. The guidelines themselves could be applied to learning resources stored anywhere. Follow the link to “browse materials” and you can see the results of the user evaluation system – nice to have, but it’s difficult to get many people to put the time in to sharing evaluations.

The homepage of Curtis J. Bonk
http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk/
This site is valuable for many e-learning topics. A good starting point is CJ Bonk’s paper – 'Collaborative Learning Online: Myth, Magic, or just a lot of Bonk?' which can be found on the site. It provides practical advice (and debunks myths) on online and blended learning, and on designing and developing materials. Also, Curtis Bonk is one of the authors of 'Learning from Focus Groups: an examination of blended learning' which investigates how various distance learning technologies affect student learning in the military. See http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk/blend.pdf

Stephen’s Web
http://www.downes.ca/
Stephen Downes' website is another great one to explore and will provide lots of interesting material on a range of topics. If you go to http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/find.cgi and search for 'blended learning' you will find a number of references and links.

Blended Learning – DET NSW
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/learning/yrk12focusareas/learntech/blended/index.php In 2002 the Professional Development Network of TAFE NSW received ANTA funding to manage the Blended Learning Exemplars project which aimed to seek out programs within TAFE and ACE in NSW that use blended learning in innovative and effective ways. This document is the result of work conducted by Laurie Fields and provides both inspiration and sound practical advice for anyone wanting to implement blended learning approaches.

Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2002/oct2002/elearn.html
The American Society of Training and Development publishes an online magazine devoted to the topic of elearning. This particular article is an excellent one in that it explores the role of the online facilitator and posits a model that is very close to Zane Berge's work on the four key acts of the facilitator's role in an online environment.

The future of resources for eLearning
James Dalziel presented his findings at an event for NSW teams in June 2003 on learning objects and learning resource management in the context of the project, COLIS (Collaborative Online Learning and Information Service). Further information about the COLIS project.

Preparing Students for Elearning
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/Preparingstudents.htm
Whilst the ideas in this article cross over both facilitating and managing elearning, it discusses some very interesting issues around the elearning environment as ecosystem, preparing students to engage and the role of student and instructor in such a context.

Learning Object Development Center
http://www.macromedia.com/resources/elearning/objects/
A different slant perhaps with 'New Learning Objects White Paper - Elusive Vision: Challenges Impeding the Learning Object Economy' which explores the drivers, enablers and mediators in the learning object economy. Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium, describes and analyses a summit of international learning objects experts

Facilitation
http://coe.sdsu.edu/textweaver/facilitation.htm
An interesting resource in the San Diego State University Textweaver archive. Looks at common facilitation models relevant to the online environment as well as key functions.

Assessment Generator
http://flexiblelearning.net.au/productsandservices/assessmentgenerator.htm
A new web-based tool that helps practitioners construct and manage assessment plans and tools. The developers describe it as valuable for teachers or trainers within RTOs undertaking assessments who have limited time, training or restricted access to AQTF assessment documentation.

VEAC – Vocational Education  and Assessment Centre
http://www.veac.org.au/
Looking for information, resources and discussion opportunities around the topic of assessment - including online assessment? Look no further than the Vocational Education and Assessment Centre (VEAC) site - and remember to enquire about the activities of the Assessor Network while you’re visiting.

Assessment Guides
http://www.anta.gov.au/pubBundle.asp?qsID=47
An ANTA project focussing on the development of 10 National Assessment Resource Guides.

Student assessment
http://www.ncver.edu.au/teaching/21011.html
There seems to be some good research out there on the subject of assessment - some of it is even presented in a way that lends itself to being a professional development resource in itself. Check out the latest on this NCVER key topics page.

Flexible Learning Toolboxes
http://flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/
Why not go to the source? This site gives you information about the ANTA Toolboxes, an initiative of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework

Toolbox Champions
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/champions/
Do you need help exploring or implementing Toolboxes in your organisation? Do you just want to find out what the fuss is about from someone who knows them intimately? Check out your local Toolbox Champion - there's one in every State and Territory.

Effective Online Facilitation
http://flexiblelearning.net.au/guides/facilitation.pdf
A useful overview of Effective Online Facilitation models and strategies.

Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/fipp/contract.php
This site has a wealth of online resources.

The Concord Consortium
http://www.concord.org/
I love what these people have to say. The books, Essential Elements: Prepare, Design, and Teach Your Online Course by Bonnie Elbaum, Cynthia McIntyre, and Alese Smith and Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker are great!

Eclipse Crossword
http://www.greeneclipsesoftware.com/eclipsecrossword/
The Eclipse Crossword site allows you to download a tool to make crosswords for websites and for print documents. The crossword tool is extremely easy to use and so is great for overworked teachers.

TrainingZONE community
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/
One of my favourite sites. I have found a goldmine of information in relation to blended learning here.

Online Assessment
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/guides/assessment.html
For those of you considering online assessment processes.

Business Entry Point
http://www.business.gov.au/Business+Entry+Point/
Billed as "where govt & business meet." Includes ABNs, government & business directory, government jargon buster & help on setting up/maintaining/expanding a business.

Contributors:
Simon Volanakis, Tristenne Van Heythuysen, Elisabeth Todd, Ellie Thompson, Claude Pogliani, Suzanne Norris, Andrea Neale, Melissa Mills, Vicki Marchant, Janet Lock, Susan Lloyd, Matthew Hutchens, Tanya Griffiths, Jan Gebels, Lisa Dawson, Marianne Chen, Janet Burstall, Susan Brunner, Janine Bowes, Cathy Baxter, Su Amin-Rezaei, Gaele Adamson