I was very disappointed that I couldn’t go to ALT-C last week, but alas lack of funding meant I was unable to get to the conference this year. ALT-C is always a great networking event and an excellent opportunity to take the pulse of the education technology community in the UK F/HE sector. However the main reason I was so disappointed to miss ALT-C this year was that I wasn’t there to see my former Cetis colleague Sheila MacNeill win the ALT Learning Technologist of the Year award. So since I wasn’t there to congratulate Sheila in person, I’m going to do so now instead!
Having worked closely with Sheila for almost ten years I know just how much she deserved this award and I’m delighted to have been able to contribute to the application that Cetis’ Christina Smart and I sneakily submitted on her behalf. Sheila has made a huge contribution to learning technology innovation in the UK and it’s been a real pleasure working with her over the years. She has always been an inspiring and supportive colleague and a very good friend. And of course, as everyone knows, she has great shoes!
In her lovely blog post on winning the award, Sheila very generously acknowledged the contribution made by all her Cetis colleagues.
“In many ways this is a team award and recognition of the work of everyone at Cetis.”
Of course I may be biased, but think it’s really positive to see ALT recognising the important contribution made to the sector by colleagues who may not have followed a traditional academic or learning technology career path. These are the people who drive innovation forward and whose input we need now more than ever.
Since the closure of Cetis at the University of Strathclyde, our careers will be taking different paths, tbh I’m not entirely sure what path mine will be taking yet! However I hope that I will have many opportunities to continue working with Sheila and I wish her all the very best for the future.
Open World 