Maren Deepwell

Author: Maren Deepwell

  • How we survived a pandemic: Part 1 – No kind of normal

    This is a conversational blog post (cross-posted here) between Martin Hawksey (@mhawksey) and Maren Deepwell (@marendeepwell). 

    We are using this approach to create some space to think together in ‘unprecedented times’. It’s open leadership in practice and in pandemic times. For regular readers this is a slight departure from our regular ‘Virtual Teams’ posts (you can read those on our Virtual Teams summary page) taking a broader view of work whilst midst global pandemic. 

    We invite you to read and think along and send all the best to you and yours. We hope you are safe and we are grateful that we are, too.

    April… 

    Maren: Hello from month two of lockdown here in the UK. I initially started writing this post on 23 March, but since then so much has happened that I stopped and now, a month later, I’ve started this conversation again. I’ve been reading so much about the current crisis: at first there were emergency announcements and lockdown measures, then lots of support and help for coping, then about the ‘new normal’ and now we’ve arrived at predictions for the future. It is both incredibly busy and extremely boring. I am not sure how I feel about the idea of ‘business as usual’. I can understand the desire for a sense of normality and keeping to a routine, but no one can really function normally just now, so I am starting to think about what measures we can take to lead our team through the coming months.. ideas I have had include… building in a planned 20% reduction in overall productivity (to give us as a team more flexibility around care commitments etc); supporting setting priorities for each week and creating a clearer overview for us as a team (kind of like what you would do for a project, ie treat the crisis as a project) and to try and set aside small pockets of time for thinking about things, rather than just doing stuff. What do you think of these ideas? 

    Martin: There are days right now where I certainly feel less productive and reading this thread shared by one of our team members on the inability to focus as the result of the extra stress from the current situation definitely helped. I’ve also found some of the small adjustments to the way we operate have also been really beneficial. For example, as part of our usual weekly team meeting swapping our usually CPD focused ‘show and tell’, to a ‘show and mental wellbeing’ where we all shared something that was helping us cope with the current situation. I found it particularly uplifting and helpful to see the creativity from the team, but also get a sense that others are also impacted by our current life less normal. In terms of ideas I fear the danger of setting weekly priorities is that “SUDDENLY [you] DON’T GIVE AF about future-based goals, projects, or dreams like you used to?” and the stress of missing goals might end up snowballing. At this time I feel the best we can do is continue to be understanding and responsive to team member needs. Having extra time off over Easter is one example of how ALT has responded to support staff and I think it worth keeping in mind that additional ‘mental wellbeing’ might be required, but I see this need reducing as we all find a new normal. If not already it might be worth spending a little time in the team to share where we are at as a team and if there are any ways something in ALT’s control could be done to make the situation better? Perhaps this last one is covered by your last idea about setting time aside? 

    Maren: I agree that sharing the well-being ideas are really good. It’s great to hear all these ideas and we shared quite a few laughs as well. Also, our HR advisor, Jo, also checks in with everyone every two weeks. Two weeks is a long time just now, so a lot can change in how we are feeling or coping. It’s challenging to share how we all are as a team, because some of the things that are happening to everyone are very personal. I am trying to figure out the balance between work being an escape, a bit of “normality” for us all and work being a source of social interaction and support. These two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but they can sit uneasily alongside each other when for example one person wants to try and have a ‘normal day’ and someone else feels like sharing their pandemic news. On a practical note, I found revising our plan for 2020 really helpful. Focusing on specific tasks rather than an overall uncertain picture has helped focus my mind a bit more. So spreadsheets to the rescue? 

    Martin: Funny that you mention spreadsheets as they have been something I’ve turned to for my own wellbeing. On Twitter I was asked mental health #Threefor3 in which I included ‘coding’ as one of the things I do. Whilst I do a bit of coding for the day job I’ve also been using it as an escape, nothing like a bit of computational thinking for a distraction and relaxation … well for me anyway. I’ve published a number of these recent projects on my blog, which includes some of the Google Sheets tips we use at ALT for managing our events (evidence that like you trying to find a balance between work as an escape). Something else I’ve been reading and thinking about recently is the demands of video call and video conferencing. It started with this post from Anna Page with her reflections from #OER20. As part of this she mentions that “It can be cognitively demanding keeping an eye on the chat as well as listening to what the presenter is saying and looking at their slides”. This was something I hadn’t considered before but can see where Anna is coming from. More recently I’ve been reading a piece on Engadget on ‘Why is video conferencing so exhausting?’, which highlights factors like “non-verbal overload” and “constant gaze” as reasons video calls can be more tiring than meeting face-to-face. As someone who does lots of online meetings back-to-back is this something you can relate to? 

    Meeting around a document by Visual Thinkery is licenced under CC-BY-ND

    Maren: Definitely. I am not a fan of back to back video meetings and I find there are alternatives:

    • having a phone call (often more personal), 
    • meeting around a document, 
    • or screen sharing something that everyone can focus on instead of video, 
    • or having an audio call maybe with video briefly at the start to wave hello. 

    If… nothing helps and you do have to have back to back meetings, as I often do, then what works for me is 

    • to have them standing up (I currently have a standing desk only), 
    • to keep each one to half an hour or less, 
    • to take regular breaks between meetings, 
    • and to check in with everyone participating at the start. 

    Being one of many faces in a grid of video camera pictures is not a helpful way to visualise what having a productive meeting looks like. We don’t all just stare at each other in person. So having a visual focus other than those individual feeds, like an agenda document or a shared screen is key to getting things done for me. I’ve been enjoying reading the different perspectives on whether to use a virtual backdrop in video calls in an education context, like in a teaching context or at a conference, and I am in two minds about it. Whilst I prefer seeing people in their context, I appreciate that many are not in environments they are comfortable sharing widely or wish to protect their privacy. What is your view on video backdrops?

    Martin: Having something else to focus on like a doc is a great tip! Video backdrops is an interesting topic. I was at a webinar last week which was being presented by someone I knew, but never met in person. When they presented I thought they were in a rather luxurious private library and my thoughts were how grand it looked (and also how did they afford it!), then when the background started to glitch the game was up. I can see why people prefer to hide their actual backgrounds, particularly when given many have become enforced homeworkers and perhaps have had to squeeze into a space they wouldn’t usually want to share. I can see why people would also want to use enhancement filters, the nature of video call solutions means you generally end up having at the very least a thumbnail of yourself staring back at you, which to me can feel like there is a mirror in front of you most of the day. Awkward for those, especially those thrown into remote working, to adjust to constantly seeing yourself (I actually embrace this and often focus on looking at myself rather than others in the meeting. Not sure if this is how my head tries to get around ‘constant gaze’ of others or if I’m just a huge egomaniac 😉

    Maren: It’s been really useful for me to start a conversational blogging project in this new context. I am grateful for the prompt to do some thinking and critically reflect on my practice. I find in these busy times space to do any of that is precious and limited, so it’s useful to start thinking together again. But it is also a vulnerable position to be in, radically open if you like. Let’s hope our readers take encouragement from this, fellowship in face of a crisis. Till the next time 🙂

  • Thinking about how to virtually say thank you

    I work with volunteers on a day to day basis and with a small, dedicated team of people. Saying thank you and showing appreciation is something that is important to me personally and professionally, both on an individual basis and in my capacity as a leader and on behalf of my organisation.

    Saying thank you and expressing how much value the contribution of an individual or a group of people has is really hard to do online, where you can’t really hear the applause, feel the hugs or even shake hands. It’s one instance when emoji really don’t convey anything near the meaning that they should.

    Also, there is a lot that you can’t really convey online when it comes to physical tokens of thanks.

    For example, sending someone a small gift or a sticker only works with some people, whilst others might find the token disappointing.

    Also, saying thank you online can’t be done as easily by a group of people – there is less scope for spontaneity or personal contributions…

    BUT

    All that will have to change, because I have many people to thank and it will all have to happen online.

    So I am going to get my thinking cap on and ask for advice and input.

    • Maren Deepwell, Laura Czerniewicz, Helen Beetham
    • Celebrating the Learning Technologist of the Year Awards 2017
    • Josie Fraser receives her Honorary Life Membership of ALT (with Martin Weller and myself)

  • Radical Openness #OLCIdeate – and radical uncertainty

    Recently I contributed to a conversation around radical openness as part of the OLC’s Ideate online events, together with Robin DeRosa, Gerry Hanley, Leigh Graves Wolf and Rajiv Jhangiani. I was very glad to be invited and really enjoyed taking part.

    The session, described as a ‘community salon’ was described in the programme as an “opportunity for a group of thought leaders to engage participants in rich discussions around a broad topic intersecting with their scholarship and outreach. This salon brings together champions of open education and pedagogy sharing perspectives and guiding activities around the topic of radical openness, with a special focus on the ways that we can open doors for learners that are often hidden or closed to their success. Come with your ideas, challenges, and questions on the topic of openness, and take part in building new knowledge around open practices that will sustain us through and past these challenging times.”

    Leigh Graves Wolf set out a really helpful structure for the session, guiding us through a series of prompts and questions, including:

    • “in what ways are you open/radically open?”
    • “What are some Open Educational Practice behaviors that you promote/enact/admire?”
    • “What are some Open Educational practices that you promote/enact/admire?”

    And it resulted in a rich discussion and engagement, collated into shared documents (I encourage you to visit the OLC website to explore more).

    Eventually the conversation turned to current events, to how everyone is coping (or not) with the challenges of the pandemic, working from home, childcare, supporting students, teaching, Zoom… and so on. These topics, which have become so familiar to all in a short space of time.

    The more casual part of the conversation brought to light a different side of openness, which makes us all more vulnerable than sharing a teaching resource or a textbook. But it also made me think of ways in which, over time, our ideas of what might be radical openness may change. Here are some of my reflections:

    Radical… power structures

    At this stage of the great pirouette online, much of what is being done is still determined by power structures within institutions and communities or even countries, that rely on the decision making power of face to face institutions and processes, such as university governing bodies, finance committees, audits, quality reviews and so forth. Most of what is happening is not what was planned, but it is too new still for a lot of annual processes or less regular process to have happened yet and many of those processes are not open in either behaviour or practice. It’ll be interesting to see if we can challenge the openness of such structures more radically or whether the opposite will be true.

    Radical… change and culture

    In the first year of moving everything and everyone online we can draw on what we built up in person. There is a certain amount of common experience, of organisational culture, of shared memories, that act a bit like glue when it comes to getting through a crisis. But over time, as new people join the venture who don’t have that shared background, you open your behaviours and practice up to more radical change and transformation and that can be hard for everyone involved. Hard for those who are joining and hard for those who are already there. It’s difficult to build a shared sense of identity, aims or values without in person interaction at any level. One’s instinct is to close down options to change, to potentially loose what is being held on.

    Radical… uncertainty

    In the absence of much that we can rely on, it is difficult to imagine beyond the radical uncertainty we face. What do you do, whom do you ask, what is your plan when no one knows what, when or how things will change.

    Open behaviours and practice are hard to embrace when you are facing that kind of perspective. In that sense, any amount of openness we can put into practice is radical.

    One of the things we discussed in the session was how to support learners, and we were mostly focusing on traditional learners in a higher ed context here. But it was clear from the conversation and the comments from the audience, that we were all feeling more like learners again in a sense, just without the study guide to refer to.

  • Leadership in a crisis: better not alone (a ‘thank you’ to Martin Hawksey)

    It’s been a few tough weeks and there is more of this ahead. The longer it lasts, the more I read about how we are all finding this harder than expected. Fellow CEO David Hughes recently wrote on Coronavirus: ‘This is more difficult than I expected’ in the TES and the post resonated with me and many others.

    As a CEO, I am in a fortunate position in this crisis. I am not new in my role and I know my organisation well. I have a wonderful, inspiring Chair and active Board to work with who contribute their expertise and support me. I have a team of amazing colleagues, each of whom is working very hard, sharing tips on how to keep sane and we all support one other.

    But leadership is still often a lonely gig and like the generous CEOs and leaders of other organisations I talk to are finding, it is particularly tough when you are facing uncertainty at a scale none of us have before.

    Which is why, I am lucky to have Martin Hawksey as my deputy. As a senior leadership team of two we have been working together and running our organisation together for years. We chronicle our virtual adventures in leadership.

    Martin is prolific in many areas of his work, and shines in his work for ALT and beyond, in the developer community, on the Google Apps circuit, when it comes to delivering events online and in the inner circles of spreadsheet experts. If you are not already a fan of his influential blog, you should be.

    Frankly, I don’t think I know enough to fully understand how brilliant some of Martin’s more technical achievements really are – but I do see the results and they speak for themselves. He is a card carrying genius 😉

    Like many reluctant leaders, Martin doesn’t push himself to the front and often shies away from the limelight. Even when he wins awards and receives accolades from his fans in edtech, dev circles, senior staff and keynote speakers everywhere, he receives their praise with self-effacing modesty.

    That he doesn’t choose to take centre stage very often in public however, doesn’t mean that he isn’t an effective leader. His vision, his drive and energy are often what keeps us going. He finds solutions. He solves problems. He supports others and leads by example.

    When I told Martin that we will have to change our business model, plans and budgets in response to the current crisis, that we are facing completely new challenges ahead, his response was “… oh, I may have a good idea… I’ll just get started then…”.

    Being able to dig down into such resources of creativity and ideas is priceless at times like this.

    When I first started running and I had no idea how to keep going and cover long distances, Martin’s advice was simple, but effective: “slow down, but don’t stop. Just keep going.” A year later I completed my first Half Marathon.

    Martin has a combination of attributes that few people have: talent, skills, vision and heart. He is loyal and always tells me before I am about to make a wrong call. I can trust his judgement and he trusts mine.

    Together we make an effective leadership team with a track record of successes stretching back many years. It’s a partnership that has helped both of us to thrive in our work. We have weathered many a crisis together and celebrated the best of times, too.

    So, Martin, this is from me to you.

    Thank you for being all round amazing and the best collaborator I could wish for. This Sunday evening from 7pm (BST), on #ds106radio, I am going to play Knights of Cydonia in appreciation and play it LOUD. If you, like me, are a fan #4life of Martin Hawksey, I invite you to tune in.

  • How to be… not in a meeting and 10% more comfortable

    A friend of mine wrote to me today and talked about how working from home was going, something along the lines of endless Zoom meetings, and lots of good moments, but also low moments, missing having colleagues around to ask something or bounce ideas off.

    Many people I know are feeling that way, and in addition many are also juggling working in provisional set ups (sofas are not necessarily comfortable 6 hours into a long day), working from home surrounded by (small) people and, oh yes, a global pandemic to boot. All risk registers have long turned to red.

    I struggle just the same, with my personal circumstances, my work, coping with uncertainty… and as a relatively healthy and employed person, I am fortunate indeed.

    But… I do know some answers to the question of how to make what many are missing when working remotely happen when you are stuck working online and I want to share some examples of what has worked for me:

    Spend time online, not in a meeting

    The first time I really started to spend time working with someone online outside of meetings was when my colleague Martin joined our organisation (Martin won’t mind me writing about this, as we blog about working as a virtual team regularly). He and I are a senior staff team of two and so from the start I knew that being able to work together well was going to be really important. We started off having regular catch ups, meetings and so forth, but things weren’t working as well as we wanted them to – we didn’t have enough time to bounce ideas off each other. So we started getting into the habit to work together online, for example on a long or repetitive tasks, to share our screens, and to work together and chat alongside it. Over time, we started to get comfortable working together without being distracted or limited by the technology and the quality of our thinking increased rapidly.

    For me, there are a couple of things that make this work:

    • by sharing a screen or looking at something other than ourselves on video, we have something else to focus on together rather than just ourselves. It is less confrontational and formal, it feels less like a meeting. It’s still important to look at something together however, so that we don’t disengage and get distracted by emails…
    • spending time together outside of meetings or catch ups happens easily when you are based in the same space and as its not planned or accounted for, you are probably not even aware of how much time you would spend talking with others. Video meetings are exhausting, and people have the tendency to schedule too many of them, but booking out an hour or two every week when we do not have meetings but work or think about something practical, creates a very different mode of engagement
    • building trust and having conversations about difficult things or things we are not sure about or things we worry about is much easier when you have regular interactions that are informal, but still productive. The time we spend working together gives us that space. For us, over time, this became a huge benefit and translates into working practice across the team.

    Be your own best work colleague/you are your own worst work colleague

    Working from home, particularly under less than ideal circumstances, means you are both constantly confronted by everyone and everything from your personal life and also yourself. I found out pretty quickly that I don’t like myself as my own and only work colleague very much. I talk too much, I don’t take enough breaks, I am bad at jokes and when I am hungry I get in a bad mood quickly.

    Without the balancing effect of other people around me who are also working (and that is an important bit as people, however loved, who are not working, don’t ‘count’ as colleagues), spending every day with just myself was a bit of a shock to the system and I know many who feel similar. Here are some things I have found helpful to become a better work colleague for myself:

    • Saying good morning: I like greeting people, seeing them on the way to work, saying hello. I missed this a lot when I started working from home, so I always start each day at work saying good morning online. I find it grates if the first thing I get is a chat that starts with “Hi, can you help me with this problem” or “Oh no, see what’s happened now…” or “I’m so tired today”. All valid of course, but my usual response is, “Good morning, X, hello to you. How are you doing? I’ve just arrived at my desk, so I’ll have a look at … just as soon as I have said hi to everyone” or something like that.
    • Breaks and snacks: we use a ‘water cooler’ chat channel to share things like what kind of biscuits we are having as a snack or pictures of our pets. I often use the fact that others are having a break as a prompt to have a break myself, to go and make a cup of tea, stand outside for a moment if its dry. Getting up and moving about really helps both my body and my mind and is something that I forget to do if left to my own devices.
    • Dress for others: OK, so at the time of writing this may be harder to achieve than it normally is, but it can be helpful to dress for others as if you were meeting them in person. I often dress according to what meetings I may have that day, for a specific person I am catching up with or a team meeting and so on. I would normally “dress for myself” if you know what I mean, but when you are at home on your own or with your family for weeks on end, that becomes more of a challenge as you may not get past sweatpants and t-shirts.

    Consider how you could be 10% more comfortable

    I had a wonderful yoga teacher for a couple of years and one of the things she taught me was to pause and consider how I could make myself 10% more comfortable. It may sound a bit trite, but I found it to be a powerful tool, particularly when you are working from home. Small changes such as a thingy to help with screen glare (technical term), a cushion at your back, a colourful coaster or mouse mat, a change in position… these things can make a small but important difference to how stressed, tense and sensitive I am at work.

    I find I can loose my sense of humour or perspective rapidly when my back aches or I can’t see the screen properly… and things that start out as quite small niggles can quickly escalate when everyone is less than comfortable. In these times, when everyone is under pressure, everyone deserves compassion, everyone wants to be reassured, it is a powerful tool to try and make things 10% more comfortable. 10% is always achievable. 10% does make a difference. 10% a day or a week or even a month does add up.

    The 10% thing also encourages me to remember that whilst most of what I do might be digital, I am most definitely made of flesh and blood and aching bones. Few people feel their best just now and many feel up and down and thoroughly discombobulated. We are far from ‘business as normal’ even if we are achieving many things and people are working hard – no matter how well we are coping, we could probably all do with 10% more comfort.

    So there you are. Take care.

    Dedicated to my friend Margaret who inspired this post.

  • OER20: definitely not ‘business as usual’

    I have blogged about every OER Conference I have been to, and this year’s was a very special one. So I want to try and continue the tradition, but what can I say about the cancelled conference that happened online with 1100+ people?

    There is plenty to discover and reflect on about OER20 – and this post captures some of the voices, and includes links to content and resources. I’d also encourage you to have a look at the #OER20 hashtag on Twitter and if it is expertise about running events online you are after… then we are collating resources from ALT and others on this resources page for the community. We have also put together a slide deck (and webinars) about “How ALT runs events online: Sharing our expertise” https://go.alt.ac.uk/EventsOnline.

    Slide from “How ALT runs events online:
    Sharing our expertise” https://go.alt.ac.uk/EventsOnline

    But I don’t want to write about the business model, the money lost, the ‘blood, sweat and tears’ that it took to make it happen. Instead I want to share my thanks for the openness of OER20:

    Sharing open leadership in a crisis

    In the run up to the event, the global situation changed quickly. Plans made one day, were superseded by events 24 hours later. Risk assessments undertaken on Friday turned into disaster mitigation plans by Monday morning. Taking decisions in the face of uncertainty on such a scale is difficult. And being a CEO IS about taking decisions first and foremost. Colleagues from across the globe shared examples of the statements they published, actions they took, plans they made – putting our usually relatively quiet CEO networks into overdrive. I am grateful to everyone who shared their work so freely to help us help each other ‘rescue’ our events in the face of a global crisis.

    Yes, academic conferences are certainly not at the top of the list of priorities amidst a pandemic, but professional bodies like ALT serve thousands of individuals at the forefront of keeping learning, teaching and assessment going – and the exchange of information that conferences provide still plays a role in supporting the work they do even in a crisis. Also, there are hundreds of people who have invested time, money and resources into planning trips, who are, in some cases, already on route. Hundreds of individuals who deserve clarity and support from organisations like the one I run.

    Precarious circumstances become more challenging when uncertainty increases across sectors and OER20 supports the involvement from many in precarious circumstances through scholarships, bursaries, practical support and so forth. Sharing information and best practice with other organisations enabled us to find the best approach we could, supporting individuals and our community, ultimately enabling us to deliver some of the event online. The work we are doing now, sharing what we have learnt from the experience, is hopefully useful to others who are facing similar decisions in the weeks and months ahead.

    Sharing joy and tears in the open

    Many contributed much to making OER20 happen. To each of you, thank you. For me personally, there were two moments that really captured both the joy and the sadness of the times in very unique ways.

    One was a live online session led by Frances Bell celebrating the FemEdTech Quilt of Care and Social Justice. You can catch both the recording of the session and the accompanying video via the conference page. I have contributed to the quilt project both personally and professionally and yet the power of the live session really took me by surprise. I don’t think any webinar moved me to tears along with half the audience before this. It was a moment of connecting with fellow collaborators across the globe that was so special and made the distances and isolation between us, the crisis we are all weathering, palpable.

    The other session was the evening’s #OER20 #KaraOERoke Night. I don’t think I had laughed more than that in weeks. It was very special, but also fun and incredibly moving to see conference participants and their families join in with the Frozen song, reviving classics and demonstrating their singing ability with everything from Motörhead to Kate Bush. Those moments, whether online or in person, are unforgettable.

    Sharing care in openness

    Rarely has a conference theme turned out to be quite so prophetic as OER20’s The Care in Openness. Little did we know in April 2019 that pedagogies of care would take centre stage in a global pandemic by the time the conference came to be. As it turned out, care was to be central to everyone’s life in April 2020.

    We talked a lot about care at OER20, care for students, care for staff, care in institutions, care for each other, care in every aspect of life. What we demonstrated most however is that we all need more of it.

    From babies and children taking part in conference sessions, to sharing the event’s ‘official’ pyjama dress code, to dropping in and out of taking part whilst caring for family and friends, pausing to rest and sleep – everything about OER20 reminded me that things were about as far from ‘business as usual’ as conferences can get. In some ways, and for obvious reasons, it was heartbreaking and horrible, to witness how the world was changing and disrupting our community. In other ways OER20 felt hopeful and provided moments of respite, a small measure of solace. And that is most precious in times like these.

    Thank you.
    Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen.
    Thank you for creating openness in a crisis.
    Thank you for caring.