Today’s the day you can really get into u.lab as the first set of materials is released on edX (likely to be this afternoon due to time differences with the US).

Live sessions are a great way to feel part of the global community.  Otto and the team host a live online get-together where we hear what’s going on and can participate through social media.  The first u.lab live session will take place at 3pm today (21 Sept 2017) and, responding to feedback, will last an hour (rather than 1.5 hours in previous years).  You can watch the live session and participate via twitter by using this link: http://webcast.mit.edu/u.lab1x/live/1738/ and via Facebook live.  If you can’t make it live, the team put out the recorded version shortly after broadcast.

There will be four live sessions during u.lab.  We plan to host a ulabscot live session celebration on 14 Dec in Edinburgh where we can share stories of our journeys and watch the final live session together.  Come along yourself, or why not bring your hub or coaching circle?  Book your place here.

Anyone for SMOOC?

u.lab can be intensive with a lot of material and things to do (if you’re already feeling a bit overwhelmed, I’d encourage you to read my post from last year’s launch).  It’s part of the reason the team moved to a fortnightly release of material instead of weekly.  We are in the privileged position of being able to offer some light additional material to put the u.lab concepts in a Scottish context – just an extra film or so every fortnight.  We affectionately refer to this as the SMOOC (Scottish Massive Open Online Course 😉 )

However, due to how edX works (the platform that hosts u.lab online), you need to register your interest to get access to this.  It’s signposted in the material but if you’re super keen, complete this online form and Adam will get you sorted as quickly as he can.

Still looking for a hub or coaching circle to join?

More hubs have been pinned on the hub map and there are yet more forming that we know of.

And there are many more participants spread across Scotland.  If you want to see if there are participants near you, take a look on the u.lab community site.  It can be a bit tricky to navigate so I’ve set it out step-by-step:

1. Sign up or log on to http://www.presencing.org (click the person icon on the top right-hand corner)
2. Click “Community” (top menu bar) and then “Members“
3. Next to the search box, there is a box called “All courses”.  Choose “u.lab 1x 2017“
4. You can then search by town or, perhaps more helpfully, click on the map icon next to the number of members and zoom in to your local area.

It can take a while for people to find their feet on the different platforms so you might want to check back a few times over the coming days and weeks.  You never know, your neighbour might be a fellow u.labber!

If you need any help, please remember you can ask fellow u.labbers on Twitter (#ulabscot #ulab) or on our Facebook Group.  If you’re Edinburgh-based, we also have a monthly Breakfast Club, supported by Workforce Scotland, that a lot of u.labber come to but that’s also open to anyone trying to work differently.

Enjoy the journey!