Coach Carole 

Now that I have a Moodle course for digital storytelling I'm able to reach many more storytellers. Why not join us at: http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=107

It is now nearly time for TAFE frontiers to finish. We've been active providers of elearning materials and professional development for the last six years. My time with TAFE frontiers spans July 2003 - June 2005: just two years but what an experience.

I refer to this part of my career as the Networking phase. During my two years I learned new skills in expanding my networks and I am now ready and confident to move into the next phase of my career - Mobile Virtual and Flexible (MVF).

My bio from the Networks Community reads as follows:

My appointment as one of three online facilitators for this community is a great thrill for me. I am very pleased to fill this role and look forward to communicating with you virtually. Please invite me to chat when you see me online in the community and you can always contact me by email.I also manage the Digital Storytelling Network at: http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/user/edit.php?id=370&course=107 and invite you to visit to see what the storytellers are up to.
I am a Flexible Learning Consultant at TAFE frontiers in Melbourne, Australia. I was the project manager for the ‘Digital Storytelling (DST) in Vocational Education and Training (VET)’ project in 2004 that created a series of case studies, workshops and learning materials for the DST methodology. One of my tasks this year has been to conduct a number of DST workshops for VET professionals in Victoria as the demand for skills in this area has increased substantially.
I have been a Flexible Learning Manager, Flexible Learning Leader and Instructional Designer for e-Learning practices and materials for the last ten years. This work has been conducted in several of the Victorian Institute of TAFE’s both face-to-face and virtually. My current goal is to expand the Digital Storytelling Network in Australia and plan to conduct DST workshops online in the near future.

To this I can now add the following:

LearnScope support for Victorian LearnScope managers 2005
Digital Storytelling Online - facilitator for online projects with Swinburne
Online Mentoring for the Emerging Technologies Network - 7 Victorian TAFEs
Manager of the Elluminate Live room provided for the state of Victoria by TAFE frontiers.

Not bad! I'm pleased with my achievements.

Now another year down the track and I look back on this inital foray into blogging. It is obviously not yet embedded in my practice as I have not been back to it for over a year.

However, I look at what I recorded there regarding my astrological predictions and see that once again the stars are aligned in my favour as I approach myh 60th birthday.

I need now to consolidate my action plans as so many of them are now coming into focus:

1. Online facilitation for the Networks Community
2. Online coordination for the Digital Storytelling Network
3. Digital storytelling online for LearnScope projects e.g. Victoria, Queensland and Northern Territory
4. LearnScope management support e.g. Victorian contributions to the Networks Community

I have arrived at my chosen destination for 2005.

End of January and an end to another phase in my life. The astrological influences that have always guided me on my path, are once again directing me forward to new beginnings, new practices and new experiences for February.

Let's see what I've learned from the stars in January:

Astrology will feature largely for me in 2004. Apparently the stars will be in the exact same position during April/May this year as they were in 1945 when I was born. This is a time of great importance for me in which opportunities will arise that I must take in order to change my life for the better.

My Forecast from www.astro.com for this period reports:
Neptune trine Uranus: Enlightening experience

10 January 2004 until 4 March 2004: This influence will expose you to ways of looking at the world that are quite different from any you have known before. The alternate states of consciousness designated by this influence are not terrifying or confusing, and problems with drugs or peculiar mental conditions are not likely. Instead, you are much more likely to experience a widening interest in the greater depths of the universe and an increased ability to perceive them. Your intuition will be enormously heightened at this time, and if you have any innate psychic talents, they will appear now. You will be increasingly interested in the occult and astrology, and these disciplines will give you understandings that you have never had before. It is quite likely that you will have an enlightenment experience - a perception of your true place in the universe - on some level that is meaningful to you.

Saturn conjunction Saturn: Pruning your life

30 April 2004 until 20 May 2004: This is one of the most important times in your life. A major cycle of experience is closing, and great changes are about to take place. How great these changes are depends largely on what you have been doing with your life over the past several years. Have you been living as you feel you should or as you think others want you to? If you have been doing the latter, this influence will have a greater impact.

This influence occurs about every twenty-nine years. The first such influence occurred when you were about twenty-nine, and the second is now, between your fifty-eighth and sixtieth birthday.

The Quest for the Flexible Golden Fleece

... and so it began. Wide eyed with anticipation,
Columba, Dorado, Tucana and Aquila groups greeted the
Change Managers at the entrance to (FSM) Flexible School
of Management in the barrow of Ryde, deep in the (FFD)
Forest of Flexible Dreams..... ...A few hours
previously these brand new FLL's were spread far and
wide across this huge country, but now they had finally
come together to share their experiences and move
forward on their quest - but this time as a team. But
before this could begin.....

The FLL's wondered at the beauty of the Flexible
Learning Land. The vast expanse of blue sky reflected in
the shimmering lake. Ducks floating by as the trees
swayed gently in the breeze. They stood there beside the
Wizard carved in stone and wondered what magic lay ahead
....the yellow brick road...

as they gazed in awe at the yellow brick road, they
notice suddenly that the Wizard carved in stone has an
envelope in it's hand (and a lolly too). You reach for
the envelope, and opening it discover a clue directing
you down the yellow brick road in search
of...............

...the Wizard of FLL Oz. The clue pointed to the action
learning path - the path with support and challenge
combined. They knew then that this was the path that
would help them to find what they were looking for. The
FLL Lion was looking for courage at the end of the road,
the FLL Tinman sought a brain and the FLL Strawman
sought wisdom. Each was seeking without the qualities
they needed to support them through the turbulence of
leading an organisation into the Land of Flexible
Learning. They were cheerful, excited and happy as they
set off down the action learning path to the yellow
brick road that would lead them to the Wizard of FLL Oz.
Little did they know that around the corner lay
frustration, obstacles, disappointment, personal
challenge and stress...

by the team

'Our characters are called to the small hamlet of
'McQuarry' in the distant and new land of South Ways.
The FLL leaders of Dorado, Tucana, Columba and Aquilla
with the support of the CM's have called together all
the group to answer the challenge of the FLL Oz Wizard.
Each person can bring along a companion from the
'mentor' clan to give wisdom to the search. Search!,
what search you say? The quest to find the 'flexible
knowledge' crystal ball. A ball of mythical and magic
powers, guarded by the 'On-Line' creatures, whose life
is devoted to the protection of the crystal ball. They
will only relinquish the knowledge of the ball to people
from the 'believer' clan, but will fearlessly protect
the knowledge from those that wish to destroy it. If
you locate the crystal ball, you must show to the
'on-line' creatures that you are a believer or they will
destroy your mind with their stare of 'disbelief
destruction!'. How do the FLL's find the magical crystal
ball? The FLL Oz Wizard has left clues in the tiny
hamlet of McQuarry. The minds of the FLL 2002, must
come together to find and work out the clues and then
begin their search for the puzzle maps that piece
together the location of the magic crystal ball. The
puzzle maps are spread wide across the many lands of
Australis and there is a clue in each country
surrounding and including New Ways. The journey of the
FLL's is thrawt with danger, both from the environment
and the hostile tribes, such as the 'disbelievers' and
the feared Critiks tribe. In order for the knowledged
to be gained in time, before darkness falls over the
land, the FLL's must split and search the various lands
in order to locate the clues that will show the way to
the magical crystal ball. Once each locates their clue
within their assigned land, (if they survive their
periless journey), they must once again meet in the
hamlet of 'addalayed' and work out the location of the
ball!

The Quest for the Flexible Golden Fleece

... and so it began. Wide eyed with anticipation,
Columba, Dorado, Tucana and Aquila groups greeted the
Change Managers at the entrance to (FSM) Flexible School
of Management in the barrow of Ryde, deep in the (FFD)
Forest of Flexible Dreams..... ...A few hours
previously these brand new FLL's were spread far and
wide across this huge country, but now they had finally
come together to share their experiences and move
forward on their quest - but this time as a team. But
before this could begin.....

The FLL's wondered at the beauty of the Flexible
Learning Land. The vast expanse of blue sky reflected in
the shimmering lake. Ducks floating by as the trees
swayed gently in the breeze. They stood there beside the
Wizard carved in stone and wondered what magic lay ahead
....the yellow brick road...

as they gazed in awe at the yellow brick road, they
notice suddenly that the Wizard carved in stone has an
envelope in it's hand (and a lolly too). You reach for
the envelope, and opening it discover a clue directing
you down the yellow brick road in search
of...............

...the Wizard of FLL Oz. The clue pointed to the action
learning path - the path with support and challenge
combined. They knew then that this was the path that
would help them to find what they were looking for. The
FLL Lion was looking for courage at the end of the road,
the FLL Tinman sought a brain and the FLL Strawman
sought wisdom. Each was seeking without the qualities
they needed to support them through the turbulence of
leading an organisation into the Land of Flexible
Learning. They were cheerful, excited and happy as they
set off down the action learning path to the yellow
brick road that would lead them to the Wizard of FLL Oz.
Little did they know that around the corner lay
frustration, obstacles, disappointment, personal
challenge and stress...

by the team