Open Participants, Syndicated

Tying The Room Together

This post is meant to be supplemental to two different professional learning sessions I’ve recently offered:

  1. Leave Room to Make Room, for the OLC Ideate Virtual Conference, and
  2. Creating a Course Podcast/Radio Show, for the Fleming College Virtual Teaching & Learning Week.

I think the two sessions feed each other, so why not make one blog post for the two of them? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The first session, Leave Room to Make Room (offered with co-host/kindred spirit Jonathan Lashley) was focused on discussing ways to cede control (and space) to the learners in online learning environments. As if by example, we did this by giving as much time to the participants as we could in a 45 minute space. We recorded mini podcast/radio interviews with participants, but we didn’t talk about HOW or WHY to make a podcast per se. We just used the idea of recording audio as an one example of leaving that space for learners to do something with course material.

The other session, Creating a Course Podcast/Radio Show, was focused more on how and why of it all (and to a completely different audience), offering up the tools and practices that you could use to enable students to make best use of their new space. But we didn’t get too much in to the (open) pedagogy behind offering up the structured space.

Now that the two sessions and their products exist, they can serve each other. The slides and recording (I’ll add the link as soon as it’s ready) from the latter can be offered up to participants from the former interested in digging deeper into using audio recording. The interviews collected from the former can serve as an example to those interested in the latter. (And perhaps offer a rabbit hole into Open Pedagogy)

And as the two entities come together in this post, I hope it all shows that there is great opportunity in online learning to offer up space and time for learners to just talk about course stuff and share it out to everyone to hear people talk about course stuff.

In preparation for the Ideate session, I thought it would be nice to collect some exemplars and then I got kind of carried away with it. I spun up a SPLOTbox (WordPress themes offered up from Alan Levine in his infinite generosity) to collect little audio clips. I put out a request for volunteers to help, hoping to pre-load the site with 3 or 4 exemplars heading in to the session. I ended up with 17 mini interviews from many of the heroes of the digital education road that we are traveling on right now. During the session itself, in order to model the idea of ceding control, we offered a brief introduction and spent the rest of the session recording mini-interviews with participants. Have a look at the slides here. Five fabulous souls volunteered, bravely doing it in front of 80 or so attendees: Katerina “From Space” Berezina, Katherine “Front Porch” Ridella, Dave “Long Pause” Goodrich, Angela “Darn Tootin” Gunder, and Karen “99 Tips” Costa. Here are their mini-interviews.

Favorite moments from the session included Jonathan’s wily Zoom backgrounds, multiple participants saying “LATER SKATER BYEEE”, and getting the idea of leaving space thrown back in our face in the form of an infinitely long, painful, drawn out pregnant pause from Dave Goodrich that left us shook (check it out starting at around 26:20).

A pointed comment in the chat came during the session that was something like: “And HOW do we put a podcast together?” and I thought, well I wish you could come to another session I have coming up! I guess that comment inspired this post, so thank you, pointed commenter!

Now to that other session. It was the penultimate session of an 8-day, Wednesday to Wednesday, Virtual Teaching & Learning “Week” that Fleming College offered to its educators. Throughout the week we offered panel discussions with faculty, students, and student support staff, various “emergency pedagogy” workshops, and other sessions focused on specific tools like MS Teams, Echo 360 and H5P. And, you guessed it, podcasts!

Here are the slides again from the session. The simple goal was to talk a bit about the who, what, when, where, why, how of it all and then to do it for real in a mini-interview from start to finish with the same mini-interviews we used in the Ideate session so that attendees could see it happen live.

Another brave soul (Thanks Mary!)volunteered to, in front of a live studio audience, go from the Webex room that we were meeting in, to the recording space on Zencastr ,to do the mini interview. Then a quick edit in Audacity, and publishing and sharing. You can see it in the recording here.

And thus, the two sessions have come full circle in serving each other to show how and why to make space for your learners’ voices. And maybe that is enough belaboring the idea that these two sessions are meant for each other. You probably got (or rejected) the idea like 14 paragraphs ago. Thanks for making it this far! I hope you get something out of it. And, so you know, the SPLOT lives on and is still taking your ideas if you want to add your voice. Go to this link to record yourself. Later Skaters, BYEEEEE!

Photo by Ana Flávia on Unsplash

Syndicated, Virginia Group

A new beginning in a time of transitions

We are all in a time of transition right now with the current pandemic, stay at home orders, and financial uncertainties. While I am still working full-time as a library director, I am taking this time to reflect, reevaluate, and recommit to expanding my consulting offerings and opportunities. I have refreshed the website and embraced the image of the butterfly as representative of positive change, soaring to new heights, and great beauty.

I hope that you, too, will find time to reflect on what you truly want in your life and in your organization. If you would like to talk about it, please use the new Consulting Inquiry Form to reach out to me.

Take care of yourselves and each other. We will get through this and I hope we will find a new way of working together.

Syndicated, Virginia Group

“FUN” STUFF FOR QUARANTIME

Hello, everyone. If you’re reading this it’s because you’re desperately bored. Well, let me help to the best of my abilities. Here are ideas/links/arts/whatevers that I’ve collected or been sent from around the internets. I’ll keep adding stuff as I go. Enjoy & stay safe! Planning/architecture/preservation related movies: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off LA Confidential Midnight […]

Open Participants, Syndicated

The Remote Possibility

The typical reader of my occasional blog posts is probably not so much the target of this one. You know this stuff. I’m writing to those students and teachers out there who don’t feel comfortable “going remote” and teaching/learning from a distance. And you may soon be forced to do so.

I want you to know that I absolutely love working remotely.

And I don’t think the idea of “pivoting” in person classes to online is really much different from a “regular job” switching to remote. We can do it and it we can enjoy it. I spent two years working remotely in my laundry room and would do it again in a heartbeat

Let’s talk about the benefits:

  1. You can wear sweatpants. Or your HufflePuff robes. Or an inflatable chicken outfit. The camera does not have to be on when you are in a live class or meeting.
  2. Click mute. Rip that burp/fart. un-mute.
  3. Camera off, mute… go get a snack or another coffee. No one knows or cares.
  4. The laundry gets the hell done.
  5. While you’re in that class or meeting, you can also much more blatantly also be in whichever back channels you’ve made for yourself and friends, keeping up with the real important details.
  6. The back-channels will be your digital hallway. Your shooting the shit skills will become innovative as all get out.
  7. Meetings become more collaborative. Don’t want to be the one speaking? Be the one fetching links to the things we’re talking about and copying them into the chat. Monitor the chat. Make connections.
  8. Your online classes can now have a lo-fi hip hop soundtrack if you like.
  9. Your ability, and your desire, to have quick meetings/chats with peers has gone way up. I’m far more likely to have an “in person” meeting digitally with a friend or colleague if I don’t have to go anywhere. And that person can be across the country. Maybe in like Mortlach, Saskatchewan or something.
  10. Got kids? You’re probably more in position to be flexible in school pick ups/drop offs and fulfill a few more of the million needs they have.

So you may find yourself digitally all over the place. In virtual meetings in Zoom/Webex/Skype. In collaborative workspaces in Slack/Teams/Discord. In your email inbox, LMS, on the socials. Lots of the time all those spaces at once.

Wherever you are digitally, you’re also right there where you can flip the laundry, pet the pupper, grab a free snack (just mute if it’s chips and salsa), turn up the heat, make eyes at your partner.

You’re not alone. The Digital People out there can help. They say things like this:

See you out there!

Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

Syndicated, Virginia Group

A free weekend

Friday, 1:04 PM ET.
A text from me to my husband:

Do we need to take anyone home

Indeed, as a newly-minted director with people working for me, a significant amount of my work has turned into emailing people instructions, giving feedback, and distributing tasks.  By Friday afternoon, I had sent out all the emails I had to send and would need to wait for the results before moving forward on any of my projects.  Given the timing…I decided I could leave the office (metaphorically since I work from home) for the week.

I checked in with myself: Did I feel guilty?  No. I’ve put in more than enough hours in my first month as a director to allow for a handful of half days, let alone a couple of hours. Also, would I need to spend the weekend on family commitments which—let’s face it—can feel more like work than work? Nope, none of that either.  Were we traveling anywhere, which I always love but it can still be exhausting? That is a big. fat. N-O.

Last week I saw a tweet discussing an article on workplace productivity.  Not having the time or energy to read the article in the middle of a workweek, I can’t tell you what article actually said, but the accompanying tweet suggested that long workweeks tend to shoot employers in the foot: A true 40-hour workweek (with protected nights and weekends) leads to greater productivity and creativity among employees.

In general, I dislike the higher-ed Twitterverse’s insistent hammering on work-life balance and not working so-long hours just because you can (because it’s ableist!).  I don’t like this particular rabbit hole because some inhabitants will shift the responsibility (and the blame) for toxic work-life to the individual worker instead of employers or reward systems or work culture.

However, the idea in this tweet—that free weekends provide opportunities for mental breaks and curricular activities and therefore can enhance your productivity—I really can’t imagine anyone or anything arguing against that statement, so neither will I. Therefore, I will grab on to the premise with both hands and test it out.  I have an opportunity for a free weekend, so what will I do with it?

It’s approximately 1:00 pm ET Sunday, 48 hours after I knocked off a little early from work on a Friday.  Here’s what I did and how I feel about it.

I napped and

Yeah, I don’t do this unless I’m sick and rarely then. I’m not saying it will be a go-to activity but it was a 30 minutes well-spent at the moment.

Also checked out a Power Class at the gym

I’m not usually a group fitness person (it’s been 15 years since my last class), but my husband wanted to try it out.  What I noticed (beyond my really sore chest muscles) is that it’s a great opportunity to find friends, and I really need and want more friends in my life.  Note to self: this activity is a keeper.

Before roaming around a Barnes and Noble where 

So this was a promise to our daughters—the only way my husband and I could get them to the gym (right next to the Barnes and Noble). And it meant that I got to look at every magazine layout and book display while the kids were struggling with their book choices. Favorite teen quote: “Let me just tell you…that Oscar Wilde?  Man, he had to deal with a LOT.” While I was there I got some great ideas for work projects AND a fun book for me too.

I considered starting a book club.

Yeah, so this happened at Barnes and Noble when I was watching the groups of women sitting in the cafe, wondering how I might be able to find friends who would meet with me in the local Barnes and Noble on Sunday morning.  I am a little chagrinned that the group I thought was a book club was actually a group of admins putting together a CME conference agenda, but hey—my dream of having friends to meet at Barnes and Nobel lives on.

The whole family also did dinner out with friends 

And at a new restaurant at that. I just said I need more friends and yet I’m eating out with friends, so let me explain: these friends really belong to my husband.  I can sometimes feel a little bored at these dinners in part because these good people aren’t the type to help me dissect the menu font or consider the color palette of the room or how Billie Eilish and Jackson Pollack might be the same phenomenon or the photography exhibit at the VMFA or how to plan a hypothetical trip to Estonia…in other words, sometimes I struggle to connect with my husband’s friends. However, I made the decision not to drink alcohol and my sobriety helped me stay engaged.  I was able to find questions to ask them that I actually cared to have answered.  It was a really nice outing.  Note to self: sobriety makes things more enjoyable.

And I texted another friend. 

Because let’s be clear—I do have some friends. This weekend I actually had time to chat with one and it made me feel more grounded.  Note to self: Sometimes you get in your own head with work stuff and NOT in a good way.  Connecting with friends and family is what talks you down from the ledge.  

I also ate a leisurely breakfast with the family and

Sunday morning. At the kitchen counter. Bagels. Will all the accompaniments. Espresso. Listened to the Mamas and the Papas. Considered how the sun changed the colors of the cut flowers at the end of the counter.  Talked absolute nonsense about very little. It was lovely.

Eavesdropped on a teenage card game while also

I live-tweeted a little about this on Saturday.  I love my daughter’s friends.  They listen to Paganini and swear in several languages and argue over exactly which is the best ship to stan in Merlin (the TV show), but ultimately they are really just sweet kids. Their noisy card playing added a great element to what I was doing at the time downstairs which was…

Studying two information graphics books I ordered last week.

More ideas.  Still flummoxed though on how to take interesting pictures of books for IG.

I also uploaded pics of the teen cave to Instagram

Because I’m also flummoxed on how to take interesting room shots for IG.  Maybe practice has to make perfect at some point.

And listened to Bossanova music

Because in the workweek I get stuck in the grind of what works for me while I’m working (classic rock and 90s alt), driving (80s pop), and waking up (Beatles). Paganini and Mamas and the Papas is one thing, but Bassanova elevates the non-musical grind experience to a whole new level.

While I got a brilliant idea for a work project.

Indeed. I already messaged my boss. That whole productivity part? I know what my next project is.

Finally, we will be watching a family movie tonight and 

We stick to 30-minute classic comedies on the weekdays because that’s about all we can stay awake for.  We are all in on the 2-hour storyline for tonight…

Take notice—I blogged. 

I haven’t done it in a really long while.  I started this post with the intention to record and remember and also to appreciate what a good, solid weekend off can do.  But in the process, I noticed something—most of my notable activities are about making connections with friends and family, as well as taking a moment to explore music and books and ideas that don’t necessarily directly fulfill the requirements of work products.

However, it’s funny how so many of these weekend activities will also feed into my work-life.  That may be related to the type of work I do and the freedom I have in guiding the creative direction on many projects (thank you, work).  But that’s kind of an aside here. Really, the real lesson is that weekends are for making connections, deepening relationships, and trying new things—and for this reason, it’s fundamentally important to protect them.

Featured Image: Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Open Participants, Syndicated

Extreme Quilting

I signed up to guest post for the OER20 Conference‘s blog in the lead up to the event running in early April in London. When an association focused on learning technology decides to have the theme “The Care in Openness” you just have to perk up, take notice, get in there and try to help hype that awesomeness.

I also got a little weird with it because I tried to turn a blog post into a live radio event. Head on over to the guest post itself here if you are keen:

‘Extreme Quilting Update!’…by Terry Greene

photo by Giulia Forsythe of a piece made by Giulia Forsythe

Open Participants, Syndicated

Thanks Milan – Lessons Learned at #OEGlobal19

It’s too soon and I’m still a little jet lagged to have truly processed this last week, so at this time I’m just going go with a lessons learned list as an initial reflection of the experience that was the Open Education Global Conference in Milan.

Lesson 1. Nominate yourself for stuff. It can get you a trip to Italy if it works out.

Lesson 2. If you have a child under two, take them. They fly for free and they get called “bellissima bambina” all the time and you can never get enough of that.

Lesson 3. Said child will not be impressed by anything you are impressed by as you can see in this series of tweets.

Lesson 4. Getting to know people online and then meeting them for the first time in person and finding out they are just as awesome IRL is the best. Looking at you Brian Lamb, Grant Potter, Tom Woodward, Jim Groom, Anne-Marie Scott, Karen Cangialosi. (and a host of others I’d already had the honour of meeting)

Lesson 5. Feed and water your Virtually Connecting guests and they will respond with great conversations.

Lesson 6. When you go to an Open Education conference, don’t just share your pedagogy and stuff, share actual things like socks and you’ll get stuff back!

Lesson 7. Italy’s lecture hall seat game is better than yours as you can see in this image I captured of the backs of Grant, Anne-Marie and Brian.

Lesson 8. There are SO MANY amazing projects going on in Open Education around the world. Dig in to any and all of PhET, Grasple, OASIS, ZTC Pathways, SPLOTs, Blueprint for Success in College & Career, CLIx, QEIOS, VR Classroom app, Open Geography, OpenMed, and, a favorite: Shin-Godzilla Themed OER.

Lesson 9. There are strong feelings about how to use your debit card in Italy.

Lesson 10. A little appreciation for those who send you to cool things like this goes a long way. Thank you, Fleming College!

Hopefully I can offer a deeper reflection soon.

The network is the deliverable