Tag: Journal

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.

 

 

 

Pledges for 2020

It’s that time again to make some pledges for the year ahead.    I think it is important to document this to give the older me, in a years’ time, something to look back on.   I have long accepted that memory is far from accurate and therefore there is a need to keep a record.

So, what do I want to achieve in 2020?

As it happens, I already have a few plans in place for the year ahead, so this seems like a good place to start.

2020 sees me planning for a memorable family holiday significantly out with the standard break away we have had over the last two years.   My hope is this trip will be filled with memories but also will provide us something to look forward to for a fair part of the year, plus will open up our horizons to considering where we can visit in future.   As a family we are creatures of habit, visiting the same places rather than exploring new locations; This is something I would like to see change this year.

Another plan for the year involves me presenting at DigiFest in March.   This is something I want to try and do more of, whether this is presenting at events or contributing to online events, etc.   I want to collaborate and contribute to the #EdTech , #DigitalCitizenship and #Cyber sectors more actively in the year ahead.    Additionally, I want to try and establish at least one group of interested individuals to engage in discussion around one or more of the above topic areas.

Exercise is something last year I improved significantly upon, getting to the end of CouchTo5K.   I would like to repeat this feat in 2020 and consider how I might build on this, although to be honest I will be perfectly happy if I can at least match my accomplishments from 2019.

I would also like to repeat my reading target in the year ahead, aiming to read at least 12 books during the year.   This is something I have achieved in each of the last few years however this year I would like to see how I can make use of my reading to inform and support my professional development more.    As such I want to spend time this year drawing together the strands and ideas from the various books I have read.

My main target for 2020 is going to be one of reflection.   I need to reflect and think carefully about what I want to achieve.   This is very much related to my questioning of my aim to be “happier”, a target I set myself at the start of 2019.   I now question whether such a target was constructive to me as an individual despite sounding like a well meant and aspirational target.    Is my focus too much on the future and past and not sufficiently looking at the moment and the now?    But linked to this if I spend to much time reflecting on the past I may miss out on opportunities in the present.   I suspect this will be hard for me to consider however seldom is anything worthwhile easy to achieve.

Another target for me is to seek some sort of new challenge.  Am not at this point sure what that new challenge is.    My initial thoughts focus on establishing some sort of discussion forum or group and growing it, such as the #DigitalCitizenship group I mentioned above.  Another thought revolves around either starting to regularly podcast or videocast; I have thought of both in the past but never took it much further than simply considering.   I suspect this is partly due to both being slightly outside my comfort zone, however anything that is likely to be a challenge is likely to be at least slightly outside you comfort zone.   Given this, it may be that establishing a video or pod cast maybe something for me to take on in 2020.

Last year I summed everything up, in terms of what I wanted to achieve, with the word Balance and I think this is something I will stick with.    Balance between personal and work, between reflecting and living in the moment, between relaxation and (positive) stress, etc.  Everything is very much about establishing a balance which you are happy about and which allows you to enjoy life as it happens;  As that famous saving goes, “enjoy life now, this is not a rehearsal”.

And so my pledges for 2020 are set…….game on!

 

 

 

My decade in pictures

I am planning to write a reflection on the last decade however recently while sorting out some photo libraries the idea of sharing a photo log of my last decade came to me.  Now I note I dont have photos for everything which may have been worthy of inclusion but I think there is enough to make it worthwhile.    Have included only a caption for each photo and no other explanation.

2010:

Myself at other consultants at a UAE school
My first big conference presentation at GEF

2011:

UAE National Day, 2011

2013:

Birthday present to my wife
First trip to Kuwait
Presenting at a Conference in Kuwait
Getting involved with Teacher recruitment for UAE schools.

2014:

New Year 2014 and a Bond theme
My sons broken arm and 4 surgeries

2015:

2015 New Year Go Karting
Last days in Abu Dhabi
First days in Somerset
The Tor in the distance

2016:

Santa and some Christmas elves

2017:

A new home

2018:

The views on my first attempts at Couch to 5K

2019:

Finally completing Couch to 5K
Microsoft Bootcamp

 

 

 

ISC Digital, Brighton: Some thoughts

The need for sharing and collaborating across schools was the key message I took away from the Brighton ISC EdTech Summit last week.   We need to share what works, the challenges, the successes, the approaches and the journeys taken.  It is only through this sharing we can be more consistent and effective in our use of EdTech.

Now before I go any further I need to get the journey off my chest.   A 3 train journey on the way to Brighton including a rush to the 2nd train following a delay on train number 1, followed by missing my planned homeward bound train, which would have been a 2 train journey, and therefore requiring a 4 train trip.  Am not the best traveller on trains especially when no seat is available and the above pushed me to the limit of my patience.    All this plus taxis, so total travel of 7 trains and 4 taxis.    But enough of that, now I have it off my chest, the key thing was the conference itself.

The event started with the launch speech by Ty Goddard and Ian Philips asking all attendees to engage and not just by liking or following on social media, but by contributing to the conversation.   This message was re-iterated by many of the speakers, that there was a need for increasing dialogue and discussion in relation to EdTech, to what works and also to the journeys taken and all of the wrong turns, diversions and U-turns which arise as part of implementing EdTech projects in schools.

Richard Teversham from Apple was next up highlighting the fact that we now live in a world where every job is a technology job.    I particularly liked his explanation of how we were in the third age, a people age, and that it was people first, before technology.   My own experience seems to agree with this.   Technology is great but it needs someone to understand how it might be used and how it might benefit teaching and learning, then it needs someone to actually use it.   It needs people and these people need to be motivated and interested in how the technology might enable learners, they also need to see the potential.  In relation to potential Richard explained that “with technology great things can happen” and I tend to agree.

As the event went on it was highlighted that there was a need to have a clear purpose in using EdTech solutions before any implementation.    I particularly enjoyed an open panel discussion where all attendees were invited to contribute to a discussion about how the impact of EdTech might be measured.   Ty Goddard summed this particular session up well with the suggestion of a need to refocus on establishing “Value” as opposed to “Impact”.    The term “Value” to me is softer and doesn’t conjure up the image of exam results as the sole impact measure, plus it is likely to be more inclusive of the various ways that EdTech might affect (I had to careful avoid using the word impact there!) learners, learning, teachers and teaching. This session also provided me the opportunity to finally meet Bukky Yusuf who I have been interacting with via Twitter for a number of years.   It is always nice to meet edutweeps in real life.   I should note I also met Abid Patel in person for the first time during the course of the conference.

The conference also provided me the opportunity to present and I had the pleasure of presenting with Louise Jones, a fellow Scot.    Her session was a bit of an eye opener particularly when she discussed “voice first” and raised the issue that traditional web searches return 1000’s of answers, but when you ask Alexa you will get only a single answer;  As such what are the implications for our learners where they are likely to increasingly make use of voice first services?   The existence of free web services was also raised and how we need to increasingly ask ourselves why a given service is free and how the service provider is themselves benefiting;  few companies create a service, at their own cost, just for the good of society.  I also liked her discussion of how version history and meta data, and the ability to replay the creation of documents by students might surface information in relation to the students thinking processes.

The whole event was finally wrapped up by Priya Lakhani from CenturyTech with an inspiring talk as to how AI can impact the classroom and also pointing towards what she described as “BS AI”.   The final video of the conference being from Taylor Mali in relation to What teachers make.    If you haven’t seen the video I suggest you watch it as it summed up the conference for me;  I will say no more in order to avoid spoiling it.

It was a very useful, informative and enjoyable day.   I also managed to get my Irn Bru into a few of the photos shared via twitter!   But on a more serious note, the key in the days events is not the day itself but what comes from it and if Ian and Ty’s comments are to be taken as their aim, it is their wish that what comes from the event is further discussion.    I expect that they will be successful in this and that discussion will follow the event.

So, with that in mind I hope to build a group of educators to discuss digital citizenship, an area I am particularly interested in, including curating ideas and resources.    You can register your interest via this Microsoft Form.

 

 

 

Microsoft Bootcamp

Last week I attended a 3-day Microsoft Bootcamp in the Microsoft London offices.   It was a pretty packed programme across the 3 days covering a diverse range of topics however as I sit on the train on the way home let me try and summarise the key points.

Accessibility

The session on accessibility led by Hector Minto (@hminto) is the one that sticks in my mind the most.   In fact from discussing with some others, it stuck in their minds too.    During the session a variety of accessibility tools were demonstrated with the most important factor being that these solutions are already available within Windows 10 and the Office 365 suite.     Some of the ideas where horribly simple;  Horrible in the fact that these simple approaches hadn’t been something I had realised could have a significant impact.    A larger pointer for when demonstrating on screen or a slightly different windows colour scheme were just two of the tips.    Adding Alt text to images in documents and on social media posts was another.    The ability to add subtitles to video via using Microsoft Stream or the use of PowerPoint and inline translation were also discussed.

It is clearly for all of us to do our bit, and generally this only requires making small changes to our normal practices.

The “MEC” or Microsoft Educator Community

I have been aware of the MEC and the variety of resources available within it for some time.   The three-day event however highlighted how the MEC could be used as a vehicle for CPD.   I, myself, have recently seen the power of training codes and badges on motivating people to undertake CPD in relation to educational technology and the event only served to strengthen this view.   One of the keys tasks I believe I now need to undertake is to curate the MEC content which I believe is most valid and will have the biggest impact with staff at my school.

Microsoft Teams

A fair amount of the event was focused on how Teams could be used in schools, colleges and universities.    It was notable that the actual platform used throughout all three days, to facilitate collaboration, discussion and sharing, was in fact Microsoft Teams.   People were posting questions, links and other content so that all attendees could benefit from the shared knowledge and experience of the group.   I can clearly see the benefits of using Teams to support educators from across department, across a school or even across institutions to get together and work collectively to bring about continual improvement and to tackle challenges.

A number of the events sessions included remote sessions delivered from the Seattle and also Glasgow, a reasonably diverse choice in locations.    These highlighted how Teams could facilitate opportunities for learning more akin to that experience by the increasing number of remote workers which now exist.   This also, again, highlighted where Stream could play its part in the recording of such meetings complete with the automatic creation of subtitles which were easily searchable by users.

Microsoft OneNote

A number of individuals shared how they were using OneNote in their institution.   I found a particular presentation by Esam Baboukhanto be very interesting.    Esam pre-prepared regular checklists and review questions in OneNote in order to get students to take greater responsibility for their learning.   He also mentioned the use of review questions which students were required to undertaken to get them to revisit learning in order to aid better memory retention.    The use of OneNote as a tool to aid such spaced retrieval practice was something which I hadn’t considered however I can easily see how this might work well.

Overall

It was a tiring three days with lots going on.   The event itself was specific to FE and HE, whereas my current context is that of an independent school.   I had decided to attend given the large number of students we have which study A-Levels which otherwise they would study in an FE institution.    In hindsight I made the right call as the event was very worthwhile.   I left with plenty of notes and an equally high number of points either for consideration or for action.    All attendees also left with Microsoft Trainer accreditation, thereby able to deliver training and issue training codes via the Microsoft training platform.   For those who are considering attending a Bootcamp I would definitely recommend it.

I am also looking forward to continuing online discussions via Teams with those who attended the event and with others who have attended previous events.   I suspect, despite what was an excellent event, I am still to experience the true benefits of the event.   I suspect such benefit lies in the network and community of individuals sharing their ideas, resources and thoughts on the Microsoft platform, and on other EdTech following attending a Bootcamp.

 

2019, another new year

It is that time again to write my new years resolutions, my pledges for the year ahead and once again I face the same challenge.   I could select SMART targets such as to read 12 books but in picking something so easily measurable there is a danger that I focus on the target, and select 12 books which are shorter and easier to read rather than picking more challenging reads, which may take more time to read however in the long term will be more useful.    There is also danger that I pick a target that I then quickly achieve early in the year, leaving me to look back at the end of 2019 having achieved everything in the first couple of months.    The other option is I pick bigger goals such as to develop my understanding of learning and how individuals learn.    This is a much bigger goal however is difficult to measure in terms of my success in achieving it.

For 2019 my plan is to set some over arching strategic targets, which are big goals, but within each to also indicate some initial shorter SMART targets.   My hope is this should give me a balance of micro and macro level goals.

And so onto the new years resolutions, pledges or goals for the year ahead:

Family                                 

A key target for the year ahead is to have a family holiday together.    This is something we haven’t done for a while, other than last summer.   As such I think this should now become an annual event as it gives the opportunity to spend some uninterrupted family time together, to decompress and to relax.

A wider target would be to make more family time together.   This needs to involve actually sitting down to dinner together, to playing football with my youngest, to going out as a family on the occasional weekend.   Myself and my wife will also need to seek to make more time for each other, with “date night” a clear possibility however given our working patterns we will need to work on resolving the logistical issues.

Exercise, Wellbeing and Reading

This year rather than having separate targets for exercise and readings I have decided to roll them all up into a single area for focus.

In terms of SMART targets, my key targets will be to complete the 9 weeks of Couch to 5K before the end of the calendar year and to read my usual 12 books, one book per month.

Looking towards a wider target, I want to feel happier in myself at the end of the year.   This will mean trying to strike a balance between work and personal life.    In with work I include my efforts in blogging and posting on social media.   My work doesn’t just include my job but includes other tasks and activities which I do as part of my wider professional contribution to education and to IT.  I would also like to start podcasting during 2019 however I need to be conscious that I need to achieve a better work/life balance and to be more comfortable taking time out to relax.

Professional Development

Having achieved certifications in each of the last three years, and conscious of the fact that I will need to re-certify which will require me to repeat my exams, I am not going to set myself a target of a specific certification in 2019.   Instead I am going to focus on some specific areas of interest with these being cyber security and data analytics in particular.   I hope to be able to use Udemy courses and various books as my method of study with a view to being knowledgeable and experienced in relation to these topics by the time 2019 draws to a close.

Work

I have found thinking about work targets a little difficult as I have a number of projects currently underway which therefore could all make for good, SMART, targets.   It is therefore key for me to think about what is most important and for this I think the development of a key statement of the schools IT strategy, to be shared with all staff and pupils, is most important.   Linked to this will be our approach to staff training on EdTech and also our device strategy for the next couple of years.    As it stands we are using 1:1 iPads however with these devices up for review in the next couple of years, now is the time to consider alternatives and make a decision as to the devices we will be using for the next 4 or 5 years.

As a more strategic goal I think my key area to work on in 2019 will be empowering my team such that they can lead on various projects across the school.    I think this year I need to make more use of my middle leaders and their skills, experience and knowledge and support them to be more proactive.

Overall

I have noted on social media a number of people identifying a single word to symbolise their plans for 2019.    I have given this some thought to try and identify what word I would most identify with and in my case it would be:

Balance

I need to reach balance as I seek to engage in social media, contributing to both the education and IT sectors, deliver as a Director of IT, be successful as a family member, father and husband and continue to develop as a professional and a person.    Balance therefore seems like the most important word.    My hope would be that next year when I get to the end of the year I can be more positive on what has been achieved having actually built in time to sit and reflect throughout the year, rather than rushing to cram everything in and finding the year has sped past in the blink of an eye.

And so 2018 draws to a close and 2019 begins.   I look forward to the year ahead which would be my 21st year working within education.    I have worked in international schools, further education, higher education, state schools and now independent schools.    I wonder what new opportunities and challenges I can find or create in the year ahead.

Summary: My 2018

And so another year comes to an end.    2018 has flown by although as I think back I realise how much has been accomplished during the year.   That said the year hasn’t been without its challenges.

In reviewing the year I am going to use the same headings I used when I created my new years resolutions and pledges a year ago.   These seem to make for a sensible framework for writing this review.

Family

During the summer of 2018 was the first time in around 10 years that myself, my wife and our youngest went on a family holiday abroad.    We have each been abroad separately for various reasons, including school trips or returning to the UK while we were living out in the UAE, however we never did these together.     Our week away in Tenerife was both enjoyable and relaxing and something which hopefully we will repeat either this year or next.   The weather was very warm and we went for daily walks, plus had a few beers as well.   The fact that the world cup was on at the same time was also a benefit as we went and watched a few games in a pub on the seafront.   It was all an opportunity to decompress, relax and reorient towards what is important.

During the year I have also spent time out on the football park with my youngest.    This has been nice in spending time together as opposed to both of us sitting on our respective computers either gaming or watching TV or doing work.    It is something I need to do more of.

Looking back on the year though, other than the holiday I don’t think we made enough time for each other as a family and this is something we will all need to consider and work to resolve in 2019.

Fitness

Fitness has long been something I have wanted to improve albeit with very little improvement being made.   I have acknowledged this lack of progress in my review of the year over the last couple of years.   This year I finally made some progress engaging in Couch to 5k.    I managed to get quite a few weeks of running in, running every 3 times per week.    I only managed to get to week 5, however managed to get to this point on multiple occasions before the winter weather and dark mornings kicked in.    In the grand scheme of things only getting to week 5 isn’t a massive achievement but considering my lack of progress over multiple years means it is a major improvement and major progress on my previous level of fitness.   Week 5 means running 3 times per week, for over a month, a level of consistency I have never previously got close to.   I hope to restart my couch to 5k efforts early in the new year as soon as the dark morning cease.

Reading

I continue to enjoy reading and 2018 was no different with me once again working my way through more than 12 books throughout the course of the year.   As before I have tried to pick books across a number of different topic areas, however continue to focus on non-fiction as opposed to fiction.    I think reading across different topics makes the experience of reading more interesting plus is more useful in that it allows me to see different viewpoints on various topics and concepts.   This year neurobiology, digital citizenship and psychology have been just a small number of topics which I have read about.   I have, as I did last year, already started filling my book shelve with my books for 2019.   Christmas marks a great opportunity to get some titles lined up for the year ahead.

Professional Development

2018 saw me complete my CRISC exam and receive certification.   This means I have now achieved CISA, CISSP and CRISC in consecutive years.    On considering my next steps I am conscious that each of these certifications will require me to redo the exam and therefore I am reluctant to take on CISM or CGEIT which are the other two certifications I might otherwise consider.

During 2018 I also started some non-certificated PD in a couple of areas including cyber security and also data analytics.   Sadly in both cases I didn’t make much progress which I suspect was largely due to the lack of a fixed exam date or something to help me maintain my motivation.    This is something I need to bear into consideration in future.

Throughout the year I also engaged in a number of smaller professional development activities relating to specific work areas or areas of personal focus.   This included spending time learning how to better use PowerBI plus learning about GDPR in preparation for the May 2018 implementation date.

Work

GDPR was a significant area of focus during 2018 and I think largely this went well.   There are obviously ongoing requirements in relation to GDPR but I think this is in hand.

It has been a very challenging year for me as Director of IT and I think these challenges will continue into 2019.   That said, if things were easy I would suggest that maybe I am not being innovative enough or seeking new solutions with sufficient vigour.     I need to try to remain more positive and focus on the fact that time often solves issues in a way that simple effort cannot, or at least cannot as easily achieve.

I also need to accept that frustrations will occur especially when dealing with the views and perspectives of others.   I need to be conscious that my “truth” may not necessarily be the truth of others and therefore I need to more appreciative of their views and their truth, and use this to help me in bringing them around to my view or to reaching a negotiated viewpoint.

From a teaching point of view I continue to work with Lower 6 students.   I need to acknowledge that my role and therefore the significant reduction in the time I spend in a classroom has meant I don’t feel things go as well as I would like.    This is something I need to work on in the year ahead, redesigning the way I approach the sessions I deliver.

Conclusion

2018 draws to a close and 2019 is almost upon us.   2018 has been a busy year and in this it has flown by.   I find myself a little bit depressed at the moment and I think that is simply the result of realising I have reached the end of the year, and realising that maybe despite being busy I haven’t achieved as much as I would have liked in the areas I would consider to have been important.   This focus on that which is important is something I will need to be more cognizant of in 2019.    It may also be related to a deflated feeling having reached the end of the year and not being quite so busy, having spent the whole year being very busy.   A lack of a to do list, lessons to do, meetings to attend, etc, leaves me feeling as if something is missing, leading me to feel a little depressed.   I need to be wary of this as life is more than just work, blogging, etc, and sometimes you need to stop and simply enjoy the scenery.

I also think I need to be more conscious of my own feelings and of how to manage these.   The cold wet winter combined with the dark days seem to have made me feel down during the opening months of 2018 when looking back on my journal, and as we again are in winter the same appears to be occurring now, and therefore is likely to continue into the start of 2019.   I need to find a way to manage this in myself possibly through treating myself or finding another way to lift my spirits.

So 2018 is almost finished.   Bring on 2019.   Let me wish you all the very best for 2019.

Teacher5aday calendar: Dec 1st

 

Taking up the #Teacher5aday Calendar challenge see below for my “3 things you are most looking forward to over the festive period”

One of the things I am looking forward to doing over the Christmas break is reading.   I currently have just started reading Behave by Robert Sapolsky however haven’t made much progress in the last week or so.   I note that it is quite a substantial book running at 675 pages excluding the appendices.   I also have a book on Data Science which has been sat on my bedside table for a while now.

I am also looking forward to doing my annual reflection and pledge.    Actually setting time aside to look back on 2018 and the successes and challenges is very useful.  In the day to day it is often difficult to see what has been accomplished so to put time aside to actually sit down an reflect is very useful   It is also useful to consider those things which haven’t been done and those things I want to tackle in the year ahead, and to put some initial prioritization into these, identifying what is really important and what is less so.

And my final item is family time.   My wife will be largely busy during Christmas so I will be stealing whatever time she has free, and outside this plan to spend some time with my son working on our new PC and also having a kick around on the football park.      We are hopefully going to explore podcasting and video/audio editing which is something we both have an interest in.

 

A quick review of 2017/18

The 2017/18 academic year has drawn to a close.  OK, so it actually drew to a close a while ago, it is just I am only now getting to finishing writing and posting this.   Looking back it feels as if the year has just flown by.    I can remember Christmas like it was yesterday.   I can remember the inset session I did on cyber security which included reference to GDPR.   I now find myself in July (and almost in August) with GDPR in effect.  Where has the year gone?

A key part of the year has been spent experimenting with Office 365 and how it could be used in schools.    Initially it was looking at Microsoft classroom and SharePoint but by the end of the year we had Microsoft Teams.   PowerBI has been an area we have been exploring throughout the year however by the end of the year I had developed a better understanding of how PowerBI works and therefore a better understanding as to how it could be set up and used.   One target for the year ahead will be to build on this and to make better use of Office 365 and of PowerBi within the school.  We also had a little bit of a play with Flow and also with Stream.    I am sure Flow has potential however at the moment we are only scrapping the surface of what it might be able to do.

This year saw me take Digital Citizenship sessions with Lower 6 students.   Some groups were highly engaged and contributed thoughtful ideas and questions whereas other groups were not as engaged.    I enjoyed the experience however I now need to consider the programme in more detail to see how I might make it more engaging for the students in the sessions.    The fact I find it interesting and thought provoking is clearly not enough.    My ultimate aim for the sessions is to get the students engaged in discussion around the topics of privacy, ethics and the future in relation to technology, among other areas.    I don’t propose that I have the answers to these issues.   What I do hope is that through the sessions myself and students can explore the various factors, benefits and concerns together so at least we all leave the sessions having developed our own personal understanding and viewpoint.

During 2017/18 we have been busy with a number of IT projects related to our 1:1 mobile device scheme and also in relation to the overall network capability and its longer-term ability to support the schools tech aims.     The mobile device scheme originated in 2012 before I joined the school, meaning that 2018 makes for the 6th year of the scheme.    We last examined our direction back in 2016 when we renewed the schools iPad fleet however we now need to consider where the school is going in the future.    Device upgrades or even changes in device represent significant change projects.    As such I suspect we will need to spend the next 2 years exploring options ahead of planning and then deploying our eventual solution.   As such the work started recently, but mainly due to shape up in 2018/19, will all be building towards what we do in 2020/21 and going forward from there.    Related to this, it was with interest I read about the recent launch of the Surface Go device by Microsoft.    I am left wondering how this new device might fit into the schools overall IT Strategy going forward.

The start of 2018 saw me achieve my CISSP status which I feel was an achievement.   I was convinced having completed the exam that I wouldn’t pass.    I have now decided to take the ISACA CRISC exam in September however studying so far has been patchy at best.    This is something I am currently working on, trying to allocate time every couple of days to do some exam revision and practice testing.    I suspect September will be upon me quickly so I need to make sure I am ready.

Throughout 2017/18 my engagement with social media has been patchy however I have still found it to be useful and a valuable source of ideas and resources.   I have very much enjoyed various twitter based discussions on a variety of educational subjects including testing and assessment, school culture and educational technology use to name but three.   On reflection I think patchy use of social media is acceptable.   Sometimes it is filled with useful discussions and ideas however sometimes it becomes a bit of an echo chamber filled with negativity or complaints.   For me the key thing is to regularly keep an eye on social media and to participate when appropriate and when I feel there is benefit in doing so.

My reading so far has been reasonably steady.   I think I have managed 9 or 10 books so far in 2018, yet we are only just finishing month 7.     Am hopeful to be able to keep this up plus am glad of the various educators on twitter who are sharing their reading lists and recommendations.  This is ensuring that my library of books yet to be read remains full.

Blog posting is another area where I feel I have been reasonably steady.  I have posted a couple of guest blogs on various websites and publications which has been good plus have managed to post at least a single post per month to each of my two sites, www.ub81ndk9d.com and www.beingdigitallyliterate.wordpress.com.    Again this is something I want to maintain in the new year ahead possibly with an increase in guest posting if possible.

And so, another academic year has drawn to a close however after a period of opportunity to reflect, reassess and regroup, otherwise know as the summer holidays, I hope to be ready to meet the new challenges and opportunities which 2018/19 will provide.    Here we go again………

 

May reflections

It has been a few months since I last wrote a reflections post.   As such I thought it was about time I once again put things in writing for review by my future self.   In reviewing how things are going, I am going to make use of the titles from my pledges post to structure my thoughts.

Family Memories

It is apt that I write this reflection this week now the weather has been nice although I note that the current bank holiday weekend sees the predictable rain.   Last weekend, when it wasn’t raining, I spent time with the youngest playing football at the local football park.   A nice way to spend the day however am not as happy with the sunburn I ended up with.

Going forward we have also decided to book a family holiday.   It has been a number of years since we last did a family holiday so it is about time.  I am already looking forward to it as surely this will generate a whole range of family memories.

Professional Development (PD)

I think professional development is something which I am progressing well with.   On the IT side of things in particular this is driven by my CISSP and CISA certifications which both require a yearly amount of CPE (continual professional education) hours.   As such I am having to make sure that I get involved in some PD each month in order to meet the annual target and maintain the 2 certifications.

I have now decided to undertake a third certification in the ISACA’s Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control certification.   After some indecision I finally decided to move forward with this certification given my view that GDPR is best addressed through a risk based approach.   As such a certification which focussed on risk management seems like a logical choice.

I also continue to experiment and try new things including further developing my PowerBI skills, playing with a new MS Surface device on loan from Microsoft and also trying out new apps such as Microsoft Whiteboard.

Fitness

For those who may have read some of my past posts a need to work on fitness has been a long standing item; A long standing item but with very meagre, if any progress.   In the last couple of weeks I may have finally made some progress.    Basically I have started with getting up earlier on most mornings, and going for a 30min brisk walk.    The picture is from one such walk.   This is on top of my walk across campus each morning.  Looking at the data from my Fitbit device this change has meant that my average distance walked per day is steadily increasing as is my calories burned.    I have so far managed this for only three weeks so my challenge going forward is to turn the progress made into a sustained habit.    I suspect my next reflection blog will be telling as to my success or failure in this area.

Reading

I continue to be ahead of my book per month target for the year.   My hope is that the summer weather will make this something I can make significant progress in however I do note that my bookshelf is now lacking in books yet to read, so I will need to restock it at some point in the month ahead.

Journaling

I have made a reasonable habit of journaling now such that I am writing a weekly log of my thoughts and also the events of the week.    The habit is still relatively new so in some weeks I write on a Friday, on others a Saturday and occasionally on a Monday.    I need to ensure I keep journaling and I suspect I would benefit from being able to be consistent with when I do my journaling.

Work

The one thing I will say is that time seems to be rushing by.   We are now in the final term of the year and it feels like it has come around in a flash.   I feel things have been going well however it may be worth reflecting at the end of the academic year as to what has or has not been achieved.

May has seen a few tasks where I have had to overcome difficulties or obstacles.   This has been very frustrating at times however perseverance has brought about progress albeit slower than I would have liked.    The key thing I note is that the obstacles and frustrations come quickly to mind.  I need to take care that these predominant memories do not distort my perception of events.   There were some key wins and progress was made; this is the key factor.

I recently, also, conducted a little leadership survey.   I originally conducted a survey two years ago, after being in post for around 6 months.   It has been interesting to compare the results from them with now, 2 years further on.   The results show a slight positive improvement which is good however more important is the identification of a couple of areas to examine to try and bring about improvement.

As I reach half term I feel I have a large number of tasks which need to be addressed over the half term.  This has left me feeling a little overwhelmed at times.   I think the last week of May, the half term break, will be an opportunity to stop and reflect and re-establish which tasks truly are important and need to be prioritised as well as those tasks which either need to be delegated on simply not undertaken.

Conclusion

May has come and gone quickly as seems to be the way of things for a while now.   I feel I continue to make progress and after much procrastination, I am particularly pleased with my progress on personal fitness.   I feel that as I move towards the end of the 2017/18 academic year I need to re-establish that which is truly important particularly in my work, focusing on these areas.   I wonder if the reason that time seems to be passing so quickly is simply due to not prioritising.   May has seen some frustrations, some difficulties but ultimately seen positive progress.

Onwards and upwards……….