My Sabbatical, so far ...

Well, my sabbatical is about half done, and  with a new year beginning, it seems a good time to reflect on what I have accomplished, and where I want to head.

So, what have I accomplished - and learned? Well, I don't feel I have done as much as I wanted, but perhaps I was too ambitious. First off, after a few weeks with my daughter at home (she resides in the UK) and time with family and friends, I am having trouble getting back to work, but I am sure I will. In fact, I have gotten some done over the past few days. A recently retired colleague sent me this image - it maps out nicely my sabbatical progress so far ;-) (sorry I don't have the source!) I love the flexible time, and the break from teaching. I find it strange to say that, I have taught something every year since I began my teaching career 37 years ago and I never regretted going into this career, but I am really enjoying the freedom of the sabbatical and being able to pursue research and other projects of my choosing. I have also decided to walk my wife to work when she walks, it is only about 2 km round trip, but it gets me moving. This week the weather decided to turn to normal, so it is darn cold. Today was -18C and a windchill of -28C. But it is sunny and when dressed properly it was actually a great day to walk. Hopefully I can keep this up! The photos at the end of this post are from one of the walks - a Manitoba winter is beautiful - although ccccold!!

So far I have;

• attended Social Media and Society (in Toronto) and presented 2 posters in July (this was a great conference!)
•  co-authored book chapter, now going to the publisher
• prepared and submitted an application dossier for promotion to Associate Prof - so far it has been supported by the Department, the Dean and now the University committee, now it is in the President's hands.
• presented at a provincial superintendent's conference (this was fun - it was part of a team with a colleague, admin and teachers from a school division we have been working with, and a local office furniture company)
• have an article undergoing final revisions for an online journal (I will post a link once published)
• currently working with 6 K-12 teachers on action research projects (for a study on action research & transformative learning)
• working with a school division on a systemic change initiative that also involves action research (the chapter above is based on this project)
• just starting a study (with a colleague) examining a 1:1 computing initiative in a school in SW MB
• am writing an article on social media pedagogy (based on my Ph.D. work)
• took part in #DigiWriMo (well as much as I could)
• conducted a session (with a colleague) on using social media in higher ed at BU
• put out a call for chapters (with a colleague from U of Manitoba) for a book we plan on putting together about ed technology use in MB schools
• and, of course, some reading and other activities.

For the second half I hope to make progress and complete some of these projects, I also have some presentations planned - hopefully at CSSE in Calgary. I really must do more writing - even if for this blog, but I want to complete the articles I mentioned earlier, as well as some other pieces. I also have to allow myself the time to read & reflect. I have had this problem since starting my career in higher ed - I know reading and keeping up with research in my area is an important part of what I should do, but I always feel that I should be producing and that reading is not really 'work'. I know I have to get over this and commit the time. I have some books and a tonne of articles on my list. Recently, @JeffreyKeefer wrote a blog post about committing to read more, he is doing 5 articles a week, I think I will take this idea and try it as well. Not sure if I will blog about them, but perhaps, that way I am doing a bit of writing as well. Anyway, this is great idea and I thank Jeffrey for the inspiration!

Winter shadows

Cold winter morning in MB

Teaching about Teaching Science

Our moon - photo by ME!

Way back, my first degree was in science - I then taught science in grades 8-12 for many years. Over time, my main interest turned to educational technology and I moved on in my career. As my role changed to administration and then into teacher education, my interest (passion?) for science faded, but was always in the background. A few events in the past few years and some reminiscing brought my interest in science back to the forefront. This past term I taught a Science Methods course. While I admit I was a bit rusty on some details, it was enjoyable. I concentrated on teaching process - inquiry, design - I have witnessed too many science courses taught as 'read the chapter and answer questions' - that is not science. When I return from sabbatical I will be moving into teaching science methods (as well as my main area of ed tech) - while I have some work to do to get back up to speed and planning my program, I am looking forward to the challenge with excitement. During my sabbatical I will do some gathering of resources and planning for this new adventure.

Not Teaching for Over a Year (i.e. on sabbatical)

My sabbatical is fast approaching, and I am looking forward to it. It is not that I don't love teaching, if I didn't I would not have stayed in the career for 37 years. That said, this will be the first year I am not in a classroom of some sort since my first teaching job all those years ago. In this new career though, I have also been involved with field focused research, so this year will be devoted to those pursuits - not to mention being away from 'service' work on campus - that means very few meetings! (hurray!)

So what will I be up to? I have several projects on the go, and have been fortunate to be awarded several small grants to help the work, as well I will continue working with our large SSHRC-CURA grant called VOICE. I work, along with a colleague and a grad student, with a rural school division a little north of Winnipeg. Our main tasks are working with teachers doing community based action research and studying system change in the division. I am excited to get working on my other projects, and to get some writing done on several projects, including my dissertation.

Some of the projects include:
Action Research and Teacher Change - I will be working with several teachers in one rural MB school division assisting them in doing action research and I will examine the effects on practice.

A case study of a school that has gone to a 1:1 device:student - I am doing this with a colleague who is also on sabbatical - also at another rural MB school.

Numeracy evening for families - I am working with a local school division numeracy consultant, along with a team of teachers and B.Ed. students. We are trying to set up resources and run an event to help parents learn the importance of numeracy and strategies to help their kids. The goal is to share the results of this endeavour widely.

Some of the details can be found on my BU profile.