Whilst I am very pleased with the number of people who have signed up to the site, and the percentage of them that have contributed to it in one way or another, I can't help but suspect that if the average local government person was a bit more comfortable & familiar with wikis and other collaboration tools, the site would be growing even more quickly than it is.
I am hoping that as younger people enter the local government workforce they will be more and more atuned to collaborative thinking, and be willing and eager to openly share information & ideas with each other.
I also think that local government and educational institutions should be working together to make sure that students are getting educated in way that will make them more useful to their future employers. I have been wondering for a while how we in local government can develop that partnership, and I think I might have an answer.
The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government is federally funded collaboration of universities and professional bodies committed to the advancement of local government. I hope they are able to come up with a few ideas for advancing local government, but I also hope they are willing to listen to the ideas of people in local government about how to advance education for the betterment of local government. Its a two way street!
I am going to be telling them that they should be:
a) teaching students how to use wikis and other collaborative tools to solve problems.
b) listening to the ideas of people in local government and helping us implement them.
What do you want the ACELG to do with federal money they have been given on our behalf?
They are our conduit to the education system. Lets use that conduit.
Wayne Eddy
Melbourne, Australia
LGAM Knowledge Base
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