NEXUS: mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘a binding together’, from nex- ‘bound’, from the verb nectere Nexus +, the UWTSD’s annual teaching and learning conference is a favourite of mine. I always have a lot of fun with my co-presenters and fellow educator attendees; completing the sessions nourished with new ideas and new contacts. This July, the conference …
Continue reading "Nexus + 21: a binding together for resilience"
Image: RamCreativ Recently, a quote of unknown source was shared with me: "The mother whipped off her cape, held her hands in the air, and said 'I'm struggling this time'. The other mothers breathed a sigh of relief, ripped their capes off and said 'me too', and they knew they were not alone" 'Vulnerability' is …
Continue reading "Public displays of EV: reimagining a healthier future"
2020 is the year coined as 'one to forget but all will remember' - challenge, distress, grief and pressure, alongside resilience, adaptability, compassion and dedication.As Christmas day draws nearer, I reflect on the key themes of the second round of seasons of 'Emergent Thinkers.com' - change agency, sustainability, entrepreneurship & philosophical thinking, with a portion …
This week excites me. Out of the COVID drama, springs hope eternal, a new thirst and growing energy to create and innovate. This is Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world's biggest celebration of entrepreneurship. Some space set aside to celebrate and inspire. An opportunity to showcase and reflect on 'entrepreneurship' as effective means to guide, inspire, …
Continue reading "GEW2020 – the welsh dragons roaring with creative spark"
Three months into lockdown. COVID blues mixed with a cocktail of missing my Dad, health worries, increased workload, and back-to-back video calls. Broken routines from WFH whilst home-schooling three. I was fast losing purchase on day-to-day living. And then some magic dropped into my inbox. From a trusted colleague and friend. The opportunity to engage …
Continue reading "Motivational Maps – my journey back to ‘self’"
Image Credit: Hush Naidoo Today is World Teacher's Day 2020. A perfect opportunity to pay homage to the quiet, introspective, absorbed patience of the teaching profession (Rilke, 1958). People who have, through their competence, commitment and compassion, surmounted all manner of challenges throughout the pandemic. Professionals with the power to transform individuals and society at …
Continue reading "World Teacher’s Day 2020: recognising education’s heart"
Reporting on the first 'Reimagining Our Futures' webinars organised by the Societal Innovation and Enterprise Forum (SIEF) - Friday 4th September 2020. Reimaging futures amidst and beyond Covid-19 At the start of the webinar, a collection of photos of the late Professor Allan Gibb curated by Marju Unt (Founder and CEO, Estonian Euromanagement Institute) and …
Continue reading "Re-imagining university futures: building upon Professor Allan Gibb’s legacy"
Image adapted: Guille Álvarez Following this blogspace, you’ll know I work on the Erasmus+ funded ‘EntreCompEdu’ project. It is with much delight I update with phase one celebratory news, specifically the culmination of Dafen School’s entrepreneurial CPD endeavours through lockdown. An online graduation. We didn’t start out with a pandemic context in mind, but what …
Continue reading "COVID-19 fails to halt CPD: Online celebration of Welsh entrepreneurial school"
Professor David A. Kirby, Holder of The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion, is one of the UK's founding fathers of Entrepreneurship Education (EE). His interest in EE started in the early 1980s at the University of Wales. He was appointed to the UK's first Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Durham in 1989. Before …
Continue reading "The mind behind entrepreneurial mindset education"
Adapted image by Clint Adair Fresh from the close of UWTSD's Nexus+ 2020 I’m just too stimulated to not commit a few ‘in the moment’ reflections to screen. It was an absolute privilege and joy to present with entrepreneur/pirate/pioneer Educator, Paul Ranson, to share work on entrepreneurial inspired online peer support and development on behalf …
Through a COVID-19-context lens, it is possible to glimpse the formation of a new economic order. While for some COVID was a 'known unknown' and referred by some as a black elephant (Kemp, 2020), the pandemic has been the Neoliberal's Black Swan (Taleb, 2008), an object lesson in complexity. A difficult situation has unfolded, and …
Continue reading "A COVID-19 driven paradigm shift: ‘disrupting Porter’s Forces’"
Photo: Pawel Szvmanski 12 weeks into lock-down I succumb to an anxiety brain fog. I dialled my 4th emergency service, IT. Irritable, an acute sense of slow thinking and processing, not feeling myself, I admitted to having forgotten a standard access code used over twenty times a day! An exceptionally tasking week on all fronts …
Continue reading "Too many tabs open – education & work design"
I am experiencing data overload. The constant state of being plugged in, tuned in, updated. There is a heavily disorientating aspect to the Age of Distraction, as penned by Richard Wurman in ‘Information Anxiety’ and revisited in Nicholas Carr’s ‘cri de couer’ ‘The Shallows’. My tension, fully embodied (Francis, 2018), requiring unbundling beyond this blog-space. …
In an update this week for 'EntreCompEdu', the multi-country project aimed at strengthening teacher competences for entrepreneurial learning, I reported on the magnificent commitment of our teachers and support staff to our learners and families through our global crises. "Covid-19 has hit education hard, pushing the ‘brick and mortar’ school into uncharted territory. Placing unprecedented …
This is my first WFH-homeschooling ‘Earth Day’. Today, I reflect on the opportunity born from COVID-19 adversity, to have brought all the SDGs much closer to home. A genuine shift in priority, focus, mindset and daily habit. In the period of lock-down, as a family, we have both been ‘forced’ and ‘encouraged’ to adopt new …
It’s not fun turning 6 in COVID-19 lock-down, especially when plans to spend time with your friends for your first ‘big boy party’ get scrapped! Yet, I am in awe of my sister Frances, who has embraced the situation, drawn on her creativity, and made use of natural materials to create some magical moments for …
On being, and managing change while working from home (WFH) To share one experience of a working mum’s ‘COVID-19 state of mind’, I turn to Roald Dahl’s lesser-known sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl, 1962). Charlie’s Great Glass Elevator adventure (Dahl, 1972) starts with Charlie Bucket and chocolatier Willy Wonka squeezing Charlie’s entire …
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