Finally found enough time to sit down and get some stuff cleared up.

One of the things on my to do list was to set up a Furl. So for anybody that is interested: you can find my Furl at: http://furl.net/members/kgrussell. With a bit of luck it will grow every day...

I had some Sheraton Preferred Guest points left and decided to treat Karien to a surprise weekend. We zoomed down to Brussels and spent a great short two days in Brussels. Shame the queues outside the Musee des Beaux Arts where so long (over 2 hours).
The square and the surrounding were bustling with tourists. We did manage to find a more welcoming bar not far from the centre: Cafe Kafka, so after a few beers we ended up discussing what it would be like to wake up looking like a beetle. Must find that book again...

But the definite highlight was the hotel: waking up in a great bed, tea in your room, taking the lift from the 18th to the 30th floor to do some exercise in a perfect gym with a magnificent view, doing some laps in the rooftop pool, warmi... more

In the freezing cold we brought a visit to the winter Efteling with Kiki and Eric. As always the Efteling (a massive amusement park) was most definitely worth while.

One thing I learned during this visit: Money can really be a motor behind innovations. This was the first time I received a ticket in the form of a bar code on my mobile phone. Sadly it didn't work as well as it should have. But I was quite impressed by this idea. This just goes to prove that we are mucking along with small funds in education...

Today Peije and I braved the cold and sawed sticks for the Morris team. I do feel slightly obliged to as I am the member of the side wearing out the most sticks on an annual basis. It is in fact a nice area of nature in the middle of Maarssen (link).

It is also an interesting way to bring back one of my old interests (nature and forest management) in combination with Morris dancing. In fact I used to chop down American Oak trees in another wood near Utrecht (Beerschoten).

Peije certainly did a good job and was very happy with his Opinel peeling the sticks. We now have a good collection of 50 more Ash sticks. That should keep us busy for another year...

I am now part of the Blackboard community in the Netherlands. So for anybody that is interested (and can read Dutch) I would refer you to the elearning theme site on Blackboard.

This is where you can find the latest news on Blackboard in the Netherlands.

Today I attended a one day course on training kids to play rugby. It was a very valuable day. It was organised by the Dutch Rugby Association. Especially the practical excercises outside really taught me a lot. You learn not only from your own successes and mistakes bit also from those of others...

The one thing I learnt is to split the lesson up into small parts and offers these bit by bit. Don't start using heavy contact but try to keep distances short. And of course: always wear a tooth guard.

Finally I am still as fanatical as I used to be. I almost scored a try but got thoroughly tackled on the last bound. I am slightly bruised but quite content now.

Yesterday I went for a walk in the woods round Elst. There is some beautiful forest out there and the low sunlight cast an interesting perspective on things. It also gave me a chance to think about where I want to be heading in 2006.

For starters I want to settle down at Social Sciences and get my new job sorted out. This means meeting up with a lot of people and users both inside, but also very important: outside the faculty.

I am intrigued what the position of Blackboard will be at Utrecht University after 2006 and I would like to prepare for any changes that will be coming our way and make sure Studion (my new department) will be able to play a role in these proceedings.

I am also intrigued what developments will take place in the world of higher education. Will the portfolio craze die down? Will Sakai be adopted? Or rather: when will the large players in the Netherlands start seriously using SAKAI?

I have the feeling that 2006 will be an interest... more

Last year was an eventful year for me. A number of rather varied things took place:

• I was strongly reminded of the fact that a VLE is, in practice, not just a play thing to be used as a pedagogical toy. A VLE is a necessary tool used by teachers to support the learning process. This does not mean the VLE is not important. In fact this means the VLE is considered to be indispensable. It is a system which must be reliable before everything else.
  Mind you: this does not mean that pedagogical exeriments are not useful either. They need to take place to make sure we can innovate and improve.


• Open Source is still around and growing up now. A number of initiatives have reached a more interested phase. They appear to be growing up...
  
• Teaching teachers and students brought me back to where I want to be: Education and using ICT to improve the learning experience.
  
• Our house went completely wireless and computers have proven to be a neccessity. T... more

I am extremely pleased with my new palm handheld. For all those interested; it is a palm tungsten TX. It offers all sorts of wireless connectivity; wifi and bluetooth. I can now check mail and view webpages as I walk through the house or eat a hamburger. I do hope more wireless access points will be available soon in public places...

Last sunday (yes it has been a busy week) we visited the Natural History museum in Leiden. There was a christmas lecture organised by the Darwin centre. I was surprised to see how well the kids stayed quiet during the lecture on evolution and especially, human opinion on evolution. They even picked up the odd bits of information on the way, for example on the devil's forests in the Amazon.

The highlight of the day was an extremely good exhibition on scary animals. There were all sorts of things both adults and children could do. Using simple technology visitors created something of their own. And of course this is what human beings want: something of their own to take home (even though you will look at it for a week and then throw it away. The exhibition also reminded me of the value of sensory perception. You could do more than read: you could smell, feel, watch ants in real life and watch a cheese burger go mouldy. You could even clam... more