Month: April 2016

This week I’ve been:

• Sending out Issue #212 of Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel, my weekly newsletter loosely focused on education, technology, and productivity. Many thanks to 9Sharp for sponsoring this week’s issue!
• Recording and releasing Episode 48 (‘Off Grid’) of the Today In Digital Education podcast, my weekly podcast with co-host Dai Barnes and special guest Eylan Ezekiel. This week we revisited Will Richardson’s post about elephants in the (class)room, discussed reasons not to be a freeschooler, as well as skills everyone should have by the age of eighteen, going ‘off grid’, and more! You can discuss TIDE in our Slack channel.
• Recovering from a busy weekend in the Lake District and at Maker Faire UK (where I periscoped Vinay Gupta’s talk). I took Monday and Tuesday off, apart from a ‘critical friend’ call with Sarah Horrocks and attending a weareopen.coop weekly meeting.
• Meeting up with Rosie Clayton and John Bevan (in person) to discuss shared interests, as well as Tim Riches (phone) and Mark Berthelemy (via Skype).
• Watching a lot of European football matches on TV, after I realised that, despite my requests last year, I was still being charged every month for BT Sport. I’m planning to switch to Andrews & Arnold for unfiltered, no-hassle broadband at the end of the season!
• Going to see the doctor about my ribs, which I damaged falling off a swing in a park. Apparently they’re just bruised…
• Working with City & Guilds for two days in London. I facilitated a ‘brown bag lunch’ to demonstrate the progress colleagues there have made in the last few months.
• Presenting on a DigitalMe webinar about ‘digital credentials for employability’. It was a Google Hangout on Air and you can see the replay here. My part starts around 42:40.
• Running a workshop for Cambridge English on Friday, thanks to an invitation by Geoff Stead. I’ll be doing further work with the Cambridge Assessment group over the next few months.
• Receiving the great news that weareopen.coop is now registered with Companies House. Our articles of incorporation include the seven co-operative principles. More on this soon — keep an eye on @weareopencoop for details!
• Writing:
  • 3 Types of EdTech Baggage: Toolsets, Mindsets, Skillsets [DML Central] (28th April)
  • Moar meanings of ‘Open’ (29th April)
  • What other types of ‘open’ are there? (28th April)
  • More analogue stuff (28th April)
  • Analogue blog post (27th April)

Next week it’s Bank Holiday Monday in England, so I’m counting that as my day off. I’ll then be working with City & Guilds on Tuesday and Wednesday in London, and on Thursday from home. On Friday I’ll also be at home, writing a report for Cambridge English.