Seems like it wasn’t that long ago when I wrote a post a lot like this. 2 years, almost to the day in fact, when I accepted the position I have now as the manager of Learning Technologies at Royal Roads University. It’s a position I will only have for a few more weeks.
I have a new job. On February 12th, I will be joining BCcampus as the Manager of Applied Research & Curriculum Services.
Like most changes, there are good and bad. Bad that I am leaving a wonderful position with a great group of colleagues working on some interesting projects. I have truly enjoyed the time I have spent in CTET, and would highly recommend RRU as an employer. They have been supportive and given me opportunities to grow in ways I did not imagine when I arrived here 2 short years ago. And I got to spend the past 2 years sharing an office with a wonderful person & collague who made me laugh & look forward to coming to work each and every day.
The good? I will be rejoining one of my old CTET colleagues, Mary Burgess, who is now also at BCcampus. And I have many wonderful connections with others at BCcampus, like Sylvia Currie, David Porter, and the wider ETUG community. From 2004-06 I worked within another unit at BCcampus, and there are still people I worked with at the time who I am happily going to be working with again.
And then there are the projects, including some really cutting edge robotics projects. I am just starting to get into robotics at a hacker level, playing with Arduino and controller boards like the MaKey-MaKey. In my new position I’ll have a chance to work on larger scale robotics projects with educational applications, like remote science labs as part of NANSLO.
But the project that really pulls & resonates is the Open Textbook project. BCcampus has long been a leader in our province (and beyond) on open education and open educational resources. Much of how I feel and think about open ed has come out of the work of BCcampus, and the people who have been associated with BCcampus over the years. People like Scott Leslie and Paul Stacey, who in turn led me to people like Brian Lamb, David Wiley, Alan Levine, Jim Groom, Alec Couros and other open educators who’s work in open spaces have greatly influenced how I think about education. To have a chance to work on a project like Open Textbooks that I believe has the potential to make a deep and systematic change to post-secondary education was an opportunity I could not pass up.
So, for people I am connected with in virtual spaces, like this blog (thank you), on Twitter or in other spaces I haunt online, you can probably expect to see more posts and conversations about open education, open textbooks….and robots. Since they will one day be our overlords, I might as well strike up a good working relationship with them now :).
Grats, Good luck with your new job!
Congrats Clint, more than well deserved. Good luck with the new adventure.
Congrats!
Fantastic…I can't wait to see what you get up to!
Worried about you, nephew. Seems you can't hold down a steady job for long! 😉 Seriously, tho: major congratulations. I saw this in you when you were 4 years old. All the best to you and your wonderful family!
It's a bad character trait of my generation…wanderlust :).
Unless fate intervenes with something out of my control, I don't plan on moving. As much as I am comfortable with change, I feel the stress change – even good change – brings & am feeling the need to have this piece of my life (career) settle and accomplish some long term professional goals.
Have I mentioned before how much I love it when members of my family comment on my blog? My Auntie Joanne a few months ago. Now my Uncle Don. Love it!
thanks for the shout out – I am very happy for you, and very sad for us! You were a great roommate, particularly on the first day when you dealt with the dead mouse. What a sport! I will miss your positive influence, support, problem solving and navel gazing about the big important questions in our field. I won't miss worrying that we're both going to end up wearing argyle on the same day. I hope your new colleagues will realize sometimes you need to be told it's time for a haircut. BHAG 4 evah!
It was the day I walked into the office and you looked at me, pointed and laughed that I realized I needed to do something about http://mtvtr3s-com.mtvnimages.com/flipbooks/02211… Here's hoping my new BCcampus colleagues are that sensitive and thoughtful.
We did manage to avoid clashing argyle. Clearly there is some kind of telepathic connection there that a carpeted room divider cannot break.
Congratulations Clint. Sounds to me like you are loving your work, your family and your life. That's about as good as it can get for any man. I am sure you will do some great things in your chosen field.
Awesome news, Clint. Congratulations!
You have some rather daunting shoes to fill, but I can’t imagine a better person to try to do it.
I’m happy for you, and as someone who looks to BCcampus for leadership, guidance and support, even happier for myself.
I owe a helluva lot to the previous owner of those shoes http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeroen020/484718098/
All the best, Clint.
Robots? Sounds Perfect. 😉
Congrats Clint, they are lucky to have you and I know you will do great in the position. Look forward to hearing about your efforts as the unfold.
Congratulations Clint, sounds like a great opportunity for you. A chance to work with cool people on cool open stuff? Awesome