Category: things I like

I love blogging. Over the past few months I have been finding it hard to find the words. I don’t just want to blog for work, I also want to blog for fun. I want to allow myself to be curious… . I want to give myself permission to just think about things without my voice being dominated by news headlines, risk registers or fear.

And that is when I came across this post: The Ed Tech Metaphor Generator and I had a play generating my own metaphor challenges in the search for blogging inspiration.

This is the first topic contender:

The next one I generated was: “What does gardening tell us about lecture capture?”, which got me thinking, and then I clicked the button again and…

Use the development of New York graffiti styles as a metaphor for blogging

…this heading was born. I am going with that one!

First up, because it gives me an excuse to urge you to read The City We Became! If you aren’t familiar with the work of N.K. Jemisin then you should definitely have a look and immerse yourself in the worlds she has built in her books. I was a big fan of the THE BROKEN EARTH series and I am about to start reading the The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms series, but The City We Became was the first book I bought when the lockdown started and I couldn’t put it down even though it was far from cheering:

Every great city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She’s got six.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs in the halls of power, threatening to destroy the city and her six newborn avatars unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

http://nkjemisin.com/

But graffiti is all about the fabric of a city and this book certainly captures that. It’s also about the life of a city, its stories, and that way we loop back to blogging.

I also came across this article recently: Graffiti Is Back in Virus-Worn New York which makes for an interesting read (and beautiful photos of new graffiti in New York which are definitely worth a look).

From the South Bronx to East New York, a new generation of graffiti writers has emerged, many of whom have never hit a trainyard or the inside of a subway car. But like early taggers who grew up in a city beset by crime, grime and empty coffers, today’s generation is dealing with its own intense fears over the devastating effects of the coronavirus on communities and the economy.

“Does art dictate the times or do the times dictate art?” said John Matos, 58, a graffiti writer known as Crash who started out in the 1970s. “Before now, the streets were sanitized, with pieces that were cool and nice, and done with permission. Now, we’re back to the roots.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/nyregion/graffiti-nyc.html

A bit like the EdTech Emergency Radio which has been filling the airwaves #ds106radio as a response to dealing with fear and isolation, emergency blog posts fill social media with helpful tips, practical advice and accounts of what happens when you face such odds as everyone is this year.

Yet beyond that there is more coming out of the posts, sometimes anger, sometimes hope. A reflection of our times.

Maybe the circumstances which enable a new generation of graffiti writers to find their voice on the streets of New York will also give space to a new generation of blog posts and conversations. I for one am grateful to have found a pocket of time and inspiration to ponder something different for a while. Thank you, EdTech Metaphor maker 🙂

Next time… “Use quantum physics as a metaphor for blogging.”

It’s a few weeks into lock down and the last couple of Sundays, Anne-Marie, Tannis and I have been getting together on the airwaves, playing tunes and sharing stories on DS106Radio. Many of us are tuning into the live stream in recent weeks:

Our first live broadcast, on Sunday 29th March, was an improvised conversation and playlist, organised very much by Anne-Marie, who figured out the technical set up required to mesh Skype call and internet radio first. The second one, the following week, on Sunday, 5th April, had a bit more a theme, but still ended up being very much just a conversation. Talking with each other and sharing our voices with our audience feels more important than ever in these times of isolation.

Anne-Marie is recording and hosting recordings on her blog:
Our second #ds106radio show. We did it again!
We were picking from our Scottish Surprises Spotify playlist.

I have bee really enjoying playing tunes and sharing memories as well as checking in with two friends who live far away, on a different continent, connecting across time zones.

I have also been drawing… making virtual stickers:

Like many others, I have been enjoying tuning in to the online radio ’emergency broadcast’ listening to familiar voices and some that are quickly becoming familiar, sharing stories of coping under lock down, facing uncertainty, sharing loneliness and lack of freedoms.

I love the broadcasts, partly because they remind me every day that there is nothing ‘business as usual’ about this time. That it’s completely OK not to function or cope or be able to even get up in the morning.

The radio also reminds me of how resilient human beings are. It gives me a sense of how hard everyone is working, fighting, trying. There’s hope on the airwaves.

To all of you who are sharing songs and stories, thank you. I am out there, listening.

To all fellow listeners, I am sending a hug. A really good one.

See you on Sunday #DS106Radio.

A few weeks ago I recorded an episode of Getting Air with host Terry Greene. This excellent podcast series is focused on all things technology-enabled and open learning practices and I was delighted to join Terry and really appreciated the opportunity to have this conversation. If you haven’t discovered this podcast for yourself, browse through the episodes and you are sure to find a conversation that is not to be missed… starting with the recent one featuring Audrey Watters, oh and Jim Groom, and Mia Zamora, and Autumm Caines… well, I think you see where this is going. There are 78 episodes to choose from, so get stuck in.

Terry started out the conversation with a question about the work I do and what ALT does: “So, tell if I am misunderstanding what ALT does, you try to solve messy human problems with technology, is that right…?” and that made us laugh as well as giving us a humorous way into talking about empowered professional practice in Learning Technology. But the question has stayed with me ever since, partly because I come across so many examples each day, of people trying to do or more often promising to do, precisely that.

Heart…
In the podcast, one of the things we talk about is community and the commonalities organisations like ALT and ETUG have. We talked about what gives communities or events a ‘heart’… . One of the things many try to do is to build sustainable communities of practice without giving any thought about what they are for and whom they are made up of. For example, when organisation A wants to disseminate its projects or organisation B wants to market its new products or organisation C feels it would be of strategic benefit to demonstrate its sector engagement then more often than not a community of practice, preferably a sustainable one, is the answer. Sustainable in this context means that it is being used as long as the funding lasts, rather than that there is a long term commitment to support it for the benefit of its members. And as with other free services the old “if it’s free you are the product” rule applies here, too. The messy side of this is that actual communities of practice need a lot more than that to become sustainable: things like a viable value proposition for its members, a purpose, a code of conduct (whether explicit or implicit), a business model that members understand and have a say in, ability to adapt and change, room for different voices and different views… and ways to grow and change over time. Such undertakings are all about people not the platform, they need a heart, however superficial that may sound, to really survive and thrive in the long term.

Things you need to know…
Terry and I talked a lot about professional practice and what it means to be a Learning Technologist or work in Open Education and one of the things that stayed with me is that there is a lot more you need to develop your professional practice than you can learn from a ‘3 minute video’. I use the video as a metaphor for a lot of the quick fix, tick box exercises in professional development that I come across again and again. These have headings like …”all you need to know about…” or “improve your teaching in 3 simple steps…” and so on. In a twitter chat (the special #altc edition of the LTHEchat recently) one of the questions that we discussed advice for new professionals and here are some of my favourite answers:

A6 When experimenting with something new, include your students. Never be afraid to say 'I'm gving this a go, let me know what you think' #LTHEchat #altc

— Sue Beckingham (@suebecks) August 28, 2019

A6 #PedagogyFirst Don’t believe the sales and marketing hype of #EdTech companies, be critical and think if the technology will work in that #learningdesign. Start there. Get the recipe right, evaluation and share. #altc #LTHEchat

— Santanu Vasant (@santanuvasant) August 28, 2019

A6 digital technology is at the crest of change in higher education. You must understand #change and the HE sector and culture first, or you will never create good learning through digital technology #LTHEchat

— Chris Thompson (@Christo_HST) August 28, 2019

A6: Learn the basics! Make sure you understand what you're doing, and where your data's going. #LTHEchat

— Niall Barr (@niall_barr) August 28, 2019

There were many more examples I could have included here, and I suggest if you have a look yourself on the #LTHEchat hashtag – but one thing is clear is that professional practice is a lot more messy and complicated and interesting than can be captured in bite sized chunks.

One of the things I reflected on afterwards was how easy it was to have this conversation with Terry. Although we have never met in person and most of our interaction previously has been online through VConnecting, Twitter or blog posts, I felt we had a really good rapport. Terry had done a lot of reading and I had done some listening and between us we established enough of an understanding to have an interesting conversation about things that matter to us, that interest us, and we ended up in some unexpected places, including cemeteries. Terry made an effort to engage with my work beyond the headlines and wasn’t afraid of getting into the messy creativity that lurks below.

Thank you, Terry 🙂

Next week is the week! Mum & I are going to complete 5k to mark a big family milestone – 3 years of mum being cancer free! Grateful to have another year we didn’t think we’d have together as a family & for all the care and kindness that got us here. https://t.co/tec8TNIf9j pic.twitter.com/MkfxVIK93p

— Dr Maren Deepwell (@MarenDeepwell) July 6, 2019

We are raising money to say thank you and give back to those who have saved my mum’s life and give us more time together as a family.
I started running for a Race for Life in 2016 when we were uncertain how much time we would have together. Since then, I’ve run many miles, and this year I’m participating in three half marathons, but this is the only race we are fundraising for as this marks a big milestone.
We participate to share hope and support for everyone affected by cancer and to add our thanks for all the kindness we have met with.
After a lot of illness this year we will won’t be setting any new mother & daughter PBs but we are going to participate and keep going 🙂

If you’d like to support us, donate here.