I generally spend 6-8 hours each day working on my laptop. Most of this time is spent shifting between my professional work as a project coordinator and attending to my BEAD course work.

My habits for both are pretty similar.  I predominantly use a Google Workspace for organizing and managing my projects and coursework and sharing content with collaborators. As someone who has spent most of my life living with ‘organized piles’ as a system, I’ve now become reliant on keeping carefully crafted folders and files for all my work in a google space.

Scheduling is a necessity in my life! I’m generally working on 3 or more projects (usually with multiple community partners or collaborators). I’m now adding my BEAD course schedule and assignment deadlines to that. Add in two kids with nightly extracurriculars and daily school events, and a partner who also takes on contract work in the evenings/weekends…and it’s a lot to keep track of.  My google calendar is a carefully crafted and colour-coded blueprint that holds all the details that my brain cannot. I appreciate that when I read an email about a new event from a teacher or book a meeting, that I can quickly just add it to my google calendar without hunting down a hard copy day planner.  HOWEVER – I recently went back to carrying a day planner as well.                        Why? Because I like being able to see the whole month at a glance with all the event details visible at the same time. Google calendar is good for a week preview, but mostly I need to see what’s coming down the pipeline.

In school work and professional life I constantly am navigating between google docs, internet searches, and shared content sites like UR courses. I always have far too many tabs open and I never spend long in one place before I’m searching up a work or reviewing something I’ve forgotten. I look up almost everything I think of and am constantly bouncing between resources whether I’m writing a paper or working on a new art program or project.

For ongoing communication on work projects, I generally rely on email or text. I use Edsby on my phone for all communication with my kids school and teachers, and WhatsApp for recreational class threads.

I’ve come to rely on apps that provide me with ‘focus’ music or ‘flow’ audio to keep me from being distracted by the outside world when I plug in to work. But I also use these same apps for short meditations or brain breaks throughout my day and in the evening. Another app that I REALLY rely on is Google Maps. I have no sense of direction. Before cell phones, I used to regularly o stop at payphone booths to use the telephone book map. Finally I started carrying around a city map in my car … so Google Maps changed my life!

I don’t spend a lot of time on many other apps, and when I do it’s on my phone. I hit the CBC news app a couple times a day, for short 10-20 minutes updates. I sometimes listen to the radio via CBC Music app.

The only social media I get sucked into is Instagram.

Photo by kropekk_pl on Pixabay

I generally go to Instagram looking for local updates from friends, artists, or about events … but, often find I’ve lost half an hour getting sucked into mindless reels. This is the one place where I consciously watch my engagement and actively chose not to open it up during ‘work hours’.  Sometimes I can get sucked into Pinterest in a similar way – which I occasionally open when doing creative research. 

Other than that – I intentionally avoid TikTok. (I’ve opened it a couple times and within minutes have shut it off and deleted it. I just found it obnoxious and overstimulating off the bat – so I never gave it a chance). I’ll go to Youtube for specific research related things, but I’ve seen how addictive it can be with kids. I don’t let my kids have free access to it…and I’m aware that I need to model healthy online behaviour if I want them to respect my opinion on this topic. Productivity and intentional, responsible engagement in the world is something I want my kids to be learning as they grow up. My limited experience suggests that social media often leads kids (and adults) in the opposite direction.

My children learning to smudge and scrape buffalo hide with my friend, and Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway (2019)

Returning to postsecondary education after 20 years, I am highly aware of how the education landscape has been changed by technology and digital applications. To put it in perspective, it wasn’t until I’d completed graduate school that I first used Google.

Photo by Bru-nO on Pixabay

As I settled into being a student again, I definitely feel the impact of being hardwired in an analog world. I feel I’m moving at a slower pace as I learn to communicate through technology that is less familiar to me.

However, I am also experiencing how the assistance of technology is supporting my ability to learn in areas that I once found challenging. Being able to take notes by typing on a laptop, quickly formatting content to make it more readable and digestible for my brain, and using text to speech applications has made my experience as a learner with ADHD far less challenging. Having access to slides, notes, and resource links for courses through UR Courses has been a game changer! 

Seeing this impact on my own learning has me eager to gain fluency in educational technologies so that I can best support students in my future classroom.

This blog is my first experience in creating a personal site through which to connect with an online community. I’ve been reluctant to build a website due to a lack of knowledge. The task, and learning curve has simply felt too huge to begin. AND – I’m not someone who is comfortable with putting myself into a public sphere in this way. I generally like to be ‘behind the scenes’ and both a blog and a personal website feel like a public showcase that I’m not completely comfortable with.

That said – this is exactly why I’m taking EDTC 300, diving into critically thinking about the applications, benefits, and opportunities of learning and community within a digital community.  

ligne éthéré, relational art project, 2007

Hello. Welcome to my blog about art, education, and relational practices.

My name is Shaun Dunn. I am a multidisciplinary artist, cultural worker, and educator. 

I find joy in making and learning. Sometimes I do this as an artist in residence with schools. Sometimes this is through the development of community-engaged programming with Saskatchewan arts organizations. I’ve spent the past several years co-creating projects that support cultural connection and community building.

Facilitation of Le Temps d’une Soupe, relational art project by Montreal’s ATSA (2019)

In art and learning, two things guide my practice: cross-disciplinary and collaborative approaches. I was first inspired by E.O. Wilson’s book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge when I was an undergraduate studying biology (I ended up switching to visual arts where I could pursue interdisciplinary meaning making).

I have a BFA (University of Regina, 2001) and MFA (Concordia University, 2005) in Studio Arts. I studied and participated in an archeological dig in Jordon in 2001. And my arts practice and career in arts management has traversed the territories of  installation – theatre – dance – and socially engaged art.

Using art as a tool for social change is embedded in my work in building youth programs that support access and inclusion.

I believe the arts play an important role in the practices of teaching and learning. I had the opportunity to see this embedded in the pedagogy of the Reggio Emilia Approach during a recent study tour in Italy with the Vancouver Reggio Association. 

I’ve just begun my two year journey to completing a Bachelor of Education After Degree at the University of Regina. After years of working with schools and communities to share creative practices that support curriculum and foster social engagement, I’m excited to be learning the foundations and practices of the teaching profession. Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Bulyea Elementary School, Sk Arts Artist in School Project (2024)