PGCHE versus Economics Course Committee

And this week my principal clash on Wednesday afternoon is between Trevor’s PGCHE session (on something I can probably manage but I simply like Trevor’s sessions) and the Economics Course Committee, which will be worthy but - well I won’t say dull – but course committees are often heavy on materials and light on interaction, especially if you are not part of the core teaching team. And I’m certainly not singling out the Economics Course Committee, which is no better or worse than others, and I happen to know of a couple of staff who periodically check this blog.

Just a pity there is so much overload on Wednesday afternoons...

V-cs' 7.9% pay rise is twice that of staff's

To quote the Times Higher.

Well I'm sure academic staff everywhere are heartened by that news. Of course not every VC got a rise but hardly time for a trip to ALDI when you're on 225k.

Full set available at the Times Higher as a PDF

Work Your Proper Hours Day

Well I didn't manage to work my proper hours but I did cut down.

And yes I am catching up on a few work *related* things at 22:40 local time.

And yes I will stop shortly...

Colleagues did make an effort to note this day (as did I) and if you are wondering what I'm talking about then go here...

http://www.worksmart.org.uk/workyourproperhoursday/

NTU New VLE

On a more positive note (after the last posting) I would add that today I went to a meeting of the NTU eLearning Consultative Group. Essentially this is the group who are tasked with selecting a new Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for the Nottingham Trent University.

Now I’ll resist putting in any details since some things are sensitive and so confidential (+ Doh! Someone might read this blog!) but what I can say is that this is just one of several groups that I am involved in that goes to show what a great bunch of people are working at NTU.

There are some really resilient, creative and witty people to be found at NTU.

Of course a mixture of empirical observations and rumours suggest this is not the case everywhere within the university – just like any big organisation – with there being an uneven distribution of these talented, likeable, and dedicated types…

Make up the remainder of the posting yourself!

e-Learning Focus Group

Yesterday I took part in an e-learning focus group as part of a national project.

One of the issues that arose was the lack of personal web spaces for staff at NTU. I say personal but I really mean professional – more "here is my research" than "here is my dog". This has been a long running sore with many academics at NTU since it was implemented.

Anyway I pointed out that like many teaching and research staff I’ve simply “jumped ship” for certain things. There are clearly some very senior people who just don’t “get” technology. One of the things I said I used was a blog so it’s only fitting that I make this blog entry on the topic….

One Percent = 1%

Oooh we've just had a 1% pay rise.

What shall I spend it on?

Champagne? Computer? Car?

Okay maybe a cup of coffee... after all the caffeine will make me more produtive.

Widening Participation PGCHE

A few days ago we had a PGCHE meeting that focussed on “Widening Participation”.

Some quite firm views were exchanged in relation to various aspects of this topic.

Mmmmmm. Must come back to this one. I was going to write about it now but I’m too tired. I’ve just done hours and hours of marking and so I’m fairly brain dead. So just doing a few odd jobs, checking out this week’s timetable etc ( my teaching timetable changes most weeks so I cannot memorise it) while listening to the best techie pod cast I’ve come across so far, which is Buzz Out Loud from CNET.

Always easy background listening and usually something informative in every show… go check it out. Here’s a link to the feed at CNET

http://www.cnet.com/i/pod/cnet_buzz.xml

Sunday Bloody Sunday?

Whilst it is rather pleasant in my conservatory at the moment it would be even nicer if I wasn’t about to embark on another pile of marking. I've got lots of other work related things to do, such as a backlog of audio and video clips to sort out, multimedia work for two subject centres, submissions for summer conferences, just so many Web 2.0 services to play with, and some really interesting background reading for my specialist areas.

But that will all have to wait because of the marking. I know it is really important, and is the bread and butter work, of a non-research active academic but I thought I'd have a quick gripe before settling down to get on with it… because some days, especially Sundays, you just don’t feel like it.

Gripe… gripe… gripe…