Month: November 2016

We’re running a webinar next week on badges, and you’re invited

Posted on November 16, 2016November 25, 2016 by Doug Belshaw

Update: you can now view an edited version of the YouTube Live stream via the We Are Open YouTube channel.

When I was over in Los Angeles earlier this year, I met some great people who seemed to share similar interests to our gang at We Are Open Co-op. Lo and behold, it turns out that Steve Regur and Amy McCammon are co-founders of Educators Co-op. We, of course, started planning how we could work together (in accordance with Principle 6), and continued the conversation at the Mozilla Festival a few weeks ago.

The upshot is that we’re going to get started on our co-operative journey by running an introductory webinar on Open Badges next Tuesday at 4pm UTC. The link to point people towards is http://weareopen.coop/webinars. I’ll be facilitating the conversation which will begin with the Bluffer’s Guide to Open Badges slide deck we used at MozFest.

We’ve set a low-bar target of 10 participants for this initial collaboration, but are, of course, expecting more will turn up. Future webinars will move from discussing the basics of badges to more advanced topics, including including how to join our co-operatives, scaffolding digital skills, and more!

Click here to sign up for the webinar

PS This is the perfect link to forward to your colleagues with whom you’ve been wanting to have that conversation about badges. Why not come along together?

[INCOMING] #BelshawBlackOps16 (Part 2)

Posted on November 13, 2016November 13, 2016 by Doug Belshaw

In a little over two weeks it will be December. For those who have followed my work for a year or more, you know what that means: I go ‘dark’. No personal email, blogging, or newsletter from me for the entire month.

I’ll still be working, so remain available via my consultancy, Dynamic Skillset, as well as via my We Are Open co-op email address. You may see the occasional article that clients have paid me to write popping up via various channels, too. The important thing is that I step out of the stream for a while, going more ‘read-only’.

While I’ve got your attention, I’d like to give you a quick heads-up that things will be changing with my weekly newsletter. I’ve enjoyed putting together Thought Shrapnel during the last few years, but Issue #239, going out on 27th November 2016 will be the last in its current format.

Why? Well, I’ve currently got over 1,500 subscribers and have attracted sponsorship over the last 18 months, but list growth has plateaued and I’m itching to do something different. If you’re subscribed my newsletter, don’t worry, I’ll let you know what’s coming next. It might involve several ‘pop-up’ newsletters; I’m not quite sure yet.

Also, given how out-of-touch I’ve felt with such a large part of the world after the results of the EU referendum and US election, I may do something fairly dramatic with my use of social networking. I’m unlikely to quit anything completely, but I can envisage unfollowing everyone I currently follow on Twitter and starting again in that regard. We’ll see.

The great thing about disconnecting for a while — over and above spending more time with family and avoiding showing my grumpy side — is that it provides the time to reflect on my current ‘ways of being’ in digital spaces. I always contemplate not coming back at all after my time away but, when I do return, feel that I tend to use technology more intentionally.

Anyway, I’ll be around for the next couple of weeks. Let me know if you need anything before then!

Image by Rodion Kutsaev

Weeknote 45/2016

Posted on November 12, 2016November 12, 2016 by Doug Belshaw

This week I’ve been:

Dismayed at the outcome of the US Presidential Election. However, I’ve been taking it like a Stoic: there are some things that I can control and some that I cannot. The Trump victory belongs into the latter circle. I’m taking solace in the fact that this result, along the Brexit vote, might provide a new way forward for those who believe politics should be more three-dimensional.
Attending VentureFest North East after an invitation from one of the organisers. There were over 1,000 people at St. James’ Park and I met some familiar faces as well as making some great new contacts!
Meeting people to discuss all sorts of things, some of which I can share now, some not. It was good to catch up with Kev Jones about some upcoming work We Are Open co-op will be doing with Sussex Downs College. I also participated in an emerging, global, tech and learning think tank, which was an interesting experience.
Recording and releasing Episode 68 (‘Digital Awareness’) of Today In Digital Education, my weekly podcast with co-host Dai Barnes. This week we discussed digital awareness (main topic) as well as monitoring students’ web browsing, privacy in messaging apps, digital literacies, remote lessons, and biometrics. You can join the community to discuss this episode of TIDE in our Slack channel!
Sending out Issue #236 of Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel, my weekly newsletter loosely focused on education, technology, and productivity. It featured, among other things, the limits of ‘brilliance’, the tyranny of surveillance, and advice on how to be prolific. Many thanks to Makers Academy for sponsorship!
Flying to Jersey to work with Victoria College. I did some training on Google Classroom and discussed broader digital strategy issues. While was there, I participated in their (very moving) Remembrance Day services complete with 25-pound cannon going off right outside the building! I’m still recovering from the shock.
Staying at the Hotel de France while in Jersey. Not only has it got one of the best spas in Europe, but the fitness facilities are some of the best I’ve ever seen in a hotel.
Writing:
- Reambiguation (Ambiguiti.es, 12th November 2016)
- Utopia, pedagogy, and G-Suite for Education (Open Education Thinkering, 11th November 2016)
- 7 approaches to educational technology integration (Open Educational Thinkering, 10th November 2016)
- How to use a VPN to ensure good ‘digital hygiene’ while travelling (Literaci.es, 9th November 2016)
- Cicero and Plato on appropriate leadership (Discours.es, 9th November 2016)
- Digital literacies have a civic element (Literaci.es, 8th November 2016)
- Close Deals Faster Using Evernote to Manage Sales Process Steps (NewCo Shift, 8th November 2016)
- Seeing the world the way it really is (Discours.es, 8th November 2016)
- Open Badges, BlockCerts, and high-stakes credentialing (Open Educational Thinkering, 7th November 2016)
- On constancy (Discours.es, 7th November 2016)
- Thinking out loud (Discours.es, 5th November 2016)

Next week, I’ll be mostly at home, writing. Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with!

Email: [email protected]

Image CC BY David Blaikie