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This episode gets meta. An episode about the bonus podcast episodes discussing the audiobook for the 25 Years of Ed Tech. Pulling back the curtain, baby! How the "bonus" episodes came about.
25 Years of Ed Tech is a serialized audio version of the book 25 Years of Ed Tech, written by Martin Weller of the Open University and published by AU Press. The audio version of the book is a collaborative project with a global community of volunteers contributing their voices to narrate a chapter of the book. Bonus episodes are a series of conversations called "Between the Chapters" to chat about these topics and more!
"In this lively and approachable volume based on his popular blog series, Martin Weller demonstrates a rich history of innovation and effective implementation of ed tech across higher education. From Bulletin Board Systems to blockchain, Weller follows the trajectory of education by focusing each chapter on a technology, theory, or concept that has influenced each year since 1994. Calling for both caution and enthusiasm, Weller advocates for a critical and research-based approach to new technologies, particularly in light of disinformation, the impact of social media on politics, and data surveillance trends. A concise and necessary retrospective, this book will be valuable to educators, ed tech practitioners, and higher education administrators, as well as students."
Credits:
Text in quotes from the book website published by Athabasca University Press CC-BY-NC-ND
BG music Abstract Corporate by Gribsound released under a CC-BY license. Track was edited for time.
Artwork X-Ray Specs by @visualthinkery is licenced under CC-BY-SA.
Audio book chapters produced by Clint Lalonde.
Between the Chapters bonus podcast episodes produced by Laura Pasquini.
0:03
Between the chapters, a weekly podcast discussion focusing on a chapter of the book, 25 years of edtech, written by Martin Weller. here's your host, Laura Pasquini.
0:18
Hello, 25 years of edtech listeners, I hope you're enjoying the audio book that's gonna come ahead. Its launch week. So I thought for this bonus bonus episode, I do a meta meta episode, where I had an interview with bccampus to talk about this project. The bonus episodes in this podcast are really a book club kind of discussion. So I thought why not share the interview I recorded with Jason Finity from BC campus, I will include a link to that article because it has some quotes from myself, Clint and Martin as well. So to give you another Sneak Peek for our launch week of the 25 years of edtech. And between the chapters a bonus episodes, I thought I'd give you a sneak peek to this interview itself. And my candid responses to why this podcast or book club discussion is happening. Here's my conversation with Jason enjoy for this
1:06
for this project here with this series of well, podcasts audio book, and his his ebook. Why is podcasts the right medium? Why did you choose to do it podcast versus one big audio book?
1:24
Yeah, it's great question. I think this came about when this open, Doc came out with this collaborative Google Doc was presented. And we were all asking for folks to sign up, I just noticed that a lot of people signing up were Yes, experienced podcasters, or audio files or things. And I was just looking through the list of who's signing up. And I was like, Dude, that gets 25 people voices, a way to kind of amplify the chapters and bring a new perspective and voice to it. I was wondering if we can bring in more folks that's out there and within the community of Ed Tech, because I know that there's some great experiences out there that maybe aren't brought into this book. And I thought it was, it would be a fun way to kind of complement and augment those chapters is what happens between the chapters or what people are thinking. And I've been blogging and podcasting for a while. And I thought, hey, what else want to have a side chat about this, and maybe we can do it this way. And the audio book was great, because Clint brought the idea of us narrating it and I said, Well, what if we had a complementary podcast that went alongside and I'd be happy to put that out there. And podcasting is just a new way to distribute that RSS feed and get the information out. So I love the idea that we could do both at the same time because an audio book might sit in a digital library or sit in someone's purchase area or app. But what if we spread it on a podcast app or many apps and directories, to get more people to listen and hear the book itself and the conversation between the chapters. So that's kind of where that idea sparked an interest. So yeah, the idea was, what happens between the chapters might be a reflection, it might be some commentary. And what I'm learning is I'm talking to different folks who were involved in everything from online learning, open learning, edtech Wikis that lots of things have happened early days to build the foundations of where we are today in our learning experience, teaching learning experiences, digitally. I just kind of cool. So the between the chapters is Yeah, point to discuss, ask questions, make points, call out what's not in the chapter and then just ask questions that we would ask Martin or other people in the community of where are we going next with this technology, this concept or this theme, and where we'll see ourselves moving in the future. So it's kind of like talking about historical foundations and broadens what we're doing today and maybe dealing with in our day to day work. So yeah, between the chapters is really literally where the conversation sits. When we release it, it'll be between each chapter, there'll be a bonus episode, which will be the conversation had between the chapters.
4:09
Nice. So in any particular tech tools that you use to sort of deliver and create the or create deliver the the podcast or just standard stuff, or is anything that you wanted to mention on that.
4:23
Yeah, we're keeping it pretty simple for folks. The ones that we are interviewing on the between the chapters, I'm meeting with them on zoom, I sometimes record with audio hijack if the sound quality needs to be captured. I haven't had them recorded on each end because I think that's I think I've gotten enough good quality audio over zoom. So I try to keep it really simple. Tech is great, but I think the content is better. So I focus on asking some questions, listening to what they're saying and getting to know a little bit of about their work and background. So I can dig in a little bit deeper and hear their story and experience. I have to give you tech I have some basic podcasting things. We're using a transistor FM to disseminate the podcast. It's kind of a little hub and audio hub that will host it over the next year or so. And we're trying to make sure some audio quality's great. You spoke with Clint. He's like the radio genius who quits that life. But I use a little audio phonic to make sure there's some leveling, okay. I'm trying like what else? We're using Creative Commons Digi mixer to get the music in between the podcast and just having a conversation. For me. It's like not technical, but it's more about figuring out what we want to talk about before we hit record and getting capturing those moments. And live setting like this and asking questions and listening and responding. As you know, as a journalist, that's really what you want to know is that tell me more? And what else? And give me an example. Those are the fun things that I think are the technical pieces of the pod?
6:00
Oh, yeah, I just preface to you as as a real geek, but you know, it's the the technical aspect is, you know, you're a professional podcaster. And you know, you've got all the great stuff to do with the tech side of it. So well,
6:16
my tech is he's more of a geek than I am. So he I don't know why he hyped me up that much. And I would say like a lot of it's learning and learning from other people. And learning from my mistakes. I hope to hone my better Terry Gross interview skills in the US. She's the NPR host of All Things Considered, I hope to dig into deeper questions that actually make it more interesting. So I don't know if I'm the technical one of the group. So if you sold me that way, I'm gonna thank planes. But I'll have to say I think it's just about I know for me, I just met like some basic stuff in whether it's GarageBand or audacity, which audacity is free tools for most people to use. And I just happened to some my old interview days as a researcher is asking questions, and listening and asking for examples. I'm trying to technically, I don't know if there's a technical but it's a it's not me, me modest. I think there's better producers and podcasters than I am, I think it's about getting the stories and the interesting, takes hot takes. And just like people's background in learning, learn a little bit about them, and why it resonates with them. Each chapter is kind of more interesting to me.
7:25
Definitely. I agree. Because people will be listening to it. And how did they do that? Like, Oh, my God, they must have 1000s of dollars worth of stuff to do this? And no, that's not his thing, right? And the assumption is it.
7:37
Not at all, I described my setup, I live in my office closets where I put my other desk when I'm not at my real job that pays the bills, I have a couple different phone things that hang up above around just to buffer it, and I grabbed some old blackout curtains to block any noise that hangs off a literally a rod that would go to go over your bathroom. So I have I do have a microphone, I'm using a Yeti blue, and their little buffer, but there's better mics out there. So I'm using what I like and what I know. And I'm trying to make the sound sound good. Making sure people have a headphone of some sort, or earbud, even if there was just a simple mic in here. But so those are some of the basic things to get good sound. I think the other side of that is making sure for me, I find it interesting to know if they have a resource or an idea, I do follow up and listened to the recording after so the editing process is going through and listening to a resource, an article, an idea of website, they've included putting those in the show notes, because I think some people will listen to the episodes or some people might just check out the show notes where we link up to a resource or a article online or a book that someone's mentioned, or a project that someone did. So I think that's kind of fun to include. So we're kinda like multi media, sound, reading audio. And yeah, and the openness of the project itself is using some of the tools that are the Creative Commons license music, they have a fun little image mixer that was created. I think it's great. It's the remix or the visual thinkery and the artwork that's been put out there.
9:15
haven't played with it yet. I saw I saw it there and it's like, oh, yeah, definitely want to play with it. So did you run into any challenges along the way, getting people organized and
9:27
I'm not too bad. So we're still in the process of recording some of these so I have about half of them set up interviewed already completed some editing right now. This is going to run until May next year. So we have the opportunity to bring some other voices on and I have some people on my wish list request. I have a little calendar set up that they can pop on and choose the hour or team hour that they want to talk about being flexible time zones, we can hit people around the world and is really really being cognizant of that Yeah, people are just busy right now. And I'm really grateful for anyone and everyone who's participated because a lot of people have switched to remote work learning teaching, and a lot of folks we are talking to are in higher ed. So they're obviously in the midst of a semester or academic term themselves. And they're trying to figure it out and or support other faculty, instructors and people at their campuses. So really grateful for people just taking the time. And sometimes it's like 3pm, on an afternoon in Ireland, UK, or Spain, for some folks. And I was like, this has been a nice way to end the week for a lot of them. So I'm trying to make sure we're having a fun conversation and making sure it fits in with them. So I'm, I think it's been fun. I've been learning a whole lot. And I hope that the episodes that are the bonus episodes of this podcast will enlighten people of where these chapters came from, and what Martin was thinking about, because some people in the chapter I actually talked to on the podcast, and so they give their perspective of when they start talking about their ideas and things about from wikis, to the web to blogs, I'm really excited for people to hear about more.
11:07
I'm looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun. What would you like people to do with the content? So they listen to the between the chapters? What do you want them to do next with that?
11:19
Great question. I think a lot of what this podcast is of between the chapters is a reflection of what we hoped would happen with the book is we talk more about the issues and the ideas and the topic. So none of this is new. And history repeats itself. And so a lot of the book reflects on that. And the chapters between the chapters podcast, I think, also does a little bit of that as well. So I would hope that it's a springboard for further conversation. So that might be people coming back and having a conversation with US of A comments. They might go their own blog post, hey, they might have their talk back on podcast, who knows. And we would welcome ideas and commentary discussion. So we really do hope people are listening, but also maybe putting their message out or tweeting back at us on Twitter or they're thinking about things in a different way, or they have a different perspective. So I really love that Martin has been open for us to share and let Clint and I go forth with an audio book and podcasts because he really sees, it's almost like, the book itself is a living document that we read, but could always add to and so we think the podcast is just a piece of it. And we really hope more people in the community share their voice and what they're thinking about. Because there's so much more that we keep learning from one another as we talk about these ideas, issues, technologies and places we were in the world of learning at that time and what it means now, so when nothing's really changed, or changes only constant and we also know that we can learn from lessons of the past and use it today in our current circumstances, which is really important
13:01
things that you said in there that that I love, all of it. But But two things, specifically asking people to give them the feedback. And and you know, and really inviting that I think that's something that I'd like to really include in here because and I guess it ties into the other part that you said there but being a living book, right? If they can, they're they're helping to steer then the next 25 years of Ed Tech. So yeah, that's cool. Yeah, it
13:25
was something Martin and I talked about in one of the first episodes, you'll see, you'll see an about episode like, what's this all about? And then you also see the follow up the introduction. And, and both of those, I think Martin was really forthcoming to say, this is just my take on this year, my take on this tool or medium or way of learning for educational technology. So it really is cool that he's opening up to say, well, what's yours? or What questions do you have, and I jokes that the podcast is a bit of a banter. And it is like, I think there's some people that are really grateful of what Martin's put forth. And there's some people in talking to them. We have a talk before recording the record. I said, it's okay to say what's missing. Martin wants that. And maybe you have a different perspective, because we grew up in different parts of the world, or we have different educational background experiences. And it's not to say, one's the ultimate truth. It's how can we build upon what we knew at the time? And how is that different for someone in Sub Saharan Africa to New Zealand and Auckland at the time, it's going to look different and we know this. So I think it's it's really neat that he said, I'm really open to hearing feedback. And he's like, you can make constructive criticism. It could be agreements, it could be people disagree, and I like the openness for him to debate. He's getting a lot of accolades so far. I told them, I let him know if there's questions and comments and there are a few that we bring up in different episodes already, and not in a way that we're questioning Martin, but we're questioning the community of where do you think this will go? Or what do you think has changed with videos? Or how can we think about how we built Wikis to how we're building learning ecosystems now? And so those are the kinds of interesting, nuanced conversations that I hope continue. And I don't doubt this community will do some of that in some shape or form. So I'm looking forward to hearing the response, seeing the response, reading, listening, I don't know, give me a video, a smoke signal, whatever they do. So
15:29
that's pretty much all of my questions. What what I like here now is, you know, what, what would you like to see in this article?
15:37
I think it's really cool that bccampus is reaching out and wanting to talk about things we're doing outside or general day to day, because I think there's a lot of folks that put a lot of time, effort and passion into it. And sometimes we forget that when we're doing the administrative work, or we're doing the day to day, kind of required things that people are really, that's it just interested in passionate and really invested in talking about the things that's most interesting to them and their role. So I think this article, just expose it to other folks. And something I said that to people, I'm interviewing that I hope people outside of education technology, or don't, those who don't even know what that means, or in any of these terms, like openness or online learning, I really hope that they're just brought in. So we're trying to make it a community that's going to be inclusive, welcoming, and expansive beyond the term edtech or anyone with a title of faculty, developer, instructional designer or something else. So I would love to hear other folks around the campus, see value in where they might fit into any of these chapters, as well as people outside of higher ed to get an experience of what are some of the struggles we're working on things that we're championing and things we're talking about, and what would it mean for you so I'd love to see other industries kind of see this as an access point to learn as well and hear from some some of the great voices that are out there in this community.
17:10
You've been listening to between the chapters with your host Laura Pasquini. For more information for to subscribe to between the chapters and 25 years of edtech visit 25 years dot open ed.ca