{"id":13430,"date":"2025-11-07T11:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=13430"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:12:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:12:38","slug":"from-engaging-on-the-periphery-to-coming-to-play-a-part-reflecting-on-becoming-a-trustee-of-alt-for-trustees-week-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/11\/from-engaging-on-the-periphery-to-coming-to-play-a-part-reflecting-on-becoming-a-trustee-of-alt-for-trustees-week-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"From engaging on the periphery to coming to play a part: Reflecting on becoming a Trustee of ALT for Trustees\u2019 Week 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Keith Smyth,Interim-Chair of ALT’s Board of Trustees <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

This week, 3-7 November 2025, marks this year\u2019s annual Trustees\u2019 Week<\/a> which acknowledges the work of the close to one million trustees who support and help govern charities across the UK. As part of Trustees\u2019 Week, I\u2019ve been invited by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) to reflect on being a trustee for this important charity and membership organisation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As this post will be going out on ALT\u2019s blog, I will say no more than that ALT is the leading professional body for learning technology in the UK, supporting a collaborative community for individuals and organisations, with our overall charitable objective being “to advance education through increasing, exploring and disseminating knowledge in the field of Learning Technology for the benefit of the general public”. You can read more on the About ALT<\/a> section of our website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, where to start? Perhaps at the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first become aware of ALT back in the 1990\u2019s, as a mid-twenties PhD student beginning to research what was then being referred to as \u2018networked learning\u2019. I attended ALT\u2019s annual conference at the University of Bristol in 1999, presenting a poster on the design of my PhD project. I can\u2019t say it wasn\u2019t a little intimidating; however, I learned a great deal about what ALT was striving to do \u2013 as 1999 was in the early years of ALT \u2013 and the people I met were supportive and welcoming. Often the decisive factor in going any further as someone new to a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I progressed through my PhD studies, and into working in the education sector, I became a member of ALT, then slowly moved into being something of a member-volunteer. In my experience, progressing from being a member to a volunteering member of a charity is a common pathway, and one that can often also lead to being a trustee. As a volunteering member, I undertook reviewing submissions for ALT\u2019s conferences, then helped facilitate ALT\u2019s open and open-to-all online courses in technology-enhanced learning (ocTEL<\/a>) in 2013 and 2014. Other highlights, through increased participation in the ALT community, included being invited to co-chair the ALT Annual Conference in 2019<\/a> \u2013 on the theme of Data, Dialogue and Doing \u2013 a nice, round, twenty years since I first attended an ALT conference!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the same year, 2019, in which I applied for and was very fortunate to then be appointed as a Trustee of ALT in the role of Vice Chair. Now, I readily admit that there are quicker routes to becoming a trustee, but for myself personally it was about the timing, about feeling that I had done a decent stint in the wider ALT community, and had developed my own experience to a point where I had enough confidence to come forward and apply for Vice Chair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those familiar with work in the field of \u2018Communities of Practice\u2019, the above can be understood in terms of the phenomena of \u2018legitimate peripheral participation\u2019 (Lave and Wenger, 1991) in which those of us who are the new or novice members of a community can gradually mover further inwards as we develop our knowledge, experience, relationships and place within that community. It was a phenomena I lived, and I was helped, supported and encouraged by friends and colleagues who were themselves Members and Trustees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becoming a Trustee in the position of Vice Chair for ALT was also very much enabled and made less daunting by having already been a trustee of two education and social inclusion focused charities, and having had a chance to understand what being a trustee is and involves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, coming in a little over the words I have been given, what would I say about being a Trustee of ALT? There are many things, but first and foremost it is about the opportunity to reciprocate, and give time, experience and hopefully useful input into a charitable organisation that I directly benefited from in terms of my own learning and development. It would be too easy to use the overused \u2018giving back\u2019, but that is what it is. It is also about committing to the shared outlook, ethos and mission of the charity itself, which for me is ALT, but for you may be something else\u2026or may be something else in the future, if you are considering being a Trustee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, being a trustee it is about people helping people, or about people helping to mobilise other people to make some meaningful change in the world. As I reflected on in a recent post about this year\u2019s ALT conference 2025<\/a>, there\u2019s little more important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, 3-7 November 2025, marks this year\u2019s annual Trustees\u2019 Week which acknowledges the work of the close to one million trustees who support and help govern charities across the UK. As part of Trustees\u2019 Week, I\u2019ve been invited by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) to reflect on being a trustee for this important […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1409,1753],"tags":[1258,1755,1960],"class_list":["post-13430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-trustees","tag-altc-2","tag-trusteesweek","tag-trustees-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/11\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-20.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13424,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/11\/supporting-our-community-my-role-as-a-trustee-for-alt\/","url_meta":{"origin":13430,"position":0},"title":"Supporting our community – my role as a trustee for ALT\u00a0","author":"ALT","date":"6 November 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Trustees\u2019 Week falls on 3-7 November this year. As part of the celebrations, ALT is recognising the invaluable work of our trustees. ALT\u2019s trustees set our direction and are responsible for ALT\u2019s strategy and the overall performance of the Association. During this week, we will be publishing articles by Keith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/11\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-20.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/11\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-20.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/11\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-20.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/11\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-20.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11685,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2023\/11\/celebrating-alts-trustees-for-trusteesweek\/","url_meta":{"origin":13430,"position":1},"title":"Celebrating ALT’s Trustees for #TrusteesWeek","author":"ALT","date":"10 November 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It is Trustee's Week, 6-10 November, and here at ALT, we are celebrating the invaluable work of our Trustees, past and present. ALT's Trustees set ALT's direction and are responsible for ALT's strategy and the overall performance of the Association. Trustees are an integral part of ALT's governance and we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Trustees"","block_context":{"text":"Trustees","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/trustees\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/11\/TrusteesWeek.png?fit=980%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/11\/TrusteesWeek.png?fit=980%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/11\/TrusteesWeek.png?fit=980%2C360&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/11\/TrusteesWeek.png?fit=980%2C360&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5704,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2016\/05\/what-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-being-a-trustee-of-alt\/","url_meta":{"origin":13430,"position":2},"title":"What you always wanted to know about being a Trustee of ALT\u2026","author":"","date":"9 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As a member of ALT you hear about our Trustees and you probably know who a few of them are and what they do - but if you are thinking about standing for election as a Trustee you'd probably like to find out more. In this post we share the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ALT news"","block_context":{"text":"ALT news","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/alt-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/05\/21130755348_76a86e30c0_z.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/05\/21130755348_76a86e30c0_z.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/05\/21130755348_76a86e30c0_z.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3916,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2014\/05\/call-for-nominations-for-a-new-vice-chair-and-two-new-trustees-for-alt\/","url_meta":{"origin":13430,"position":3},"title":"Call for nominations for a new Vice-Chair and two new Trustees for ALT","author":"ALT","date":"8 May 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are a member of ALT and would like to take a more active role in the governance of the Association, then you should consider standing for election either as Vice-Chair or Trustee. Trustees work together on the\u00a0Central Executive Committee\u00a0to ensure that the vision and aims set out in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ALT news"","block_context":{"text":"ALT news","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/alt-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12665,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2024\/11\/celebrating-alts-trustees-for-trusteesweek-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":13430,"position":4},"title":"Celebrating ALT\u2019s Trustees for #TrusteesWeek","author":"ALT","date":"4 November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"To celebrate\u00a0Trustee\u2019s Week, 4-8 November, we are kicking off our new profile series by interviewing one of our trustees, Puiyin Wong. ALT\u2019s Board of Trustees\u00a0are responsible for ALT\u2019s strategy, governance, and overall performance of the Association. The Trustees are an integral part of ALT.\u00a0 Puiyin Wong has been an ALT\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Profile Series"","block_context":{"text":"Profile Series","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/post\/profile-series\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2024\/11\/TW_blue_logo_png.png?fit=681%2C250&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2024\/11\/TW_blue_logo_png.png?fit=681%2C250&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2024\/11\/TW_blue_logo_png.png?fit=681%2C250&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3989,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2014\/05\/becoming-an-alt-trustee-doug-gowan\/","url_meta":{"origin":13430,"position":5},"title":"Becoming an ALT Trustee \u2013 Doug Gowan","author":"ALT","date":"20 May 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Doug Gowan is a trustee and current vice chair of ALT The procedure for filling vacancies on ALT\u2019s board of trustees is getting underway so now is the time to think about whether you should stand. Here are some thoughts that may help you make up your mind. ALT is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ALT news"","block_context":{"text":"ALT news","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/alt-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2013\/06\/ALTC12_0464.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2013\/06\/ALTC12_0464.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2013\/06\/ALTC12_0464.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2013\/06\/ALTC12_0464.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2013\/06\/ALTC12_0464.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6CxU9-3uC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13432,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430\/revisions\/13432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}