A Christmas bumper edition of the National Forum ezine has just been published here, including a blend of regular features and seasonal novelties. The Christmas ezine has mentions of paths, journeys, maps, spaces, shapes, stopping, starting, continuing, past, present, future, daybreak, afternoons, evenings, mornings, endings, beginnings. Especially for the festive season, it has a festive photo, Christmas wishes, a story, a poem and a puzzle. Like all editions, the ezine is predominantly made up of voices from the sector that bring us to new places and different times. Contributors are encouraged to keep the tone informal so that at times the pieces can contain phrases that sound like snatches of conversations: ‘they learn in very different spaces’; ‘I’ve always felt it a privilege’; It was no easy feat, but here you are’; ‘I hope that we move away from the deficit language’; ‘this reflective piece reminds me of what I miss about my “normal teaching day”’; ‘team based learning’; ‘ to make a difference’; ‘We have missed our students, our campus, and peers’; ‘I just hope I have done enough’.
The ezine in about sharing and connecting and contributions come from students, staff, senior managers, international colleagues and span disciplines, roles and institution types. The inputs are short reads generously contributed by colleagues who agree to write in slightly different forms for a broad audience. The writing, which is more informal than standard academic writing, is infused with professional authenticity and a commitment to teaching and learning enhancement. The alternative genres yield different tones in the writing and allow the writing to breathe a little more easily. Writing can take courage. Sometimes when we are sharing ideas and reflections in writing we can feel both nervous and excited. Going public with our writing is easier when that process is scaffolded and supported. In the ezine, we want to share the voices of the sector with the sector.
This is the seventh edition of the National Forum ezine. All previous editions, in addition to a COVID-19 special issue published in April, can be accessed here. If you would like to receive the National Forum ezine, published quarterly, direct to your inbox, you can sign up here. If you would like to write for the ezine, please get in touch with us (ezine@teachingandlearning.ie). If you’re not sure about contributing, but you’d like to explore the idea of writing for the ezine, please drop us an email and we can work with you.
