Thank goodness that we built it on a high foundation.  While my poor car was awash in the front and back seats (though not, thank goodness in the engine or console) the office was h igh and dry.

We’ve had another lot of water down the creek when a mini-cyclone hit on Monday but not nearly as much water came through.  Mind you I was still doing the King Canute thing, standing at the front of the shed shouting ‘Go back, creek! Go back!”

But neither rain nor flood nor sleet nor dead of night will stop us, and we are all cleaned up and back to beavering away at the current set of projects.

Moodle 2.2 has proved a bit of a challenge for us.  The new file handling processes left us with issues for the authentic elearning approach that we take.  The virtual learning environments are not nearly as effective if you restrict them to a small stage, as Moodle 2.2 does with its SCORM and IMS Package features.  They really don’t work for us.

It took us a little time, but we found a work around that is every bit as nice as Moodle 1.9.  Despite the challenges, though, we are really happy with Moodle with as an LMS.  It’s flexibility and ease of use are far and away ahead of any other LMS we’ve used.

If you would like to see our ‘toolbox’ style resources working, we have 2 demonstration sites, a Moodle 1.9 and a Moodle 2.2 and you are welcome to request a login and password to experience the learning resources yourself.  Just contact Chris by email and she will arrange it for you.

We’ve built an office for both eLearn Australia and PTQ on our property at Eumundi.  It’s been a challenge and a lot of hard work, as we’ve project managed it ourselves and worked with the lovely Brett from On the Tools at Eumundi, labouring for him and doing the donkey work of painting and stuffing insulation in the wall spaces.

The progress has been fantastic. The timber stumps and floor joists went in at the end of January.  The office has been built within an existing farm shed and it seems as if the walls and roof went up in no time at all.  The solar panels are on the roof and ready for Energex to connect them.  With only one or two tasks left to complete it’s looking great.   

Right now I’m sitting in Nambour using a laptop, surrounded by knocked down furniture, boxes and packing cases. Everything is ready to be loaded and taken over on Friday.  Until then I’ll work from my home office.

Our new contact details, effective from 22nd February 2012 are as follows:

Physical address:  1342 Eumundi-Noosa Rd,  Eumundi, Qld 4562

Postal Address: PO Box 472, Eumundi, Qld 4562

Ph: 07 54427002

Everything else, email, website, Collaborate Virtual Office and mobile are the same as always.

Here are some ‘along the way’ photos of the building project.

Brett at about the halfway point when the walls and windows were in.  The office is clad in the same materials as the shed in keeping with its origins.  We’ve kept the timber poles in the interior to reflect the history of the property first as a source of cedar for the local tree fellers, then as as a ginger farm and later a bromeliad nusrsery.

The solar panels on the roof feed into the power grid. 

Last week, windows, wiring and comms in and Paul prepares to paint.

The view from my window across the car park.  Beats the view I have at the moment of roof tops and the airconditioning unit for Centenary Square.

We look forward to welcoming you to Eumundi next time you visit eLearn Australia.

Looking back at 2011, I’m very proud of our achievements.  It was a good year. One in which we felt eLearn Australia.com.au Pty Ltd had made a difference to VET and Higher Education.

The work we completed for Surf Life Saving in WA resulted in their winning three prestigious awards – two State Awards and a Highly Commended in the national Australian Safer Communities Awards 2011.  The Diploma of Enrolled Nursing developed with the University of Notre Dame in Australia’s Broome Campus received a good deal of interest and commendation and the Dual Diagnosis resource developed for Queensland Centre for Mental Health has been really well received by Mental Health ad Drug and Alcohol workers in Queensland.

We presented at a number of conferences in 2011 – in person at Learning Solutions 2011 in Orlando, Florida USA and Moodlemoot in Sydney  and online at Moodleposium in Canberra.

On a personal level I crossed a few things off my bucket list in 2011, not all of which were work related. 

I caught up with some of the people who have had a huge influence on my philosophy and practice of elearning development, and whom I haven’t spoken with for too long, including Jan Herrington. 

I visited and interacted with some of the first students to use the Diploma of Nursing in Broome and was blown away by their enthusiasm for and engagement with the materials we had developed for them. 

I became a kid again and had a day and a half’s fantastic fun in Disneyland in Florida.  I have the photos to prove that I rode Dumbo, hugged Winnie the Pooh and held a very dainty and feisty Tinkerbell in the palm of my hand! 

I regained eough of my health and mobility to walk on the ice fields of Norway, roam through the palaces of the Russian Czars, sail up the Volga and visit the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen.

Most of all, I learnt more and more about how we have to think and  what it takes for us to develp resources that meet the needs of learners.

We’re putting an emphasis on developing learning objects and resources for both desktop and mobile devices this year.  Much of what we develop will be in html5 and accessible by students using tablets, iPads, laptops, notebooks or desktop PCs in Apple, Windows and other commonly used operating systems.  A steep learning curve for everyone but a good one we believe.

So, we’re looking forward to a great 2012 and wish all of you a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year.