Weeknote 48/2015
This week I’ve been:
- Supposedly working three days. However, the two ‘Doug days’ I’d planned didn’t quite work out and I had to do a bit of work on both Thursday and Friday.
- Sending out Issue #195 of my newsletter, Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel. This week it featured links about the ‘erosion’ of digital skills, encryption in the wake of the Paris bombings, and why you should stop working once in a while. This month’s newsletters are in association with Dynamic Skillset.
- Releasing Episode 32 (‘Eroding to Zero’) of the Today In Digital Education podcast, my weekly podcast with co-host Dai Barnes. This week we discussed digital skills and parenting, Raspberry Pi Zero, encryption, and productivity tips.
- Agreeing to present at a Breaking Barriers: Embracing literacy through digital media event at the University of Malta next week. This was thanks to a Twitter conversation with Vanessa Camilleri who works at the university.
- Arranging a couple of thinkathons: one next month and one in January.
- Spending two days working in London with City & Guilds. I stayed at City Marque Clerkenwell serviced apartments which was great, if a little noisy. I worked with Bryan Mathers on finishing the draft of the Open Badges 101 course and had an enjoyable, somewhat impromptu, brunch with Eylan Ezekiel.
- Writing a report for Sarah Horrocks at London CLC after spending a day analysing how they could use the Go ON UK Basic Digital Skills framework to create a curriculum for their adult learners.
- Talking to the RSA about a potential Cities of Learning project in the UK. Tim and Lucy from DigitalMe and Josie Fraser were also on the call.
- Having various conversations about the (strong!) future for Open Badges with people like Kerri Lemoie, Sunny Lee, Ian O’Byrne, and Simone Ravaioli. We discussed taxonomies and potential to use blockchain technology.
- Writing:
If not my last blog post of 2015, this will certainly be my weeknote of the year. That’s because of my impending #BelshawBlackOps15 (Part 2) which kicks in for the month of December. I’m looking forward to spending some time with my family — and especially my Dad who comes home from Qatar on Tuesday!
Next week I’m working from home on Monday for City & Guilds, and then in London for them on Tuesday. On Wednesday I’m in Manchester to give an ESRI seminar at MMU and run a workshop at EdLab. Then on Thursday I fly off to Malta to deliver the presentation mentioned above. I’ll be back home on Saturday.
Image CC BY-SA Gareth Halfacree
