Self organised - Me?

Here I am in the idyllic surroundings of the Rookery Manor Hotel deep in the Somerset countryside. The sun is streaming in through the windows and everyone is happy. It really is cider country round here, and to prove it I sank a pint of the golden stuff last night in the company of @jamesclay and @dsugden. Today is the start of the 2 day JISC South West Regional Support Centre Summer Conference, and we will soon be listening to a keynote from Professor Derek Law entitled: Building on Excellence. It's also my birthday today, and tonight I will celebrate in style when we have our conference Bar-B-Q in the grounds of this excellent hotel.

Later today (after lunch) I will be speaking on the subject of 'Self Organisation and the Management of Virtual Student Learning'. It's a bit of an oxymoron because I don't think you can, or should manage something that is self organised, unless you are the person who is self organising. It was a title given to me to work with, so there you have it, and I have posted the PowerPoint slideshow for anyone interested in reading more. I will explore PLEs and VLEs and will look at mashups of tools and spaces too. In the afternoon I'm also member of an expert panel with James Clay, Derek Law and John McKenzie.

Right. That's it for now. I'm off to hear the keynote.