My name is Eli Appleby-Donald (actually it’s Elishia-Jayne Appleby-Donald but that’s a mouthful and a lot to type in an email so I shorten it a bit). I’m a learning technologist here at ECA which means I’m behind the scenes sprinkling magic dust to help all the teaching staff use the various technologies to the best they can when teaching you. I do this when we’re on campus and online, but you may never see me as I’m like a secret online teaching ninja that sneaks in and out without students ever seeing me.

I chose this picture to give you a visual idea of what it is I do – the first thing you’ll notice is that I’m not in a classroom, in fact I’m not in a room. I am a firm believer that the classroom is anywhere that I teach or that my students learn, and that includes those eureka moments you get when you are doing the washing up.  Cause that’s just how the brain works, we don’t stop learning and teaching when we leave the official classroom sometimes in fact the best learning happens when you stop trying to get to grips with something and let your mind do what it does best. This is why I believe online teaching and learning is every single bit as good as on campus when the people involved care.

Eli teaching in the garden – (Photo by Kathryn Appleby-Donald 2020)

My inspirational textile hmmmm now I am not a textiles person so this isn’t an easy one for me to talk about, but I was lucky enough to be involved with some amazing students last year who were blogging during lockdown and they introduced me to textiles and embroidery in the most fantastic way.  One blog post (and follow up project and assignment) introduced me to Celia Pym and her work on repairing clothes. There was a photo of a pair of socks which had been darned in a different colour and over time the darning then showed the wear pattern. This instantly hit me as the most beautiful calendar showing the passage of time and of the life of those socks as the wear patterns became more obvious and intense. I absolutely loved this concept. Feel free to go check her out if you don’t know who I am talking about:

http://celiapym.com/work/my-elbows-are-sharp-but-my-needle-is-sharper/

Working from home workwear confession.  I am now learning that I may be strange… I have worked from home in previous jobs, so I am not finding the current situation as unusual as other folk. Because of that, I have the same work ethic at home as on site… I get up at the same time (6am) and I cycle to work (and then back again obviously), get showered and dressed in my work clothes.  I think maintaining this routine has been good for me and helped me to keep some semblance of normality where I can. I don’t trust myself to wear my jammies or not wear shoes for working. I think I’d spiral quickly into the depths of laziness.

My tactile fear sensation is not necessarily a textile and I’ve never met anyone else who feels this way but I can’t put wooden forks or spoons or stirrer sticks etc in my mouth. I really can’t. Even the thought of the wood touching my teeth make me do this involuntary twitch thing and it’s really horrible. I don’t mind touching wood, it’s just the idea of it touching my teeth. Eurgh!

My desk reminds me every day how lucky I am. I have a proper office at home for working (was originally for studying) so I have a proper desk, computer, space, bookshelves and thing that I did absolutely take for granted. I am now realising how lucky I am to have this space and I have so much respect for my colleagues who are working whilst perched on their children’s bed or in the cupboard under the stairs.

Eli’s desk (Photo by Eli Appleby-Donald 2019)

I’m really looking forward to the semester and seeing what you all do with your blogs and what creativity the online set up inspires. I’ll be popping in and out to be nosey 🙂

I’m sneaking in under the radar to say hello / Textiles 2C: Materials and structure (2020-2021)[SEM1] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0