This book is a collection of 40 world leading teachers, academics, influencers, critics and practitioners who have answered the question "have you ever walked out the door to go to work, the shops, the gym, etc. and realised you’d forgotten to pick up your smartphone? And then turned around and gone right back for it?"
Have you ever got half-way to work and panicked about how you’d survive the day without the device (or devices) you rely on so heavily (your smartphone, tablet, USB stick, Moleskine notebook, PowerBar charger, etc.)? Do you have a device you don’t mind being without, for a short time, but others you just can’t bear to be apart from?
That is what I mean by ‘emergency rations’ - the stuff you have with you in your life (personal and/or professional) that you would make the effort to go back and get if you’d forgotten it.
What kit do we carry around with us, as teachers, academics, Learning Technologists, Instructional Designers, managers, administrators, thought leaders, change-agents, etc.? What eventualities do we perceive are going to come our way?
As our lives get more digital and our devices get more diverse and hungry for power, we need to stay connected, topped-up, plugged in or just simply want to prepare for that day when faced with our audience, standing at the lectern and panicking because there is a VGA input taunting you, reminding you that you forgot to ask “I’ll be presenting from my tablet … is that OK?”
Is it best summed up by Bill Thompson's tweet?
"Have realised that I very rarely check my phone. I am however umbilically attached to my networked pocket computer, used for many tasks."
— Bill Thompson (@billt)
In order to answer this I looked to my network for examples of what we use, like, dislike, discard, etc. on a daily or weekly basis. What do we use at/for work and what do we use for personal use - are there overlaps, are there differences? Do we embrace technology for work but shun it in our private life?
Bringing leaders in education together in one volume this book shows how the likes of Steve Wheeler, Eric Stoller, Sue Beckingham, Jackie Carter, Ryan Tracey, Stephen Heppell, Alec Couros, Jane Bozarth, Bryan Mathers, Amy Burvall, Julian Stodd, Jane Secker, and more, encounter this question. This book looks behind the tweets, behind the professional veneer and asks the question:
"What is the technology you find yourself turning around and going home for if you forget it. What can't leave at home or work, what do you feel naked without? (in your bag, in your pocket, wearable, etc.)?"
Full list of contributors to this unique insight into what leading and respected global educators think about their devices includes Steve Wheeler, Ian Wilson, Joyce Seitzinger, James Clay, David Hopkins, Jane Secker, Alec Couros, Sue Beckingham, Sarah Honeychurch, Sarah Knight, José Picardo, Nick Overton, Simon Lancaster, Jennifer Jones, Darcy Moore, Jane Bozarth, Stephen Heppell, Maha Bali, Julian Stodd, Kevin Corbett, Joel Mills, Neil Withnell, Jackie Carter, Sam Illingworth, Geoff Barton, Cormac Cahill, Emma King, Eric Stoller, Steve Collis, Matt Lingard, Amy Burvall, Nitin Parmar, Maren Deepwell, Chris Rowell, Bryan Mathers, Helen Blunden, Wayne Barry, Martin Hawksey, Linda Castańeda, Milena Bobeva, Alex Spiers, Shannon Tipton and Ryan Tracey.
