1. Online Journalling for online mentoring and coaching

2. What is it? Online journalling is a way of quickly and easily publishing your thoughts to a website using any computer connected to the internet. Each post can be: Private- For yourself only For a small subgroup For the class group For the whole world. Posts are date-stamped, organised chronologically and automatically archived.

3. Can I see an example? You can see some examples by going to www.livejournal.com and hitting search. www.livejournal.com

4. The Friends’ Feature One click on friends allows you to access the group’s postings.

5. Why do it? “Electronic journaling enhances interactivity in traditional and online courses, fostering intellectual exchange and successful learning… Although effective in a number of educational settings, e-journaling proves essential for successful interaction in Web-based courses where materials are delivered completely online.” E-Journaling: Achieving Interactive Education Online By Jonnie Jill Phipps http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm05/eqm0519.asp See also: http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm05/eqm0519.asp 100 benefits of journalling

6. My experiences Creates a learning community- people feel connected Models giving and receiving feedback People start to mentor each other They share ideas and resources They reflect and apply their learning They get to know each others’ amazing talents and histories Develops IT and writing skills Models the core communication capacity of vulnerability.

7. How would you use them? As a core feature of a course or to support a module For creative writing (seach Google for “visual prompts”) Games and internet hunts (Search for “personality tests”) For role playing As a platform for a team project To create writing portfolios To correct grammar for ESOL students To post assignments that can be viewed by peers To create a support group for people with a common interest To give feedback, write minutes, post photos.

8. How do I get started? Go to LiveJournal – http://www.livejournal.com/ and create an account as you would create a hotmail account.http://www.livejournal.com/ You will need an existing email address. Note: If using e-journals with a class you need to book into a computer room and preferably schedule sessions there regularly where they can update and read the journals.

9. Setting up a friends’ network Go to http://www.livejournal.com/friends/edit.bml and follow the instructions there.http://www.livejournal.com/friends/edit.bml

10. Adding photos to your journal Paid journal accounts provide space to store images. They usually include file upload utilities. Live journal free does not. But there is a way to put up pictures for free.

11. Ripway.com You can store images at other places on the internet and provide a link to them. You can use free online photo or file hosting services. e.g. Ripway – http://www.ripway.com/ The create an accounthttp://www.ripway.com/ Username: Password: and upload your photos. Ripway gives each photo a url.

12. Adding photos or documents to your journal (Continued) Once you’ve uploaded an image or a document to the Internet you can display it in a post by typing in the following HTML tag where you want the image to appear: You can also use this to upload documents or powerpoint presentations to your journals.

13. Adding basic formatting to posts If your journal doesn’t provide a formatting toolbar you can format your posts by manually applying HTML commands (called “tags”) to the text. For example, surrounding a piece of text with the tags for bold: text will make the text appear in bold. Here are some other examples of commonly used HTML tags: - displays text in italics - underlines text - centre-aligns text or image - indents paragraph - sets font colour, where ? is colour name - sets size of font, from 1 to 7 n.b. HTML tags use American spelling.

14. Journals vs blogs Journals inward focus like a diary private or friends personal reflection anything Blogs outward focus like a newspaper for the public news and comments specific interest

15. Application to coaching Enables the coach to write stories or reveal things about herself without appearing to preach. Powerful motivational tool… Allows the coach a powerful tool to celebrate success e.g. posting pictures. Gives your coach additional insights into your visions and dreams, as well as your obstacles and blocks and allows him to understand your thinking and language.

16. Application to mentoring Allows us to model for each other authenticity and reflection. We model to each other how to learn. Sharing resources and networking. We are able to revise and repeat techniques learnt earlier. A number of the entries from our group explore, develop, and apply themes. For example, we discuss personal goal setting and visioning in class and then use the journal to reflect on our progress and see it develop over time. Deep learning from practise and application,repetition, watching others. We would need to spend hours meeting and talking to gain the same learning benefits as we do with the community on live journal. Our online journal has helped developed community by being a safe place for learning. In our online community, I have been safe, through the journal I have expressed myself, I have participated in collaboration, I have learnt.

17. Invitation You are welcome to join an online journalling community of teachers trainers and coaches being set up by the Online Mentoring Network. Create a personal journal at www.livejournal.comwww.livejournal.com Join onlinementoring If you need help with any of the above email the presenter wendy.zammit@tafensw.edu.au