I nearly sent this on April 1, but decided it would be a lousy choice of days to announce this formally. Then I got cold feet and resisted posting it at all. Oh well, here goes.
You may have noticed I’ve renamed this site “ETAD Café Canadien” to mark a change in management. Dirk Morrison and Jay Wilson will be doing most of the posting here in the future, but I’ll still pipe in from time-to-time.
Why? Because as of July 1, 2014, I will be retiring from the University of Saskatchewan. Yup, 36 years and no longer counting. But let me follow up with the obvious—I’m not bailing out on educational technology and design. It is a huge part of my life and identity, and frankly, I love it way too much to walk away. I just won’t be pulling a paycheque from the U of S, or attending any meetings! My first free gig will be to attend the ETAD Summer Institute from July 3-5, and my second will be as a visiting scholar at Indiana University-Bloomington to finish some long overdue work on a book about “studio and design pedagogies” with Elizabeth Boling and Kennon Smith at IU, Katy Campbell from the U of A, and Colin Gray from wherever he lands next year.
But enough about me. I just wanted to get the word out to whomever might care to know, and this seems like the most convenient way. I won’t try to thank everyone who deserves it, but you know who you are, and please know I carry you deep—very deep—in my heart. I salute my colleagues here and elsewhere, and my many former students who have eclipsed my meager contributions and made the entire ride worthwhile. Educational technology is a special entity, maybe because we have so many ways our work can be expressed. We defy any easy definitions, and I think that’s a good tradition to continue. As a friend once told me, “We need to preserve the mystery of our craft”.
But I think the really mysterious aspect of educational technology is that it is a profession chockablock with positive people, people who are welcoming, caring, generous, and passionate about learning. I don’t know why we have attracted so many great people to our shores, but I know they exist, and it is worth celebrating. And I still have a deep reverence for universities and I know how lucky I’ve been to be part of the academy lo these many years.
So thanks, everyone, for continuing to be an inspiration to me, and for what I know will be another few decades of good times ahead for all of us.
ETAD Café Canadien 