Inside View

Design(Think)-ing your Identity

EVERY SEMESTER I help college students share stories about themselves and during my story-sharing workshop, I hear the hesitation in student voices and see their angst in body language. So I resort to some tactics in Design Thinking and some results start appearing on paper.

Dreaming of Sea Monkeys #ilta2016

I KNOW I've been energised when my dreams rewind my experiences. Last night, I dreamed of sea monkeys swimming through hard coral stalagmites formed by terms of reference I know from my use of education technologies.

I blame Audrey Watters [1] for this dream state, arising from an invigorating challenge she issued during a keynote session at the 2016 Irish Learning Technology Association Conference.

Sneak Peek at @Socrative Gasta #ILTA2016

I'VE REDUCED my 30 months of experience with Socrative to five minutes for a very short talk at the annual Irish Learning Technology Association Conference in Dublin tomorrow. If you want to participate in this hands-on experience, you should read my Slideshare deck about Socrative and use Socrative to answer 10 questions in Room 622136 before 3:15 PM on Thursday, May 26, 2016.

Using Socrative with University Students from Bernard Goldbach

I've time-checked my presentation (ruthless referees cut people off if they use more than their five minutes) by making a short Boo below.

On Using Socrative

After an Academic Year with @MSonenote h/t @t1step #edchatie

I JOINED 20 other third level educators in a lab on the main campus of the Limerick Institute of Technology to share my thoughts on using OneNote during the past academic year. The noteworthy discovery for me unfolded when I realised my OneNote workflow was much more efficient than my previous work with multiple tabs with web browsers.

Using OneNote for Teaching and Learning from Bernard Goldbach

Rural Ireland Needs #ArtsDeptNow

I LIVE AND work in rural Ireland while watching the derogation of the arts as a major government department in Ireland. And along with 12,000 other people, I've signed an electronic petition urging the Irish govement to set up a dedicated Minister for the Arts.

I've heard some cross-talk from people who apparently believe having a Minister of Regional Affairs, Rural Development, Arts and the Gaeltacht is fine. But to me it looks like the Arts in Ireland are being parked in the basement with lower levels of funding.

Progressive governments have disrespected the arts by paying lip service to its worth. If you expect to deliver a high quality cultural product, you need to stimulate the sector. Nothing in the current Irish budget is designed to help my multimedia and animation students to promote and exhibit their creative work. Instead, the government line suggests the solution lies in looking outward. I wonder what that actually means but believe that strategy isn't accompanied by any sort of strategic investment funding or high level ministerial concern.

1300 Days Remaining Before Pivot

Photo of @miarosegold by @topgold.

MY COUNTDOWN+ CALENDAR tells me I have 1300 days until my last day of work as a full-time lecturer in Ireland's third level system. Because of that very real event horizon, I have started a transition checklist that I consult every hundred days of this countdown sequence and this blog post automatically published to remind me to check my progress.

The lovely thing about embargo publishing systems is I don't have to worry about publishing any long form content today since I wrote this material two months ago while watching 8yo Mia create a blog post. My hope is that she will continue exploring ways to create and share stories of what it's like growing up in Ireland. I wish I had stored those social experiences so I could compare my pre-teen years to hers.

Appreciating evidence-based case studies with Instagram

NEXT WEDNESDAY, MAY 25TH, the hallways and studio space on the Clonmel campus of the Limerick Institute of Technology come alive with samples of creative work during the annual Pen & Pixel exhibition. I'm deeply interested in following the conversation about the event as it trickles far beyond County Tipperary, primarily through social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Things my students have learned from social networks

WHILE TEACHING third level college students how to effectively carve out their online social profiles, I learn about those social spaces by listening to feedback from those students. I've used a Slideshare deck to summarise where the students have set up their profiles and plan to use this blog post to capture feedback from my current students about the social networks they believe offer them the greatest professional benefit.

Online Profiles of Creative Students from Bernard Goldbach

Sharing My STEM Stories at #SciFest in Thurles

SCIFEST CAME TO THURLES today and dozens of second level students displayed their work in hallways and listened to people explain what they achieved through a solid foundation in science, technology, engineeing and math. I shared my perspective during 10-minute session by using a YouTube clip to bring some of my past career into wide screen view.

Using LinkedIn with Aspiring Sports Managers

Image from Shane Gloster's "Hurling on Tour" post.

AN EFFECTIVE ONLINE presence yields results so I ask third level students to prepare LinkedIn profiles for review by friends, lecturers and potential employees. Several interesting LinkedIn profiles emerged during the 2015-16 academic  year and the work offers a starting point for the next group of digital media students who will begin building their ePortfolios in a few month's time.