Scholarly Activity Workshop

Spent today at Solihull College's Woodlands Campus running a workshop for FE lecturers who work at HE level and want to increase their engagement with research and scholarly activity.
In addition to my input, delegates benefitted from the expertise of:

• Liz Willis from the HEA Engineering Subject Centre
• Sue Moron-Garcia from Coventry University's Centre for the Study of Higher Education offering an introduction to what is meant by scholarly activity, guidance in getting started with carrying out research, gathering evidence on learning and teaching, and writing papers for academic journals.
• Becky Turner from the HELP CETL showcasing some examples of successful practices from colleges in the SW to give an idea of the kind of things college lecturers could realistically achieve with their limited resources (of time and money).

Without a doubt, one of the best scholarly activity workshops I've been involved in, and thanks very much to Liz, Sue & Becky for making it possible.

HELP Conference

30th – 31st March
No, not 180 Beatles fans discussing their favourite album, it was the Higher Education Learning Partnership CETL's conference, HE in FE culture and experience: a partnership perspective.
As an invited guest, I neither presented nor got involved in the running of the event, but have spent two very enjoyable days at the University of Warwick catching up with old friends and making new ones, although the main reason for attending was to keep up with what's happening in and around HE in FE.

Opened by Professor Gareth Parry, Professor of Education, University of Sheffield, and closed by LMU's Professor Sally Brown ("QUANGOs are finished", "end of HEFCE in two years"), we were treated to a series of workshops and presentations in 2/3/4? very-badly signposted buildings on "The creation, operation and future of HE in FE partnerships", "The quality and style of HE in FE learning spaces and facilities", "The HE in FE experience and culture for staff", "The HE in FE experience and culture for students", and what I thought was the best of those I attended, “Regional support for implementing IQER & HE strategy” by the West Midlands RSC.

Back in 6 weeks for PWL 2: just up the road & in a much nicer venue that will definitely be well sign-posted...

Show me the Money!

17 March 2009
As one of three "Dragons" at a workshop for FE colleges about bidding for project funding in Wellington (ish), Somerset (the others were from the local RSC and the HELP CETL), I gave a 30 minute talk outlining my own experiences of scrutinising funding applications both for JISC and the HEA, and the opportunities available for third party funding.
The delegates then formed groups to critique anonymised bids the local RSC had acquired from JISC under the Freedom of Information Act and report their findings while the presenters and local RSC staff operated as roving "experts".
After an excellent lunch (where I overate on cheesecake to allow for the 6 hours plus journey home - don't tell the wife: she thinks I'm slimming), and giving out some funding application guides, the 6 delegate groups generated bids which were theoretical but nonetheless pertinent to their current institutional agendas e.g. e-Assessment, Repositories etc and presented them to the three of us plus the local JISC HE Support Coordinator in a “Dragons Den” style format for constructive criticism and advice.
Feedback on the day, particularly with regards to the format, was all very positive, so I'm now going to formalise the delivery model and offer it with a variety of presenters to colleges on demand (well on request anyway...).

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).