Maren Deepwell

Author: Maren Deepwell

  • New adventures in podcasting

    For the past few years I have indulged in my love for internet radio. DS106 has been the most fun, a valuable way to connect with colleagues and friends, to have some fun during lockdown and beyond.

    Last year I started remote working radio shows on DS106radio, sharing the story of writing my book, ideas and insights and had some wonderful special guests along the way. It was a great season of chat and music and a wonderful way to connect with listeners.

    The one issue with the radio sessions was that it proved difficult for folk to catch up with it, and it was a challenge for me to schedule the sessions live. I ended up having to reschedule often, and it made it hard for everyone who wanted to listen live or catch up worth the recording.

    So this year, I am embarking on new adventures – this time in podcasting. I love listening to podcasts and I am excited to learn how to record them and make them available.

    It’s been fun and interesting to learn about a new medium and to think about how I want MY podcast to work, given that up to now I only had the opportunity to be on other people’s podcasts.

    And I love it! I enjoy the experimentation and figuring out how to connect with all the different platform, which is definitely still a work in progress.

    Each episode includes tools, resources and strategies for different aspects of hybrid working, and links to blog posts and further reading.

    I hope you enjoy the show. As always, share your ideas and feedback in the comments, or on social media. If you have a specific questions or comment, contact me . I look forward to hearing from you.

    Listen to the podcast

    Recent episodes

  • Book launch week unpacked

    Book launch week unpacked

    I am really, really happy that this week my book is finally going to be published. The digital edition has been ready for a while and the first proof of the print version arrived this week, so it’s starting to feel real. Yesterday I added the ISBN to the cover design and ‘BOOM!’ – it felt like a proper book.

    Publishing a book feels scary. It took me nearly two years to write, although I started with years of blog posts and presentations to draw on. I rewrote pretty much all of the material I already had, cutting and editing along the way. If you have followed the progress of the book or read any of the draft chapters I published along the way, you will know just how much of an evolution this project has been through.

    Even after the editing process was finished, I found an error in the introduction, and fortunately there was time to get it fixed and the files updated. I am sure the print edition will include some typos, too. So I am making a list of things to fix in the 2d edition.

    It’s not perfect, that’s for sure, but I am proud of this piece of work. It’s useful and interesting and an attempt to grapple with issues that many in leadership roles will be familiar with. Obviously I want it to be well-received and reflect positively on ALT, as so much of the inspiration and case studies are focused on my work there. I appreciate it enormously that the book’s digital edition is published by ALT as an Open Access publication. Sharing knowledge is after all what this book is all about.

    I also feel a little sad, to let the book enter the public domain. Since I started working on it, it’s been my project, mine to nurture and progress. It’s been my focus on days off, evenings and weekends and a writing holiday. Sure, I have published extracts along the way, and I have shared some of the resources from the book on radio, in my podcast and the Hacks for Hybrid Working course. And the book has bee read by colleagues and Trustees who helped review it. In some ways, there is little in the book that isn’t already out there.

    Once the book in its entirety is out, then it belongs to all who read it. It becomes lots of different things to many people and they make their own meaning, shaped by their experiences and context. I am excited to see how the book may be used or interpreted by others and I hope that the related resources, blog posts and podcasts will help make it a valuable resource.

    Meanwhile my thoughts have started to turn to the course which I will run in spring 2023, offering a practical approach to leading virtual teams #excited.

  • Changing habits with a Pie Chart Diary

    Recently I have been working with a number of clients who are finding hybrid working habits hard to change. Busy days blend into each other, and at the end of a week or even a month, routine tasks like answering emails or attending meetings have taken up all the time and other priorities or more creative work have had to take a back seat.

    I have struggled with this for years. Changing habits to make more time for writing, research or simply finding a moment to hear yourself think can be a challenge. Particularly when your working days are punctuated by the ping of notifications, endless emails or mandatory meetings, finding what some call the right cadence, a balance between busy work and creative tasks merits our attention.

    Setting abstract targets like “make more time for…” or “be more research-focused” can feel unachievable. So where do you start? One place to start is to get a new perspective on how you spend your time, so that you can pick a good moment to change your habits.

    For me, a bit of a spreadsheet nerd, I decided to track my time manually. I spend 2-3 minutes at the end of each day making a pie chart of what I had done that day. I continued to do this every day, always just before leaving my desk, and over the period of a month or two, I learnt some things about how I work:

    • I found that Tuesday, for example, were days when I never achieved my goals because they are dominated by meetings.
    • Wednesday mornings and Friday mornings were most productive for me.
    • I generally found time for things once I had a firm deadline.

    Here is an example of the Pie Chart Diary tool and how it can be used:

    Use it over a period of a few weeks or months, and reflect on:

    What do you spend most/least time on?
    What days of the week are you more likely to you achieve your goals?
    What is missing from your days?
    What could you change most easily to find better balance
    or to meet your goals?

    You can download this template if you’d like to try it out for yourself. Depending on your preference, you may want to print the template and write on it or simply use a blank piece of paper to make your charts. Or, if you prefer, use a spreadsheet or similar to track your categories and how you spend your time.

    The important part is to take a moment at the end of each day, and honestly reflect on what you actually did during the day. If there is something that takes up time, distracts you or interrupts you, consider adding it to your chart.

    When my dog was a puppy, my pie chart diary would have definitely included a “puppy” category as it took a lot of time out of my day to look after her.

    Look out for a podcast episode exploring the pie chart diary. As always, I’m curious to hear from you, what tools you use to track your days and what you learn along the way.

  • Monthly News, October 2022

    Welcome to my first autumn news of the year. At the start of the new academic year, I am preparing for the launch of Leading Virtual Teams, which is due to be published next month. After 18 months of sharing my work on the book as a work in progress, I am really excited to share the final Open Access publication with you all. The digital version will be free to read and download and also look out for upcoming blog posts and also the return of the remote working show. 

    Last year, the first season of the show was broadcast on DS106 Radio and the recordings were shared on my website. For this season I am trying out a new podcast format which will make the show easier to access live and as a recording, too. 
    Coaching this autumnThere are still two spaces remaining in my autumn coaching schedule. I offer 1-to-1 coaching for individuals, usually for six online sessions. Get in touch with me if you’d like to explore how coaching with me might work for you. 

    For existing clients who feel like you are just getting started or want to continue our work together I offer a discounted package of six sessions for £210 which includes six one hour sessions, a coaching plan, resources and regular check-ins. 

    Although I currently have no slots for new pro-bono clients, I do have a wait-list for new pro-bono clients looking to start coaching with me in 2023. Get in touch to join the wait-list. 

    This month Hacks for Hybrid Working, a new flex course from Reclaim Hosting, gets underway, and I am excited to work with the team to draw out some of the insights from Leading Virtual Teams for this 4 week course. Each week features ideas to try out, prompts to reflect on and resources with a host of community voices.
    Resources and blog postsYou can find free coaching resources via my website and this time I have two new posts to share: 
    Small celebrations: I embarked on a month of celebrating small daily wins to combat a sense of always striving for the next goal;
    Creating space in a packed schedule: a post and resources exploring strategies to pair habits in order to create space or find focus.  

  • Hacks for Hybrid Working starts on October 24

    I am very excited to spot the announcement for Hacks for Hybrid Working, a new flex course starting on October 24th, in the September edition of the Reclaim Roundup which links through to Lauren’s preview post of the course.

    For many of us in Higher Ed, hybrid working is here to stay. So whether you’d like to create a better work/life balance juggling being on campus with working from home, or you are looking to move from crisis mode to a way of working that is more sustainable, healthful or simply a little more joyful, this course is for you. Join us to explore hacks to create a better hybrid workplace for everyone.

    For me, this is the ideal project closely related to Leading Virtual Teams, which is due to be published next month. I appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with Lauren and the amazing folk at Reclaim outside of my day job and to have the opportunity to share some of the know-how gathered on how to make hybrid working work for you.

    The cherry on top is that this course is free for anyone to attend and participate, so if you are keen to learn more, register here to receive event information.

    What’s the course about?

    Lauren explains in her post:

    We’ll be meeting over the course of 4 weeks beginning late October through November to unpack hybrid working and all that it entails. These sessions will be a continuation of our OER22 presentation, Building Connections with Virtual Teams, as well as our radio broadcasts that I’ve outlined in my post, Working Habits, Self Evals, and Finding Connection. I’m really looking forward to diving further into personal working habits that take shape in virtual/hybrid settings, evaluating our relationships with digital tools, and building out a Hybrid Working Roadmap.

    Here’s our topic list:

    • Week 1: Hybrid Working Unpacked
    • Week 2: Digital Tools in the Virtual Workplace
    • Week 3: Exploring Hybrid Working Hacks
    • Week 4: Complete your Hybrid Working Roadmap

    There is so much fun in store, including a special radio session and a SPLOT site alongside the course materials and tools we’ll be trying out.

    How can you take part?

    Sessions will premier on watch.reclaimed.tech/hybrid-working when the time comes, and we’ll also be chatting in the #hybrid-working discord channel! Also, make sure you check reclaimed.tech for weekly blog posts with supplemental resources, quick links, a SPLOT or two, and even some homework.

    When: October 24 – November 18
    Weekly video sessions each Mondays at 11am ET
    Live Q&A/discussion time on Fridays at 11am ET

    We are really looking forward to seeing you there 🙂

  • Submitted! My Senior CMALT Portfolio update

    In January I blogged about getting the process of updating my Senior CMALT Portfolio underway, and my intention was to blog monthly to share my process. Alas, we are not in late September and although I haven’t blogged or indeed progressed the task at hand, today I am doing both!

    I have updated my portfolio AND am blogging about it, so YAY!

    To recap, here is what I set out to do:

    Updating my portfolio

    ALT requires portfolios to be reviewed and updated every three years in order to maintain Senior Certified Member status and I am afraid my three years were up in late 2021. I applied for an extension (last year was manic for many reasons), and now I need to get underway with my review process.

    I have had a look at the guidance first (I haven’t actually ever updated my portfolio before) and here is what I need to do:

    First I am going to have a look at my original Senior CMALT portfolio. Then, I need to add the following sections:

    • Summary of recent work/practice (500 words)
    • Overview of CPD activities over the past 3 years, with 3 examples discussed and reflected on in greater depth
    • Updated future plans (300 words)
    • Updated Confirmation and date

    At first I was not sure what I was going to use as examples of CPD activities over the past three years yet, but I once I reviewed my list of CPD activities, I found it easy to choose the examples.

    You can have a look at my updated portfolio (which has been submitted for assessment).

    Sign-posting updates

    My portfolio is a Google doc and a number of related files, all shared by a folder. For the three year review I made a copy of my original document, re-named it and updated that.

    To make it easier to assess, I highlighted the updated sections.

    What I didn’t do

    When I first submitted my Senior CMALT portfolio in 2018, it was an updated and expanded version of my original 2016 CMALT submission. It formed part of the pilot group for Senior CMALT.

    In an ideal world, I would have liked to review and update/refine all aspects of my portfolio, including moving it over to a WordPress format, a task which I have been making little progress on for over four years.

    On reflection however, I feel that I have done what the 3 year review process is designed to do and found it valuable to take stock of my development over the past 3-4 years.

    I also find that the current format, the Google doc, really works well for me when it comes to making these updates. I am comfortable working in the format, so I don’t waste time fiddling with images or making it look more impressive.

    As an assessor I see some beautifully presented portfolios, and I am always full of appreciation for professionals who can not only showcase their accomplishments and reflect on them, but to do so with real style! Kudos to you folk out there who create bespoke images, video and more.

    Personally, having struggled to complete this task since September 2021, the thought of moving to a new format or doing a major update put me off. I am glad to have completed the required sections, which turned out to be fairly short at 500 words and 300 words and 3 examples of CPD.

    If you are in the same boat as me and staring at the portfolio review deadline, good luck! You’ve got this 🙂