Weeknote 24/2017
This week I’ve been:
- Sending out Thought Shrapnel, my weekly newsletter loosely structured around education, technology, and productivity. Issue #262 was entitled ‘Strong and stable’.
- Recording and releasing Episode 85 of Today In Digital Education (TIDE), the regular podcast I record with Dai Barnes. We used Zencastr to record for the first time. This episode was entitled ‘Personalised Unbundling’ and we discussed the results of the UK General Election, unbundling education, personalised learning, using smartphones in front of your children, notification systems, and more!
- Tracking all the things using an online spreadsheet. I’ve found that I eat better, exercise more, and stick to my daily goals when I do this.
- Digging into version 2.0 of the Open Badges specification so that I can explain it in language a layperson could understand.
- Starting some research into open practices in the NHS (and healthcare more generally) for Rachel Hammel.
- Putting together my presentation for next week’s closing keynote at the University of Dundee. I’ll be looking to the future of badges and credentialing. I may even mention blockchain without rolling my eyes. My (unfinished) slide deck is here.
- Finalising details of my participation in a debate on digital literacies at the World Conference on Computers in Education next month in Dublin.
- Helping Anamika Bhatt from the Careers and Enterprise Company and James Tattersfield from RND Labs with some questions about Open Badges and related issues.
- Sorting out digitalliteraci.es/wiki so Chris Lott could again use it with his students at the University of Alaska while they study my book, The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies. I always enjoy reading their reflections.
- Meeting with my We Are Open co-op colleagues, with Sarah Horrocks from London CLC and representatives from the Education Development Trust, and with Richard Wyles, CEO of Totara.
- Continuing my streak on 750words.com.
- Scripting, recording, editing, and releasing Chapter 5 of #uppingyourgame: a practical guide to personal productivity on ‘habits’.
- Posting links as I come across them during the week to Thought Shrapnel Live, a public channel of the open-source messaging app, Telegram.
- Writing:
- On the importance of transitions (Discours.es, 16th June 2017)
- Chapter 5 of my new audiobook on productivity is now available! (Open Educational Thinkering, 16th June 2017)
- What’s the biggest problem in open source right now? (Discours.es, 16th June 2017)
- Halcyon makes Mastodon look and feel like Twitter (Discours.es, 15th June 2017)
- Providing some clarity on Open Badges 2.0 (Open Educational Thinkering, 14th June 2017)
Next week I’m doing the closing keynote at an Open Badges event up at the University of Dundee on Monday, then spending Tuesday to Thursday building out Badge Wiki, and doing some research for a couple of clients. My children have a teacher training day on Friday, so I’ll be hanging out with the family.
I make my living helping people and organisations become more productive in their use of technology. If you’ve got something that you think I might be able to help with, please do get in touch! Email: [email protected]
