After 25 Years It's Time
I'm marking another transition in my life after spending 25 years in three different third level classroom settings in Ireland. On the first of September 2025, I'm no longer on the payroll as a university lecturer with the Technological University of the Shannon. But I'll be in the shadows working on several initiatives that extend my legacy into 2027 with European projects, education conferences, and research papers.
At each major career juncture, it's worth glancing back to see what's memorable. I've had five major phases in my career but none as long as my time teaching in Ireland.
Phase 1. Flying Long and Flying Fast
I spent 12 years in uniform as a United States Air Force instructor pilot, logging more than 3000 hours in 19 different aircraft. My most memorable hours happened while getting splashed with light arms fire in a C-141 in central America. And on another occasion as a T-38 instructor pilot, I had several white knuckle events with students on my wing during high speed rejoins. Those events sandwiched several staff officer jobs, one that got me time in the Pentagon working on a plan that was later activated during Desert Storm.
Phase 2. Selling Computer Literacy
In the early 90s, I carried a catalogue case with a heavy laptop and course training materials through western Germany, convincing young Army soldiers to enroll in a distance education programme that was funded by the Veteran's Administration. I logged more than 100,000 kilometers in a long-serving BMW while traveling between Augsburg and Saarbrucken. When back in my flat, I tweaked the syllabus of several academic modules, then took a contract that brought me from Germany into Ireland to help set up a call desk.
Phase 3. Multimedia Instructor and Freelance Journalist
In 1996 transitioned from a computer literacy distance educator to a classroom multimedia instructor when my call centre contract ended. I worked with recent third level graduates, showing them how to use Photoshop and basic web editing tools. Several members of the European Broadcasting Union passed through the Arthouse Multimedia Centre for the Arts before I moved on in 1999.
Phase 4. Search Engine Optimiser
For a short time, I worked with a Y2K company to put their software solution in front of major multinational companies. I happened to figure out how to quickly read webstats, parsing them into material that marketing teams could use to contact Chief Technical Officers with a product that ensured both Y2K compliance and euro functionality. During this job, I realised how companies desired to wrap iron clad protection to their ISO certification.
Phase 5. Third Level Lecturer
At the turn of the millennium, I started teaching students in rural Tipperary on both the Thurles and Clonmel campuses of the former Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute. That company became the Tipperary Institute before being absorbed into the Limerick Institute of Technology when I started working in classrooms and labs separated by more than 50 kilometers on my timetable.
I helped develop a BSc in Creative Multimedia with Tipperary Institute and then iterate it with the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS). Today that programme has gained a new look as a degree that starts inside the local Tipperary Education Training Board and graduates into spaces on the TUS-Clonmel campus.
Phase 6. Storytelling with Practical AI Workflows
I'm deep into my second phase as a knowledge worker, this time exploring authentic storytelling with Brigit Kolen (above in Fontys.nl) and looking at ways to create practical workflows with AI with Filipe Santos in Polytechnic Leiria. I expect to chat on Spreaker and blog on Topgold with snippets of the final phase of my working life.
I'll keep my explanations simple. Like talking to my yellow ducks.
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