{"id":2753,"date":"2020-08-22T07:49:49","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T07:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/?p=2753"},"modified":"2020-08-22T07:49:49","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T07:49:49","slug":"virtual-hugs-and-no-conference-chicken-altc-altcsummit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/?p=2753","title":{"rendered":"Virtual hugs and no conference chicken&#8230; #altc #altcSummit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next week is ALT&#8217;s first <a href=\"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/summit2020\/\">summer summit<\/a> and the first time since 2009 that I don&#8217;t spend this weekend packing up clothes, shoes and EVERY cable and charger in my study and make a 5 day trip to Edinuburgh, Manchester, Nottingham or this year London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But just because I am not packing my suitcase doesn&#8217;t mean I am not preparing for what is promising to be a crazy and fun week! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shoes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Virtual&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/altc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#altc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/altcSummit?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#altcSummit<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/shoetweet?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#shoetweet<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LBSskTB7Iz\">pic.twitter.com\/LBSskTB7Iz<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Dr Maren Deepwell (@MarenDeepwell) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarenDeepwell\/status\/1296785210269478913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 21, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conferences are serious shoe business for some of us&#8230; and one of the real upsides of virtual events is that there is really no limit to the shoe tweeting you can do, combining all your shoes or trainers&#8230; after months of not having a real reason to dress up, I for one am looking forward to the opportunity to have a bit of fun and get back into conference dressing \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pizza<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having pizza the night before a big event has become something of a tradition in our staff team. I take the blame for that as it&#8217;s probably me suggesting it year after year&#8230; but it&#8217;s led us to have dinners in some very fun places over the years in different cities across the country!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So this year, we are tuning in to <strong>ALT Summer Summit Radio Show<br><\/strong>at 7pm UK time on Tuesday, to join our very own online radio show in partnership with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thethursdaynightshow.com\/\">The Thursday Night Show<\/a>, hosted by The Thursday Night Show and ALT Members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have really fallen in love with online radio during the pandemic, so I am looking forward to hearing those sets and sharing some pizza with my colleagues, no doubt tweeting along a bit as well. The night before the storm that is the opening day of a big event&#8230; good company is key \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not walking 10 miles a day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One characteristic of my conference trips is that I end up walking many miles each day, depending on the venue. On a normal day, it&#8217;s up to 10 miles. One of the reasons why I always wear flat shoes to events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this year it&#8217;s all virtual, so I have come up with a number of ways in which I am going to keep moving throughout next week: first up, standing up whenever I can, and I have a small standing desk for just that purpose. So I expect to gear up to the keynotes, panels and parallel sessions standing up at least. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, being online for 10 hours a day is tiring, so mornings and evenings are going to need some walking. Fortunately most of the evening social events such as <a href=\"https:\/\/lthechat.com\/2020\/08\/12\/special-altc-edition-of-lthechat-crisis-and-care-8pm-on-24-august-2020\/\">Monday&#8217;s LTHEchat<\/a> or the <a href=\"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/summit2020\/sessions\/join-the-alt-quiz\/\">ALT Quiz on Wednesday<\/a> I will be able to participate in from my phone, so&#8230; a bit of fresh air and movement is definitely on the cards. Er&#8230; and my excuse to not inflict my singing voice on the good folk from Reclaim Hosting as we are lucky enough to have the <a href=\"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/summit2020\/sessions\/altc-karaoeroke-night\/\">KaraOERke<\/a> master Jim Groom host the show on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Virtual hugs, but no chicken<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the things I miss most about running face to face events is meeting people (and hugs, too)!. It seems distant, like another era entirely, but I miss it anyway and so I am going to make an extra effort to connect with both old and new colleagues. I am going to drop by the Summit Cafe, take part in Social Bingo&#8230; I am going to tweet along #altc #altcSummit&#8230; I am going to post word into wordclouds&#8230; say hello to participants, speakers and sponsors&#8230; I am going to revel in my community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A community that has been through so much and kept going so long through this year&#8230; the year we all found out what a Learning Technology emergency looks like. An emergency which is now into months of duration and for which I can sense no kind of normal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But despite everything (and thank you, A-level results day, for adding another layer of complexity to the chaos) and maybe particularly because of everything, I am really excited. Tired, too, but also inspired that a few hundred participants from the UK, Ireland, Canada, America, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Uruguay&#8230; and many other countries have signed up for this ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I haven&#8217;t been to many virtual events that had real heart, but if <a href=\"https:\/\/oer20.oerconf.org\/\">OER20<\/a> is anything to go by, then this Summit should be a very special occasion indeed.  It&#8217;s a milestone moment, championing everyone in Learning Technology, against a backdrop of bleakness and burnout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It may be that you only get a virtual hug this year&#8230; and the dancing will have to be in your own living room. But there won&#8217;t be cold conference chicken and coffee should be excellent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am heartened by reading the <a href=\"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/summit2020\/news\/category\/news\/\">blog posts<\/a> and browsing through the <a href=\"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/summit2020\/programme\/\">programme<\/a> that there is appetite for asking the hard questions, for sharing knowledge that will help meet the challenges of the next academic year&#8230; and that there is so much of our community at the heart of this Summit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want to say hello and exchange virtual hugs, ping me <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarenDeepwell\">@marendeepwell<\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See you at the Summit #altc #altcSummit \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Next week is ALT&#8217;s first summer summit and the first time since 2009 that I don&#8217;t spend this weekend packing up clothes, shoes and EVERY cable and charger in my study and make a 5 day trip to Edinuburgh, Manchester, Nottingham or this year London. But just because I am not packing my suitcase doesn&#8217;t mean I am not preparing for what is promising to be a crazy and fun week! Shoes Virtual&#8230; #altc #altcSummit&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/?p=2753\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Virtual hugs and no conference chicken&#8230; #altc #altcSummit<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[30,134],"class_list":["post-2753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conferences","tag-altc","tag-altcsummit","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_3886-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7wa4N-Ip","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2755,"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions\/2755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}