Tag: BETT

Weeknote 03/2016

Posted on January 23, 2016 by Doug Belshaw

Doug - How to be an (open) badger — Photo by @teknoteacher

This week I’ve been:

Sending out Issue #199 of Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel, my weekly newsletter loosely focused on education, technology, and productivity. This time around, it included links about participatory methodologies, iOS in education, and pull-to-refresh.
Recording and releasing Episode 35 (‘Participatory BETT’) of the Today In Digital Education podcast, my weekly podcast with co-host Dai Barnes. In this week’s episode we discussed the 4 C’s of learning, Open Badges, participatory methodologies, gamified learning, removing certain apps from your smartphone, and more!
Down in London for three days. I was working out of the City & Guilds office on Tuesday, then represented them at BETT on Wednesday. This included a presentation with Bryan Mathers and chairing a panel session. On Thursday I was representing myself (i.e. Dynamic Skillset) so I caught up with lots of people and did a short presentation on Open Badges.
- Some of the people I managed to catch up with included: Marc Scott, Mikko Kontto, Pauline Maas, Dai Barnes, Leon Cych, Addy Pope, Mark Riches, Matt Rogers, Su Adams, Alan O’Donohoe, Eylan Ezekiel, Oliver Quinlan, Audrey Watters, Michael Shaw, and Will Richardson (who’s the reason I started blogging 10+ years ago)
Suffering from a cold. I powered through the second day of BETT thanks to a combination of ibuprofen, paracetamol, Lucozade, and Lockets!
Meeting up with Dave White in a London pub. We had a bit of a ramble chat about life, the world, and everything.
Learning some more JavaScript using Code Combat. My son has now overtaken me…
Celebrating my son’s ninth birthday. It’s true: they grow up quickly! This year the presents were, of course, all about Star Wars.
Writing:

Next week I’ll be down in London for a couple of days, and hopefully be back to my usual fighting-fit self!

Where I’ll be at BETT 2016

Posted on January 18, 2016January 18, 2016 by Doug Belshaw

I’ve spoken at BETT in many guises. I started off as a teacher, then I went as a school senior leader, then went there during my time with Jisc, then Mozilla… This time around, BETT 2016 will be my first as a consultant. On the first day I’m there I’ll have my City & Guilds hat on as they’re one of my main clients. On the second, I’m representing myself (i.e. Dynamic Skillset).

I love to hate BETT. While I dislike the amount of snake oil I see there, it’s worth attending because of the people. While I’m there I try to bring a dose of healthy edtech skepticism. I also try and show people alternatives to to their current reality.

This year, you can catch me at BETT at the following times:

Wednesday 20th

The first session I’m involved with on Wednesday is a presentation with Bryan Mathers. We’ll be talking about educational credentials such as Open Badges, and how City & Guilds can help with this. We’ll be going both wide and deep.

The Digital Skills Sandwich: credentialing 21st literacies in a fast-paced environment (1:45pm to 2:15pm) Learn Live Further Education and Skills theatre

The second session is one I’m chairing. I’m looking forward to asking probing questions of the panellists and getting input from the audience!

Connecting With Young People: Using Social Media and Digital Marketing to Enhance Student Recruitment (4:45pm to 5:30pm) Learn Live Further Education and Skills theatre

If you’re attending BETT and want to catch up, lunch, a coffee after my presentation, or dinner are your best options.

Thursday 21st

I’m only doing one short presentation on Thursday, and spending the rest of my time wandering around. I’ll be presenting on the Exa Networks stand (full programme), after being asked nicely by Alan O’Donohoe. Space is limited and there’ll be 10 minutes for questions afterwards.

How to be an (open) badger (12:00-12:20) Stand B160 – Exa Education

I’m hoping to bump into a few people on Thursday before heading home late afternoon. I’ll be pretty flexible, so if you want to say hello, do tweet me (@dajbelshaw) or email me beforehand to arrange a time ([email protected]).

If you’re interested in where I’ll be over the coming year, then you might want to check out my Lanyrd profile. I still need to update it with some stuff from last year, but event-wise it’s a decent overview of my past/future movements!

Weeknote 05/2014

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Doug Belshaw

This week I’ve been:

Dealing with a build-up of email after Bett.
Explaining why we’ve merged two community calls into a weekly Mozilla #Teach The Web call.
Helping Laura Hilliger with a proto-glossary for Webmaker.
Creating a community survey to help us with the upcoming workweek.
Moving and redirecting everything referring to the Web Literacy Standard towards the Web Literacy Map on the Mozilla wiki.
Presenting with Tim Riches on Open Badges at Learning Technologies 2014.
Writing a blog post for DMLcentral on ‘disruption’, shiny technology, and education (sneak peek).
Outlining and starting to put together a bibliography for an upcoming Webmaker whitepaper.
Participating in the first #TeachTheWeb community call.
Feeling a bit run down and unproductive. Part of that’s probably to do with the uncertainty surrounding when we’re going to move. It’s out of our hands – which is one of the problems when there’s a chain involved!

Next week I’ll be at a Webmaker workweek in Toronto. I’m looking forward to it, but the weather (-12°C!) doesn’t sound much fun.

Image CC BY-NC Patrick Brosset