Taking Inspiration

6 mins reading Right now I’m sitting on a train heading into the city amidst an ongoing national bushfire crisis and a steady stream of no longer ironic predictions regarding Donald Trump starting World War III. I won’t deny there was a temptation to skip tonight’s Melbourne Media Makers networking event given the broader context…

Taking Stock

3 mins reading Seven weeks ago I created the Digital Learning with @digitalzones website. Back then – just a blink in time, but in another sense difficult to recall – I had no idea what would come of this. I remember being honest enough with myself to admit there was a good chance I would…

Small Things

4 mins reading Today the small country town of Kyneton said goodbye to Dordy. The last surviving sibling of a family of nine children, with many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of her own, Dordy passed away peacefully at 91 years of age. Her name isn’t actually Dordy though; it’s Doreen, and she lived an inspiring…

Discussion Bored

3 mins reading You know when you’re chatting to someone on WhatsApp and you click on a message only to wait 5 seconds before you’re able to read it? Oh, wait, that’s not Whatsapp. You know when you’re searching for a recent conversation you had on Facebook and need to scroll through a long list…

Sharing is Good

2 mins reading My younger sister and I often laugh about the frequent stories our Dad would tell us as kids recounting how, as a child, he would always share everything with his siblings. Given information that we’ve been able to glean from other sources (including alternate stories our father has told over the years),…

Connected Teachers

3 mins reading When I was an undergraduate student I once visited a lecturer in their office to ask a question. I don’t remember what the question was, but I do remember walking away without an answer (or at least a sufficient one) and, more importantly, with the distinct feeling that my enquiry hadn’t been…

Motivation Matters

4 mins reading When I led a creative writing workshop in my very first year of teaching, I was handed a one-page plan for the session by the lecturer in charge. This sheet of paper had the year 1997 written in the top right-hand corner. The year I was looking at it was 2005. I…

My First Time (Podcasting)

4 mins reading and 2 mins listening Writing in the past couple of days about the benefits of audio feedback and power of experiencing sound spaces has led me to reflect here on my very first podcast. I’ll admit I hadn’t planned this pseudo-trilogy of posts in advance, but handy things tend to happen when…

I am Not a Jedi

7 mins reading and 7 mins viewing When my cousin saw this photograph, she asked, ‘Why are you dressed like Jesus?’ This was disappointing. But in case I do need to give it some context, I’m dressed – rather unconvincingly perhaps – as Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars films (although it’s an officially licensed…