In Australian universities, for the educational design and development community, January is the month of reflection. Our academic colleagues aren't usually back on campus, and we get to spend some time planning for the rest of the year. This year is going to be busy for me and my colleagues - but that makes it no different from all the other years I've worked in universities.
Among other things, I'm excited about changes to the techologies we'll be using to create our online learning environment and about the arrival of some new colleagues in the central support team that keeps the online learning environment functioning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that "reliability" will be their guiding principle in 2013.
As always, the work of my colleagues here at the University and beyond is keeping me interested - and nudging me towards new approaches and ways of thinking about my practice.
Tony Bates, truly an elder of my tribe, is also reflecting this week. Tony's been working in the field for 44 years, and his posting on seven "aha" moments is worth reading.
The very excellent Megan Poore has just published a new book, Using Social Media in the classroom: a best practice guide, which comes with a companion website. This is one for your back pocket, whether you are a whizz yourself or not. Meg's expertise in the practical application of the tools is informed by a deep understanding of why we use them, which comes from her original training as a cultural anthropologist.
It's going to be a fantastic year!
