Weeknote 10/2016
This week I’ve been:
- Sending out Issue #205 of Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel, my weekly newsletter loosely focused on education, technology, and productivity. This week it included links about innovation in schools, WordPress, and how to to publish six blog posts a week.
- Recording and releasing Episode 41 (‘Perpetual Alchemy’) of the Today In Digital Education podcast, my weekly podcast with co-host Dai Barnes. This week, we explored the ‘alchemy’ of edtech, Dai’s pupil survey, multiple online identities, pirates, hierarchies, and (inevitably) blockchain. You can discuss TIDE in our Slack channel.
- Taking delivery of our brand-new car. It’s a business lease and the first non-secondhand car we’ve ever called our own. For those interested, it’s a Toyota Auris Touring Sport Hybrid Business Edition (the 1.8 litre version). My wife said it’s “like driving a spaceship”!
- Travelling to Southampton to provide the opening keynote of the Open Badges in Higher Education conference. The history teacher in me loved the opportunity to wander around the old town of Southampton pm Monday afternoon, including the city walls. It was great to get such positive feedback on my presentation (which heavily relied on Bryan Mathers’ images) and be part of such interesting conversations.
- Spending two days in London working with City & Guilds. Although I was quite tired after the conference, I motored through my to-do list. I enjoyed using the Strategyzer value proposition canvas. Someone came over and said, “you’re always doing something interesting”.
- Meeting up with Erica Neve, Safwan Hak, Tris Lumley, and Jo Sayers about various things and projects.
- Hosting a ‘town hall’ meeting for those in my (not so) super-secret Slack channel about some stuff we’re planning. We used the new Slack voice chat feature which is available in the Chrome web browser on all platforms, and the Windows/Mac desktop apps. It worked well, and I like the ability to use emojis to signify various emotions. It’s like a cross between the ‘hearts’ in Periscope and Kieron Kirkland‘s ideas for using the Occupy movement’s hand signals in a Skype meeting!
- Messing about with IBM’s Bluemix platform after reading Doug Levin‘s excellent post 10 Things To Know about the Future of Blockchain in Education.
- Finishing off the epic ‘Blueprint for Armageddon’ six-part Hardcore History series on World War I. Unbelievably great.
- Spending my ‘Doug day’ chilling out having brunch with my wife, playing FIFA16, drinking several glasses of (Abelour) single-malt in front of a roaring fire, and watching Series 4 of House of Cards.
- Writing:
Next week I’m in London on Tuesday and Wednesday working with City & Guilds, and going for a visit to Studio West on Friday. Other than that I’ll be working on things from home. My to-do list never gets shorter, only more organised…
