This will probably be my last post of 2008. I make it in the full knowledge that by publishing it, I am sharing my life and myself with the world - or anyone who is remotely interested. Thank you for maintaining that interest. Bloggers and the readers of blogs are changing the way society lives and breathes. Especially micro-blogs. Happy New Year

It's been another active year. Only when I look back do I realise (remember?) some of the great things we've done. We went to France in Summer. To Nick and Sophie's wedding in Somerset in May. Before the summer holiday, Sharon spent some time with Betony in America. Work wise it's also been a great year. I've done work (and am still doing work) for NIACE as an e-Guide trainer; for LSN as a MoLeNET Mentor and Diploma Support Consultant and for several of the JISC RSCs.. Next year, I have more work coming along from the National Science Learning Centre and with BDP on their new LSIS sponsored PDA programme. Hopefully, 2009 will be as rewarding as 2007. Best wishes to you all and thank you for reading.

We've come over to Chirk today, to stay with Karen and Dave for a couple of days - which should be nice. On Boxing Day we walked down to Slaithwaite and had a few drinks with John and Carol before coming back to prepare a dinner for us to share with Tony and Gill. They had arrived just before we got back from Slaithwaite - which caused some consternation! In the end we had Parsnip and Ginger soup, Roast Ham and Pork Pie (prepared earlier) with bubble and squeak, pickles and salads. Sharon made pudding - Trifle (without the sponge) and then we had cheese, cake and biscuits.

  
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Christmas Day

Boxing Day. It looks like being a lazy day today - which is good, following two days of intense activity. I spent a great deal of Christmas Eve in the kitchen preparing for our meal yesterday. We'd been to Costco on Tuesday, looking for one of their turkey fronts (breast only, on the bone) or one of their breast rolls (no bone) - but they had none. All sold out. The only things available were huge birds - far too big for us. We ended up having to buy one at Tesco, which was potentially too small. In the end it was a perfect size, inasmuch as there is just enough left for a sandwich (which Betony probably had last night before she went to bed).

Part of my preparation is to remove the turkey legs, bone them, remove sinews, tie them and cook them along with the bones and 'stuff', simmering away to make stock. This leaves me with a fairly sleek bird which cooks quickly and saves mess 'on the day'. the leg meat is then sliced and served cold along with (on this occasion) some cold roast ham. I'd boiled the ham for an hour, let it stand in the water for half an hour and then (having removed the rind) studded it with cloves, coated it with butter and honey and roast it for a further half an hour. Lovely. That's mainly for today (Boxing day). I also made (as you might see above) a pork pie and a terrine (same meat mix: one dressed, one undressed!) - both for Boxing day, when Tony and Gill are due to join us.

We were joined yesterday by my mum and dad (looking and seeming much older than they do at home) and Charlie, Emma and the girls. These two, Amy and Charlotte, kept us entertained and awake all afternoon. Amy's favourite food of the day was some rice pudding Sharon had made for Christmas Eve (thinking that we NEEDED pudding with our Cream of Tomato soup and roast best end of lamb ON Boulangere) - everything else was patently unpleasant. Charlotte, the youngest just ate everything she was given. We'd put the table down the middle of the living room, which stopped us playing games and the like but all in all it was a pleasant day.

Sharon had bought me a PSP - which I'd wanted for a while (not being sure what sort of things they could do) and I'd bought her an iPod Touch - which she seems to like very much. Just one point with the Touch though: She charged it all day but it held no charge. we went on forums etc and finally thought it would have to be returned. But, just as a final final touch, she downloaded iTunes. Then it worked! It wouldn't show that it had been charged or that it even had a brain until it touched base no more than that) with the mother ship of iTunes. Amazing. Imagine a car that wouldn't start until you'd downloaded a manufacturer specific something other to your garden (I use garden as an example because it has little to do with the car - like to the computer having similarly little to do with the iTouch). Both garden and computer seem to act as bouys.

Happy New Year.

Season's Greetings

This might be a long post. The man-flu is upon me now - full on!

Yesterday was the Jaiku Christmas lunch. Well, that's what it has become. Last years lunch was disrupted somewhat by an accident on the M62 which spoiled what would have been the third time Lils, JW, Nick and I had met for Christmas lunch here on the mother ship. This year, I'd opened up the invitation for lunch to other like-minded souls on Jaiku and four were able to respond. Nick and I were the common denominators and we were joined by Dave Foord, Ron Mitchell and Lisa Valentine. It was really good to get a chance to just sit and chat, eat lunch and generally relax in quiet surroundings. With no pressure.

We discussed many things and although we are all Jaiku converts and members of our own community of practice - we still like to 'talk', to 'discuss' etc. face to face. Nuances are easier to understand and explanations easier to make in this way. We talked about the excellence many 6th form colleges achieved and wondered if this was because of or in spite of technology. We feared the worst. I think we all feel that there is a deep-rooted problem with the education 'system' and this (probably) begins in schools, where they are so very target (benchmark?) led. Those that survive key stages 3 and 4 go on to 6th forms already knowing what to expect and how to cope. For this, the 6th forms get much credit. General F.E. (the wider post 16 community) get those who have fallen by the wayside. I'd love to be able to say that my personal views are out of kilter with others - but they are not. We do a serious disservice to 16 years olds that come along and expecting not to be taught the same old nonsense they have had at school - yet that it was the 'system' expects of us.

To be fair, if learners come to F.E. they are disillusioned or disappointed with school life - maybe they have just had enough. They may be very very bright and WANT to learn a trade but every possible effort is made to keep them on at school (6th form) and to pursue an academic route, so if they DO come, we need to push push push. They may otherwise be very bright, but this brightness hasn't been nurtured (perhaps they ask too many questions - which I understand can be a problem :-() and they are driven towards vocational routes - so they can't cause too much disruption. They are then frustrated when we have to (do we have to?) teach them in the same way that has been so far unsuccessful since they were 11. We also get those learners who are so perplexed by the way school has treated them that it takes us an age to get the very best out of them - but invariably we do ['we' here is the F.E. workforce].

Learners are all different and they all prefer to learn in different ways - and supporting differentiation is what F.E. should be (is?) good at. But time and time again I hear of inspections and lesson observations that seem to disregard this. I've always had a problem with Aims and Objectives for example. What are they for? Why do we need them - for every lesson? Don't get me wrong, we DO need to know what our lesson/session is for and what our general outcomes should be but what if the learners want to go somewhere else that day; what if they are more interested in something else that is subject-relevant today; shouldn't we allow them to go there, without fear of censure? I believe that we should had very firm Aims for the course itself and that objectives should be the same as those required by the awarding body (performance criteria?) - these should be supplemented by whatever life, social and communication skills are appropriate to the learner. This way, when I begin every lesson/session I KNOW what my Aims are - they are those of the course. My planned Objectives are those I wish to apply 'today' BUT ... if the learners get so interested in one aspect of the class that I cannot achieve a planned objective (but in fact they/we cover one or more from upcoming weeks) - then why should I be penalised? Because I would be - "teacher strayed from stated objectives and caused confusion in the minds of learners'. WHAT!

If learners are engaged (and that would be a permanent objective), they will learn. If we allow them opportunities for exploration and experimentation, they will learn. We just need the room, the space, the opportunity to do these things. Without censure.

See this letter announcing the new PDA scheme.

Click here for copy

Tell someone in your institution to nominate a PDA

It's almost Christmas again. We were going to be visited by the Americans (Gail and T.J.) but T.J.'s sister is quite ill and the can't come now. They would have arrived today and would by now (tea time) be just about stirring from their post-flight catnap. They would then be going to Wales tomorrow with Sharon, to see Steven, their brother. So now, instead, Sharon is waiting until I've finished for the day and I'm going with her. Provided my new cold doesn't progress! The plan had been for her to set off mid-morning and to drive through the daylight (and lighter traffic) but now we're to set off at 4.00pm - or before if we can. But - as I might have guessed, now that the last month's intensity has stopped, my body has relaxed and that dreaded man-flu is trying to find a way in.

I went to bed last night fully dosed up but woke this morning with my throat feeling like it had had a tonsillectomy. It's not too bad at the moment but other symptoms are manifesting themselves. Hey ho - we'll have to see what another night brings.

It was eCPD PDA (see link in sidebar) (BDP) Facilitator training on Monday and Tuesday this week and so good to meet up with all my mates again. Lilian will lead a northern team of six. Dave Foord will lead a midlands group of six and Ruth Simons will lead a southern group of six too! It all kicks off in the new year but for now - we are trying to get as many people interested as we can. Drop me a line for more info - or ring!

See this letter announcing the new PDA scheme.

Click here for copy

Give your colleagues a copy of this - tell them to find out more

Another cracking week! That's the second consecutive four days away that I've done now and I'm knackered. It would help if hotel beds were comfortable, but they are not always - Wednesday night in Newcastle was terrible. The room was hardly big enough to swing the proverbial cat, let alone put a week's luggage into. Also see http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsugden/sets/72157603343845964/

I was at the National Science Learning Centre on Monday through to Wednesday, supporting the delivery of Science for Hairdressing and once again it was brilliant. Not only did I feel that my own sessions went down well, but the delegates enjoyed every minute of the course too. I wasn't able to attend every Science session, but I did manage to work through the Shampoo making session with them. How good was that? - I made a bottle of Jasmine scented shampoo - and as Sharon never reads this, I can add it to her Christmas stocking fillers. How groovy is that? - making your own shampoo! They also did some microscope work and let out a huge cheer when they were able to penetrate a hair shaft and see the cortex.

It was cold in Newcastle again. This time we were put into the Thistle Hotel, right across from the station which was one of the things going for it. the other was that, unlike the Travelodge, it was warm. The bed (above) was small - not a single, but not a double either and I kept banging my arm on the wall during the night. Even the loo was cramped: badly placed loo roll holder meant it was near on impossible to function correctly! Ann had a bad night because she was bedded above a disco. Breakfast was a bit like Fawlty Towers. But - it was warm and staff were friendly (three things going for it!) My journey home from Newcastle this time was uneventful! Spend an hour with Richard Brook at Kirklees College today, getting ready for some work for RSC-YH on L4LW.

Sharon bought me an espresso machine for my birthday (as well as the meal) and now I'm back for a couple of days, I can get to play with it a bit. Hopefully, it will fulfil its promise and I will get decent coffee from time to time. I'm off again on Monday - this time just overnight, for the two day facilitator training by BDP, which is being held at the Hilton in Kensington. I really should have bought an Oyster Card. :-)

See this letter announcing the new PDA scheme.

Click here for copy

Give your colleagues a copy of this - tell them to find out more

Today is my birthday. Many happy returns David! Last night, Sharon and I went to the Weavers Shed at Golcar. I'd not been here for so many years - but had always hoped to go again. Like last year, when she took me to the Lygon Arms, taking me to the Weavers Shed was a real treat. Not only did we have good food but good wine too. I'd not seen Chateau Musar on a wine list (or in a shop) for years and years - so it was a real pleasure to drink some last night. I started with some croquettes of salt cod and belly pork (Sharon had Pumpkin Risotto with truffle) and followed it with Confit of Duck. Sharon had the Sea Bass. For once, it was me who liked the choice of desserts - Sharon had cheeses. A really delightful evening. Thankyou.

This week has been a busy one and I've been away for four days. I set off on Tuesday just as the snow started (see http://dsugden.posterous.com/early-december) and arrived back in Wakefield on Friday, about 8.00pm. A long week. I was in London on Tuesday to attend BDP's iQAP meeting to review the proposed PDA programme and in Colchester on Wednesday to carry out my first 14-19 Diploma Health check for LSN. See http://www.bdplearning.com/ecpd/get_involved.html for more about the BDP work. I didn't see much of Colchester as it was dark when I got there and dark when I got up. Even when daylight could be seen I was either in a taxi to the venue or in the venue itself. I was then back in London on Thursday and Friday for LSN's  MoLeNET programme Project Manager's meeting and MoLeNET Mentor training. This was an enjoyable occasion as I was able to meet up with old friends and colleagues. We went out for dinner on Thursday night to the Italian Restaurant below the Ambassador Hotel in Bloomsbury.

We'd been asked to let the hotel have our choices for dinner a couple of weeks before the event, which I'd thought was a bit out of order for such a short (but interesting menu) - it wasn't like we were a huge wedding party. I'd ordered some kind of soup with shaved truffle - but couldn't make out the flavour when it came and the truffle was tasteless and the soup only lukewarm. The main course (see picture) of Sea Bass and seafood sauce, was delicious. I hadn't ordered pudding, but they still gave me one! Actually, although disappointed with the service, the food was fine - especially breakfast, which was crisp clean and full of choice.

Earlier in the week, I'd stayed at the Ramada Inn in Colchester. This isn't one of the grand Ramadas but was nevertheless, comfortable. Despite initial appearances. The reception area was cold and to the side was a bar which didn't quite add to a welcoming atmosphere. The food was passable - quite nice actually and at breakfast, they take the order for your egg before calling you to the buffet; when the egg is ready.

This coming week, I'm in York at the NSCL until Wednesday when I travel up to Newcastle, to deliver, with Ann, the day three of our e-Guides programme.

See this letter announcing the new PDA scheme.

Click here for copy

Give your colleagues a copy of this - tell them to find out more!

I heard today that Heston Blumenthal is to (has?) develop new menus for Little Chef. http://tinyurl.com/Lchef. Many will remember the halcyon days (apparently they had some) of Little Chef. Perhaps now, they will all become Fat Ducks.

When I was a young lad, Little Chef used to be the ONLY place we could get food on a Sunday Evening. They wouldn't serve 'just chips' to us young ruffians - we might have Mod or Rockered 'em! So our Sunday evening post-beer feast (just before they closed at 10.00pm) - used to be egg and chips!! Then a Chinese chip shop opened at Kirkheaton and changed our lives forever.

I hate Little Chef. There is no excuse in this day and age for serving up the food they do. Nor, to keep the same (lack of?) service style. The A1 and most of Wales is Little Chef territory these days and that means that there is nowhere you can get a good cup of coffee (even the tea in those small, square sided lumps of pot is questionable) en route. At least the other motorways have Costa's and the like these days so at the very least an Americano and Muffin can tide you by. Good luck Heston is all I can say. But Heston is a bit crazy anyway. Check out what he makes and how he makes it and how a couple of years ago he got to be the best restaurant in the world - now regained by another mad man -el Buli in Spain.

Little Chef photo source - http://www.flickr.com/photos/edthegreek/2345584225/

Well, it's hard to say how I went on at the interview on Monday. BDP will let us know how we went on next week. I know that I fluffed the last question, which concerned their need for lead-facilitators. When asked to give them examples of successful teams I'd led, my brain froze. I managed to mention the m-Learning workshops I led for JISC and the Champions at college but everything else I've ever done seemed to melt like snow in the sun. Of course I've led successful teams - and not just in this line of work where things ARE project led, but in my catering life too. I've led kitchen teams, both in work places and in learning. I've led food service teams too. Hey ho. I know plenty of others who are being interviewed for the 18 facilitator and 3 lead facilitator posts. The rest of the interview was more assured but you never know - I'd much prefer to be observed with learners. So good luck everyone.

The next few weeks are very busy - what a lead up to Christmas. I have a couple of things to firm up today but it looks like I've got 10 days away from home before the festive season. The first run starts next week and I'm in London and Colchester. The week after it's York and Newcastle and then (but only if successful with the interview above) London again.

Gail and TJ are coming over from America at Christmas. We'd already invited my mum and dad, Emma, Charlie and the girls - so we'll have a house full.

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This has been a stressful few days. I had a long term booking coming up on Friday and had to catch up on all sorts of things during the week. Then on Wednesday I got a call from Nord Anglia to ask if I would be able to join a team from a Great Manchester 6th Form College on a tour of new builds - on Thursday; the following day. Well, I didn't want to give up such a great opportunity, so I said yes. But I'd set Thursday aside to prepare for an interview at BDP tomorrow - Monday 24th! This is a 'pressure' interview, because I am already doing some work for them through Marianne Green at St Helen's College. The feedback from this work has been good so I really don't want to fall foul of an interview for more work. BDP have been asked by LSIS to develop and deliver a new eCPD programme, based on existing ideas and resources. The interviews are for facilitators and lead facilitators and could mean quite a few days work over the next two years. To cap all this, my work on Friday would/did keep me away from planning all day (and evening) and we were having visitors all weekend. Arghhh.

Thursday's trip took in North Manchester 6th form college (part of the new Manchester College), the Alan Turing building at the University of Manchester and Bolton 6th Form College. The client college were interested in new Science blocks - hence the choices of new (ish) builds to visit. It was a fascinating day and whilst in Bolton, I saw my first reflected light interactive whiteboard (IWB). What's more, I saw some being used pretty effectively too. On the ground floor of Alan Turing, a maths block - large chalk-boards had been installed because the maths professors had demanded them and all of us thought that this was quaint and at the same time ridiculous. In Bolton, we saw maths teachers using the IWB to good effect (see Flickr image) - the benefit being that the notes and formulas (which may or may not have been formed with help from learners) could be saved for later recall or reflection.

On Friday I went to the Think Tank in Birmingham to present a mobile learning session for the RSC-WM. This was a good day, despite technology problems (all internet) and I was able to catch up a bit on some old friends, especially, Bill Loney, Dave Boulton, Sandie Gay and Alistair McNaught. It was a long day (I left home at 5.45am) but finished ok because as I got home, Sharon whisked me out for a meal and a couple of pints with Tony and Gill at the Golcar Lily. Great.

I've spent the afternoon, since Joanne, (Sharon's sister), Mike and Shane left - working on my presentation for tomorrow. I have 10 minutes to persuade a senior manager (convince?) to send a member of staff on the upcoming eCPD programme. Interviews are not my forte. My forte is working with people, I bounce off people, even senior managers, and false situations like this fill me with dread. If they'd asked me to prepare  micro-training session, I would have relished it and my skills in that area would have come out. Nevertheless, I decided that I wouldn't develop a PowerPoint for this as I felt that given the task and the time to perform it, a PPT would only get in the way. It would only be a series of bullet points to assist me in my delivery - which is something I often put forward as inappropriate use - so the panel will just get me spouting at them for my ten minutes. I've prepared a series of handouts though, to back up my position and the way I would approach the challenge and have planned a series of tasks for them (the panel) to perform. So - fingers crossed. London tomorrow.

e-Podcasts

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Teacher Training

Asus etc

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Natives v Immigrants

Comments to me @

I'm not a Guardian reader - but this came my way. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/08/facebook-youth-culture-social-networking. It would seem (having searched Google for this piece again) that they have a penchant for writing pieces about flavour-of-the-moment youth culture. Using the tag heading They helped to propel Barack Obama into power - Dan Tapscott goes on to mention this again just once (The net-geners propelled Barack Obama to victory by tapping into the organising power of social networks such as Facebook) with the rest of his piece being a lightweight ramble about 'kids' that shows a lack of real understanding of real 'kids'. Not that I speak on behalf of 'kids' just that I have (I believe) a better understanding of the issues he discusses. And, being English feel repulsed by the American (maybe Canadian) terminology and 'news'. The article might have had more relevance in a UK family newspaper had it focussed on UK youth and used UK data.

First of all, the article begins by describing an ambitious employee - asking when she could become 'chief-exec'.  The author ascribes this to her being one of the net-generation, but to the best of my knowledge there has always been an element of ambition in most of us – especially when we are younger. Overcoming the fear of ‘the boss’ is what held most of us back – not the ability to chat about it on Facebook. He suggests that “this young woman was a classic example of her generation, children of the "baby boomers" who are now in their 20s.” This is where I first thought he had lost the plot: Baby Boomers were commonly regarded as being born anytime after World War II until about the mid-sixties. So, anyone born in 1965 might just be a Baby boomer. That particular person would be forty three now and might have children in their early twenties. But those born in the earlier part of the timeline – like Prince Charles – would be sixty and above and could conceivably (unlike Charles) have grandchildren in their twenties. So the use of Baby Boomer in the piece seems to be a bit catch-all used only to appeal to the guardian readership.

Whilst the ensuing discussion is based on work and industry, much of what’s said could apply (does apply) to Education as well. It is just illuminated so weakly. For me, a column of this nature should deal with generic issues and it should present them in a fair and balanced way. I’m not sure this does, for me it tends to 'touch on' things purely for the sake of it. Not everyone uses Facebook – no matter what age they are. Many use other social networking tools like MySpace or Linked-In, so a discussion of Social networking might have been more appropriate. I suspect that Facebook draws more attention from readers because of its certain notoriety and that's why - like the term Baby boomers - it was used. There is certainly no substance to the article and may well just serve to mislead those who read it.

We discussed terminology during our first e-podcast – hosted @ http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2008/10/19/e-learning-stuff-podcast-004-natives-immigrants-residents-and-visitors/ and we came to the conclusion (I think) that fitting everyone into neat boxes (of terminology) just doesn’t work. Nothing in the Guardian article would ever entice e into buying Dan Tapscott's book. I know that I could write more on this subject (on this article) but I'm bored with it now - short attention span, easily distracted etc. but isn't that also what we say about youth?

On Saturday last, John and I went for our usual walk and this time we went to Mirfield - so I could buy some new boots. But, the really interesting thing was just how many people were lining the railway we were walking alongside. We eventually asked someone what was happening and we were told that Sir Nigel Gressley was passing though. Well bless him he did indeed pass though - but he was a bit out of breath and liming a little!

 It's been another interesting week. It started with a trip to Joseph Priestley College in Morley near Leeds, where I was to lead a CAMEL-like forum around the RSC-YH Inclusivity projects. The website for this initiative is getting lots of good press and is well worth a visit. Being the first of a series of forums, it wasn't that well attended but it did seem to go ok. There was some positive debate and I felt it to have been a worthwhile meeting. Tuesday saw me in Leeds again Following a stay over), this time to deliver a Day 3 e-Guides event for NIACE. I was with Ann Featherstone again and once again, it seemed to go well. The delegates were engaged all day and this was reflected in their feedback which was very complimentary of the course (and the trainers!) Sharon  and I then went over to York to treat Lils to a meal at Happy Valley in Goodramgate.

On Wednesday I went to visit a college that is preparing for its new build. I'd been asked by Nord Anglia to become a critical friend for the college to help them get their e-Learning strategy right. Ideally, they would have gone for the standard option of 14 days to meet people at the college, to hold focus groups and to tease out of the college fabric, its aims and aspirations for the future. But in the end, they wanted to do it themselves. My role at this juncture was just to help make it presentable to the architects. I though it went ok. Then today, Lils and Dave Foord came here to work on a project we were asked to work on for Helen Roberts. I'm in the process now, of thinking about what we did and beginning the preparation of a report. More when I have it.

Other Blogs of mine:

Posterous - mainly holidays, but some bits and bats too.

Live Journal - something I set up for my reflections - prompted by NIACE

Blogger-1 - devoted to the books I read. not all - but most.

Jaiku - Jaiku is a 'micro-blog' and I keep up to this every day. A community of practice

Twitter - As above but I'm not as tied to Twitter as Jaiku.

Technology is a strange thing. I often say, during gigs; whenever something has gone wrong, that "my mother told me..." never to work with animals, children OR technology. Of course, she didn't, it's just something made up to cover my apparently nonchalant way of coping with the problem. Underneath the surface though - I just want to kill the technology that has not worked or that has demanded something of me at an inconvenient time or juncture. My main complaint (and reason for this post) is software updates. Just who do they think they are?

I could be delivering a session on anything - say SimDis and a piece of software, in this case Shockwave, would decide that it needs updating. I now know that I can tell it to get lost and update later (because I also know that my Shockwave is always as up to date as it could be) but not everyone does know this and (even I - to my shame) press the wrong button: The whole delivery would then be shot to pieces. It happens all the time, and not just during delivery; it can happen when you're half way through a letter, a document you're writing, a spreadsheet you're updating - anything (this morning RealPlayer said it wanted updating 'before' it would play the pod cast I'd downloaded ... and off it went to update and came back to me with 'there's no update available' - as if I wanted it to do that in the first place. Just now - as I typed this a Runtime Error appeared. Why? no idea. Would it close? no! Did it make me angry - what do you think?

To be fair, some software has got its act together. Microsoft no longer interrupt me - they just sit and wait for me to close the machine and suggest I upgrade as I close. Thank you for that - you didn't disturb me. Why is it that software developers are a law unto themselves? Imagine how many cars would be sold by the car manufacturer who instigated the 'your car won't start until you've put more soap in your washer bottle' upgrade or the clothing manufacturer that had microchips built in to fasten an item of clothing to the peg (whatever) until you sewed on the new button/laundered/cleaned-your-teeth - whatever. How well would they do in business. Not well I suspect!

Half term breaks used to be relaxing. This year, I set off on the Tuesday (last week) to drive up to Newcastle - where I was to deliver e-Guides training with Ann Featherstone. It was bitterly cold up there and although I managed to get the last parking space at the hotel, I was frozen by the time I booked in. I'd never used the 'mobile phone' system to pay for parking before and was much impressed with the procedure, especially when I phoned back to extend the parking and the system 'knew' me. No cash changes hands and I can (did) access the bill online. So, all I have to do for evidence of spend, for expenses, is to print off the web account. Easy.

The hotel was freezing. It's a huge place and although the room was fairly warm, the corridors were not heated at all. Neither was the bedding appropriate for cold weather. It's all very well having kings size beds with super king quilts (usually that's a big plus in my mind) but still using summer quilts is not at all comfortable. One last anecdote, before I move away from the hotel though is from our second night: I was (inevitably) waiting for the barmaid to finish serving the man in front when he decided to order food (that's something I would NEVER do in this chain of hotels). She told him that the fryers had broken down, so that (what appeared to be) two thirds of the menu was off and (I swear this is what she said) that included salad! Which is probably why the bacon looked boiled instead of grilled or fried the following morning!!

It was another great session with the e-Guides. Although the room is less than ideal for this kind of training, we were still able to forge working and agreeable relationships with the delegates (and amongst them). I left Newcastle filled with vigour - which soon evaporated after I'd turned  left towards the always nightmarish but advisably quiet (half term) A1 through the Team Valley. Sharon had come up by train to join me and we were to drive to Reeth for the weekend. But - the A1 was even more true to form and it took us one hour to drive the five or six mile to the Metro Centre. we decided to pull off and have a coffee, so it wasn't until about 7.30pm that we hit the 1 again - and it hadn't moved. we decided therefore to take large detour and go to Scotch Corner via Consett. In the end, this detour took 75 miles but at least we kept moving. However, so did the weather and we drove through the most appalling blizzard conditions. as we passed though Tow Law we were at risk of being stopped by the snow. Another 10 minutes, had it continued and the weather would have caused big problems at this point. But we began to drop down again after this and managed to reach Reeth by 9.45pm. Luckily, the cottage we'd booked had the heating on and a bottle of wine in the fridge.

Earlier this month, I finally got around to contacting someone about professionalising my email service. I've always been happy with my Freenet account but sometimes - just occasionally - it fails. It only has 20meg storage too - which means that if I'm away for a week, I have to keep logging on to the webmail service and deleting things. When I started the process of change, I agreed that the @village-e-learning domain would become my main one. This however, is held by 1and1 (see adverts alongside) and to make sure the emails get to Cobweb (who I am asking to host my emails) I have to change a few settings. Now that I've (hopefully) carried out the changes, I can see that (to them) they were easy.

But - and here's my point - the instructions they gave me were not easy! This is a problem that  many technology companies don't give enough attention to. Even when telephoned (by the email company - 1and1 don't seem to have any telephones) they could not understand that I had no idea what it was they wanted me to do. I sort of did - but the two bits of information (one from Cobweb and the other from 1and1) did not fit: like the electric sockets in different countries do not fit each other. Finally, after about six exchanges of emails with 1and1 (in India I think), I managed (hopefully) to complete the exchange. To be fair, the service (exchange of emails) was very good and each reply was prompt - the biggest problem was their lack of understanding of my need!

Alongside these changes to my technological backup - I've registered several new domain names, to reflect the changing aspect of my services. As e-Learning becomes more and more embedded and part of teaching and learning (as it should), my web name should reflect that. Watch this space.

It's been a strange few days. I spent the last couple of days last week just trying to catch up with everything.

I think I've done it now, but lots of things still need doing. Some of it paid, some of it not. I've secured a little work with RSC-YH this term continuing the support of L4LW projects. See this website showing outcomes of projects. We plan to instigate a CAMEL-like  (http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/camel) series of forums - which will hopefully lead to self-sustaining support amongst the various projects. We're hoping to include those colleges that didn't get L4LW projects last year as well and by doing so - hope to keep the support of learners with learning or physical difficulties to the forefront. Dave Foord, Lilian Soon and I will facilitate the first few meetings. Today has been a day for ringing round and seeing what else the projects might need to help sustain and embed the work they have done so well.

On Saturday, John and I  went walking around Denby Dale and over towards Cannon Hall. En route, we were lucky enough to see a variety of mushrooms (see one above), none of which we dared pick to eat.

James  was kind enough to edit and publish part of our five-way discussion this week too - hear it here: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/files/2008/10/elearningstuff004.mp3. It discusses the immigrant versus native papers.
 

Handheld Learning blogs & comments:

Steve Wheeler

Lilian

James - Pics

James - Blog

James - YouTube

I'll add others as I find/remember them.

What a great few days.

Whilst at the conference, I met and re-met lots of people. And I learned lots of things. One of the more useful things I learned was this site - www.readthewords.com - (listen to the recording above). I will try to record everything that follows (this) too.

It was great to see Lils, James, Ron, Alistair and Emma again and to discuss things in depth with them, but also to meet others passing by and through. Lisa, Anita, Joyce, Adam, Stuart, Geoff, Geoff, Danny - and all those of you too many to list, that made the last few days so enjoyable. Thanks for stopping by. Alistair asked me at the end of the conference, if it had been useful for me (working on the TechDis stand and meeting people) - I'd answered yes - but the full depth of it may take a few days to sink in.

One of the great benefits and real pleasures, is working so close to someone like Alistair McNaught. He's such a mine of knowledge and seeker of new information that he draws creative people to him and one can only learn from the interactions he has with them. I cannot remember a time that I've met Alistair and not come away with something new. Also, with James and Lilian stopping by all the time (to re-charge selves and technology) I was party to all sorts of new ideas and thinking. I like to think I contribute - perhaps I'm the spoon that stirs the pot - but once again, I learn such a lot from people like James and Lilian. Thank you everyone for making the conference good for me - even though I didn't attend any of the sessions! Me at the conference

Thanks to everyone I've met this week, for making it so enjoyable. (can't get second player - so click here)

Once again, I'm on my way to London. This time I'm working for TechDis on their stand at the Handheld Learning (HHL) conference in the City. The conference is being held at The Brewery, close to the Barbican. Sal Cooke had phoned me the other week and asked if I could fill in as most of her staff had to be elsewhere this week - especially as some had been involved at the m-Learn conference in Telford last week. I think that Alistair (McNaught) is coming over tomorrow -but can't be sure. I'm working with Emma. See my various other blogs for updates as they happen.

This weekend has been the 2008 Marsden Jazz Festival and once more Karen (Ford) and Dave came to stay with us for the duration. We didn't make it down there on Sunday this year but we did manage a couple of hours on Friday and a variety of tines on Saturday. Karen and Dave were there most of the day, but I waited for Sharon to finish at University before going along. The only real problem wit the festival, is its popularity. Wherever music is playing - the venues get very crowded.

Dave Foord, Lilian and I met on Friday last at the RSC-YH offices, to discuss this year's continuation of support for the accessibility projects we worked with last year. Marion (manager) wants to involve other colleges in the region and we plan to support a number of forums being set up in the CAMEL style.

Other Blogs of mine:

Posterous - mainly holidays, but some bits and bats too.

Live Journal - something I set up for my reflections - prompted by NIACE

Blogger-1 - devoted to the books I read. not all - but most.

Jaiku - Jaiku is a 'micro-blog' and I keep up to this every day. A community of practice

Twitter - As above but I'm not as tied to Twitter as Jaiku.

I'm on my way to London as I write this. Another day's training with the LSN - this time to do the Diploma health checks. Yesterday, I went to Stockport (well - Cheadle) to talk to Nord Anglia about working with them on a consultancy basis. They are involved in the delivery of 'the educational vision and strategy' part of the LSC's Framework for Capital Building projects - working with lead architectural partners. The meeting seemed to go well and I look forward to hearing from them soon.

Last night, I went with Sharon to Betony's 6th form college, for a parent's evening. This turned out to be based on the old 'tell them what you do, tell them how well you do it and tell them again' theory of parent's evening. One of the senior vice principals addressed us first with a very flowery account of how good our 'chosen' school was and how 'we' as a 'triumvirate' partnership (School > Parents > Student) could gain even more success (I think that she meant for the school, but she did actually say - the 'student'). This was followed by an assembly of Betony's tutor group parents in a small room up two flights of stairs in a different building. So - what did I learn? >>>

1) - teachers still don't prepare their learning (meeting parents) environment before the session. The room was overcrowded and there were not enough seats.
2) - teachers still stand in front of a Smart board and say "I can't do technology - sorry"
3) - teachers still show documents on the Smart board with size 12 font and say "can you see that?"
3-b) - audience still replies - "yes" !"£$%^&

All of which upset me greatly. Hey ho.

It was my first e-Guide delivery on Monday and Tuesday this week. Once again I was working with Ann Featherstone and once again it was an enjoyable experience. We had 20 delegates, each with differing skills and experiences and once again, despite these differences they gelled as a group and seemed to enjoy the sessions we delivered. I believe that NIACE should be congratulated for this course which seems to get better (and grow in stature?) every year. Well done NIACE.

Sunday again. It's been an interesting week.

Five of us from Jaiku: James Clay, Lisa Valentine, (see Lisa's account here) Dave Foord and Nick Jeans (as well as me) met 'virtually' via Skype the other day. We'd agreed that some of the 'stuff' we discuss online - and more importantly, when we meet - might be of interest to others, so we thought we'd have a go at Pod casting our thoughts and deliberations. After a hesitant start caused mainly by technological problems (Nick kept dropping off the call) we managed to record what we feel will be good stuff for public consumption. We hope to do this on a semi-regular basis, with regular; possibly weekly, Pod casts being produced. James' site will host the recording for people to RSS from but we will each post links from our own blogs to the finished product. At the moment, our deliberations are being edited down to two manageable chapters which will form two week's of content. As time goes by, we hope that the people talking will change, but that at least one of us will be involved in the discussion in some form or another. I know that James is at Handheld Learning later this month and that he will be keen to record as much of value to the sector as he can. At Handheld Learning I will be working on the TechDis stand and am happy to record anyone's views on accessibility (or anything 'e' really) - provided you're happy for us to use those views as part of an edited production at a later date.

On Friday we all (Sharon, Betony and boyfriend) drove down to East Anglia for Sharon's sister Joanne's wedding. After thirteen years, she's finally got Mike to ask her to marry him - so there is much joy around those parts. We stopped on the way in Newark on Trent as we'd originally been invited to another Joanne's (Taylor) 30th birthday party. I'd arranged to meet her (and her sister Michelle) for lunch en route - which was nice. The wedding went well. We'd stayed in a cottage down there, with Steven (Sharon's brother) and Rosie (wife) - so it was nice to see them again too. But today, coming back was a real trial. The weather down there was appalling - I'd aqua-planed in less than half a mile of the cottage and couldn't get above 50 miles per hour until we'd got past Peterborough. But - and here's a first - as we drove further north the weather improved. So much, that by the time we reached home there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining. Got to go - e-Guides tomorrow.

James Clay posted a blog entry yesterday (see it here), but I didn't see it until bedtime. I wrote a hasty reply but stopped short of sending it because of a)- tiredness and b)- it was rubbish! So, begging his pardon I'll answer it here, where I have only myself to answer to.  

I still like Prensky's Digital Native v Digital Immigrant because there are so many levels of understanding those terms. Just because someone is a native, doesn't mean that he/she is as comfortable with 'native' things as an immigrant might be. I go to France, and, if I had the cash and the willing wife, I'd live there. I might even learn the language - but I'd never be as skilled at 'French stuff' as a native - or would I? I'll bet that there would be things I would/could do that would put a native to shame. At the moment, I speak just enough to get by - and isn't that what we want our colleagues to do - in the digital world?

The immigrants don't need to think, feel and 'do' like the natives but they can function well enough. It's understanding the difference that counts. Remember, in our working lives, we are teaching the Digital Natives how to live (earn a living?) in a constantly changing world, a world that will more and more become theirs, but which for now is one we all share. At the same time as we  teach, we are passing on bits of our own 'country's' language, mores and standards (society?).

I'm not as happy with the 'visitor' simile (although I suppose I've alluded to it above) as it infers a choice of when or whether to visit. The immigrant term infers some kind of permanency - something we (you, they) have to live with.

Other Blogs of mine:

Posterous - mainly holidays, but some bits and bats too.

Live Journal - something I set up for my reflections - prompted by NIACE

Blogger-1 - devoted to the books I read. not all - but most.

Jaiku - Jaiku is a 'micro-blog' and I keep up to this every day. A community of practice

Twitter - As above but I'm not as tied to Twitter as Jaik.

Doesn't time fly? It's already time to finish this quarter's blogs and begin developing the next one! I entered July with as much work as I could cope with - all nose to the grindstone stuff, and then we had our damp summer. Now Autumn is upon us things are a bit easier, with time to think about personal development. Hopefully, this will change over the next few weeks, but for now, it's nice to get the chance to learn or experiment with new things.

Yesterday I was at the RSC-YH Excellence in Inclusivity conference, which launched the new website of the same name.. See http://inclusivity.rsc-yh.ac.uk/. The web is a nice mix of case studies and stories about how various technologies have been employed to help and assist a wide variety of learners. The conference was attended by over 60 colleagues from the various Learning for Living and Work (L4LW) projects and interested parties from up and down the country.

Whilst there, I got into a discussion with Lisa Valentine about Standards! Sadly, someone was talking from the front so we couldn't expand upon our views and had to keep very quiet. Lisa had suggested that Standards were necessary to ensure that an absolute minimum service was maintained - and to a point, I agree. However, I feel that Standards are often seen as a goal or a crutch rather than Lisa's stepping stone. Standards are rigid and slow to change and as a result they can be stifling an unresponsive. I worry that the inspection of colleges adheres to a set of Standards that recognise excellence in filing and paper production (even now) rather than innovative practice in (and here's the rub) outside of the classroom. I know that this is a sweeping statement and that on-the-ball inspectors will interpret the Standards to fit all kinds of innovative practice. But isn't that the problem - that Standards are open to interpretation?

Betony hasn't had a good couple of weeks. The rigours of 6th form seem to have hit her hard and the M.E. has kicked back in. She's currently alternating between wet-rag and plague carrier (she'd had a cold on and off since starting at 6th form) and it's worrying to know what to do to help. Obviously, the school's understanding will wear thin, but to be fair to the kid - she's spending her every lucid moment doing homework or trying to keep up. She's 17 this weekend and hopefully we can then register her with adult M.E.-C.F.S. organisations for help and support. Fingers crossed.

This week has been amazing. I've pursued John on the 'accessibility' issue I mentioned at the end of my last post, eaten at Chop Chop again, picked up information about exciting work that may just be on the horizon and met lots and lots of my old friends and many of those colleagues I respect and look up to. All these events have made me feel buoyant again and have given me the positive strokes I sometimes need.

On Monday I completed some work for RSC Yorkshire and Humber, wrapping up the work we (Dave Foord, Lilian and I) did in the first six months of this year. The finished product will hopefully be launched next Wednesday at the 'Excellence in Accessibility Conference' they are holding in York. On Tuesday, I tidied up this work and my office (sort of) before heading off to Birmingham, where I met Di Dawson for a drink before meeting the rest of the NIACE e-Guides trainers for dinner and our training session on Wednesday. Even though this was the third year I'd attended such a session, it was designed in a way that was refreshing and interesting. Three new e-Guide trainers had been briefed the day before, so much of our day was spent in looking at what's new and in being shown/told important concepts and information.

Nigel Davies delivered a session about coaching. I've seen similar before, but not in such an engaging manner. Nigel made the session interesting and relevant - and for me very very useful. Thank you Nigel. We also had input from Sue Gay (who I was very pleased to see after so long) who used to be at the Standards Unit, when subject learning coaches first began. Sue talked about Nord Anglia's role as the new masters of Subject Learning Coaches and about the interesting changes this will mean. The NIACE training was a great session but what I gained the most from was meeting my colleagues. Every time we meet as a group, we all learn so much. The result is always far greater than the sum of all the individual parts. Di and I shared the journey to London afterwards as we were both going to the MoleNET 08 launch Conference at the Emirates Stadium. As everyone else had been in London all day - they had gone of for dinner and a tour of the Stadium but Di and I went to Chop Chop for dinner!

Thursday was a real blast for me. I met too many people to mention here - as I'd be mortified to miss out naming someone. But so many of the people I work with and look up to were there. I facilitated two sessions and learned such a lot from those people delivering. I also delivered another session myself. But the main hall sessions were a bit much. As good as the day was, I and many others would have preferred less waffle and more from the 07/08 projects. I was encouraged to write a bid for work with JISC by several of my chums - so that was my main role on the journey back to Leeds (I got the bid in in time!) Many thanks to those of you who provided that encouragement.

And now - Saturday: I'm sat here thinking back on the week and I've really only told a fraction of what I feel, what I know and what I hope. It's been a good week.

Hosted by http://www.1and1.co.uk/?k_id=8553337 - Well worth a visit - no fuss, easy to use.