Category Archives: stuff

Day 22: EdTech Metaphors

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Tanker
Image by Gerhard Traschütz from Pixabay

I use metaphors a lot when I am discussing edtech or delivering training.

One example that others use which I blogged about was steering a supertanker…

The reality is that steering a supertanker is quite easy and they are in fact highly manoeuvrable, they have to be to dock at refineries and ports across the world.

Steering a supertanker…

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day 21: Most used website

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

chromebook
Image by 377053 from Pixabay

I have no idea. Mainly as I use multiple devices and browsers. 

On Chrome on my iMac, it would be Twitter, but on Safari it probably is something else.

On the iPad it’s probably BBC News, the Guardian or Wikipedia.

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day 20: Most influenced by…

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

This was a challenging one, as there are lots of people who have influenced me over the years, and it would be difficult to name just one.

Early influences have been and gone and even today I am inspired and influenced by people I meet and chat with.

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day19: EdTech Dogs

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

wandelen langs de vloedlijn
CC BY-NC 2.0 Gerard Stolk

Dogs can be wonderful pets so I have been told.

So ask me do I have a dog?

The answer is no.

Now ask me why I don’t have a dog?

I don’t have the time!

If you gave me the time, would I have a dog?

Still no.

I don’t have a dog #altc

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day18: EdTech Cats

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Well it has to be EdTech Meerkats.

Why a meerkat, well I needed a photograph for my avatar  and I had a photograph of a meerkat from Bristol Zoo on my hard drive so I used that. 

It stuck and I never changed it.

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day 17: Dream EdTech role/job

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

My dream edtech job is to be Dave White.

Dave White

Also see this entry.

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day 16: Inspiring keynotes of the past

Martin Bean's Keynote at ALT-C 2009 in Manchester.

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Despite the fact he used made up quotes I did find the Martin Bean keynote from ALT-C 2009 inspiring and did influence many of my own presentations.

The quotes Martin used, however weren’t real.

Before I knew that I used the quotes to remind the audience that scepticism and concerns about the introduction of new technologies or new ways of thinking are not new and that it is “normal” to be concerned about change.

Now I’ve always had my doubts on the validity or authenticity of the quotes as my brief internet research showed that lots of people used the quotes, but there was very little real “evidence” on their authenticity. However in terms of the message I was getting across the essence of the message was much more important than the content of the message. Audiences related to the essence of the message and the scepticism that they had encountered. In more recent messages I have used actual quotes and newspaper headlines about the “dangers” of technology to reinforce the essence of the message.

I used the quotes in a presentation at an ebooks event at UWE. I posted the slides online and I’ve had a couple of comments plus a really useful link that once and for all casts doubts on the quotes and pretty much says that someone in the 1970s made them up!

This set of statements was printed in the Fall 1978 issue of “The MATYC Journal”, a publication that focused on mathematics education. The quotes were assigned the dates: 1703, 1815, 1907, 1929, 1941, and 1950. But they may actually have been created in 1978. Copies of these quotes have been widely distributed and posted on many websites. They also have been published in multiple books and periodicals.

Ah well…. I knew it was too good to be true.

Though of course if you have listened to my presentations at the time you will realise that the quotes were a theatrical device to make the audience to stop and think about change and people’s reactions to change. This is still valid, the quotes merely add a bit of dramatic licence!

Now later I found some real quotes about the pace of life from XKCD. Continue reading Day 16: Inspiring keynotes of the past

Day 15: Halfway through – wildcard

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

October 3, 2003

Meerkat

Do I need to say anymore?

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day 14: EdTech Twitter chats

Twitter

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

EdTech Twitter chats?

I don’t actually think I follow any…

I do #LTHEChat now and then, otherwise may interject if I see a tweet, but have rarely followed a tweetchat. 

I have done a few in my time though!

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).

Day 13: Acronyms I could do without

scrabble letters
Image by Bruce Emmerling from Pixabay

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Probably the acronym I could do without has to be VLE though LMS comes a close second.

VLE is a virtual learning environment, though these days most people equate the VLE with a specific product such as Blackboard, Canvas or Moodle.

You hear people say things like, our VLE is Blackboard. The concept of the VLE is synonymous with a actual product.

For me thought I always saw the VLE as a concept, an online environment which could encompass a product such as Moodle, but would be supplemented with other functions through tools such as Mahara, WordPress even the Twitter.

The challenge then is if you change your VLE, you need to then start referring to a new product as people will associate the term VLE with the legacy product.

You also have that concept that we don’t have a VLE, we have Moodle.

The other issue I have with the term VLE, is that we don’t refer to the physical learning environment in the same way that we refer to the VLE.

So probably the acronym I could do without is VLE.

Though I didn’t post these posts each day in June (and to be honest I didn’t post it each day on the Twitter either) except the final day, I have decided to retrospectively post blog posts about each of the challenges and back date them accordingly. There is sometimes more I want to say on the challenge then you can fit into 140 characters (well 280 these days).