Sunset
Shades
A monologue about being an Educational Technologist
Association of Learning and Teaching UK 2022 pre-conference open mic with Pip McDonald
As I stand drenched in the colours of the setting sun over the desert in Central Australia, I contemplate the miracle of technology that is bringing me to you right now. I’m inspired by the rich, ephemeral colours of the setting sun to perform this monologue about my experiences as an educational technologist.
Bricolage
In the practice of the bricoleur, I collect original material from the bird site, poetry and blog posts I’ve written. Nothing is original, right? The act of bricolage is to use what is at hand and create or bring something new into being. My work in edtech is often the work of the bricoleur, collecting the right information, having timely conversations and finding the material just a little bit faster than my audience.
Boxes
I’ve recently completed a psych profiling survey….you know the sort….you feed in your Likert scores and it spits out a neat letter code, a quadrant, a title, a neat little box for you to fit in. This does not fit well with me…..can we learn from these boxes? Does it help me work with others if I know others are in the same box? In the years of working in edtech, what I come to appreciate is the diverse nature of those in the same work. We come, scattered yet entangled.
Entangled
Embracing technology as an entanglement in our work just as I come to you over the airwaves, facilitated by the tech but always acknowledging the social, materiality and place base of the humans around it. (yes, that’s the Tim Fawns reference, right there)
'Tellio’ (his internet moniker) is a colleague who I’ve never met but continue to meet through lines of sight. He lives on a different continent but our experiences in the education field often collide. He recently highlighted a tweet from a HR executive that wrote about this type of profiling and whether it’s necessary in the workplace. Tellio wrote his blog post predicated on ‘why are we not enough?’ In return I wrote this short poem. Poetry and blog posts often gets lost in Twitter, like leaf litter mulching at the base of a large tree.
Change
Part of the role of the educational technologist is to work with others to encourage the use of appropriate technology. This is often under the banner of the “enhanced” part of Technology Enhanced Learning. Reference here to Sian Bayne (2014) and her article ‘What’s the matter with technology-enhanced learning’ – in Higher Education we are still in this
“complex and often problematic constellation of social, technological and educational change”
In this next poem I entangle the aspects of the role of the educational technologist in facilitating change with the seemingly unchanging and hard nature of the physical materials that we use (keyboard, mouse, screen).
May we be able to see our colours, appreciate others for the unique contribution they bring to the table and continue to connect, collate and create inspiring work in our fields.
CC BY SA
Readings:
Precarity might just be our safety in disguise? By Terry Elliott https://impedagogy.com/wp/blog/2022/08/22/9260/
Change Driver poem https://wentalearn.blogspot.com/2022/01/change-driver.html
Little boxes https://youtu.be/LM8JhvfoqdA
Bricolage
In the practice of the bricoleur, I collect original material from the bird site, poetry and blog posts I’ve written. Nothing is original, right? The act of bricolage is to use what is at hand and create or bring something new into being. My work in edtech is often the work of the bricoleur, collecting the right information, having timely conversations and finding the material just a little bit faster than my audience.
Boxes
I’ve recently completed a psych profiling survey….you know the sort….you feed in your Likert scores and it spits out a neat letter code, a quadrant, a title, a neat little box for you to fit in. This does not fit well with me…..can we learn from these boxes? Does it help me work with others if I know others are in the same box? In the years of working in edtech, what I come to appreciate is the diverse nature of those in the same work. We come, scattered yet entangled.
Entangled
Embracing technology as an entanglement in our work just as I come to you over the airwaves, facilitated by the tech but always acknowledging the social, materiality and place base of the humans around it. (yes, that’s the Tim Fawns reference, right there)
'Tellio’ (his internet moniker) is a colleague who I’ve never met but continue to meet through lines of sight. He lives on a different continent but our experiences in the education field often collide. He recently highlighted a tweet from a HR executive that wrote about this type of profiling and whether it’s necessary in the workplace. Tellio wrote his blog post predicated on ‘why are we not enough?’ In return I wrote this short poem. Poetry and blog posts often gets lost in Twitter, like leaf litter mulching at the base of a large tree.
I know not how
but the river of wind has blown this leaf /
to land at my front door /
lodged under the mat.
I completed the survey /
DiSC-like indeed /
it bounces the harsh light /
of my faults back at me /
with pretty solutions of /
'what to do' /
next time.
Why am I not better than I am?
Perhaps I am enough /
perhaps we are smart enough /
human enough /
to play nicely /
or be the sharpening stone /
when the knife edge dulls.
Can I be the promise of the rosebud?
Why am I not better than I am?
Change
Part of the role of the educational technologist is to work with others to encourage the use of appropriate technology. This is often under the banner of the “enhanced” part of Technology Enhanced Learning. Reference here to Sian Bayne (2014) and her article ‘What’s the matter with technology-enhanced learning’ – in Higher Education we are still in this
“complex and often problematic constellation of social, technological and educational change”
In this next poem I entangle the aspects of the role of the educational technologist in facilitating change with the seemingly unchanging and hard nature of the physical materials that we use (keyboard, mouse, screen).
Change Driver
I am a change driver
I pick up the screwdriver
fitting it into the screw
work
work
work
sharing my learnings
connecting with others
moving their journey
along
along
along a path
of building or repairing
deconstructing or making
think
think
think of a future
we push towards the unknown
feel the necessity
burning
burning
burning
into our fingertips
on to the keys
keyboards show no
suffering
suffering
suffering
just a few scratches
worn smooth patches
our eyes glassed over
fatigue hits at the
end
end
end
of the day.
May we be able to see our colours, appreciate others for the unique contribution they bring to the table and continue to connect, collate and create inspiring work in our fields.
CC BY SA
Readings:
Precarity might just be our safety in disguise? By Terry Elliott https://impedagogy.com/wp/blog/2022/08/22/9260/
Change Driver poem https://wentalearn.blogspot.com/2022/01/change-driver.html
Little boxes https://youtu.be/LM8JhvfoqdA
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