Week 1 Face to Face (TechResort)

We all met at TechResort. 

It was a soggy start for some of us, wet weather and finding a parking space was a challenge!

But, TechResort made sure everyone’s ipads were secure, we had a cuppa and a biscuit, met each other and now we are ready to tackle zoom over the next couple of months!

Week 2 Face to Face (TechResort)

Right today, down to work! We practised getting on and off zoom using an aphasia friendly zoom guide. This is as much a test of the guide, as it is of group members skills!!

However, being among people we knew, eating biscuits and drinking tea and coffee and excellent accessible 1 to 1 support from the TechElves and TechResort really helped.

Once we’d had a good go and getting on and off zoom it was time to experiment with zoom together.

Kate had created a fab activity to encourage us all to use zoom annotate creatively!

Here is our group interpretation of a holiday spot one of us brought in to share…

and here is the photo with our work overlaying it….clearly a Hawaii!

Zoom Session 1 (Home)

Ok today was a big challenge.

Which group members could use their guide and all our practice together to find everyone on-zoom from home?

Answer: 3 out of 4 of us!!

Ok so a few phone calls may have been required to get everyone here- but we did it!!

Gooo ladies!!!

Then we got really clever and shared some of the collage work we had done between sessions- designing our own holiday postcards.

Maybe one day the weather will change here in Eastbourne!!

Week 3 Face to Face (TechResort)

So getting to the venue is no longer an issue. In fact we were good to go at 11am and time flew today- everyone was surprised when the hour had finished!

We showed each other the holiday postcards we made at home and then got on with more zoom practice. 

Today we focused on getting into annotate independently- using a new section of our zoom guides.

Then we all joined the same zoom meeting again and used our annotate skills to have a conversation about the objects and feelings we take on holiday and bring back! Here are some of the objects we pack- and the feelings we like to leave behind us:

And here are some of the objects and feelings we bring back!!

Zoom Session 2 (Home)

Today the number of people who arrived on zoom = 3 out of 4.

Number of people who met us independently = 1

Number who had some help = 2.

Once we’d all arrived- today we shared souvenirs we have brought back from holidays.

There were some great stories, including:

- a cuddly sheep given to someone on holiday in France by a neighbour's dog, and

- an amazing belly dancing costume bought in Egypt for a belly dancing in Willingdon!

We then all used annotate to vote for one souvenir we are going to use to make a huge group collage about our holiday experiences in next weeks face-to-face session.

The winner was….baa baa the sheep!!

Week 4 Face to Face (TechResort)

Today we mixed physical creativity with more practice using zoom.

First we looked at this blog using zoom share screen. It was great to see everything we have done together.

We discussed how are online zoom meeting went.

Not everyone found chatting over zoom easy. 

Sometimes the screen is too busy and everyone was too noisy. 

So new ground rules next week: we speak using a round robin system and we'll use breakout rooms with 1 facilitator and 2 group members.

Big is not always beautiful when you have aphasia.

Then we used our blog to practice using zoom annotate....a voilà!!

Getting more confident now. 

Finally we got down to collaging inside our Baa Baa The Lamb outline-

We each filled a quarter of Baa Baa using pictures and words we've used when talking about holidays during zooming great...

This sparked a lot of conversation again about previous adventures...safari, the French Alps, Egyptian markets...

We'll look at the completed Baa Baa together on zoom on Friday...exciting!!

Quote of today... (awesome!!)

Zoom Session 3 (Home)

Today we really saw some members confidence blooming into independence!

Not only independence on zoom (2 people got online 100% on their own), but also in their everyday lives. People have now come along to four Zooming Great Sessions on their own at TechResort and this week this gave one member the confidence to go to their coffee shop on their own....and...

"I did it, I did it all on my own and I'm so pleased!" (Val F)

We are really pleased too. We had a go today at using annotate to create a digital version of baa baa. What do you think?

But it's not perfect. We had one member missed the face-to-face session Tuesday and getting onto zoom today was just too hard... seems practice really does make the crucial difference.

I have just received a text- one group member has just popped over to see the member who could not get online and they are practising together now.

Confidence is leading independence...in so many forms!

Zoom Session 4 (Home)

Today we trialled meeting on zoom without our Tuesday practice.

2 out of 4 members turned up today. 

One member had an appointment- which had nothing to do with tech skills!

The two members that arrived showed amazing digital resilience.

Pat did not panic when she could not get her audio to work. We just spoke on the phone- she watched her screen we showed her the audio "wif-fi" option to select in our ZG Guide and voila!!

And Val, well she did some amazing trouble shooting- her ipad froze so she switched to her mobile phone and connected to zoom using that. One of the TechResort elves had shown Val how to use zoom on her phone in week 4 ... fantastic work!! 

Today looked at our holiday artwork we made together...and spoke about submitting something to Grayson's Art Club.

Here are 2 of our submission options- we'll take a group vote on which to submit at our next face-to-face session...

Finally we spoke about what our work together has changed for people....the social isolation imposed by covid has not gone away for everyone. 

One small step with technology, one zooming great leap for...

connecting with different people, and getting my confidence back

Week 5 (Face to-Face)

This was her first truely hybrid meeting- two people came to TechResort and one person joined online.

If you get your days in a muddle, just press "join meeting" and you arrive, from the comfort of your own sofa.

It really worked and was so much fun!!

We voted on which Baa Baa the sheep to send off to Grayson's Art Club today for the theme "Holiday"...

Here was our vote (of course using zoom annotate).

 

And here is the winner!!

Whether we get mentioned at Art Club or not we had a fantastic time creating this artwork, reawakening the memories it bought up and using our new digital skills to create this together. 

You'll all have to watch Grayson's Art Club 15th April 8-pm on Channel 4 to see if Zooming Great has zoomed it's way onto the TV!!

Session 5 Online

Today all four members met online!

3 out of 4 got onto zoom independently- and it was so easy it was as if getting on zoom had never been difficult!

Amazing work ladies. As a next step we tackled how to use stands with ipads- and there was (almost) no swearing while people worked out how to put their stands up!

Today looked at vintage postcards of Eastbourne- we had a chat about what we saw, and how Eastbourne has changed- highlight bits of the pictures using zoom annotate.

Here is a picture of Eastbourne Pier and the steam ferry that used to run between Eastbourne and Brighton! Here we were talking about where the fishing used to happen...

image from @20centuryeastbourne

Session 6 (Face -to- Face)

Today was our last face -to- face session. Time has flown by!

3 out of 4 members are now confidently getting onto Zoom without any help- and are keen to try out some of the other zoom groups that are out there.

Today the group used their annotate skills to create Easter Cards which we then printed at TechResort and could take home to send to friends and family.

Everyone also took home a zooming great mug with baa baa the sheep  on it, and TechResort made everyone an i pad stand with their 3D Printer- and we saw one being made. 

Quote of today: 

“I feel very alone with my speech but meeting you I don’t”

Finally- last but not least here is our video we sent to Grayson's Art Club (we have our fingers crossed!!).

Last zoom session this Friday 😥 and we are going to explore other zoom groups members can now try out- and get feedback about the course.

Happy Easter Everyone and thanks for reading about our journey...it's been a blast!!

Watch this space for our next zooming great adventure!