The Stemettes #MonsterConfidence Event

I was delighted to be invited by Anne-Marie Imafidon to give one of the keynotes at the Stemettes #MonsterConfidence Conference in Sheffield. The event is aimed at girls interested in STEM and co-run with Monster, a leading job site in the UK. 

Anne-Marie is the CEO of the Stemettes and she can be found on Twitter as @aimafidon. Amongst other awards, Anne-Marie was recently announced by Computer Weekly as one of the most influential women in the UK. 

My keynote focused on the importance of networking and building an online presence. I wanted to encourage the girls attended to learn to use social media in a professional context to connect, communicate, curate, collaborate and create. Drawing on the work of Stepper, I expounded on the value of working out loud and sharing achievements so that others can learn from these experiences. Ultimately I wanted to help them see the value in building networks online through the use of social media. 

The importance of networking and building an online presence #stemettes #monsterconfidence from Sue Beckingham

It was a fabulous event and I took great pleasure in being involved throughout the day. This included 'speed dating' sessions where the student attendees spoke to myself and others to ask questions and learn about how we had developed our careers. 

From Tsundoku to #PhDshelfie: An ongoing story

Pile of Books

Over the summer I had a number of conversations on Twitter with Sue Watling about books, PhDs, technology enhanced learning and the chasm which we still refer to as the digital divide. Twitter is my go to learning space and has become so as I have built a valued network of educators who also use this space to share their work and that of others. This leads to fascinating discussions. More often it opens my eyes to new concepts. I read a lot of things I may never have come across. I use the dictionary frequently. I realise the more I learn, the more there is to learn. At times it can feel intimidating when I don't understand new things BUT never for long as there is always someone I can go to to ask questions or at the very least be signposted to further reading that makes a topic more understandable. 

This post is in reply to Sue and other scholars who were sharing blog posts about their PhD book shelves and tweeting a link along with the hashtag #PhDshelfie. Sue invited me to contribute knowing I was in the process of starting my PhD journey. Do search for this hashtag as there are many valuable stories to read.

My study

I love books and love to buy second hand ones as well as new. The academic ones are stored in my study. (My girls have grown up and left home now so I have a study all to myself - luxury!). This has a wide bookshelf and two bookcases. They are all full. Having undertaken two Master's degrees and a PgCert in Learning and Teaching in Education, plus a a variety of projects over the years, I've accumulated quite a collection. Now embarking on a PhD, new books are being added, and those already on the shelves are being pulled out and added to a growing pile to delve into. 

I organise my books in 'collections' rather than a Dewey like system by author. These groupings have formed based on my teaching and research interests and include topics such as:

• technology enhanced learning
• open learning
• creative learning 
• scholarship of learning
• research methods and study skills
• communication and media 
• networking and social network analysis
• social media in business
• social media and online presence 
• social media in higher education

My book shelves are also scattered with mementos and photos of family and friends. One of my newest and most treasured is this hand crafted Twitter bird which my dear friend Chrissi Nerantzi gave me.  

As I start a new project (be this a course or some research) I tend to pull the books off the shelf and create piles. Once the project is finished I find them a place back on the shelf. Below is one of my newer piles of books I'm delving into. These of course compliment a raft of journal papers and blog posts accessed online. My #PhDshelfie is therefore in its infancy. It will evolve the more I read. Not captured will be a dictionary as I explore new words and concepts and try and make sense of them.   

Tsundoku

My Summer Twitter links and conversations also led me to a book called Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World by Ella Frances Sanders. In the book she captures a collection of words and beautifully illustrates these along with an interpretation of their meaning. One particular word that caught my eye in this was the Japenese word Tsundoku. This is described as:

"A book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other unread books"

It made me reflect on the books I buy as their journey to the bookshelf often takes a while. A new purchase may be read straight away, but to be honest this is the exception rather than the rule. I tend to identify a useful book cited by a writer and want to read more in the context of that quote. In the midst of a project the remainder of the book is likely to go unread. This book and others (both bought and borrowed) will become an ever growing pile. 

However from my 'tsundoku' collections (as there may be many) I can already see scope for future #PhDshelfie posts as I gather books to address different aspects of my PhD experience and the research I intend to undertake. It will be interesting to document how this evolves. 

The day I was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship #NTFS2017 #NTFS17

31st August was the day many of us have been waiting for. The day the 55 successful National Teaching Fellows would be announced. I'm delighted to say that I was one of them.

Huge congratulations to all new NTFs and CATE finalists on their fantastic achievements #NTFS2017 https://t.co/KCWT0lI497 pic.twitter.com/3vmAkFMpts

— HEAcademy (@HEAcademy) August 31, 2017

I have had so many wonderful messages of congratulations on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Too many to share them all here, but you know who you are and I want you to know how grateful I am. I've shared a few further down and explain why. 

The press release from my university 'Hallam academics recognised for teaching excellence' includes my inspirational colleagues Dr David Smith and Dr Kim Bower. There are 53 others recognised and the full list can be found on the Higher Education Academy website. 

David Smith, along with our colleagues David Eddy and Julie Gillin and myself (the four musketeers) have inspired each other over the years and our mutual encouragement has seen us take innovative approaches to teaching and learning. I thank you for all of our shared experiences. 

I'd like to thank my mentors Stella Jones-Devitt, Juliette Hinrichsen, Mike Bramhall and Richard Hill who over the years have helped me to realise my own potential and to believe that I can achieve things once thought out of my reach. Also Prof Peter Hartley with whom I share a deep interest in research on interpersonal communication. He constantly helps me to expand my thinking and challenges my ideas and new approaches. Huge thanks also must go to Professor Sally Brown and Professor Phil Race who not only believed in me but helped me believe in myself. 


A small selection of the valued tweets I received:

Professor Sally Brown

Congratulations to our own @suebecks doyenne of the @LTHEchat community on becoming NTF in 2017. Welcome to the @NTF_Tweet community!

— Sally Brown (@ProfSallyBrown) August 31, 2017

I'll be honest I had to look 'doyenne' up. Having the respect of Sally Brown means the world. I have learned so much from her over the years and know I will continue to do so. 

Eric Stoller

Massive congratulations to @SheffHallamUni's @SueBecks 😀 on being awarded 🎖️🎓 an @HEAcademy National Teaching Fellowship 🧡🎉‼️ #NTFS2017

— Eric Stoller (@EricStoller) August 31, 2017

Eric has been such an inspiring friend over the years. We connected back in 2010 when he was living in the US. I'd come across his blog and through Twitter continue to learn from him. He knows more about social media than most of us put together. His posts encouraged me to implement innovative approaches in my teaching and staff development activities. I finally got to meet him in 2016 when he was keynote for our Social Media for Learning Conference at Sheffield Hallam University. If you are looking for a keynote speaker this is your man!

Chrissi Nerantzi

Huge congratulations to all #NTFS and especially Sue @suebecks & Dave @dave_thesmith

— Chrissi Nerantzi (@chrissinerantzi) August 31, 2017

Chrissi and I clicked instantly and we have shared multiple projects, each contributing different perspectives. I have learned so much working with her.  


And now I have to wait until November 1st to officially receive my award in London and have the opportunity to meet the other 54 recipients. 

Celebrating innovative scholarship through social media #ESLTIS17

In July I presented at the Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship Conference which was hosted by the University of Sheffield and organised by Dr Sam Nolan and team. 


Abstract 

The focus of my paper considers the increasing relevance of digital and social scholarship, and why this should be encouraged. Teaching focused academics who practice the scholarship of teaching, share reflective practice in order to enhance the teaching and learning of others. Traditionally this may be shared through publications and conference presentations. However, digital technology and social media has the potential to extend the reach of these outputs enabling the dissemination of an individual's work to reach a much wider audience. 

Open reflective practice through social media allows scholars to make their work more visible, findable and easily shared. Whilst the ripple effect may be far reaching, in order to enhance learning it is important to also provide forums for discussion and question asking, inquiry and investigation, which are subjected to critical evaluation. Engagement in this scholarly process can encourage innovation and changes in practice that span different disciplines and geographical locations. 

The very nature of social media as an open space also serves to celebrate teaching excellence – both the scholarship and practice – in a variety of formats.


Digital Scholarship

Drawing upon Smith Rumsey's work I shared this quote to define digital scholarship and gave examples of esteemed colleagues and Digital Scholars Catherine Cronin and Laura Pasquini. Both utilise a variety of social media to share their work openly. For example through blogging, Twitter, SlideShare, YouTube, Google+, Academia.edu and ResearchGate. 

We are seeing a shift away from disseminating scholarly work via mass 'all staff' emails to open blogging where it can be tagged and searched by topic. A ripple effect ensues as it can easily be shared through automated dissemination via Twitter and other social media channels, and also by those who read the posts. 

From my own personal perspective I value the opportunity to learn from other academics. Those that share their scholarly activity and the work of others though social media help me find this work. Often serendipity comes to lay and I come across fascinating work that I would have not found otherwise, simply because I wouldn't have been looking for it. I've extended my informal learning through digital scholars from a wide range of disciplines in this way. In turn I share my own work through social media and hope this is helpful to others. I give my work a Creative Commons licence so that other educators can use it as they wish to. 

Celebrating innovative scholarship through social media #ESLTIS17 from Sue Beckingham


#ESLTIS17

Background
To raise the profile of teaching only academics in the research intensive climate, it is vital to shine a spotlight on the innovative learning and teaching they undertake. The best way to achieve this is through the promotion of the innovative scholarship of learning and teaching being driven by this subset of the academic community. This third meeting of a national teaching fellow network is therefore a forum to share innovative scholarship across disciplinary boundaries and to develop a national voice for teaching focussed academics.

The programme of abstracts can be found here.

Dr Luisa Wakeling has written a great post about the conference https://ncleducators.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/stop-collaborate-and-listen

The associated journal is Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (PESTLHE)

Social Media for Academic Studies (SMASH)

SMASH logo created by the students

In December 2016 four of my IT with Business Studies students from Sheffield Hallam University attended the SocMedHE16 conference at Sheffield Hallam University (having individually applied for one of 10 free student places). The students are:

• Corran Wood – @CorranSHU
• Jess Paddon – @JessPaddonSHU
• Ola Mazur – @SheffAleksandra
• Sher Khan – @sherr94

After attending this event I approached the students to see if they would be interested in taking these conversations forward. Under my guidance they formed a student-led group and met weekly. They named the group SMASH (Social Media for Academic Studies at Hallam) and created their own logo.

The focus of the group was to look at how social media could be used in enhance learning and teaching. They set out to achieve the following objectives in relation to social media use at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU):

• Learning ActivitiesHelping staff to identify and use social media tools for communication and collaboration within and beyond the classroom.
• Organising LearningHelping students and staff to identify and use relevant social media tools to curate and organise information relating to learning.
• Showcasing LearningHelping students to prepare digital portfolios to openly share outcomes and projects to develop a professional online presence.

The students have created an infographic and written a guest blog post providing examples of how social media can be used to meet these three objectives. Below is a slideshow of the infographic. 

SMASH Infographic from Jessica Paddon

I have shared the students work through social media and was delighted to find that Eric Stoller mentioned it in his keynote at the University of Staffordshire's Learning and Teaching Conference #StaffsLT17. This was tweeted by Sarah Knight 

Great to see how @suebecks students are sharing their ideas on how they use social media #staffsLT17 pic.twitter.com/6yJ0FRrcYt

— sarahknight (@sarahknight) June 20, 2017

Eric also included a link to my student's blog post at the HEA Conference in his keynote there.

Aside from producing this work, my hopes were that the students would gain confidence through leading such a project and further develop the skills they have. The experience can be added to their LinkedIn profile and may provide an example to refer to as they undertake interviews for future graduate roles. I'm looking forward to seeing how this group will be taken forward by Corran. Sher has now graduated and both Jess and Ola are out on placement for the next academic year. She already has other students interested in joining her. 

Visiting Fellow at Edge Hill University

I was delighted to receive a letter from Edge Hill University to confirm that the Standing Professorial Conferment Panel of Edge Hill University has agreed to offer me the title of Visiting Fellow within the Centre for Learning and Teaching at the University.

This is is a wonderful opportunity to work with Professor Mark Schofield and others at the University. 

In addition I am looking forward to attending the SOLSTICE Conference as a guest speaker June 4-5 2017. 

My presentation is titled: The Project Based Learning (PjBL) Toolkit: Integrating digital and social media to enhance meaningful reflective practice in project based learning.

Abstract: 
Projects may be carried out by both individuals and within groups. The outputs might include a report, presentation, poster, artefact or prototype (physical or digital). Project based learning is “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge.” (BIE 2015).

When undertaking a project, seven distinct stages have been identified that the project owner(s) go through. These are: the question, plan, research, produce, improve, present and evaluate. At each stage students may engage in a variety of activities. This multifaceted form of learning presents opportunities to participate in authentic and meaningful problems and to develop a range of skills along the journey. Reflecting upon these experiences, can encourage students to reconstruct what they have learned, and go on to confidently articulate the skills they have developed (or have yet to develop), and how they can apply these in other situations. Learning how to self-reflect on these experiences and developing a habit of doing so, can have a profound impact on learning. However for some this does not come easily and is often undervalued.

In my talk I will share the Project Based Learning (PjBL) Toolkit and how resources within this can be used to scaffold effective and meaningful multimedia reflective practice, develop confident communication skills and digital capabilities.

The LearningWheel: A Model of Digital Pedagogy

I was delighted to be invited by Deborah Kellsey and Amanda Taylor to write the Foreword for their book The LearningWheel: A Model of Digital Pedagogy. Having been a LearningWheel contributor on a number of occasions I was familiar with and a great admirer of Deborah's work (and have written about this previously).

The pair met through the inaugural Social Media for Learning in Higher Education Conference in December 2015 at Sheffield Hallam University. Deborah was there presenting a paper on the 'LearningWheel' and Amanda a paper on 'When Actual Met Virtual' which was about the use of book groups in Social Work education. A serendipitous mix-up in train journeys on their way home led to further conversations and the successful collaboration leading to this book. 


DESCRIPTION

Given the influence of digital technologies on the world at large education and educators are yet again being forced to consider their educational practices.  Not all educators have been socialised professionally to use technologies and therefore knowledge gaps exist.  This book adds to emerging conversations about the use of technologies to support and indeed replace traditional teaching methodologies in a range of educational settings.  It offers an example of innovative approach ‘LearningWheel’ to bridge the aforementioned knowledge gap and provides an opportunity for readers to engage with technologies for teaching and learning purposes.


Beginning with an outline of how technologies are shaping the learning landscape more broadly each subsequent chapter takes on a layer of the LearningWheel and sets it in context from a theoretical position. An example wheel is included in each chapter, as are stop and pause questions to prompt educators to engage with the content in a very real sense.  By the end of the book, readers will have had the opportunity to connect with the LearningWheel (VCoP) in the development of a Learning Wheel unique to this book.



BOOK REVIEW

Denise Turner has written a review of the book in Social Work Education. Amanda alerted me to the mention of my Foreword contribution. A welcome addition to my 'happy file'.  

BUY THE BOOK

You can purchase a copy of the book from Critical Publishing here:
http://www.criticalpublishing.com/the-learning-wheel