Learned section breakdowns from my students

One conclusion I reached while teaching online is I should attempt to deliver something of value to students in every section of my course materials. So I broke down each hour into several sections, each including a valuable takeaway.

Empowered with Design Thinking

I will work with the Empower Programme this summer. It’s a week-long set of workshops that help young entrepreneurs leverage design thinking, machine learning, and technology analysis to scope the viability of their potential projects by integrating these methodologies to address various …

Remembering EdTech 2006

My last education event in Sligo happened 18 years ago when I watched Brian Mulligan make part of a podcast during EdTech 2006. At the time, I owned [podcasting.ie](https://podcasting.ie) and I was using it with creative multimedia students in Tipperary Institute. Brian's work with the Irish …

Open Education for Good

While listening to Catherine Cronin talk about “open education for good” I heard several educators on the webinar share how their education practices and resources are meant to be used to benefit society and promote positive social change. I wrote this blog post during the Zoom webinar …

Third Blowback by the Luddite Brigade

This is the third time in 28 years where I received strong pushback from colleagues about my embracing of technology. The first time happened in 1996 when Irish artists were repulsed when I showed them what Adobe Photoshop could do with their original paintings. The second time was in 2008 when …

Six Main Points for My AI Students

I’m doing some spring cleaning of recent training sessions and believe I can best share my impressions of various GPTs by breaking down my thoughts into six major sessions. 1. **Setting Up Your AI Introduction to AI and its capabilities Necessary hardware and software requirements …

Engaged with the Gibbs Reflective Cycle

I’m attending a week-long seminar critical thinking series in Portugal with people from Finland, Germany, Holland, Iran, Ireland, and Portugal. Today’s in-class assignment has us drilling down into the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. I think I’m going to make a Sway about the findings …

Getting Value from MSFT Copilot

Impressed with some of the facets of Microsoft Copilot. Much of the student work I now get uploaded into SharePoint can be cross-referenced by colleagues who teach alongside me but never enter my classrooms. Now they can dynamically see the evolution of student portfolios as core elements percolate …

Power Words in Subject Lines

Reviewing my listing of power words because many of them work well on me.

Getting confused on first approach

Imagining hundreds of cars approaching the poorly marked entrance to our university campus at the start of our academic semester. And knowing that challenge will be faced by dozens of the young students who may feel stressed when they miss the entrance on their first attempt.

Donors Choose to Fund Emergency Drawer

My daughter Misty approaches teaching as a vocation. She wants “to help my students reach Self-Actualization–or at least some academic content–while at school, so I try to have an environment where students feel safe, loved, and included in my classroom.” So she has an …

Spotted a worthy project that will help young teens stay focused during math classes: www.donorschoose.org/project/f…

Counting down with books about ictedu

by Bernie Goldbach, content wrangler. We’re counting down to 13 May and the next iteration of #ictedu in County Tipperary. In the run-up to the opening events, we’re combing through standard print and e-book materials that support education in Ireland. See more about #ictedu23

Python and Maker Meet

I’m experimenting with transcription services, starting with the bog-standard YouTube transcript while listening to Euro Python discussions shared by Chris Reina.Chris was with MakerMeet.ie at EuroPython 2022 in the Dublin Convention Centre. He described the work he does, providing Maker-Led …

Comprehensive Catalogue of Research Papers #OER

I found OpenAlex.org to be an open and comprehensive catalog of scholarly papers, authors, and institutions. It’s inspired by the ancient Library of Alexandria. It holds an index of hundreds of millions of interconnected entities across the global research system. It has a web interface, API, …

Shawn.bike teaches kids to share stories

Everything is rooted in story. I teach to meet learners where they are and help them write the future narratives of their lives, and even re-write the past from a different point of view. If kids matter, then so do their stories. We must therefore honor each student as a rounded whole and embrace …

Cutting back on

AS A THIRD LEVEL lecturer with occasional duties to care for some students who need a little boost in their access to education, I have been fortunate to draw down funding under the Strategic Innovation Fund from the Irish Minister for Education. We used a few hundred euro every month from that fund …