March was a hectic, busy month but the diversity of generosity of so many different people was quite overwhelming. Proof indeed that transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary is absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with budget and that creativity with a pinch of random, strange ideas can win the day. Oh, and taking the risk to... Continue Reading →
My response to ‘Falling between the cracks: in search of a mentor’
During last summer I reached peak frustration levels and posted a piece about the difficulties surrounding defining career paths and identities in the field of educational technology. Specifically, the difficulties around finding a mentor in such a field. Then life derailed for a time and I didn’t quite find the perfect time for a follow... Continue Reading →
Women’s Work
This week is pretty special for me as International Women’s Day and the Launch of the ALT Northern Ireland Members Group collide on 8th March, bringing technology, learning, openness and equality together. I contribute to an online creativity task, the Daily Create (I would highly recommend checking this out) and one recent activity centred on colouring... Continue Reading →
Boundless – #oneword2018
I’m not big on new year resolutions but the combined prompts of #oneword2018 and the Visual Thinkery Elemental Design tool have encouraged me to pick my word for the coming year: boundless. Why boundless? 1. I spend a huge amount of time trying to curtail my children's endless energy: running when they should be walking, bouncing when... Continue Reading →
2017: Risky Business
Confession: In true click bait form there are no dubious teenage antics, including dancing in underpants, to be found in this post. I wasn’t going to do an end of year reflection this year because the entire year involved reflecting in a myriad of different spaces and also because it was a tad shit. However,... Continue Reading →
My 5 Take Aways from the ALT-C Winter Conference
These are my 'notes to self'/to-dos after attending and presenting at the ALT-C Winter Conference 2017, this week. The two days had a packed programme, that was not only accessible from sitting at my desk but completely free as well. My thanks to everyone involved, and a special congratulations to the team for overcoming the... Continue Reading →
Learning and Teaching through Play: A Play within a Play
Act I: Setting the scene The words above are taken from an “ode to Adams House” that Seamus Heaney penned to as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of its founding in Harvard (Kiely, 2013). It speaks of the differences between our youth and our experiences during university. Heaney is clear in the... Continue Reading →
The Manifesto for teaching online and my postcard
This post is in preparation for a Creativity at a Distance Workshop by Tanya Elias and hopefully it makes sense outside of that context. I have put down my thoughts about a postcard I created in the first module of the Digital Education programme at the University of Edinburgh as a way of linking the annotation of the... Continue Reading →
Creativity, Distance Learning & Connections
This is an overview/tour of some of the creative elements that I have experienced over the last two years as a student on the MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. It has been on my to-do-list for a while but a recent post by Tanya Dorey-Elias, Creativity at a Distance, was the... Continue Reading →
Can’t Crochet, Won’t Crochet
This post was an assignment for #mscde - Understanding Learners in an Online Environment. It is my reflection of a learner challenge, a new motor skill. It was submitted in March 2017. Starting out Upon initially reading the assignment I immediately thought of crochet, a skill that has alluded me from childhood. However, examining the details... Continue Reading →