Personal Blogs

Where I need to be at. 

It should be on the CV of anyone being recruited into the Learning Technologist’s role, someone who in turn needs to be a former PGCE qualified teacher, so will need to be paid a Teacher and Staff Training Consultant levels. Double their salary then!

Ten years after starting (or rebooting) my MA ODE I am earning half what I earned then! Is that progress? It certainly is not the career change I have been trying to make from 'linear and interactive training' 1985-2000 to 'digital and interactive learning'. 

The MA ODE is an add on to an experienced and qualifed educator in HE. It is less applicable to teachers in primary or secondary education. It has little to offer those from Corporate Training either - my background. it is ideal for an academic invovled in reseaching teaching best practice. It is a step towards a PhD in education.

Don't be:

A badge collector. For me it has been another A level, another degree, another course taken. I recall the story of a girl with 5 A grade A Levels not getting into Cambridge to study physics. Easy to see why. They need a specialist at one subject, not a generalist in many. That would have come out in the interview. 

It is what you do with your knowledge that matters most. 

The person who doesn’t finish. Less that 10% of start finish. It requires determination and commitment. 

Wherein lies the problem. I struggle with motivation. I work best with quick reward and feedback. 

Long ago I realised that my horizontal approach to learning was getting me nowhere. But that is ADHD me. Or just me.

One PhD would be better that three MAs.

Anway, at the opposite extreme, I am failing to gain my Level 1 Google Educator certificate. This reminds me of failing the paper exam for Level 1 Teaching Swimming 18 years ago. The first exam I had failed since my driving test. Give me a degree, course, an essay to write, even an A' level, or a paper for an MA, but don't test me with multiplechoice as my default mode will be to consider all possibilities feasbile!

I have also struggled with skiing, learning French, ballroom dancing, throwing a pot and climbing. My feet are still like lead when it comes to dancing, my hands are not better with clay (though I can draw a likeness and a nude). I cannot overcome the 12ft barrier with climbing - the top of a short ladder is as high as I want to get off the ground. The best part of two seasons working in the Alps and I finally cracked skiing to a standard that satisfies me. Skills take time with me, Like 100s of weeks. Amd after 40+ years of trying I am slowly mastering French (spoken at least), courtesy of regular dosages of LingVist (app) and twice a month meeting up with friends locally to spea in French at Rendez Vous a Lewes. 

So failing Google Certified Educator Level 1 sees me instead going for Google Certified Educator Level 2.

The reality for me is what I am not doing, needing and thinking about, I forget. My brain is more Teflon than Velcro. Chucking stuff at my senses does not work unless I am immersed in it, drowning in it, challenged by and suffering it. 

So wish me luck. Bored to tears by Google's own training I am looking for alternatives. What I really need is scheduled time 1 to 1 or in a class with a Google Certified Educator. There are not many of these in England. And it costs money that the institution I work for would need to pay.

On verra.

It requires the skills of the Digital Project Manager. I tried to be one of these in 2000 when i moved from a career in linear and interactive video production to building websites. Some how I have been forever lost in translation. Though I did take a five year break too

Digital Project Management 

1. Software Engineering
2. Digital Marketing
3. Ecommerce Businesses
4. More of the work we do is digital. 
5. “How shit gets done in a digital world.” 
6. People, the end point of any product of service.

BOOKS

Principles : Ray Dalio

Inspired : Marty Cagan

Product Leadership : Richard Banfield, Martin Eriksson & Nate Walkingshaw

Digital Project Management. The Complete Step-by-Step to a Successful Launch by Taylor Olson.

COURSES

Coursera : UCI Introduction to Project Management

BLOGS

Toggl and more book recommendations. 

19 Great Project Management Books for Reading in 2019

Had you heard of the 'last mile problem' ? It strikes me as MBA jargon. Easy to understand the metaphor? As in the last mile of a marathon run? Hitting the wall and all of that?

This is what will make UK businesses hungry after Brexit restrictions on movement from the EU. It favours the younger, mobile, Tech graduate or post-grad with the languages to travel. Most likely wanting to use their English, the busienss lingua france, they will head for Ireland. If they can they will head for North America. They could even head to India or Australia/New Zealand.

That said, my son who is working in Paris for an international business says that in the office only English is spoken! When out for lunch the native speakers may tempt him with a few words and phrases but from his point of view there is little reason to learn French. Is it the same in Germany, Italy and Spain I wonder? 

I'm so impressed with this 12 minute presentation by Luke at Growth Tribe that I am now on my third view through, taking my own notes, checking out the courses, books and blogs along the way. 

Top 7 Skills for Employability

This applies to all of us: in education or business, educators or 'workers'. Watch this and decide if you are keeping up, want to keep up or can keep up. If not retire to an allotment. 

This will either excite you or terrify you.

I wish I was 28 not 58! But my mindset can be that of a 20 something - after all I've now done kids, they are through uni and fled the nest for a different country (Paris).

My default short courses online are OpenLearn, FutureLearn and Coursera. I buy books for the iPad and in hardback as often as I get my Costa or Starbucks coffee. Amazon have had me in their grip since 1999!

We don't get a lot of converastions here - unless it is part of a tutor lead exercise. For convesations we need to move over to Social Media. My preference is LinkedIn - using a member group of like-minds. There are groups on eLearning, and on the MAODE.

I am on Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram.

I'm impressed with Growth Tribe. So much so that I am looking to do a course with them. 

Searching out a Top 7 list of digital skills valuable to FE students I used a number of sites. I spent time with three introductory 'talking heads' from the Head of Marketing at Growth Tribe and came up with these:

1. Getting smart with social media. How to attract and retain more followers, influence them and sell more stuff. Engagement tricks and tips. How to go viral. Using and creating visuals, quizzes and video. 

2. Digital Marketing. Skill up to sell stuff including your skills and talent. 

3. Video Creation. Best tools, efx, platforms and approaches.

4. Employment and career development. Best digital approaches to finding and getting work.

5. Artificial Intelligence The future of your world is AI. An intro. 

6. Design Thinking & Digital Psychology: people are the be all and end all of digital

7. Digital Analytics: data rules  - driving continual change in the world

My first list came to 11. I merged a few, I missed out 'Smartarse with a SmartPhone - tips and hacks you have to know about.

I don't often enough; do you? 

I have just become aware that City & Guilds produce digital content to support their C&G courses. This is what we need if departments can be persuaded to pay £390 per annum per course. What might this work out as? £10 a head? Akin to a text book? 

https://www.cityandguilds.com/techbac/workplace-skills

Topics covered taught at GB MET include:

Automotive

Beauty

Building Services

Construction

Early years

Engineering

Health & Social care

Hospitality

Travel and Tourism: 

Tourism and Business Travel

Travel and Tourism Professional

Its the resources and support that interests me. How much are these the FE equivalent of FutureLearn or Coursera?

https://www.cityandguilds.com/techbac/resources-and-support

Online teaching and support services [From the C&G Website:]

Having given CPD on use of Planet eStream in the morning I attended a PGCE student talk on being non-binary. Knowing a few young people who have shown fluid feelings and behaviours regarding their gender I was interested to learn how to get this right. 

A gathering of those related to 'Granny Vernon' (1901 to 1984). From 7 grandchildren, there are 12 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren and their partners. Quite a story. 

Taking the MAODE there were few practical, classroom activities to put into practice in schools. The MAODE felt more like a precursor to academic study of elearning practices. I recall someone who had come from corporate training quit within weeks - unlike me, he wasn't hoping to make a career change. My career change still looks like a massive step backwards to the bottom of a low ladder.

Today we had a chance to consider and try some easy win, simple interactive tolls to 'gamify' the classroom giving students somethign to do - if they are wanting to have fingers on their mobiles anway. 

We had a discussion on that: should mobiles be allowed or not? Depends on the class. HE students are allowed their laptops, for some their smartphone IS their computer. Though the distractibility is high: follow that Tweet, respond to that email.

Our usual Digital Team Meeting quickly over with after an overview of what is going on in the college and the way roles will be defined in 2020 we took part in a teacher workshop on bringing interactivity to the classroom. Various platforms were used, and we were engaged and active throughout. Barely a moment to check emails, though I did try to tell Amazon where they could put a package as I will not be home much before 9:30pm

We would use interactive Q & A polling tool such as Pear Deck. Others mentioned include: Nearpod, Mentimeter and Poll Everywhere. Yet more (unwanted) toys I will need to have a play with.

We’d also need to download Jamboard and Padlet to our phones. I didn’t have my phone in ‘class’. My line manager needed her charger. In reality there are students (and tutors) who do not have smartphones. Provision needs to be made for them.

Having tried these we want on to explore creation and use of QR codes - as easy as creating a shortened URL and then some VR or augmented experiences you can reach on your ‘mobile device’.