Maren Deepwell

Category: leadership

  • CEO Days Revisited

    CEO Days Revisited

    Time flies… I can’t quite believe that it’s been three years since I retired my CEO trainers along with the job title and became my own boss.

    Little did I know what the future would have in store for me when I made that transition, and three years into the new chapter I still have that same curiosity but fortunately, some things have also become clear.

    Making a big pivot takes time

    A big career transition is a process and I didn’t hurry it. This sounds like an obvious truth, but every time I thought I had arrived somewhere, I realised that I was still in it. So I intentionally focused on enjoying or at least being present in the moments of transition and change. It wasn’t always comfortable and it took a lot of energy to gain the rewards of the process.

    It also took time for my life to take on a new rhythm instead of one shaped by the milestones of an organisational year: year end, conferences, travel and so forth.

    One day I released that I had stopped thinking about it, and instead had found a new cadence that determines my year now.

    Returning to ALT’s Annual Conference this year, which happily takes place in Cardiff in October, feels not like a return to old grounds but a new opportunity to share my work and get feedback from peers.

    Keeping what matters most…

    Making a big career transition is an opportunity to reinvent yourself, and in those heady first days I felt little desire to take things with me. I needed space and I needed to gain some perspective. Once I had that, I was able to keep doing what mattered most to me.

    All Things Open

    I started working in Open Education during my years as CEO and quickly developed a deep interest in and commitment to all things open such as open source technology, open educational practice, open research and publishing and open leadership. Indeed my work now focuses much these elements, and I continue to work in the Open Education Community more than any other.

    Running a Business

    I LOVE running an organisation, and my approach to leading my own company is in practice very similar to how I went about leading a charity. I still have an operational and strategic plan, I produce quarterly budgets and reports, I have impact measures, values and use open source technologies for IT wherever possible. Apparently, you can take the CEO out of an organisation, but I can’t take it out of me.

    It’s a huge asset, not just for my business, but also for coaching senior leaders and strategic consultancy.

    Travel

    Giving keynotes was one of the greatest joys of my CEO days, and especially towards the end there were some wonderful trips that I have the best memories of: like travelling to the ETUG Conference in Kamloops and to Hong Kong for a keynote at a CMALT event. Post-pandemic travel has been far less frequent, so I enjoy the rare opportunities all the more now.

    Later this year I am heading to Brisbane to give a keynote (and a leadership workshop) at the Ascilite Conference, and I am thrilled that this event, which has long been on my wish-list to attend, has invited me to speak.

    Collaborations

    Working with interesting people that bring out the best in me is one of the things I was very lucky to have from the very beginning: Jim Groom and the team at Reclaim, Emma Procter-Legg and her colleagues at Oxford, Lynne Taylerson and AmplifyFE colleagues, and later coaching clients and other consultancy projects.

    Working from home and running my own business with me as the only employee can certainly be a solitary pursuit at times, but these days my weeks are so busy that I find the quiet moments, like this Monday morning, a welcome change of pace from meetings and working in collaboration and I am grateful for both.

    “Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!”

    Ever since I listened to the audiobook version of Project Hail Mary, the alien Rocky’s outbursts of “Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!” have stayed with me, and become a shorthand for bouncing up and down with joy and amazement. It’s a good reminder to myself to find ways to truly celebrate the milestones*, whilst living in a timeline that encourages anything but.

    Instead of championing and celebrating my successes when they formed part of a single team’s efforts or in service of one community with a cause, I now get play my part in the work of a whole range of organisations, teams and individuals. I get to be part of projects that benefit more leaders, more students, more communities, and for that I am very grateful indeed.

    Three years ago I was sad to retire my CEO trainers, to say goodbye to working for an organisation that had been my home base for 15 years. Moving on has given me the bigger canvas I needed to develop as a leader and to take that next step in my career to think bigger, and create more impact.

    Thank you for an amazing three years, and thank you for the adventures ahead of me.

    *Milestones like recording my 150th podcast episode this summer, or passing 250 professional coaching hours. Or running successful projects and events. Getting the best feedback for teaching and training. Travelling to events and giving talks. And offering at least ten percent of my time free for pro bono work, and volunteering as a mentor for national initiatives. Running my own business in as ethical and sustainable a way as I can.

  • The Radio (Summer Camp) Returns

    The Radio (Summer Camp) Returns

    It’s been an eventful summer already, and the next big event is just around the corner: on 18th August the DS106 Radio Summer Camp returns! YES!

    Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of all things audio and especially radio. So for the past few years it’s been a real pleasure for me to be working with folks who share my enthusiasm and are game to have radio based events, too. Two years ago we ran our first full-radio online event which turned out to be a real success and ever since we have been experimenting with the format.

    This month we are running a 1 day event on the DS106 Radio airwaves, 12 hours of radio to listen to, join in with and blog along to. It’s online conferencing without a screen. All you need to do us tune in – and I very much hope you will as it’s promising to be a very fun day indeed.

    There’s a mix of music, chat and interviews with special guests, a game session and campfire socials, too (check out the schedule).

    One of the things I love about radio-based events like this is that it encourages different types of conversations, and allows for more informal, impromptu encounters and thinking out loud, that listening to someone go through a Powerpoint presentation just doesn’t.

    Another great benefit is that folk who are listening don’t have to be at their desk or stare at a screen to participate. Instead, you can listen in live (and we usually make recordings available afterwards so you can catch up with session you’ve missed).

    Having had the privilege of attending some conferences in person earlier in the summer, I feel this is the next best way to connect with colleagues at a distance, and because it’s free and on the radio, there’s no Zoom link to find or webinar software to make work.

    Come along and join in the DS106 Radio Summer Camp.

  • The One Percent

    The One Percent

    What will it take to make your day 1% more… of what you need?

    Working life for is busy and keeping a grip on things takes a lot of energy and focus. So what do you do when you grip on so tightly that you can’t see beyond what’s in front of you?

    This post is inspired by some recent coaching sessions which prompted me to reflect on how you can make small, incremental changes when adopting a new healthy habit or tackling a big change may seem out of reach. What would make a real difference to my clients, either in the way they work or how to disconnect from work?

    Listen to the podcast episode

    Starting with very small increments, even just 1%, can lead to quick wins and solve niggling issues along the way. Whether you feel like trying out a playful or pragmatic approach, you can always find ways to make yourself 1% more comfortable, even on a bad day. And along the way, you might gain a little more awareness and distance from being lost in digital productivity curves.

    Getting started

    Here is a little inspiration to get you started. Make a small change, or maybe two, and see how things shift:

    Add a sprinkling of analogue…

    • a plant
    • a nice coaster
    • photos/pictures/art
    • a rock or shell from somewhere you like
    • record player
    • scented candle or a diffuser for aromatherapy oils
    • music
    • new flavour hot (or cold) drinks to try such as new herbal teas or coffees
    • a secret snack stash (healthy or not)
    • something tactile like a soft throw or a fidget toy

    Get 1% more comfortable…

    • a new mouse mat or a mouse you like
    • wrist rest/mouse rest
    • glare protector
    • foot rest (cushion or yoga bolster can work, too)
    • headphones that suit your ears
    • eye mist and glasses that help filter blue light
    • a water bottle
    • cleaning products for your workspace, i.e. eco wipes, disinfectant, screen cleaner
    • find a window sill or high shelf you can use as a place to have meetings with your laptop or a sit stand desk or desk shelf

    Step away from your screens

    • an alarm or similar that reminds you to take regular screen breaks
    • a physical reminder to go to a different room/downstairs/outside
    • cushioned slippers or shoes (particularly handy for standing desks)
    • a paper planner/diary you can use away from the screen to think/plan
    • a lunch date/appointment with someone away from your desk
    • plant care
    • play with your pet
  • Helloooooo OER26

    Helloooooo OER26

    It’s that time once again: time to blog about this year’s OER Conference! This year I got started early, and submitted a guest post to the altc blog: Openness Reimagined… from How to Who.

    I missed last year’s event unfortunately, so I am doubly glad to be heading to Milton Keynes this year, and the programme looks amazing, kudos to the conference committee led by Dr. Robert Farrow and Dr Beck Pitt under the theme Openness Reimagined: Continuity, Change and Shared Vision and OER26 will also celebrate several anniversaries, including 20 years of OpenLearn and 30 years of the Journal of Interactive Media in Education.

    I volunteered as a member of the Conference Committee, taking part in the peer review process and planning sessions in the months running up to the event, which has only heightened my anticipation. And so, with a bag full of stickers I am heading to the Open University, proud to have two sessions in the programme.

    First up, I’m VERY excited to give a session about the case studies I have been working on with Reclaim Hosting. As I blogged on the Reclaim Blog:

    Reclaim has long been a supporter of this wonderful conference and in 2021 we even joined forces for OERxDomains21. We took part in 2023 in Scotland, and in 2024 in Ireland, and this year we are heading to the UK’s Open University for much open education goodness!

    Looking back at these conferences I have fond memories of my talk in 2024 together with Meredith Huffman, and all the fun we had hanging out with Alan Levine and Bryan Mathers, which led to the now legendary DS106 Radio Summer Camp. So what’s in store for this year, I hear you wonder:

    From Experiment to Enterprise: Open EdTech Case Studies

    Inspired by the conference theme “Open Practices and Pedagogical Innovation” our talk will showcase key points from several new Open EdTech case studies that show who and how institutions who are at the forefront of Open EdTech adoption develop, scale and deploy open source educational services.  As well as showcasing how open source technologies move from experiment to enterprise service, we will highlight just how important such work is for developing digital capabilities, for faculty and for students.

    I’m really proud of this piece of work and feeling privileged indeed that I’ll get to showcase this work which is very much a collaborative effort with Jim Groom, the whole Reclaim Team and of course the amazing educators and technologists that have kindly given their time and told their stories.

    At the recent ILTA Conference I talked about a different case study, and although it landed very well indeed and there was a lot of interest in how to build digital capabilities with Domain of One’s Own for example, I am looking forward to taking this project to a dedicated Open Education event, and take a deeper dive into the open aspects of the work.

    Session slides & resources

    Walking the walk…

    I also submitted an experimental session about the research for my second book, a session which is part podcast, part walk and a whole lot of storytelling. Although it’s a different part of my practice, it is conceptually aligned with the Reclaim case study, as it is also about open practice and how to use technology to navigate today’s uncertain and fast moving Higher Education landscape.

    If you’d like to take a closer look, check out the dedicated podcast episode below.

    OER26, I can’t wait!

  • 25 years of ILTA: a salute to #EdTech26

    25 years of ILTA: a salute to #EdTech26

    This week has been such a joy. I had high expectations and was looking forward to returning to ILTA’s annual conference AND giving my paper on inspiring open edtech case studies I’ve been working on wit Jim Groom and Reclaim Hosting. It’s been 10 years since Jim and I first met at the OER Conference in Edinburgh, and it means a lot to me that our continued work together has resulted in us attending this beautiful conference together in Dublin this week (plus, I got to enjoy his the tour de force that was “Ohhh Blogging is a Place on Earth“).

    Edinburgh had a significant presence this week, including a brilliantly inspiring keynote by Dr Ben Williamson from the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. He presented cutting edge research on edtech futures and left me feeling thoroughly inspired with lots of reading to do! The keynote line up of the entire event was stellar, as became immediately clear when Dr Abeba Birhane from the AI Accountability Lab kicked off the first morning. Her concluding thought, AI in education = commercialisation of a collective responsibilities, posed a welcome challenge to participants, to focus on that collective sense of responsibility, which pervaded the whole event. Prof. Felicitas Macgilchrist, the third keynote, was maybe my personal favourite, and her ethnographic approach to exploring Edtech as infrastructures of feeling really resonated with me. The brilliance of the keynotes was matched by the warmth the Co-Chairs and Conference Committee brought to all the plenaries and social events. The uniquely Irish welcome and mirth I’ve long loved about this event was palpable and welcome indeed as we explored some of the darker visions of technology in the classroom. Incidentally, I saw both Co-Chairs, Kate and Rob, present their own work as part of the conference, which only underlined how much their leadership put the ethos of the event into practice.

    With seven parallel streams this year’s ILTA conference was busy indeed, and I came away inspired and with many notes and links of resources to explore. It’s nearly impossible to pick out highlights and yet for me there’s a moment that stood tall (forgive the pun) amidst the others. The Gasta sessions, always a highlight at ILTA and wonderfully vibrant and energetic under the inimitable leadership of Tom Farrelly, featured an unforgettable 4 minutes and 20 seconds delivered in an understated manner by Ian Linkletter in his Gasta: Standing tall in the face of tech giants. Suddenly, at twenty past five in the afternoon, when energies are usually low, the room turned silent and the atmosphere intense. I’ve never seen anyone, anyone, get a standing ovation after four minutes on stage, and yet I stood with the crowd of participants clapping loud and long for someone we all admire with awe. It was a moment to remember, to inspire – and to prompt each one of us to stand tall for what we believe in.

    There were many more moments that will stay with me, including a fabulous conference dinner, and a lively debate “Big EdTech is getting worse (exactly as planned)” to bring the conference to a close. I’m full of energy for small edtech, slow edtech, open edtech, fragile edtech, messy edtech and the people who make all of this happening, the learning technologists, the educators, the researchers… in short, all the folk of ILTA.

    It’s always a good sign when a conference makes you blog before, during and long after its days are ended and I can’t imagine a better compliment. So this is my salute to ILTA and its beautiful community! Long may you continue to support and celebrate each other across Ireland and beyond.

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