25 ways to make yourself unpopular: #7 Do things properly

After a hiatus born of the Christmas holidays, followed by a week of intensive conference activity and then a desperate (and not entirely successful) attempt to catch up, this series is back! Thanks for your patience during its temporary absence.

Doing things properly is what I like to think of as “making haste slowly”. We live in an age where everything is expected to be decided upon, and then executed, extremely quickly. The problem is that without getting the detail sorted out in the beginning, the work can actually take longer as incorrect assumptions have to be confronted and corrected.

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Guidance for the BETT Show (and other conferences)

Last year I published a guide to BETT (and other conferences) for subscribers to the free newsletter, Computers in Classrooms. I think the advice is still relevant. I looked at the following:

  • 9 reasons to attend.
  • 4 arguments to put to your boss as to why you should be allowed to attend.
  • 3 other kinds of colleagues who should attend.
  • 13 things to do in advance.
  • 16 ways to get the most out of the show.
  •  7 ways to follow up afterwards (once you’ve recovered!).

You can read that online here.

BETT presentation: sorted!

Woo hoo! I have now finished preparing my presentation, "20 must-have tools in 45 minutes". Except that it's now 31 tools in 60 minutes, with one "tool" that I'll mention in passing, plus a further 7 tools if there is time to go into them.

Like I said before (see link above), my presentation is for leaders and managers or would-be leaders and managers of educational ICT.

Hope to see you there.

Be organised, be informed and plan

The title comprises the theme I’ll be following in my seminar at the BETT show. It’s called “20 must-have tools in 45 minutes”, and is firmly targetted at leaders and managers of ICT or educational technology – or people who aspire to such a position. What that means in practice is that I’ve followed these principles:

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More about the free leadership event

I recently wrote about Collaborate for Change. Here’s a very brief video about it, and an interview with Lord Jim Knight, the Schools Minister in the previous government in Britain, and  Dave Smith, organiser-in-chief. The interviewer in each case is Russell Prue, of Anderton Tiger Radio.

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My personal BETT–Day 1

It’s coming up to that time of year, when companies unveil their new ed tech goodies, old friends and colleagues meet up, people give and attend talks and demonstrations, and we all go away either inspired or cynical, and completely shattered, in equal measure. Yes, it’s the BETT show, a 4 day conference-stroke-exhibition-stroke-meet-fest which attracts people from all over the world. This year it starts on the 12th January, ie next week, and I thought it might be useful to make my own suggestions about what you might like to see. These suggestions are all based on my knowledge of the people involved or past personal experience, so I don’t pretend to cover all possibilities: check out the BETT website for the full programme, and register for free in advance. Today, I’m looking at Day 1, Wednesday 12th January.

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A new start

traffic_lights_reflectionsThere is something heroic about working away on a computer while the rest of the world sleeps, with only a cup of tea and a distant street lamp to keep one company. But the health benefits of caffeine-fuelled nights are yet to be discovered. Thus it was that around four weeks ago I decided that a radical change in my lifestyle was in order.

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25 ways to make yourself unpopular: #6 Manage, but don’t lead

calendarThere’s a reason that the strapline of this website is “The site for leaders and managers of educational ICT”: leading and managing are different things. That isn’t to say that someone cannot be both a good leader and a good manager, but they may have to work a little harder on one aspect than on the other.
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25 ways to make yourself unpopular: #4 Provide too much information

information.jpgToo much information is such a ubiquitous problem that it even has its own three letter abbreviation: TMI – although that is usually applied in the context of someone online telling you something that you really didn’t want to know. However, it’s also a problem experienced by anyone who runs a team, or who requires information in order to take a decision.

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25 ways to make yourself unpopular: #2 Provide timely information

informationYou would think that providing timely information would be just the thing to get you applauded. However, as the song from Porgy and Bess tells us, it ain’t necessarily so. It really all depends on what the information is, and to whom you’re making it available.

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The sledgehammer as a tool for innovation?

Can the sledgehammer, an instrument usually associated with destruction, be enlisted as a tool of innovation? Educational Technology consultant Doug Woods puts forward a case for this unlikely-sounding approach. His position is that a good use for the sledgehammer would be to break up all the ICT suites (computer labs) that can be found in schools.
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Personal Learning Networks–An Online Discussion

Chris Smith, of that vast repository of links, Shambles.net, knows all about personal learning networks. He lives in Thailand, but runs workshops globally via Skype, Second Life and, of course, in person. He’s also active on Youtube and contributes to many online discussion lists. Who better, then, to talk to us about Personal Learning Networks?
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