The coming week

Although titled ‘The coming week’, this could easily have been titled ‘The coming month’. In many ways I feel to be at the highest point of a freewheeling roller-coaster today with a few twists and turns to go before slowing down and getting off at Christmas.

On Saturday next I’m flying to Latvia where I’ve been asked to deliver a workshop on Gadgets and Gizmos (wouldn’t it be nice to say that I’d been asked to deliver a keynote?) at a conference the following Tuesday [venue]. This all came about following my work with the MALT programme in spring. So, not knowing what internet will be like, or what phone connection will be like (or cost) – it will be (shall we say?) interesting. Prior to my departure I have three days on the road as part of an advisory role for the Regional Support Centre: Yorkshire and Humberside [link]. This role sees me helping Pathfinder projects to choose and submit a bid for specialist ILT equipment.

I also have to contact and welcome 20 (one third of the total) Advanced PDA/e-Guides, with whom I will work (cajole, advise, encourage, support etc.) until March 2010. Their first day’s training will take place very early in November – so they haven’t got too long to sort out their pre-meeting tasks. I’m working with Nigel Davies and Sally Betts on this programme and am really looking forward to it, as I can see it making a real change to the way ILT is viewed and implemented across institutions and organisations.

Once I’m back from Latvia, Sharon and I have bookings at Gloucestershire College, delivering workshops for James Clay. Mine will be on the pedagogy of mobile and web 2.0 learning and Sharon’s will be on the personalisation of learning. My workshops is pretty much planned, so it will just need topping off while I’m in Latvia. Then, the following week it’s back onto the RSC-YH work, the Advanced PDA/e-Guide work and hopefully by then – some MoLeNET 3 mentoring work.

So, you might see that the roller-coaster analogy is not too far off the mark – it’s a real rush to the end of the month; at which point I find myself in a similar position for November and early December.

Which is good because I still feel that I have a lot to offer the sector.

My blogging from Latvia may be via Posterous – depending on connectivity.

See: Handheld Reflections http://is.gd/4d72f for the latest e-Learning Stuff podcast by James Clay.