Maren Deepwell

Tag: #altc

  • 2021: Last one out turns off the lights…

    It’s the darkest day of the year, Winter Solstice, and for me the last working day of 2021. Yay! For the last blog post of the year here is a look back at what has been a busy year. Whilst it may not feel that way just now as we prepare for another uncertain festive season, this year has had a lot of highlights and much, MUCH, has been accomplished.

    My year as CEO of ALT

    A photo of Maren at her laptop

    Twelve months ago, I had a mountain to climb as a CEO. ALT had never been busier than in the year of the great online pivot, but the pandemic had a huge impact on our operations and ability to generate income from our charitable activities. Being an independent charity has strategic upsides, but it also carries risks that a year long crisis like 2020 only heightens. Even as an experienced leader I felt worried about what had to be accomplished in 2021.

    Since then, things may not have become easier, but we have achieved what we set out to do this year: we are in a more financially stable position, our staff team is growing and we have delivered more for our growing Membership this year than ever before. If you haven’t already had a look, the 2021 Impact report celebrates some of our recent achievements accomplished as a community in the past year, and our Awards showcase highlights just some of the excellent practice going on.

    We have welcomed hundreds of  new members in 2021, and as ALT grows it becomes ever more important for us to strengthen our voice and increase our impact. If you haven’t already, please do take a moment to complete our Annual Survey.

    I really enjoyed seeing Members show some of what’s really possible in Learning Technology when we move beyond crisis provision, and our collaboration with ITN Productions helped us share our expertise with a much wider audience than before. Watch the programme and find out more. 

    A collage of nine photos of the year, including screenshots from online meetings, pictures of pizza and office plants.
    2021 in photos

    My team, our Board and all the colleagues I have worked with this year have been generous and imaginative under the continued pressure of a lot to get done and pandemic living. I am grateful that we continue to find ways to celebrate important milestones together and to reflect a little on all that is happening whilst we continue to lack opportunities to meet in person.

    From pre-conference pizza nights to KaraOERke and from care parcels sent by post to snowball fights online, we have done what we can to keep our spirits up and support each other as a team.

    I am so grateful to work in an organisation that continues to support us in a considerate way through these turbulent times and I want to express my deep thanks to Helen, our Chair, for all she has done this year to steer us through 2021. To you all, thank you!

    Talks, keynotes and writing a book

    Looking at my archive for this year, it appears that I have done more than I had realised. I have been able to contribute to some amazing ventures, attend many virtual conferences and work with inspiring leaders here in the UK and across the world.

    Here are my highlights from 2021:

    Alongside my work I have started writing a book on leading virtual teams, which is due to be published in 2022. The first draft is now complete, and you can read along with excerpts from draft chapters, come along to remote working radio sessions and sign up for regular updates.

    I have really enjoyed working on the book as it gives me the opportunity to switch gears and focus my thoughts for a while.

    My year with a puppy!

    You will probably already have met Posey as I have posted plenty of photos of her over the past nine months. She has grown from a tiny puppy into a seasoned conference dog, who has her own conference badge and all. Posey is not a huge fan of work as it means there’s less time for play and walks, but she has been a huge joy and an excellent antidote to being at work for too long. She’ll be one year old soon and no doubt the next year will bring a whole new set of adventures as we start running together.

    Two photos of a brown puppy and the same puppy a little older.
    Posey

    We’re heading to the beach

    Today may be the darkest day of the year, but it also marks a turning point. Light is making its return, if gradually.

    Everyone I know is tired and exhausted. Working in Learning Technology can feel… really hard in these times and the work never ends. We often don’t know what’s ahead. We try to support all the different stakeholders but thanks to most people’s experience of Learning Technology at scale being largely shaped by lockdown learning, there is a tension between what we hope to achieve as a profession and everyone’s desire to return to a world in which hugging and having coffee isn’t dangerous.

    I am grateful that today is my last day at work for the year. I am looking forward to logging off and not looking at another email until it’s 2022.

    Rest and replenishment is going to be my only focus and so we are heading to the beach to see the sunset.

    To you I wish a peaceful end to the year. I look forward to seeing you on the other side. Or as we say in Wales…

    Cyfarchion y Tymor

    A photo of Maren and two dogs walking along the beach on a grey day.

  • December ’21

    My last monthly update for the year…

    Book progress

    Since my last post, I have been working on the Introduction to the book and that has been very helpful. It’s prompted me to write an overview of how all the chapters hang together and it’s help me get a clearer sense of the overall structure.

    Apart from the conclusion, I have now drafted all chapters. I have decided to incorporate what was going to be a chapter on addressing inequality and inequity in remote work into each chapter as those questions came up again and again.

    So now that I have a clearer sense of the shape of the book, I want to make a plan for revising and improving the drafts that I have completed so far, building up to a week long writing retreat in late January.

    I really enjoyed the first Remote Working Radio session, and going to have more of these coming up in the near year.

    Talks and events

    The biggest event in the late part of the year was ALT’s Winter Conference. A wonderful couple of days, with a rich programme and lots of fun social activities to boot (thanks to Jim & Chahira for the KaraOERke!) .

    #Pupdate

    Posey is nearly a year old now and this is going to be the last #pupdate. It’s been a great year watching her grow and develop, discover her world and become an intrepid explorer.

    Posey, Reindeer Dog
  • VIRTUAL TEAMS BOOK: … EXTRACT FROM The Introduction

    VIRTUAL TEAMS BOOK: … EXTRACT FROM The Introduction

    Progress since the last post

    Since my last post, I have been working on the Introduction to the book and that has been very helpful. It’s prompted me to write an overview of how all the chapters hang together and it’s help me get a clearer sense of the overall structure.

    Apart from the conclusion, I have now drafted all chapters. I have decided to incorporate what was going to be a chapter on addressing inequality and inequity in remote work into each chapter as those questions came up again and again.

    So now that I have a clearer sense of the shape of the book, I want to make a plan for revising and improving the drafts that I have completed so far, building up to a week long writing retreat in late January.

    Remote working radio:

    It’s time to start what will hopefully turn into a monthly radio meet up on DS106radio talking about the journey from learning online to working in distributed teams. The first one of these will happen today:

    • Date: Wednesday, 1st December 2021
    • Time: 19:30 GMT
    • Where: DS106 Radio
    • Hashtag: Chat with me or submit song requests #DS106radio

    See you on the airwaves.

    Chapter: Introduction

    Below is an extract from the draft introduction chapter:

    In 2017 I embarked on a journey of organisational transformation as the CEO of an independent charity, as we took our organisation from a traditional, office-based model of operations to a fully virtual, distributed team. In comparison to many businesses who were forced to adopt home-working in response to the global pandemic, we made the transition for strategic reasons over the period of a year. Instead of sending staff home with a laptop one day and starting home-working the next, we went through formal consultation periods and implemented the transition gradually, providing support and training at every stage. As a result we made a very successful transition and started to focus on how to evolve our approach to working as a virtual team beyond practical considerations from the outset. 

    When I set out to create a new vision for what working for our virtual organisation would be like I came across a lot of practical advice about infrastructure and business processes and I also read a lot of management books that seemed intent on helping leaders and managers to translate traditional power structures from the office to the virtual workplace with a strong emphasis on productivity, cost-savings and employee surveillance. None of what I came across helped to answer my questions. 

    What I was looking for was authentic insight into what it’s like to manage people remotely and to lead an organisation from home, and to do it well. And by doing it well I mean not only meeting budget targets and KPIs but to balance business needs with employee happiness and wellbeing. I was looking to find creative and fun ways to work with people you may never meet in person and to build meaningful working relationships.  I was looking for ethical ways to work online that respect employee privacy and build trust between the organisation and its staff. In short, I was looking for the opposite of the ‘office-deficit’ model. 

    This is why I wrote this book. It’s the book I wish I had when I was setting out on my journey to lead a virtual team. I hope it will provide a source of inspiration and a prompt for reflection to my readers and will be of practical help with managing hybrid, blended and fully distributed teams and organisations.

    If you’d like to keep in touch with book progress:

    • Subscribe to my newsletter;
    • Join today’s monthly radio meet up on DS106radio;
    • If you’d like to invite me to speak or write, get in touch with me directly.
  • Remote working radio

    Remote working radio

    In recent months I have been blogging about writing a book about leading virtual teams and I have shared my progress in blog posts and extracts from draft chapters.

    This month I am writing on the introduction for the book and once I have that completed, then I’ll be close to having a draft of the complete book, which is pretty exciting.

    And that means it’s time to start what will hopefully turn into a monthly radio meet up on DS106radio talking about the journey from learning online to working in distributed teams.

    The first one of these will happen next week:

    • Date: Wednesday, 24th November 2021
    • Time: 19:00 GMT
    • Where: DS106 Radio
    • Hashtag: Chat with me or submit song requests #DS106radio

    See you on the airwaves.

  • Time without buildings: leadership reflections

    Time without buildings: leadership reflections

    Recently I have led a number of leadership development sessions, which was a lot of work as well as a lot of fun. I enjoy working with established and emerging leaders who work in education and the Edtech industry and help them find new approaches to digital transformation.

    In the sessions I focused on providing creative ways to get participants thinking and reflecting, using open tools to remix images (thank you, Bryan Mathers, for your Fabulous Remixer Machine), and demonstrating how this Framework for Ethical Learning Technology can provide a basis for strategic work with staff and students.

    What does your experience of ‘digital’ look like day to day?

    The term ‘digital’ can be a useful shorthand to describe whatever it is that people do with technology. Used in job titles it can mean anything from being in charge to procuring a new virtual learning environment or heading up IT to designing blended learning models to training staff in how to use Moodle and supporting students in using online resources to study.

    Whilst using more precise language is important, comparing what our experience of ‘digital’ feels like day to day is a useful starting point as its likely quite different for each person in the (virtual) room.

    That experience isn’t just limited to what happens at work, as personal use of digital devices and habits come into how we manage online working, too.

    A few things that most of us who work in education have in common just now, is that ‘digital’ means online meetings. Lots of them. Depending on what you do, you might have 3-4 a day or 8-10. Chances are you are spending A LOT of time in video calls one way or another.

    We all know that there are other ways to get things done and work together, but online meetings remain an insidious part of our daily working lives.

    Meetings and events ‘hopping’

    The result is that many of us ‘hop’ from one meeting to the next. Sometimes, we join just for the agenda item for which we are needed for an hour or even half an hour. If we are there for the whole time, then it’s likely that we need to spend time answering emails or writing reports whilst the meeting goes on. We have a lot to do, and there is no time to do it all in when you spend 6 hours or more a day in meetings.

    I dislike this way of taking part in meetings and events as it gives me no opportunity to properly focus on whatever I am attending. Instead it’s expected that I give a high quality talk to a ‘cold’ audience and then move on deal with whatever else is on my agenda for the day.

    There are clear upsides to being able to attend a particular event or meeting virtually that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. There are also potential environmental upsides and financial savings. But it does have downsides for both the participants and speakers.

    Nowadays, it feels like a luxury to spend a WHOLE DAY at an event without simultaneously keeping on top of workloads, emails and other meetings. It has become harder to be unavailable. I used to spend days each month on the train, often without WIFI and sometimes I even travelled to different time zones, making me unavailable except of rare emails for a whole week.

    Standing on a stage and representing my organisation was a valid way to excel at my job, leading my organisation, and we all accepted the travel time and absence that entailed .

    My role as a CEO is four days a week, which gives me (in theory) one day a week to blog and think and write. Luxury time that I value more highly than the salary sacrifice I have to make to work less than full-time. And even still I find it hard to find any time for reflection.

    Time without buildings

    That sense of being time poor is something I hear again and again, from senior leaders and emerging ones. The past eighteen months have been a catalyst for many things, including pushing all of our schedules into online emergency mode: always in meetings, always available, always chasing the next milestone.

    We no longer have the same amount of travel to events, commuting to campus or even walking between buildings. If you are in an office or on campus it is likely that you still take part in meetings with people who are working remotely, and the schedule continues to be BUSY.

    We are struggling to make time to reflect, to think, to let things calm in our minds.

    A few years ago the open education conference I help organise took place in Galway, Ireland. It’s a beautiful, green campus and the conference took place in two different buildings.

    One of my jobs required me walking back and forth between buildings and I walked dozens of miles that week. On the way, I chatted with many delegates, I thought about the talk I had just heard and sometimes I just sat down for half an hour and had a break.

    Now, I walk no more than 500 steps during the days when we run a large, international event. I don’t have any time on the train to prepare myself mentally or chat with my colleagues. I don’t spend six hours on the train to Edinburgh reading or blogging.

    Instead, I am going to make time.

    I used to have the time I spent travelling, waiting, queuing, walking and talking. I still do. I am going to reclaim it from my meeting schedule and the next time I give a one hour talk, I will block our some time before and after, so that I have time to think before I step on a virtual stage.

  • September ’21: a late update

    My post looking back at what I have been up to this month is a bit later than usual, as my month ended with some well deserved holidays.

    A holiday photo of the Welsh coast at sunset.
    Wales, UK

    Once I got back there was a lot to do and catch up on, but September had so many highlights that it feels good to look back now:

    Annual Conference

    I very much enjoyed this year’s event. Lots of resources and videos from the conference are now available openly:

    Blogging

    This month in blog posts I have published on this blog:

    • LOOKING FORWARD TO MY 12TH ALT ANNUAL CONFERENCE – COMPLETELY ONLINE. My first ALT Annual Conference was in 2009 in Manchester (I missed the first year I was working for ALT because I was submitting my PhD that September).
    • DIGITAL DETOX – WELLBEING WEEK. A couple of weeks of spending long days online and working hard have prompted me to embark on this year’s digital detox. The last one I did was in November 2020 and focused on the Data Detox Kit. This time, I am going to focus on an approach for wellbeing for my physical rather than my digital self.
    • DIGITAL DETOX – PART 2. A couple of weeks ago I blogged about embarking on a digital detox, and as in previous years, I put a new (to me) process to the test. Here is what happened this year, what worked for me and what didn’t:
    • JOB SATISFACTION FOR VIRTUAL TEAMS. At the moment I am writing on Chapter 1 of the Leading Virtual Teams Book, and this chapter covers recruitment and selection as well as starting out as a virtual team and making the move from office-based to virtual. One of the things I have been thinking about as I am writing, is what makes it rewarding to work in a virtual team and how those of us who are permanently home-based measure success.

    Book progress

    I have been working on Chapter 2. It was great to work in this chapter as it includes a lot of practical strategies and case studies, which were fun to revisit.

    Next, I will be working on Chapter 1, Setting out as a virtual team.

    I have completed drafts for three of the six chapters now, and I am a total of 29,000 words into the process, which means I am halfway to a complete draft.

    Read this month’s book post.

    Upcoming talks and events

    I have updated my running list with new events I am taking part in or speaking at:

    • Discussion Panel: Higher Education Conference: Ignite HE – From Response to Revival, 7 of October 2021;
    • Developing ethical approaches to learning technology, article in Future of EdTech Q3, Education Technology in Business and Industry, 23 September 2021;
    • Keynote: Transforming Learning Conference, Sheffield Hallam University, 14 September 2021;

    #Pupdate

    A picture of Posey, the puppy, in her red basket in my office.
    A picture of Posey, the puppy, in her red basket in my office.