Yesterday was kind of a sad day for me. My friend and colleague Amanda Harby is retiring from BCcampus. Amanda is the person who first hired me when I arrived in BC, jobless but with hope in my heart and a song on my lips. Amanda (and another colleague, Randy Bruce) are two of the big reasons I took the job at C2T2 – the chance to work with people who had helped grow this amazing grassroots network of ed tech professionals across the province, and frankly, beyond. It sure wasn’t the pay 
Those of you in BC are likely well aware of all of Amanda’s contributions in our province. For those who are not, I did a little internet archaeology to try and document some of her many contributions (luckily, Amanda herself is working to collect some of this together; our biggest loss, collectively, will be not just her as a person but her as a witness to and participant in so many projects and developments over the years). Over the years Amanda was involved with:
- The issues affecting the implementation and use of educational technology : B.C. colleges & institutes / Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa, Amanda Harby.
- An apparently recurring theme was “Interactive Video Conference in BC“
- One of a number of sites that seemed ahead of its time in its effort to share and spread best practices, the Cycle of Improved Practice
- advised the Site for Exploring Emerging Delivery Systems site, an early attempt to help orient educators to make good choices in educational technology
- LandOnline (which eventually morphed in Edutools) which is documented both in An Essay in elearning tool categorization and this paper on “On-line Educational Delivery Applications: a Web Tool for Comparative Analysis“
This barely scratches the surface, but you get a sense of a lot of the different things Amanda got involved with. Always with grace, humour and helpfulness.
Amanda, I am going to miss you, a lot. I know I owe you a lot personally, as do many around the province. I wish you the best as you start this new chapter. I wish you lots of adventures, lots of exploring, lots of great kayak trips, lots of song, but maybe not so many renovations
And, I’ll leave you with this lovely recording of Amanda that was made at last spring’s ETUG workshop in a session on Digital Storytelling.
I had the pleasure to have an office next to Amanda’s for the 2 years I was at BCcampus. I never ceased to amaze me how connected she was, and on such a personal level, with so many people across the province. You would be hard pressed to visit a BC post sec institution where Amanda didn’t know anyone, and know them well.
Happy retirement, Amanda!
I also owe Amanda a lot. We worked on some neat projects together and I learned so much from her.
The list of Amanda’s contributions to EdTech in BC goes on and on. She was the type of person who would listen to everybody’s ideas (and she DID know everybody!) and make them become reality. Remember that fabulous “Connections” conference in Whistler? Everybody nibbling on hors d’oeuvres buzzing about the last sessions they attended while Amanda weaves through the crowd with a walkie talkie strapped to her belt and a huge smile. And how about the Online Developers’ Exchange Network Database (ODEN)? — good example of a service before its time. I can’t wait to see the BC EdTech history Amanda is putting together.
Good luck with all your new adventures, Amanda!
Thanks for posting this, Scott! I didn’t know Amanda well, but we chatted at conferences and worked on some early portfolio explorations related to ABE programs. She’ll definitely be missed! On to another chapter, though…admittedly, I’m a bit jealous.
Cindy
[...] Sni.ps is a service that has come across my desk a dozen times in the last year, referred on to me by everyone from trusted colleagues, the director of my org, and the developer himself (with whom I should note I have worked before and consider a friend). I had looked at it briefly before, but the last time someone sent me a prompt I thought it time to take a better look and write it up. [...]