Personal Learning Environments and Innovative Leadership

Back in November 2012 I was contacted by Yusra Visser, who is one of the guest editors for a special issue of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education, inviting me to contribute to it by participating in an interview about innovative leadership and PLEs. I was honored to be asked, and the idea seemed very attractive: to discuss the role of PLEs as tools for innovation in education; so of course I said yes. So about three weeks ago, I was interviewed by Bruce Campbell, who had the patience to listen to me for over an hour. It was actually a very interesting experience for me, as I reflected on some of the projects and initiatives I have been involved in, including the PLE Conference and my PhD dissertation.

Besides the paper, that is now on the final stages to be sent for publishing, there is an audio file with the whole interview. Yusra and Bruce asked me to post it somewhere so it could be accessed, so I proposed to write a short post and upload it here. I plan to revisit this post soon, and maybe produce shorter files, roughly following the questions I was asked during the interview. That way, if anyone wants to listen to that section, they don't have to download or listen to the whole file.

Anyway, here's the interview.

The PLE Conference 2012: one week later

I have yet to write a post on the conference itself; there's just too much to process, but in the meantime I wanted to aggregate some of the posts that have been inspired by it. I know I will be checking those in the future, so maybe someone will find it useful as well. For now, these are some of the links (will update as required), and a nice picture of Aveiro ;)

• José Mota's post on the 2nd day unkeynote and his answers to our questions
• José Mota's wrap-up on the conference
• Grainne Conole's post on preparing the unkeynote and a summary of the content and discussion
• Steve Wheeler's reflection on the 2nd day unkeynote
• Mark Smithers' reflection on the conference
• Frances Bell's post
• Malinka Ivanova's post
• The Sapo Campus-based site for the conference
• The official site for PLEConf (note that there are individual pages for most of the sessions, with additional references and resources - thanks to Linda for the reminder!)
• The ScoopIt! site curated by Gemma (thanks!) that collects blogposts by unkeynote speakers and PLEConf site
• My own post asking participants for their input and comments on the 4 questions we proposed and used as the starting point for our unkeynote
• Discussion posted on Cloudworks, with several contributions
• The YouTube playlist with videos contributed by colleagues/researchers/friends (thanks again to everyone!)
• Find the conversation on Twitter around the hashtag #PLEConf
• Pictures on Flickr that were tagged with #PLEConf
• Linda Castañeda's pictures

More to come, most likely!

Cais dos Botirões, Aveiro, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

Crowdsourcing the (un)keynote

"The Fellowship of the PLE"...this is what Linda calls the bunch of us; I'm not sure whether she came up with the idea or is someone else's, but I'm guessing it was hers, so she takes credit for it. First time I heard her using it was last year, while we were planning our session for TIES2012; there, we ran a symposium on PLEs, together with Jordi Adell, Oskar Casquero and Ismael Peña López.

It came to mind because next week we will be meeting in Aveiro (and Melbourne, although not both, sadly), for the third edition of The PLE Conference (http://www.pleconf.org/ and http://pleconf.campus.sapo.pt/, @PLEConf  and #PLEConf on Twitter). There's a lot of innovation this year: the two venues, the badges and the 2nd day keynotes;  an exercise in crowdsourcing, the two keynote speakers for the second day of the conference were chosen by the "Fellowship"

Honestly, it was a shock to learn that I was one of the keynote speakers for this year's conference, together with Grainne Conole: a double honor, to be chosen by my peers and to be sharing the stage with Grainne! I hope we'll do it justice. We have been busy thinking and planning, but the conference is getting closer and closer and I have to confess I'm getting quite anxious about the whole thing.

No spoilers here, but we have been thinking about three main topics: the 'VLE vs PLE' debate, 'going back to basics' and the evolution of PLEs. So now we are crowdsourcing the keynote itself, calling for participation and ideas. A couple of days ago I 'ran' into Alec Couros on Twitter, doing the same thing for his keynote in Melbourne;  together with Graham Attwell, they followed that approach (with huge success) to prepare their keynote at The PLE Conference 2010 in Barcelona (for which I was local organiser, and which was then called PLE_BCN).  So, if you are interested (Yes, you are. And no, these are not the droids you're looking for), drop us a line, create a short video, or comment on this post and help us with these:

1. What is your personal digital learning environment and how do you use it?
2. What are the main obstacles for building and maintaining a Personal Digital Learning Environment?
3. How has your use of technologies changed in the last five years? 
4. What are your views on the PLE vs VLE debate? is the VLE really dead?

It would be great to have your input about these topics! So, who's first???

I'm back...

Well, it's been a little over a month since I last posted. The usual excuses apply, but this has really been a hectic month: end of semester and Masters programmes, what looks like the last session for our project (at least under that name), The PLE Conference next week and, well, life. I even stopped posting 1picxday photos for something like 5 days, which had not happened before.

 July promises to be a quieter month, so I can try and relax a bit, catch up with stuff and continue writing my PhD dissertation. I have been learning how to say 'no' and I plan on not being available for anything between July 16th and 28th, at least. Let's see how that goes!

 Just a short update for now; will start my PLEConf-themed post now, and hopefully get it published tomorrow!

1 pic a day 2012, May 26th: Swiss chard rainbow

Swiss chard rainbow, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

When we bought the seeds we were indeed promised a marvelous display of colored stalks. But this is way more impressive than I expected. There were white, red, yellow and even some orange ones. Hope they are as tasty as they look; they will be sautéed in a few minutes!

1 pic a day 2012, May 25th: Towel Day

Towel Day, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

This one requires a bit of an explanation, if you're not a Hitchhiker's fan. A Towel is, according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or HHGG, the most useful thing interstellar travelers can carry with them. HHGG is perhaps the best-known book by Douglas Adams, and there have been radio series, a TV series and a movie based on it. One of my favorite books by DNA is Last Chance to See, about endangered species. A must-read!

The date was picked by fans two weeks after Douglas Adams died, May 11th 2001, and has been observed ever since. I became a fan a few years before he passed away; it's too bad we won't get any more genius works by him. Even The Salmon of Doubt, posthumously published, is brilliant, although it's unfinished and doesn't make a great deal of sense.

I'm not saying that the rest does, either. But it is absolute genius!

1 pic a day 2012, May 24th: Easter Cactus

Easter Cactus, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

There is a lot of confusion surrounding Easter and Christmas cacti, apparently. If I understand correctly, Christmas cacti are Schlumbergera while Easter cacti are Hatiora. Mr. Subjunctive has a great profile on Schlumbergeras.

I'm pretty sure this is an Easter cactus; the timing is right, and the shape of the flowers matches what I have read. These have radial symmetry, as opposed to Christmas cacti, which show bilateral symmetry.

Anyway, the flowers are gorgeous. You can see the similarity with "traditional" cacti; I posted a picture of Mammillaria a few days ago, and the flowers look almost the same, except for the size.

1 pic a day 2012, May 23rd: Sprouts!

Sprouts!, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

These are healthy AND look really nice! I like the color (and taste) combination ;)

Green ones are mustard, purple ones are cabbage. Have been sprouting these at home for a few years now, and we recently started saving the water from the daily rinses and also from the final rinse, just before eating them. Not rinsing properly and often can lead to bacteria growth and all sorts of unpleasant situations.

The problem is that this is a lot of water; saving it and using it to water the plants is working great. The plants love it, and we do our bit for the environment. Win-win!

Next batch will probably be watercress and mungo beans. Looking forward to it!

1 pic a day 2012, May 22nd: Vintage-y

Vintage-y, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

I went for an old look with this one. I pass by this building at least a couple of days a week, on my way to/from classes. It had never occurred to me to find out what is in there.

Yesterday I took this picture, and after posting, decided to look it up. It turns out it is now a Clinic (Clínica Creu Blanca), but couldn't find further information about its history.

But still, it is a nice building!

1 pic a day 2012, May 21st: Clouds over Barcelona

Clouds over Barcelona, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

Lately, the posts have become all about flowers and skies. But seriously, isn't this amazing?

It's the season, so I guess I'll roll with it. Maybe tomorrow we will have something different? ;)

1 pic a day 2012, May 20th: "Cappuccino"

Cappuccino, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

As in flowers, not coffee. More specifically, Petunias.

I had vowed not to buy any more Petunias, as they are taking over the balconies, but I saw these and couldn't resist. I mean, WHAT color is THIS?

Apparently, it's Cappuccino.

I couldn't describe this color to my mother; the best I could do was compare it to a car we used to own (yes, I know). Weird color for both a car and a flower, but it worked/works somehow. What do you think?

1 pic a day 2012, May 19th: Gazania

Gazania, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

These were inherited from a friend that recently moved to Germany. For a long time I thought I disliked Gazanias. Yellow flowers, black rings, greyish leaves left me cold. Until I saw this one, that is.

1 pic a day 2012, May 18th: Pink Crown

Pink Crown, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

I discovered this one yesterday. Was facing the street, so I hadn't noticed the flowers. This cactus has never failed to bloom every spring for the last 5 years or so. According to Google Images, this is a Mammillaria zeilmanniana, but it has so many synonyms that maybe I didn't choose the most common one. Everything fits the description and pictures, so let's say it is.

I just noticed that this one already has a fruit, bottom/center of the picture, just above the Asparagus that is growing there. It looks like it's trying to take over the balcony, this one. I removed at least 7 yesterday alone. It's not that we don't like it, but one is more than enough. They tend to "eat" the soil and at least on one occasion one of them has broken the pot. So they have to be kept under control!

1 pic a day 2012, May 17th: In the sun

In the sun, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

Sofía again. I went to the kitchen to make some tea, and saw her soaking up the sun. In the afternoon, is the only spot where you get direct sun, which she needs to recharge her feline batteries. I think.

Her expression is priceless!

1 pic a day 2012, May 16th: Pink Quill

Pink Quill, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

This is technically known as a Tillandsia cyanea. But Pink Quill is a fancier name, apparently.

We got this one as a gift for a friend we hadn't seen for at least a year and a half, which is a shame, as we live in the same city. But you know how it is.

The plant flowered the next day; I wasn't expecting it, and for a few seconds couldn't figure out what was that thing on the plant. Further inspection revealed a nice purple flower (which here shows as blue-ish, for some reason. I guess CCD sensitivity to blue or something techy).

Today I discovered a second flower; supposedly they last a long time, and we should expect more where these came from. Apparently, bromeliads die after blooming, after having produced pups to perpetuate the species, but I have found several sources that say otherwise. In particular, Mr. Subjunctive says that this is not always the case, and I trust what he says. (He writes an amazingly entertaining blog, where I have learned lots about houseplants). So I will keep you posted on any further developments.

1 pic a day 2012, May 15th: Arctic White

Arctic White, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

This is supposedly an Arctic White Hippeastrum. At least that's what the label said. I bought it because it was a new color for me, and so far we have three: red, red+white and salmon. So white was novel if maybe a bit boring.

Boy, were we in for a surprise.

The label showed the usual (for me) six-petal flower, so that was what I was expecting. Not THIS show. I didn't think that white-on-white was going to work, but this must be my favourite flower-themed picture so far (and you know there are a lot of those!).

Sadly, it seems the season is over; I haven't been able to find other colors, but if things work as planned, these bulbs should put on quite a show again next year!

1 pic a day 2012, May 14th: Allium

Allium, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

A bit behind with the "daily" posts. Won't even try to make good excuses: work, work and more work. Anyway. I don't know what variety this is, but it is an Allium; so basically an ornamental onion :P

I love the geometry here; the flowers are perfect six-point stars, so the whole thing screams of hexagons. I suspect that a fuller flower (we weren't that lucky, or maybe this is the best this variety does) would resemble a geodesic dome.

I know; I'm a geek.

1pic a day 2012, May 13th - Shapes & Light

Shapes & Light, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

At Sant Pere de Ribes; a nice day, spent with friends over amazing food, good wine and nice conversation. This is what Sundays are for. After that we took a walk around and these clouds caught my eye.

1 pic a day 2012, May 12th - Parsley

Parsley, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

Huge plant, did not expect it to grow this much. Have started to cut it down a bit, so it doesn't take over the whole pot. It is supposed to be sharing it with Lemon cucumber, Swiss chard, coriander, dill and catnip. We'll see who survives.

1 pic a day 2012, May 11th - Down

Down, a photo by torresk on Flickr.

Waiting for some friends by the elevator, I decided to look down the staircase; something I never do, on account of being afraid of heights. Played a bit with B&W and grain, turned out OK, I think!