Laurie O'Donnell

Also love this video with words from the wonderful Carl Sagan – who I remember reading 30 years ago when I was a student at Edinburgh University.
I found this posted with some very thoughtful comments from my friend and colleague John Connell.

In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell  suggests that opportunity plays a significant part in someone becoming an expert. He suggests that a 10,000 hour rule applies as much to the success of The Beatles (opportunity to play live 7 days a week in Hamburg) as to that of Bill Gates (opportunity to attend an elite school with [...]

I was interviewed for the April edition of Futurelab’s Vision e-zine by the roving educational technology journalist and commentator Merlin John.
The article is published under the heading ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet … Scotland’s ICT Renaissance‘.

I was asked to speak to a group of LTS staff this week on the subject of leadership and identify some ‘top tips’ for aspiring leaders. Here is a adaptation of what I came up with as a starter for discussion:

Be a lifelong learner – as soon as you think you know all the answers [...]

Got selected for jury duty today at Dundee Sheriff Court. This is not much of a surprise as I have been called four times and never selected so it was just a matter of time. The real surprise is that my colleague Derek Robertson not only had a citation for the same day but was [...]

A good week over and sitting at my kitchen table with a glass of beer listening to Van Morrison and trying to stay out of the way of the teenagers on a sleepover.
Covered a few miles this week but it’s always great to get out and about even if that means not being able to [...]

January seems to have flashed past. Xmas and New Year are always busy, followed by most of a week in London at BETT, then my great friend and colleague John Connell left for a new post with CISCO, followed by the recently retired Stuart Robertson returning on short-term contract to help organise the Learning Festival [...]

Yesterday afternoon I was doing some work in the house and listening to the football on Radio Scotland. The featured match was Hibs v Inverness Caley Thistle and as usual at this time of year a two minute silence was observed before kick-off. I always think about my paternal grandfather during these times.
I wear a [...]