My teaching career began in the 1980's and, as I have mentioned on this blog before, I was an early adopter of technology in language teaching. The Internet was not widely used in education for some years to come but my professional teaching career was to be hugely shaped by it's birth. I lived through the "advice" which came our way, some of it helpful, much of it erroneous and lacking in awareness of the contextual realities of teaching in the 20th Century. The 21st Century picture is not hugely different. Change is never easy, the future is "not very evenly distributed" The video remix above is just one example of the issues educators face with the challenges of working in the digital domain. Legal and ethical issues as well as practical choices continue to make the teaching ad learning environment one which requires collaborative effort, critical awareness and co-operation. I consider myself to have been fortunate to find and participate in great networks to support my understanding of learning technology such as EUROCALL and ALT. I was fortunate enough to be able to research and publish in my academic field whilst working at the University of Warwick.
I am no longer employed in schools or University, having retired at the end of 2020 after 30+ years but I don't feel able to step away completely at this stage. I continue to offer my skills, such as they are, to organisations such as EUROCALL as a Trustee and member of the Executive, and to the not for profit UNICollaboration . I am also proud to be able to contribute to the voluntary work of Future Teacher 3.0 and #LTHEchat. The continuation this offers has enabled me:
- to maintain a sense of belonging
- to keep my knowledge up to date
- to enjoy fellowship with kindred spirits
I write this post to share the changes I have experienced since retirement as they may be of interest to others.
Firstly, as I no longer have an institutional affiliation, I have of course lost access to some of the privileges I enjoyed as an academic staff member. Most significant of these is access to academic publications which live behind paywalls. As I favour open publishing I am glad that I can still read the work of those who share openly.
Secondly, as a pensioner I examine my budget regularly and no longer use Microsoft products. Expensive licences are not justifiable for personal use, I prefer to pay less and get great value from Google storage and Chromebook use. I use my more limited means to support great folk such as Bryan Matthers and his Fabulous Remixer Machine to campaign for greater fairness and sustainability and to maintain my own websites.
Finally, I use my knowledge and skills to help newer practitioners make informed choices and to warn of the dangers of technological evangilism. I do so by sharing openly on my blogs and through maintaining curations such as my Tool Parade dynamic document and my Pearltrees account. I worry that education has a shorter memory than ever before as experienced teachers are considered to be too expensive and retention is now a huge issue. Never mind the impact of AI on our sector!
I guess I won't be around forever but at least I can leave a digital legacy.
