On what is now my last day before flying to Portugal for some winter sun, I'm now on the way home from two days working on a much-warmer-than-Yorkshire South Coast where I've been presenting to 30+ FEC engineers at an airport in the Sussex Downs, and around 40 performing arts lecturers in Worthing (both part of Northbrook College) on why bother doing, and how to go about, scholarly activity and writing for publication.
So warm, that it's got me wondering whether the four hour journey home & getting up at 5am for a 4 hour flight is worth it, & maybe I ought to just stay in Brighton for two weeks...
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Who ate all the pie?
3rd/4th December, Bolton
As a reward for my concerted efforts at a two-day event on the Student Learning Experience , I got to stay in a very posh hotel (the Reebok) and find out what a £20 steak pie tastes like. Disappointingly, it turned out to be pretty much the same as a £5 one, but was probably placed on the nice plate very carefully and with much pride. After all, how else could they justify £20 for a pie in Bolton?
Other than sampling the culinary delights of the North West, delegates from a diverse range of institutions (e.g. HEA Subject Centres, JISC RSCs, FECs, HEIs and a LLN) discussed student expectations, experiences and encounters with higher education, challenges and priorities for the HE sector in using technology by:
As a reward for my concerted efforts at a two-day event on the Student Learning Experience , I got to stay in a very posh hotel (the Reebok) and find out what a £20 steak pie tastes like. Disappointingly, it turned out to be pretty much the same as a £5 one, but was probably placed on the nice plate very carefully and with much pride. After all, how else could they justify £20 for a pie in Bolton?
Other than sampling the culinary delights of the North West, delegates from a diverse range of institutions (e.g. HEA Subject Centres, JISC RSCs, FECs, HEIs and a LLN) discussed student expectations, experiences and encounters with higher education, challenges and priorities for the HE sector in using technology by:
- considering the effectiveness of resources which have been developed to support the student learning experience,
- considering how to improve access to and take up of resources for a range of stakeholders,
identify additional developments/support that may be required to support the student ‘life cycle’, - exploring how organisations might collaborate further to enhance support for the HE student learning experience.
Monday, 24 November 2008
PWL 2 - The story so far
Spent today finalising the programme for the next HEA HE in FE conference at Scarman House on May 13th - "Playing with Learning 2: Making the Connection".
This year's doubtless fantastic conference will involve Alan Mortiboys (from Birmingham), Colin Beard (from SHU), Kirsten Hardie (from Bournemouth) and a courtroom theme "you, the lecturer, stand accused of failing to engage your learners etc..." (or something like that anyway).
It will also have 4 workshops, a man wearing a papier-mâché head, another graphically-facillitated large painting (might need another house with an extra room for it to go in) and more freebies.
The local JISC RSC are providing voting tablets (delegates=jurors) and technical support for the day, but insisted on some social networking angle so we don't have to pay. Unfortunately, this got translated into a reason for incorporating Second Life so I now need to find someone to facillitate the attendance of assorted daleks, falcons, teddy bears & talking vending machines at my flagship production...
This year's doubtless fantastic conference will involve Alan Mortiboys (from Birmingham), Colin Beard (from SHU), Kirsten Hardie (from Bournemouth) and a courtroom theme "you, the lecturer, stand accused of failing to engage your learners etc..." (or something like that anyway).
It will also have 4 workshops, a man wearing a papier-mâché head, another graphically-facillitated large painting (might need another house with an extra room for it to go in) and more freebies.
The local JISC RSC are providing voting tablets (delegates=jurors) and technical support for the day, but insisted on some social networking angle so we don't have to pay. Unfortunately, this got translated into a reason for incorporating Second Life so I now need to find someone to facillitate the attendance of assorted daleks, falcons, teddy bears & talking vending machines at my flagship production...
Thursday, 13 November 2008
HELP (& advice)
No, not a request for assistance, but an acronym for the Higher Education Learning Partnerships CETL (based at the University of Plymouth) who invited me to make two 7 hour train journeys in order to be part of their 2-day Advisory Board, most of which was taken up with helping them to plan their "HE in FE: A Partnership Perspective" conference next year.
Most of day 1 (2 pm start as some of us had been imprisoned on a train since 6am) was taken up by various HELP CETL employees describing what they've done since inception & their plans for the next year, and an ex-consultant to fdf outlining an evaluation report which I'd read last week.
Day 2 (9am start so that some of us could get home for 10pm), mainly concerned their conference & how to evaluate its success/impact, and who, if anybody, would care if the CETL wasn't going to organise a subsequent event for 2010 (but they might).
Most of day 1 (2 pm start as some of us had been imprisoned on a train since 6am) was taken up by various HELP CETL employees describing what they've done since inception & their plans for the next year, and an ex-consultant to fdf outlining an evaluation report which I'd read last week.
Day 2 (9am start so that some of us could get home for 10pm), mainly concerned their conference & how to evaluate its success/impact, and who, if anybody, would care if the CETL wasn't going to organise a subsequent event for 2010 (but they might).
VETNET LLN Annual Conference
5th November 2008, London
Working with MEDEV's Megan Quentin-Baxter and Gillian Brown, I helped to run a workshop on "Making use of resources to support education: Health and Life Sciences". JISC Intute's Laurian Williamson also contributed to a session attended by approximately one third of the 95 conference delegates.
Participants were given a very short presentation to outline who the presneters are and what they do, then broken up into small groups to examine some of the resources available such as the Assessment Playing Cards and a Student/Lecturer interview DVD.
Our session was particularly well-recieved (anecdotal evidence only at the moment, particularly in contrast to the LANTRA 14-19 one which took place next door apparently), and the University of Gloucestershire's Professor Stephen Hill wondered whether I would assist in their college liaison programme - nice to be asked.
Other sessions over the day included:
The Appeal of APEL
Barriers to Progression for Vocational Learners
Information and Advice (but not guidance!)
Curricular hurdles to vocational progression
Supporting vocational students transition to higher education
Curriculum response to employer needs
Curriculum development to stretch talented vocational learners
There were also a couple a keynotes which were too subject-specific to be of interest to anybody who's not a vet. And even if you were, they might not have been that exciting. Wouldn't have thought so, but can't be sure...
Working with MEDEV's Megan Quentin-Baxter and Gillian Brown, I helped to run a workshop on "Making use of resources to support education: Health and Life Sciences". JISC Intute's Laurian Williamson also contributed to a session attended by approximately one third of the 95 conference delegates.
Participants were given a very short presentation to outline who the presneters are and what they do, then broken up into small groups to examine some of the resources available such as the Assessment Playing Cards and a Student/Lecturer interview DVD.
Our session was particularly well-recieved (anecdotal evidence only at the moment, particularly in contrast to the LANTRA 14-19 one which took place next door apparently), and the University of Gloucestershire's Professor Stephen Hill wondered whether I would assist in their college liaison programme - nice to be asked.
Other sessions over the day included:
The Appeal of APEL
Barriers to Progression for Vocational Learners
Information and Advice (but not guidance!)
Curricular hurdles to vocational progression
Supporting vocational students transition to higher education
Curriculum response to employer needs
Curriculum development to stretch talented vocational learners
There were also a couple a keynotes which were too subject-specific to be of interest to anybody who's not a vet. And even if you were, they might not have been that exciting. Wouldn't have thought so, but can't be sure...
Saturday, 30 August 2008
ICS Annual Conference, Liverpool
26 - 28 August 2008,
Liverpool Hope University
As usual, the necessity to travel on a bank holiday did nothing to dampen anybody's enthusiasm for what is always an enjoyable conference experience (as evidenced by the majority of delegates attending year-on-year).
After 4 preliminary workshops and a formal opening by ICS's Pr G.McAllister, the first keynote by Stanford University's Eric Roberts entertained over 100 Computer and Information Science lecturers with "Rediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy, and Awe: Making Computing Fun Again".
Multiple sessions (including ones chaired by me) covered themes such as:
Liverpool Hope University
As usual, the necessity to travel on a bank holiday did nothing to dampen anybody's enthusiasm for what is always an enjoyable conference experience (as evidenced by the majority of delegates attending year-on-year).
After 4 preliminary workshops and a formal opening by ICS's Pr G.McAllister, the first keynote by Stanford University's Eric Roberts entertained over 100 Computer and Information Science lecturers with "Rediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy, and Awe: Making Computing Fun Again".
Multiple sessions (including ones chaired by me) covered themes such as:
- Supporting New Academic Staff
- Emerging Technologies
- Evaluating Learning and Teaching
- Pedagogic Innovation
- Groupwork and Collaborative Learning
- Improving Assessment and Student Feedback
- Managing Change
- First Year Experience
- Enhancing Employer Engagement
- Internationalisation
- Outreach and Widening Participation
- Responding to National Policy
- Computer Ethics and Social Responsibility
- Teaching and Research Nexus
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Not a holiday - honest!
7/8/9 July Isle of Man
What was by necessity (one mid-morning flight out, and one early afternoon flight back) a three-day trip for one day's work, did include three rounds of golf at some lovely courses and an evening at the Southern Cross motor cycle race meeting, so technically it was mainly leisure.....
As the college has only just moved towards delivering degrees (from September 2008, validated by Chester & Liverpool John Moores) they requested that I go over & share some thoughts with the college's HE staff (7 departments) on a few pertinent issues such as:
- How to create and sustain a HE culture in a FE environment in terms of resources, teaching and research.
- How HE and FE differ in terms of students’ needs and how they might need to change or develop their offering to improve the student experience.
A very challenging day, but hopefully has helped what is a remote (in terms of staff development opportunities anyway) part of the British Isles to see how what they compare with the mainland.
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Denman College, Marcham
Delegates from around the Oxford/Herts/Berks/Surrey area gathered today at the Women's Institute's Residential Adult Education College near Oxford to hear a welcome from Di Batchelor, Abingdon and Witney College's Vice Principal, followed by John Raftery, Pro Vice Chancellor (External Affairs), Oxford Brookes University.
I followed with "Higher Education in Further Education: Challenges and Opportunities" and other speakers included Liz Starbuck Greer (Deputy Director, South Central Lifelong Learning Network) "Increasing Progression to Higher Education", Bill Hunt (HE Co-ordinator, Swindon College) "Preparing for IQER", Lorraine Goss (Educational Consultant) "Effective Teaching Strategies in Higher Education" and Sue McGregor (Curriculum Manager, Solihull College) "Feedback Strategies for Higher Education Students in FE".
A enjoyable good day out, & well worth last night's 4 hour train journey and what will be a nearly 6 hour trip back as my first train is already delayed so I'll miss the connection in Birmingham....
I followed with "Higher Education in Further Education: Challenges and Opportunities" and other speakers included Liz Starbuck Greer (Deputy Director, South Central Lifelong Learning Network) "Increasing Progression to Higher Education", Bill Hunt (HE Co-ordinator, Swindon College) "Preparing for IQER", Lorraine Goss (Educational Consultant) "Effective Teaching Strategies in Higher Education" and Sue McGregor (Curriculum Manager, Solihull College) "Feedback Strategies for Higher Education Students in FE".
A enjoyable good day out, & well worth last night's 4 hour train journey and what will be a nearly 6 hour trip back as my first train is already delayed so I'll miss the connection in Birmingham....
Monday, 30 June 2008
ELSRN Summer Conference
Approximately 100 delegates, mainly from the South East, attended this year's ELSRN (Eastern Learning Skills & Research Network) conference "‘Challenges for the future of the HE in FE sector". First keynote was Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, DIUS who outlined the challenges facing the delivery of HE in FE (strangley never mentioned too many contact hours, no time for scholarly activity & subject updating etc) and (inadverently?) paraphrased Spiderman when he said “With increased power comes increased responsibility”.
He was followed by Professor Yvonne Hillier from the University of Brighton who, amongst other things, told us about the growth of Fds before HEFCE's Ruth Tucker spoke on "HE in FECs: a review of HEFCE policy", followed by QAA's Ian Welch on "IQER – The story so far", Professor Robin Smith (MOVE/LLN) on "FE/HE partnerships in vocational progression" and the conference closed (on a highlight?) with yours truly enthralling(? hopefully!) the assessembled masses with "How HE in FE practitioners benefit from HE support". On the original programme Bill Rammell was supposed follow me & close the conference but at short notice "had to reschedule" without any explanation given.
Make of that what you will.
He was followed by Professor Yvonne Hillier from the University of Brighton who, amongst other things, told us about the growth of Fds before HEFCE's Ruth Tucker spoke on "HE in FECs: a review of HEFCE policy", followed by QAA's Ian Welch on "IQER – The story so far", Professor Robin Smith (MOVE/LLN) on "FE/HE partnerships in vocational progression" and the conference closed (on a highlight?) with yours truly enthralling(? hopefully!) the assessembled masses with "How HE in FE practitioners benefit from HE support". On the original programme Bill Rammell was supposed follow me & close the conference but at short notice "had to reschedule" without any explanation given.
Make of that what you will.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
HE in FE Think Tank - Norwich
I was asked last month to help convene a ‘think-tank’ to seek the views of those with recognised expertise in the field of HE in FE on how best to support HE in FE practitioners in their use of technology to enhance learning, teaching and assessment as part of a collaboration between the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Higher Education Academy.
It was held at City College Norwich using HE in FE Research Centre as host venue & local RSC invited some college practitioners with the aims:
The HEA will be publishing the outcomes of the day as part of their collaboration project with JISC early next month.
It was held at City College Norwich using HE in FE Research Centre as host venue & local RSC invited some college practitioners with the aims:
- to consider the effectiveness of resources which have been developed to support academic staff in their use of technology to enhance learning, teaching and assessment, by the two organisations (including the Academy Subject Centre Network, JISC Services and Regional Support Centres)
- to consider how to improve access to and take up of resources,
- to identify additional developments/support that may be required by HE in FE practitioners
- to explore how the two organisations might collaborate further to enhance the provision of HE in FE.
The HEA will be publishing the outcomes of the day as part of their collaboration project with JISC early next month.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Bid Writing - to bid or not to bid?
Presented (& facilitated two workshops with the local HE Advisor) at a JISC RSC event in York on bid writing regarding a current JISC e-learning funding call to 20+ colleges (and two HEIs) in the Yorkshire & Humber region. Outlined my experiences as both marker & panel member, what the process is, what we (the markers) look for, how final decisions are reached etc..
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
ESCalate annual conference
Now on my way home from what has been a very rewarding two days at Stirling Management Centre working at the HEA ESCalate Subject Centre's Annual Conference where this year's themes were: Widening Participation (progression and retention), including the role of HE in FE; Technology Enhanced Learning; Contexts of Learning. Approximately 100 delegates attended 5 keynotes (mainly opportunities to watch the rain!) ; a choice from 70 paper presentations and workshop sessions; 14 of which were delivered by FEC lecturers (some of whom benefited from the having the conference's "best session chair"......). Other than when I was being talked at (see above reference to Scottish rainfall), it was an excellent conference run by, for, and with people who are enthusiastic, skilled teachers & educators from a range of subject areas.Personal highlights were:UPC's "Developing an (sic) HE culture within a disparate HE in FE partnership" where I got an (unexpected) name check for help given 18 months ago and "The Link Between Research and Education: an FE example". Being dragged (forcibly!) onto a dance floor to "start" the Ceilidh was unfortunately filmed and is doubtless on Youtube already. However, the case for the defence would like to point out that it was in exchange for free 10/12/16-year-old malt whisky for the next few hours.......
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
JISC Annual Conference, Birmingham
More than 700 delegates (from colleges, HEIs, educational developers etc), a range of speakers, presentations, demonstrations, workshops and more than 50 stands in the exhibition hall.
Professor Sir Ron Cooke, Chair of JISC opened the conference, and Lord Puttnam of Queensgate and Angela Beesley, Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, were the keynote speakers.
Among the subjects under discussion: the benefits of e-learning; the Google Generation report; identity management; student experiences of ICT; virtual research environments, and much more. In addition, the winner and shortlisted entries for the JISC/Times Higher 2007 Award for 'Outstanding ICT Initiative' showcased their work.
Other notable highlights of the day:
* The inaugural JISC infoNet Innovation in Records & Information Management Awards presented by Lord Puttnam
* Launch of a range of e-learning publications, including briefing papers, and case studies on the DEL regional pilots
* Launch of two new resources from JISC TechDis - an online database of accessibility information for UK publishers and guidance for librarians and learning support staff on alternative formats
* Launch of the 'Tangible Benefits of e-Learning' publication by JISC infoNet
* The 'digital library zone', an area dedicated to digital resources reflecting the changing role of the library in a modern academic environment,
* An open source demo stand supported by OSS Watch, showcasing a range of innovative open source applications
* Launch of - 'Libraries of the Future' - which attempts to initiate a debate about the future of the academic library.
* No mention of "Second Life" anywhere - has the bubble burst?
Managed to convince/cajole/bribe 10 attendees for my HE in FE "Think-tank" in Norwich on May 21st - if interested, ask me!
Professor Sir Ron Cooke, Chair of JISC opened the conference, and Lord Puttnam of Queensgate and Angela Beesley, Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, were the keynote speakers.
Among the subjects under discussion: the benefits of e-learning; the Google Generation report; identity management; student experiences of ICT; virtual research environments, and much more. In addition, the winner and shortlisted entries for the JISC/Times Higher 2007 Award for 'Outstanding ICT Initiative' showcased their work.
Other notable highlights of the day:
* The inaugural JISC infoNet Innovation in Records & Information Management Awards presented by Lord Puttnam
* Launch of a range of e-learning publications, including briefing papers, and case studies on the DEL regional pilots
* Launch of two new resources from JISC TechDis - an online database of accessibility information for UK publishers and guidance for librarians and learning support staff on alternative formats
* Launch of the 'Tangible Benefits of e-Learning' publication by JISC infoNet
* The 'digital library zone', an area dedicated to digital resources reflecting the changing role of the library in a modern academic environment,
* An open source demo stand supported by OSS Watch, showcasing a range of innovative open source applications
* Launch of - 'Libraries of the Future' - which attempts to initiate a debate about the future of the academic library.
* No mention of "Second Life" anywhere - has the bubble burst?
Managed to convince/cajole/bribe 10 attendees for my HE in FE "Think-tank" in Norwich on May 21st - if interested, ask me!
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