Posts tagged ‘CARN2020’
CARN2020 – reflection on a virtual conference: day 1
The virtual conference
The ease of this remote conference begs the question why we had to wait for a global pandemic to do this. I wonder how future conference organising committees will view the pros and cons of face to face versus remote conference. I suppose I missed the general chit chat of the day, physically catching up with people you know as well as the chance encounters with strangers. When running the NATELCA Y&C conferences, we were always mindful that feedback highlighted the delights of the break time chats and ensure the day had space for such collaborations. But how much do the benefits of remote counter-balance this?
A Big Theme for me today has been the ‘research ‘n’ practice’ mash-up, and a remote conference provides a ‘personal ‘n’ professional’ merging. I was certainly in the minority of people who had a back-ground on, when I had my camera on at all, and some commented on the Northern Lights. I’d like to say this was purposeful and had some fabulous meaning (how the Northern Lights are on my bucket list to see, or Philip Pullman is my favourite author), but the original choice was purposely pragmatic. I slept in, then I couldn’t find the log in details, so I was very flustered and realised I was not at my desk but sat in my kitchen, and no-one needed to see my laundry hanging over the aga (although always happy to talk about my aga!). The colours attracted my attention and the choice was made. Read more ►
CARN2020 – research ‘n’ practice
The keynote, Julian Stern spoke about the blending of the things, like ‘tuna ‘n’ sweetcorn’, mushed together, unseparatable, proposing that research and practice is a false dichotomy, it is research ‘n’ practice. This blog is a reflection on where my research ‘n’ practice is at in these challening COVID times.
Coming into half term, after possibly one of the hardest terms ever, where I have been so ‘head down-hurdle jumping-blockage jodging-submerged’ in the everyday practical difficulties of getting the CELTA off the ground the research has taken a back seat. Or has it? I have been ever mindful that it’s there. When not ‘working on it’ I am often thinking about it, when trying not to think about it I am thinking about it, those self-conversations about how it’s OK to have some down-time or the self-beratings for procrastinating or not getting enough done.
Central to all this is the worry is ‘am I doing this right?’ What else could/should I be doing? Where is the quality within my research, will it be accepted by the academic community, is it at ‘doctoral level’? There are so many things that I could be doing it becomes debilitating so I do nothing.
An immortal conversation disguised as an ordinary conversation Read more ►