Review of 2011
Hi Everyone
I know it’s been a few months since I’ve blogged (personal and professional time commitments have been a bit consuming) but with this article I’m going to make a commitment to writing once a month across 2011 discussing enterprise education, teaching and learning, web businesses and new technology.
In this blog I’m going to try and give a brief review of the year discussing some of the key achievements and the affects they’ve had on me.
The year started with my good friend Kieran and I travelling around India as part of the 2011 winter Rickshaw Run, I’ve blogged a lot about this over at the Team Altitude site but it was an amazing experience and I will always remember the friends we made and the fun we had.
When I returned in January it was great to start our new cross curricula modules working with level four students to encourage the development of enterprise skills and capabilities, I loved working on these modules and I’m looking forward to developing further content for level five and six.
In February it was great to see my good friend Josh get married to Kate, a really amazing girl, before leaving the UK the following the month to pursue his dreams working in the USA; I really enjoyed the wedding and it was great to spend time with some oldest and dearest friends. This month also saw the second annual Virtual Enterprise Conference with great speakers celebrating the opportunities to create amazing projects and businesses on the internet, each year it’s a pretty scary experience but I love the event and am really looking forward to 2012.
March saw me finally meet Sir Ken Robinson (which was an amazing experience) before returning to North Wales to help manage the 2011 Upside Down Conference. This month also marked a key point in my career as it was the first time I was published as lead author in a peer reviewed journal discussing enterprise education so huge thanks to Kelly Smith and my co-author David Rae for helping me make this dream a reality.
In April I was invited to speak at the ICE House conference in Plymouth about teaching using simulations and virtual worlds, it was a lovely event and it was great to see some old friends at this conference including David Bozward, Kate Beresford, Andy Penaluna and Frances Brown.
I spent most of May travelling across with Jane Morgan delivering courses for Horticulture Wales focused on web design, social media and SEO for businesses working in these industries, these courses went brilliantly and I really enjoyed the experience of working with people from very different industries. May also saw my good friend Colin Jones darken my door all the way from Tasmania to share a beer and some great conversation, I always love seeing Col, he’s so cerebral and any time with him is just a joy.
June was a busy month; it started with me helping to facilitate the Inspiring Enterprise conference at Glyndwr with some brilliant speakers discussing a range of enterprise related issues and again a chance to meet many old friends including Tom, Andy, Frances and Richard. After this I travelled to South Wales to facilitate part of the EEW qualification in enterprise education (which we hope will soon see more of a take-up across Wales) this was a great chance to meet some new friends and work with some brilliant enterprise educators from across Wales. Following this I had the amazing fortune to enjoy my birthday with my father by seeing one of my musical idols B.B. King play live in Manchester.
July saw me take some rare Holiday to spend with friends before enjoying the Sonisphere festival listening to some amazing music.
In August I recorded a series of CPD videos to help staff learn about enterprise education before launching EnterprisingYou the UK’s first suite of enterprise education e-learning materials.
September was a crazy month I saw Kelly from Huddersfield… and Colin nipped past for a drink before I gave my first ever virtual presentation at the IEEC conference and then inducted over 1000 new students at Glyndwr ready for the 2011-12 term.
October was a heady mix of teaching, managing enterprise at the university and eventually celebrating Halloween (one of my favourite festivals of the year!).
November saw us hold another High Impact Global Enterprise Week with help from some amazing business colleagues before taking on a project to deliver business context lessons to the level four business students using SimVenture. This month also saw me hit a second publication with David Rae and Katie Vause, special thanks to Harry Matlay for helping us to get this published.
Finally December brings me right to up to date, I’m currently sat at my parents really enjoying seeing friends and family and just relaxing before a hectic 2012 which I hope will see me finally get near finishing my PhD!
Thanks to everyone who has made 2011 an amazing year!
P.S. sorry If I missed you or you didn’t get a mention it doesn’t mean I don’t love you… just that I can’t fit everything in (or I have a terrible memory)
I hope you all have a brilliant Christmas and wonderful New Year!
Peace
Matthew
