Category: Journal

TEISS European Information Security Summit

I try to step outside education at least once each year, looking at the bigger technology world by attending an industry event.  The most recent of these ways the TEISS European Information Security Summit on 23rd Feb in London.    I feel it is important to keep up to date with the wider technology world to sense check my thoughts and ideas and to benchmark technology in education against technology in other sectors.    During the course of the event it was interesting to have discussions from a diverse range of industries including highly regulated industries like banking.   Hearing that they suffer similar issues to education, such as shadow IT or issues identifying responsibility for data, but at a much larger scale was reassuring.

Given below are some of my takeaways and thoughts from the various sessions and discussions I had throughout the course of the conference.

Budgets and Cyber

One of the first takeaways from the event related to cyber security and budgets.    It was presented that cyber budgets and cyber spending has been on the increase for a number of years.   It was also however indicated that the volume of attacks and the size of attacks continue to increase.    For me this suggests that more budget, including more staffing associated with additional budget, does not necessarily solve or improve the situation in relation to cyber.   From the point of view of schools and colleges this is important given the limited budgets available.    I think this highlights the need to start approaching cyber and cyber risk a little differently including possibly being more accepting of the fact we will never reach 100% secure and therefore accepting cyber as a journey and simply trying to focus on our key “business” assets and on continual improvement in relation to cyber security in whatever form this may take, including where this may be simple and small improvements.

Gamification

User awareness and cyber security culture was one of the three main streams offered at the conference with one session looking specifically at the potential use of gamification in relation to cyber security awarenss training.   It is true that often cyber security and other online training can be a boring process of reading a screen of text and clicking next repeatedly before completing a test at the end.   Clearly not an engaging experience and therefore possibly an experience  where little long term or deep learning takes place;  We may remember for long enough to answer the test at the end, but ask the same questions a week later and I suspect the retention of the content will have dropped to very low indeed.   So this is where gamification comes in.    The presenters identified two types of gamification, being content or structure based.   In content based gamification the content is presented as a game.  In structured based gamification the content is the same but includes some sort of leader board, prize of other enticement to engage users.   As the session was presented I was thinking of the potential of doing a Kahoot quiz with heads of department where they need to identify whether emails are trustworthy or not for example.     I also thought about some sort of competition between departments so maybe a quiz or phishing test which results in a cyber score which can be reported and compared with other departments.   This is one area I will certainly be looking into in the short term to see how I can try to gamify user awareness materials and processes, and to see what impact that has.

Civic duty rather than organisational cyber security awareness

Another point that was made during the conference was to engage people on security awareness beyond simply keep the organisations data secure but to accept that we can also deliver a civic benefit in making users more secure, both personally and also professionally.   Where we seek to do this we are more likely to engage users and have them learn from awareness programmes plus additionally we address the risk of a personal cyber incident potentially impacting on the school or other organisation anyway.  Take for example the compromised personal mobile phone:  It may have organisational email on it or info about the individual which could be used in crafting attack against them in their professional context, among other data which could pose a risk to the organisation.

Regulation as a change agent

One of the panel sessions I attended involved discussion of change and of compliance with security standards, change processes, etc.     From a school and college point of view this can be difficult as although policies are in place sometimes these will be overlooked and busy staff, both teachers and support staff, as well as students, may fail to engage with requirements or training around cyber security.    One of the panellists in the session highlighted that this wasn’t an issue in financial technology (FinTech) due to the nature of the business being heavily regulated meaning the penalties for non-compliance, for both the individual and the organisation, can be quite extreme.   Taking this insight and applying it to education got me thinking of the potential for the DfE to set requirements and of ISI and Ofsted to then include this within the inspection requirements.   Now the release of the DfE standards is a small step towards this however I suspect that is about as far as things will progress, which without any monitoring or penalties for non-compliance, is very limited in terms of impact.

Cyber insurance

There was a good session discussing cyber insurance with a very clear take away.  The session talked about how the cyber insurance market has seen policy costs increase along with greater requirements to get insured.   The questionnaires which you need to complete were a particular focus of discussion in that some of the questions are not easy to answer or not appropriate in a given context.   I have never really thought about this however the panel highlighted that the purpose of these questionnaires is for the underwriters to get a view of the risk in order to provide their proposal.   As such if the questions don’t make sense, it is the underwriters which we need to discuss this with to find out what it was they were hoping to find out from a given question.   Apparently the underwriters often don’t have access to client information, with this handled by the broker, so it is for the client, the school or college, to request a discussion with the underwriter and to initiate dialogue.

Conclusion

Cyber security seems to me to very much be a business risk, including where that business is the education of students.    As such it impacts all organisations albeit the scope of impact and the scope of risk varies.    This means there is a lot to gain from sharing experiences and ideas across sectors rather than just within sectors.    Having attended this industry focused information security event, where I think I may have been one of very few from the education sector, I came away with a fairly long list of ideas and things to try.    

But if I am to leave this post with one thought it is that maybe we need to get past the doom and gloom of cyber and become more accepting of doing what we reasonably can and of seeking to constantly improve, even where these improvements might only be small and minor;   It is about risk management.Any progress in the right direction is progress after all.

LGfL, Lets Assemble

Friday 24th Feb marked the Lets Assemble event, the first time I had been to this event.   I was ill prepared for the high energy start to the day with the Rock Kidz team getting things off to a flying start before John Jackson took to the stage to the Rocky theme tune.    This was certainly far from the industry information security event I had attended in the same venue the day before.

Networking

As with most events of this type the key for me was the opportunity to network and catch up with people.   I managed to have a chat with Mark Anderson, Al Kingsley, Olly Lewis, Emma Darcy, Ian Phillips, as well as Tim and Terry from the ANME, among many others.   Somehow, despite repeatedly seeing him and also seeing his excellent cyber security session, I didn’t manage to stop and catch up with Abid Patel;  we seem to be making a habit of missing each other at events!

AI and ChatGPT

One of the topics which appeared within a couple of the presentations was that of Artificial Intelligence and in particular the recent interest in Chat-GPT.    Dan Fitzpatrick delivered a great session highlighting that the current iteration of AI, such as that in ChatGPT will only get better with time.    So, where some see potential and some see challenges in relation to AI impact on education and on learning, the situation is only going to accelerate.   He also highlighted how AI technologies enable creativity showing an example of using a variety of AI tools to create a short, animated video which apparently only took him 10 minutes to produce.   Rachel Arthur, who also presented on AI suggested power in the ability to “outsource” teacher administrative tasks allowing teachers to focus on relationships. This potential reduction in administrative tasks could certainly help towards workload challenges however she also highlighted some of the potential risks in terms of bias in AI solutions and also data protection related risks where personal data is provided to an AI solution.   My view is very much that AI is here to stay and like Dan suggested, their capabilities will only improve with further and ongoing development.   And it is clear that this development will be ongoing as Microsoft have invested in OpenAI, who produced ChatGPT, while Google are introducing their own solution, Bard, and I believe Amazon may be creating their own solution, while many others will likely be putting efforts into this area and bringing solutions to market in the coming months and years.    It was good to hear from educators on this however I would be very interested in hearing what the likes of the DfE, OFSTED and the examining bodies view is, however as yet they have remained reasonably silent.

Digital Headaches

It was good to hear Ian Phillips discussing Digital Headaches and highlighting the various issues and challenges around technology adoption, implementation, change, etc.    Using technology isnt without its problems and challenges and I think the encouragement and promotion of the need to share and discuss these issues, to try and seek solutions which are then shared, is an important message.   I believe conference events, including the networking and the sessions, are key to this as are groups such as the ANME.    Its interesting that digital technologies aid communication and collaboration, yet it is communication and collaboration we likely need to do more of if we are to seek to better handle the various digital headaches which exist.

Cyber Security

Cyber security in education is such an important topic and obviously therefore had its own session delivered by Abid Patel.   I must admit to being very much on the same page as Abid in terms of his thoughts regarding the risks and also regarding the measures schools can take in relation to cyber security.   The cyber discussion in education does feel all “doom and gloom” although I note that in the industry InfoSec conference I went to the previous day it was equally bleak yet the resources at hand for organisations, such as banks, is way beyond that which schools have at their disposal.    So, more resources, more money and more technology doesn’t seem to be the answer or the silver bullet to the problem of cybercrime.  I suspect this is something we will need to consider going forward.     Abid closed his presentation with some recommendations and it was great to hear him highlighting the need to train all staff as his first recommendation, and the need to have an incident plan in place as his second.    Cyber isnt an IT issue, it’s a whole school issue so everyone’s responsibility plus like fire safety, we need to prepare for the eventuality and have a relevant plan in place.   He then went on to raise the need to minimise data which I think is an often overlooked point.  The more data, systems, etc we have the bigger the risk so if we don’t need it we should be looking to delete or remove it.   He finished on the need to avoid complacency, where I think this is the balance we need to, but are yet to find, between doom and gloom, and complacency.

EdTech on a Budget

Emma Darcys presentation on embedding technology on a budget was really interesting indeed and I loved her focus on the need to be the change in your school and to be “highly aspirational for your students” yet also to not expect it to be perfect overnight.    It was the fact she focussed very much on the students and on learning rather than on the specific technology or platform which came out most from the session.    I also liked her advice regarding the need to pilot new ideas which aligned with the fact that things may not work as you planned or may go wrong, so piloting allows you to hopefully identify the speed bumps ahead of rolling out any technology solution widely.     Her advice to get out and visit other schools was also useful as I have done this in the past however in the last few years havent been out to other schools with quite the same frequency;   something I maybe need to seek to address.

Conclusion

As a first experience of this LGfL event, it was certainly a positive one.   I would have loved to actually stay behind and network further with people at the end however had to rush to catch my train and, if you read my blog occasionally, you will know my poor track record with trains.    There were lots of great sessions and in fact a number of presenters who I was unable to see due to other sessions, including sessions by Mark and Olly, which only goes to show the quality of the sessions on offer.    The close of the event marked the end of a tiring couple of days but all in all it was worth it and this is definitely an event I would look to attend again. So with that its back to my email inbox and the 300+ emails which have landed in the two days I have been out of school!

Day in the life: Half term edition

Last week was half term and from an IT Services point of view this represents an opportunity to catch up on things and to do maintenance and other works while the teaching staff and students are no longer on site.   As such I thought I would share another “day in the life” similar to my post from January 2022 (A day in the life of a Director of IT).

Start of Day

Have set myself a target of running 65km each month in 2023, trying to build some consistency into my health and fitness efforts.  As such it was up and out at 6am for a run.  On this occasion my run was cut short at around 3.5km out of my planned 6km due to not feeling 100%, however its still progress considering I lost a weeks worth of running at the start of February due to a heavy cold.

8:30am

In work for around 8:30 which is slightly later than normal, with this being the result of some ongoing roadworks which have now been ongoing for what feels like years.   I need to get sorted back in my office following the whole IT department including myself being relocated to the DT department to allow some essential power works to be done on our offices.   The first part of the day is quickly catching up on social media posts and looking at my calendar for the day to check what I have on.  As its half term the calendar isnt that busy although I have plenty of tasks to work on, so this means my time is very much self-directed rather than directed by meetings and appointments.   As we are in the middle of the week, Wednesday, I spend a little bit of time looking towards next week and allocating time for various meetings, preparation and planning and other tasks.   This is a weekly task I do to ensure I am always looking ahead and trying to be proactive in my planning as opposed to have to be forever reactive.   I have a number of 1:1 meetings planned with various staff so it is at this point

It isnt however long before an impromptu meeting arises to look at events management and how technology can be used in helping plan events in what is a very busy school with lots of things going on, whether its sporting, academic, music, drama, art or other events.   This meeting is followed by another meeting looking at inspection compliance and data requirements.   In both cases my focus is on trying to identify and simplify processes first before looking at how technology can be used.    Applying technology to overly complex processes in the hope of improving things is something I seek to involve as I feel it just created complex technology solutions which in turn tend to be expensive in terms of total cost to support, manage and maintain, but also tend to be fragile and more prone to fail.  

11:00am

One of the projects I am working on currently relates to using PowerBi to analyse academic results data.   As lunch is approaching I spend a little bit of time playing with my data model to see if I can get the outputs I would like.   It becomes clear that some of the data needs to be reprocessed into a slightly different form in order to facilitate the outcomes I am looking for.  

Lunch

When working on data exercises or little programming problems time can just disappear so before I know it lunchtime arrives and it is a quick visit to the canteen for some food with this then being eaten at my desk due to the main canteen undergoing some maintenance works.   The canteen staff as always do a fantastic job.  I particularly enjoy the Tunnocks Caramel Wafers which were on offer.   As I have my lunch a bang out a couple of emails in relation to the podcast, “In our humble opinion”, I am working on with Ian Stockbridge ahead of a recording session planned for this evening.

1:00pm

After lunch and I have two main tasks on my to-do list, being continuing working on the PowerBI data analysis and also working on an initial draft of a proposal looking at moving school servers to the cloud.  

Within the PowerBI project I find a lovely visual to present value added data comparing students actual grades with predicted grades based on standardised testing.   I then however hit a challenge in relation to looking at individual classes in terms of how to model the data.  This is something I will need to come back to.   And its important to note here that my belief is that data always has context so therefore the data in itself is of limited use without someone able to add the detail in terms of the individual students involved, events which have occurred, etc.

The proposal for a move to the cloud comes together quite well as I look to present the positives and the risks of such a move.  It is my firm view that most services will move to the cloud however I recognise that cloud hosting will be more expensive than locally hosting, when viewed over the longer term, however with that come some advantages such as improved scalability and better security functionality.    The proposal isnt at this point ready to be presented but it should be ready following a number of revisions and adjustments planned in the weeks and months ahead.   This, in my eyes, is a long but important project.

5:00pm

The end of the day has arrived and it is shortly after 5pm I leave for the carpark before driving to the car park which is my route home, inclusive of the ongoing road works.    Arriving home and the house is empty as kids are out so it is a couple of quick household chores and some reheated Pizza ahead of jumping on Teams at 8pm to record what will be episode 6 of the “in our humble opinion” podcast with Ian.   The episode seems to go quite well and we ended up having a further chat post ending the episode.   Following ended the call I quickly upload episode 2 and release it via our website and also via Spotify and other podcast channels.

9:00pm

Finally, the end of the day and a little bit of time watching TV before bed.    Currently this involves a number of “classic” 1980’s movies however it isnt long before I am too tired and the TV gets turned off before the movie ends.

Reflections

Half terms seem to go quickly but it is only when you stop and take note of what has been done, as I have done above, that you truly appreciate what is achieved.   Normally you simply get to the end of half term, wonder what has been achieved and then are drawn to things yet to do or the tasks which we be required come Monday when the term restarts.    But stopping and taking note requires time and when things are busy we often don’t allow ourselves that time.   Although reflection is important it is seldom urgent.    Maybe this has to change!And it is also worth noting that not all half terms or holiday periods are as busy as this one…..sometimes they are busier.

Balancing technology use

Have always been a fan of technology and of the potential impact of technology in education (note I don’t say EdTech 😉) however I have also been quick to point out we should never use technology for technologies sake;  We should ensure we use technology where it adds to, enables, enhances or even re-defines learning and learning opportunities, but we should also be comfortable not to use technology where appropriate, where it might distract or where it adds nothing or little to learning.    It was therefore with interest that I read an article in relation to a Dutch supermarket chain where they are reintroducing “slow checkouts”.

Slow checkouts

In the supermarket I visit on a regular basis as part of my weekly shop I had observed the steady removal of the conventional checkout staffed by a checkout assistant, and the move to technology enabled checkout solutions where shoppers simply scan their own shopping and pay via an online terminal.   This all makes sense in terms of efficiency and getting people in and out of the supermarket quicker, which seems to make sense from a consumer point of view;  I want to get my shopping done and get back home with as little delay as possible.   It also likely works from the supermarkets point of view in reduced cost and increased flexibility;  You don’t need a checkout assistant for each terminal so a reduced staffing bill and the terminals don’t need breaks or holidays.

So from a “lets use technology” point of view it all looks rather positive, and this is where this article comes in as it highlights that some customers actually view the shopping experience as a human experience, and look forward to the interaction at the checkout with the checkout assistant.   Consider the impact this couple of minutes of interaction might have on an otherwise isolated pensioner or single person.  The impact is notable.

How might this reflect on schools?

The purpose of school is learning and learning is an inherently social experience.   Additionally, within schools some of the learning relates to actually learning and developing social skills.   As such, like with checkouts in a supermarket, I think we need to keep an eye on the balance between using technology and the social side of life in schools and colleges.   Actions taken in relation to technology use will impact on the social side of school life and correspondingly actions to change the social side of school life will likely impact on technology use.    I think this might be particularly important at the moment in the significant discussion around the use of artificial intelligence and solutions such as Chat-GPT.   How can we make use of these solutions without losing out on the social side of learning, on discussion, peer of peer interaction and whole class involvement, etc?     How can we gain efficiency benefits through automation and AI based personalisation in teaching and learning, while maintaining social interaction with peers, teachers and others?

Conclusion

I think this plan to introduce more “slow” checkouts serves as a flag highlighting that the march of technology, although largely beneficial and positive, may have other implications that we need to ensure we consider.    We need to remember the social animal that we are, the things which make us different from the automated nature of technology.   And in doing so we need to find a balance between the efficiencies and accuracy of technology and the variability and social interaction which underpins the human animals we are.

References:

Is There a Future for Chit Chat Checkouts? – Issuu

Jan 2023: a quick review

It’s been a busy January and I can’t believe how quickly time has flown.  As such I thought it might be a good opportunity to take stock and do a little bit of reflection using my 2023 pledges as a starting point.

Podcast

I set a plan for releasing a podcast of at least 6 to 8 episodes at some point in 2023.   This has led to a discussion with a colleague, Ian Stockbridge, where we have been discussing some sort of collaboration for a while now however never managed to actually put aside time and make anything happen.   In January however we both have put time aside and started a little Podcast project with 5 episodes already recorded and a few more planned.   As such it looks like my plan to get a podcast released is well on its way and likely to see fruition and the release of episodes in Feb/Mar this year.

Time Management

Am not sure much has changed on the time management front as January has certainly flown by.   I do however hope I have started to build some new more effective time management habits however only time will tell.

Running

It was a ropey start to January with no running at all done in the first week however I picked up in week 2 and by the end of the month had managed 12 runs and 65km.   The 65km mark is higher than the 50km per month I planned, but would see me again break the 750km mark as I did in 2021 and 2022.  As such this is progressing well.

Reading

Managed one book so far in January, mainly due to a train journey which allowed me to get a significant amount of reading in.   Continuing to read will be very much dependent on my finding the relevant opportunities and time in my day as we progress through the remainder of the year.   I suspect this is one pledge which I may fall short on.

Big Picture

I have already taken the step to roll smaller tasks together however I still think I am being drawn to more operational rather than strategic matters.  I suspect this is something I will need to continue to work on during the course of the year.

Holidays and Experiences

January hasn’t provided too many opportunities however I already have a couple of plans which I am looking to put in place in relation to building experiences and arranging holidays.   I am also trying to ensure I note any achievements so I am better able to reflect when, in the future, I look back on 2023.

Contributions to Edu and Tech

I have already had a few opportunities including a podcast, a webinar and also some guides I have been involved in producing.  In terms of the remainder of the year there are a few events I hope to be involved in plus a number of different ideas and projects I am actively seeking to explore.   I have also enjoyed contributing to discussion in relation to Artificial Intelligence such as ChatGPT as I see such potential for the use of AI solutions like this however I also see significant risks which we need to consider and seek to mitigate.  January has also furnished me the opportunity to attend my first face to face conference of the year in a Microsoft and ANME event at which I was an attendee, finding it to be useful and interesting.    Overall, I hope that when I look back, 2023 will have been a good year in terms of my contributions to education and technology in education.

Work

I have enjoyed spending a bit of time discussing digital citizenship with various year group assemblies both in December but continuing into January.   This is definitely something I want to build on going forward.   Equally enjoyable have been the esports groups I have been involved in who have positively took on competition among themselves, and who hopefully may consider moving on to compete with other schools/colleges in the 2024 season.

Conclusion

I have achieved more in January than I thought I would have done, albeit this means I have been very busy indeed at times.   In turn this has meant time has flown by, however it has also meant I have not had the reflective time I would have liked but sadly you cant have it both ways.    If I had more time stopping and thinking, I doubt I would have had the time to achieve as much.   As such I will need to keep an eye on this balance and check it continues to be at a point I am happy with.  I note as I write this that the start of feb saw me fall ill with a cold;  Was this just due to weather or maybe just trying to do a little too much;  I am not sure.

In terms of new opportunities and experiences I think I can already identify three in my collaborative podcast, a little consultative work and also in the initial discussions regarding a conference in Europe at which I will hopefully contribute later in the year.  Given only one month gone, I think this is good progress and something I can continue to build on.

So, 1 month down, 11 months to go……..onwards to the rest of 2023!

ANME and Microsoft Event

So, Friday morning was an early start, up at 5:20am for a 6:20am train heading to Reading and an ANME and Microsoft event at Microsoft’s offices.   As always, I had my concerns regarding potential travel mishaps as often happens with me.   I was however prepared with multiple cans of “the Bru” to keep me going throughout the day;  I suspect Microsoft arent yet forward thinking enough to supply the Bru.   As it was, it turned out my expectations were correct;  Many less acceptable brands, such as Coke, were available but not a single Bru in site, so that’s the event marked down not long after it had even started!

It promised to be a busy but good day, with this event originally having been planned for late in 2022 with it cancelled at the last minute due to adverse weather conditions.   It was a shame this happened, albeit understandable.

Networking with the IT network folk.

So, like a lot of events one of the key features was catching up with quite so many great people all contributing to the use of technology in education.   The ANME’s Rick Cowell introduced the ANME and Microsoft even before others such as Alan Crawford and Kevin Sait presented on various topics.    Then there were the ANME ambassadors, Peter Othen and Ian Stockbridge to but name a few (and apologies to those I have missed off).  

Ian interestingly enough was wearing a T-Shirt which relates to a little project we have both been working on during Jan; Further info on this to be shared soon.

Every event I attend continues to emphasise the fact the “the smartest person in the room, is the room” and therefore the more people we share, interact and collaborate with, the better, with this being one of the key purposes of the ANME.

The presentations

In terms of the presentations and the event itself there were some techie discussions looking at Intune, a really useful session exploring Microsoft licensing as well as more strategic sessions looking a school 1:1 journey and the benefits of the MIEE (Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert) and Microsoft Showcase School programmes.   From my point of view, I took quite a bit away from a number of the sessions particularly in relation to Microsoft licensing and the use of Intune.   The use of Intune is definitely something I think we need to build on.   Additionally I noted references to the importance of having a plan regarding infrastructure including ongoing replacement, and the need to consider cyber security/resilience;  Both these issues are key and should be part of initial planning ahead of tech deployment, particularly in relation to mobile devices or 1:1 programmes.   They also need to be continually reviewed in relation to changes in technology usage and changes in the available technologies themselves.

On the way out

Upon the conclusion of the event and after a nice group photo, which hopefully will be shared in the near future, I arrived at the train station a little early.   I therefore availed myself of a bar next to the station for a quick pint.  There I ended up chatting with a stranger also waiting for a train.    This highlighted to me the continuing importance of social contact and the totally random interactions which technology doesn’t tend to currently provide.   Technology continues to be a tool but we need to use it to support and enhance our lives, where our lives are that of social animals who crave interactions and especially those which are outside the norm.  It was very nice to share a pint and a chat while waiting for a train.

Conclusion

It was great to visit the Microsoft offices, to catch up with so many people I already know and a few new people along the way, while listening to some technical tips and some more strategic insights.   This was my first in-person event of 2023 and I can only hope that the events later in 2023 will only build and enhance on this.    Onwards to the rest of 2023………

Pledges for 2023

In thinking about the pledges for the coming year I think I need to include an equal share of big picture, more strategic aims, alongside some more measurable smaller targets.   I think this should provide a balance between things which will be easier to assess in terms of achievement at the end of the year, alongside aims which are much broader, more challenging but also equally more difficult to evaluate come the end of the year.

So lets get into my pledges for 2023…..

Podcast

I last did some short podcast episodes in 2021 with a plan to build on this in 2022 however other priorities meant this didn’t happen.   It is definitely something I want to progress and something I have been in discussion with a colleague about, however have so far not managed to progress.    For 2023 it would be good to get maybe 2 seasons of podcasts produced and shared, with hopefully at least 6 or 8 episodes in each.    My thinking would be focus on cyber security, digital citizenship, data protection and technology in schools as the key themes of the podcasts.

Time management

The last few years have felt as if time has been flying by, with weeks, months, terms and years flying by in what seems like the blink of an eye.   I think therefore, in the year ahead, I want to look at how I manage time particularly trying to ensure I allocate specific time for reading, for exercise, for relaxing, etc, building up appropriate habits in relation to how I use the finite time available in each day, week, month and year.    Part of this will likely start with some long term initial planning at the start of the year in January.   My hope is that through better planning of my time I will be more satisfied with how it is used, but also will achieve a better balance between being busy and relaxing.   

Also related to this, especially at home, I need to let and encourage others to contribute rather than trying to take things on myself.  More delegation should hopefully allow me to achieve more or at the very least focus on things which are more important or where my efforts add the most value.

Running

I would again like to keep up my running in 2023 however with more consistency.  As such am thinking a minimum of 50km per month, which would equate to 600km for the year as a minimum.   I would also like to very much achieve at least one 10km run every two months, so meaning I should have completed six 10km runs by the end of the year.   Now it would be good to achieve more however I am also concious of avoiding pushing my exercise too much.    From a weight point of view I want to try and keep my weight around the 84kg mark, which was always part of my aim in terms of regular running.

Reading

Having struggled with reading in 2022 I would like to again stick with trying to read 6 non-fictions books by the end of the year.  This equates to one book every two months which I think should be achievable.    I already have a number of books purchased ready to read.   I will share some info on some of the titles in a future post.

Bigger picture

The last couple of years I have worked hard on maintaining a to-do list however I feel this may have led to me focussing on things at a micro and small scale, and in focusing there I have taken my eye of the bigger picture.     As such, in the year ahead, I need to spend more time looking at the bigger picture, at strategic tasks and aims over the smaller day to day tasks.    Part of this will be rolling up the regular day to day tasks which currently exist as separate tasks to achieve and considering them as a singular grouped task, taking the small tasks each day and bundling them up as routine single task.   Equally I will need to establish the more strategic projects, tasks and aims that I want to look at possibly either on a monthly or termly basis.  

Holidays and Experiences

I would like to ensure I create some new memories, particularly family ones in 2023.    There are clear opportunities over the summer holiday period, easter holiday period and also key points in the year such as my birthday, wedding anniversary, etc.   I need to make sure that I make the most of each of these opportunities.   I think it will also be important to take photos as a record of events so I have something to look back on and refer to.     Linked to this, I think it will also be important to continue journalling and keeping records of achievements, etc, on a week by week basis, again so that I have something to refer back to in being able to more effectively and accurately reflect on the year once I get to the end of it.   Part of me wonders about having achievements and challenges as part of my journal template so that it makes me stop and think, plus take note as I regularly seek to journal my thoughts and feelings.

Contributions to the wider Edu and Tech communities

I would very much like to see me building on 2022 in 2023 including continuing to contribute to other organisations, podcasts, blogs, magazines, etc with my thoughts and ideas.    It has been very enjoyable and at times challenging to do this in 2022 however I have definitely considered it to be worthwhile so it is clearly something I want to continue.    I would be particularly good to be involved in some bigger conferences if possible and even in some international events however this will be dependent on logistics, etc.     It will also be useful to explore the potential for new opportunities and challenges so this needs to be something I keep my eyes open for as 2023 progresses.

I have considered personal studying a certification as an option for 2023 however had decided that the cost v benefit especially of the technical certifications I have been looking at is not sufficient to justify the time, effort and cost.   This may however be something for me to reconsider as the year progresses.

Work

In work I cannot think of a particular target or focus in 2023 however if there was to be something it is in relation to innovation and change.   I would like to be able to focus on innovation and change projects and hopefully creating a culture and appropriate support functions which encourage and promotes this.   Other than this, I hope to support the members of my team to grow and develop such that they are able to continue to feel engaged, challenged and also to better contribute to the school.

Conclusion

In work I often use a single word or phrase as a theme or focus.   I think this might also be useful in setting my pledges for 2023.  So what one word or phrase would summarise what I want to achieve:

              New opportunities and experiences

I think the above summarises what I want from 2023.   2022 has felt a little routine, albeit with some notable achievements and positive points, but I just don’t feel there were enough truly memorable moments mainly as our memory needs the unusual and the new.   So in 2023 I hope to try and find and achieve the unusual and new.   Here’s to 2023 and the year ahead.   

And happy new year and all the best for 2023 to all in my PLN.

Reflections on 2022

We are at the end of yet another year, and this time, the end of 2022 so its time to briefly blog a bit of a reflection on my year. The easiest place to start in reviewing the year is the pledges I made at the beginning of 2022.

Exercise and Health

2022 saw me once again reach 750km of running for the year however it saw me much more inconsistent than I had been in 2021.   Although I managed to run over 100km in each of 4 months, more than I had managed before, I also had some months where I achieved very little distance at all.   In terms of distance, I did finally manage to achieve a couple of 10km runs although these runs were rather broken and slow.     My speed over the whole period continued to be rather slow, being on average 6:21 min/km whereas I would have very much likely to have been closer to the 6-minute mark.  That said, throughout my years running my focus was always on achieving the distances regularly rather than on building up my speed.    Towards the end of the year, I did start to suffer some joint and muscle pains so decided to rest from mid-December onwards to allow me to then look to restart in 2023.

I suggested at the start of 2022 that another health related plan was to reduce my alcohol intake.  Sadly, this didn’t really happen and the idea of a “dry” month certainly never looked like happening.   Now, I enjoy a beer especially when watching the football or a good film, plus it is one of the few vices I believe I have so I am not too disappointed on failing to meet this pledge.   It is important to balance trying to achieve things, to work hard, etc, with also having a bit of fun.  I suspect my alcohol intake is overall slightly less than in 2021 although I don’t have any really evidence to support this, so this may simply be me justifying not doing more.

Another area of health which didn’t work out in 2022 related to dental accidents with a number of accidents during 2022 resulting in dental treatment which I find difficult, and that’s even before, as a Scotsman, I get to having to pay for it!

I also note that as I finished work in December I fell ill with a bit of a flu (not covid!).  Upon looking back to 2021 the same issue had occurred with illness in December.   I wonder if this is me simply pushing too hard and failing to consider my health, then as the term and year ends and I relax, the strain on my body catches up with me, manifesting in illness.  Maybe something to think about next year in ensuring I take care of myself as term ends in order to hopefully avoid a period of illness over the festive season.

Wellbeing /Happy memories

Sitting here writing this things don’t quickly come to mind although a family holiday abroad, our first since the pandemic does come to mind and was enjoyable.  I also thoroughly enjoyed a trip with my wife as part of our anniversary which saw us spend a few days in London together, even taking in a stage show and seeing a number of historic sites around London.   There are also a number of other significant memories created during the course of 2022 however I will not go on to list these here.  So this is all positive.

I think part of the issue here is that I maybe don’t have a great long term memory and therefore find it difficult to quickly reflect.   To that end I started noting things, achievements, etc, starting in March 2022 to help me with this.    Reviewing this it seems clear a vast majority of the notable things from 2022 relate to either my job or to the wider education and technology sectors in which I work rather than to personal or family related things.  This is something I need to think a bit more on in terms of my work/life balance and whether it is a balance I am happy with.

One memory I will have for 2022 will definitely be turning up to the Houses of Parliament to attend a morning meeting, but sadly attending on the wrong day, a day to early, followed by feeling ill and not being able to attend the event on the correct day.  Ooops.

Reading

I didn’t read quite as much as intended or would have liked during the course of the year.   I think I maybe managed 6 or 7 books rather than my normal 12 books although I did start to read some fiction in addition to my non-fiction, enjoying re-reading Frank Herbert’s Dune and also a number of HP Lovecraft short stories.    The issue was generally one of time and priorities with reading sitting with a reasonably low priority.  This was however helped by the various conference and other events I attended which required train travel, thereby providing me with an opportunity to catch up on reading.

Contributing

This is likely the area where I think I did best during 2022.   I had opportunities to contribute to several different education and technology conferences or other events as a speaker, panellist, or guest while also developing a number of different bits of content for various organisations.   There were also many brilliant opportunities to network and catch up with colleagues from across the UK including the ANME ambassadors, Bukky Yusuf, Mark Anderson, Al Kingsley, Olly Lewis, Abid Patel and Emma Darcy to name but a few.  The fact that Abid Patel presented me with a can of my favourite Bru (intentional spelling) at an event being a particular highlight.   I was also both surprised but also very pleased to be nominated for Network Manager of the Year as part of the EduFuturist awards for 2022.  This was definitely not something I had expected or even hoped for.    As such am not sure I could have achieved much more that I did in 2022.    Here’s hoping for the same kind of opportunities in 2023.

Work

I think the year in work went well with the fact I have began to take notes of achievements being a useful aide-mémoire to help in assessing this.   When I addressed my team before the school broke up for Christmas it was good to be able to go back to the summer holidays and the beginning of term and list off some of the many things we have done, introduced or changed during the course of a single term, where had I not noted these down they may have simply slipped from memory.  

Other achievements

2022 once again saw me take on an external accreditation in ISC2s Certified in Cybersecurity.   It had been a number of years since I had last needed to take on a proper exam so I was a little nervous.   As it turned out a lot of the content overlapped with some of the other accreditations I already held and as such I didn’t find the exam to be that challenging but was still happy to achieve confirmation of my achievement of the certification.

Conclusion

2022 was a busy year and I think I crammed quite a bit into it.   I think one of my issues is that I seek that single highly significant and memorable event where this just didn’t happen in 2022, or indeed in a number of the preceding years.    This may detract from the many lesser events and achievements I did reach in 2022 and hence leave me feeling a little depressed or under appreciative of what I did achieve.   For 2023 I need to get passed this and be more positive and appreciative of that which I can and do achieve.

And so with my quick review of 2022 out of the way, it is onwards to 2023.   I want to try and treat 2023 as a fresh start and new year so hopefully be able to look back, around a year from now, and find my reflections on 2023 are not merely a repeat of those from 2022.    My next blog post will therefore focus on pledges for 2023 and how I might bring about the change I would like to see.

Connected isolation?

How is it that social media allows us to be hyper connected yet we can still feel so much individual isolation?

I found myself wondering this ahead of the schools and academies show sat having something to eat on my own, while tweeting and otherwise engaging with individuals from all over the world via social media.     Isnt connection a key feature of social media in allowing us to have large “friends” groups which we can access even when geographically apart?    Shouldn’t I therefore have felt connected rather than isolated as I sat there?

A broadcast medium

One possible reason for my feeling of isolation may be the fact that todays social media is very much a broadcast medium.   We post outwards on twitter, we post outwards of Facebook, on TikTok and on other social media platforms.  They are no longer a simple extension of our “in-real life” connections, our friends and our families.   We hope that someone will reply and engage with what we have posted, or at least will provide a like, however this is a hope rather than an expectation.   So maybe the isolation therefore relates to the fact that my social media engagement amounts to throwing out posts and updates in much the same way a message in a bottle is cast into the sea in the hope that someone may read it.    It isn’t the two way conversation and engagement, the “social” experience which it pretends to be.

The human animal

This brings us nicely to another possible explanation being how we as humans have been conditioned through centuries of evolution to behave and respond.   We are used to smallish social groups rather than the 1000’s of followers we may achieve on social media.    Could it be that the we don’t have the same connection online with the 1000s we send our posts out towards, at least not to the same extent we might have a connection with the stranger we bump into and have a drink with in the pub? I will admit to having a conversation earlier in the day with a stranger in a busy pub and that this was engaging and enjoyable, and made me feel connected.

We are used to the social experience of face to face interactions, of getting verbal, facial and other non-verbal ques in our interactions with people.     We have a physiological response to the presence and interaction with those we know and like, while we have a different physiological response with those we don’t get on with.    Am not sure, however I suspect there may equally be a physiological response when interacting with people online however I suspect in some ways it may be a lesser response although I will also acknowledge in some cases the response may be greater or even extreme, spurred on by the safety of being a keyboard warrior distanced from any physical risk which could arise through face to face arguments.   I would suggest though, if we take the extreme cases out of the equation the average physiological response to online interactions is less than that for face to face interactions.  And so it may be that the online interactions feel a little numb when compared with face to face interactions.

Conclusion: An illusion of connection but not a very good one

The above is simply a little musing.   I have made some great connections with some great people via social media so as a vehicle towards face to face connections it is invaluable.    But does the supposed “social” nature of social media, the 1000s of online connections, make us think we are more connected than we end up feeling?    And if so, does the difference between how connected we think we are versus how connected we feel lead to a greater feeling of isolation?   Is the feeling of isolation a response or a result of this disparity?

If I was to draw any sort of conclusion I think it would be this;   For me, I am happiest when engaged in conversation in person even where with strangers.   Social media presents an illusion of connection and not a very good one, but this illusion can impact on us.    I think that is why I felt isolated as I sat there.   The solution, to stop engaging in social media in hope of a connection and to spark up a conversation with someone, to do what we as humans have been doing for centuries and engage with a fellow human being in a face to face conversation where I can actually feel properly connected.

Feeling down

Have been trying to post a blog once a week but missed out last week having found things a bit of a struggle.    The end of term was manic, as I suspect it was in many schools across the UK and across the world.    I was extremely busy finding myself trying to balance a multitude of different tasks and projects.   Additionally, I was working on my personal fitness trying to complete 100km of running during October, having failed to do so during September due to a cold which had stopped me running for most of the final week. 

And so the half term arrived and my energy levels suddenly plummeted.  Exhaustion, or at least that’s what I now believe it was, kicked in.    I managed to drag myself out for a 10km run last Saturday albeit it was very broken and particularly slow however after this my energy was spent.   I suddenly found myself with little energy and little motivation to undertake a variety of personal tasks and projects, as well as work related tasks.  In fact, I found myself with little energy to undertake much at all. 

Sunday arrived and I found myself depressed.   Part of this was due to my low energy levels, and my inability to getting moving forward on things while another part was related to the fact that Saturday, and an opportunity to undertake personal tasks and achieve something, had came and went with little to nothing achieved.  The fact I couldn’t focus sufficiently to get a blog put together only added to way I was feeling and to my worsening outlook.

Monday was little better.   I had plans for a run.   My plan revolves around 4 runs per week of 6km each if I am to achieve my 100km, with my runs normally Monday, Wednesday and then Friday and Saturday.   The Monday run never happened as I couldn’t motivate myself to get up and out in the morning, with the same issue on the Tuesday.   And this lack of progress, despite my plan, further put a dampener on my mood.   

It wasnt until mid week before I was able to work to correct my mood and pull myself out of the depressive cycle which was building.   I knuckled down despite how I felt and a number of successive work tasks completed including a couple which provided a bit of satisfaction all helped to improve how I felt and my outlook.

Its Friday now and I sit on a train on the way home from a trip to London.   I feel significantly better than I did at the start of this week, but the events of the last week highlight how variable my mood and feelings can be.   When I look back a year or more my sense is that my mood is reasonably level however this is the illusion of memory;   the reality is my mood is very variable.   The challenge for me is to find ways to manage this.   This time it was putting my head down and working but I doubt that will always work.   The question then is how can I prepare and identify coping strategies for should my motivation and outlook “tank” at some point in the future.   I also think on reflection I have grown to be good at managing lots of task and managing being busy, but not so good or happy when it comes to down time, to sitting relaxing watching TV or reading a book.   Although I know these are important acts in allowing me to decompress, relax and recover, it doesn’t feel productive and therefore leads to feelings of depression.   Thinking about it, I can see why this might happy given a normal workday might see 10 or 12 items ticked of a to do list, whereas sitting through 10 episodes of binge-watch TV does quite compare in terms of a feeling of achievement.

Am not sure if this post will resonate with others but thought I would share anyway as maybe it will help others, or maybe it will just help me at some point in the future, as a reminder that things are more chaotic and variable than we remember, but that in the end most things work out. I suspect we could all do better in being aware of our mood and feelings, and seeking to better manage them.