Welcome again from Estonia!

We gathered in Tallinn on June 4, 2007 for a one day conference to discuss how to integrate "e learning” into the curricula of European judicial training centres. Thanks once again for the conference organizers and funders (especially the European Community) that made this possible. I think we all agree based on the discussions in Tallinn that we are at a very early stage in understanding the potential of adding e learning tools to judges training curricula. We promised at the event to take our discussions further. The purpose of this web page is to bring an "e learning" component into the conference, and empower us as a group to think further what we can do next.This site should not be confused with the IOM website∞ that provides the conference materials. The IOM also hosts its e learning tool∞. This web site is a bit different. It is for us to chat further. Thus it employs a wiki software that allows you to enter text directly onto the page (THIS IS VERY EASY SO NO NEED TO WORRY). So it is YOUR web site as much as it is mine. Feel free to take ownership, and use it as needed. In a sense, it is our "e learning" about how to develop "e learning" for judges.

The web site is divided into five sections that each relate to aspects of the conference. They are:

1.The Conference Agenda∞
2. Materials and Discussions Related to Presentations∞
3. Workshop Conclusions∞
4. Sharing E Learning Experiences∞
5. Proposals for further projects∞

As you click on a link, you will go to another page that is part of this site. To get back here, you can use links provided on the page, or just click on the "HomePage" menu at the top left of the page. Using the links, and the HomePage menu should allow you to easily navigate through the site.

Just what have we created?

The first three sections are fairly standard. You just click on the link above to get to the section. Once there, you will find text offered from the conference. (for example the agenda, materials, summaries of discussions and so on). These are just electronic versions of the materials we used at the event. They are offered here again as a resource, and second as a starting point for further commentary. Well you can do that right on the web page. Just add your comments in the space provided. The commentary is back to the group as a whole, and is entirely open. So for example, What did you think of Gallagher’s presentation on how e learning should work? Is it already „old hat”? Do you think it is right? Is it realistic? Maybe Gallagher left something out? Maybe some ideas should be developed further. You get the idea. Feel free to comment back to the group, and the entire group will be able to respond to you.

And now for something new (and I hope fun)

Sections four and five are meant to open up some more creative thinking. Here we go into the wiki world, where we work on joint pages. In sections four and five, any logged in participant can edit and add text in order to discuss our experiences and develop proposals for projects. To edit a page, just double click on the page itself. It will switch into a new format that allows you to enter text directly. When you are done, just click on the "store" button, and you have updated the web page. It is up to you what you might wish to edit or add to. THIS IS VERY EASY! IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS, SEND ME AN E MAIL (michael@laf.ee) and I will get you wiki'ing very quickly.

Summing up

So, I hope this helps us get started on a new adventure together. In a true e learning fashion, our conference is just a starting point for developing our connections. Once our discussions get moving, we may wish to start new pages for new discussion topics. This is not a problem. I will be monitoring the discussions and as I see the need, I will send an e mail to the group about new pages going up. I will then set up new sections and pages as needed. So, we take full control of this electronic forum so that it takes us where we want to go as a group.

I hope that it is fun to use these pages! It was great to see all of you in Tallinn, and I hope that this is just a start of our work together!.

Michael Gallagher
Tartu June 2007