I have had a fairly good week, full of productive thought and action. I have listened and learned both formally and informally. I have thought of those loved and lost (and always will) and have remarked on how 2009 has been trying generally and remarkable occasionally. I look forward to 2010 in its nice rounded evenness.
But not to overlook the autumn, the most complex of all the seasons. It is crisp and focused; it is a natural moment of nostalgia mixed with decided professional determination. I love it.
And so I will propel my 34 year old forward with all the moxie I can muster. Into the autumn, into the dark nights and long coats, into the next decade. Always forward and ever onward.
My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.
