Selfie number 10

Recently, in the wake of the #blimage blogging challenge I've been thinking about the power of photos and images. Not only can they help us to think metaphorically, they can also emote memories. I have quite a collection of selfies and other photos (elsies) of me with people who have either inspired me or influenced my thinking in some way. I usually run into them at conferences, and of course, a good way to create a memory is to get a picture taken with them. So I thought - perhaps I should write a blog series about the top ten photos and selfies of people I admire, and who have contributed significantly to my own learning. So here it is, starting with this selfie of a gang of friends and colleagues, taken in June at the EduTech Expo in Brisbane, Australia.

On the left of the picture is Harold Jarche, who is chair of the Internet Time Alliance and a champion of social learning. I have followed his work for some time, but the first time I met Harold was at the Learning Technologies event in London in 2013. He specialises in work based learning and has made quite an impact with his work on innovative leadership, networked business solutions, and personal knowledge management. I often quote from his work or retweet his blog posts, because he thinks deeply, writes clearly and has a unique approach to workplace learning.

In the centre of the photo is Joyce Seitzinger. I first met Joyce at the first Personal Learning Environment (PLE) conference in Barcelona in 2009 and we have been friends ever since. We were sat just a couple of seats away from each other, and were already friends on social media. I quickly realised that Joyce and I had a lot in common, including our passion for great learning, technology integration and creative applications in higher education. I have subsequently worked with her in New Zealand and Australia. Joyce is best known for her Moodle Tools for Teachers model which has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She now runs her own consultancy - Academic Tribe -which offers training and professional development for educators.

Far right is George Couros. I also met George for the first time at the Barcelona PLE event. He works as a divisional principal in Canada and is a regular speaker on the international conference circuit. On his blog 'Principal of Change' George is constantly posting articles and videos about innovative learning, and is a strong advocate for change and reform in school systems. I often share and repost content from George on social media. As the younger brother of Alec Couros, George has a big shadow to emerge from, but he is very much a keynote speaker, author and scholar in his own right, and deserves his reputation as a key mover and shaker in the world of education.

You may also recognise the other people in this selfie. Answers below in the comments box please :)

If you have any selfies with people you value, I encourage you to share them in a blogpost of your own, and say how they have inspired you.

Coming up: Selfie number 9

Photo by George Couros


Selfie number 10 by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.