OpenEd and EdTech Reflections, with Tannis Morgan

[00:00:00] Bonni: On today’s episode of Teaching In Higher Ed number 302, Tanis Morgan reflects on OpenEd and EdTech.
[00:00:11] Automated: Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
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[00:00:21] Bonni: Hello and welcome to this episode of Teaching In Higher Ed. I’m Bonni Stachowiak. This is the space where we explore the art and science of being more effective at facilitating learning. We also share ways to improve our productivity so we can have more peace in our lives and be more present for our students.
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Tannis Morgan is currently an advisor, learning and teaching at BCcampus and also conducts research on Open Education practices. Prior to arriving at BCcampus last year, she was the director of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Innovation at JIBC Guadalajara for almost 10 years. Tannis is one of the founding members of the OpenETC, a community of educators, technologists and designers sharing their expertise to foster and support Open EdTech infrastructure for the BC post-secondary sector.
She also consults with organizations around online learning strategy and educational technology selection. In her personal time, Tannis is a chauffeur to her three kids joining them on the mountain for snowboarding or biking. Tannis, welcome to Teaching in Higher Ed.
[00:01:43] Tannis: Hi, it’s really wonderful to be here.
[00:01:45] Bonni: I had fun browsing your website and your blog. One of the things that quickly caught my eye was a tag that said, “Two-Minute Tools,” and this sounds right up my alley. I clicked on it and it was things that you had not blogged about in more than 10 years. I quickly saw that Two-Minute Tools were tools and are tools that need to take less than two minutes to set up a login and account and then to learn. My first question for you, I’m so glad I get to ask you is, do we today have any Two-Minute Tools that still exist in your mind?
[00:02:20] Tannis: Yes, I think we do although the love affair with this cloud-based software that was so big 10 years ago, that really I think opened up EdTech to so many of us who were working in institutions where we had the systems like LMS’s that were blessed by IT departments and administration’s but really, we were already starting to rub against the limitations of them back then. When a lot of these new tools started showing up on the internet that really just required you to log in and start using back in the days before surveillance and data capitalization or whatever we call it these days where companies are just harvesting our data incessantly, those were the great days we were trying out lots of new tools and they were really easily accessible and they were at our fingertips.
I remember being really excited by that and part of the reason for going down that whole path was, I really wanted to share them with faculty. I was in a faculty development type of a role, also doing some online Distance Education stuff. I just thought it really offered a lot of, I guess, opportunity to do different things with technology. A lot of those tools were just really simple to get going and up and running. They didn’t require a support ticket or a request to the IT department. They just felt more accessible.
[00:03:44] Bonni: I love that experience, whether it’s for myself or whether you get to see others experience it where there’s just this utter delight. Having someone learn how to subscribe to a podcast isn’t quite the same thing, but I did about six months ago get to meet with a group of nursing faculty from the Middle East who had come over. Coincidently, none of them had heard of podcasts but they all had phones that already had a podcast app on it. They just hadn’t heard of podcasts and didn’t know that they had an app. To watch their faces light up when they realize this universe that opened up to them and since the app was already there, they didn’t have to create an account, they didn’t have to set it up.
All they had to do was search for things or even just browse. That’s so fun and yet, so much of the time, you can’t do that, even if it seems easy. I suppose if I think about Twitter, I think it’s been a while since I set up an account, but it’s relatively easy to set up an account but then there’s all these things where you’d want people to be aware like you were saying that the surveillance and privacy and all that. Even if it is easy, it may not be as easy as it seems because of these ethical complications or these risks that we’re taking without even being informed of them.
[00:04:59] Tannis: Yes. It’s like having the gloss just disappear because I still come across really interesting tools but now in the back of my mind I’m like, well, what’s the real model behind this? This is a tool that will allow me do X but really behind the scenes, it’s really about facial recognition or something like that. I guess there’s this whole layer of skepticism that goes into it, that is like realizing that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. It’s really disappointing. 10 years ago, I think the last post I saw on there was about 2009. It’s almost 11 years ago. We still believed in Santa Claus I think when it came to Ed Tech. It was a nice time for that.
I think honestly, I think that having some of those tools really did benefit faculty who were maybe reluctant to try them like there is something about a commitment of two minutes to get up and running. I used to run these workshops at the institution that I was working at where they would give me an hour time slot. The first thing I would say is, “You’ll be done in 20 minutes. That you won’t need your whole hour, we’ll do these two tools and in 20 minutes, you will know how to use these two tools and be able to go away and start playing with them and think about how you could use them.”
Honestly, it was an effective message because, faculty had been be so accustomed to carving out these blocks of time to go schlep to some building, to go have someone sit them in a lab and teach them some stuff. The experience just wasn’t fun. Of course, faculty don’t have buckets of time to invest in things. There’s also the piece about, it was so low risk. What did you really have to lose? You weren’t going to break the internet by trying these tools out. I think at the time, there was always that fear that what if I break something, what if I break this computer in this lab? I don’t know. It was an interesting convergence of things but I don’t think we’re there anymore. I think we’ve moved on.
[00:07:05] Bonni: A couple of times a year, I wind up teaching a group of people who I’m certainly not going to classify them all this way but definitely a theme is people that have a fear of using technology, and specifically educational technology. Let me just share my wisdom which comes from having to learn this over and over again, it doesn’t help to just tell people not to be afraid like they’re there.
Don’t be afraid or don’t be angry at me because I’m the person teaching this class. Of course, what can be helpful I found is to show a video and they have so many of these but a video of a child who’s in this particular case, the recent one I used, she was going from an iPhone to an iPad and then just getting to watch her see what was different about the iPad and just watch it all come across and seeing the curiosity of her as in the learner and plane.
That’s been really helpful for me to then say, what did you notice about her and then, what does that tell you about yourself as a learner because that really, we need these Two-Minute Tools I think today just to encourage that playfulness and to have people get that delight and yet, so much of it today feels very cumbersome to try to set things up and then there’s a new language to learn and then there’s new things to think about that many people have not conceived of.
[00:08:23] Tannis: I remember feeling, I guess the burst of excitement again when I discovered apps for the phone and for the iPad. There was something about that that felt very Two-Minute Tool as well that I really enjoyed. Again, it was that whole idea of like, you have to set up an account and log in and do your authentication through your email, a little bit of a barrier but it brought some fun back to the experience.
Again, I think the thing I really liked about mobile apps is Two-Minute Tools was that they weren’t like everything in the kitchen sink. They were like, they didn’t want choose things really well. I think that’s the key thing about Two-Minute Tools too is that, you don’t need something that does everything, like a lot of times are really just a focus tool that just does one or two things is really all you need and the rest is just a distraction.
[00:09:16] Bonni: We’re going to look today at three broad categories, we’re going to look at some advice guidance thoughts that you have for us as individuals, and we already touched a little bit on that. Then also at the institutional level and then finally, at the community level. Community could mean around the world or could mean a local example. Let’s start off with individuals. What advice do you have for those of us who are hesitant, who are experiencing these feelings of fear that we’ve been talking about?
[00:09:43] Tannis: I think it’s important to approach things as fun. I think there’s a piece about it that maybe needs to be less serious I guess, and maybe that’s a good approach to have. I really enjoy experimenting with things and trying new things. I know that’s not for everybody but at the end of the day, you can’t break things really. It’s not world peace. That’s just something I go back to quite a bit. I think these barriers sometimes come from a lot of different places. There’s something about learning professional development that– everybody has their own approach to that and I think that’s okay.
I think that you can have fun with it in the way that you approach it. If your way is to take a course in a very structured sort of way, then that’s fine. If your way is to just try things out and get in there. I mean, that’s fine too. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know if I have a really good answer to that question because it’s just there’s so many ways to go at this now.
[00:10:50] Bonni: I think your advice could apply to so many contexts just, we forget. I talk about it as, I take my work incredibly seriously and at the same time, I try to not take myself very seriously. It’s all very serious work, I find great meaning in what I do. I also try not to take it too seriously because that’s a quick way to experience burnout and what a wonderful thing just to approach things as fun. There are some of us whether we talk about open education, whether we talk about using educational technology, who are ready for a little bit more on either side. Is there advice that you have for us for if we’re ready for our next step?
[00:11:30] Tannis: I think, one thing I’ve been thinking more of lately as individual development is unlearning. Maybe it’s my age or something, but trying to get into that space of being so open to learning something that you’re willing to unlearn, that’s something I’ve been thinking about more. I don’t know if that’s advice, I’m uncomfortable with advice.
[00:11:54] Bonni: I’ve been obsessed about the topic of unlearning for many times because I see it. My background before I came into higher education was in corporate training. I have always felt new even though I’m not new anymore. A common thing in the training industry, if you will, is that the answer to everything is training. They’re not doing well at their job, so they must need to be trained or there’s a problem with people discriminating whether they know it or not in the classroom. We need to train them and training, training, training is seen as so much of the answer.
I try to carefully guide people into exploring other possibilities that could be the cure and unlearning is one of those areas that comes up time and time again. Then it also comes up just for myself that sometimes I think the harder work is the unlearning. I have young children five and seven now. I’m laughing because as of the time this podcast airs, they’ll be six and eight. They will know everything by then but you don’t see them having– When you are around young people like that, you don’t see them having to spend time on learning, except for this little two-year-old I was talking about.
She wasn’t two but going from the iPad to the iPhone and vice versa. That’s a big part. It’s hard work for us to do. I appreciate that that was your answer for if we want more, perhaps what we really need is a little less of the things that we’ve already learned and we haven’t self-identified where those things need to get unlearned.
[00:13:26] Tannis: I love how you framed that because most of my works been in higher education but recently I’ve taken more of an interest to corporate training for a variety of different reasons. Part of it, because there’s some really interesting tools that are coming out of that part and I’m paying attention to the ed-tech there. I think it’s true in higher ed as well, this whole idea that somehow a course is the answer to everything. If you need to learn something, go take a course. I’ve been really trying to think a lot about un-coursing im instructional design or in distance education.
If we just threw aside this whole idea of a conception of a course, what can we rethink, what can we redo in terms of a learning experience? I feel like course, we get so hung up on that. Maybe that’s the higher ed response to training because it’s the same problem, really.
[00:14:16] Bonni: When it comes to open education, my institution is still very, very young. I think of us as the expression, “We’re quite late to the party and we haven’t even really sent out the invitation yet,” if I’m being honest here. What do you say to those of us who feel “quite late to the party” in terms of open education? Are there any opportunities for us that exists because we’re so late? Where do we start?
[00:14:40] Tannis: I think coming at it late is such an advantage because you don’t have to struggle as much. Because already there’s so much momentum. The beauty with open is that people have created and shared things before you, so you don’t have to start from scratch and I think being late to it is actually a real advantage. There’s so many avenues now with open. I mean, for some open means open textbooks and for others may mean open courses, it may mean open research, it may mean open data. I feel like there’s something for everybody to grab on to if you fundamentally agree with the ethos of what open is for you and what it’s trying to do.
I think that the key question is really being able to answer the question, like open for what purpose? What is your purpose to migrate towards open? Because that’s the foundation of it. People may have different answers to that question but certainly, in terms of being late to the party, it’s a wonderful party and there’s a lot going on. There’s a lot that can be easily accessed because it’s already there and the road’s already been traveled by somebody before you.
[00:15:50] Bonni: For those institutions that are a little further along the road and they’re ready for the next challenge, I know one of the bits of work that you’ve been doing has to do with impact, are there ways that you can challenge us in terms of thinking about the impact of open education at the institutional level?
[00:16:07] Tannis: I’ve been thinking about impact more than evolution. I feel like you first have to, a little bit like the earlier discussion, you have to get in there and have fun and just do and think about impact. Maybe impact comes later in the evolution where you start questioning the value of what you’re doing or whether– you get more curious about the impact that it was having. I feel like it’s a trajectory. Certainly, where I’m at right now and my thinking is that there’s been a lot of really grassroots discourse around open. We talk a lot about the students, we talk a lot about the faculty, we talk a lot about, how can we motivate faculty to do more, how could we get faculty excited.
I’m at this place where I want to ask questions about what the institution can do because fundamentally, we need to be able to support faculty. At some level, the grassroots runs its course and at all levels, the institutions need to step up and step in. That I think is also where maybe impact comes in as well once it starts getting to that level.
[00:17:20] Bonni: You had mentioned earlier the encouragement that we don’t have to start from scratch, there are so many open textbooks, so many open courses, open research, open data, is there a place that you would recommend that we go visit that’s starting to have these conversations around what institutions can do?
[00:17:38] Tannis: One of the biggest problems with open and I’m sure you’ve had other guests say this is just finding it. The places to go are really the network of people. I think being part of the network and being in the community is really the best place to go. Because it’s not like everything is just laid out in one or two nice places on the internet. It’s actually quite challenging to surface some of these things. There are so many initiatives that are happening, not only in North America, but really around the world and also in languages other than English. I think that’s the big challenge of open. I think the response to that is the network. A lot of people I think would say that the open community, it’s a really wonderful community and very giving and sharing, but of course, it’s about finding that community.
[00:18:31] Bonni: When you speak of the community, my husband has really had his strategy on Twitter, he chooses not to follow organizations, he follows people. It’s people that he trusts that will have that ability to– when they have things to share, they will have thoughtful things to share or helpful things to share, that’s his philosophy. Do you have any thoughts or recommendations in terms of, do you tend to follow more people or more organizations or hashtags or a whole combination that couldn’t possibly say one helps you more than the other?
[00:19:05] Tannis: Yes, in terms of Twitter, I do rely on Twitter for my work in open-ended tech. It is probably the only social media I really rely on for that. I do a combination and I’m constantly critical of who I’m following as well. Critical in the sense of, am I in a echo chamber or what do I need to be proactive about making sure that I’m not in an echo chamber and that I’m actually broadening my feeds, I guess, the people that I follow but also the hashtags that I follow? That’s been helpful for me personally, maybe that’s an evolution as well. I’ve been on Twitter for a really long time and it’s not always a place that– sometimes it’s the place I want to leave but I do find it really helpful for the work that I do in open and ed-tech, so it’s sort of a necessary evil.
I guess my answer to that is, yes, it’s really a combination of a lot of things. Recently, I discovered some corporate training type hashtags, and I forced myself to be much more open- minded about that part of education and honestly, I’ve been learning a lot. I feel like it was a good reminder for me to do that.
[00:20:14] Bonni: I had been asked to be a guest speaker in a friend of mine’s class the other night and he’s teaching, it’s a master’s program in organizational psychology. The class is on training and I specifically was talking about technology and training and learning. [chuckles] It cracked me up because I did not even realize that chief learning officers still existed because I had been 25 years ago.
I’d written some columns for them and that was a source that [chuckles] this is like when you used to get things that were in print. Massive direct mail sent to your office [chuckles] instead of that. Oh my gosh, they have a podcast or I haven’t gone to see what kinds of things, but it is. Interestingly, I used to be ashamed to even admit that that’s what I used to do. [chuckles] I would be like, “Well, what on earth.”
Now I think I have not enough time to be ashamed in life. Secondly, there are some parallels. Anywhere you go, you can see really good things happening and then you can say, “Well, that thing just doesn’t align with my values.” That’s everywhere you go. I’m interested that you’ve come across that and been doing some thinking and learning from that arena.
[00:21:18] Tannis: Yes, and I don’t know if this has come up in other conversations we’ve had. I guess one of the expanding of my networks has been to the femedtech community. I don’t know if you’re familiar with them.
[00:21:29] Bonni: Yes.
[00:21:30] Tannis: The hashtag femedtech, which has been a really interesting case study in how a network can form and grow into something that is so important and so helpful. It shows, I think, the good side of how you can use Twitter to expand your thinking and expand your network. Again, when I talk about community, I think femedtech is also open education people.
I find a lot of people in open actually intersect with EdTech, and I certainly put myself in that category as well. Again, it’s the people; it’s not the thing. It’s not Twitter itself, it’s the network. That’s where a lot of my own learning comes through, the things that are shared there as well.
[00:22:15] Bonni: Your example to me is so interesting and not one that I was contemplating because as I recall, femedtech, am I correct that they have someone host their account and they set up chats every week. What’s interesting to me about the example you just provided, it is neither individual nor an organization. It is truly a network and allowing for that shared leadership and shared voices. What a phenomenal example, am I right about that that they still switch and different people?
[00:22:47] Tannis: Yes, they have a rotating set of curators. My understanding, Francisco would probably be a lovely guest on this podcast as well if you haven’t had her already.
[00:22:56] Bonni: No, I haven’t.
[00:22:57] Tannis: She and a few people, I think Lorna Campbell, Marin … in the UK started femedtech. I don’t know if you know about Indigenous, but basically, it’s a rotating curator every two weeks who then curates the feed and amplifies different conversations that are there. I think we have a whole set of what kind of themes. Different curators come in with different styles of curation and that sort of thing.
It’s just evolved in an emergent way but that’s how they do that. Of course, now there’s a website, and they’re also– I don’t know if you’ve heard about the femedtech quilt that’s happening. Nowadays, there’s a really interesting convergence of the community online on Twitter and the community that comes face to face around conferences and around these activities like contributing to a quilt. It’s evolving into something quite lovely. I think there’s something really interesting for educators to observe and that too about community and face to face and online and shared purpose.
[00:24:09] Bonni: Oh, yeah, this is such a cool thing. I’ve just not even contemplated that. It’s like, I’m giving you a dichotomous choice. Of course, whenever you do that, it’s [chuckles] fraught with peril. You’ve brought us to another possibility, which is neither and I really enjoy that. Thank you. Well, we’ve had a chance to look at as individuals, we’ve had a chance to look at as organizations and we’ve quite naturally gone into talking about community that goes well beyond.
I know, one of the things that’s been great for me in learning more about open education and continuing on my path to learn more about EdTech is that we’re not doing this alone. I would love to end this portion of our conversation with you reflecting on, what examples do you think of. I suppose you just gave us one, but are there any other examples you’d like to share about? Whether it’s a local example in the community or whether it’s thinking of a global community where you see open education in its just most inspiring form. Any thoughts on that?
[00:25:11] Tannis: Yes, I’m going to answer that with an EdTech and open example. It’s one that I’m involved in so, it maybe sounds a bit shameless. We’ve talked a little bit about the disillusionment with two-minute tools. [chuckles] It’s a bit of a segue way to that but one of the things some of my colleagues here at in DC. My other EdTech counterparts and I started was something called the openETC and I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.
[00:25:39] Bonni: No.
[00:25:40] Tannis: Basically, what it is is, it was a response to quite a few things. One of them being that there’s a lot of open-source EdTechs that never makes it into our institutions because we for a variety reasons, our institutions prefer to purchase tools and do RFPs that really where you end up with vendors and that’s where you end up with the tools that you have. When there’s often our open source equivalents, but also the whole idea of requesting some of these tools for faculty to have that two-minute tool experience, to try it out. You can’t break it; here you go, here’s access to etherpad or whatever it might be.
That usually requires a ticket to high IT. Somebody has to install it, they worry about who’s going to babysit it, who’s going to look after it. There’s a whole lot of barriers to that. What we did is we set up what we call an EdTech cooperative for the province in DC for all the higher Ed institutions. It’s pretty much in a pilot phase, but in it, there’s a whole suite of open source tools.
Instead of Slack, you can use matter most, instead of Google Docs, you can use ether pad et cetera. Basically, faculty just have to go in with their institutional email and they’ll have access to these things, and they can use them with their students and their privacy compliance. Because of course, we have in Canada, especially in DC, we have privacy laws for students that prevent us from using certain tools that aren’t based in Canada.
What’s interesting about that, I think it bridges community as well as we have this line about contributions, not contracts. If you want to use these tools, you have to think of it like a coop. What can you give back to the coop? Can you share your lessons learned? Can you share how you onboarded your students with these tools? Can you share that back to the community?
It’s become a nice community place around shared open EdTech infrastructure. What’s interesting is now what’s emerging out of that are some really interesting examples of open education practices. Because now that faculty have these open tools, they can more easily have students share their work or they themselves can be more open about their teaching materials and that sort of thing. It’s been interesting to observe that– I’d like to say that if you want open Ed practices, you need open tools. It’s very difficult to be open in a locked down LMS.
[00:28:09] Bonni: I rarely discuss what happens behind the scenes but I can’t resist with what you just had come out of your mouth, because our podcast editor Andrew puts together, quote graphics of things that people have said. I’m chuckling to myself over here, because I’m like, “Yes, that’s going to make the quote graphic list right there.” [laughs] What a perfect segue you have just given us to head over to our recommendations segment, I have a couple of things to recommend today.
I want to start by just recommending big picture to make a reading challenge for yourself. I’ve been using a tool called Goodreads to do that for a couple of years and it has helped me to read more than I normally would. The first one is around that, but I’ve been doing a lot of reading about, yes, goals can be very powerful but also the power of habits. As a side note, I suspect you’ll be hearing me talk about some books that I’m planning on reading about habits because once you start getting interested in something. Setting a goal around reading I think, is a starting point.
One of the things that’s changed it for me is then building a habit around that. What my habit used to be is I would take my iPad to bed and I would usually read for about an hour before falling asleep. I love RSS reads. I was mentioning to Tanis as we were beginning to record that I already plan on popping her a blog on into my RSS feed. It’s just a wonderful way to have all these different thinkers and people I’m interested in, the ideas they’re interested in coming into one place. Sometimes it’s a little bit like candy for my brain because I am so stimulated by all these ideas and all these people and everything. It sort of breaks my brain for being able to sit down and read a book that goes on for 300 pages. My brain hasn’t quite kept up its strength to be able to do that very well. What I decided to do was build a habit of just taking my Kindle to bed and when I say Kindle, there are of course, two broad different types of Kindles or E-readers in general. I don’t mean one that’s a tablet because all I want it to be able to do is put a book in front of my eyes. I don’t want to be tempted by the other things that are just a different type of reading. My first recommendation is to make a reading challenge for yourself and the second recommendation is to read on an E-reader.
I read on a Kindle. You might have a different one that you enjoy but I really have found these two things both the goal setting and also then building a habit into it. I’m certainly not saying this to brag and I’m certainly not going to break world records but I went from reading 24 books in 2019 and we are just wrapping up January as of this recording. I’ve already read 12 books in January.
Now, I granted I had started a few of them toward the end of the year and finished them but still, even if you do the math, I’m clearly reading quite a bit more than I was. I’m just having so much fun doing it. I do feel like my brain is getting back to being able to both have the short-form reading, the Twitter streams and the RSS and all that and also the longer-form reading, which is really important to continuing to expand our minds. Those are my two recommendations and Tannis, I’ll pass it over to you.
[00:31:25] Tannis: I love those recommendations. I don’t use good reads but I actually do read on an iPad. Recently, I’ve gone back to paper because part of the reason is my kids don’t know what I’m reading. They don’t actually see me reading and I feel like I needed to model a reading to them. I do notice that when we read real books, they are more likely to pick up their own books, otherwise, they just think we’re playing on our devices. That’s been something I’ve been more aware of but also it’s interesting because I realized I just really enjoy the paper experience a little bit more and maybe that’s just because I grew up with it, but it’s nice to go back to it.
I guess one of the things for me, I’m just trying to think about a recommendation. Obviously, we’re doing a podcast right now. I’ve really, really discovered the pleasure of audio and podcasts, just having content in your ears. I love the multitasking part of it, that gives me it makes mundane household chores so much more interesting. I love not having to look at something like a video or whatever. I love having them podcast as I walk. It’s actually made my life healthier, which maybe sounds a bit weird but I feel like I walk more because I have podcasts.
Also, the piece about it too is really, it’s given me an opportunity to explore and getting back to learning again, learning that isn’t courses. I follow a lot of podcasts that really are out of my area of interest or even comfort and it’s really expanded my learning like just giving the attention to things that you wouldn’t normally be drawn to in terms of what you might pick up as a book or what you might spend your time on when you’re on your computer. That’s been really good and interesting for me. Everybody listens to podcasts now. I’m not sure it’s a real recommendation. It’s not a hidden gem by any means. I really like the effect that it’s had on my well-being.
[00:33:26] Bonni: You’re reminding me so much. I’ve talked about this on the show, but I finished off the book called Range. His point is all about this interdisciplinary thinking as what we would refer to it often in higher education, but just instead of only focusing and valuing so much the expertise and going deep, he says we haven’t enough also valued the going wide and just about what podcasts.
That’s what you’re describing that podcast and this audio content have allowed you to do both to take it in in unusual contexts that you wouldn’t normally be able to take that kind of thing in, but also in getting to explore a lot of different areas and having that range as he describes it. That’s really fun. I love that. All that what’s possible there.
[00:34:09] Tannis: Yes. There’s something for everybody right now with podcasts. I think that’s been great.
[00:34:17] Bonni: It really is. Well, Tannis, it’s been such a pleasure to be connected with you. I’m so pleased that Clint Lalanne suggested you for the show. I had a chance to talk with your colleagues and get some guidance on what to ask you. You’re reminding me actually, dun dun, dun. I was told by your colleague, Amanda, that I should ask you about this. I have until now forgotten to do it. I’ll end with an unexpected question. She says that you’re an artist and that you don’t talk about it very much, but that I should have you tell me about being an artist and perhaps we can close this way.
[00:34:51] Tannis: Oh, my goodness. I’ve discovered that there’s a lot of artists in this field actually, a lot of hidden artists. That’s been a delight too. Yes, I’ve done a lot of different art things. I actually have a textile arts diploma. It’s probably not very well known. I’ve started painting a couple of years ago. I have a lot of canvases in my closet. For me, it really truly is the process.
I just very recently, I think shared on my blog a couple of paintings that I had painted, because I have been very secretive about it. I have the secret Instagram account and I don’t connect it to anybody that I know in my professional life. My real name isn’t used. I’m very much hidden about it, maybe a little bit I guess embarrassed by it because there’s so many amazing Instagram artists out there and so many talented people. I certainly don’t put myself in that category. It has actually reminded me of the process part of things that it’s not the outcome, it’s really the doing Part. That’s been a good reminder as well.
[00:36:03] Bonni: Thank you so much for ending us on that note and it was such a pleasure to be connected with you. Thank you for all this great, I know you don’t want to call it advice so, I’m going to call it– I was trying to make a chicken analogy because the website you were referring to earlier, the Open EdTech collaborative has chickens all over it free-range and talking like, “I can’t come up with an analogy that it’s going to match it.” I’m just going to say thank you for your time and your expertise and the inspiration you’ve given us today.
[00:36:29] Tannis: Well, thank you. It’s been a delight to be on this podcast and a real honor. Thank you so much for doing it.
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[00:36:39] Bonni: Thanks once again to Tannis Morgan for joining me on today’s episode of Teaching in Higher Ed. If you’d like to explore the show notes, they’ll be over @teachinginhighered.com/302. They also will show up in your podcast player and you can access them right from within that app. Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode and if you have been listening for a while and have yet to rate it or review it in your preferred podcasting service, that’s a great way of sharing with others about the show and expanding the community.
I appreciate your listenership. It’s been wild thinking about starting back in June of 2014 and how far we’ve come and how far we still have the potential to go. Thanks for being a part of the community and I’ll see you next time on Teaching in Higher Ed.
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[00:37:33] [END OF AUDIO]

The transcript of this episode has been made possible through a financial contribution by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). ACUE is on a mission to ensure student success through quality instruction. In partnership with institutions of higher education nationwide, ACUE supports and credentials faculty members in the use of evidence-based teaching practices that drive student engagement, retention, and learning.

Teaching in Higher Ed transcripts are created using a combination of an automated transcription service and human beings. This text likely will not represent the precise, word-for-word conversation that was had. The accuracy of the transcripts will vary. The authoritative record of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcasts is contained in the audio file.