Category Archives: stuff

altc2009, stuff

Day 12: Who is your EdTech icon

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The inevitable mushroom risotto
The inevitable mushroom risotto

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

When I thought about this challenge there were quite a few names that I thought about, but upon reflection I realised that there was one person for whom I would call my EdTech icon and that is the most amazing Josie Fraser.

I first met Josie back in the early 2000s and I went to see her at a Sixth Form in Leicester, the wonderfully named Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College. I was then Director of the Western Colleges Consortium and we discussed the concept of the shared VLE.

Over the years I have shared conference platforms with Josie, seen here speak, chatted and discussed Edtech stuff and loads more.

She encouraged me to enter the Learning Technologist of the Year award, she had won in 2008 and I won in 2009.

She did an amazing job in chairing the infamous VLE is Dead debate at ALT-C 2009. Keeping myself and others in check.

She invited me to attend and present at the #140Conference at the O2 on the use of Twitter in education.

Along with Frances Bell, Helen Keegan and others, she developed some great Web 2.0 Slam sessions at various ALT conferences which were so much fun.

We had a great time chatting at the LILAC Conference in Dublin on 2016. 

I was particular proud when she was awarded Honorary Life Membership of ALT in 2017.

She has had such a varied career and is a real inspiration and so she is my Edtech Icon.

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).

stuff, twitter

Day 11: EdTech hashtags to follow

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croissant for breakfast
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

#thisiswhattwitterwascreatedfor

I actually don’t really follow hashtags in the way in which this challenge is thinking.

However I did create the #thisiswhattwitterwascreatedfor hashtag over ten years ago now, as a way to almost reinforce the notion that all people uses Twitter for was to post what they had for breakfast.

 

In reality I rarely saw such tweets and still don’t. However I still regularly post what I had for breakfast and add the hashtag.

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).

stuff

Day 10: My office buddy

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Lawrie

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).

psp, stuff

Day 9: EdTech Student projects

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

PSP
PSP by WikimediaImages from Pixabay

Who remembers the PSP?

PSPs at Gloucestershire College

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).

ipad, stuff

Day 8: Shiny gadgets I like…

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Shiny gadgets I like…

It’s the iPad!

There are similarities in this day to Day 4: My favourite piece of kit for that day I said it was my iMac.

I use to post regularly every year a top ten of the technologies that helped me to do my job. The last one I did was for 2016, and my top technology was my iPhone, the iPad was in eighth place back then.

However we are talking shiny here and the iPad I think is one of those shiny gadgets that had a real impact on society, detect and education.

The tablet as a form factor isn’t that new, the Dynabook back in 1973 (complete with ebooks) was a concept which didn’t really connect.

In 2004 I had an HP Tablet (which were popular in hospitals) that used the Microsoft Tablet PC version of Windows. I did like the form factor, the pen input, just that the battery life was poor (a few hours) and the OS wasn’t really designed well for the way I wanted to use the tablet. This was the kind of device I wanted to use on the go, all day at a conference and on the train. However with a battery life of a few hours it wouldn’t even last the trip to London on the train; back then the trains I travelled on didn’t have power sockets!

When I first heard about Apple releasing the iPad my initial thoughts was that this was very much a consumer device. So much so I ordered one for me and didn’t get one through work. My iPad arrived on the day of release and I really liked it. A few weeks late I won an iPad in a prize draw. I did think about selling it, but in the end decided to use it as a work iPad, I didn’t think it would be that useful. Well I was wrong on that count, it was an incredible productivity device and changed very much my working patterns and the way I communicated and collaborated. I found it really useful for events and conferences.

I still use the iPad very much in the same way now as I did back then.

It is my favourite shiny gadget.

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).

altc2010, conference, stuff

Day 7: My favourite talk or event

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Dave White

Probably this one by that Dave White at ALT-C 2010 

Dave with his extensive experience with TALL was certainly well qualified to understand the benefits and limitations of online delivery. However he discussed during his talk the importance of the social benefit that physical lectures provide for a community of learners. This is though not impossible to recreate online, is very challenging. Dave demonstrated through his delivery and content that the lecture in itself can be a useful way to stimulate discussion and debate.

This talk followed the keynote by Donald Clark who had opened the conference with his keynote, and riled people and annoyed them with a blanket attack on the lecture.

What Donald Clark did was to challenge our perception of the lecture, and it appeared to me that the over-whelming consensus of the audience was that the lecture still had some place in the delivery of education. This was reinforced for me by Dave White who gave a wonderful (unplanned) response to Donald’s lecture, with an invited talk on the eventedness and social impact of coming together to learn. 

The phrase “eventedness” has stayed with me since that talk back in 2010.

This talk was probably the highlight of the conference for me and is still a highlight now, ten years later. It has made me reflect more on my personal view that learning technology doesn’t always have to be a choice, but what it can do is provide choice. 

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).

stuff

Day 6: My top edtech CPD tips

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

flip chart
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

When I deliver CPD for e-learning, digital or even edtech, I often get asked why aren’t we using digital tools as we get out the Sharpies, the flip chart paper and post-it notes.

For me the essence of digital CPD isn’t always about using the digital tools you are talking about. Effective use of digital is as much about deciding when to use digital tools and when not to use digital tools. Sometimes it’s one or the other and other times it is a blend.

As Darth Vader once said, never underestimate the power of a post-it note.

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).

stuff

Day 5: EdTech GIF Day

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Most mornings I post a “Good Morning” tweet with a GIF on either how I am feeling or based on something I saw on the previous day.

This one of Chandler comes up pretty often…

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).

apple, stuff

Day 4: My favourite piece of kit

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Hmmm, before covid I think I would have said my iPhone, but over the last eighteen months, I think my iMac has to be my favourite piece of kit.

iMac

When you’re travelling the iPhone was really useful for quick checks, information, entertainment and acting as a WiFi hotspot.

However with Covid-19 and lockdowns the iMac has become my main computer and tool for work. 

I use to post regularly every year a top ten of the technologies that helped me to do my job. The last one I did was for 2016, and my top technology was my iPhone.

In first place is my iPhone 6S Plus, A great phone, with a great screen and made really useful through the 4G connection. I like the camera. Having played with the iPhone 7 in an Apple Store I much prefer the physical home button of the 6S. I know not everyone likes the large screen of the Plus model, but I find it really easy to use, however the size can be a little cumbersome.

Then the iMac came in third.

One of the reasons I didn’t do a top ten for 2017 was that not much had changed. My job didn’t require me to use a range of technologies as previous roles had, and I wasn’t upgrading my kit as much as I use to.

The fact that five years after posting that 2016 list I am still using the same iMac and the same iPhone that I was using back then was showing posting a top ten list was no longer useful. I think I would struggle today to find ten items I use.

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).

conference, stuff

Day 3: Never go to a conference without…

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This post is part of the #JuneEdTechChallenge series.

Across the many conferences I have attended one of the things I would usually take with me was a six way power gang!

Instead of fighting people for the power sockets, you can immediately make five friends! Also useful when you are back in your hotel room and need to charge the laptop, the phone, the iPod, use the hairdryer, etc…

More on that from 2010.

If I am attending a one day event, I might bring a two or three way adapter instead.

I usually find that I take too much stuff to conference and as a result I am always carrying a heavy bag. Sometimes this is because I want to work on the train as well as using a device at a conference itself.

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).