Christina Hendricks @chendricks@scholar.social

@lauraritchie That’s exciting! If it’s anything like the one we did in Kamloops it will be great!

@manuel Awww...Thanks! I haven’t really delved deeply into the content yet but I’m determined to go through all of it and learn as much as I can in the next 3.5 weeks!

@easegill Will do!

@jacobcammack I’m happy to share what I understand but it’s a big field! So many things one could talk about. Any particular thing you might be interested in?

@thelibrarian There was significant discussion of this back in 2016; there is a github issue about editing toots that I was a part of. The problem was technical if I remember correctly—something about the federation and the changes not propagating. But I don’t know anything about the technical aspects and whether it would actually be possible...that’s just what I remember. I should see if I can find that issue on GitHub again (sometime when I’m at my computer and not on my phone like I am now).

#OER18, a conference about open education and open educational resources is happening this week in the UK. I am part of a session that combines onsite participants and those joining virtually (I'm joining virtually) to discuss ethics and social justice in the open education movement. Wed. April 18 2:35pm UK time.

If you'd like to join us virtually, see here for info and how to sign up! https://towards-openness.org/conference-workshops/break-open-at-oer18-and-oeglobal18/

(has info on what time that is in your time zone)

#OER

@Holly Virtually Connecting is a great group of people; the conversations are quite short because the people at the conference are often busy and tired, so we don't keep them more than 20-30 minutes. But often those of us participating virtually will continue conversations after that!

@jacobcammack I agree! I have been active in open education for the past 5 years or so, and for me it was like...well duh...as soon as I learned about it! :)

@mareklach Indeed! I have 105 final exams to mark in the next 10 business days, with two long essays each and a bunch of short answer questions.

I've signed up for an open online course on Learning Analytics Fundamentals, with George Siemens and others. I'd like to know more about what the hype is about: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:UTArlingtonX+LINK-LA-FUNDx+3T2017/course/

Classes are now over for me and I just gave our final exam, so all I have left is marking...thus I think I should be able to complete this four-week course!

Just finished marking 95 assignments I wanted to finish before students in my Intro to Philosophy class do their final exam tonight. It’s nice having a marking lull for a few hours. Then right back at it (but since the exam finishes at 930pm I think I’ll wait until tomorrow morning to start marking!).

Are you interested in open education & #OER (open edu resources)? The #OER18 conference is this week & even if, like me, you can’t be there in the UK in person, you can chat virtually with some people who are and get a sense of the conference, thanks to a group I volunteer with, Virtually Connecting: https://virtuallyconnecting.org/blog/2018/04/06/virtually-connecting-at-oer18-from-bristol-u-k/

I volunteer with a group called Virtually Connecting that organizes virtual conversations with people at conferences, to link them with people who can’t attend. We have a bunch of conferences in April, including one more session for Creative Commons Global Summit Sunday April 15 3:45pm eastern time (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). See here for that event and see website for other events coming up! https://virtuallyconnecting.org/blog/2018/04/07/vconnecting-at-ccsummit-in-toronto/

@pettter Yes, it's certainly not my favourite part. It would be fine if I were just giving comments...it's the having to attach a mark to it that is difficult and sometimes stressful, as I work to ensure that I'm being as fair as possible to all (I teach philosophy so it's not all about just getting things right or wrong!).

It is the time of the much grading. End of term: when I do all the grading because the TAs have done so much work during the term and when classes are done is when I can grade over 100 assignments... Gotta finish these by Sunday in time for the final exam on Monday, which I'll be grading too.

But I don't mind...it's less stressful than doing it while classes are in session.

@mbbrown I completely relate, and I think it’s fine and not uncommon. I love teaching—it’s the main focus of my job and what I chose to do the most of rather than research. But there are days when I would give anything not to have to stand and speak in a class and just sit and read quietly. But then soon I get interested and excited about teaching. Nothing can be all encompassing joy & passion all the time! Routine and sometimes stress means needing a break.

Went to a workshop today about leading change initiatives—basically any projects that will involve significant changes in a unit at a Uni. Several things stood out, but in particular: when people are resistant sometimes it’s because the change could deeply affect their sense of identity in their work, a way they think of themselves on a deep level. Not just about attachment to the old, but something very important to people. Hadn’t thought of that before.