OEG Voices 082: Amanda Coolidge, Marcela Morales, and Maren Deepwell on “The Small Things”

Our newest episode features the voices of three experienced leaders of open education organizations who also do most of this work online. In a session recorded live during Open Education Week 2025, Amanda Coolidge, Marcela Morales, and Maren Deepwell reflect on now, more than even before, the importance of finding small things of joy in our practice. How this came about is an example of small things in action. After listening to one of Maren Deepwell’s podcasts with OE Global’s Alan Levine, Amanda did a small act of gratitude by sending them both an email of appreciation. Hi Maren and Alan I just finished listening to your podcast episode together and I absolutely loved it. It brought a smile to my face listening to your stories Alan. It was so refreshing to hear you say that it’s gotta be fun. I needed this reminder. There are days when being the ED of an org is far from fun and it’s important for me to not let that drag me down. Loved the conversation and just wanted to let you both know. email from Amanda Coolidge Maren replied noting “how important it is for us to rediscover the joy in small things in our practice” leading Amanda to share “It truly feels like this ‘rediscover the joy in small things in our practice is more important than ever in our contexts (globally and nationally).” This was how we came to plan an open podcast recording for OEWeek and bringing Marcela in to expand the conversation. And as we learned since recording, the connection continues as Maren will be publishing a new podcast soon from a followup conversation she had with Amanda and Marcela. In the OEGlobal Voices Podcast Studio with clockwise from top left, Amanda Coolidge (BCcampus), Marcela Morales (OE Global), Maren Deepwell (Maren Deepwell Coaching), and Alan Levine (OE Global). Not pictured, but listening in live were Shira Segal (MIT), Manisha Khetarpal (Maskwacis Cultural College), and Beck Pitt (The Open University). Episode 82 TranscriptDownload Listen with Transcript at Descript.com In This Episode FYI: For the sake of experimentation and the spirit of transparency, this set of show notes alone was generated by the AI “Underlord” in the Descript editor we use to produce OEGlobal Voices. In this episode of OE Global Voices, Alan Levine hosts a dynamic conversation during Open Education Week 2025 with Amanda Coolidge, Maren Deepwell, and Marcela Morales. They discuss leading open organizations, the importance of self-care, and finding joy in the small things amid the challenges of managing teams and building relationships. The conversation is filled with heartfelt insights, practical examples, and touching personal stories. Introduction to OEWeek Podcast Amanda’s Perspective on Leadership Marcela’s Views on Team Dynamics Maren’s Insights on Virtual Team Leading Story Behind the Conversation Connection Amid Critiques Exploration of Relationship Building AI and Thoughtful Leadership Concluding Thoughts and Personal Joys (end of AI generated show notes) Additional Links and Quotes for Episode 82 It’s been something that I have intentionally been really working towards, which is, sending snail mail notes to staff after they’ve done something, if it’s bringing people together or potentially asking a really awesome question that sort of got people thinking. And then when I listened to that podcast, I just thought, oh, that really, inspired me. And it just reminded me of the importance of play in our work and how sometimes when you lead an organization, there’s so much operational day-to-day that you forget the reason why you started in this work to begin with. Yeah, that’s why I really wanted to give you both a shout out and a note of appreciation because it truly impacted, not just how I went about that day, but how I’ve proceeded to think about my own work. Amanda Coolidge In the OEG Voices Podcast Studio with Amanda Coolidge, Marcela Morales, and Maren Deepwell (Mar 4, 2025, Open Education Week) Leading Virtual Teams Podcast (Maren Deepwell) Episode 102 – Special Guest Alan Levine (Jan 16, 2025) Episode 113 – Special Guest Amanda Coolidge (Apr 03, 2025) Healthy Hybrid Habits for Managers and Leaders course (Maren Deepwell Coaching) Maybe you don’t notice your progress because you keep raising the bar (Instagram meme mentioned by Amanda) View this post on Instagram A post shared by steph | feel-good illustrations (@happybrainco) I’ve been creating walking OERs you can go for a walk and listen to. It’s really open available recording, like as a reflective practice or as a leadership practice. And it’s been making me think a lot about, how long do you really need to do certain things? To me, having a half an hour walk, even if it’s just for me, for myself, can be much more productive than reading summarized reports. So I’ve been thinking a lot about that sort of reclaiming of pace and cadence. Maren Deepwell Joint health & safety committees and worker health & safety representatives (WorkSafe BC) Meeting Amanda Coolidge in 2011 (Alan Levine flickr photo) The Web Timelined Self (CogDogBlog) Stardew Valley (game mentioned by Amanda) Stardew Valley Wiki In our case, it’s very interesting that many of our staff members together, with Igor and I, we have not met in person many times. So I can count the times that we have been in the same room in person on the fingers of my hands. So it’s amazing that we have been able to create these relationships only online. And whenever we have the opportunity to be in the same room, it’s the opposite, like a different way of connecting. Like I’m so used to seeing you in your little box. And having the very few opportunities to share a space in person, it just magnifies the relationship. So we have had this opportunity of creating the relationship that we have with staff, mainly online and have them be amplified in person. Marcela Morales New Feature: The “Aftercast” In all episodes of OEGlobal Voices, we close with an invitation to join us for followup conversation in our OEG Connect community space A new topic there is created every time we publish an episode, and you can find the conversations also included at the bottom of this post. As a new idea invented since our recording, we are also going to ask our guests to close with a question or call for response related to the episode. This was added to this episode after the recording, but consider the following questions: What are some of the small things that you find effective to get outta the focus on productivity and time crunches? What are the ways your colleagues achieve more relationship building through actions like the BC Campus Health and Safety Committee videos that Amanda shared, the reflective walks that Maren describes or the life outside work sharing that Marcela talked about carving time out for in our OE Global staff meetings? The OEGlobal Voices Episode 82 “Aftercast” But wait, there is more! From Episode 80’s conversation with Bryan Mathers, he created a new Remixer Machine template– the Hat Tip, which completely fits with what Amanda, Maren, and Marcela talked about in terms of small acts of appreciation. Remix this hat tip, publish as a new one, and send as a link to someone else as a small act of joyful appreciation. Alan remixed a digital hat tip to all three guests that are being sent privately aling with a request to “hat tip it forward” by starting with the basic template, changing the colors, the hat style, the message, to send forward (not to me!) to another person they wish to share appreciation. Just imagine what would happen if this spread… Our open licensed music for this episode is a track called Small Wonder by Steve Combs shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Like most of our podcast music, it was found at the Free Music Archive (see our full FMA playlist). Finally, this was another episode we are recording on the web in Squadcast, part of the Descript platform for AI enabled transcribing and editing audio in text– this has greatly enhanced our ability to produce our shows. We have been exploring some of the other AI features in Descript, but our posts remain human authored except where indicated otherwise.