Whilst I no longer have six-week summer holidays or, in fact, nearly as much holiday time as I did when working in schools, I much prefer my current arrangements. Flexible working hours and being able to book my holiday for (pretty much) whenever I want make for a fitter, happier Doug.
I’m using up my remaining annual leave for this academic year by making this weekend a long one. Last December, for my 30th birthday, my wife bought me a ‘Supercar Fantastic Four’ track day that I’ve finally booked in, so I’m heading down to York today to drive a Ferrari 360, Porsche GT3, Lamborghini Gallardo and Suburu Impreza WRX. I hope this isn’t my last blog post… 😉
Stepping out the stream is a good time to reflect on what I’ve got coming up in the next few months. This overview post, then, is as much for my own benefit as to give readers a heads-up on some stuff I’m involved in.
Here goes:
16 August – 30 September: Semester of Learning on ‘Open badges and assessment’ at P2PU.org
6-8 September: ALT-C conference (delegate; launching Mobile Learning infoKit)
20 September: JISC infoNet Planning meeting
21/22 September: Scottish Learning Festival (delegate)
23 September: JISC OER Phase 3 meeting
28 September: Mobile Learning Symposium (presenting with Steve Boneham)
4/5 October: JISC Digital Literacies and Assessment and Feedback startup meetings
6 October: JISC Digital Literacies workshop (participant)
7 October: Future of Technology in Education (FOTE) conference (presenting)
19 October (provisional): JISC RSC Online Conference (presenting)
24-28 October: Annual Leave (Malta)
8 November: Century Challenge meeting with Prof. Keri Facer, et al.
14 October: JISC OER Phase 3 startup meeting
16 November (provisional): Google Apps workshop with DoDigital and Vital
19 November (provisional): Purpos/ed event
22-25 November: JISC Online Conference (presenting)
6-7 December: JISC infoNet planning meeting
Ongoing: #openbadges weekly IRC meetings (Saturday evenings, 20.00 UK time), EdTechRoundUp Weekly (Sunday evenings, 20.00 UK time)
To plan: #purposedassess meeting (September, with Tom Barrett), November Purpos/ed event (open planning model)
Hopeful about attending: Mobility Shifts conference (10-16 October)
In addition, I’m hoping to submit my Ed.D. thesis by the end of August and then defend it in September/October at my viva voce. Interest in working with me through Synechism Ltd.  is increasing; having worked with Greg Perry and Future Behaviour, I’m now meeting regularly with Zoe Ross and DoDigital to work on digital development as well as doing some work with Stephen Haggard for a faith-based organisation on digital futures (they wanted to remain anonymous).
I’ve got plenty to be getting on with until the end of October, but do get in touch if you want me to speak, write or advise you or your organisation. My main fields of interest continue to be Open Educational Resources, Mobile Learning and Digital Literacies. 🙂
Image CC BY DafneCholet
This week I have been mostly…