Maren Deepwell

Author: Maren Deepwell

  • Interiority in the landscape: using running to create space inside my head

    Photo of sunrise over a field pathWhen I discovered that I love running it wasn’t because of the actual movement. It took me over 6 months to be able to jog gently and over a year to actually run. What I did enjoy straight away as being outside, moving through the landscape at my own pace and having time to get to know my thoughts within it. Over the past 18 months it’s become part of my everyday to head outside, mostly in the mornings, to get that time with myself  in the world that surrounds me.

    Last weekend I went for a run in the fields, surrounded by butterflies and bees and listening to the sound of thousands of insects busily enjoying the sunshine. It felt like running through summer.

    I try and take a picture each time, and I can track the seasons as well as my occasional encounters with cats, deer and other wildlife as the years goes on. It’s good to feel the seasons and the weather, even if that sometimes means getting very wet indeed. Running gives me time to reflect and put my own thoughts into perspective, to feel connected to the world around me and the landscape.

    As the weather changes I have to adjust, putting on more layers (lots of them), going more slowly and adjust where I go as paths become wet or icy. When it’s cold running dominates my senses more. I love the moments when the whole world is silent and all I can hear is the sound of my own footsteps. Having read a lot of anthropological theories about the relationship between human beings and their landscapes it sometimes feel like I am reclaiming that relationship for myself, on my own two feet,  and with it a sense of context and belonging.

    I take my running with me whenever I can on my travels and I have discovered places I visit for work on foot, but while it still feels rewarding it’s not the same. There isn’t as much time for thought when you have to check a map or get up an unexpected hill.

    As I have become a better runner and as the distance I can cover increases, the rewards of heading outside have become greater. There is more to discover, more to observe and more time to feel the sun (or rain or wind) on my skin. I now enjoy the occasional burst of speed, and I’ve discovered that being organised, an early riser and self motivated are all really helpful when it comes to this hobby. Yet it’s the sense of moving and thinking in the landscape, of being part of the world and feeling it through my feet and seeing, smelling – sensing the seasons change, that gets me out of the door.

  • Catching up ahead of ALT’s Annual Conference

    Catching up ahead of ALT’s Annual Conference

    This is my busiest time of year, not least because it’s the run up to  ALT’s Annual Conference.  But however busy things have been, I have been writing and talking about all things Learning Technology and ahead of September here is a quick catch up:

    Yesterday I took part in a Radio Edutalk broadcast presenting an ALT Annual Conference preview together with Sheila MacNeill and Lorna Campbell. I really enjoyed talking to the host John Johnston and his audience as Lorna, Sheila and I were reflecting together how many people contribute to making this event happen over the course of a year. I felt the same when I read James Clay’s guest post about the conference – there are so many aspects of the community getting together that I am really looking forward to.

    One of the things we talked about on the show was skills development and accreditation and I have been writing quite a bit about that recently, first for FE News in an article about Digital Skills development in the workforce , and then also on the Efficiency Exchange in a post called Accreditation fit for a (digital) purpose?.

    With so many new fellow CMALT Holders getting accredited just now, my own interest in developing the accreditation framework further is growing stronger and I really hope I’ll get to catch some of those sessions at the conference. There are plenty in the programme including a CMALT Zumba class. Better pack my trainers for that one!

    But the last month started really with my visit to the Edtech Podcast: where I joined host Sophie Bailey as a guest on episode 76 talking about ALT,  Open Education and Star Trek. Like Radio Edutalk, the Edtech Podcast is one of the supporters of the conference this year, and as part of that community initiative there is still have more in store, so plenty more writing for me to do.

  • Talking edtech, ALT and Star Trek on the Edtech Podcast

    Talking edtech, ALT and Star Trek on the Edtech Podcast

    For my first podcast I was invited by Sophie Bailey to talk about ALT, our upcoming Annual Conference and what’s happening in the industry more generally on the Edtech Podcast.

    I really enjoyed doing the recording and we ended up talking about Star Trek, cats and a few other things besides technology and education.

    Thanks to Sophie for the opportunity to spread the word about ALT and what we do, and happy listening #altc.

  • Crowns and cartographers: equality in the imagination

    Photo of the book "Frogkisser" by Garth NixI have been reading a lot of stories recently and two of them in particular really inspired me: Frogkisser by Garth Nix and The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Both are beautiful reads suitable for younger readers as well, but that shouldn’t put you off.

    Both books take you on adventures, in one case following the perilous journey of a cartographer’s daughter across an unexplored floating island, in the other the footsteps of a princess who is leading a band of companions through danger to defeat evil and establish a universal bill of rights. Both books are excellent examples of accomplished, playful and lyrical story telling at its best – perfect for getting lost in new worlds of the imagination.

    What they also do is to challenge the readers conceptions of established character types, such as princesses, wizards and heroes more generally. They talk of sisters, mothers and daughters – female leads are everywhere. In the Frogkisser for example, we visit the Tower of the Good Wizard, who turns out to be a young women with a preference for red boots… whilst Snow White is a retired wizard (complete with detachable long white beard). Garth Nix displays such playful mastery of the fairy tale tropes in the story that it makes you wonder where your earlier mental images came from and how they were fixed. As someone who has read A LOT of fantasy and science fiction I appreciate the flexibility and equality of stories such as Frogkisser especially.

    Similarly, in The Girl of Ink and Stars, the narrative is wound around the process of reading maps, charting new territories and mapping out a lost, unknown place (saving everyone and the world in the process). The girl, our heroine, is at once capable and relate-able. She (re)writes history, shapes the narrative and her world through her work as a cartographer and through her eyes and measurements (explained in loving and scientific detail as her journey progresses) you can participate in the adventure. Stories, particularly poetic ones like this one, can create a world of greater equality, can change perceptions so much more elegantly, so seemingly effortlessly, than we can through policy or even direct action.

    Like the women pioneers and activists and leaders and voices in our reality, the heroines of these stories help shape our imagination and our understanding of the world we live in. Get reading… or reading out loud to the younger listeners in your life.

  • Re-post #altc: my latest report to Members as CEO of ALT

    Re-post #altc: my latest report to Members as CEO of ALT

    You can read all my reports to Members of ALT on the #altc blog by following this link. The blog is always open to new contributors and at the moment there is also a special call for new editors to join the Editorial Team.

    “Dear Members

    I’d like to start this report with a warm welcome to everyone who’s joined ALT this year. It’s great to see the number of Learning Technology professionals growing across sectors and we are pleased to have you on board!

    As a Member we’d like to encourage you to get involved and we are currently inviting expressions of interest for a range of different roles, including our governance, events, publications, professional development and accreditation. Following the launch of our strategy for 2017-2020 earlier this year, there are a lot of new initiatives getting underway as well, so whether you have just joined or are an established member there is, I hope, a rewarding way for you to engage.

    Further particulars are available on ALT’s website and you can also to sign up specifically for Pathways to CMALT, expanding the accreditation framework.

    I’d also like to use this opportunity to give particular thanks to Members who edit and run this blog. Since its transition from newsletter to blog the readership and output has increased significantly and from event reports to case studies and reports the blog is going from strength to strength. I invite you to meet the editors and consider joining the editorial team or to write for the blog.

    Another important development in the last month has been around ALT’s journal, Research in Learning Technology, and our new partnership with Open Academia.

    As a Member you also have the right to vote in the elections run by the Electoral Reform Services which determine who becomes a Trustee of ALT and joins the Central Executive, the committee that governs the Association. Look out for an email with details of who is standing for election and how to vote. The results will be announced at the AGM on 6 September.

    As I am writing this we are also preparing for what looks like a busy Annual Conference in Liverpool in September. The largest of our three annual events, with the OER Conference in April and the online conference in December, has received a record number of submissions this year, 230 in total, which is the biggest number in five years. Full information, the programme and registration is on the conference platform.

    As a staff team we look forward to supporting the conference this year and since my last report we have welcomed our new Events Manager, Jane Marsh, who will be running the event this year. We are also pleased to be supporting one of our senior staff, Martin Hawksey, through a period of research leave, and you can read more about what Martin will be doing on his blog.

    Together with my colleagues and Trustees I am heartened to see our work make a difference and our community grow despite the significant challenges we are facing as individuals, within institutions and on a national scale. I look forward to meeting many of you in Liverpool and more online as we gather, discuss and critically reflect on the role of Learning Technology in our future – ‘beyond islands of innovation’.”

    You can read all my reports to Members of ALT on the #altc blog by following this link.

  • Where my imaginary artificially intelligent friend goes on holiday

    Where my imaginary artificially intelligent friend goes on holiday

    In 1995, when I first read Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs, I was fascinated by the ‘machine’s subconscious’ diary entries that cover pages and pages of the book. Outside of science fiction it was my first encounter with ideas of artificial intelligence and machines that may dream one day.

    As someone who has written in their various journals near daily for three decades I was particularly interested in the relationship between what’s inside the main character’s head and the machine he confides it to.

    Writing a diary or a journal is a very personal undertaking, and for many years now I find that the advantages of keeping back ups, being able to search and revisit past entries far outstrips any benefits of keeping physical records. Typing something like “Dear Diary….” into a digital interface feels a bit like having a conversation with a friend and confidant from the digital realm.  By typing, writing down my thoughts using a laptop, I’m having a very long, very one-sided conversation with an imaginary machine friend if you like.

    Writing at this time of year when everyone is either on holiday or about to be, I’ve thought about where my (imaginary) artificially intelligence friend may go on holiday in the future – and I do think he (‘he’ is a he in my mind) will go on holiday, because immortality is pretty boring after a while and everyone needs a change every now and then.

    Into music: how about exploring music of a particular place or time, not just audio recordings, but all records of musical expression – travelling back in history to explore the sounds of a particular people or place.

    Making pottery: if in any way like Star Trek’s Mr Data, then a more tactile pursuit will appeal as a holiday activity and making something with your hands and learning a new skill could be a challenging and rewarding experience.

    Sitting on top of the world: if travelling either physically or digitally to let’s say a satellite orbiting the planet, meeting up with a friend and watching the world go by (literally) could be fun.

    In a spreadsheet…: or a future, more elegant version thereof. Maybe machines will build mathematical landscapes or monuments to go sightseeing in the realms of 1s and 0s. What would a souvenir from that holiday look like?

    For now, I shall enjoy the sunshine in a traditional, human way, and be glad to feel a warm breeze on my skin. Summer’s here 🙂