Tag: blogging

12 Years of Blogging

It was now 12 years yesterday that I posted my first ever blog post (see here).  Not sure where the time has gone but it has seen me move from the UAE and working with schools mainly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, to working in Somerset at Millfield, but also working with the Digital Futures Group and Association of Network Managers in Education (ANME) trying to support schools across the UK and beyond.  

My first post involved me sat on the bed in the evening on the 12th Feb 2013 posting my first thoughts.   I am now 550 further posts on and my blog has afforded me the opportunity to share my thoughts, but also has forced me to structure my thoughts in order to write them down and has allowed me to keep a permanent record of how my thinking has progressed and changed over the intervening 12 years.   I think sometimes we aren’t as conscious of how our own views and beliefs change and develop over time and with age and experience as we should be.

It has also been great to meet people and connect with people that actually have read some of my posts.   This includes meeting online with discussion via social media, but also meeting in person at events including events such as BETT or the Schools and Academies Show (SAAS).    I continue to believe that networking and sharing is important, and if we take into consideration the pace of technological change and the potential, or even requirement, for the use of technology in schools, it becomes all the more important.    I keep coming back to the David Weinberger quote, “the smartest person in the room, is the room”, so I can but hope my posts continue to contribute to the room of global educators sharing online.

Here’s to continuing to post, to share and to the year ahead.  And for those thinking about creating a blog or posting or sharing my advice is simple:  just do it!

Connectedness and 11 years of blogging

I sit and write this in a hotel in Sheffield ahead of recording some webinars related to the DfE Digital Standards over the next 2 days.   Today isnt special for me due to what I am about to do, although I am very happy for the opportunity, but due to the fact 11 years ago, sat on the bed in my villa in Al Ain in the UAE I setup and published my first blog post.   And yes, there is quite a difference between a villa in the UAE and a hotel in Sheffield;  lets just say I am certainly not as warm as I used to be.

When I started my blog I was very much doing it for me.   It was an act of putting things down in writing which forced me to decompose my thinking which often led to me challenging my own perspective and views.    Part of the reason to start my blog was the fact I accepted that my memory was not as good and photographic as I thought it was and therefore writing things down, publishing them online made for a permeant record that I could compare over time.    I will admit, when I started,  I never saw myself still posting 11 years later and I don’t think I saw me finding the process as quite as valuable as I now find it.

And in writing for myself I have found that there are actually people out there reading my thoughts and at many points I thought no one read my musings;  But remember my musings were for me so this wasn’t an issue.    The recent BETT conference included a number of individuals, some I had met in person but a number I hadn’t, telling me they read my posts.   I was connected to these people in sharing, but possibly more importantly my posts built an opportunity to connect with these people in person;  I was originally going to put “real life” there but how is a connection made online any less “real” than a connection in person, although I would suggest in person has greater value in the non-verbal side of communications, empathy and emotional connections which are not as possible online.    When I was struggling from a personal point of view I found people reach out and offer support, with some being people I knew in person and others being people I knew only online.    I found myself helped by a network built from sharing my thoughts, although again those in-person relationships were that bit stronger than the online only ones.

When I consider online connectedness I have always considered it to be shallow and in some cases simply an illusion;   I can be online chatting via social media with lots of people but still feel lonely, something I have posted about in the past.   But equally the online connections can spring into real life connections that maybe, otherwise might never have occurred.   I know after BETT I came away happy and energized, against a backdrop of some personal challenges.   Some of this was due to connecting once more with in-person friends, some of it was due to new in-person connections but some of it was also due to online connections suddenly becoming in-person friends and colleagues.    So maybe online connections arent shallow;  Maybe this is too simplistic a categorisation.  Maybe if they remain online and that is our only and principle connection, they remain shallow, but if this is simply the seed from which the in person connection grows then maybe we are all the better for it.   Maybe there is a balance to be sought in relation to in-person and online connections, seeking to maximise the benefits of both types.

So 11 years of blogging;  Where has the time gone?   Funny enough I can answer that simply by reviewing my posts over the last 11 years.   So, to the future, I will keep blogging for now at least and see where things go from there.    For those reading this I just give thanks for giving my musings your valuable time and if I havent met you yet, then I look forward to hopefully meeting you in person at some point in the future;  EduTech Europe 2024, BETT 2025 maybe?

This post was written on Monday 12th Feb, 2024

9 Years of blogging

Feb 12th 2012 and I was sat on the bed at night, creating my new blog.   My first post was a short one, but little did I know that I would still be blogging some 9 years later.   374 posts have passed under the bridge since that evening at home in our villa in the UAE.   Now I sit at home writing this, some 1000’s of kilometres away from where my blog began, now living in Somerset rather than Al Ain.

My blog has never had a huge readership; to be honest it barely has a small readership; however, I have found the process of writing useful for myself, forcing me to order my thoughts before typing them out.  At a recent virtual event, someone commented about where I find the time to blog in addition to my normal workload as a Director of IT.   There is only a limited time in the day, and this will never change, so I try to avoid concerns about the lack of time.  Instead, I have always sought to prioritise, and that includes putting some time aside to write my blog.   Often this has involved stealing a small amount of time here and there.   As I type this, the Amazon TV series Reacher is on in the background, and I am half watching it as I type this.    Given I try to just get my thoughts down, rather than seeking to create a literary masterpiece, this works for me.   Most of my posts have been written in a single sitting rather than being reviewed and edited, which explains, and hopefully excuses, the number of typos, grammar errors and sentences which read poorly.

The other benefit I have found from blogging has been the fact it creates a record of my thinking.    As such, when I look back it provides a window into my thinking at a particular moment in time, in the past.  I have found this useful in charting how some of my views, opinions and beliefs have changed over the last 9 years.   We seldom admit or even appreciate how much our views and beliefs change, however having a written record, has helped me to realise how much and where I have changed, and where I have not.     I think in future, when I look back on the period 2020 – 2022 and the pandemic, I might find particular value in the records of my thoughts and from this there might be a number of learning points which I can take away.

I also hope that in blogging I am contributing to the wider world, to the education and technology discussion.   Ultimately is this not something we all wish for, to have achieved something and left something behind.   I hope that at least some of my thoughts have contributed something meaningful to the discussion, and I hope to continue to do so.

Blogging isnt for everyone, and to be honest I never really thought it was something I would get into.   That said, I would recommend that if you are thinking about it, just do it.  Don’t worry too much about who will read your posts, about what you will write about, etc, just be yourself and share your thoughts.   The more people sharing in my view the better, especially as we continue to work through the difficulties presented by a global pandemic.

So, with this, that’s 375 blog posts in 9 years.   Onwards to another year and I look forward to continuing to share my thoughts.

7 years of blogging!

It was 7 years ago to the day that I started writing this blog.  It is amazing how time has flown.   2013 now seems like a distant memory and an age away.     In terms of distance my location in 2013 is around 7000 km away.   I remember being sat in our villa in Al Ain in the UAE, sat on the bed in the bedroom watching TV but with my laptop to hand when I suddenly decided to start a blog and to share thoughts and ideas with the world.   I think part of the driving force behind my decision to start a blog was wanting to share some of the content I had used, or was intending to use, in presentations.   I also wanted to try and give back to the education community having previously been happy to make use of others’ blogs, and of social media, to get ideas and resources from.

2013
Late 2019

Since then I have shared a variety of content and have found myself revisiting why I was sharing.   This marks my 273rd post.   My focus continues to be to share ideas with the hope that someone will find it useful or maybe even insightful, but also to share things for myself to help me better reflect on my thinking processes and outlook when looking back from some point in the future.   I suspect it is in providing insight to my future self where my blog has been most successful.

2013
Late 2019

I look a bit older (and am a little heavier and greyer in hair) now however I continue to enjoy discussing and sharing ideas in relation to education and EdTech in particular.   I therefore look forward to continuing to find time and to share ideas and I hope that for some at least it proves to have some value.

 

 

 

5 years of blogging

I am starting to feel like a broken record in terms of writing about my surprise as to how time has flown but the fact that I have now been blogging for 5 years marks a milestone which I think is well worth the expression of surprise. 

It was 5 years ago the last week (I had planned on posting this to the day however ended up with the flu bug so this is slightly later than planned) that I sat in my villa out in the UAE and decided to create a blog and write my first, short introductory post.    Since then I have posted with varying degrees of regularity, from every couple of months to a period during which I posted daily for a month.   Apparently from the statistics on this site I have posted 199 times.  I have also posted 18 times over on my other site, www.beingdigitallyliterate.wordpress.com plus have a couple of other minor sites I have posted on in relation to specific projects or events. 

I will admit that my posts have never garnered a massive or even minor following as the analytics often tell me however I keep blogging.   The reason here is simply that I have come to realise that the biggest impact blogging can have is not about gaining popularity or having one’s ego massaged.  The greatest gain is in keeping a record as to your thoughts, feelings, successes, trials and tribulations to use in reflecting back.    I have come to realise both personally and through reading various books such as Predictably Irrational (D.Ariely), How We Learn (B. Carey) and Black Box Thinking (M. Syed) that our memory often does not provide us an accurate picture as to times gone past.   It is often shaped by bias towards negative issues and memories, bias towards the more recent events as opposed to those from further back in time and bias towards events where we have become emotionally involved, especially those events where we have become angry or annoyed.      As such, blog entries allow me to get a more accurate view on my thoughts, feelings and viewpoints as they were in a given moment. 

And so it is that I realise the person I really write this for, is for my future self.     So with that in mind I would like to finish this post by addressing my future self from 5 years hence: 

  • Take plenty of pictures (am not sure about posting these on social media though!) 

Pictures are great to look back on, capturing a moment in time in vivid colour and adding to our own memory of the captured event.    I look back on pictures of me on a geography field trip or out in the yard of an Abu Dhabi school and the memories flood back.  The issue is I don’t really have that many photos as I seldom make time to stop and take them.   As I move forward I hope to make more opportunities to stop and grab photos of events and moments in my life. 

  • Write plenty of blog posts 

The more I write down the more I have to reflect on.    Although I may find it difficult to find things to write on in the moment, this is due to not seeing worth in my musings in the current moment.   I cannot however see the future and the potential worth of these reflections as may exist in time yet to come.    As such I need to work to record my thoughts in the hope that they may serve me well at some point in the future. 

  • But enjoy and spend time doing things you enjoy, build memories. 

All work and no play makes Gary a dull boy….or something like that.    I need to make sure I take time out regularly to do that which I enjoy.    It is easy to get swept up in your “to do” list, and in work, without putting time aside for yourself.   It is important to be conscious of this, and of how time can easily pass us by.   

  • Don’t sweat the little things 

I think this is very important.   On many occasions I have got very stressed about projects or tasks which I have had to undertake.    In each case, and despite all the planning, meetings, discussions and strategizing, things have arisen which I had not predicted and therefore corrections and adjustments to the plan were required.   In the end the projects have arrived at their end point and been successful.    The main point here is that we cannot predict the future so changes, issues and problems will arise.   This is inevitable and therefore not worth stressing about.    With work and effort however such issues and problems will be overcome and success achieved.    The final route will most likely not match the original plan however the destination will be reached.      

  • Don’t spend too much effort long term planning.   We can’t predict the future. 

By now you may have started to spot a theme, so I will end by stating a central part to that theme.    We plan so much in what we do however in the real world there are many a curve ball waiting.   As such spending too long planning rather than acting will get us nowhere.   Now to be clear I am not advocating taking on complex projects without any planning, only that planning should be limited and measured as no amount of planning will account for the infinitive variability in the world.    Only by getting out and doing, by hitting snags and by plotting alternative courses around such obstructions will we truly get anywhere. 

And so it is that I have now been blogging for five years.   Here’s to the next five!!! 

4 Years of blogging. How time flies!

It was 4 years ago today that I sat one evening in my villa in Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates, and wrote my first blog piece.   It seems like only yesterday!    My initial period of blogging was a little sporadic with some months containing 2 or 3 posts while other months contained nothing.   It has only been in the last year or so that I have tried to reach some regularity in my rate of posting with an aim of writing something at least on a weekly basis.

In the four years a lot has changed.   Four years ago I was an educational consultant working in UAE whereas now I am back in the UK in the independent school sector.    Four years ago I was in my thirties and I am now in my forties.    Four years ago my son was at the start of his school life however now he is towards the end of his primary education.    Four years ago I was relatively negative about the use of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) and iPads whereas now I am very positive about iPads although my dislike of IWBs remains.   Four years ago I had a degree and a postgraduate certificate, now I have a Masters along with various other EdTech related statuses.   So in four years, more experience, four years older, a different country, a different educational sector and a different context.     Its amazing what can change over four years!

Looking back I have found my blog to be a useful window into my thoughts over the last four years.   It has been interesting the number of times upon re-reading an entry I have found my memory of events to have been challenged.    Being able to reflect and compare has been very useful indeed.

The actual act of writing a blog piece is useful in itself in that it forces you to order and organise your thoughts before, or as, you type them out.   The process alone has made me reconsider my point of view on at least a few occasions.

As an avid consumer of online educational content through twitter, Pinterest and the blogs of variety of different educationalists I am always conscious of the one-way nature of consumption.    Posting a regular blog allows me to contribute back to the online discussions even if no-one reads my posts, at least I am doing what is within my power and influence to put something back in.  At least I am putting myself out there.

Blogging allows me to offload thoughts and ideas onto the screen.  The human mind has a limited capacity for thinking, ideas, etc. and therefore the act of putting some ideas into a blog releases some capacity which can then be deployed on other things.   It’s a little bit of a mindfulness exercise.     Now I am no neuro-scientist so I can’t prove the above to be true but it feels right and some of my reading over the years has suggested the limited capacity of the mind to be true.

I will however be honest and although the majority of the reason for blogging is for me personally I still do occasionally check the statistics to see if people have been reading my posts.    I still get a little bit excited by the occasional reader comment which shows me that my musings are at least of interest to at least one person.     Or by the retweet or like on twitter relating to a post I have written.    I admit this is a little shallow however I am a human after all.  If it wasn’t about others reading then this blog would be document which only I could read.  I hope as a public sharing it is more useful.

So its now been four years that I have had this site running.    Here’s to the year ahead, and getting to five!

Image “Fourth Four Indicates Happy Birthday And 4” by Stuart Miles from http://www.FreeDigitalPhotos.Net 

Why do I blog?

I have found myself asking this question lately.    During my reflections at the end of 2016 I considered the fact that I had written almost a blog entry at least once per week throughout the year as well as on every day in February.     At times I had found identifying a subject difficult and at other times I had found identifying time to actually write something difficult.    I also had periods during which my motivation towards blogging was not at it highest, yet still I persisted and tried to get something written down and shared.

Recently I have finished reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown which has got me thinking about which tasks and activities I undertaken which are essential and which are not.   This has got me thinking about the effort I put into blogging.    Is blogged essential to me?      In trying to answer this it has got me thinking about my reasons for blogging.

Thinking about it there are a number of reasons which I blog.    One relates to memory.   My reading over the last year has highlighted the limitations of memory.    We often believe that our memory represents an accurate, video like, record of previous events however this is far from the truth.   As such blogging, writing down my thoughts, feelings and the details of specific events, helps in creating a more accurate record of events which I can review at some point in the future.    As such my blog represents a way to help me check that memories I hold actually represent the events I believe they relate to.

Blogging is also a way to offload.    The act of getting things down in a blog article forces me to order my thoughts.    It forces me to question my perspective.     I have found on a number of occasions that the act of blogging has resulted in my re-examining my perspective.

Writing a blog is an act of contribution to the education domain which exists online.    I have often found this domain to be very useful, finding ideas, perspectives and resources which I have either been able to use, or which have helped in shaping my thinking.    I could just have remained a consumer of resources and ideas however if we all did this then the educational domain would be lesser for it, as there would be far fewer contributors.    As such my blog is just one part of my attempt to pay back the online education domain which has helped me so much.   I admit there may be no-one or few people that ever read that which I have written, however if there is even 1 person who has found my musings to be useful, then at least in part I have repaid the help I have received from educators online.

Having given it some thought, maybe blogging isn’t top of my essentials list however I do think it is important.    I think the key here is maybe that my essentials list may focus too much on the here and now, however blogging may prove to have been a productive activity only when I find myself reviewing my thoughts some years from now.

As it stands, I will try to continue to find the time to blog, so here’s to many more posts throughout 2017.

Reflections on 3 years of blogging

It’s been 3 years to the day since I started my blog and wrote my first posting.    Since then I have wrote a total of 75 postings.    I need to admit that 11 have been posted in Feb this year as part of #29daysofwriting.   So overall I have roughly been posting 1.7 articles every month.

A lot has changed for me over the period.    To take just one example, back in 2013 I was living and working in the UAE whereas now I am back in the UK.   Technology has changed.    We now live in a world of mobile devices with Google apps and office 365 facilitating increasing levels of communication and collaboration.  The world as a whole has changed.

I have at time found the process of blogging to be difficult in terms of finding the time, identifying appropriate topics and also motivating myself to undertake the actual creation of blog pieces.     That said it had been a worthwhile experience.    Looking back the blog provides me a window on my past thinking and on how my beliefs, ideas and thoughts have changed over the period.      The process of blogging has required me to think through my assumptions and question my beliefs.   It has required me to consider different viewpoints and perspectives.    It has also resulted in discussions with other educators from across the world who have shared both views consistent and inconsistent with my thinking.    This again had required me to re-evaluate and question my perspective and viewpoint.

I am glad I have put the effort into blogging and I intend to continue doing so going forward hopefully with increasing regularity.     I look forward to reading the blogs of others so if you aren’t blogging yet I would encourage you to start and of you do please let me know so I can have a read.    Looking forward to it!!!

Keep Sharing!!

 

 

 

Reflections on New Years resolutions after 1 month

OK so its now almost a month since I decide upon and shared my new years resolutions.  You can read my resolution here.    So far I think I am doing quite well however I purposely set my targets in such as way that success could be quantifiably measured.   So how have I actually done so far:

1: To blog at least twice per month:   So far for January I have managed 4 posts and during Feb my plan is to be involved in 29 days of writing.   As such I may actually exceed my target of 24 postings even before the end of the 2nd month of the year assuming I manage 29 posts across Feb.   Even if I do manage 29 posts the challenge will then be to continue blogging in the knowledge that I have already achieved the yearly goal.

2.   1.9 tweets per day over the year: In January so far I have managed 200 tweets so this is significantly above the target of around 60 per month. I think buffer has been particularly useful in doing this as it has allowed me to set up my tweets for a couple of days ahead whenever I find myself with a little spare time (and that doesn’t happen that often).   I also think my increased engagement in twitter chats such as #satchat, #sltchat and #mltchat, to name but a few, has helped here.

3. achieve Google Certified Educator Level 2 status: Still haven’t progressed this one yet however there is plenty of time. Just need to get the appropriate practice with GAfE in, then book the exam.

4: read at least 1 book per month:  Am currently on my 4th book for the month although 2 books had been partly read before I picked them up again in Jan.   Am enjoying getting the reading in and hope to manage 1.5 to 2 books per month.

5. To use tools such as Evernote and Buffer to allow me to work smarter: Buffer in particular is being of excellent use. Haven’t really made much use of Evernote lately however am making increasing use of the calendar in MS outlook to manage my time and meetings. Working Smarter will continue to be something I need to re-examine.

6. To get involved in twitter chats: Have had regular input in particular into #sltchat. Am also getting involved in #mltchat, with both chats being on my outlook calendar so I get reminders. I see further chats being added as the weeks progress.

7. To get involved in events and conferences: Have been loving #appsharelive and am looking forward to the next one in Feb. Went along to BETT however I didn’t find it that useful. I think I will need to plan the BETT event better should I decide to go to it.     So far in Jan I have also missed a couple of other events mainly due to personal commitments.   I would hope that I will be able to find the time for future events which may arise.

8. To experiment with video and YouTube: Haven’t managed to progress this yet however there is plenty of the year remaining so am ok at this point with the lack of progress here.

In addition to the 8 points I shared I have also subsequently identified an additional target which relates to fitness.   Sadly fitness is not something which I am particularly good at focussing.   I would say that it is a personal weakness for me.    Thankfully I managed to identify a simple and easy way to build on my fitness level without the need for me to attempt to change my daily routine too significantly.   Basically I am now logging my steps using my phone each day.    I am then trying to build of my daily number of steps and in doing so build on my fitness.   I hope that I may even get the point that a short jog is not out of the question.    The fact that I have identified a process I can actually engage in, in relation to fitness, is a positive step [ LOL! ] as far as I am concerned.   I consider it especially successful given the fact it is a personal weakness which I have previously been able to make little progress on.

Overall I would say it has been a good January for me in terms of my resolutions.    I now need to build on this and have an even better February.